One of the strangest parts I've found from revisiting something I haven't touched in months is how out-of-touch I feel with my groundwork, but how easily I can fall back into the world. I knew my characters, I knew my setting. I even knew a good bit of the magic system I created. But, I still felt strangely unaware of how to pick up the pace in my writing again when I saw that chapter 4 only got so far before the chaos of my year took hold.
I used a lot of my normal practices to get into a rhythm with my initial re-read and editing. I found a major setting inconsistency! I even figured out a way to turn narrative exposition into something useful. With the help of a friend, I found a new way to build character associations and motivations. And with the help of my tarot deck, I was able to get out of the rut I was in with this chapter.
If you grew up like me in a heavily religious area (the Bible Belt), then you might be familiar with how much of an aversion that area has to anything loosely connected to non-conservative Christian practices. It's in everything we do in the South, even in non-intrusive cultural habits. But that also means resources like tarot, crystals, even sometimes yoga... It all gets a bit of a side-eye from a more traditional, older generation. It sounds very silly, but it's true.
After I had a friend show me years ago what tarot really was, rather than the way carnivals and the Satanic Panic make you think, I realized how much value it can have in therapy and in writing. That isn't to say tarot is devoid of spirituality, by contrast of how it's sold, but your approach to tarot is completely personal. It doesn't have to be spiritual or religious if that's not your personal approach.
Using Tarot for Writing
If you're interested in getting started with tarot in writing (or for yourself), keep reading.
Step 1: Find the right deck
It's up to you what deck you choose when you look into getting your own. For the more spiritual side, you're told to seek out what you're pulled towards. If you feel less drawn in that way, consider what art and presentation of ideas appeals to you most.
If you're new to it, find a deck that has its own booklet that can guide you through interpreting the cards, or seek out one of the "original" tarot decks with more traditional guides and illustrations. Most should have a booklet, but occasionally you get some that are not quite built for beginners.
If you don't want to invest in a deck right now, there are also apps where you can pull virtual spreads. Sometimes those apps will try to sell you their decks eventually, but overall they're very useful, handheld resources. And with every deck, there's a little more to learn about how to determine in what ways you want to interpret the cards.
Step 2: Practice reading spreads
It's actually pretty easy to pick up on reading spreads, but use the guide you're given to get a feel for the artist's set ideas when they designed your deck. The truth is, there's no wrong way to read them. Tarot isn't unlike an ink blot test. Your eye will naturally be drawn to whatever it is, and that might shape how you read the meanings of each card and how it aligns with what you feel when looking at the illustrations.
I recommend just doing one or three-card tarot spreads at first. Choosing to start off learning to read reversed cards is up to you. Some resources tell you start off doing it early, others tell you to wait until you know your deck better.
Reading tarot is about interpreting intent, not divination (though it can be a supplementary tool within certain religions and practices). If you're stuck at a crossroads, and you need help verbalizing your intentions and motivations to find your footing, tarot can be a good way to do that. Because tarot is about interpretation rather than direct answers, it gives you the tools to read through the metaphorical and descriptive meanings and imagery as you see fit. It's about helping you find the words through symbolism where you might not have had them.
Many resources tell you to spend time with your deck. Find a little ritual in how you set up to clear your mind to read the cards, shuffle them, get them used to you. If you have a hard time connecting on that kind of level with your deck, at the very least having a routine in how you read can be helpful to get your head clear so you can think about just the pull and nothing else. For example, I like to have a specific way I shuffle my deck every time.
Here are a few ways to pull three-card spreads that are the easiest for practice and getting used to interpretation. (Each step represents a card that was pulled from the deck.)
Situation > Obstacle > Advice
This one is straight forward enough. Shuffle your deck your way, and pull three cards. The first represents the current situation you're in, or some high-level view of how you feel about the current situation. The second card represents what the obstacle is to achieving your goals, or taking your next step. And the third card represents the advice you should tell yourself to move forward.
Situation > Action > Outcome
This spread isn't all that unlike the first, though instead of looking at advice, it focuses on consequence. What's your situation? What actions might you be considering taking, or that the card seems to pull you towards? What outcome might you find in taking that action?
Context > Focus > Outcome
With this spread, you're looking at the context, the high-level view of your situation. What's compounding everything into your present circumstance. With the second card, you're looking at where your focus is. Not always what the card tells you it is, but perhaps what the card makes you think of that seems to be your direction right now. And finally, the outcome of that focus and direction. What do you see for yourself if you continue in the same focus. How does contextually affect your current situation?
Again, there's not real right or wrong way to do this. But it's helpful to have some kind of guide. And the way you might read these keywords or cards can be completely different from me! That's the beauty of it being for you. This is also why you see tarot readers really prying the answers from the person, rather than providing them upfront. Like a therapist, they're there to help you self-actualize.
Step 3: Read it for writing
The way I pull and read tarot spreads for writing is the same I would for myself. I consider where I'm at in the story, what my characters are doing, and I focus on one specific part of it. For example, Sunday I wanted to know where I needed to go next with a main character. So, instead of asking a concrete question that I wanted the cards to tell me the answer to, I pulled a simple three-card spread to get an idea of the present situation, the action to be taken, and its outcome. In this way, I was using the cards to help me through a coin toss of a decision, or rolling a d20 as a dungeon master.
Ace of Pentacles
The Ace of Pentacles represents new beginnings and prosperity, which in the context of my story is the moment at which my character has the opportunity to go into business and start fresh with another character. However, both characters have their own insidious natures, and whether or not they can truly trust each other will make playing out the deal pretty interesting.
Seven of Cups (Reversed)
Upright, the Seven of Cups can represent imagination, wishful thinking, or illusion. Reversed, however, it can be interpreted as an end to confusion, and moving forward with clarity and reason. For the sake of this character's deal, this meant not going into the deal with the other character and taking that risk.
In all actuality, he would be pretending to be a good business partner, anyway, as his goals never included riches and stability. But the cards aren't telling me how to end this negotiation. That's still up to my writing to do. The actions he then takes to end the negotiation are his own form of hideous, as determined by his nature and how I write him.
Three of Swords
This is the image of grief; loss. The three swords causing pain, harm, and suffering to the heart. Though, in the case of my character's decisions and outcome this is less about emotional weight and more about what he inflicts on the other. Not only does the second character lose out on this potential deal, same as the first character, but he's also physically and emotionally harmed in the process.
Use What you Know
We're told to write what we know, but in the world of fiction, sometimes we're braving something we've never seen before. Tarot isn't for everyone, but I've found it's helped me make decisions and understand where a character's head is at when I truly needed a reminder.
Especially when I'm jumping back into a character for the first time. Also, if you're searching for some help through some complicated emotions, or a routine each morning to center your day, I do recommend tarot.
