Alleyman's Tarot

Column: Sortilege – Building a Tarot Deck Out of Traded Pieces

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“I have wondered for a long time what makes a tarot deck “click” for someone. My first deck, a pocket-sized Rider-Waite-Smith that my partner took exactly one look at before it fell to me, was entirely opaque when I first picked it up. I didn’t know the symbols they featured or how they were used, and only the small folded paper included in the box offered any insight. I worried over it, put it down, came back to scour the nine-word summaries of each card and try again. I attempted a Celtic cross based on the inch-high diagram, a feat which has meant that my standard spread is just slightly misaligned from everyone else’s I’ve ever met. “