Can you make your own tarot deck, or are there rules for it?

Marcus-Ellington

Has anyone here ever made their own tarot deck? Are there any rules about it? Like, does the whole deck have to follow one theme — animals, space, ocean, whatever — or can each card be a totally different concept/art style?

My parents are really religious and wouldn’t let me buy a deck, so I got a pack of blank cards and thought I might try making one myself.

EHarrison

Yes, go for it. Every tarot deck started because someone decided to make their own version. There's no rule that your deck has to stick to a single theme — make it cohesive or mix-and-match, whatever feels right.

Tarot is more about symbolism, intuition, and the personal meanings you attach to the cards than about the physical deck. The cards are tools for interpretation and storytelling, so creating something personal can be really meaningful.

EmilyDavis

I'd say go for it. Follow your intuition and whatever grabs your interest, and read up as you go. You learn a ton just from the process of making a deck, and if it doesn't feel quite right at first you can always tweak things or start a new version later.

Samantha_Reed

Yes, absolutely! I’d also recommend trying standard playing cards for divination. The earliest tarot decks were basically just ordinary playing cards used in a different way, so it’s a pretty natural place to start.

LMoretti

Samantha_Reed It's kind of neat how that connection pops up in so much tarot writing. Playing card suits line up pretty directly with tarot suits, even though they came from different contexts. You can really see the historical overlap, and I think that's why people still reach for a regular deck for simple divination.

Samantha_Reed

LMoretti Yep, that’s the usual mapping: spades to swords, clubs to wands, hearts to cups, and diamonds to pentacles.

That bit about your grandmother using Spanish naipes is really neat. In a lot of European traditions people kept their reading decks separate from everyday gaming cards, since the same cards were often used for both play and divination.

ANovak

Definitely go for it! If you can get your hands on Steven Bright’s The Oracle Creator: The Modern Guide to Creating an Oracle or Tarot Deck, grab it, it’s packed with practical ideas and step-by-step instructions for designing your own cards and putting a full deck together from scratch.