I’ve read tarot outside in a cemetery. I’ve read tarot outside on a busy street corner during third Friday or for street fairs. I’ve read tarot outside of a public library when they realized we were using their “conference room” as a free meeting place for doing tarot sessions. I’ve read tarot in a public park, sitting on a park bench.
Each time I’ve had to contend with the blowing wind and with denizens of nature such as mosquitoes and ants. It was not an uncommon thing for me to be deep into a reading with someone and then yell “Oh SHIT!” as the wind picked up and the cards went a’flying.
But things like that shouldn’t stop you from taking your tarot cards outside! Here’s how to do it without damaging or losing a single precious card.… Continue Reading
Recommended Reading for a Writer with a Weakness for Tarot
The other day I had a lovely conversation with someone about art, writing, and the tarot. This girl was a writer that wanted to write more and was getting stuck. She also was new to tarot, and had no idea where to start with the cards. So I told her to combine the two. Her face absolutely lit up and she said she would try it. (If you’re reading this, I hope it worked for you!) There is much to be learned from the whole “meanings of the individual cards” thing. But sometimes, you have to let those images speak to you in their own way, and that has very little to do with accepted meanings. It’s a private conversation of imagery between you and the cards. Keywords looked up in a little book tend to gum up the works if used for spurring the writing muses (but hey, if you’re a wordy person, don’t let me stop you). Let the card be a pretty picture. Let a story come out of it. Let your words describe what you are seeing. Let the words flow.
The cards lend themselves to writers very well, because through tarot cards we can see the story of our lives. Who’s to say we can’t see a story of a fictional life through them as well? We’ve got the beginning (The Fool), we’ve got the picking up of the pace (The Chariot), we’ve got the problem (Lovers, Devil, Hierophant; love story, boundaries and expectations, problem with authority), total destruction and climax or reversal of fortune (The Tower, The Wheel), and the resolution (Sun, Moon, World, etc). And by the by, even nonfiction writing can benefit from a shuffle and one-card pull.
I just did a shuffle and pull keeping writing in mind and got Death. You can use the imagery on the card (mine is very skull and scythe, Death as a mounted knight in shadows type) or you can use the interpreted meaning of the card (endings, letting go, loss, transformation, fear of unknown) to use this card to spark writing.
The writing/tarot combo is not new. In fact, there are quite a number of books on the subject.
HILARY PARRY HAGGERTY is a tarot reader, witch, mentor, editor, and teacher. She has been reading tarot for nearly 30 years (20 years professionally). She was the winner of Theresa Reed’s (The Tarot Lady) Tarot Apprentice contest in 2011, and has taught classes on tarot and spell-work at The Tarot School’s annual tarot conference Readers Studio and at Brid’s Closet Beltane Festival. She writes a weekly blog on tarot at her websitewww.tarotbyhilary.com and has been featured in Maxim Magazine and BuzzFeed. She is the author of How to Read Tarot.
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HILARY PARRY HAGGERTY is a tarot reader, witch, mentor, editor, and teacher. She has been reading tarot for nearly 30 years (20 years professionally). She was the winner of Theresa Reed’s (The Tarot Lady) Tarot Apprentice contest in 2011, and has taught classes on tarot and spell-work at The Tarot School’s annual tarot conference Readers Studio and at Brid’s Closet Beltane Festival. She writes a weekly blog on tarot at her website
