character creation

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Knights

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Pull the Knights from a deck of your choice. Do you have someone in your life that fits with one of these cards? Do you have people in your life that would fit with each of them? Tell us about the connection you see between each Knight card and the person in your life it represents.

Numinous Tarot

Knight of Wands (Explorer of Candles) – Idealistic and demanding, she visits the protests each night after work. With a mask over her face she holds her sign high, she shouts her passions loud and strong as she joins the mass in the streets again and again. She stands up for her beliefs and for what’s right.  She stands up for what she feels is important, protesting and demanding change as she helps the protestors to drive home what is important and what needs done.

Knight of Swords (Explorer of Bells) – What had once been a spark of an idea has become a burning need to succeed.  She built this business from the ground up and now constantly pushes forward, ever onward, to guide the business towards growth and encourage it to flourish.  Sometimes she takes risks that seem reckless in this need to advance her cause.

Knight of Cups (Explorer of Vials) – Such a charmer, he hits the bars each night with his frat brothers and always comes home with a giggling and happy girl.  He leaves them as happy as he finds them, if not happier, but he does this naturally in pursuit of his own fulfillment.  After all?  How can he wrangle the very best experience out of them without giving them the very best in turn?  Sometimes this means they fall for him, but he’s the love’em and leave’em type.  He does his best to let them down easy, because there’s new depths to explore around the corner with another in the wings.

Knight of Pentacles (Explorer of Tomes) – Five days a week he sits at a desk in a pleated suit and tie.  He meets with clients and guides them forward, showing them how to invest, and what to invest in, sharing strategies for paying off their debts, for financing their mortgage, for creating a fund for their retirement.  His passion in this work, in helping others find their own stability, brings him to work each day and he takes his own advice to build his own future as well.

DECK USED:  THE NUMINOUS TAROT

Weekly Creativity Prompt – Adversity and Triumph

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Pull (at least) three cards use them as the foundation to write something (real or fictional) about adversity and/or triumph.

Natural World Tarot

The Magician – There was once a young boy named Manah that thought he knew everything and was indestructible. He was smart and strong, and believed that he could handle anything that came his way, no matter the source. Even though Manah was young, he believed he had everything he needed and was prepared for anything.

The Hierophant – The wise man of Manah’s village warned him that one day he would run across a situation that he could not handle on his own, but Manah refused to listen.

The Star – Instead, Manah decided to strike out on his own. He packed up his few belongings and left his village with high hopes, and began on a journey to travel the world and see many sights.

Temperance – The great wise spirit of the sky looked down upon Manah with patience for his youthful foolishness. She decided to test the boy, and see if he was indeed ready to strike out on his own.

She sent down from the stars dreams that whispered through his mind as he slept that first night.

The Devil – In his dreams, Manah was greeted by a beautiful woman that stepped out of the flames of his campfire.

She was kind and gentle, and he fell under her spell. She gave him attention and asked nothing in return, and in his dream he became attached to her. As the dream progressed, though, this woman began to ask for small favors. Little things at first, and then something a little more.

Soon she was asking for things that went against his nature, and against what he knew was right or wrong. And yet he was no longer able to say no.

Justice – When Manah awoke the next day, it was late in the day and he had overslept by hours and hours. His fire had died down and animals had come and stolen off with all of his food and some of his supplies.

He realized, through his experiences both in the dream and his awakening to reality, that perhaps he was not as wise as he thought and returned to the village and back to the tutelage of the village’s wise man.

DECK USED:  THE NATURAL WORLD TAROT

Weekly Creativity Prompt – Happy Endings

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Draw up to three cards from your deck and use them to tell a (real or fictional) story with a happy ending.

Tarocchi dei Celti

La Torre – There was once an old man who was always too worried about what others thought about him and it caused him a lot of struggle and inner strife. He always felt like everyone’s eyes were upon him, and throughout his life he struggled with going after any of the things that interested him, which stunted his growth and left him stalled and standing still throughout his life rather than enjoying each and every day.

La Sacerdotessa – One day, a new family moved in next door to the old man. Their daughter was very friendly and he met this young girl, who found joy and mystery in everything.  She encouraged him with her smile and assured him in her young but wise ways that even old dogs can learn new tricks. She brought him a gift every day.  Each day she brought him a little plastic Easter egg with a small wonder inside just for him.  Sometimes he opened them right away, other times he set them on his mantel and savored the anticipation.   In the end, she encouraged him to open himself up to new experiences.

Il Giudizio – Thanks to this lovely little girl, the old man’s life changed forever.  The small joys she shared with him fostered within him the confidence and curiosity to seek out and explore new experiences in other ways and finally go after some of the things he has always wanted to do but avoided due to the judgements of others.  Instead, he learned to judge his actions through his own eyes instead of the eyes of others, and his burdens lightened with each day that followed.

DECK USED:  TAROCCHI DEI CELTI

Weekly Creativity Prompt – Magical Spell

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Pull (at least) three cards and use them to write about a magical spell.

The Magus Arcana Deck

There was once a young girl (The Fool) named Emmaline that spent all of her time frolicking by herself (The Hermit) in the forest among the Fae. They taught her many things (The Hierophant) and filled her days with an abundance of joy (The Sun).

Her mother was worried for her daughters safety (The Empress), and did everything in her power to dissuade Emmaline from going out into the woods on her own (The Magician).  When nothing seemed to work, the mother eventually consulted with the old crone witch that lived at the edge of their village (The High Priestess).

The witch was powerful and used her significant magical abilities (Strength) to cast a spell upon Emmaline and pin the girl in place at home (The Hanged Man).

It worked! But it made Emmaline very sad, and the Fae missed her very much (The Tower). So much so that they came to rescue the little girl (The Chariot) and allowed Emmaline to choose if she wanted to live in the forest forever or stay at home with her mother (The Lovers).

Emmaline chose the woods (Death).

The Fae’s powerful magic broke the spell and the little girl bounded off into the forest with the Fae, never to be seen again by human eyes (The World).

DECK USED:  THE MAGUS ARCANA DECK

Weekly Creativity Prompt – Childhood Antics

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Draw up to three cards from your tarot (or oracle) and use them for guidance in choosing  something to share with us about your childhood.

IMG_4794The Emperor (Ego) –  Once when I was very young (around the age of 9 or 10) my sister and I decided to do an impromptu ritual in our front yard.   We had been doing our own rituals and spellcraft for quite some time, and we were both very confident in our abilities.

The Star (Elation) – We set  up everything outside and began our ritual.  Everything was going along great.  We had been very careful in our set up and things were going smoothly.

Justice (The Lesson) – Until I accidentally bumped the small makeshift altar we’d set up using a wooden stool, and one of the candles toppled off into the dry summer grass.  We were both barefoot and the little cup of water we had for offering didn’t put out the flames (which are incredibly difficult to SEE on dry grass in the middle of the day, by the way.  I had to run and untangle the hose, turn it on and then bring it back, because we were not prepared!   Half the yard burned before we managed to get the fire out.

Moral of the Story –  When preparing for ritual or spellcraft?  It’s not enough to prepare to do the ritual or spell.  You have to prepare for if things go wrong as well.   ie: If you’re playing with fire in the middle of a yard of dry grass?  Have the hose ready and the water already turned on.

DECK USED:  THE STITCH RABBIT TAROT

 

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Pages

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Pull the Pages from a deck of your choice. Do you have someone in your life that fits with one of these cards? Do you have people in your life that would fit with each of them? Tell us about the connection you see between each Page card and the person in your life it represents.

Trippin' Waite Tarot

Page of Pentacles –  Slow and steady wins the race is the story of her life.  She always loved the story of the turtle and the hare growing up, and she has spent her life following the example the turtle set.  She saves her pennies and contributes to the dreams of others, and now as she finally comes to a point in her life where she has everything together and security in place, it’s time to turn her attention to learning how to preserve what she has gained and help it to flourish and grow.

Page of Cups – Curiosity and self expression have filled his life with a journey filled with flavors and colors and a vast world of imagination and swirling seas of emotional experiences.  He’s loved and lost and loved again, and he brings his heart and soul and vulnerability into each project and relationship he is a part of.  This has served him well and he’s grown and learned from mistakes, gathered in those that are just right for him and support his dreams, letting others fall away that do not.   Now with those that make his heart sing around him, he seeks to step forward and learn more about his emotions, his relationships, and the world around him through the eyes of imagination and intuition.

Page of Wands – An entrepreneur at heart, he is a man of many hats and has explored every interest and passion that has come his way.  He started a business all his own and rode the ups and downs that come with striking out on your own.  He follows his passions and sometimes? It doesn’t work out quite as planned.  Now, finds himself once more at the first step of a journey… except this time? He will do things differently.  This business will have all of the benefits of the lessons learned from the one that failed before.

Page of Swords – Her life has been filled with struggle and strife. She’s been knocked down once and again, stabbed in the back by others and battled her own inner demons. Coming out the other side, she has learned that even the worst of experiences have something to learn within them. She takes these experiences with with her now, and seeks to turn them into expertise.

DECK USED:  THE TRIPPIN’ WAITE TAROT