So, I'm in the middle of making my own tarot deck and I've over half the amount I need of blank cards to decorate. I've looked at images online of all sorts of tarot cards from goddess to erotic to traditional to fan art. And I've seen quite a few images with cards like "mother" and "boy". But, looking at a list of cards and suits for tarot, I found no Mother card. The closest thin I found was the Empress, who's seen as a motherly figure. So, I was just wondering... Is there really no "mother" or does it just depend on the deck and preferences of it's owner/creator?
For example, Card XV (15) is traditionally The Devil, but since some tarot cards are breaking away from Christian symbolism, they put a new title to it sometimes like Ego or Chains. This is the case with the Doreen Virtue Angel Tarot and the Robin Wood (if I recall correctly).
So, the Mother card could be a re-titled Empress.
Another thing to watch out for is the order of Strength (or whatever title you want to call it) and Justice (or whatever title you want to call it). Sometimes Strength is the 8th card or the 11th card in the sequence of major arcana, sometimes it swaps with Justice.
There are traditional titles, and then titles pertinent to ones tradition. If you are creating your own deck, use your own symbolism and titles- it will work better for you.
For example the tarot was repopularised by the Golden Dawn (Or at least Waite) in the early 1900s, and most decks follow that astrological order, symbolism, and numerical order.
Crowley changed this when he created his Thoth deck, changed the deigns, changed some names, changed the astrological and numerical order etc. as it fit with his tradition and personal thoughts on the matter after many years of research.
Lesson being, do not be afraid to be creative and apply some changes if you feel you want to. The title 'Mother' is an excellent fit for the Empress card.
The empress card is a symbolic form of the Hebrew letter Daleth, which means door. The esoteric interpretation of this is it is symbolic of the womb- the door to life, and thus the mother.
Also, I know the standard tarot deck is 78 cards, but could I add a card or two if I wanted to? I kind of want bothe a mother and an empress card. Then again, I wanted Isis as the mother card and I think she's also perfect for the empress card. This may be a stupid question or something but it would be nice to hear some thoughts.
