writing exercise with the tarot

Weekly Creativity Prompt – Halloween Candy

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Prompt: Halloween is upon us! In celebration of a favorite holiday of mine, I challenge you to draw five random cards from your deck (or different decks), and decide what candy (different for each card) that you think fits each of the cards you pulled. Show off your cards, and tell us what candy you matched with them and why you made those choices!

Legend of Zelda TarotThe Devil – Reece’s PeanutButter Cups – You know the little bite sized ones that are individually wrapped? Oh god I love them so much.  I can just eat and eat and eat them.  I can, in fact, go through an entire bag of them without even realizing it… and still want more.

The Moon – Mixed Chocolate Gift Boxes – I hate them. Absolutely completely hate them. Especially the ones that don’t give you any guide to what chocolates are what? It turns out that I pretty much dislike most of what is in these boxes, and have to guess my way through the different candies just to find those two or three I like.

The Hanged Man – Werther’s Originals – Okay so, these candies? I always think I don’t like them. And then I put one in my mouth and I’m like “eh.. it’s okay”, but by the time it melts down to nothing? It’s so good! I have no idea how it happens, but every single time, it’s the same.

The Hermit – Pixy Stix – I have to eat these alone.  If I don’t hide them and eat them alone?  My sister steals them from me.

The Sun – Werther’s Creme Savers – Whether the orange flavor or the strawberry flavor, these candies were always so good. They were discontinued quite a while ago (although I hear they brought them back recently?) but they are absolutely the best non-chocolate candy I’ve ever had. The flavor is so light and bright, yet also somehow comforting.

DECK USED: LEGEND OF ZELDA TAROT

Trick Or Treat Creative Writing Prompt

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Prompt: “Halloween is just a week away! This week, draw (at least) three cards from your deck and use them to describe for us a (real or fictional) trick-or-treating outing or adventure.“

Halloween Ephemera TarotDeath atop High Priestess – I had a dream that the bad man was coming, three nights in a row. On the third night, I woke up screaming in bed with mama there beside me trying to wake her up.

Mama convinced me to tell her about my dream and when I did, she got up right away and began packing our clothes into bags.

Strength – I told her I didn’t wanna go, but she convinced me it would be okay.  She told me stories about the places we might go next, and the new friends I would make, and in the end I decided maybe it would be okay.

I helped pack up our stuff that night, and we hopped in the car with our bags in the back and drove off into the night with that old song by the 4 Seasons “Bye Bye Baby” playing on the radio as we drove out of town.

Death (continued) – We settled in a new town and school started.  She was right!  I did meet new friends, and the school is really great with lots of activities my old school didn’t have.

Temperance – I was really excited for Halloween to come, because I hadn’t been allowed to trick or treat for years.  So this year I was going to go out with some friends, and Mama said it was okay as long as I didn’t stray too far.

The Devil – When the night came, I dressed up as my favorite cartoon character and when my friends came we went out to knock on some doors.  It wasn’t scary at all, and I was having a great time! My friends wanted to go over to the next block, and I figured it wouldn’t be any harm, so I agreed.  And that then turned into the next block after that… and the next one after that.

The Devil (continued) atop Hanged Man – As it got later, friends started to break off and head home, and I eventually found myself walking alone, heading back the way I came.  I felt okay until this guy came up behind me and grabbed my arm!  The moment he touched me, I knew he was the bad man from my dreams, even before I turned around to look at him.

Breaking his hold, I started to run away when he called out three words that made me pause.  “I’m your father!” he said.

The news stole the breath from my lungs and I turned to stare at him for what felt like forever.  Then I raced home to Mama to tell her what happened. Time to move again.

DECK USED: HALLOWEEN EPHEMERA TAROT

Weekly Creativity Prompt – Autumn Themes

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Prompt: From your deck of choice, select one card that you feel fits each of the themes below (I actually chose randomly):
1) A wander in the Autumn woods
2) Guidance from the Past
3) The Beginning of the End
Post the 3 cards you chose, and share with us how you made the connections that you did with the prompts above.

Omens TarotA Wander in the Autumn Woods

The Sun – As fall arrives and the air cools, I spend more time outside enjoying nature, breathing in the crisp air, and bonding with nature. These experiences light me up from the inside and bring me a great deal of joy and happiness.

Whether hiking in dappled sunlight through a canopy of leaves, or under the rapid pitter-patter of falling rain, this time of year and my time spent in nature is my “Sun” card through and through.

Guidance from the Past

The Hierophant – It is through our past that we become who we are in the present, and it is through our ancestors we are taught the traditions and values that we carry forward into the future.

I may not have the greatest relationship with my family or my parents, but I acknowledge this connection and I understand that even those ancestors that are passed on still walk my path with me today and every day.

The Beginning of the End

The Star – When I  hear the phrase “the beginning of the end” it always brings to mind the moment when hope begins to falter and die.  Whether it’s a story, a legacy, or a life… I feel that hope is an essential part of continuing onward, moving forward, and improving one’s life and self.

What I’ve come to realize is that even when we feel as if there is not a shred of hope left within us?  There is… it’s still there.  Sometimes, its flame just flickers so very faintly that it’s impossible to see when life is at its darkest.

DECK USED: OMENS TAROT

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Haunted House

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Prompt: Draw (at least) three cards, and use them to tell us a story describing a visit (real or fictional) to a creepy haunted house).

Ghoulish Garb's Terror TarotWhen I woke up here, I didn’t understand where I was or how I got here, I just knew that this is where I was supposed to be (The High Priestess).

The feeling was so strong, that I lingered for a long time (The Hanged Man), and when others came, I convinced them to stay with me (Strength).

We chose our rooms and made ourselves at home, becoming a part of the creaking wood, warped glass windows, and crumbling mortar (Temperance).

And now, when the living come, which they always do with their bright and shimmering energy and vibrant full color lives (The Star), we show them who this house truly belongs to… and always will (The Emperor).

DECK USED: THE GHOULISH GARB’S TERROR TAROT

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Death Card

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Prompt: Pull the Death card from your deck(s). Compare the imagery between the Death card in the Tarot of the Hidden Realm and the card(s) from your own deck(s). How would you read them differently and why? Share your card(s) and your interpretation differences between the imagery on them.

The Death Card from the Tarot of the Hidden RealmTarot of the Hidden Realm – This imagery always makes me think of cancer.  The kind that is terminal, but takes its time.

In the image, the winds of change keep the raven aloft, and lift the woman’s hair skyward in wild disarray that reflects the disarray that change can create in one’s life. She is gaunt, speaking of a long period of change, not something sudden.  This isn’t a fall from grace, but something that eats away at the insides, ushering her forward into a new existence with the raven there to escort her on her way.

The Natural World Tarot, Anima: Gate of Memories Tarot, and Tierney's Delight Tarot

The Natural World Tarot – Swirling snowflakes and flowers surround a bird with open chest.  It perches, still and watchful in the image, its heart open to the dance of changing seasons surrounding it.  This card speaks to me of the necessity to stay open to, and aware of, changes as they happen over time. The importance of not closing oneself off to their influence and the constant shifts and adjustments necessary.

Anima: Gate of Memories Tarot – Change isn’t always easy, even when it’s the slow moving and organic kind of change.  Sometimes we fight against it even when life would be so much easier if we didn’t. Here in this imagery I see that fight depicted.  A struggle and the anger that change can stir up when it’s not the kind of change we necessarily want or volunteer for. This card says that change may be inevitable, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.

Tierney’s Delight Tarot – Sometimes when we’re dealing with changes in our lives, we get stuck in the mourning aspect of what we’re losing and are unable to look past that loss to the potential in our lives that it opens up.  Here in this card, I see that mourning expressed.  The card indicates that we are holding on too tight to what is on the way out… and not allowing ourselves to move on to the new possibilities that change is offering us.

DECK USED: TAROT OF THE HIDDEN REALM, THE NATURAL WORLD TAROT, ANIMA GATE OF MEMORIES TAROT, TIERNEY’S DELIGHT TAROT

Weekly Creativity Prompt – A Walk in the Woods

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Prompt: Imagine a walk (or remember your last walk). Draw between 3 – 5 cards from your deck. Then for each card, associate the card to something you saw on your walk. Share your card(s), and your reasoning behind the associations that you made with each card you pulled.

Tarot Manouche Universel du XXIè Siècle

Acorn – La Protectrice (The Empress) – She holds within her the burgeoning promise of new life. Fallen and upon the earthen floor, she bathes in the dappled light cast between softly rustling leaves and whispers of the secrets that grow within her belly that will soon take root… and grow.

Squirrel – Le Fou (The Fool) – He bounds from branch to branch with curiosity and enthusiasm, chittering in the trees with a merry voice that celebrates his eager task. There is quickness and cheer in every movement, even in the moments he moves with purpose.

Douglas Fir Cone – La Force (Strength) – There is an old legend in the Pacific Northwest (believed to be of indigenous origins) about the Douglass Fir that speaks of a large fire in the forests of the west. Many animals ran around frantically trying to escape the flames. Tiny mice, not fast enough to outrun the fire, sought shelter from various trees. The mice approached many trees asking for help and were turned away again and again. When they eventually approached a mighty Douglas Fir tree and asked if they could take shelter among its branches, the Douglas fir agreed to help the mice, and allowed them to hide within its cones. As a result, the mice survived the fire, and to this day, if you examine a Douglas Fir cone, you can see the tails of the mice sticking out between the scales of a cone.

Stream – La Sagesse (The High Priestess) – Water flows and explores. It seeps into crevices and slips into cracks, soaks and saturates even as it flows ever onward. It spreads beneath the soil, showing only a small bit of what truly runs ever onward, while so much is hidden beneath the earth where none can see.  Water holds many secrets, and flows ever onward.

Fallen Log – La Mort (Death) – Decay is the birth of new life as a fallen log lies within shaded forest floor and begins to break down. This tree that dies, fallen and lies, now offers itself up to the forest and the promise of new life. A nurse log. And as structure breaks down it provides shelter and nutrients, seeds take root, while mushrooms and moss grow from slowly forming crevices and holes. As life fades… so too does it flourish once more. One form transforming to make another.

DECK USED: TAROT MANOUCHE UNIVERSEL DU XXIè SIÈCLE