Tarot Exercise – colour your own!
Once upon a time, somewhere on the www, I found uncoloured line-drawn copies of the RWS
cards. I have found it very useful to colour my own as a tarot exercise, and am always pleasantly surprised by what is revealed to me in the process. Perhaps it’s because I look at the cards differently during the process of colouring them, seeing details I had not noticed before.
An example of this is the Three of Swords card. When I spent time colouring this card in I unexpectedly noticed  that the swords were sharp upon entering the heart but blunt upon exiting it! Something changed the blades in the process of piercing the heart! This was something I had really not noticed before colouring in my own Three of Swords card. I also noticed for the first time that it was raining (in the card)! In these unexpected discoveries lie exciting new layers of possible interpretations to further enhance our reading abilities.
I kept the line-drawings and am making them available here for download. Perhaps you’d like to give this exercise a try too? If you do, let me know what new revelations you uncover!
Apologies for the ‘order’ (disorder) that these are in, but it seems all 78 cards are here. I have listed the cards that appear on each page below, with links to download the pdf documents.
Colour-your-own-Page1: The Fool, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Empress
Colour-your-own-Page2: The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot
Colour-your-own-Page3: Strength, The hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice
Colour-your-own-Page4: The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil
Colour-your-own-Page5: The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun
Colour-your-own-Page6: Judgement, The World
Colour-your-own-Page7: King of Swords, Queen of Swords, Knight of Swords, Page of Swords
Colour-your-own-Page8: Ten of Swords, Nine of Swords, Eight of Swords, Seven of Swords
Colour-your-own-Page9: King of Cups, Queen of Cups, Knight of Cups, Page of Cups
Colour-your-own-Page10: King of Wands, Queen of Wands, Ace of Cups, Two of Cups
Colour-your-own-Page11: Seven of Cups, Eight of Cups, Nine of Cups, Ten of Cups
Colour-your-own-Page12: Knight of Wands, Page of Wands, Ten of Wands, Nine of Wands
Colour-your-own-Page13: Four of Wands, Six of Wands, Seven of Wands, Eight of Wands
Colour-your-own-Page14: Five of Pentacles, Seven of Pentacles, Nine of Pentacles, Ten of Pentacles
Colour-your-own-Page15: King of Pentacles, Queen of Pentacles, Knight of Pentacles, Page of Pentacles
Colour-your-own-Page16: Ace of Pentacles, Four of Pentacles, Three of Swords, Six of Swords
Colour-your-own-Page17: Two of Pentacles, Three of Pentacles, Six of Pentacles, Eight of Pentacles
Colour-your-own-Page18: Ace of Swords, Two of Swords, Four of Swords, Five of Swords
Colour-your-own-Page19: Ace of Wands, Two of Wands, Three of Wands, Five of Wands
Colour-your-own-Page20: Three of Cups, Four of Cups, Five of Cups, Six of Cups
JbR’s Lenormand Journal: Combinations (Clouds + 1)
Lenormand Worksheet: Free Download
JbR’s Lenormand Journal: Combinations (Ship + 1)
About The Author
Rootweaver
Tarot reader, Lenormand reader, deck creator, artist, poet, published author, mother & wife. Rootweaver is the creatrix of the (self-published) Vintage Lenormand, LeNewbie Lenormand, BYO Lenormand and Zingdoodle Lenormand decks.
thank you SOOOOOOO much!!!!! <3 <3 <3
You’re very welcome 🙂
Thank you so much for this!! During this Covid lockdown I have decided to learn how to use the tarot cards. I love the idea of making my own. Thank you!! xx
Wonderful to hear this Carolyn!
Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for posting, was able to print and transfer into watercolour for a birthday gift for my sister. Couldn’t have made this amazing deck without you, you both really appreciate it. Wish I could attach a photo to show how well the watercolour paint turned out.
Would love to see it! Is there any chance you could get a picture of it?
Thank you for this. Coloring instructions eill be found in paul foster cases books.
Do a search on him to see what vomes up.
I purchased mine bsck in the 60s.
They were distributed by BOTA Builders of the Adetium from Figaro California.
Thank you so much for posting these! I agree that you see so much more detail when you’re coloring them.
Thanks!!!!!!! (Gracias!!!!!)
Thanks for posting these links I have a colour tarot set but don’t Ike the cards but I can stick these to the card stock 🙂
So cool…..Now I don’t have to make my own just recreate others….Can’t wait to my spirit into these.. Thank you
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!
🙂
Reblogged this on Inner Happiness and commented:
got to save this awesome link! Fun way to learn the tarot!
Thank you so much for this! your observances and insights are really helpful and make me think. Thank you for providing us with the resources to look into this for ourselves!!!! X
You are very welcome Cheryl! I am really pleased that you find value in this resource, it is a powerful exercise to do! xxx
Thank you for this. Our group has just completed this exercise, working with colour and colouring in cards. It was interesting to see who stayed with the prescribed colours and who added their own spin to the cards.
You are so welcome! Did your group use the iTongo deck or the RWS deck?
RWS. I of course did a blend of the two. The card I chose was The Star – I cut out the water pourer and added backgrounds from my Ace of Water, The Star and The Universe. Actually worked out pretty well.
Thanks for these images, Rootweaver! I’ve the box set of Color Your Tarot and this is a good reminder to pull it out and go to work! I’d highly recommend this set as it contains a full-color deck, but also a complete BW line drawing deck to color in –AND it comes with colored pencils.
That sounds fabulous Jason! I’ll add it to my growing wishlist 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Many years ago I bought an uncolored set of the RW major arcana. It came with a book telling what colors should be used for each thing and why. While actually coloring the cards, I found that I agreed with some of their ideas and disagreed with others as they didn’t fit the meanings the cards had for me.
Once I started questioning the colors, I went on to question the validity of the cards themselves for me. They really didn’t fit my view of the world. I don’t know if my view was right or wrong, but it was the one I was living with then. I started re-drawing my own set of cards, and went on from that to hold a class for tarot readers in which everyone — artist or not — rethought each card with the help of study and inner journey meditations.
The things we learned along the way were very helpful to us in understanding why some cards just didn’t work for us. My eventual conclusion was that everyone needs to make their own deck if they want one that is really right for them. Further, as we grow and our understanding of the world changes, we need to redo our own cards. The cards are a work in progress, as are we…
That is quite profound Jessica! I can completely understand your reasoning. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and to share your wisdom.
Reblogged this on Stardreamer Stararts & Tarot and commented:
I cannot begin to tell you how much I agree with this concept of colouring your own Tarot Cards. You will me amazed at the insight you will discover. In this fabulous blog from the Tarot Taxi you have the links to the line drawings. So get your coloured pencils, crayons, or paints out and spend a day embracing your inner artist and the Tarot! Blessings
I am delighted that you reblogged this article Stardreamer! Thanks so much! xxx
I love this!!
Yay! 🙂