Creating Your Own Tarot Deck: A Guide for Effective Personal Interpretation
Creating your own tarot deck can be a highly rewarding and powerful experience. By designing your own tarot cards, you tap into a personal and subconscious connection to the symbols and meanings that work best for you. This can enhance your reading abilities and provide more meaningful insights for yourself and those you read for.
Understanding and Imprinting Your Own Symbols
If you decide to create your own tarot deck, it is important to focus on personal representation. Each card in the tarot represents a significant symbol and emotion. By drawing your own illustrations, you allow your subconscious to imprint your preconceived images and interpretations. This can translate effectively when reading for someone else, as the imagery and meanings become more deeply rooted in your personal experience.
For example, the Tower card in the Major Arcana is the Path that connects the ninth Sephirah (Glory - Chokmah) and the tenth Sephirah (Victory - Netzach) on the Tree of Life. Understanding these connections can help you learn and improve your interpretive abilities. Making these references highly visible will enhance your personal connection to the cards and your understanding of their meanings.
Qabalistic References and Symbolic Meanings
In order to fully leverage the power of your tarot deck, it is recommended to make qabalistic references highly visible on the cards. Qabalistic references such as the Sephiroth on the Tree of Life and the elemental suits on the Minor Arcana can significantly improve your interpretive abilities. For instance, on the Major Arcana cards, showing which Sephiroth is connected by the path the card represents can deepen your understanding of the symbolism and meaning of each card.
The Minor Arcana cards should also depict the Sephiroth and elemental suit. For example, the Eight of Swords could represent the connection to the Sephirah Hod, and its elemental suit of Earth. This will help to remind the reader of the meaning through symbolic representation, which can be more effective according to the subjective experiences of the person interpreting the cards.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Create your own tarot deck by starting with a theme and contemplating each card's meaning according to that theme. While the cards themselves are just cards, the power lies in the understanding and interpretive abilities of the person using them. It is recommended to stick to the original 78-card arrangement, but the designs should be used to remind the reader of the symbolic meanings, aiding in a more accurate interpretation.
To design your own tarot deck, the only knowledge you need is a basic understanding of the 78-card structure and the meanings of each card. You can even rename the cards if it aligns better with your deck's theme. Barnes and Noble offers a kit for creating a tarot deck for just $20.
In conclusion, creating your own tarot deck can be a powerful tool for personal and spiritual growth. By designing your own deck, you can create a more meaningful and effective method of interpreting the symbols and meanings that resonate with you the most.