What you need:
Playing card deck - you should remove the face cards since they don’t have a lot of clear surfaces to write on, and you can use multiple decks. I only used one because this deck is probably older than me and I wanted them to be the same coloration on the back and the paper itself.
Sharpies (fine tip) - do not use the sharpies made for writing on paper, the ones sold as pens for schoolwork. The ink does not set on plasticized or waxed card surfaces and it will smear unless you’re an art nerd like me and happen to have charcoal fixative on hand.
Something to take notes on and a computer - you’ll need to to a little planning.
Do you have or want a theme for your deck? During this tutorial, I’m going to be drafting a series of example ten card decks to show you what you can do with your cards. If you want a theme, pick one. If you’re having trouble coming up with one, think on these things:
- Do you already have any tarot or oracle decks? What would you want different from them? - My answer was deck without any gender or human figures. It’s easy to do that when you’re drawing them yourself.
- What type of witchcraft do you like the most? We’ve all seen those posts with types of witchcraft floating around. Now they’re useful. You like storms? Make a weather deck. You like nature? Make a wild things deck. You like rocks? Make a geology deck. You like music? Make a lyrics/band themed deck. I could go on.
- Is this going to be a serious deck or not? Do you like shitposting? Make a tarot deck like that. You want a little more strict answers than ‘golden age of memes’ or ‘leroy jenkins’? Make a serious deck. (For the record, Leroy Jenkins would make a great chaos card.)
- Do you want a fandom deck? Use characters as inspiration. Do you want a religious deck? Use the pantheon - hellenics have the edge on this, guys. So many deities.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck.
- Candle Scents deck.
- Very Serious deck.
- Dead Artists deck.
Note: The card art doesn’t matter right now. Do not worry about that.
Pick a few card names to start you off. In my personal deck, I started off with Light, Dark, Ritual, and Chaos. Figure out what kind of ideals or things are the most important in your deck them and write them down. Try for four at the very least.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck - The Holy Grail, The Flying Circus, Not Dead Yet, Minister of Silly Walks
- Candle Scents deck - Generic Vanilla, Did They Put A Cupcake In This, Too Spicy Musk, Overwhelming Floral
- Very Serious Deck - Life, Death, Change, Motion
- Dead Artists Deck - Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo
These are basic cards that you think the deck cannot exist without. It should be easy to come up with just four ideas like that.
Look at your seed cards and figure out what’s missing.For my personal deck, I realized that light and dark are two opposing elements and then I decided to add in the other elements to the deck. Try and find connections between the cards you currently have. I’m picking four more in my example decks, but you should try for as many as you can come up with.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck - Some Call Me Tim, Castle Anthrax, Nasty Pointy Teeth, Dead Parrot
- Candle Scents deck - Black Candle Named Onyx (Is That Even A Smell), Doin’ Peachy, The Ocean Does Not Smell Like This, Is Sandalwood Real
- Very Serious Deck - Barrier, Attack, Mirror, Between
- Dead Artists Deck - Auguste Rodin, Marcel Duchamp, Sol LeWitt, Louise Nevelson
Are you stuck? Can’t come up with any more? Good. You wouldn’t be reading this tutorial if you had it all down. I’m assuming that like me, you had more than half the deck left by the time you were done with your first spurt of ideas.
Separate one or two suits from the rest. I used clubs, but you should use the one that has the most cards currently blank. These cards are going to be negative cards. They are going to be ‘bad’ cards. Be sure to write ONLY negative things on them.
Look at your cards, see if there are any that have obvious opposites that you’re missing. If you have a balance card, make sure you have an imbalance card. If you have a protection card, make sure you have a weakness card. If you have a flesh/physical self card, make sure you have a spirit card. So on and so forth. I am adding one more card to my example decks - putting me to nine of ten.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck - Life of Brian (let’s be real this movie is horrible except for the sperm song)
- Candle Scents deck - Inexplicable Habañero Pepper-Scent
- Very Serious Deck - Failure
- Dead Artists Deck - Paul Gaughin (don’t get me started about “Spirit of the Dead Watching”)
Still stuck? More cards left? Google, my friend. Google like the wind. If you’re doing anything that references existing items, people, or characters, go to wikipedia and page jump through your sources. If you are doing more of an abstract, serious deck, look up lists of herb meanings, of stone meanings, of personality traits, of checklists and character creators. Most of those will give you ideas.
Repeat the steps above until you’re done. Remember this. It’s your personal deck. It’s okay if it doesn’t make sense right now. It’s okay if you choose things randomly. It’ll work out for you, and push comes to shove, you just have to buy a new deck of playing cards and start over.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck - Hamsters and Elderberries
- Candle Scents deck - Unscented
- Very Serious Deck - Success
- Dead Artists Deck - Georges Braque
Artwork. Symbolism is your friend. Unless you are an artist, chances are you don’t want to illustrate anything from my example decks above. Choose something that symbolizes each of your card concepts, or choose a pattern that you think might give the feeling. Straight lines for obedience/rules/rituals, jagged for rebellion/chaos/change. Circles for continuity. Triangles for strength. Squares for containment. Rectangles for trade. Squiggles for fluidity. Hearts for love. Symbolism.
Suits. It doesn’t really matter what concepts go on which cards, but if you want to make sure that only positive stuff goes on red-suits and negative stuff goes on black-suits, be my guest. Don’t sweat it if the suits don’t all match up with the concepts.
But what do they MEAN? Here’s the tough part that I nearly forgot to write up. Guess what? You’re going to use these before you decide on what the meanings are. Yes. That’s right. Open up your ask boxes, recruit your friends. Use the hell out of these. Develop your own meanings. I’ll flesh out my entire example decks below to help out, but the meanings are ultimately yours. Be sure not to declaw the negative cards, though. You need some bad news for good news to matter.
Finished Example Decks. The definitions are short and sweet, but you can go as in depth as you want to.
Monty Python fandom deck
- Hamsters and Elderberries - need for protection, attacks
- The Holy Grail - truth, justice, the arthurian way
- The Flying Circus - repetition, practice
- Not Dead Yet - endings, futility
- Minister of Silly Walks - government, control in chaos
- Some Call Me Tim - wisdom, enlightenment, rams horns
- Castle Anthrax - confusion, chaos, women between 16-20
- Nasty Pointy Teeth - danger in disguise, threat
- Dead Parrot - arguments, anger
- Life of Brian - no, don’t bother, I hate you
Candle Scents deck
- Unscented - no answer
- Generic Vanilla - reliability
- Did They Put A Cupcake In This - perfection, righteousness
- Too Spicy Musk - trying too hard, bad decisions
- Overwhelming Floral - hidden things, secrets
- Black Candle Named Onyx (Is That Even A Smell) - confusion
- Doin’ Peachy - good things, growth
- The Ocean Does Not Smell Like This - cleansing, rites and rituals
- Is Sandalwood Real - is it really though?
- Inexplicable Habañero Pepper-Scent - chaos, madness
Very Serious Deck
- Success - winning, success, good
- Life - beginnings, new
- Death - endings, old
- Change - differences, disagreement
- Motion - effort, movement
- Barrier - blockages, prevention
- Attack - damage, fighting
- Mirror - introspection
- Between - balance, imbalance, stuff
- Failure - no
Dead Artists Deck
- Georges Braque - too late for this research
- Vincent Van Gogh - probably sadness and confusion
- Pablo Picasso - unappreciated genius
- Salvador Dalí - madness and math
- Frida Kahlo - bad bitch best bitch
- Auguste Rodin - he did the thing? with the things
- Marcel Duchamp - toilets and glass frames with stuff
- Sol LeWitt - where is my education, what is it worth
- Louise Nevelson - something about spiders oh wait wrong artist
- Paul Gaughin - colonialism and taking advantage of women
Feel free to use any of my example decks if you want to. I may make a dead artists deck, but not right now. I need to do some real research first.
