August 2024: Tarot Cards for Writing Inspiration

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I’ve been daydreaming a lot–dreaming of palaces and wealth and lots and lots of creature comforts. Perhaps that seeped into this month’s reading. But wouldn’t it be nice to live in a lap of luxury for a little while?

Deck: The Wild Unknown Pocket Tarot

 

Character(s): VI The Lovers. The main character lives not only in a very progressive, tolerant society, he holds the status of being the top concubine-in-residence at the royal court. This character lives for love, and he has a very open heart. And having all the luxuries of life at his fingertips only makes him even more gracious and free spirited towards the court’s residents and guests alike. He lives a blessed existence in a world where everyone is granted a comfortable state of being whether of royal lineage or not. But he is also playing host to an ever more remarkable occasion. He is being joined in a sacred bond with his long-time life companion, and the event’s festivities show promise of being without compare throughout the kingdom.

 

Setting: IV Four of Wands. While it is an event of much celebration, there is also a lot of work going into the planning. Portents must be carefully analyzed to select the most auspicious evening for the bonding ceremony, and both the planets and the seasonal atmosphere must be taken into account before the actual date is picked. It’s not just the spiritual and environmental signs that must be taken into account, there’s clothes to be designed, foodstuffs to be gathered and stored, meals to prepare, and guest lists to create. As, again, the main character’s life is usually free from this sort of complicated tasks, he’s feeling the stress and has started to be very overwhelmed with the demands of the party planning activities.

 

Theme/Development: XII The Hanged Man. There’s also a bittersweet pall that hangs over the event planning. While he naturally excels at this sort of thing, his bonding ceremony also signifies his retirement from court life. It’s hard for him not to feel sad as he’ll miss being surrounded by the love and attention of everyone at court, even though he adores his bondmate. These people are not just friends, they are family, and he tries to shut off unfamiliar feelings of loneliness and uncertainty over this new stage of life that awaits him. They’ve all promised they’ll come visit him at his new country estate but he knows they probably won’t. Why leave the rich and dynamic life at the court for the quiet (and remote) existence? He promised many other retirees he would visit, and he never once stepped outside of the golden sphere of the regent’s court.

 

Conflict/Climax: VIII Eight of Swords. He tries to hide his inner feelings from the court, but they begin to manifest in a series of terrifying dreams. He often wakes up in the middle of the night, shaking and in a cold sweat. He has even begun to sleepwalk, and awakes to find himself in the corridors of the palace, sometimes holding strange objects he’d picked up in his sleep—a cast iron skillet, a kitchen knife, a length of rope. In this open and permissive society, people aren’t used to wearing masks, and the strain of the one he’s wearing to hide his fears begins to tell on him. He almost created a diplomatic incident when he let his newfound irritation show towards an honored guest, but he managed to use his charm to smooth things over before the guest stormed out of the palace. Behind closed doors in his bedchamber was a different story. There, he began to snap at his bondmate. And then came the terrible day when he awoke to discover his worst nightmare had come true…and it was by his own hand.

~~~

What could the main character’s worst nightmare be, and how does the character handle the situation? What is the outcome, and how does it affect this halcyon society?

 

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