The New Possibilities Tarot Deck – New Possibilities Tarot

Introduction

This page is an Index for the cards in my New Possibilities Tarot deck. Most of the text you read is from the book I wrote to support the deck back in 1995.

I chose lyrics from songs in my personal record collection to express something from each of the Major cards. Where many people try to make Tarot seem very arcane, magical or feathery, I wanted to show that these cards express core parts of our psychology that are as relevant today as any time in the “idealized” past. Some of my cards have different names. I offer the common name in brackets.

Random Card

12 Leap Of Faith (The Hanged Man)

Major Arcana

Number Cards

	AIR	FIRE	WATER	EARTH
01	Idea	Will	Feeling	Possibility
02	Decision	Energy	Attraction	Change
03	Direction	Initiation	Affection	Conception
04	Space	Action	Love	Growth
05	Fear	Cutting	Turbulence	Confusion
06	Inspiration	Illumination	Joy	Balance
07	Perspective	Creativity	Harmony	Success
08	Planning	Precision	Communication	Logic
09	Imagination	Belief	Intuition	Birth
10	Goal	Results	Happiness	Contentment

Family Cards

My Court cards are slightly different as I see them as the interaction of a pair of elements and how that expresses itself in human nature. I have never intended these to represent a littoral person, more character traits or decisions.

Father – Air, Winter: the seed

Air/Air – Thoughtful
Air/Fire – Directed
Air/Water – Studious
Air/Earth – Wise

Mother – Water, Spring: planting

Water/Air – Ideological
Water/Fire – Organizing
Water/Water – Loving
Water/Earth – Warm

Youth – Fire, Summer: growing

Fire/Air – Crusading
Fire/Fire – Active
Fire/Water – Fertile
Fire/Earth – Independent

Child – Earth, Autumn: harvest

Earth/Air – Realistic
Earth/Fire – Reliable
Earth/Water – Creative
Earth/Earth – Practical

Overview and how the deck came to be

I made the deck by hand around 1993-4. I don’t know the exact dates. Each card was drawn in pencil on a ruled page. All of these were carried around in a binder with plastic sleeves. The work was done between clients in places like Mystic Charm and in my studio at home when not making music.

Once I was happy that the designs were correct, I inked over them with a common biro (probably a Kilometrico Papermate as I always liked them). The images were then colored using normal pencils. The final stages were to cut the images out and stick them to a colored photocopy paper backing that suited the card. I deliberately didn’t want to use fancy materials for my deck. It was always to be a working animal and not a purebred.

The last stage was to take the cards to a commercial laminating shop where each was sealed in plastic and returned as a card. The cards bent in the process from heating the glue. Initially, this was a shock for me but as soon as I started using them, I realized it was just part of their unique character.

My Tarot Card Decks

The Fool’s Journey

The Fool’s Journey is the name given to following the 22 Major Arcana cards in order as a story. I made a music album around this in early 2020:

Official page: https://benedictroffmarsh.com/2020/03/30/tarot-i-the-fools-journey/