Last Saturday’s Tarot for Writers meetup was SO interesting. Corinne taught us about making our own (majors only, for now) Tarot deck using collage. I have to admit, it would be better if I was not using tape, which may look like crap when I start scanning them into the computer, but considering it’s my first Tarot deck I don’t care, it’s exciting! I grabbed every magazine I could find and tore out pages and pictures like a madwoman, and now I have a stack of stuff to turn into cards.

I’m not going crazy with this. A few simple pictures per card is plenty. The Fool is represented by a fairly large photo of a sleeping baby (babies are at the beginning of the journey of their life), with a stuffed lamb (innocence), and some mountains in the background (an homage to the mountains in the Rider Waite card). I love my Empress card – a happy pregnant woman with nice style, a field of irises, sexy purple heels (just because she’s a mom doesn’t mean she can’t still be sexy), and then I moved on to the next card… and a few cards later I decided to go back and add the image I had of a glass of milk and some homemade chocolate chip cookies, which is another motherly picture. SO cute, I love this card… I already said that. Ha ha.

So I have finished my first 9 cards, The Fool through Strength. I am moving through the major arcana in order simply because I don’t want to get confused, and I still have to add the titles. But overall, I’m very happy with the cards so far. Some are better than others, but given the fact that I’m working with what I have… yeah, it’s working out pretty well. Tomorrow I hope to finish the rest of the cards.

And then I can scan them into the computer and post a couple examples! Like my Empress!

So here’s the deal. Last year I used Tarot cards to help me come up with ideas for my NaNoNovel. This year, the group is going to create our own decks to use with the exercises because it will help make the results more personal. I have wanted to make my own deck for a long time, but haven’t yet because I’m a perfectionist and afraid of doing it “wrong.” So it’s been so nice to release that urge to be perfect and just go with my instincts. A sense of freedom.

But looking at my Fool card makes me tired. LOL! So bedtime now, and more collage Tarot on my lunch break tomorrow.