Making Your Own Tarot Deck

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[Lunoor]

I'm just curious, has anyone here ever made their own tarot deck? If you have, I'd love to see some pictures.

I started to create my own pack about 2 yeas ago by collaging  over a deck that had uninspiring drawings and distracting phrases aimed at aiding interpretations--phrases like "love of a fair lady" and "betryal by a friend". 

I started with the fool taking images mostly from old national geographics and smithsonians--finding the images was so easy i felt  beginning blessed. 

The fool is the only card I've finished but recently began the card strength and not long after that my strength is being tried by some personal issues and spiritual trials.

I deviated somewhat from traditional designs on the fool card and even more so on the strength card looking for images numinous to me. This is a great way to become familiar with each card and my relation to them but it may take the rest of my life to finish.


After I become familiar with the caldron and learn how to post photos I may photograph the card and post it , being so small and my digital camera limited I'm not sure how well a picture would turn out.

[rose]

After I become familiar with the caldron and learn how to post photos I may photograph the card and post it , being so small and my digital camera limited I'm not sure how well a picture would turn out.

ooh, I hope you will post a pic, it sounds really interesting

[Lunoor]

ooh, I hope you will post a pic, it sounds really interesting

Thanks for your interest Rose, I'll take a snapshot of it when I get home and see how it turns out.

[Lunoor]

I don't know if I'm doing this right, if this doesn't work can you tell me how to post the photos of my tarot card?

Thanks Rose

[Lunoor]

ooh, I hope you will post a pic, it sounds really interesting

Here is a link to my flikr photo stream, i posted the pics there, still would like to know how to post pics here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29747754@N06/?saved=1
Thanks

[Star]

Here is a link to my flikr photo stream, i posted the pics there, still would like to know how to post pics here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29747754@N06/?saved=1
Thanks

There are two ways to do it.  Possibly the easiest is to just attach the pictures to your post.  If you click on "Additional Options..." below where you type your post in, you should see the place to do that there.

You can also display the picture in your post the way it looks like you were trying to do, but to do that the picture has to be online somewhere.  (For most people, "somewhere" will probably be a photo sharing account somewhere like Flickr or Photobucket.)  Once it's online, the code to display it looks like this (as an example):
[img]http://star.qnarf.com/images/smstar2.gif[/img]

Except you'd replace the address I've used there with the address of your own image, of course.

All that said, I really think the best thing to do is just to link to it the way you've done here, especially if the picture is a large one.  That way people who are on slow connections don't have to wait for it to load if they don't want to, and those who aren't as interested in looking don't have to bother with it.  (As well, I don't think this is a factor in this case since it's your own work, but if one wanted to use an image that might have problems with being copyrighted material, posting a link to it instead of the image itself makes it OK by the rules.)

Make sense?  Or have I just confused you?

[rose]

Here is a link to my flikr photo stream, i posted the pics there, still would like to know how to post pics here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29747754@N06/?saved=1
Thanks

great idea. I love the little girl image.

[Lunoor]

I'm just curious, has anyone here ever made their own tarot deck? If you have, I'd love to see some pictures. I came across some articles on it and it got me wondering. I'm pretty artistically inclined (pink-flavored.deviantart.com/gallery/ if anyone's interested in seeing some of my paintings) so I think I'm going to give it a try. Since the deck will be for me alone I feel I can take some liberties and make deviations from the usual interpretations.  Anyone have any ideas or opinions on the subject? I'd love to hear them.

Glad you started this thread hobbitatheart, I think you should take liberties and let the process enhance your familiarity and interpretation of the cards.

I enjoyed looking at your gallery site ,especially liked your Lady of the Lake and Roseate Morning. Hope you get a better camera soon--I have limited means too--I have to borrow a camera to take pics of my art.

Have a good flow making your tarot cards!

[Lunoor]

Make sense?  Or have I just confused you?

Makes sense, thanks for the help Star.

[Lunoor]

great idea. I love the little girl image.

Thanks Rose, glad you liked her.

[hobbitatheart]

Glad you started this thread hobbitatheart, I think you should take liberties and let the process enhance your familiarity and interpretation of the cards.

I enjoyed looking at your gallery site ,especially liked your Lady of the Lake and Roseate Morning. Hope you get a better camera soon--I have limited means too--I have to borrow a camera to take pics of my art.

You're welcome, and thanks for your comment on my work. "Lady of the Lake" seems to be everyone's favorite (including mine). I don't paint as much as I wish I could, I was in a car accident in March of 2007 and my back hasn't been right since, and painting for extended periods of time hurts like hell. But I am glad that, even though it hurts a lot, the injury hasn't affected my skill much. . . "Roseate Morning" was painted just a few months ago. I actually got an offer on it but liked it too much to sell, though I did sell "Royal Dusk" for $40. Almost wish I hadn't, though, I miss it. I'm too emotionally attached to my artwork.


I liked your card. I enjoy making collages myself. I've considered using the technique for my deck but I will probably stick with drawing, or possibly painting if I ever get a proper scanner and printer so I can resize them to a decent size for handling.

[Lunoor]

You're welcome, and thanks for your comment on my work. "Lady of the Lake" seems to be everyone's favorite (including mine). I don't paint as much as I wish I could, I was in a car accident in March of 2007 and my back hasn't been right since, and painting for extended periods of time hurts like hell. But I am glad that, even though it hurts a lot, the injury hasn't affected my skill much. . . "Roseate Morning" was painted just a few months ago. I actually got an offer on it but liked it too much to sell, though I did sell "Royal Dusk" for $40. Almost wish I hadn't, though, I miss it. I'm too emotionally attached to my artwork.


I liked your card. I enjoy making collages myself. I've considered using the technique for my deck but I will probably stick with drawing, or possibly painting if I ever get a proper scanner and printer so I can resize them to a decent size for handling.

I am sorry about your car reck and back injury, I hope that time improves it. Do you take any therapy or do any excersizes  for it ? I hope it gets better for you.

As with regards to equipment, you sound like me--I can't afford my own computer or digital camera , scanners and the like so I am limited in what i can do with my art sometimes. Hope you get a decent scanner and printer and I hope I get my laptop I've been wanting.

Don't wait for the proper equipment to start on your work though. Your scanner and printer will come when the time is right and so will my laptop.

Yeah. I've sold a couple of paintings and I miss them too, your Lamia had that seductive and treacherous feel going on good too.

Good day Blessings

[SethR]

I'm just curious, has anyone here ever made their own tarot deck? If you have, I'd love to see some pictures. I came across some articles on it and it got me wondering. I'm pretty artistically inclined (pink-flavored.deviantart.com/gallery/ if anyone's interested in seeing some of my paintings) so I think I'm going to give it a try. Since the deck will be for me alone I feel I can take some liberties and make deviations from the usual interpretations. I remember on some thread on here someone mentioned they didn't agree with the usual elemental correspondences in the tarot but I can't remember which thread it was or what their individual interpretations were. Anyway, I'm thinking pentacles-earth, wands-air, cups-water, swords-fire. Anyone have any ideas or opinions on the subject? I'd love to hear them.

I checked out your artwork! Beautiful! You can definitely make your own cards. They'll be personalized and will represent YOU, which is the important thing, anyway... When you make something, it contains your energy (somebody, please correct me if I'm wrong) and that's why it will work better for you.

[hobbitatheart]

I checked out your artwork! Beautiful!

Thanks. 

[Chanah]

I think it is mostly that it be based on the suits and trumps idea.  There is some argument as to whether or not the decks need to have a certain number, because they have found evidence to suggest that some of the older decks (predating RW, et al.) had either more or less cards than the common 78 we see today.

Minchiate decks have 97 cards, and are quite similar to tarot - extra trumps for virtues and zodiac signs. There are also variants that are still used in the Piedmontese and other regional games, which omit the 2-6 or 2-7 of each of the minor suits. If you stumble across a copy of the Mitelli from the early era, grab it, it's gorgeous, and I know it's been reprinted. And you can use them for divination, too.

There are also plenty of tarots with only majors + Fool - so 22 cards instead of 78. If you happen to be an old cards freak, check out the restorations Jean Claude Flornoy has done of the Noblet and the Dodal tarots - absolutely stunning stuff.

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