Comments on: The Tarot as a Tool for Writing Your Novel

By: Lilith

Lilith — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:12:58 +0000

After I stopped practising as a Wiccan a few years ago, and now have ceased to believe altogether, I haven’t stopped wondering if there is some meaning and use to my tarot cards. Having learnt to read my deck by heart (no books required) I’m ecstatic to discover a whole new use for them, and I can assure you I’ll be writing a lot of short stories based on readings from now on. Thank you, this is brilliant!

By: oudler

oudler — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:15:45 +0000

One of the problems of Tarot is the default assumption in our country that they are to be used for prediction. Before these cards were used for prediction, they were used for card games which are still played today in continental Europe. The Tarot is actually a variant of playing cards and are as versatile as the standard playing card deck if not more so. Tarot was used as early as the 16th century to compose poems, Tarocchi Appropriati, describing personality characteristics. Like Tarot game playing, the use of Tarot cards for composition also predates there use in the divinatory arts.

By: Will

Will — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:34:07 +0000

why not creating a charakter with multiple personalities? as a product of 3 or even more cards.

By: Abi

Abi — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:50:36 +0000

Love this idea, as a writer, never thought of using the tarot but now I see the endless possibilities, Tarot for Writer, I am going to amazon right now. Thanks for the heads up.

Cheers

By: Marelisa

Marelisa — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:45:22 +0000

Hi Bummble: Thank you. I wish I could tell you what tarot decks the cards in the images are from, but I don’t know. There are tarot decks for just about everything you can imagine, from vampires to a celtic dragon tarot.

Hi Cindy: You’re very welcome; I hope you find lots of inspiration in your tarot deck.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:53:09 +0000

I love this idea! I already have a tarot deck at home that I haven’t picked up in like a year – but I am going to try this as a source of inspiration. Thank you for the great tip.

By: Bummble

Bummble — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:46:00 +0000

Lovely article!

Could you tell me which deck the cards in that first picture are from, and from which deck (a different one, I think) the Empress in the second picture?

By: Marelisa

Marelisa — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:58:28 +0000

Hi FekketCantenel: Not every technique out there is useful for everyone.

Hi Melissa: I’m glad you’ve used tarot cards in the past for your story telling and gotten positive results.

Hi Icy: Give it try sometime; you may be pleasantly surprised. :-)

Hi Mary: That’s right; it’s important to have many creativity tools at your disposal since not every tool is right for every situation.

By: Mary Jaksch

Mary Jaksch — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:32:30 +0000

Thanks for an interesting and unusual post Marelisa.

Creativity is something that is triggered. In order for the brain to be creative, we need to put together two or more unrelated bits of information.

A well-tuned creativity will feed on everything it sees or hears – those are the ‘real life’ triggers. Say I’m thinking about writing a post on creativity and see some birds. Next thing my brain has connected those two things and has come up with something new.

But it can also be triggered by something like Tarot cards.

No way of triggering our creativity is ‘better’. It’s just different. When we put some strange connections before our brain – like one does using Tarot cards, it snaps into action and produces interesting ideas.

By: Icy

Icy — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:29:25 +0000

I love this post! I’d never considered using my Tarot cards before, but I think I shall do so in future whenever I get stuck!