Pull up to three cards and use them to… create and/or describe your perfect vacation.
No vacation would be right
without you along
I need you at my side
or else everything just goes wrong
Together there is fun and joy
and a lot of indulging in pleasure and play
In the end it doesn’t matter where we go
It’s being with you that makes my day
Pull (at least) three cards and use them to… write about either a real or fictional abandoned building.
Loew’s 175th Street Theatre – Manhattan – 1969
He was once a pillar of the community (La Force) where people came together and socialize. A beacon of light to all that shined brightly on even the darkest of nights (Le Judgement).
Disrepair came upon him as less and less people came to visit and upkeep decreased, allowing deterioration to sneak in.
Then one day the lights shut down and the doors were barred. Seats were left to gather dust that had once gathered rumps of rapt men and women and children. (L’ermite)
Many people felt they no longer needed the hope that he represented (Le Fou), while others found other ways to entertain, uplift, and educate themselves (Le Faucheur and Le Bateleur).
Now what had once stood tall crumbles (la Maison Dieu) with neglect in an uncertain world (La Lune).
And yet still, he his hopeful (Les Etoiles) that in time a new purpose will come (Le Pendu and Wheel of Fortune) and people will return once more (Le Monde).
Pull up to three cards and use them to… create and/or describe a fictional character.
One of The Nameless
Even in his youth, he was already an old man. His grandmother saw it the first time she looked into his infant blue eyes, and even once that newborn shade darkened into a dark shade of brown, she wasn’t able to look back again.
It wasn’t just that his eyes were filled with an age he had yet to have lived, it was the desolate coldness in the rich brown gaze. There was a darkness there that went far beyond color.
As he grew up, he had no friends. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good looking, or even that he had some mysterious appeal. It was just that he didn’t want them. He felt no connection to them, and thus preferred to be alone.
This made him a perfect candidate for recruitment after he’d left the military, and the agency that picked him up trained him in skills that the military only hinted at, then began sending him on the kind of top secret missions that changed the world, one assassination at a time.
Pull at least three cards and use them to… write about a (real or fictional) call that was a wrong number.
The Phone Call
There came a time many years ago where a boy filled with youth and potential (Il Sole) lay within a bed, his body broken into pieces (La Torre di Babele).
Lying within the bed after one of the many surgeries needed to put the boy’s body back together, he almost ignored the call when the phone beside his bed rang. Almost. Instead, exhausted and disheartened, he answered.
On the other side of the line came a man’s voice. A voice he had never heard before. The man was confused and struggling, driving in the rain and lost in an unfamiliar city. He was on his way to a blind date, and couldn’t figure out which way to go (Gli Innamorati). He had meant to call his date and get directions, but had clearly dialed the wrong number.
The man, oblivious to the boy’s own plight, was all worked up and expressed that he was greatly tempted to just turn around and go back home (Il Diavolo), writing his date off as a flop and accepting (although mournfully) that perhaps he was meant to be alone forever (L’eremita).
The boy in his recovery bed felt bad for the man and his struggle. He felt that no one that longed so deeply to find a connection with another should allow their fear to keep them from finding that connection, and he said as much to the man.
He told the man that he should go through with the date, because after all… what if (La Ruota della Fortuna) this woman is the person that the man has been waiting for his entire life? (Il Guidizio)
In talking with the boy, this premise gave the man hope (Le Stelle), and he decided to try and go through with the date after all.
The boy in his bed did a search of the man’s destination on his tablet, and pulled up a map with directions (Il Bagatto) to the place that the man was supposed to go. As the man drove, the boy talked the man through the steps to get to his destination (La Luna and Il Carro).
Once at his destination, the call ended with the boy wishing the man good luck, and the boy then went back to his rest and healing. The call was soon forgotten in the fog of medications, surgeries, and physiotherapy in the days and months that passed.
Then one day, a few months later, the boy’s phone rang again with an unfamiliar number. Again it was the same man! This time calling calm and happy (La Temperanza) and wanting to thank the boy.
He told the boy that on the night of the first call, the man had been dead set on going home. But, the boy’s encouragement had given him hope and, in going through with the date, he had indeed met the person he’s been waiting his entire life to find. The man had called to thank the boy, for the man’s life had completely transformed because of this date (La Morte), and he told the boy that he and the woman from the blind date were going to be married (Il Papa). This news gave the boy pleasure and hope, and he worked even harder to recover so that he could dance at their wedding.
Pull at least three cards and use them to… tell us a story about love at first sight.
The Water Sprite and The Tree Nymph
Once upon a time there was a handsome water sprite that had become inextricably tangled up (The Devil) within the reeds and weeds of a relationship with an evil overlord. (Emperor)
The overlord was cruel and manipulative, always controlling the water sprite’s every action and word through guilt and anger, and using the sprite to spread discontent over the land and hurt those that lived and played too near the sprite’s pond. (Hierophant)
The water sprite did not realize he was unhappy in this relationship, and had been within it so long that he had become deaf to his inner voice when it tried to speak up and tell him things were not right. Yet, the more time went on, the more the sprite withdrew from others in order to protect them from the overlord’s evil ways. (The Hermit).
Then one day while within the embrace of his solitude, the water sprite spied a tree nymph that he’d never seen in that part of the woods before. From his pond, the sprite watched the nymph dancing among the trees with fascination, peering from the shadows with wonder and awe. (The Hanged Man)
The water sprite watched from afar for a long time, and then came a day when the tree nymph danced much closer to the sprite’s pond. In the water sprite’s excitement at this new proximity to the object of his fascination, he forgot himself and shared his admiration for the tree nymph with the overlord (Extra Card), who immediately began to simmer with jealous anger.
Making grand plans for using this situation to his advantage later on, the overlord sent the water sprite out to seduce the nymph, demanding that he get the fascination for the tree nymph out of the sprite’s system. (The Fool)
The overlord had used this tactic on him before, but the water sprite was so eager to follow the shinning spark in his heart that he leapt at the chance the overlord had given him. He seduced the tree nymph (The Lovers), and found that his need for the nymph did not become sated as it had in the past when this had happened. Instead, each touch and taste only caused his need for the tree nymph to grow ever stronger (Wheel of Fortune). And thus he seduced the nymph again and then again, and with each seduction he became even more entangled within his feelings and fascination.
This enraged the overlord, who ranted and raged his displeasure and used everything in his vast arsenal to tear down the water sprite and rip him apart (The Tower) so that he could then bring the water sprite “back in line”. As a part of his plan to force the water sprite into submission, the overlord cast him out, severing their relationship, and the water sprite was left battered and bruised and lost in the forest of his guilt and emotions. (The Moon)
The tree nymph, having heard something had happened and that the water sprite was upset, approached the water sprite to offer comfort and friendship (Temperance). And, while doing so, unknowingly spoke magic words of wisdom that broke the spell of the overlord’s hold upon the water sprite (The Sun).
The reeds and weeds that the water sprite had been entangled within were cut away with these words, and the water sprite found that he could stretch himself tall and breathe fresh air once more. (Strength)
With this newfound strength, he could see clearly that the fascination that he had for the tree nymph was not fascination or obsession at all. It was love! (Death)
When the overlord came back to collect the broken water sprite, having believed he was leaving the sprite tangled up and withering in the tangled reeds of guilt and misery, he found instead that the water sprite was no longer tangled at all and had, in fact, slipped completely from the overlord’s reach. (Justice)
The water sprite had found his love, and his heart shone with it bright as any star in the sky (The Star). The tree nymph had given the water sprite his freedom, and the water sprite began a new journey. A journey out of reach of the overlord’s grasp. A journey filled with nurturing and love as he begins to endeavor to show the tree nymph just how good they could be… together. (Empress)
Pull at least three cards and use them to… tell us a fairy tale story.
A Boy’s First Lesson
There was once a young boy that spent all of his time under his father’s thumb being ground into the dirt. (Justice)
One day he decided to run away from home. He packed up his cherished possessions and tucked them away in his school bag, then in the dead of night he climbed out the window and slipped off into dark. (Chariot)
At first the night was very dark and he couldn’t see a thing. He felt that he was fumbling around in the dark. But the longer he was out in the night, the more his eyes adjusted until the starlight became shimmering flames in the sky to light his path. (The Star)
As he became aware of his surroundings, he realized things weren’t so bad after all. Sure they had been scary at first, but now under the soft light of the stars, he felt hope that he would do well on his own. (Wheel of Fortune)
When the moon rose, she cast deep shadows upon the road that caused the boy a bit of anxiety (The High Priestess), but he continued to move forward, unwilling to let go of his assertion that he could find something better for himself than what he’s left behind. (Strength)
As he walked along the side of the road, he came upon a tree whose branches stretched over the road, and from this tree’s branches hung a small spider spinning this way and that in the breeze. (Hanged Man)
Wanting to help the little spider, he pulled out the tin he’d used to hold his finest trinkets. Making room in the tin, he brought the tin up under the spider and caught the spider inside. He closed the lid and tucked the tin back away. (The Fool)
The boy wanted to help the spider, and so he did what he thought was right. (Judgement and Emperor) He continued on into the night until he found a place to camp for the night beneath a large oak, thinking that the oak would be the perfect place to set the spider free.
Pulling out the tin, he popped open the lid only to find the spider was no longer inside, and curled in the corner of the tin was a withered and crumbling husk of a tiny human-like creature with delicate, gossamer wings. (Death)
And thus, the boy’s first lesson in becoming a man is two-fold. First, things are not always what they seem. Second, sometimes you have to leave things as they are. What’s “right” for you may not be right for everyone, and by trying to conform others situations and beliefs to your own standards, you can sometimes do more harm than good…. no matter how altruistic your intentions may be.
Twisting the Leaf 