I did it! Using tarot cards, I actually wrote a novel. Well, very nearly. I wrote the required 50K by November 30 and before this week is up,  I’ll have finished the story.

The process was very interesting. I used Corrine Kenner’s Tarot for Writers to get started. I created characters using the spreads in the book. I  also used a three-card, a six-card, and a Celtic Cross spread for plot development. For me, the character creation was the most interesting and the most fun. In the end, I think they, more than the plot spreads, drove the action.

The protagonist’s foil, Alice, has been my favorite character. In this steampunk version of late 1890s St. Paul, MN, Alice is a priestess in a temple dedicated to the three faces of the goddess. She is an oracle and her medium is photography. Using solutions and chemicals infused with magical herbs for developing, the image becomes not the picture of the seeker that Alice shot but a message from the goddess.

The novel turned out to be more an exploration of the nature of divination and destiny and one’s role in creating the future than anything else.

So tarot created the story on many levels. Below is Alice’s spread. What kind of character would you create using that spread? How have you used tarot creatively? Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? Let me know in the comments

Catherine says

I’ve heard some pretty crazy methods and ways to shuffle and cut, but like most things in Tarot, I don’t believe there’s a right or a wrong way – just a lot of talking points! Perhaps one of the only things I really agree with is allowing the client to shuffle the cards as I feel this provides them with a sense of ownership over the reading, making it more pertinent to them – they shuffled after all! I don’t believe they put their energy or essence into the cards, the Tarot reader is the channel, but I believe it can be beneficial to their experience of the reading .

*It is interesting that she doesn’t think of shuffling as a way for the client to transfer energy to the cards because the reader is the channel.

Douglas comments:

I tend to be more concerned with how they cut the cards more than how they shuffle. As strange as this sounds, I’ve found that the “cut” can help the client feel more connected with the process. The shuffle does that as well – but the shuffle seems to produce a “feeling of relaxation” and the cut a “focus” in the people I read for.

*I like the idea of thinking of shuffling as relaxing and cutting as focusing.

Rose says:

As a reader, I don’t allow my clients to shuffle the cards. Often, it’s awkward for them because their hands are used to shuffling a playing card deck rather than larger-sized Tarot cards. I start by shuffling the cards myself, then I usually ask them to place their hand on the deck after I lay it on the table in front of them (and yes, I usually ask for left hand–I still follow a ritual from when I was 16 and started reading) as they think of their question or situation. I then ask them to cut the cards into three piles and then pile them into one any way they like. I then pick up the cards and deal the throw or spread off the top. I use this method for myself as well.

Zanna shares her favorite method:

I feel that the traditional style of shuffling (the poker shuffle, if you will) is much to hard on the cards. I do a push-pull type of shuffle while meditating on the question and focusing on tuning in to the client. I generally close my eyes while I shuffle and cut the cards. I then use what Norma Cowie calls the Ninth Card Method, where I count down to the ninth card, turn it up in the first position, then count down to the next ninth card, etc. Why? Because I tried it a few times and liked the results. It’s that simple.

Secret Shuffling Weapon

I feel very certain that I shared this already, but I cannot find where. Because I was recently reminded how much I love this tip, I had to talk about it again. My favorite secret shuffling weapon is fanning powder. Fanning powder is powder that stage magicians use on their cards to help them shuffle better. I think it cuts down on friction so the whole experience feels so much smoother. When I first got my powder a few years ago, I applied it to all my favorite decks. Well, I’ve gotten some new decks since then and haven’t taken the time to powder them. Last week, I worked with a deck I had powdered and was so pleased with the smoothness of the shuffle. The cards just felt so wonderful in my hands. So, get yourself some fanning powder. Totally worth it.

NaNoWriMo Update

National Novel Writing Month started on Sunday. I didn’t start until yesterday and am up to 1600 words, focusing mostly on introducing the characters. The protagonist and protagonist’s foil now have names: Juliana and Alice, respectively (thank you, Leigh, for Juliana’s name). Still working on the plot…I’ll write about my funny but sad/pitiful attempt at scrying a plot on Thursday, so check back!

I’m sure most of you have heard of Lisa Hunt, a very talented artist and tarot expert. Her knowledge of fairy tales, myths, psychology, art, and tarot is impressive not only because of the sheer breadth but also because of the magical way Lisa weaves all these disciplines together to create extraordinary tarot deck. Her works include The Shapeshifter Tarot, the Celtic Dragon Tarot, the Fantastical Creatures Tarot, and the award winning Animals Divine Tarot. Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with her about her most recent deck, the Fairy Tale Tarot.

Barbara: Fairy tales and myths are different genres. However, they do have similarities as well as differences, which is probably why they both work so well with tarot. What are some of their most important shared traits? What are their main differences? In what ways did you particularly like working with fairy tales?

Lisa: That is a loaded question and one that stirs up all kinds of interesting conversation. Though I am not a fairy tale scholar or a mythographer, having spent much of my professional life working with both, I would say myths and fairy tales share the need to explain those things related to the human condition. They provide basic maps for survival and help us to make sense out of the inexplicable (or those things that are seemingly out of our hands). Both began as oral traditions and fairy tales are arguably extensions of myths, having evolved due to changing environments and circumstances. But many of the basic themes and motifs share commonalties. For example, some scholars have suggested that the Greek myth Cupid and Psyche is an ancient version of Beauty and the Beast. And stories about the persecuted heroine or the diminutive hero can be found in myth and fairy tale collections alike.

I think generally speaking, the main difference is myths tend to address bigger questions about the cosmos (collective questions), our origins, and often include sacred pantheons that reflect cultural beliefs. Fairy tales are more about immediate struggles (more personal ones) pertaining to the here and now and often employ magical or supernatural devices (rather than gods) to provide entertaining delivery while instilling a sense of hope in the face of adversity. With that said, I have included a few mythic stories in The Fairy Tale Tarot such as Kahukura and the Fairy Fisherman and How Raven Brought Light to the World; tales that in my opinion are demonstrative of this melding of genres.

Barbara: What is one lesser-known fairy tale that you wish more people knew and why?

Lisa: Surprisingly to me, many people are unfamiliar with The Fisherman and his Wife (Grimm). It’s a powerful tale about the ills of greed and how insatiable lust for material wealth can lead to disaster. This basic moral dilemma certainly played into our lives as we watched the housing and Wallstreet meltdowns unfold before our eyes. But the changes also brought simplicity and frugality back into fashion, much like the conclusion of the aforementioned story. The fisherman and his wife end up where they started, perhaps smarter and wiser as a result.

Another less known tale is The Moss-Green Princess. The Moss-Green Princess is a beautiful story about a princess condemned to wearing the skin of a Nya-nya Bulembu fairy beast. The message is clear: External beauty is lost under the shroud of moss, but internal beauty will shine through regardless. This story comes from a collection of South African tales published in 1908. It’s one of my most treasured fairy tale volumes in my possession.

Barbara: Which card was the most challenging and why?

Lisa: Bluebeard as Temptation—to depict the tensions of this card through visual narration was a challenge. I wanted to imply the terror about to unfold without giving too much away. I am happy with the outcome. We look at the image and sense the inescapable shadows that are about to dominate the scene and infilitrate the protagonist’s conscious being.

On a more humourous note, in the image of The Emperor’s New Clothes as the Tower card, the strategic placement of cape over the emperor’s family jewels had to be carefully planned. I know my editor Becky got a chuckle out of it. It’s so trite that it’s funny. haha.

Diamonds and Toads as Eight of Swords was another one simply because the regurgitation of snakes and toads is not a pleasant subject for an artist to tackle. I think the image bothers people, but it is supposed to be repulsive. The Snow Queen as Five of Wands was challenging as well because of the sheer length of Andersen’s The Snow Queen story. But I was able to choose an applicable scene and make it work. It ended up being one of my favorite paintings in the deck!

Barbara: Which card was the most surprising and why?

Lisa: Two of Swords because I didn’t like it. I think it’s a harsh piece with such strong contrasts, though it serves its symbolic function. Well, it turns out to be a favorite with fans. Who would have thought? It’s funny because I noticed my favorite works are not necessarily ones others would choose.

Barbara: Which card is your favorite and why?

Lisa: I have several favorites. The Lake Maiden as The Sorceress because I just love her mysterious presence, Puss in Boots as The Mentor because he is a portrait of my charming feline Timmy aka “Studio Buddy”. And as you know, it’s the painting that helped sell the project to Llewellyn. I also like The Snow Queen as Five of Wands from a visual standpoint—that piece went so quickly and with such artistic fluidity. The Little Matchgirl as Three of Swords and Urashima as Five of Cups were emotionally charged stories that penetrated my core, spilling over in an inexhaustive display of soulful intent. They were perhaps my favorite stories to write. It’s so hard to choose because I have such an affinity for fairy tales. Each one having it’s own special place in my heart.

Sweet Twilight Winner

Congratulations to Oliver Danni, who commented: “I often use reversals, and let my intuition guide me as to their significance. The two most common things I’ll find with them are (a) the “blocked energy” interpretation — that the card means basically the same thing as it would mean upright, but that there is something blocking it from fully manifesting or (b) that there’s a particular perspective on the image in the card that I need to be viewing it upside-down in order to see properly — sometimes something different in the card will catch my attention than what I would have focused on if the card were upright, or sometimes something on the card will appear to be something entirely different than if I had viewed it upright. I used to read reversals as “the opposite of what the card would mean if upright”, but that wasn’t turning out as accurately as when I started using a more intuitive approach to discerning why the card had come up reversed, and I found that those two possibilities I just described were the most common.”   Oliver, please email moon@llewellyn.com with subject line Sweet Twilight to claim your prize; I hope you enjoy it!

There were so many interesting comments. If you have a moment, go back and see.

NaNoWriMo Update

As mentioned in an earlier post, I’m using tarot to write a novel for National Novel Writing Month. Here is my first attempt at plot, using the Lo Scarabeo Tarot and a simple three card spread of Beginning-Middle-End. I welcome you comments (Clearly, I need all the help I can get).

Beginning: A wealthy man/woman (I think it is the antagonist…but more about him/her on Tuesday!) orders the restoration and refitting of a building from the protagonist’s teacher/mentor, so naturally the protagonist (who may be named either Tarin or Juliana) will be working on that building. The antagonist’s agenda (which goes far deeper than simply making a building) sets the novel’s plot in motion (at least I hope, although I have no idea yet what the antagonist’s evil agenda is!).

Middle: The entire world (or so it seems) comes to Juliana’s/Tarin’s city for some reason (a fair, a sporting event, a political gathering, a religious ritual???) and during which the antagonist hopes to launch his/her evil plan. OR Juliana/Tarin takes control of the antagonist’s evil plan (consciously or unconsciously?). She brings the abstract to life. She completes it but in a way different than originally planned (playing with the idea of her own worse fear becoming the world’s salvation).

End: Juliana/Tarin meets an itinerant wise person and she is beguiled and cannot stay away from him/her. His path is one of solitary travels, not the rooted, “normal” family she always wanted. In the end, she follow him away from her sunny home to a place of cold and snow. OR Despite Juliana’s/Tarin’s confusion about what to do (her idea of what is right conflicts with that of her sister, who is after all, a priestess and sibyl and who J/T wishes to please). In the end, she must do what she thinks is best. I recently read a list of questions for novel writing help and one question was “what is the last line of your novel?” I came up with a last line (and no, I’m not telling you yet!) and it involves J/T setting a fire. Just a small one, like in the Hermit’s lamp. I think that is better than her becoming a Hermit groupie, don’t you?

After a short introduction to tarot, Tarot for Writers delves into character creation. So that’s also where I started. Corrine doesn’t just teach about tarot, she also teaches writing and explains the various types of characters: protagonist, antagonist, foils, supporting characters, and stock characters. The first writing practice is to pull a card for each character. Later, cards are pulled to further develop the characters.

I’m going to use the Lo Scarabeo Tarot for all my basic outlining, such as character identification and basic plot. I’m using the Fey Tarot for further character development and the Tarot of the Sweet Twilight for further plot development. I have not yet decided on which deck to use for the setting. The Lo Scarabeo Tarot is a very basic, easy deck (for me), which is why I’m using it for outlining. The Fey and Sweet Twilight are not very traditional, which is why I’m using them…to purposely get lost in the images and to kick start my imagination. So, as you track my progress, know that many of my notes and decisions will be based on intuition and ideas that strike my fancy rather than traditional card meanings.

So far, I only have cards pulled for the protagonist, protagonist’s foil, antagonist, and antagonist’s foil. Here are the main character identifications:

I think it is very interesting that the protag and the antag are both threes and that both the foils are naturally reflective (one gazing into a mirror, the other gazing into a cup), which is exactly what they should be. Even thought the character in the 3 of Pentacles looks male, my main character will be female. I am using these cards for general appearance, character, and what they do, although other cards will flesh these ideas out quite a bit.

Filling in some details

After general character identification, Corrine walks us through character building. I selected some of the questions she provided and pulled cards for each of my four main characters. The questions I selected from Corrine’s list include (followed by the spread position name I used in parentheses):

What does your character look like? (Appearance)

How does your character spend his or her free time? (Hobby)

Does your character have a spouse, children, or pets? (Family)

What are your characters hopes and dreams? (Hopes & Dreams)

What does your character fear the most? (Greatest Fear)

I did all four characters but am only posting the protag and her foil (mostly because I think I might like the foil better than the protag—is that going to be a problem later, I wonder?).

Protagonist

She is younger, maybe late teens or early 20s and a craftsperson’s apprentice. She is rather plain and serviceable in appearance but loves to decorate herself with all kinds of accessories. Her hobby is fencing but she’s absolute rubbish at it. Her family consists of her sister (who is her foil) and her father, an impenetrable man who just wants to be left alone to watch the world go by. She dreams of someday having a “normal” family. Her greatest fear is things not going according to plan. Sadly, she has no name yet. Anyone care to christen her?

Protagonist’s Foil

She is a sibyl at a local temple and I think she is the protag’s older sister. She is bright and colorful, as unlike the moon as one can be…bright copper hair, freckles, and she adores the sun. She loves good food and beautiful things…and she particularly loves games of chance (very unlike her sister and an interesting amusement for an oracle, don’t you think?). She considers her sister priestesses as her family, although she and her sister do have a special bond. That book she’s reading might play a role in the story, being a portal into another world. She hopes one day to not just to serve the goddess but also to rise in her profession and wield real power, perhaps as a kind of demigod. Her greatest fear is falling in love.

Stay tuned for more characters, plots spreads, and who knows…maybe even a setting. Let me know how your novel is coming. If you post your NaNoWriMo tarot usage on a blog, include the link in the comments. Feel free to add me as a writing buddy (and let me know, so I can add you). My user name is mysticfaerie.

Contest Winner Announcement and Special Halloween Treat!

Don’t forget, on Thursday I’ll announce the winner of the Tarot of the Sweet Twilight and will present a very special interview with an artist who is a true treat.

I have played with oracles and like them just fine every now and again. Mostly I like them as an accessory for a tarot reading. My collection of pendulums is frighteningly large, and yet I never have felt comfortable actually using them. Crystal balls (I have a small one), a scrying mirrors, and gazing bowls enchant the heck out of me. I have sat by my window on the night of a new moon and gazed and gazes and got absolutely nothing. The idea of these items is so romantic and mysterious that I am determined to be successful, which I kind of think guarantees that I won’t be. My friend and colleague Corrine Kenner loves runes. But she has a sharp wit, which I think is necessary to use runes.

Do you use more than one deck or other divinatory tools? If you do, do you use them in conjunction with your tarot cards?

Would you be interested in exploring any other tool besides tarot on this blog?

NaNoWriMo Update

I am officially signed up as MysticFaerie. Yesterday I started some character development and plot ideas.

I’m using Corrine’s book and the Lo Scarabeo Tarot for basic foundation stuff–general character identification and general plot.

The Fey Tarot for character development.

The Sweet Twilight for detailed plot creation.

Haven’t decided on a deck for the setting yet.

I plan on letting the cards shape the entire story. Over the weekend, I’ll scan and post the cards I’ve drawn so far and maybe include some of my notes and ideas. Let me know if this is something you are interested in following.

Reminder

Should I remind you again to enter the Sweet Twilight contest? Of course I should. Even if you’ve already entered, you should check out the all the interesting comments.