July 2021: Tarot Cards for Writing Inspiration

Welcome to Climate Change Summers! At least July’s going to cool off so that people here in the United States can set off fireworks and thereby terrify all kinds of wildlife and traumatize people’s pets. Ha! (Seriously, though, stay safe, and please don’t set the world on fire any more than it already is!) And, speaking of terror and trauma, here’s hoping this month’s tarot card reading is fiendishly inspiring to all you writers out there!

 

Character(s): Page of Wands (Reversed). A young person who’s a thief, pickpocket, or part of some criminal enterprise. Smart and clever, and, of course, manipulative. This character’s motivations can be used to develop the plot, whether as an antihero to your main character, or a flawed character that finds themselves drawn into a situation where they risk getting in over their heads, or tempted by a downward spiral path that may prove difficult to extricate themselves from, until the stakes demand a price they aren’t willing, or able, to pay.

 

Theme/Development: Ten of Swords. A fatal mistake. Severe misjudgment. Heart-wrenching loss. A terrible price has been paid. Capture, physical/emotional injury, torture, confinement, and the threat of death/execution occurs because of the character(s)’s actions. Cunning has only taken the character so far, and now the character may find themselves on the run.

 

Setting: Six of Swords. Journey of exile or escape to a remote island, or other faraway location, possibly with an injured loved one, or to recuperate from their own injuries. Area could be populated by a previously unknown peoples, or the character could find themselves on their own.

 

Conflict/Climax: Queen of Wands (Reversed). The character encounters an opportunity to make a new life; whether it’s in the location (and with the people) they took refuge in, or an opportunity to start over in a new location with the aid of a companion. Instead they are tempted by the opportunity to seek revenge for their loss, or for the trauma they endured at the hands of their persecutors. There might also be a conflict as money needed to start over in new lands, there is debt incurred with a doctor, healer, or other medical individual, or new family/community ties the character wants to support. And, as a result, the character risks being drawn back into the same cycle they had escaped.