Tarot cards are not just for psychics and witches, they can be used for many purposes.
Tarot cards are essentially a system of pictures with symbols and meanings. They represent events in our lives and people in the world. And, they are full of symbols and meanings.
You don’t have to know how to read Tarot cards to be able to use them in your writing. So, here are some ways to do it.
Characters
If you know how how to read Tarot cards already, you know what to do! Pull a card and use the card to help you develop your character.
If you’re new to the cards or purely looking for inspiration, you can either simply pull a card and see how the character on the card strikes you, or you can look up the meaning of the card to get more information about the person on the card.
If you’re like me, you love complex and messy characters. Here’s where the cards get fun. After you’ve pulled your primary character card, pull another one… and maybe another one. Use these as traits of your character. Give them some depth and then go back in and write their backstory about how/why they have these traits.
For example, let’s say I pull The Magician.
He is talented, smart and capable. He can achieve whatever he sets his mind to. Then, I pull three more cards to give the character more depth.
With the Five of Pentacles, he’s afraid of not earning enough money and becoming homeless.
Wheel of Fortune – He’s very lucky (or unlucky) in his life and things usually work in his favor.
Nine of Swords – He is extremely anxious and his worries keep him up at night and cause him a lot of trouble.
Now, I can go write his story.
Dark Mansion Tarot
Plot
After you have your characters, you can pull cards for what will happen to them in the story. The cards are so visual that you can do this intuitively, even if you don’t know the meanings of the cards.
Dark Mansion Tarot
I pulled three cards for my Magician. Things go well for him… until they don’t.
What story would you write with these three cards? I hope his new bride wasn’t in that house!
Writer’s Block
Finally, if you feel that writers block creeping in… sometimes all you need is a little inspiration. You can use Tarot cards to just get you to start writing when you’re stuck. So, pick a card and write anything you want about it. Maybe write about the character, their future or backstory, their hopes or fears, maybe how they’ll die. Maybe the picture on the card will inspire you for a setting or a theme. Tarot cards are full of themes as well.
You could even pull two cards and write about the relationship between the two characters.
It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you get your pen moving again!
So, share your ideas below! Have you used Tarot cards in your writing? Does this inspire you to give it a try?
What is the Major Arcana in Tarot? They’re the cards that represent major events and archetypes in our lives. Read on to find out more.
Tarot Cards
The Major Arcana cards are the heart of a tarot deck. It’s made up of 22 cards. The Major Arcana is not associated with suits or court cards like the rest of the Tarot Deck, but instead, the Major Arcana are represented by Archetypes in psychology as well as life and its cycles from birth to death. It symbolizes the physical, spiritual, intellectual and emotional aspects of society and our relationships to ourselves and to each other.
For the archetypes, there is a nurturing mother, a commanding authoritative type, a traditional religious figure, a mystic spiritual figure and so on. These archetypes represent either literal or figurative people in our lives.
The artwork on a Major Arcana cards has scenes that have symbolic elements. There is so much symbolism! Within all of that symbolism, you find different meanings. This is what I love so much about Tarot. You can pick up on certain symbols for certain questions – this is where intuition comes in! You can’t just rattle of memorized keywords and have a deeply resonating reading.
The Major Arcana relates to our interactions with ourselves and others, but also our position in the universe and our higher purpose for being on the planet. It tells of our journeys in life especially in relation to personal development.
The Fool’s Journey
Now, the Major Arcana can be read and learned as a story. NO MEMORIZATION (Yayyyy)
The numbers on the card from 0 to 22 depict the fool’s journey from birth to death, and from innocence to wisdom and ultimately enlightenment. Although personally, I see the “Enlightenment” idea as acceptance. Peace after all you’ve been through and all you’ve learned. The Major Arcana shows the journey we have to take to reach that acceptance (or enlightenment) in our lifetime.
Go read about The Fool’s Journey here and then go through your cards and see how the story is told based on your intuition and your cards.
Overall, the Major Arcana represents several aspects of the human experience that we all experience in our lives. It shows us our spiritual selves, our hopes, our fears, our joys and sadness. And then it gives us guidance about what actions to take or what we need to accept or let go of in order to move on. Ultimately though, it only tells us what we already know. It shows us what we need to hear, but we’ve been hiding from ourselves. It’s a little bit of magic, and a lot of psychology.
What’s your favorite Major Arcana card? The one that makes you the most uncomfortable?
Sometimes a Tarot Reading is not the answer and you just need a journal. You need to find the answer yourself.
When someone says, “I went to another reader and they said this… can you confirm?”
Absolutely not.
Not because I think they were wrong or right… but because I can see that you’re shopping for a message. You are going to go from tarot reader to tarot reader until someone finally tells you want you want to hear.
That tells me that you’re not ready or willing to listen to the message of the cards so I will not spend my precious energy to give a reading to someone who has shown that they are not ready to listen to the message.
My advice to you is to take a break, take a step back and reflect about what you’re afraid of and or what you want so badly that you just want someone to tell you that it’s coming?
If it’s something you’re afraid of… do some shadow work. (Get your Free Shadow Work Journal here). Dig deep into what is causing the feel and ask yourself how to address it.
If you keep asking about something you desire, reflect on that. This one is less about shadow work and more about asking yourself what you want specifically and then map out steps to reach that thing or that goal… and then put in the work.
If it’s about love though, then shadow work may be helpful. Dig into your childhood wounds and figure out why you want it so badly. People can smell desperation from a mile away and it’s a repellent. Do your shadow work, and suddenly you’ll start attracting people again.
You can do shadow work with tarot, but if you’re shopping for a message, you need to do this on your own.
This is not the message you want to hear, but it’s what you need to hear.
I had a nice little collection of Tarot Decks… but I donated, sold, and tossed everything I owned and moved to Paris. So, I had to whittle down my collection. Here are the Tarot Decks that survived.
Light Seer’s Tarot – This has been my favorite deck of all time. This is the deck that really got me into reading Tarot and reading regularly. My learning had stalled and then I started using this deck and bam! I become an intuitive reader.
What I like:
I love how positive the guidebook is. It really shaped me as a reader and how I always find the positive in every card or situation.
The artwork is beautiful. I resonate with these cards so much!
It’s so easy to read intuitively.
What I don’t like:
Sometimes the art only shows one of the meanings or symbols of the traditions Rider-Waite-Smith cards, so I have to explain while reading, “This card shows this, but it also means this in the traditional RWS decks.” The Ten of Swords is a good example. The art shows a woman walking into a sunset rather than the traditional ten swords stabbed in someones back. Two very different messages.
The card stock is shit. It’s not cut evenly, it’s not smooth… it’s a mess. Maybe this has been fixed because I bought this deck years ago… but it’s still my most used deck.
Who is this deck for?
This deck is for both beginners and seasoned readers.
The Dark Mansion Tarot – This is a gorgeous deck from Poland. I can’t remember where I first saw it… but I was drooling over it for months. It’s my most expensive deck, and I have no regrets.
What I like:
The artwork! It’s kind of like a Tim Burton style. The colors are so crisp and beautiful. I even love the backs of the cards.
There are a few cards with a slightly different interpretation than usual. Like the Sun card has two kids looking at a poster of the Sun… It’s as if the Sun doesn’t exist anymore? Like… post-happiness? And the Judgement card has skeletons dancing. I just love their interpretation!
What I don’t like:
The matte cards are hard to shuffle. It could just be that I’m afraid to use them but… still, they’re hard to shuffle.
On the flip side of the things I like, I don’t resonate with every interpretation, but there are just a few.
Who is this deck for?
Experienced Readers and Deck Collectors.
I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners just because of the price point ($59 plus shipping), but if you really love fall in love with Tarot cards, for your second deck.
It’s so pretty! The “Golden” does not disappoint. It’s so shiny. I also love the artwork. I love the Art Nouveau style even more since moving to Paris and spending every possible moment in Pere Lachaise (Art Nouveau all around!)
It’s a RWS clone, so it’s easy to read.
What I don’t like:
If I have to pick something, it’s just a flimsy tuck box and a tiny little white book.
Who is this deck for?
Beginners or experienced Tarot Readers. Since it’s based on the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck it’s good for anyone interested in Tarot.
What’s your favorite Tarot deck? Let me know below!
When giving readings, I often talk about listening to your intuition, but what does it mean and how can we do that in a practical way?
The world today can be overwhelming, now more than ever. It’s easy to get caught up comparing ourselves to people we see on social media, or to feel overwhelmed by being plugged into the news 24/7. Of course we end up getting caught up in cycles of anxiety, fear, and stress.
Luckily, we are born with a tool that can help us overcome some of these modern struggles. Something that can guide us through life and let us know when we’re on the right path. This is our one true superpower…. an ancient wisdom buried within each of us, honed by our ancestors. Of course, we’re talking about intuition!
Intuition is, “Understanding something immediately, without the needing conscious reasoning”. It’s bridging of the gap between our conscious and unconscious minds. For example, if you’ve ever felt an unexplainable feeling in your gut that just instinctively told you that something you were doing was right or wrong? That was your intuition speaking.
Listening and trusting that gut feeling is amazing on its own, but working to develop that little voice can make it even more powerful. Everyone has the ability to grow and strengthen their intuition. And, like a muscle, the more we use it, the more it can expand and evolve, and grow.
Let’s talk about some practical ways to grow and strengthen your intuition!
Nature: Spending time in nature, all by yourself, is one of the best ways to quiet the mind to tune into your intuition. It’s my personal favorite! Nature helps us to get in tune with our ancestral self and our primal intuition. Our ancestors relied on their intuition for everything, and that’s where we come from. They used intuition for finding food, avoiding predators, finding the right path. So, intuition was one of the most important aspects of life. Every time we immerse ourselves in nature, we have an opportunity to dip our toe in another world, a world where intuition rules.
Get in touch with your senses: Your intuition can come through any of your five senses. It might come as a strange sensation you feel physically within your body. It might be triggered by a specific scent, or even taste. Start noticing and paying attention to all of your senses.Throughout the day stop and check in with your five senses. We have all heard that we should, “stop and smell the roses”, but it really can help in developing your intuition. The more you practice getting in tune with your five senses, the more your “Sixth Sense” can thrive as well.
Get creative: Do something creative! Craft, write, draw, build, sketch, anything that awakens your creative mind. When we are young, our inner voice is loud and has no problem shining through. As we get older that inner voice is quiet or silenced do to social pressures and the stress of life.Tapping into this creative part of our brain can help re-ignite those pathways and amplify our intuitions.
Meditation: We know it’s good for us but… If you’re like me, you find meditation haaaaard! I don’t care how many people tell me it’s good for me… I just couldn’t do it. But, I discovered two things that helped. First, binaural beats – you can look it up on youtube or spotify. And, visualizations that I learned from the book Psychic Witch by Mat Auryn.
But what does it have to do with intuition?
Generally, intuition has a soft voice. When our minds are busy with the stresses of daily life, it can be challenging to hear that little voice. Meditation can help calm the constant inner monologue and make room for our intuition to come through.
Here’s a meditation to help you tune into your intuition
Rather than setting a timer, I use a song and that’s the timer. Usually just 2-3 minutes before doing the visualization.
Find a quiet place to sit.
I like to close my eyes.
I take a few deep breaths and settle in. Just listening to my breath, not trying to control it.
I just observe the breath. I notice any sensations that come up.
When my mind wanders, I just observe the thoughts and let them float by.
When I’m settled, I start my visualization.
You can search some guided meditations on youtube.
When you’re finished, open your eyes and take a few moments to write down any important thoughts, feelings, insights or messages you may have received during your meditation.
Dreams: When we’re awake, our cognitive brain is in control. Our brain uses logic and reasoning to override our subconscious mind. But, when we’re sleeping, that conscious mind gets to rest, allowing our inner subconscious to speak up. We can learn a lot about solving our problems and overcoming our issues by listening to this inner consciousness.
Keep a dream journal to keep track of your dreams and see any patterns or messages that come up. You can keep a notebook and pen next to your bed, or use a notes app in your phone (that’s what I do). When you wake up, try to record everything you remember about your dreams. We forget our dreams quickly, so get in the habit of writing it down right away.
Over time, you’ll be able to see patterns and times where your inner consciousness was trying to help you solve problems or guide you in the right direction.
Follow your hunches: Another way to develop your intuition is to test out your hunches. When you’re going about your daily life, keep a journal and write down every time you have a hunch. When that little voice chimes in, write it down so you can record and see how these hunches play out. It can be as simple as seeing the weather saying that it’ll rain tomorrow, but you have a feeling it will be sunny. Maybe a friend’s boyfriend or girlfriend gives you a bad vibe, write down your feelings and see if it plays out. Follow your hunches by writing them down and see what you can learn about your intuition.
Switch up your daily routine: The conscious brain loves routine and order, but the more structured your life is, the fewer opportunities you’ll have for your intuition to speak up. Also, when the brain is busy it can be even harder to hear that little voice. Switching things up can throw off your cognitive brain, and let your intuition shine through. So, escape the daily routine every once in a while, slow down and do something different. Your intuition will thank you.
Replay past events: Take some time to sit down and try to think back to a situation where things didn’t go as planned, or didn’t go as you wanted. Visualize yourself back in that situation, and notice any feelings or moments where you felt like something was wrong. Was there an opportunity for you to go a different way? Did your inner voice speak up for a moment, only to be overpowered by your cognitive brain? Try to find and evaluate some of these occurrences. Look for patterns and for ways that you could do things differently the next time. Look for some ways your intuition was trying to guide you and think about the things it was trying to tell you.
Think less, feel more: Our cognitive brain thinks, our intuition feels. Our brains are always reasoning, questioning and thinking their way through the day. After years of this, we don’t even realize it’s happening.
Take time to slow down and “feel” more. Feelings that are grounded in and come from your body, are also grounded in truth. Learn to pay attention to them more. Pay attention to the signals that your body gives you. Your heart beating faster, that knot in the pit of your stomach, feeling hot, or suddenly feeling cold for no reason. You know the feeling – you meet someone and immediately know something is off about them, you can just feel it. Maybe they are dishonest or not genuine or maybe they’re treating someone poorly. Either way, your physical body can feel what’s going and it can alert you. If you pay attention to these physical cues, your intuition could help you avoid many uncomfortable, painful or awkward situations.
Everyone has their own way of working with their cards and there’s no wrong or right way to use your cards, just do what feels right to you.
But, here are some ideas of things you can do with your cards to help you get a more accurate reading or just connect better with your cards.
Comment below to tell me about what you do to connect with your cards.
Cleansing: Some ways to cleanse your deck before use or when you buy a brand new deck:
Smoke Cleanse – Focus on cleansing your cards with incense.
Fire Cleanse – Hold your deck near a candle while focusing on cleansing the deck. (Make sure to use fire safety and common sense. Don’t burn yourself or your cards.)
Air Cleanse – Some people will blow on their cards to cleanse and remove old energy from the deck.
Knocking – You can knock on your deck to either wake it up or shake out the old energy. You can use a number of knocks that works for you.
Charging: Charging is like infusing and bringing a certain energy into your cards. Some ways to do this:
Moon: You can put your cards in your window where it can see the moon on a full moon to charge it with the energy of the full moon.
Crystals: You can place a crystal on your cards to charge it with the energy of the crystal of your choice. For example, Amethyst for a deeper connection to your intuition.
Meditation / Grounding: For me, this is the most important.
You can simply take a few minutes to meditate before working with your cards.
My favorite mediation is from Mat Auryn’s book Psychic Witch. I usually find meditation boring and difficult, but this one is very visual and grounding and works for me. I visualize roots going down from me to the core of the earth, then bringing up white energy from the core of the earth back through me, then visualize connecting beyond earth and to the stars and connecting this energy back to me and the earth’s energy. I take a few minutes to do this, and then I am connected, grounded and ready. I find that I get super accurate readings when I do this before reading.
Music: Personally, I love binaural beats for helping me to focus. I use it more often when typing out a tarot reading than making a video though. Something like this on youtube.
Respect: There are two really important ways to show respect to your deck.
During reading – In my opinion, it’s disrespectful to your deck to not trust it. You show your deck that you don’t trust it by putting cards back into the deck after you’ve pulled one – basically saying you don’t like the card or you don’t want to hear the truth. So, as long as you’re connected to your deck, always trust the cards that your deck is giving you.
After reading – Show respect to your deck by thanking it for giving you clarity or honesty, or whatever you want to thank it for. Give your cards gratitude for helping you.
What Rituals do you have with your Tarot Cards? Do you do anything different? Comment below and share your ideas.
This applies to the minor arcana, not the major arcana. Each suit goes through a journey, and there are some patterns in the journey among the suits. For example, when you see a 5 – you know that it represents conflict. So, if you have a 5 of Swords, you know it’s a conflict with thoughts, or communication. This number patterns strategy is great jumping off point in your tarot learning journey. Rather than memorizing 40 different card meanings, you can learn the number pattern and apply it generally across the Four Suits. The suits mostly follow this pattern, although the Swords is a slightly different story.
Elemental Patterns – Each suit has a corresponding element – Earth, Air, Fire, Water. Earth is Pentacles, Air is Swords, Fire is Wands, and Water is Cups.
What elemental associations do you have in your practice?
The Four of Swords is a card about resting. It’s following that … yikes Three of Swords, so the message is to rest and recover after that painful thing. Traditionally, the Four of Swords is more of a quiet, rest, but I love the more playful connection to the song that I associate with this card.
Yes, The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars.
This song is all about taking time and taking a day for yourself. Doing whatever you feel like doing. What better way to rest and recharge than to spend a day doing whatever the fuck you want, or nothing at all.
“Oh Yes! I said it, I said it, I said it ’cause I can
Today I don’t feel like doing anything I just wanna lay in my bed Don’t feel like picking up my phone, so leave a message at the tone ‘Cause today I swear I’m not doing anything”
The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars
What I love about this song for this card is that it’s unapologetic about being “lazy”. Being lazy isn’t a bad thing – sometimes you need to give yourself a break.
Finally, this song is so happy and upbeat. It makes me want to dance around and enjoy my time of and my resting. Yeah, taking a break with the Four of Swords can be about sleeping more and getting more literal rest. But I much prefer the idea of tuning into yourself and doing whatever feels like fun. We don’t do that enough!
What do you think? Do you agree with my song association? Do you have another song that you associate with this card? Let me know!
