April 2023: Tarot Cards for Writing Inspiration

I don’t know about you, but I’ve grown quite weary of reality. How about we retreat from it for a while through this fanciful (and fictional) reimaging of the world around us? Time to create some ancient magic…with the help of our fiercely protective main character!

Character: Queen of Rods. This card represents someone who is connected to nature and nonhuman animals on an intrinsic, intuitive level. They live in an environment that is very close to the earth and its natural rhythms, and do not spend a lot of time in the company of other people. It may be a healing power or a spiritual/psychic ability that sets them apart, or they may just prefer a life of quiet reflection and solitude. They grow their own food in a small garden, and are self-sufficient, and take payment in goods from those who seek this character’s services, or predictions/advice.

 

Setting: XII The Lone Man. The setting, again, is one out in the wilderness, far from towns, cities, and other people. There may be a small cottage in a forest clearing, but the character could be just as content living in a warm and dry cave, or living a more mobile existence, with a sleeping roll and a tent, moving in accordance with the change of seasons, or changes in the foodstuffs available for gathering. Although, it’s more likely that they will root themselves in a certain area, befriending the plants and trees, rocks, the nearby stream, the regular wildlife visitors, and even the insects, and they will travel periodically to nearby towns, providing services in exchange for other essentials this character needs, and cannot obtain from the forest. But the character will always return to their home, as many of the nonhuman residents have become not only the character’s close friends, but important spiritual guides as well.

 

Conflict: Nine of Swords. Although the character has warded the wilderness with protective spells and charms, people from the surrounding towns are trying to take over the land for themselves, and disrupting the balance and the harmony the main character has created as the guardian of the lands. Soon, these interlopers start to directly challenge the main character’s authority over the lands that are under their protection, and it is taking every ounce of power the character has to maintain the wards and keep people from trying to strip the area of her plant, tree, and wildlife friends. The character is forced to take up physical arms in addition to their spells and wards in order to prevent these people from wreaking havoc on the environment—setting lethal traps, and taking the intruders’ weapons that they tried to use to hunt down her friends, and employing them against those same hunters.

 

Conflict/Climax: XIII The Close. The main character soon has to draw upon magic that is almost as old as time itself—sacred and secret knowledge passed down from their ancestors, and which consists of magic not only more powerful than anything the character has performed, it is only to be used in the most dire of situations. This ancient magic not only requires intense dedication and deprivation of the spellworker, one mistake—a misspoken word, or an improperly prepared ingredient—can potentially alter the balance of not only natural evolution, but the laws of time and space as well. It’s a big decision, as not only will the character’s missteps wipe out the greedy townspeople, as originally intended, but the character’s beloved animal and plant friends as well.

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Will the character successfully protect their wild home and their friends? What will happen after the ancient spells take effect?