Home made tarot deck
This is a bit of a rant I just wanted to share!
So, I don’t like the rider waite deck because I have a severe chronic illness and it’s very hard for me to remember the meaning of the cards. There’s also cards in the deck that naturally is scary when you live a dangerous life like this, health wise. So that deck is just not my cup of tea however I do respect how versatile it is.
I’m also a romantic at heart and I love movies, soulmates, romanticism, character types etc. So I made my own home made tarot deck literally by cutting out paper and writing the title and meaning on the cards. This made it quite simple for me to interpret what the cards mean. What’s frustrating about rider Waite is that each card seems to have so many different meanings that it’s just very hard for a brain with low cognitive capacity to interpret as well as frustrating. There’s also cards in the deck that I genuinely dislike because as someone with a trauma background, anything hidden, mysterious, confusing, conflicting triggers me a lot. I need certainty or some type of structure. So the cards like the high priestess and the moon etc is just very frustrating for me to see and makes me feel really bad. Then there’s cards with imagery that’s also really triggering and to me I just see abandonment and disinterest, such as two of swords, four of cups, four of pentacles, six of swords, four of swords, eight of cups. They might not have that meaning for others without trauma or other type of trauma, but they do to me and I get really triggered and feel left behind, abandoned and not considered and ignored when I see this imagery.
So for all of these reasons and many more, I made my own. Because I’m also a romantic and all this stuff, I made my own perfect pairing archetype cards. Some of them represent emotional unavailability and restraint, some of them represent tenderness, vulnerability, sincerity, love, and some of them represent strong, mature, radiant archetypes.
Non-triggering card meanings: For example I have a card that says transformation on it with a butterfly, which feels positive or neutral whereas the death card feels scary. If you understand.
However, the cards are not an equivalent to the rider Waite deck at all. I just wrote down direction/changes/energies as well as some emotional states and archetypes for love or what states people can operate from (restraint, freedom, fear and guardedness etc). It’s great. And it’s fun to make my own character cards inspired by movies or symbolism etc.
Another thing I’m unhappy with a lot of tarot cards is that personally I don’t think I can easily see what kind of emotion or state each card represents. I would love a divination deck where you look at the picture and you’re like ah, totally get it. Like if you did a reading for a friend and they looked at the images they’d also understand it instantly. So I wish I could make images for my deck but sadly I don’t know how haha I can’t sit here and paint like 100 cards.
Anyway that leads me to wonder if there’s tarot decks that are re-imagined and not based on rider Waite at all? One of my favorite movies is pirates of the Caribbean and I love the fantasy of mermaids, pirates, pearls, the ocean, compass, a heart in a chest, treasure, captain and that type of symbolism. I would absolutely adore a deck like that but not based on rider Waite but a unique new system. Are there new thinking tarot decks that aren’t based on rider Waite? Would absolutely love that! I’ve looked into oracle cards but many of them are so confusing because they can say three words like “luxury, effort, peace” and I’m like huh. That’s very mixed and I don’t understand what it’s trying to say. I like it when things are clear.
Anyway just wanted to share my thoughts around tarot :)
Update: thank you for all the comments I’m going through them bit by bit as I can 💕 esp thanks to those who were supportive. Also want to remind anyone that might feel inclined to give unsolicited advice about strangers mental health and trauma on the internet, to not do so unless you were asked:) especially snarky or passive aggressive comments aren’t nice to receive no matter what :)