The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life

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I liked Crispin's description of Temperance: "Temperance is an easily misunderstood card, as it has become associated mostly with abstention. Not drinking, not participating, denying yourself something. But that breaks away from the origins of the card, which traditionally portrays a hermaphrodite blending two cups of water- one hot and one cold- to create something in the middle between these two extremes." pgs 76-77 JESSA: The inspiration was simply that so many of my clients were asking me to recommend a book so that they could start to learn the Tarot. I think there are some very good books on the market, but not necessarily what they were looking for. A lot of them were inspired from our creative readings to learn about the Tarot to help them with creativity when I’m not around. I can’t live with them, or follow them around saying, “Oh look, Ace of Cups, amazing!” So eventually I wanted to write it because I couldn’t find that book. I think is the best reason to do anything. If you’re looking around for something, and you discover it doesn’t exist, sometimes that means it’s your job to do that thing. That was the impetus, and the response to it has been so good, so it pleases me that it wasn’t just me and my clients that were interested in this. JESSA: For about eight years I was just studying for myself. Studying the history of the Tarot, but also each individual card, trying to get a good psychological sense of what every card meant. It really did take me eight years before I even offered to start reading for friends. Because I just felt that there is so much to know. I thought, “You’re always going to be a student. You’re never going to be an expert and people who think they are experts are maybe kidding themselves.” The eight-year process was just learning and then reading for friends. I’ve always been uncomfortable with taking money for a Tarot card reading, but I feel like it’s also important to be around someone who understands the particular problems of a creative person. And the particular problems that a writer faces during a project. Someone who doesn’t understand; who’s not a writer, just won’t be able to give the same Tarot card reading. I also liked this blurb about the Tower: "Remember that scene in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, where Amy throws Jo's stories into the fire? That's the feeling of the Tower: the realization that all is lost, and you will have to start over from the beginning." pg 83 I talk to creators all the time who feel like they are wandering around in the dark. They want to know, Why is this taking so long? Why doesn’t it work for me the way it seems to work for everyone else? I feel like I’m not making any progress; should I give up?

The minor arcana is separated into four suits—wands, swords, cups, and pentacles, traditionally—and each suit relates to a facet of human experience. Wands represent action and motivation; swords represent thought processes and decision-making; cups represent feelings and emotions; and pentacles represent the material world, as in work and finances. What if the path to creativity was not as challenging as everyone thinks? What if you could find that spark, plot twist, or next project by simply looking at your life and your art through a different lens?Have you ever used the tarot in conjunction with writing your books? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation. I usually hate half stars (and am glad Goodreads doesn't seem to have them) but I would give this one 2.5 if I could, because 2 seems too harsh but 3 too generous. Written for novices and seasoned readers alike, The Creative Tarot is a unique guidebook that reimagines tarot cards and the ways they can boost the creative process. Jessa Crispin guides you through the intuitive world of the tarot to get those creative juices flowing again. BRIGIT: I wondered if you use it to develop characters, but clearly not. Are there other ways that writers might be able to use Tarot? Perhaps you’ve been working with your friends for how they can use Tarot in their work?

Whether you’re a dyed-in-the-wool seeker or a digital-age skeptic—or a little of both—the power of tarot is open to you. Modern Tarotdoesn’t require you to believe in the supernatural or to focus narrowly on using the tarot as a divination tool. Instead, it offers fiercely insightful descriptions of each of the seventy-eight cards in the tarot system (each one fully illustrated by Amanda Verwey) and specially designed rituals to guide readers on a path toward transformative personal growth. BRIGIT: That’s so fascinating, I’ve never actually thought about Tarot for a specific segment of people and what might happen there, so it’s interesting to hear about your experience with writers. For things like relationship troubles, or money troubles, or Why-do-I-want-to-stab-my-coworker-with-a-screwdriver-every-time-I-see-him? kind of work-related problems, it helps to get an outside perspective. But for daily card draws, for creativity questions, things of that nature, it’s pretty easy to read for yourself. If you’re still confused, you can always talk to a friend about the cards you drew or swap readings with each other. Don’t feel like you always have to fork out money for a professional every time you have a problem.

Tarot beginners, rejoice! Truly Easy Tarotwill teach you how to use tarot cards through a practical, accessible framework, including an escalating progression of card spreads, from simple one-card readings to elaborate multi-card spreads. Honoring traditional tarot meanings while also interpreting their contemporary definitions, this tarot book for the modern age will guide you in your own tarot journey. The tarot is most useful when you ask a specific question, but one that doesn’t have a yes or no answer. “What is missing in this scene?” is a much more useful question, for example, than “Is this scene working?” We’ll discuss examples of questions for particular situations below. I worked very hard to provide something for everyone, no matter his or her level of expertise. That’s both for readers’ familiarity with the tarot and for how advanced they are in their creative expression. If you’re a writer or creative, this podcast episode is for you. Brigit interviews Jessa Crispin, author of The Creative Tarot, about using Tarot for creative work. In this interview, Jessa shares how she uses Tarot in writing, and how other creatives can use Tarot for inspiration. After you’ve explored your own associations with the card, you can look up the traditional meaning, if you choose, for additional insight. But make sure you know what it means for you first – all that matters is whether this process helps your writing, not whether or not you “got the card right.”

Part of that is the way stories are constructed and understood. And if you establish a meaning for one aspect of the card—say, that Sword refers to air, and air refers to thought and communication—then it makes sense that a story would arise rather naturally from a progression. This is perhaps the greatest gift tarot has to give you as a writer. When it feels like there are no more ideas, no more scenes, and no clear way forward, the tarot offers 78 prompts to move you through. BRIGIT: My pleasure. Jessa, you are the author of The Creative Tarot, but Tarot’s not the only thing that you do. Tell me a little bit about who you are and your purpose in the world. One of the consolations after David Bowie left us was hearing all of these great stories about how immensely curious he was. How enthusiastic he was about younger musicians, about art, about life. And immensely empathetic and compassionate toward other artists who suffered what he himself suffered. He got in there, he engaged with people and art. And his work was vital, right up to his literal end. Brigit: You’re listening to the Biddy Tarot Podcast, and this is Episode 55: Tarot for Creatives with Jessa Crispin. VOICE OVERTake advantage of this tendency and allow your mind to fill in the gaps between your question and the card in front of you. You can do this by thinking or take it a step further by freewriting or journaling in response to the question and the card. Discover the tarot with Wild Card, a friendly, funny and straightforward guide to the seventy-eight cards, their stories and meanings among tarot books. BRIGIT: I haven’t heard of that book before. We’ll make sure to get link it in the show notes because I’m sure people will be fascinated to read it. So, the author literally laid out all the cards, and that was the story, and he wrote it? A.E. Waite's beliefs, which Crispin includes in the chapter entitled, A History of the Tarot, were: "Waite believed that the magical systems (tarot) of the Golden Dawn and other systems were not about imposing your will on a situation... or about telling the future... He believed they were for elevating the soul and for bringing what is unconscious conscious." pg 7.

BRIGIT: Interesting. You’ve found quite a specific niche in terms of serving the writer population through Tarot readings. I’m curious; like you said, you felt like it doesn’t feel right to charge money. Tell me more about your thinking there. The tone in The Creative Tarot is very friendly and conversational, as if you asked your best friend to teach you a little bit about her favorite hobby- tarot cards. Highly recommended for artists, dreamers, and aspiring tarot card readers.If you are a planner or plotter, the tarot can become your companion as you build your outline. As you’ve made outlines in the past, do you recall the moments when you aren’t sure how to get your character from point A to point B, or when her motivation isn’t entirely clear to you? That’s the moment to pull out the tarot. On the negative side, I didn't like her approach of having to memorize themes for cards. When I do readings, I use my intuition for what the card means for the person I'm reading. Instead, her approach is memorize everything! Which is okay, but doesn't use your intuition at all (which I rely on my intuition more than anything). JESSA: Writers tend to get a lot of swords because they work with their brains more. Photographers tend to get cups a lot. When they come up, you think, “Oh, there’s your intellectual energy, and this is what it’s doing,” For a writer, that is incredibly important. I find those patterns definitely exist. And also I find a lot of dark cards. Yesterday I had a client who got the Devil as the outcome, and all the other cards were bright and happy. So I find that cards like the Devil, the Tower, and cards that take on more of an archetypal quality don’t mean the same things in creative readings. As many people associate the tarot with fortune telling or personal growth practices, they are often surprised to hear that can also be used to support the writing process. These 78 cards depict a full range of human experience, from big moments in our lives to the more mundane and everyday events. Rather like a good book, right?