Mini-Muse 012: Molding the spark

A guest post by Nick Jacobs, creator of The Departures Tarot

Hi little coven. For today’s mini-muse, I’m delighted to share a guest contribution from tarot reader and deck creator Nick Jacobs. I’ve admired Nick’s work for a long time — his work blends his background in art history and design theory, expertise in the tarot, and penchant for emerging tech together in deeply thoughtful, creative, and compelling ways.

Looking for the recording of our latest tarot journaling session? You’ll find it here.

PS: Reminder to London readers that you’re invited to join me IN PERSON tomorrow to celebrate the publication of The Shadow Path.

Nick’s gorgeous Haptic Tarot deck adds new layers of mystic power to the Rennaissance paintings of Flemish artist Jan van Eyck. His latest deck, The Departures Tarot (live now on Kickstarter), builds on his unique approach to fusing tarot and art history, with imagery inspired by the New Objectivity movement of the late 1920s.

The Departurs Tarot, created by Nick Jacobs

Here’s Nick on why he’s rejected the “struggle” of art-making and leveraged AI to breathe new, mystic life into classic imagery:

Throughout human civilization, time has played an integral role in the inception, production, value, and ultimately, the worth of our creative pursuits. We often look upon “masterpieces” as proof of the human condition—a testament to our resilience and willingness to pursue an endeavor even if it seems like a fool’s errand. It took 17 years for J.R.R. Tolkien to write The Lord of the Rings, 16 years for Leonardo da Vinci to paint the Mona Lisa, 7 years for Beethoven to compose Symphony No. 9, and 140 years (and counting) to build Antoni Gaudí’s La Sagrada Família.

It’s a romantic notion—the idea that true creativity must be slow, arduous, and filled with struggle. But in my own creative practice, the time required to create something is often independent of its content. Yes, some ideas demand months of refinement, but others come together in a flash. In my opinion, the pace at which something is created does not determine its authenticity or value, as long as consideration and care are applied. For example, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was completed in just a few months, Pablo Picasso’s Guernica was painted in a handful of weeks, and it took Sia only 14 minutes to write and compose Rihanna’s smash hit Diamonds (okay, maybe not a masterpiece per se, but it’s catchy as hell).

In my creative process, I value immediacy, choosing to work at the speed at which my thoughts, ideas, and concepts emerge. It puts me in a state of total flow, a powerful moment where I don’t focus on the how and instinctually move over to the why. As an art student, I had the opportunity to experiment with different mediums and subject matters, knowing I had a finite amount of time to discover what truly resonated with me. There was an intuitive trust I had in this process that not only allowed me to abandon the things I didn’t enjoy but also gave me the freedom to fully participate in and enjoy the things I did.

To this day, I enjoy working with my creativity in a fast-paced way at the outset, giving more attention and refinement to the ideas that truly stick later. This couldn’t be more true in my work with tarot deck creation. The Haptic Tarot, the first deck I created, relied on the power of artificial intelligence to bring my initial idea—my vision—to life.

AI allowed me to quickly generate the foundation for each card’s imagery and gave me the freedom to experiment with composition, symbolism, and form without being bogged down by perfectionism. Afterward, I stepped in to first evaluate and then manipulate the images into something intentional. The blend of speed, spontaneity, and refinement reflects the way I approach most of my creative projects—trusting that initial spark, and then carefully molding it into something more meaningful.

The speed and ease at which AI runs have been invaluable partners in my creative process—not shortcuts. The technology has helped me keep pace with my ideas, ambition, and vision in ways that traditional methods sometimes couldn’t. For nearly 25 years, tarot has been an integral part of my personal and professional journey, its symbols, archetypes, and visual language shaping my creative work. Using AI as a tool to further explore and refine these ideas has been an exciting evolution—enhancing my artistic intuition rather than replacing it.

Creativity, like tarot, is a constant dialogue—a push and pull between intuition and technique, spontaneity and refinement, innovation and tradition. The belief that great creative expressions must be painstakingly slow is a myth that limits more than it liberates. Whether a project takes years to perfect or emerges fully formed in a moment of inspiration, what truly matters is the care and intention behind it. Because at the end of the day, creativity—like life—is not about how long it takes, but about the meaning we give it.

Nick Jacobs is a tarot reader, deck creator, writer, and designer with over 25 years of experience handling and studying the cards. With a background in design and art history, he sees tarot as one of the most powerful representations of the human experience, offering individuals a space for meaningful reflection and actionable insight.

Nick is the creator of The Haptic Tarot and Departures Tarot, which is now live on Kickstarter. He also owns and operates his own tarot reading business, Page of Cups Tarot Readings in San Francisco, California.

Follow him on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.

Tell me in the comments:

• Is there a classic artist/art movement that you’d love to see reimagined in a tarot deck?

• What are your thoughts on leveraging emerging tech to execute your creative vision?