I have been a tarot reader for over 30 years, learning much of what I know from the notebooks of my great aunt Kate, a well-known psychic & "mystic" in Tulsa, OK in the early 1900's.
I began street reading in the Old Market of Omaha Nebraska around 2009. I'd always dreamed of reading with a really old vintage deck, but I couldn't find any that I liked. Either they weren't in English, or had unimpressive card backs, or they didn't use the Rider Waite system, or they were terribly expensive. I also wished that I had a deck with keywords.
And so, I embarked on creating my own deck, just for myself, with everything in it that I wanted as a very busy reader. I called it the Deck of the Bastard as a joke, but also because it was a bastardization of several old decks. When I got the deck, I really liked it, and decided to put it on Etsy to maybe sell one or two to pay for the one I'd made for myself.
The folks on the Tarot forum Aeclectic Tarot were terribly supportive - they spread the word & asked if I could also make Lenormands, or if I could change the card back, or if I could make this or that changes - the answer to all of which was absolutely YES. They made videos and blog posts, and soon, the deck that I thought was just something for my own private readings took off & I became flooded with orders, and Tarot by Seven, LLC became my company. Movie producers started messaging me asking if I could make decks for their movies, including Nathan Gabaeff & Ridley Scott & others.
I've parted ways with Etsy following their terrible, heartless seller policies during covid, and although I miss the Etsy traffic, business is still going strong, and I'm honored and proud to have so many repeat customers from all over the world, and I'll continue doing my very best to create decks and other fortune telling items that readers will use and cherish for years to come.