Most of my tarot journaling has been writing up my readings or writing about specific cards, but over the past few weeks I’ve been doodling some of my favorite cards and wanted to share them (especially because they are all ladies – and, in my mind, all queer)! A disclaimer for the sake of my dignity first: I am definitely not an artist, and these are pretty poorly drawn. I still really enjoyed doing them, but it was because it was a playful and thought-provoking way to explore the cards, not because I produced any well-done or polished art. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

***And a super quick warning: my Queen of Swords, who is at the very bottom of the comment, has self-injury scars on her arms. They are not at all graphic – the drawings are so simplistic that it’s honestly hard to tell that they’re there at all. But, there you have it.

Okay, with that out of the way! I started when I was flipping through the Light Grey Tarot and saw that they had a very cool and youthful take on the Empress. I decided to sketch out my own version:

And a closer view so you can see her assorted doo-dads:

Ummmmmm, please excuse the ridiculous mitten-hands. I cannot draw hands to save my life, so I decided it’d be easier to just not try.

Next, while reading Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, I became really interested in the way that the Empress and the High Priestess are both conventional feminine archetypes, but with the High Priestess shouldering all of the supposedly “dark” and “mysterious” things about femininity. And so, a wry and kinky High Priestess:

I went on to court cards next, largely because I was getting really into drawing “people” cards. I love the Queen of Cups, and when she came up in a reading recently I started thinking about how the “inwardness” and “valuing” of Queens might look when turned towards one’s own emotional experiences:

There’s those mitten-hands again. Welp. You can also tell I don’t particularly like drawing eyes.

And finally, today, I got really sucked in to drawing the Queen of Swords. She was inspired by many of the people I have met (both in my work as a therapist and in my non-work life) or want to meet (hello Angel Haze) who have come through hell not only perfect and whole, but also even wiser and stronger than they were before.

That’s all of them for now! I just (like literally, just) started a tumblr that I’ll probably post these on. I’m hoping to continue drawing more of them, too. I’d love to hear thoughts on these ones, ideas for more cards. I’d be especially pumped if anyone else here has drawn their own versions of cards and would be willing to share!