How to Use the Tarot for Story Ideas



I am so in love with my tarot cards!  I've been a reader for over 30 years.  I got my first deck at 12 years old from an auction in my neighborhood as a kid.

I will say, in that time, I've really changed the way I've read them.  When I started reading them in middle school, I thought they would predict my future, to tell me things in life would get better or how something amazing could happen.  It was exciting and fun!  But even though I used the "predictive" style to read the cards, my underlying way to use them was to see them for what they truly were: which is a tool of introspection and deep personal connection.  This means that every single card can be applied to every single person.  This why they work so well.   As I've aged, this has become the only way I use them, for both myself and my clients.  They aren't magical, they aren't supernatural, they are cards with archetypal images on them so you can see what you need to see in them in order to access your deep desires and feelings.  Answers always lie within you.  The tarot are just tools to help you see those answers.

But, if you want to gain story ideas from them, you have to work them a little different and pretend you're a little more like Miss Cleo (she was a great storyteller! LOL).

There are so many ways to generate random story ideas, but the tarot can give you so much more than just a online generator would (or other ways to get story ideas).  They give you pictures that you can draw from for your stories so you can details that you may haven't thought of.  Which make them the ultimate tool when creating the perfect story idea 💗

Here's how:

  1. Pick a layout (see below).  You can just deal your cards and come up with a story idea or pick a detailed layout to give you a very detailed idea. 
  2. Grab a tarot deck (or use a free app on your phone or tablet if you don't own a deck yourself). 
  3. Shuffle the deck any way you wish. 
  4. Lay out your cards (either in a layout or just deal as many cards as you like).
  5. Read the cards either based upon the positions in the layout or just read the cards and get a story idea from the reading.  You can use a book to read the cards, with the traditional meanings or you can just "read the card", which means to look at the card and let it tell you a story.  I like doing both. 
  6. Record your reading (on paper, audio, or video).
  7. That's it!

Decks:


Some of my favorite decks for this use are: 

The Gaian Tarot
The Llewellyn Tarot
The Forest Folklore Tarot


Layouts: 


Write a list of what you want to figure out for your story.  You can do a character sketch or a story idea.  It could look like this:

Main character, sidekick, love interest, plot, setting, etc.

Or for a character sketch:

Age, job, personality, quirks, life growing up, etc.

Each one of those will be a different position for your reading.

Then you shuffle and deal as many cards as you chose for the layout (per your list).  Then choose which card would fit for what position.  If a card can't or won't fit, pick a new one.  And bam, you have your story idea or a character sketch!  Very easy to do 🙂

This technique leads to endless story idea possibilities!  And you're guaranteed to come up with something unique every single time.

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