From Seminary Through Tarot: My Journey in Creating a Crow Deck

Originally shared on my personal blog, this post now finds a new home here.

a little back story…

I’m a seminary graduate turned ex-vangelical who doesn’t attend Sunday services outside of holidays with her parents. Simply a cliché.

Long story long (beginning with an explanation of the asterisk) – I still identify as a Christian. I still love and have a relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I identify as both religious and spiritual, and I believe most of life is experienced in the gray space. I’m a fourth-generation Chinese American woman. Tradition, culture, racialization, and gender are only a few of the topics that require nuance as I navigate what it means for me to engage in community within the context of communal shared faith.

Growing up, my family and I were the only people of color on our street, and I was often one of only a few in my classes at school. Sundays were a respite. My small Chinese American church was a place where I didn’t need to explain familial expectations or the kinds of foods I ate. While I am grateful for the community of people who shared my cultural experience, I was and am still a woman. Oftentimes (though this depends on denomination or congregation), my double X chromosomes disqualified me from certain spaces. By high school, I had already faced the difficulties of being a woman in ministry. After I graduated from seminary with a Master’s in Theology, I carried more than a few deep wounds from my experiences within the American Evangelical church as both an Asian American and a woman.

Years later, I am reminded that I am always in the process of becoming. I have come to embrace the uncertainty and the unknown. I embrace the mysteries of God and the divine power to reveal opportunities.

Tarot + Crows

I got my first tarot deck not long after I completed my graduate program. It’s cute and kawaii, and I thought it would be fun, to be honest. I find that the more spiritual and mystic side of faith has always come naturally to me – even as a kid. For me, tarot is an opportunity for reflection rather than prediction. The cards prompt themes, ideas, or patterns for introspection. (This is not to say one practice is better than another.)

The idea of a crow-themed tarot deck came from a dream I had one night about a crow landing on my bedside table. It wasn’t a particularly interesting dream. The crow landed on the table, hopped toward me, and just stared. Then I woke up. Like I said – very anticlimactic. But it did spark a Google search for the meaning of crows in dreams and, subsequently, crow-themed tarot decks.

Did you know that crows are incredibly intriguing creatures? They are quite intelligent. They have strong memories, and they mate for life. The term for a collection of crows is a murder. Kinda creepy or death-y? Yeah, probably. But, in death, there is life. Death is both the mark of an ending and a beginning. The cycles of life and death pour into one another. The crow facilitates decomposition for new life. That is beautiful.

Corvidae: a crow tarot deck features a handful of sketch-illustrated crows representing the major arcana and court cards. Sticks represent the suit of wands, teacups represent the suit of cups, feathers represent the suit of swords, and stones represent the suit of pentacles. I wanted to create a deck that evokes familiarity. The crows cross between the major and minor arcana and meet the suits in the court cards. There is no hierarchy between them. Each crow can represent a king or a queen, a knight or a page – for the Fool is always in the process of becoming. It is my hope that this deck not only honors the symbolism of tarot while holding space for intuition and introspection but also empowers others to learn, grow, and explore their creative curiosities.