Tarot for Writers, By Corrine Kenner, copyright 2009 Llewellyn Worldwide. No part of this excerpt may be used, reproduced, or redistributed in any manner whatsoever.
Here’s an excerpt from Chapter Four, on character creation:
Minor Characters
As a writer, you can find clues to your characters’ personalities in Minor Arcana cards, too—especially through elemental associations. Remember that wands are the fiery cards of spiritual life, cups are the watery cards of emotional existence, swords are the airy cards of intellect and communication, and pentacles are the earthy cards of physical reality.
Writing Practice
You can gain a quick overview of a character’s personality by using a four-card spread based on the four suits of the Minor Arcana—wands, cups, swords, and pentacles. The four suits correspond to spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical life.
Here’s a randomly generated spread for a fictional wife and mother we’ll call “Reina.”
Images from Universal Tarot published by Lo Scarabeo and resized for publication here.
Spiritual Life—Eight of Wands. Reina processes information quickly—like the fast-moving missiles in the Eight of Wands. The card also symbolizes communication, which indicates that Reina is open and receptive to messages from the spirit world.
Emotional Life—Six of Pentacles. Reina is emotionally giving, like the generous benefactor in the card. She probably derives a lot of personal satisfaction from charity work; she might volunteer at a church, hospital, shelter, or school.
Intellectual Life—Page of Cups. Like the child in the card, Reina has not matured intellectually. She may have abandoned her formal education in order to marry and have children.
Physical Life—The Devil. This may come as a shock, because it stands in such contrast to the placid cards before it, but Reina is surprisingly sensual. She enjoys all of life’s “guilty pleasures,” including gourmet food, fine wine, and sex. She might even be tempted to abuse drugs and alcohol.