Seeking Creativity in the Tarot

Tarot cards may seem like a controversial tool to use for creative exercises, but if you're willing to look past stereotypes and fear, their surreal imagery and assigned meanings can provide an endless list of prompts and ideas - you just need a little imagination.

To get you started, here are some ways that you could use tarot cards for your creative pursuits, starting with some advice on selecting the right sort of deck.

Picking the Right Deck

When I'm referring to the 'type' of a tarot deck, I'm not talking about the pictures on the cards - I'm referring to how the deck is designed and intended to be used. The 'rules' of the deck, so to speak. There are at least three types of tarot decks, some of which are more suited for creative play than others.

Scenic decks are the most common type of tarot decks out there. They are so named because each card in the deck shows a unique image or scene. I'd suggest looking for a Rider-Waite-Smith deck (the most popular scenic deck), as the art is particularly surreal and provides a lot of narrative opportunities.

Another useful type of tarot deck are oracle decks. These don't follow the standard tarot design, so the usual style of interpretation won't work, but they do typically offer dramatic scenes and concepts, and every oracle deck has its own theme or utility.

Less useful are the pip decks. These are similar to a regular deck of playing cards in that they don't show scenes on the average card - instead they just show the card's suit and number. The image used to represent the suit (eg, a diamond, a heart, a spade) is known as a 'pip', hence the term 'pip deck'. Try staring at the five of diamonds and you'll see why I find it hard to be inspired by a pip deck.

If you're not interested in getting a physical deck for yourself, a good alternative is Six Mission's random Tarot card page, which allows you to draw one, two, or three cards. It also provides the meanings of each card.

Should you want to find this tool in the future, it's on my Useful Links page too.

Ways to Get Prompts and Ideas from the Tarot

Getting ideas from tarot cards is surprisingly easy. Just ask yourself some questions about what's shown on the card or what the card's meanings may say about your story!

Think about it: what sort of weather are the people in the picture enjoying? What time of day does the scene take place? Does the card offer a theme for a story?

To demonstrate how this works, let's take a look at the 2 of Wands.

The 2 of Wands from the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck,
illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith

This card features a man standing on a castle wall and looking out over the landscape or at the globe in his right hand. He's dressed in heavy clothes and seems to be pondering something.

Right away we have several possible themes: he could be missing his lost love, preparing for a great journey, bored with his current life, or simply trying to solve some problem he's encountered.

We can also see that it's not a bright sunny summer day - the sky is solid gray, suggesting rain or perhaps a sad, melancholic mood. His outfit also suggests that it's cold outside, but since there's no snow on the ground, we can assume that this scene takes place in early autumn rather than winter or spring.

With just a casual view of the card, we have several possible prompts, a thematic mood, two places (the castle and the village in the distance), the weather, and the time of day. There are many other things going on in the image that we could draw from too - why is he holding the globe or the staff? Do the mountains or the lake in the distance mean anything? Is this man a nobleman looking over his property?

On the other hand, perhaps a single card isn't enough for the sort of prompt you're looking for. Chaining multiple cards together can create a complete narrative arc - just decide which card represents which part of the story and you're golden!

Remember: there are no wrong answers here. Just let your mind see what it wants to see, and you'll find inspiration anywhere!

Other Creative Tools