Some people think divination is pure bullshit. Others maintain that it's real and exactly as magical advertised. My own view is that tarot is an exceedingly excellent story-building tool, and that renarratizing your life is one of the most powerful psychologically powerful moves you can make to change it. It follows, then, that tarot is powerful in how it helps people build a new story of their life. Reframing your problems is key to solving them. At the same time, looking at the same experiences from new angles is key to learning from them and anticipating what they mean for the future.
A Tarot Deck of My Own
I want my own tarot deck, specifically geared to be readable to me and optimized to enable a really wide breadth of good stories.
Well I've finally buckled down to get somewhere about it. I used word randomization as the basis for categories and consulted Duck.AI (gpt-5 mini) to help me infer the categories and establish a breadth of elements. Later I consulted ChatGPT to get better breadths of elements.
I intend to randomize combinations of them to come up with complex, rich scenes for cards. Someday I'd like to make or commission art for the cards, but until that day I'd really like to have something usable so stock images and AI it is. Maybe I'll make a kickstarter? (mumbles to self while walking off to another room)
If you're in a bit of a rut, try throwing these all into a list randomizer and imaging a scene with the top few items to make your own card reading
Elements
10 landscapes
Mountain peaks (rugged, dramatic — isolation, grandeur, scale)
Coastal shorelines (tidal, windswept — openness, motion, reflection)
Dense forest (canopy, understory — mystery, intimacy, texture)
Urban streetscape (built environment, human activity — grit, pattern, narrative)
Desert plains (sparse, sunlit — minimalism, heat, vastness)
...
Wetlands / marshes (murky, layered — biodiversity, liminality, reflective surfaces)
Agricultural landscapes / rural fields (patterned, cultivated — order, seasonality, human labor)
Alpine meadows (flowered, open slopes — tranquility, color, seasonal bloom)
Glacial / polar landscapes (ice, stark light — silence, extremity, monochrome textures)
12 interactions
Here are 7 items that together span a broad range of social/interaction motifs, aesthetics, and moods:
Conversation (casual dyadic exchange) — intimate, spontaneous, reciprocal.
Public Speaking (one-to-many persuasion) — formal, performative, authoritative.
Ritual (ceremonial group practice) — symbolic, structured, communal.
Play (games, improv, sport) — competitive/cooperative, playful, rule-driven.
Negotiation (conflict-resolution & compromise) — strategic, transactional, tensioned.
Caregiving (support, empathy, caregiving roles) — nurturing, vulnerable, steady.
Networking (social capital-building, introductions) — opportunistic, performative, connective.
...
Teaching (knowledge transfer, mentorship) — instructive, authoritative, developmental.
Gossip (informal rumor-sharing) — intimate/exclusive, furtive, reputation-focused.
Protest (collective dissent or activism) — confrontational, solidaristic, high-energy.
Performance (theatrical/artistic presentation) — expressive, crafted, immersive.
Mediation (facilitated conflict resolution) — neutral, procedural, restorative.
12 Tools & Actions
(ChatGPT)
Build — Create. constructing or assembling something new.
The mindset: creation, synthesis, engineering. Turning raw materials or ideas into structure.
Symbol: hammer. Image: scaffolding, bricks stacking upward, a circuit board filling with components.
Cut — Remove. removing, separating, pruning.
The mindset: precision, reduction, editing. Surgeons, sculptors, and good writers all live here.
Symbol: knife or scalpel. scissors. Image: a sculptor chipping marble, a gardener trimming branches.
Measure — Understand. observing, testing, quantifying.
The mindset: curiosity disciplined by evidence. Turning observation into reliable knowledge. Science begins the moment someone grabs a ruler or a stopwatch.
Symbol: ruler or scale. Image: calipers, a lab instrument, a ticking stopwatch.
Signal — Coordinate. communicating, persuading, coordinating.
The mindset: influence and alignment. Words, symbols, alerts, protocols—tools that move people rather than matter.
Symbol: megaphone or beacon. Image: signal fires, radio antennas, notification lights, lighthouse.
Practice — Increase capability. repeating with intention to shape ability.
The mindset: cultivation and iteration. Training turns awkward first attempts into competence.
Symbol: whetstone or training dummy. sandpaper. Image: a martial artist drilling forms, a musician running scales.
Together they cover five deep strategies humans use to transform the world: create, remove, understand, coordinate, and improve capability.
....
Guard — Preserving order. protect, stabilize, maintain boundaries, safety.
The mindset: stewardship and vigilance. Keeping systems intact, watching for failure, preserving what matters.
Symbol: shield or lock. clamp or vise. Image: a gate, a wall, armor, a firewall prompt blinking quietly.
Explore — Search. probe the unknown, experiment, wander. seeking novelty, search for possibilities.
The mindset: curiosity and discovery.
Symbol: compass, map. ladder or scaffold. Images: a lantern in a dark cave, a rover cresting a ridge, a branching path.
Transform — change internal properties or states, metamorphosis, convert one form into another.
The mindset: adaptation and alchemy. Seeing latent potential in raw materials and reshaping them into something new.
Symbol: alchemical flask. pliers. Image: furnace, chemical reaction, compost turning scraps into soil.
Store — preserving value and resources across time.
The mindset: foresight and conservation. Planning for scarcity, buffering the future.
Symbol: jar or vault. Image: granaries, libraries, hard drives humming in racks.
Exchange — moving value between people.
The mindset: reciprocity and coordination. Aligning incentives so resources, information, or help flow where needed.
Symbol: handshake or scales of trade. Image: markets, barter tables, packets flowing across a network. modular grid with swapped tiles.
10 key Media & Narrative Themes
Identity & Belonging — stories about self-discovery, cultural identity, family ties, inclusion/exclusion.
Power & Corruption — dynamics of authority, institutional failure, ambition, abuse of power.
Love & Relationships — romantic, platonic, familial bonds, conflict, reconciliation.
Survival & Resilience — overcoming hardship, economic struggle, illness, natural disaster, perseverance.
Truth & Misinformation — journalism, secrets, conspiracy, memory, unreliable narration.
...
Justice & Redemption — crime, punishment, moral reckoning, second chances.
Freedom & Confinement — autonomy vs. restriction: incarceration, caregiving, socioeconomic constraints.
Technology & Humanity — AI, surveillance, digital life, ethical dilemmas from innovation.
Change & Transition — coming-of-age, midlife shifts, migration, career changes.
Community & Isolation — neighborhood dynamics, social support, loneliness, urban vs. rural life.
10 People
(ChatGPT)
Child — people early in life: students, kids in families, the learning-and-dependence phase of society.
Worker — the broad engine of everyday activity: employees, tradespeople, service workers, freelancers, laborers.
Leader — people directing or coordinating others: managers, organizers, teachers, officials, community heads.
Caregiver — those primarily oriented toward support and maintenance of others: parents, nurses, social workers, volunteers.
Elder — later-life participants in society: retirees, grandparents, long-time community members carrying memory and experience.
....
Outsider — the person at the edge of the group: newcomers, migrants, the socially disconnected, the oddball who doesn’t quite fit the local pattern.
Creator — people who primarily generate new things: artists, writers, designers, inventors, tinkerers. Civilization runs on maintenance, but it periodically leaps forward because someone made something strange and new.
Specialist — the deep expert: doctors, engineers, researchers, mechanics, technicians. These are the people society calls when something complicated breaks.
Connector — social glue: organizers, hosts, community builders, networkers, the friend who somehow knows everyone and keeps groups coherent.
Authority / Enforcer — the rule-maintainers: police, regulators, referees, moderators, administrators. Not always loved, but groups collapse quickly without someone enforcing boundaries.
12 personalities / behavior
(ChatGPT)
Warmth - Signals openness, friendliness, and emotional availability. The “approachable human radiator.”
Reserve - Quiet, controlled, self-contained. Not cold—just inward-tilted.
Cheerful Energy - Upbeat, lively, quick to laugh or react. The social kinetic engine.
Irritability - Short patience, quick friction with the world. Not villainous—just a stressed nervous system walking around.
Steady Calm - Unflappable, even-tempered, grounded. The emotional ballast in a room.
Curiosity - Alert, engaged, mentally reaching outward. The “leaning forward” stance toward life.
Put those together and you span several axes at once:
warm ↔ distant, energetic ↔ quiet, calm ↔ reactive, inward ↔ outward. Most everyday personalities land somewhere in the mixture of these.
....
Playfulness - Light, teasing, improvisational. This is the person who turns mundane moments into small games. A surprisingly common everyday signal.
Earnestness - Serious, sincere, morally engaged. The person who leans forward when something matters and treats things with weight.
Anxious Vigilance - Alert to risks, scanning for problems. Not panic—more like the human smoke detector.
Stoic Restraint - Emotion held tightly in check. Different from simple reserve; this is deliberate containment.
Assertiveness - Direct, decisive, comfortable steering situations. The social vector that actually pushes the room somewhere.
Melancholic Thoughtfulness - Quiet reflection tinged with sadness or gravity. The “watching the rain with tea” disposition.
Comments and Feedback
Simple ways to engage:
Reaction Formula: When I read this post, I felt _____. In particular, _____. As a result, _____.
Comment Formula: Mel wrote "_____". In other words, _____. I agree/disagree, because _____. Others have said "_____". I think _____. In short, _____.
Highlight pieces that catch your interest and use the popup to share them.
Use an annotation extension like seams or margin to highlight key passages and add commentary.
Summarize this post (or another comments) in your own words, and share it! A good translation or distillation is always valuable.
Tell me something that this post reminded you of, even if it's barely or only tangentially related.
Share a your random selection of elements and the card you made of it or what you interpreted the "card" to mean.
All of these are welcomed and appreciated.