Tarot Cards as a Writer's Tool - Livelifebytraveling

This content material accommodates affiliate hyperlinks. When you purchase by these hyperlinks, we could earn an affiliate fee.

Elisa Shoenberger has been constructing a library since she was 13. She loves writing about all points of books from writer interviews, antiquarian books, archives, and all the things in between. She additionally writes recurrently for Murder & Mayhem and Library Journal. She’s additionally written articles for Huffington Post, Boston Globe, WIRED, Slate, and lots of different publications. When she’s not writing about studying, she’s studying and adventuring to seek out cool new artwork. She additionally performs alto saxophone and infrequently stiltwalks. Find out extra on her web site or observe her on Twitter @vogontroubadour.

View All posts by Elisa Shoenberger

During the pandemic, Carlene O’Connor, writer of the Irish Village Mystery collection, bought a studying from her tarot instructor. He mentioned that her subsequent ebook was going to be completely different. O’Connor didn’t perceive what he meant, since she was planning on writing one other ebook in her cozy collection.

But the following day at a assembly discussing her subsequent work, her publicist identified that her darker cozies tended to do effectively, and her editor urged doing one thing completely different. O’Connor mentioned in an interview, “My jaw hit the floor. Then I got really excited about it because I had always wanted to branch out a little bit more as a writer.” That ebook grew to become No Strangers Here (2022), the primary within the County Terry Mysteries.

This story blew my thoughts. I’ve gotten way more fascinated about tarot playing cards within the final 12 months, due to the imagery. Major Arcana playing cards confirmed up in drawings and work in modern artwork reveals; a few of my favourite artists had created their very own decks. But studying that tarot playing cards may very well be used as a part of the inventive course of, whether or not it’s determining profession steps or to assist with character improvement, was one thing else completely. I had the chance to speak to 2 authors who use tarot playing cards as a part of their inventive course of.

A Few Definitions

Before we dive into the alternative ways writers use the playing cards of their work, right here’s a temporary phrase on a couple of definitions for tarot. Tarot playing cards are made from Major and Minor Arcana. Major Arcana could be archetypes, just like the Fool, the Devil, and the World. There are often 22 of them. Minor Arcana contain the Wands, Cups, Pentacles, and Swords, that are numbered and have face playing cards like a deck of enjoying playing cards.

People typically speak about spreads in tarot playing cards. That means laying down a variety of tarot playing cards in a sure means (like in a row, or in a cross formation). Each spot has a which means, like the primary card represents the previous, second the current, third the long run. There’s in all probability as many spreads as there are themed tarot playing cards!

Creating Worlds and Characters

Simply put, tarot playing cards might help you work issues out about your ebook, from the issues of a character to the plot, or tone. Anything below the solar, virtually. Anastasia Hastings, writer of the just lately revealed Of Manners and Murder, teaches these strategies to writers, explaining that it’s a brainstorming software. Using the pictures of the tarot playing cards helps give concepts to assist develop their work. (She additionally famous that she isn’t the primary individual to give you this concept.)

For occasion, Hastings was attempting to determine the issues of her character. So when she pulled the Two of Swords, which within the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck (probably the most well-known) reveals a blindfolded lady, holding two swords, along with her again to the water. Hastings defined, “traditionally in tarot, water stands for emotions. So you’re saying she doesn’t consider her emotions; she’s shut herself off from emotions, or she doesn’t recognize other people’s emotions. So we just use that card as sort of a jumping off point.” But tarot gained’t write your plot for you, she famous.

Using Card Spreads

That’s solely one of many some ways of utilizing the playing cards. There are quite a few spreads that writers can use, like a five-card unfold that helps you determine your character’s greatest energy, biggest weak point, and many others. Or you need to use a frequent tarot of three playing cards representing previous, current, and future to assist work out the plot of a ebook. There’s a unfold for any want; you’ll be able to even make your personal.

Of course, Hastings talked about that one might use photos that have been reduce out of a journal for a similar objective, nevertheless it’s a lot cheaper to purchase a tarot card and carry them round quite than shopping for a bunch of magazines and carrying them round. The elementary course of is similar, although: “You’re bound to get something that sparks an idea. That’s the whole point,” Hasting mentioned.

Hastings really helpful that you just suppose past your style with tarot playing cards. For occasion, in case you are writing a vampire ebook, there’s undoubtedly vampire themed tarot playing cards available on the market, nevertheless it could be higher to strive one thing that’s fully completely different, like a Gummy Bear tarot.

“How does that make you look at things differently? Because being a writer, you get one idea in your head and it’s hard to kick that idea out,” Hastings mentioned, “if you’re thinking of it another way, and [you can] get it moving again, I think you can have a lot of fun with this.” And importantly, you actually don’t need to be versed in tarot playing cards to make use of this methodology.

Setting the Mind Free

Victoria Woodhull Shattering Glass Ceilings cover

While tarot playing cards might help with the event of the ebook itself, they’ll additionally assist uncover these connections lurking within the unconscious. Kelly Boyer Sagert, freelance author and writer of books like Victoria Woodhull: Shattering Glass Ceilings, makes use of tarot to assist her along with her analysis course of. “One of the things I do is write about historical figures that were kind of lost to history,” Sagert mentioned, “I’ll lay out three cards face down…I’ll pick one that feels like it resonates the most. I use it almost like a general trigger to my intuition about what to do next.”

For these sorts of tales, Sagert has to do a lot of analysis to seek out these folks forgotten from historical past. Sagert defined that she may get a damaged coronary heart card for a nineteenth century daring feminist, and she or he’ll suppose “I always talk about how bold and controversial she feels. But did she have heartbreak when this happened? I use it to guide my intuition on these long forgotten people.”

She additional defined, “I usually find out it’s backed up by research, but it’s not something I actually knew. Somehow, sometimes my intuition I think helps me to know what direction to look. Obviously when I’m writing an actual nonfiction novel about someone, I try to get information to verify it.”

Similar to Hasting’s method, it helps her get out of ruts. “I’m stuck on researching all of a sudden, it’ll feel like I’ve got to [get a] flow of information again…It must give me permission to use my intuition to think about writing it a different way,” she mentioned.

Not Just the Writing Process

As one can think about, tarot can be utilized in so many alternative methods within the inventive course of. In Jessa Crispin’s The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life, as soon as she “notic[ed]the way the cards hook into your intuition and imagination, I realized that they could easily be used to assist in the creative process. When stuck on a piece, I’ll pull out some cards to find clarity, or I’d use them to figure out how to structure it.”

She defined that tarot may very well be used to restart initiatives, work out how greatest to current a challenge to the world; and get out of a rut.

Crispin defines all of the Major and Minor Arcana playing cards by a inventive lens. For occasion, the High Priestess card reveals a seated lady holding the ebook. Generally, the cardboard “presents wisdom, secrets, and ritual,” defined Crispin. For Crispin, she defines the cardboard as a reminder that artists have to continue to learn; nothing is made in a vacuum. She wrote, “When the High Priestess shows up in a reading, it can indicate a need for you to put aside the work for a moment and make time for study.”

There are different tarot books for writers and different creators on the market. That’s among the best components of tarot playing cards: there are such a lot of methods to make use of the playing cards. If you’re a author or any kind of creator, think about using tarot playing cards that will help you within the course of. You by no means know what the playing cards will reveal!

For a dialogue of tarot playing cards utilized in books, try my piece Beyond Reading the Cards: The Use of Tarot in Fiction. For a particular reader’s unfold, try Sarah S. Davis’s article!

Source link