Build a One-of-a-Kind Tarot Table

Tarot table

You can make a one-of-a-kind Tarot table (or altar) on the cheap, using thrift store and garage sale items.

If you collect Tarot and divination cards, sooner or later one of the following just may happen:

  1. Someone spills mead on your deck and ruins a couple of cards. Result? Deck is no longer useful (or as useful) for divination.
  2. Someone leaves the deck on the floor or a low table and the new puppy chews up a card or two. Result? Deck is no longer useful (or as useful) for divination.
  3. You wake up after a really great Gathering and find your Tarot cards still scattered on the floor from the previous night’s readings. And a couple are missing. Result? Deck is no longer useful (or as useful) for divination.

Tarot table

Thus, you have a beautiful deck of cards that are missing just enough to be impractical to use for divination or even full-scale visionboarding. What do you do with half-decks or damaged decks? Why, make a Tarot table, of course.

In my case, I had 3 or 4 old decks that were missing cards. They were no longer my favorites decks–I’d moved on to new favorites. I decided these would be the face of the new table. If I didn’t have enough, I’d use artwork from Fantasy Art magazines or old photos that reminded me of good times and good people.

Tarot table

Next, I staked out the garage sales in the neighborhood for the next couple of weeks. I first found a large wooden picture frame with cheap artwork and a glass over it. The frame was about 24 by 36, dinged up a bit, and in need of a good paint job. The price was right for $5 but I looked a few more minutes and found another frame, empty, for $15. It was a 36 by 48 inch gold-painted frame with the glass full intact. No need for painting. It was ready to arrange the Tarot cards and divination cards inside for a pretty table.

So that took care of the table top, but what about legs?

Tarot table

I found two options, both at thrift stores and garage sales. One option was to use four old terra cotta pots, paint them, and put them open end down on the floor in a rectangle, and place the table top across them. The other option, and the one I liked better, was to use four short plant pedestals made of plaster at about $5 each. If I ever want to take the Tarot table apart, I still have pedestals for plants or other tables.image

The final product was a low-to-the-floor Tarot table that serves as a coffee table, divination table, or altar, and can be easily moved to another part of the room or house, or stored for later use.

Tarot table

Click on the photos for the larger version.


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