Creativity does not refer only to artistic creativity. A creative life is one in which your decisions and choices, actions, beliefs, and values spring from openness, tolerance, curiosity, and a sense of awe for the world. Creativity can be expressed in poetry, painting, sculpture, and music, but also in a journal entry, in the way you tackle challenges, and in the empathy with which you approach the people around you. Fear and doubt are obstacles to living a creative life. But they can also provide inspiration. The trick is not to let them overwhelm you (easier said than done, I... Continue reading

Creative writing is not always about stories. It could be about a life, an opinion, or a topic of interest. If you struggling to write about a topic you feel passionate about, use tarot cards as inspiration. This spread is for an article. Shuffle your deck, draw ten cards at random and place them in two rows before you. (For a quick how-to, go to my post How to read tarot cards.) What will you write about? Why does this topic matter to you? What effect do you want your writing to have on your readers? What do you want... Continue reading

We've looked at a tarot spread exploring character traits. Here is one that explores the conflict between what the protagonist wants and what she (or he) needs. Draw five cards and lay them out in a row: (If you want a short overview on how to read tarot cards, go to my post How to read tarot cards: A quick guide.) What the protagonist wants What the protagonist needs The most important thing about this conflict What is standing in the way of what the protagonist needs? What can the protagonist do? [This spread first appeared on SynTAROTis.] If you... Continue reading

Tarot cards as inspiration for creative writing? Of course! Ways that you can use tarot cards in your writing include using tarot court cards to represent your characters; the suit cards as settings and actions; the major arcana indicating forces that cannot be controlled. Or you can explore your characters and story elements with tarot spreads. Here is one that delves into a character trait that could cause problems for your protagonist: (For a short overview on how to read tarot cards, go to my post How to read tarot cards: A quick guide.) Character trait How your protagonist expresses... Continue reading

Many problems can only be solved by understanding where they come from. And tarot is an excellent tool for solving problems creatively. So how do we get the two together? With a tarot spread, of course! You will see that this spread explores the problem from several angles: personal, emotional, environmental, and the role you play in the situation. The spread layout is that of the well-known Celtic Cross. What is the problem? What is the main challenge to overcome? What do you know? What are you hiding? What contributes to the problem? What else is causing the problem? What... Continue reading

Sometimes you find that a card has more than one message for you. These messages can come from your intuition, from what you know about the card, from the image of the card, and from books you consult for the card’s meaning. Think of these diverse meanings as layer upon layer in understanding and interpreting the card. To find these messages? Take your time with a card; do not think the meaning that jumps out at you first is necessarily the only one. (Although, often, the first thing that comes up on you seeing the card could be the most... Continue reading

In nursing, a huddle is a meeting of the medical team to ensure that the handover of a patient from one shift or team to another happens smoothly and with all the necessary information shared. During these “huddles,” the team discusses the situation, background, assessment, and recommendations (SBAR) for each patient. The word “huddle” has such a cosy, safe connotation. So let’s transfer the huddle from the medical field to the tarot. While “huddling” with yourself or a querent, these aspects are crucial: The situation The background to the situation Your assessment of the situation Any recommendations or advice If... Continue reading

Tarot cards are superb tools for journaling and introspection. One reason is that the cards can help you understand past events and explore how these events affect the present. Think about an event that you would like to explore or that had a significant impact on your life. In your journal, describe the event briefly. Shuffle your deck. Draw five cards and place them face down before you. Turn over the first card and, taking your time, use the imagery and your intuition to reflect on the event. Card 1: What then? What can this card tell you about the... Continue reading

Need spreads to practise on? Pulling a daily card is a good way to get to know your tarot cards. Sometimes, however, you want to practise reading the cards, but soon or later, you run out of family members and friends to read for. Or you run out of problems to explore. Here are seven The Sceptic's Tarot spreads you can do over and over. You will learn something about yourself every time. What do I know? (3 cards) What is worth knowing? (3 cards) Serenity spread (6 cards) The f-word spread (2 cards) If–then spread (2 cards) And but... Continue reading

Do you use tarot cards for self-reflection? Reflection is a powerful tool for solving problems. It can help you learn from past mistakes, grow, plan, and make sense of confusing emotions and events. And tarot reading is the perfect tool for reflection. (If you want to know more about reflection, I wrote a longer article for SynTAROTis.) Tarot reading is inherently creative and reflective, so any spread that covers the aspects that you want to explore will work. Here is one that I created to explore an experience, learn from it, and look forward to the next reflection. What was... Continue reading

We cannot relive the past, but we can change the way we look at it. Remember Appreciative Inquiry? This technique also looks at the positives in a situation and can be used to re-look unpleasant events. The spread is not meant to negate the past or deny that it was traumatic. When something terrifying or humiliating happens, we automatically see ourselves as a victim or a fool. This spread helps to bring strength and hope forward. Setting the scene 1. What happened? 2. How does it affect you today? A different perspective 3. Despite all, what went right? 4. Despite... Continue reading

Instead of resolutions that most of us break anyway, try this spread that will help you set your eyes on growth and what will help you get closer to your goals. Who am I? How would I like to grow this year? What will help? What have a learned in the past year? What will take me forward this year? How will this bring me closer to my life purpose? (Or an important goal.) If you like this spread, please share it on Facebook or Twitter with the buttons below! And follow The Sceptic's Tarot on Facebook and Twitter by... Continue reading

Which type of question works best for tarot readings? Questions with only yes or no for an answer are not the best questions for a tarot reading. An example is, "Should I apply for that position?" A tarot reading also differs from a brainstorming session in that, instead of a list of possible solutions, we want to explore a problem by trying to understand it, and then find a solution. Tarot readings work best with open questions, where options are possible. Here are examples of questions that would work well for tarot readings, and can be adapted for most situations:... Continue reading

Active verbs describe actions such as running, jumping, sitting, reading, creating, walking, swimming, and throwing. Active verbs also describe mental activities such as thinking, believing, dreaming, loving, and supposing. How can we use active verbs to solve a problem with tarot cards? In a recent post, I described the use of a set of active verbs in problem-solving. The SCAMPER technique is described in Two for one: A tarot technique. It refers to the active verbs substitute, combine, adjust, modify, magnify, minify, put to other uses, eliminate, reverse, and rearrange. We can create a tarot version of SCAMPER by extracting... Continue reading

A short and sweet problem-solving tarot spread that gets to the point. (And just for fun, let's do a vertical layout!) Find: What is the problem? Define: What is it about? Solve: How do I solve it? If you like this post, please share it on Facebook or Twitter with the buttons below! And follow The Sceptic's Tarot on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links in the sidebar. Continue reading

Do you use tarot cards for inspiration for creative writing? Here are a few ideas: Remember the backwards story? You draw a card first for the ending, then one for the middle, and then one for the beginning. Draw a card and tell the beginning of the story. Draw a second card for the end. What happens in between? Draw one card: if this were the middle of the story, how does the story begin? And how does it end? Draw two cards, one for a character and one for the story's beginning. How does the character drive the story?... Continue reading

Reading tarot cards is a creative activity. But why? The cards tell stories. They make you think: “What is going on here?” They tickle your imagination to come up with an explanation. You want to give the scene meaning. Most tarot creators consciously work ambiguity into the images. The querent is often encouraged to ask: What is going on? What are the people (or animals) thinking and feeling? What happened just before? What is going to happen now? The story you come up with is intimately connected to the interpretation you give to a card. Tarot cards are like the... Continue reading

Ready for another twist on reading tarot cards? In this technique, you choose where you want to place a card. The technique Notes A sample reading Related techniques The technique Choose any spread and note its positions. The most interesting ones for this technique have five or more cards. (See the spread in the sample reading below, or consider an old favourite, The Horseshoe spread.) Shuffle your deck and choose the number of cards you need. Place them face down in a small pile before you. Turn up the first card, and decide where to place it. If you turn... Continue reading

Have you ever played the “what if?” game? Of course you have! “What if” stirs the imagination in everyday life and in art and creativity. What if he sees me in the old outfit? What if I had superpowers? What if she lied to me? What if I left a bit earlier? In art: What if I paint this red? What if I make this character less pretty? What if, one day, the sun didn’t come out? In problem-solving: What if we had infinite resources: how would that help us solve the problem? What if I did it the other... Continue reading

With some complex problems, you need to explore the causes fully before you attempt to find a solution. Once you have identified the causes, the solution might be self-evident. When you’re struggling with a tricky situation, try this spread: Problem What caused the problem? This also contributed to the problem What lies at the root of this problem? What is the most important thing to remember about this problem? How can I solve the problem? What is the next step? Let me know how it goes! If you like this post, please share it on Facebook or Twitter with the... Continue reading

We don't have to stick to conventional tarot reading techniques. Here is one that will deepen your introspection exercise. It has three steps: Choose any of the three spread versions below and read your cards as you usually do. Write up your interpretation in your tarot journal or notebook. Gather the cards in order, then lay them out again, this time in reverse order. Card 1 should now be last and card 4, first. Card 2 becomes Card 3 and Card 3 becomes Card 2. Read the cards in this reversed order and write up your interpretation in your tarot... Continue reading

How do you know that you are solving the right problem, or even a real problem? It matters how you ask the question for a tarot reading. Short diversion: Before solving a problem, it is important to define the problem carefully. This is to ensure you are: solving the right problem, solving the real problem, and it also helps you solve the problem. Suppose you and your partner are having a lot of arguments lately. You could ask, "Will my partner and I break up?" But the right problem could be better defined as, "Why are we arguing so much?"... Continue reading

Rules? What rules? If there are rules to a tarot reading, it's time to break them. [A modified version of this technique was published in SynTAROTis.] The Sceptic's Tarot will show you ways to reinterpret, add, substitute, reshuffle, combine, replace, remove, or reject a card, or play games with the cards. Let's start with substitute. A small detour: In 1971, Bob Eberle gave us SCAMPER, a technique to solve problems. SCAMPER stood for (S)ubstitute, (C)ombine, (A)djust, (M)odify (or magnify or minify), (P)ut to other uses, (E)liminate, (R)reverse or rearrange, pointing to actions one can take to modify or invent a... Continue reading

In tarot, as in life, when we think about solving a problem, we usually think of what we do not want, or what is negative, painful, or needs to be fixed. Even the word “problem” is problematic: it immediately focuses on what is wrong. What will happen if we focus on the positive instead? [A modified version of this article was first published in SynTAROTis.] Suppose, instead of asking … What do we want to avoid? What do we want to leave behind? How can we eliminate this? What needs to be fixed? How do we fix it? What do... Continue reading

In brainstorming, people are often cautioned not to grab the first solution and run with it. But why? Brainstorming is a group technique created by Alex Osborn in the 1950s. His theory was that the more ideas, even crazy and improbable ideas, the better your chances of coming up with a really useful and creative solution. The thinking behind Osborn's the-more-the-merrier theory is that as we stretch ourselves, we may come up with really exciting ideas. Even irrational or impossible ideas can spark fruitful thoughts. We need imagination and open-minded thinking. The time to evaluate the ideas for usefulness is... Continue reading