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Easy Tarot Tips for Writers 

Easy Tarot Tips for Writers 

Picture the scene:  Your coffee is warm, your laptop is charged and you’ve got a full day of uninterrupted writing ahead of you. Bliss!

Except you can’t quite seem to get any words on the page. As much as you stretch your neck, check your notes and try to start a sentence… nothing materialises.

Sound familiar?

Or perhaps you’re halfway through writing a book and your inspiration has dried up. Maybe you have too many plot points to fit into the rest of your novel, or your memoir has grown arms and legs and can no longer be tamed

No matter what stage you’re at on your writing journey, let’s be honest… it gets messy.

This is how I felt when I went through some major personal changes recently, and I worried that writing would be too difficult to fit into my day as I struggled to navigate the mental impact of what was going on. But then I found tarot and suddenly, I was writing every day. Not only that, but I was writing in new ways, exploring poetry, creating fearlessly from a place of truth that I don’t think I’ve ever accessed before.

Now, tarot is a core part of the writing programs I host and I’m giving professional tarot readings too!

What is tarot?

Tarot is a deck of 78 cards, though to have originated as a card game and evolved to be used as a divination tool. It has grown in popularity, particularly as women begin to reconnect with their wild selves and honour their naturally intuitive nature.

And what is writing if not an intuitive process?

Listen to an interview with a successful writer and you will undoubtedly hear them fumble over their ability to explain how ideas, characters and plot points reveal themselves. A writer is often going on blind faith and feeling their way through the dark as they write, experimenting with forms and structures that may defy tradition but ‘feel right’ at the moment.

Isn’t tarot just fortune telling?

Personally, I think tarot brings out the magic within and can give you a sense of control over your life, open yourself up to opportunities and heighten awareness which can have a tangible impact on your future.

Yes, there are some fortune tellers, mediums and psychics who incorporate tarot into their services, but you don’t have to have special powers to use tarot in your everyday life.

Tarot imagery and meanings are based on the human experience and therefore are relatable to anyone who is… human. So if you’re reading this with human eyes, you have the ability to look at tarot and gain some insight!

How can writers use tarot as a storytelling tool?

Tarot is made up of 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards. The Major Arcana concerns big moments in life and karmic lessons. Think of these as the major points in a story, those plot points that a novel hinges on, or the twists and turns that keep a reader engaged.

The Minor Arcana moments are everyday situations, little lessons or obstacles that crop up daily. You might like to think of these as specific scenes in a story that support character development, theme and overall structure.

Tarot encourages a daily writing habit

Even as a seasoned writer, I have always struggled to get into a regular routine.

Journaling is one of those things that I know help my creative process but it’s something I couldn’t seem to nail down as a daily habit.

When I discovered tarot, I found that pulling a card or three automatically made me want to open up a notebook and write. Because tarot cards trigger thoughts and feelings, most writers will naturally want to document this. In the same way, that morning pages (made famous by Julia Cameron) can shake of the dust for writers, tarot and journaling can serve the same purpose.

tarot for writers

Tarot clears the mind

So often the thing that stops us from writing at our best is nothing to do with the writing itself. During my years as a writing mentor, I’ve come to realise that its the internal struggle that holds most writers back.

The self-doubt, fear of failure, past rejections… the list goes on! Working through your own limiting beliefs and old narratives can clear the way for you to get out of your own way and start writing with confidence.

Question to ask tarot: How am I holding myself back with writing?

tarot for writers

How to use Tarot in your novel writing

If you are working on a writing project, tarot can help you reconnect with the story but also through up solutions to things you’re struggling with. Tarot is based around storytelling, so it is jam-packed with conflict, characters, emotions and revelations that can inform your plot.

For example, say you are struggling to think of a chance encounter that will introduce a key character to your story. Here are some ways that cards could throw up ideas:

3 of Swords

Themes: Heartbreak, loss, grief.

Perhaps your character appears at a speed dating event or a funeral.

6 of Pentacles

Themes: Charity, breadcrumbing, economic imbalance.

If your character is from a different economic background from your main character, perhaps they meet through a mentoring program, job centre or charity awards ceremony.

The Devil

Themes: Addictions, shadow self, unhealthy attachments.

Perhaps your new character is an ex with an unhealthy obsession, or an addict meets your main character at a support group.

Tarot adds depth to your characters

Tarot is full of character archetypes which can help flesh out your character traits and backstory.

Take The Fool for instance, who is a hapless innocent youth at the beginning of a journey. Full of naivety and hope, they ignore advice from others and are willing to step off a cliff without looking.

The High Priestess, on the other hand, is a wise guardian of the spiritual realm. She is highly in tune with the moon cycles and holds divine wisdom.

These are just two of the archetypes that you’ll find in the deck to inspire a variety of characters. When writing non-fiction, you will see the cards start to mirror aspects of the people you are writing about too.

Ask the cards: What is this character’s hidden secret?

tarot for writers

More questions to ask the tarot cards:

  • How can I improve my work in progress?
  • How can I build a sustainable writing habit?
  • What from the past is holding me back?
  • What does my future writing career look like?
  • How can I boost my chances of getting my book published?
  • What writing opportunities am I not seeing?
  • How can I be more creative today?
  • What isn’t working in my novel plot?
  • What should be the focus of my writing today?
  • What should be the key theme of my memoir?
  • What should my poetry collection be inspired by?
  • What should I journal about today?

To learn more about tarot, book a reading with me where we can talk through your writing and any stumbling blocks you may be facing.

Whether you are a new writer or have been published many times, tarot can offer a fresh perspective on your creative works. There is no need to get bogged down in specific meanings and traditions, simply pick a deck that you like the look of and start pulling cards with the prompts I’ve shared here.

Like writing, tarot reading takes practice and will get easier the more you do it!

I’ve devised a set of tarot spreads for writers. You can sign up for my writers newsletter to get access to them as well as all my other free resources.

Here’s How Tarot Helped Me Find Myself After Divorce

Here’s How Tarot Helped Me Find Myself After Divorce

My first ever tarot reading took place four months after I ended my marriage.

The separation was relatively amicable (I came out as a lesbian which meant there was no chance of reconciliation) but it was a separation nonetheless, which meant a swell of emotions as well as practical life changes which included moving from England to Scotland, moving in with my parents, and navigating the worlds of queerness and divorce simultaneously.

Forms of modern witchcraft have always fascinated me. I’d been tempted to seek advice from a psychic or tarot reader in the past but I was afraid of being laughed at, so I buried my curiosity with spirituality and sought help elsewhere.

But in the separation process, I reclaimed a huge part of myself that had been swallowed up in the identity of a relationship. I was free to explore all my eccentricities without needing to justify them to anyone. So I asked a trusted client and friend to give me a reading.

I had zero expectations going into that tarot reading. I had zero knowledge of what tarot was or how it worked. My friend commented that she had never given a reading to someone who didn’t know the four suits or the basics of the major and minor arcana meanings. Truly, I knew nothing.

We spoke on Zoom for several hours about my past, my present circumstances, my general outlook and options for the future. To say that the conversation we had was life-changing would be an understatement. I actually believe that reading was a life-defining moment for me. It split me off from the path I was on and re-routed me on a far more fulfilling one.

Almost a year later, I can say that I am fully obsessed with the power of tarot. I pull cards every day, I have a tarot mentor, spent months learning meanings and building my own intuitive process, giving tarot readings for friends and now, offering them as part of my business.

Here is how tarot helped me find myself:

1. Tarot gave me a reality check

People want tarot to predict the future, but sometimes the most helpful approach is to look at what is going on in your life now, in the present moment. At the time of my first tarot reading, I was bogged down in the difficult early days of divorce. It seemed like my days were an endless stream of solicitor meetings, emails and uncomfortable negotiations.

The cards pulled that day had a clear message: look at the bigger picture.

I wasn’t being invited to think “oh this will all be OK eventually”…. I was being invited to think….. “this is all OK right now because look at all the freedom, opportunities and abundance that already exists in my life.”

The reading took place on Zoom but I was staying at my friend’s house at the time, looking after her cat, in her beautiful flat in the heart of Glasgow’s West End. I had friends who offered me endless love and support. I had parents who took me in and accepted everything I told them. I had an ex who let me leave. I had the capacity for change.

I had already changed my life for the better.

The hard parts of my experience (the cost and stress of divorce, and living with my parents) were still there, but during that reading they began to fade into the background, allowing the positive parts to step forward and take centre stage.

My perception of reality flipped. Now I could see I had the freedom to travel, the support networks to boost my mood, the blank space to create a new life on my own terms.

Interested in doing tarot at home? Get my free tarot moon spreads here.

2. Tarot invited me to take control of my narrative

Being in a relationship was easy in the same way that it wasn’t. Because it involved another person making choices which, as someone suffering from deep-rooted sexual repression, it felt so safe and warm. Having someone else to make decisions about life lifted the mental load I had to carry.

So when I became single and the future we had planned together was no longer an option, I was scared of the empty canvas I was supposed to paint on. Terrified of making the wrong choices, yes, but also struggling to remember my own likes and dislikes.

What had I wanted to do with my life before I got into a relationship?

Who had I wanted to become when I was unattached?

tarot divorce

That version of me had been long forgotten, but tarot reminded me that I have the power to rewrite myself every single day, whether that was booking a train to visit my queer friends up north, taking myself on a writer’s retreat, trying reiki for the first time or allowing myself to spend money on gig tickets to experience live music.

Before I used tarot I was following a script of what I thought my life should look like, but now I get to write a new one and change it whenever I like.

3. Tarot revealed my potential

I started to realise that the world was wide open to me when my first tarot reading showed me a picture of a cat in the Queen of Wands card. Catsitting was just something I did, one time, to help a friend and get a break from living with my parents. But with the self-reflection tarot offered, I connected the dots between wanting to travel and looking after pets as a way to get free accommodation.

In the months that followed, I looked after pets in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, the Midlands and Paris. I can say for certain none of that would have been possible if I hadn’t taken the time to look at the cards and be honest with myself about what I want from life.

4. Tarot allowed me to make braver choices

It might not seem like it, but travelling and petsitting felt like a scary decision to make. Mostly because I’ve spent my entire life seeking validation from friends and family, by following the template of what life should look like.

So announcing that I would be breaking away from the traditional life plan and becoming a digital nomad for the year was, in my mind, a risk that could render me an outsider to the people I love. The people who made me feel like I was doing things the right way.

But tarot always reminds me that it’s my life.

Only I can know what’s right for me, and those external voices shouldn’t be louder than my internal voice. So I took the road less travelled, and I decided to take a chance on living a life that I knew other people would not understand.

tarot

5. Tarot encouraged me to face my shadow parts

Oooft yeah, she did! I’m quite a spontaneous person but often those hasty actions are based on fear, because often I fear abandonment or being emotionally pushed away. So as a newly single person, you can probably imagine that dating for the first time in 18 years has been quite the journey.

Through interactions with women, I’ve been confronted with my need to feel ‘safe’ in a relationship and the ways in which this need manifests in my actions. You know the drill, obsessively checking my phone, wondering what they’re up to, what they’re thinking, why they haven’t texted me back and if they’re constantly on the verge of rejecting me.

tarot

There was no magical card that allowed me to see all this. It was the daily repetition of pulling tarot cards and journaling that gave me the chance to think about my state of mind and analyse my corresponding behaviours. I haven’t banished this shadow part from my identity, but I’ve begun to look at it in detail and consider whether my actions are in alignment with the energy I want to bring to relationships.

6. Tarot gave me increased self-awareness

To sum it up, tarot has made me see who I was, who I am, and who I have the potential to become. I can step outside of the perception I have of myself and acknowledge that I have choices, I have power, and I can change the course of my life by replacing old patterns with bolder, authentic ones that allow me to thrive.

Instead of sleepwalking through life, blinded by false limitations, I am free.

Free to want, desire, play, dive deep and breathe calmly in the knowledge that everything is available to me when I’m ready to receive.

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