Using Cards for Storytelling
Using Cards for Storytelling
Let the cards guide your story
The Attraction of the Cards
Tarot and oracle cards are like magnets. They draw people in for so many varied reasons. But what drew me to the cards the deepest was that I could see all the potentials stories in them. I saw stories dance off the cardstock like neon characters in a noir hazy dream sequence.
It was frustrating when I first became entranced by the cards. I would spend hours looking at them and thinking up stories about them instead of learning their “meanings” or doing an official “reading.” And that’s what I wanted to be doing. I’ve learned how to harness the power of the cards though. What helped was my daily card readings with the decks to get to know them as they were intended. Sometimes, the description or meaning will “ping” off an idea that I’ve had and I mark it down in my “idea bank” as being thought of multiple times. Sometimes I come back to those ideas, sometimes I don’t.
But what I love about the rise of oracle and tarot cards is that they are a supply of never-ending inspiration. It’s almost like an intravenous line to the muse.
Pick a Card, Start a Story
One of the decks that have stirred the most creative juices within me has been The Light Seers Tarot. It’s beautifully illustrated and the nuances and hidden gems are brilliant. There’s always another layer to uncover. Her descriptions are fantastic, along with the bonus material about the cards. She gives so much of herself as the creator of this deck and I think it shows. That’s why it inspired me to create a course around writing fiction based around tarot cards.
I think there is plenty about the cards, just at surface level, that can inspire stories. But it’s the deeper meanings and connections to what it does within you, the interpreter of the cards, that builds great stories from the cards. And the only way to get those deeper meanings and connections is to use the deck. Let it talk to you. Ask it questions. Connect. Do readings (or not). Meditate on the card. Do a pathworking exercise (that’s my favorite way to get inspiration from the cards!). See if you have a spirit guide that wants to speak to you through the cards.
If you connect intimately with a deck, when it’s time to write a story inspired by them, they will tell you exactly what you need to know.
Mini Case Study:
When I was building the curriculum for my Tarot & Fiction Workshop, I was also doing the exercises myself to provide examples for my students. As I began working through the exercises using my Light Seers deck as the “example deck,” I began to dream about the card I’d pulled for the character prompts. The 9 of Swords. The girl from the Light Seers Card visited me often, always crying and sad. I heard the squawks from the ravens above her. Felt her tired and weary bones as if they were my own. And for some odd reason, it felt like this always took place at midnight. The ravens always crowed at midnight.
The inspiration from the card turned into my short story Ravens at Midnight. This is the beginning paragraph:
Annaleigh
Annaleigh scrunched her palms to her head and applied pressure to her skull. If she had to listen to those fucking birds squawking one more time, she would surely die. She’d been stuck in this awful loop of a scene for… well she didn’t actually know how long it had been. Eternity it felt like. She tried to remember the day she met her fateful end. She could remember, in vivid detail, the moments right before and right after the spell. But as hard as she’d tried, everything before then goes blank. She remembers the idea of things very clearly. She remembers being in love, but can’t remember who it was that kissed her lips or dried her tears. She remembers the affection she felt toward her family, but their faces and expressions had blurred into nothingness. She was doomed to spend the rest of her life trapped inside this fucking tarot card.
This is a projection of how that particular card’s energy spoke to me at the time of pulling it for the exercise. This girl from the card felt imprisoned. Doomed to reflect the same day over and over again. She became Annaleigh. And suddenly, her entire world bloomed before me for the story. I used other Light Seers cards that inspired other aspects of her story. What started as a few card pulls for the prompts became the foundation and structure for a cast of characters for a short story.
Does this type of inherent inspiration happen every time you pull cards? Nope. But the more you are consistently engaging with the cards in a journaling practice and asking yourself and the cards curious questions… the more likely it is that they will “speak” to you.
A Thirty-Day Fiction Challenge
If you’ve been following me awhile, you’ll know that last year, I took on a 30 Day Fiction Challenge that required I write a new scene every day inspired by the card I pulled for that day. It was so much fun! (You can read my debrief on that challenge here). But it was also eye-opening how much inspiration and influence the cards had on my writing. It also reminded me that whenever I feel “stuck” or “unsure” in my creative work, I can always rely on the cards to help me out. I think half the battle with writing can be starting and the cards allow a soft and gentle entrance into starting. Try it and I promise you’ll write something that surprises or even, delights you.
Conclusion
If you take anything away from this piece, it’s that oracle and tarot cards can be used for so much more than reading for yourself or others. They can enhance your introspection and inner growth, yes, but more than that, they can be a gateway into a creative portal. They can stir something up within you that you never imagined. You can create worlds prompted by a single card. Don’t get put off by the “woo-woo” side of what these cards are designed to do, because the truth is — they can be used whatever way works best for you.
Interested in seeing which decks I own and use? Click here to see my ever-growing collection of decks. Maybe you’ll find one that speaks to you and then you can find the power of the cards as I have.