I first became intrigued with Tarot over 20 years ago - have been "playing" with it ever since, and have used and collected many different decks over the years. One of the first things I did as I became more familiar and infatuated with Tarot was to stop going to readers at all! I realized I liked reading for myself, enjoyed the self-examination inherent in this, and began to develop my own ideas about the cards. I even developed my own layout for reading.

I got pretty good at reading in general over the years, and for a while actually gave readings to the public. After about 5 years of doing this I decided I didn't want to read for anyone other than myself anymore. My experiences with all the various persons I had read for had only convinced me that the proper and best way to use tarot was indeed for yourself - either as a meditational tool or to come to terms (if one can be both strong enough and objective enough) with the events in one's life.

Realizing this, I knew that I must create my own tarot deck. I knew that it would be a huge project. I am part of the way through with a deck that I hope to be publishing someday; if not as a deck then as a series of art prints for sale. I plan to begin putting these images onto a website soon: when I do I'll include a link to it here. It struck me as I went along that I wanted to create something very personal as well: another deck that is just for and about me and very specific to my life and circumstances. I wanted the characters in the Majors, for example, to be just myself and a familiar male spirit. (To reflect the balance of these energies that makes one whole.) In the minors we two interact with other characters from my life and experience. I vacillated for a while on creating this deck because I couldn't see this male's face very well although I knew he was half-animal and very probably half-wolf (the totem animal of my male right side). When I saw Wolf in the 10th Kingdom I was extremely startled by him because not only was a being like him an already-familiar figure for me - but I now knew what the male in my Tarot cards should look like as well! And so I began on this deck. Of course it will never be published, but I thought somebody out there might enjoy seeing the images- so I'm putting them here on my personal website!

Here is a little bit about the philosophy I use in creating a Tarot deck. This applies to both decks I'm doing...

For me, what a tarot deck boils down to is a set of symbols representing archetypes and archetypal experiences that are possible in our lives. In developing my own cards I realized that I needed to set up a sort of cohesive "master plan" for the whole thing before I began. This may be altered somewhat as I go along, especially since I like to work intuitively! But the basic guidelines I set up for my deck are as follows...

The Major Arcana symbolize the various roles we will play in our lives. They are the "big energies", representing divine intervention, if you will. We don't work on them: they work on us! In my deck I am keeping some of the traditional names for these cards; but changing some. For example, I call my card 5 not "Heirophant" but "Judge" because that more readily represents a conventional authority figure for me. Oh! and please note that in this deck I'm making for my own personal use, the card titles are in Spanish! (Don't worry, 'tho - I'll always list the name in English as well!)

The Minor Arcana cards Ace thru 10 are elemental cards and depict activities and events that we may encounter in daily life. I call my suits (and there are FIVE of them, by the way!) by their elemental names - AIR: involving swords; knives; blades, and arrows; deals with mental processes and struggle; orientation East; time of day: Dawn; time of year: Spring - colors Red to Yellow. FIRE: involving wands, sticks, pipes; deals with energies/channels (expression, in-spiration); orientation South; time of day: Noon; time of year: Summer - colors Yellow to Green. WATER: involving cups; bowls; vessels: dealing with emotions (love and/or friendship, devotion); orientation West; time of day Sunset; time of year: Fall - colors Green to Blue. ETHER: (my fifth suit...falls in the deep blue time after dark- the dreamtime) involving dream images and dealing with the dreamspace and other non-ordinary realities; orientation Zenith/Nadir; colors deep Blue to Purple. And EARTH: involving discs, stones, beads, shields; deals with the physical/material (resources, livelihood); orientation North; time of day: Night; time of year: Winter - colors Purple thru the Red of a New Dawn. These Minor Arcana form a wheel of experience; the colors a spectral wheel. I have re- figured the traditional "people cards" that appear at the end of each suit (Page; Knight; Queen; King) to reflect levels of experience each person moves thru, rather than a royal heirarchy that most can't identify with anyway - thus my new people cards are Child, Student, Teacher, Elder.

In my explorations, I've run into a few decks created by artists who consciously chose not to depict any negative experiences or imagery. This idea sounds appealing; and for some sort of personal meditational work these may be O.K. The trouble is: life is not like that! And if one wants a true depiction of real life possibilities and events for divination then there will be some negativity involved, and I have accepted this in creating my deck.

As for the physics of creating the images: they are acrylics on unprimed canvas, consistently sized at 18"x24" (A size I feel very comfortable working with). I write and sketch about each image in a special Tarot journal before I begin on the canvas. Each one is truly a meditation for me. (And also a lot of fun!) I realize it may take me years to complete this deck; at the same time I feel it may be personally the most important work of my life!

Share your Tarot thoughts with me! Click on the blinking eye at the bottom of the page to send me an e-mail!