How to Design a Tarot Deck

Tarot has always been a source of inspiration for artists. Even Salvador Dali designed a deck in his surreal style. The deck consists of 78 cards, so it's not a project to be taken lightly. These image-rich cards have much to teach us about life and human nature. Designing your own is a powerful way to connect to the wisdom of many cultural traditions.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Start getting acquainted with Tarot by coloring pre-drawn cards. "Color Your Own Tarot" by Doria Columbia and "My Tarot: Colour Your Own Deck" by Juliet Sharman-Burke are both good choices.

2. Look at popular Tarot decks to get a feel for what people respond to. The Rider-Waite-Smith deck is the most popular and the images are simple, so they're most suited to beginners. The Thoth Deck, designed by Aleister Crowley, offers artistic images because they were paintings that were later made into cards.

3. Get inspired by Tarot decks from different traditions. Plenty of decks tap into the beliefs of Pagan religions. Some incorporate influences from other cultures or historical periods. Check out the U.S. Games website for some examples.

4. Become a student of Tarot. Buy a good beginner's book that walks you through the meanings of each card like "Tarot Plain and Simple" by Anthony Louis. Then pick a few decks you really like and find books that interpret them. Pay attention to the connection between the images and the meanings.

5. Tap into your obsessions to make your deck uniquely yours. The beauty of Tarot is its relevance to many aspects of life. Your favorite band's lyrics, your favorite author's novels and your heritage can all feed into Tarot images.

6. Start with the Minor Arcana. They're the precursor's to today's playing cards and have simpler meanings than the other portion of the Tarot deck. Identify recurring symbols that have meaning for you and play with them throughout these 56 cards.

7. Design the Major Arcana cards once you've finished the Minor Arcana. Though only 22 in number, they have many layers of meaning and tap into the deepest part of our psyche. Take care their style is consistent with the cards you created in Step Six for a coherent Tarot deck.

Tips & Warnings

• Understand that Tarot is a system and all of the cards must work together to cover all aspects of life.
• Query major Tarot deck publishers like U.S. Games to see if they're interested in publishing your design.
• Don't rely on the booklet of meanings that comes with every Tarot deck.