Creating Your Own Deck

[Ci Celli Ddu]

Has anyone any tips to offer regarding creating your own Tarot decks, especiallly in conjunction with computers?

[Anibis]

Well... It might help to start with sigils. Also be clear about the structure of the deck.... One way to jump start it is to do 22 consecutive meditations on the ATU, and draw them... use these sketches as seed for your final images. As for structure, I think that strength as 8 and Justice as 11 is a far superior arrangement... but take a good long gander at the associative tables in 777, and Crowleys Book of Thoth... I think, though that a more modern text of that sort is important too... maybe 'The Magician's Companion'. All this if you wish to do a Qabalistic tarot. If you prefer to decouple them, then you have a bit more freedom... play.
-Anibis
(and of course the Thoth Count is a powerhouse of a Tarot engine, but who am I to toot my own horn....)

[Anibis]

To create a Tarot is the work of the Wand.
To divine with Tarot is the work of the Cup.
To think on the structure of the Tarot is the work of the Sword.
The Tarot deck in it's physical form is a Pentacle.

The Spirit of the Tarot is living information...

-Anibis

[Anibis]

On a sideline, read Frances Yate's 'The Art of Memory', and try to see how her research applies also to the Tarot... Consider the oral tradition...
-Anibis

[Ci Celli Ddu]

Thanks Anibis. Actually, I was thinking more on the lines of how to physically create a deck.

[Anibis]

Oh, you mean like how to draw and print it etc? Well, try photoshop... you could scan images in then tweak them... I dunno really, that end of it is a bit self explanatory to me: use tools, make the deck... Or am I missing something?
-A-
MythMath will have some ideas about printing and Laminating, I think...

[Ci Celli Ddu]

Well I suppose the printing and laminating part interests me. Ive got a HP Deskjet, but that's for printing onto paper...

But don't let me limit the topic here. I'm also interested in all aspects of creating decks, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

And what would Abrahadabra's own deck look like, I ask myself?

[MythMath]

Well, I've hand-built a few prototype decks now, and I'm currently
building a couple more, so I'll claim some competence:

http://forums.abrahadabra.com/showpost.php?p=15819&postcount=5


My original production method was very
labor-intensive, but very cheap...

I'm in the process of re-tooling a bit to optimize* the production...
_________________________

I design the cards in photoshop, and lay them
out '8 up' (8 cards per 8.5"x11" sheet)...

I prefer the wider 'poker size' over 'bridge' width...

I typically use white 110lb. index/cardstock through my
trusty, though old-ish and very inexpensive, HP printer...

Some commercial playing cards are printed on a special stock that
actually has a layer of black sandwiched between the two white
surfaces, to prevent being able to see through the cards...

I have not been able to obtain any of this to try out however...
________________________________

TYPICAL PROCEDURE:

After all of the card designs have been completed (fronts and backs):

1. Print both the obverse and reverse sides of a sheet (8 cards).

2. Laminate both sides.

3. Cut out the individual cards.

4. Round off the corners using a corner punch or die cutter.

5. Burnish all around the perimeter to seal lamination at edges.

6. Shuffle, cut, spread.

7. Divine. :p
_______________________

* For the next batch of decks I'm going to try having kinko's (printshop) do the
lamination at about $2/sheet (instead of applying it by hand) and I'll roundcut
the corners using a heftier benchmount diecutter press instead of a handpunch...

If you have any other questions, I'll try to answer 'em...

MM

PS - I'm for hire (design and/or fabrication)... ;)

And I'd love to collaborate on a 418 deck... :yes:

[Ci Celli Ddu]

If you have any other questions, I'll try to answer 'em...

MM

PS - I'm for hire (design and/or fabrication)... ;)

And I'd love to collaborate on a 418 deck... :yes:

Thanks. What's a 418 deck?

[MythMath]

Gematria

As with most things found in the mystical works of Aleister Crowley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley),
the word Abrahadabra can be examined using the qabalistic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qabalah) method of gematria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria),
which is a form of numerology, whereby correspondences are made based on numerical values.
ABRAHADABRA = 418
ABRAHADABRA has 11 letters
ABRAHADABRA = 1+2+2+1+5+1+4+1+2+2+1 = 22
The five letters in the word are: A, the Crown; B, the Wand; D, the Cup; H, the Sword; R, the Rosy Cross; and refer further to Amoun the Father, Thoth His messenger, and Isis, Horus, Osiris, the divine-human triad.
Also 418 = ATh IAV, the Essence of IAO
418= BVLShKIN, or Boleskine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boleskine)
418= RA HVVR, or Ra Hoor
418= ∑(13-31)
Abrahadabra is from Abrasax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrasax), Father Sun, which = 365
418 = 22 x 19 Manifestationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahadabra

[Ci Celli Ddu]

Ah. I'm more into Myth than Math :p

[MythMath]

As with all polar relationships,
Balance is the Key... :yes:

[MythMath]

I was just using 418 as shorthand for Abrahadabra...

I don't wanna get all mathy or anything... :no:

Being a visual/geometry man, I prefer
my math without numerals, anyway... :yes:

[Ci Celli Ddu]

well, now I know. I thought you might mean a deck with 418 cards :o_O:

[m1thr0s]

this topic seems to be going on in a couple of places at once.

I think maybe the whole idea of *creating your own deck* has been misinterpreted, even among so-called masters of the craft. A successful magician might design numerous decks in the course of a single lifetime all sort of earmarking and advancing his/her own work. There are many good reasons to create decks and what you do exactly will vary accordingly. There decks you create to consolidate your own *gnosis*. There are decks you create to communicate important new ideas. There are decks you create to encapsulate and declare a life's work and all shades in between. I rather think people should always have at least one deck in motion at all times personally...

m1thr0s