Eight of Cups by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

The Moon gazes down on the land. How she loves the water, what she lacks in her heavenly home. How it draws her eyes.

In the landscape of her gaze a human walks alone. She does not see herself reflected in his eyes. She can feel the water in him and she pulls, but still he does not look up. Something else is drawing him.

The Moon drinks in the river through her eyes. The river knows her. The river reflects her in shards of glittering, dancing light.

But the human does not look. The mountain guides him. The stones measure his steps. The body of Earth, the Moon’s big sister, the beautiful one - this is all he sees.

Not that the Moon is jealous. Of course he would love her best. She is his mother, and he is so very small.

The Moon would be the Earth’s lover if she could. She pulls on Earth’s oceans, crashing water against hard stone, wanting to change her, wanting to touch her, to hold her as she herself is held. Rapt. Gazing endlessly into her beautiful beautiful blue.

But the Earth does love her, much more than the Moon knows. The movement, the power, the desire… this created the life that rose from the shallows. And all these little ones, all her children, are proof of that love. Offerings to her cool and brilliant sister.

The two great ones dance and strive and desire. And the little one walking feels something, but does not know how to give it a name. He believes something must be missing inside of him, to feel so great and terrible a longing. So he seeks, and the Earth gives, and the Moon gazes down.

Ellen wrote this during at BATS 2007 during the Writing with the Tarot Workshop. Visit this link for a write up of the exercise.

Writing with the Tarot

Have you ever wanted to write fiction or poetry, but been too intimidated to get started? Are you a writer who is blocked or seeks a new source of inspiration? Susan and Evelyn use tarot for written personal exploration, creative writing exercises and to cope with writers block. They are also committed to teaching writers, of all experience levels, how to do the same.

Personal Writing Exercise

Look through your deck and select a card for:

1. Where you are right now
2. Where you want to be

(In your Career, Studies, Process, Journey as a Writer, and in your relationship.) Use the cards to start writing about those two topics.

Creative Writing Exercise for Character Development

1. What a Character might want
2. What standing in the way of the character getting what he/she wants
3. Strategy for overcoming the obstacle.
4. Outcome, what might happen for the Character in the End

Susan Gold and Evelyn Pine

Susan Gold holds an M.A. in Creative Writing and is a published poet. She has taught writing and literature courses at the college level and currently teaches advanced high school courses in English and Mythology. She reads at parties and events and especially enjoys teaching tarot workshops in collaboration with Evelyn Pine and Carole Pierce. Susan is also a certified hypnotherapist and is exploring ways to combine her interests in tarot, writing, teaching, and hypnotherapy. Check out her website at www.magicians-table.com and also her blog and podcasts at tarot-table-talk.com.

Evelyn Jean Pine is the winner of the 2007 June Anne Baker Playwriting Commission. Her plays have been staged around the country and her short stories have appeared in Seventeen, Sassy, Inner Ear and Collage. A student of the San Francisco Institute of Magickal and Healing Arts, she has used the cards for inspiration and insight for more than 20 years. She is delighted to work with Susan Gold and the Magician’s Table to share the power of writing with the tarot.

• Tarot Table Talk Podcast
• Magician’s Table Site
• Table Talk Tarot Blog
• Writing and the Tarot

Another Tarot Table Talk Podcast: Writing with the Tarot #1

This is the third Tarot Table Talk Podcast and the first in a series that offers exercises to use the tarot for personal and creative writing. You can listen to Writing with the Tarot #1 here. This episode is an MP3 and is 31.1 MB. While the podcast itself lasts 22 minutes, this does not include writing time. Feel free to use your recorder’s pause button liberally and to take as long as you need for your written response to each prompt. You may choose to do all of the exercises in one sitting, or break them up over several writing sessions. You might even want to bring the recording to your writers’ group or tarot group.

This episode is co-hosted by Susan Gold and Evelyn Pine. To participate, it doesn’t matter how much or how little you know about writing or the tarot. It offers exercises that will help you get started on—or deepen—either journey.

In this episode

This episode begins with a warm-up writing exercise to help those who are new to the tarot to focus on the details of a card. The warm-up is followed by a self-reflective writing exercise inspired by each of the four suits of tarot. We conclude with a creative writing exercise that will generate ideas for setting, story, and character.

What you will need

To do the writing exercises, you will, of course, need a favorite writing instrument—pen, pencil, or even a computer, and a tarot deck. You can find a tarot deck at any book store—though we encourage you to support a new age or independent book store. A great independent online tarot store is The Tarot Garden.

There are thousands of decks out there, and you might want to first go to Aeclectic Tarot, which has reviews of decks and sample images from them. Whatever deck you choose, just make sure that every card is rich with scenes and imagery. If you are still having trouble selecting a deck, you might try the classic Rider-Waite deck or the Golden Tarot deck.

Once you’ve got your deck, pen and paper—or computer, find a place conducive for writing.

Click here for more Tarot Table Talk Podcasts

Music Credits

• Opening Music: The Oracle Speaks by William Wilde Zeitler from Elegy for Atlantis
• Transitional Music: Invocation by Ty Burhoe from Invocation (Magnatune)
• Closing Music: Longing by Ty Burhoe from Invocation (Magnatune)

Play or Download the Episode

 

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