“Writers Can Be Witches, Too: Combining Tarot Reading with Storyboarding”

By: Dani G. Lindmier

Over the summer, I became enamored with witchcraft. I know this first sentence may be enough to turn several of you away, but it made sense for me then, and it still makes sense right now. They say that people often turn to witchcraft when they are feeling powerless or lost, and I have been drowning in both of these sensations since the beginning of this year. For this reason, practicing divination and performing other little “witchy” acts (when I can during this extremely busy school semester) has given me a sense of power and calm. Of course, it is not my first love to do so. For as long as I can remember, I have written down stories, and the ability to construct worlds where I challenge the world around me has given me some of the agency I crave. Even before I could physically write, I apparently sung out impromptu verses to help me calm down, and I still write poems or songs to help me calm down today.

It is interesting, then, that such seemingly different activities would have the same effect on me. For a while, I did not know what to do with this information. It seemed that I was practicing witchcraft more than I was writing, and it was providing me with joy, but there was a part of me that felt I had betrayed myself. (When asked to choose one word to define who I am, I almost always choose “writer,” so writing less often seemed to be a self-inflicted attack on my identity.) Especially during the beginning of the school semester, I struggled to balance both. However, this struggle was because I had not yet realized I could do both at the same time.

While looking at tarot spreads one day, I came across the “Make a Scene” spread, and the divide I created in my mind toppled over. Since tarot reading is about finding guidance and coming to understand yourself, it made sense that I could use this spread as an exercise to gather and reflect upon my creative thoughts. The spread is simple. Card 1 is inciting incident, card 2 is conflict, card 3 is rising action, card 4 is crisis, card 5 is climax, and card 6 is resolution.

Of course, the first step is choosing which tarot deck best reflects my “writing” mood. Today, I feel the need to write with intensity and passion, so I have chosen the “Tarot del Fuego” deck. The next step is to shuffle, or “cleanse,” and draw the cards. Here is what I have drawn today:

Card 1: The Moon (upright); Card 2: The priestess (upright); Card 3: Five of wands (reversed); Card 4: Eight of swords (upright); Card 5: Three of cups (upright); Card 6: Knave of pentacles (reversed).

After this step, I brainstorm. This is an unusual tarot spread for me since the climax card suggests celebration, yet the resolution suggests failure and learning for the future. However, the beginning cards feel more cohesive to me at first. They all deal with elements of either inner conflict or repressed emotions shaping one’s life. Looking at the moon card first, we see that the protagonist has repressed a painful memory of experience that has caused them anxiety in the past. The second card tells us that the conflict involves a feminine teacher who possesses this sacred knowledge of what the protagonist has lost. My first instinct is to create a world where all little girls have their memory wiped by the “Fathers,” and conflict is introduced when an individual dressed as the moon goddess starts visiting them while the fathers are asleep and teaching them about their power as women. Of course, card three claims that the protagonist will have inner conflict, so this suggests to me that the protagonist will not want to listen to this “moon goddess.” She has been trained to believe the fathers must be in control. Moreover, she has been led to believe that expressing femininity is a “sin” that can and will be punished. Still, there is a part of her that longs for the world the “moon goddess” claims they can create after they overthrow the fathers. Card 4 suggests that the protagonist will come to view either option as negative or hopeless, so she must choose whether or not it is better to live under the rule of the fathers or risk getting killed in an attempt to overthrow them.

After this point, my ideas become less certain, but here is what I have now. Card 5 tells us that there will be a celebration or an attempt to share their passion. For this reason, my current idea is that the girls will rally together and celebrate who they are before the fathers come to stop them. Then, the “moon goddess” will launch her attack. Finally, though, the knave of pentacles (reversed) suggests that there will be a failure in which characters will learn. For this reason, the fathers will win, but I believe this is because our protagonist will be pressured to betray everyone. She will watch the rebels she loved die, and this is when she realizes she can no longer live under the fathers. She will realize she now their favorite because she obeyed them, so they will not suspect her when she stages a rebellion in the future and kills all of the fathers responsible. The fathers do not see her when she takes a piece of jewelry off of the moon goddess’s corpse and makes the signal the moon goddess used for rebellion.

This idea is still at its beginning stages, but I am still pleased with it. There is a chance it may change drastically, but that is okay. What matters is that I was able to use tarot in order to tap into areas of my subconscious that I likely would not have explored otherwise. Most importantly, though, I have combined the things I love in a story idea all about agency. How fitting.