Sep 30 - Create your Renamed Cards

Renaming tarot cards isn’t just for deck creators. It’s for anyone who wants their deck to speak in a voice that feels true.

You don’t have to rename all seventy-eight. You don’t have to publish a deck. You just have to ask: What name would help me meet this card with clarity, compassion, or courage?

🧩 Why You Might Rename a Card

• The original name feels emotionally charged or spiritually misaligned

• You want to soften, sharpen, or reframe the archetype

• You’re building a personal symbolic system - one that reflects your lived experience

• You want your deck to feel like a conversation, not a lecture

🖋️ How to Rename Your Cards

1. Start with One Pick a card that feels sticky, confusing, or emotionally intense. Ask: What name would help me engage with this card more openly?

2. Map the Emotional Climate What does this card feel like in your body? Is it heavy, sharp, warm, expansive? Let the name reflect that.

3. Use Metaphor, Not Just Meaning You don’t have to be literal. “The Tower” might become “Lightning,” “Crack,” or “The Shift.” “The Devil” might become “Shadow,” “Bind,” or “The Mirror.”

4. Keep a Renaming Journal Track your renamed cards, emotional notes, and symbolic logic. You’re building a dialect - one that speaks your truth.

5. Let It Be Fluid You can rename a card for a season, a reading, or a mood. Your deck is allowed to evolve.

🧠 Reader Prompts

• What card name feels misaligned for you?

• What renamed version would feel more emotionally true?

• If your deck spoke your language, what would it say?

✨ Final Thought

Renaming isn’t rebellion. It’s resonance.

Your tarot deck doesn’t need to be traditional to be powerful. It just needs to speak in a way that helps you listen.

Sep 23 - Tarot Affirmations

Pick a card and create an affirmation inspired by it.

✨ Look at the card and ask: what message does it have for me today?
✨ Turn that message into a short, positive statement you can carry through the day.
✨ Bonus points if your deck already has built-in affirmations - you can use or adapt them!

For example:

• The Sun - “I shine brightly and welcome joy into my life.”

• Strength - “I face challenges with courage and compassion.”

• Two of Pentacles - “I balance life’s demands with grace and flexibility.”

Want to add a little fun twist? Try using a card drawn reversed to inspire an affirmation about what to release, or pick a random card for a surprise message that might shift your day in unexpected ways.

Carry your affirmation with you, repeat it when you need a reminder, or jot it down in a journal. Even a small card-sized thought can shift your day in surprising ways.

💭 Which card would you pick for your affirmation today, and what would it say?

Aug 20 - Tarot Playlist

Pick as many cards as you like and create a playlist inspired by them.

🎵 Match songs to a card’s theme, story, or energy.
🎵 Use lyrics that resonate with the card’s message.
🎵 Go abstract if you like - maybe a song feels like The Moon even if it doesn’t mention it.

Here’s a little example:

• The Fool - a carefree, adventurous track that sparks wanderlust.

• The Tower - a dramatic, chaotic anthem for life’s surprises.

• The Star - a soothing, hopeful tune to lift the spirit.

• Nine of Cups - a playful, celebratory song for indulging in joy.

It’s a fun way to explore your deck in a new way and see how music and tarot can dance together. Your cards might inspire a whole mood, a specific moment, or even a mini story.

💭 Which card would headline your playlist today - and what song immediately comes to mind?

Aug 2 - Tarot Bingo

Shuffle your deck and set up a little friendly competition!

For groups:
1️⃣ Create your bingo cards: fill each square with a tarot card, symbol, suit, or situation (like “The Tower,” “a cup,” or “unexpected news”).
2️⃣ Shuffle the deck and start dealing cards.
3️⃣ When a drawn card matches a square on your card, mark it off.
4️⃣ First player to complete a row, column, or diagonal shouts “Bingo!” and wins.

Solo version:
Draw cards one by one, marking them on a self-made bingo sheet. Set a goal - a row, column, or full card - and see how quickly your deck reveals the spread. It’s a playful way to notice patterns, practice card recognition, or just have a little fun with a single-card daily draw.

Bonus points for dramatic commentary - “Ah, the Three of Swords! Plot twist!”

💭 If you were making a Tarot Bingo card for yourself, which cards or symbols would be your must-haves?

Jun 30 - How to Create your Fandom Deck

You don’t need to publish a deck to design one. You just need a fandom, a cast, and a symbolic system that makes emotional sense.

A fandom deck takes your favourite world - whether it’s sci-fi, felt-covered, post-apocalyptic, or lovingly absurd - and reimagines it through tarot’s archetypes. You’re not just assigning characters. You’re mapping emotional logic.

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🃏 Step 1: Choose Your Fandom

Pick a world with strong archetypes, ensemble dynamics, and emotional depth. Some favourites we’ve explored include:

• The Muppets

• Stargate

• The Tribe

• Welcome to Night Vale

• Fraggle Rock

• Doctor Who

• Avatar: The Last Airbender

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🧩 Step 2: Cast the Majors

Assign characters or concepts to the Major Arcana based on feeling, not just plot roles.
Examples:

• The Fool → The Recruit (Stargate)

• The Emperor → Kermit (The Muppets)

• The Tower → The Broadcast (Night Vale)

• The Lovers → Piggy & Kermit (The Muppets)

• Judgement → The Glow Cloud (Night Vale)

• The Hierophant → The System Lord (Stargate) or Mokey (Fraggle Rock)

Ask yourself:

• Who carries this archetype’s emotional weather?

• Who challenges, comforts, or transforms others in this way?

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🪄 Step 3: Rename the Suits

Give your suits a twist that fits the world you’ve chosen. Examples:

• Wands → Missions (Stargate)

• Cups → Connections (The Tribe)

• Swords → Broadcasts (Night Vale)

• Pentacles → Resources (Post-apocalyptic worlds)

Or try element-based or role-based sets:
Fire / Water / Air / Earth
Microphones / Maps / Keys / Threads
Rebels / Healers / Strategists / Dreamers

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🎨 Step 4: Emotional Mapping

Think beyond the surface aesthetics. Ask:

• What emotional tone runs through this deck?

• Is it hopeful, chaotic, tragic, absurd, tender?

• How does the world’s flavour shift the way you read the cards?

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🧠 Reader Prompts

• What fandom would you build a deck around?

• Who would you cast as The Fool, The Tower, or The Star?

• What suit names feel true to that world’s emotional logic?

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✨ Final Thought

Designing a fandom deck isn’t just fan art - it’s emotional cartography. You’re tracing the symbolic heartbeat of stories that already live in your mind. You don’t have to finish the deck (few of us ever do), but every card you map deepens your understanding of the archetypes.

Whether you build it for fun, for ritual, or just because you can’t stop thinking about what kind of High Priestess Miss Piggy would make, your deck is allowed to be weird, wonderful, and wildly specific.

Which world would you turn into a deck - and who’s your Fool?

Jun 26 - Yes, but...

Pull three cards:
1️⃣ One for the situation.
2️⃣ One for the twist.
3️⃣ One for the outcome.

The first card sets the scene: what’s going on, what’s normal, what you expect.
The second card throws in a twist - the “yes, but…” moment that changes everything.
The third card shows how it all turns out, the resolution after the surprise.

Think of it as a mini story with your cards. Sometimes the twist is subtle, sometimes it’s wild - either way, it keeps your reading playful and inventive.

Example:

• Situation: The Sun - everything is bright and positive.

• Twist: The Moon - a hidden factor or uncertainty appears.

• Outcome: The Fool - a new path emerges, maybe a leap of faith is needed.

Suddenly your sunny scenario has a curveball, and the resolution isn’t what you expected - a reminder that life (and tarot) loves a little drama.

💭 What situation, twist, and outcome are showing up for you today - is it dramatic, funny, or a little mysterious?

Jun 10 - Draw your Own

Pull a card, take a deep breath, and grab your favourite pen, pencil, or brush. Now… draw your own interpretation of its meaning.

It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece - it’s about seeing the card through your eyes and letting your creativity flow. Maybe you focus on the symbols, the colours, or the story the card tells you personally. Maybe it turns into a doodle, a full-on sketch, or an abstract splash of emotion.

For a little extra fun, try a creative challenge: limit yourself to just one colour, or draw the card upside-down, or even only use shapes and lines - see what your intuition does when you shake things up a bit!

The fun part? Every card can inspire something different every time you draw it. Over time, you’ll start seeing patterns in your interpretations and discovering new layers of your own intuition.

💭 Which card would you pick first - one that feels familiar, or one that always surprises you?

May 27 - How to Create your Magpie Deck

Ready to build your own Magpie deck? Gather your favourite decks and prepare for joyful chaos.

Start by spreading out all your options - this is the shiny-hoarder stage. Pick the cards that make your heart leap: the Hermit whose lantern glows just right, the Ten of Cups that feels like home. Don’t overthink it; intuition is your compass here.

Once you’ve chosen your flock, check for compatibility. Consistent card sizes make shuffling less like a workout. You can edge the cards in a single colour to visually tie them together, or embrace the glorious mismatch. Some readers even scan and reprint their choices in a uniform style (a whole craft project in itself).

Finally, consecrate your creation: give it a name, a pouch, maybe a crystal or charm. You’ve built a one-of-a-kind tool that reads exactly the way you do.

If you made a Magpie deck today, which card from which deck would absolutely have to be in it?

May 25 - A Day in the Life of (Card)

Pick a card - any card - and imagine what an ordinary day looks like for them.

What’s breakfast for The Empress? (Probably something home-grown and beautifully plated.)
How does The Hermit spend the afternoon? (Spoiler: it involves peace, quiet, and possibly tea.)
And what about the Five of Wands - are they arguing over whose turn it is to make dinner again?

You can write it like a diary entry, a comic scene, or a mini screenplay. The goal is to see your card as a character living their truth in the everyday.

✨ What card do you think would have the most chaotic morning routine?

Apr 28 - Creating your Traditional Deck

You don’t need a publisher or a Kickstarter to design a tarot deck - you just need ideas, symbols, and a spark of curiosity. Your deck can be hand-drawn, digital, collage, or scribbled on index cards with a half-dry marker. The point isn’t perfection. It’s expression.

Building your own deck is one of the best ways to get to know the tarot more deeply. Every choice you make - every symbol, colour, or character - reveals what you believe the cards mean.

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🃏 Step 1: Choose Your Vision

What kind of world do you want your deck to live in?

• Something traditional, re-imagined through your lens?

• Something surreal, mythic, or modern?

• A deck that celebrates a theme - nature, cities, emotions, cats?

If you’re unsure, start by noting what you love in existing decks. Do you prefer soft watercolours or sharp geometry? Gentle guidance or brutal honesty? That’s your aesthetic compass.

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🧩 Step 2: Start with the Majors

The Major Arcana are your deck’s backbone.
Sketch or list your first impressions:

• What image says “Fool” to you?

• What would your Tower look like - chaos or breakthrough?

• What kind of world sits behind your Star?

Don’t worry about getting it “right”. Tarot has been reinterpreted for centuries - you’re just the next link in the chain.

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🪄 Step 3: Build the Minors

Think about how your suits connect. Are they the classic Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles? Or do you want to rename them to fit your theme - Seasons, Elements, Stories, Dreams?

Keep a consistent system of symbolism and energy. (Or don’t. You’re the artist. Just make sure you can still read with it later!)

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🎨 Step 4: Bring It to Life

Decide on your medium - drawing, collage, digital art, mixed media. Or, if art isn’t your thing, build it symbolically with found images, or even words and key phrases.

You can print your cards at home, use online printing services, or create a digital reading version on your phone or tablet.

When you’ve finished a few cards, try a spread with them. You’ll instantly see where your imagery sings and where it still mumbles.

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🧠 Reader Prompts

• What would your Fool look like?

• Which card do you most want to redesign from scratch?

• Would your deck be serious, whimsical, or somewhere in between?

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✨ Final Thought

Creating a deck isn’t about art skill or technical perfection. It’s about dialogue - between you and the tarot, between symbol and soul. The cards you make will always read more honestly than you expect, because they speak your language.

Whether you craft a full seventy-eight cards or just sketch the ones that fascinate you, it’s your deck, your vision, your voice.

Closing question:
If you designed a deck today, what would be its theme - and what would you call it?

Apr 25 - Hero vs Villain

Draw two cards: one to play the hero, one to play the villain.
How does their story unfold? What’s the conflict between them?
Is the hero noble and selfless - or just self-righteous? Is the villain cruel and cunning - or simply misunderstood?

Let the cards argue it out! Who wins in the end, and why?
Maybe Justice triumphs over The Devil, or maybe The Fool outwits The Emperor with pure luck.

You can take it as seriously (or as absurdly) as you like - just make sure your cards get a proper showdown.

💭 Who’s your current tarot hero - and which card always plays the best villain in your readings? Let us know in the comments!

Mar 16 - Story Creator

Tarot isn’t just for readings. It’s a storytelling toolkit. Every card is a character, a mood, a moment.

This challenge invites you to pull three cards and use them to craft a character - complete with personality, backstory, and goals.

You can use this for writing, roleplay, ensemble building, or just for fun. Let the cards surprise you.

🃏 How to Play

1. Pull Three Cards You can use any deck. Shuffle and draw intuitively.

2. Assign Roles

   • Card 1: Personality – What is this character like? What traits, quirks, or emotional tone do they carry?

   • Card 2: Backstory – What shaped them? What past event or emotional climate defines their history?

   • Card 3: Goals – What do they want now? What drives them forward?

3. Optional Twist Add a fourth card for Conflict or Secret Motivation if you want extra depth.

🧠 Reader Prompts

• Which card felt most surprising in your character’s story?

• Did your character reflect any part of yourself?

• What kind of world would this character thrive in - or disrupt?

Feb 24 - Tarot Conversations

Every tarot card has a voice. Some whisper. Some shout. Some interrupt each other mid-sentence.

What happens when you imagine them talking? Not just to you - but to each other?

This exercise invites you to treat your cards like characters. Let them speak. Let them clash. Let them comfort. You might be surprised what they reveal.

🃏 How to Start a Tarot Conversation

• Pull two or three cards and imagine they’re sitting at a table together.

• Ask: What would each card say?

• Ask: How would they respond to each other?

• Ask: What emotional tone does this conversation carry - supportive, tense, curious, confused?

💬 Example Dialogue

The Chariot: “We need a plan. We’re moving forward whether you’re ready or not.” 

The Moon: “But what if the path isn’t real? What if you’re chasing shadows?” 

The Star: “Let’s pause. There’s hope here. We just need to listen.”

🧠 Reader Prompts

• Which card always speaks first in your readings?

• Which card interrupts? Which one stays silent?

• What would your favourite trio of cards say about your current mood?

✨ Final Thought

Tarot isn’t just a tool. It’s a cast of characters. A chorus of voices. A conversation waiting to happen.

Pull a few cards. Let them talk. Then listen.

Jan 24 - Tarot Icebreakers

Want a fun way to get friends talking — or just get to know your deck better? Try Tarot Icebreakers! The idea is simple: create a question for each card, then take turns asking and answering. Keep it light, imaginative, and playful.

✨ How to play:

1. Assign a question to each card — it can be silly, reflective, or story-driven.

   • Example: The Fool → “What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?”

   • Example: Nine of Cups → “If you could have one wish granted today, what would it be?”

2. Shuffle and draw a card. Answer the corresponding question, then hand the deck to the next player.

3. Keep going until you’ve drawn a few cards, or the conversation naturally meanders into laughter and creativity.

✨ Starter “Deck of Icebreaker Questions”

Card	Question Option A	Question Option B
The Fool	“What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?”	“If you could start a new chapter tomorrow, what would it be?”
Nine of Cups	“If you could have one wish granted today, what would it be?”	“What little thing makes you feel most content?”
The Tower	“Describe a time when something completely unexpected happened - what did you learn?”	“If your life had a dramatic ‘tower moment,’ how would you rebuild?”
Page of Wands	“What’s a new hobby or project you’ve been excited to try?”	“What sparks your curiosity right now?”
Four of Cups	“When do you find yourself feeling a bit ‘meh’ - and what usually snaps you out of it?”	“What’s a hidden opportunity you’ve recently discovered?”
The Hermit	“When do you enjoy being alone, and what do you reflect on?”	“If you could give one piece of advice to your past self, what would it be?”
The Chariot	“When have you had to push forward despite obstacles?”	“What motivates you to keep going when it’s hard?”
The High Priestess	“What’s a secret or insight you’ve recently discovered about yourself?”	“Which intuition or gut feeling do you wish you had followed sooner?”

💡 Tip: Depending on your deck, a card might inspire different questions! Shuffle, draw, and let the cards guide the conversation.

💬 Try it out and share your funniest or most surprising answers in the comments!

Jan 22 - Writing Prompts

Stuck for ideas? Your tarot deck might just be your next muse. Shuffle, draw, and let the cards spark your imagination! Here’s how to use tarot as a creative writing prompt - with a few pop-culture twists:

✨ Draw a card at random. Let its imagery, symbols, and characters inspire a story seed.

• Example: The Chariot → Moana races across the ocean against stormy seas, unsure if she’ll reach her goal.

✨ Pick a card for conflict. Swords often show challenges, Wands show ambition or action.

• Example: Five of Wands → Ron Weasley finds himself in a magical mischief contest that quickly spirals out of control.

✨ Use court cards for characters. Who’s your Page, Knight, Queen, or King? What motivates them?

• Example: Page of Wands → Pippin from Lord of the Rings stumbles into an adventure far bigger than he imagined.

✨ Try a three-card mini-spread. Past, present, future. Or beginning, middle, end. Each card can give you a scene, a plot twist, or a dramatic moment.

• Example: The Tower, The Sun, Ten of Cups → Encanto: a house falls, the family unites, and unexpected joy blooms.

✨ Flip for dialogue inspiration. Sometimes the image or title of the card gives your characters something to say — or an internal thought to wrestle with.

• Example: The Hermit → Hermione whispers to Harry, “I’ve been waiting for you to notice this secret all along.”

Tarot is like a creativity accelerator: it nudges you to explore stories you might not have imagined on your own. Shuffle, draw, and see where the cards take you — who knows what adventures await!

💬 We’d love to see it! Have you tried tarot prompts for writing? Share your favourite card-inspired story in the comments!