How far can I go?

First, forgive me if this should be posted in some already existing topic (like "What is a Tarot deck?"). I felt my question is distinct enough to post it in a thread of its own.

So, here's my problem.
I never found a perfect deck. Even my favourite ones aren't suiting me 100%. The easiest solution I found was creating my own deck. Recently, an opportunity arose to really make it, as my very talented friend showed great interest in my idea. So I began to think about the cards more and more, and I've had many ideas, visions and images come to my head, which pleased me enormously.
But, while I'm busy creating the deck that will be exactly what my intuition says it should be, there's a tiny voice in the back, telling me, that I should try to study the classic decks, that I should try to incorporate all the correspondences (with Qaballah, with the Zodiac, etc.) into the cards. That I should preserve the strict structure that Tarot appears to be organised by.
This is a problem that I've encountered also in many of my readings, where I would reach out for the LWB or go to the AT forum to see, what's the card meaning, instead of relying on my own inner voice.
Thus, I present you with the question: how should I proceed? Do you think there are some limits to how much one can change? Do you think it would be worse in some sense, should it not contain references to Qaballah and the rest? (Because, though I want it to be good for me, it is also my desire for it to be good in it's own right.)

I will be truly grateful for your opinion, perhaps a word of encouragement or any advice you can give. I've really just stepped over the threshold when it comes to studying tarot, and yet I dare to try my hand at so ambitious a task. And, though eager, I feel very, very hesitant.

There are such things as Oracle Decks. They are cards used for readings similar to Tarot cards, but they have their own symbolism.

There's no limit to what you can create, but, if you get too far from what people expect from something called a "Tarot" deck, then call it an "Oracle" deck.

Yeah, I know, and I think it's not going to stray THAT far away from Tarot itself . I think my main concern is whether it can still be good even if it's not closely related to all the systems that Tarot tends to draw from - like Qaballah that I mentioned.

Anyway, many thanks to you for your reply. It means very much .

My thought on it is that you don't have to worry about all those extra systems(the astrology or Qaballah or elemental dignities...or any of that stuff)

Some of the best decks out there don't pay any attention to these things.

Design it the way YOU see it. Create it for you.

You will be rewarded with the dream deck that is YOUR vision...and the one that you have always wanted to read with!

Good luck in your process!

If your favorite decks aren't helping you 100%, why create a copy cat deck?

I say take your symbols from a variety of sources, whatever you feel furthers the main concept of the card.

If anything in the traditional Tarot cards confuse you, ask. There might be a good reason why certain symbols are the way they are. Maybe they're communicating a spiritual worldview that you disagree with. Maybe you feel the chains of the devil are things a person can't just pull off so easily. Maybe when you think of Death, you never really envision a skeleton at all. You just need to know why those symbols were made before you change them up. Otherwise, you might lose something that afterwards, you'd really wished you had.

The astrological references are deep and can add a whole new layer to the cards. If you know of symbols that can add to the meaning of the cards, it wouldn't hurt to use those, as long as you know what you're doing and can put everything into context.

You don't want to create a deck and then realize you could've communicated a lot more if only you studied.

Thank you all for your input. It helped a lot .

I think I'm first going to write down my associations with the cards - everything I want it to mean, then I'm going to do a little research on how I can improve their symbolism by using the already existing systems.

In reply to "how far can I go?", the answer, in my opinion, is very simple. You can go with it as far as you want to go. It's YOUR deck, as Chronata said, it doesn't have to include Qabbalah references, or be anything LIKE the Rider-Waite deck or any other common deck. It's a deck borne of your imagination, and will end up looking how it should look for YOU.

I'm slowly creating a deck myself, and it might have Qabbalah references/influences, I have NO idea, don't have the first clue about Qabbalah, but I do know that if I can get the images out of my head properly, it's going to look right. And THAT is what matters.

I think with a deck it should absolutely satisfy its creator, you in this case. If later it also proves to satisfy others, that's a bonus. If certain symbology doesn't seem to resonate, at least try and figure it out (as was said farther up the thread) and then, and only then, if that doesn't work for you, omit or change it. It is your personal deck after all.

Alta