The Creative Process

 

     The Scrying Poetry Tarot came about much like many of my other decks and writing projects have – with a moment of spontaneous inspiration – and this particular one came with the idea of creating a written tarot deck!

      I mused how to do it without it becoming a tarot guidebook on cards, and as I pondered I quickly knew that I would create a poetry tarot.

      And so the creative process began. First there was a grand flurry of creating the court cards, then the major arcana, and lastly the minor arcana or numbered pips. The poetry types and styles are different for each of the three groups of cards:

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• Limericks for the Court Cards

• Haiku for the Major Arcana

• Free Form for the Pips

 

The Court Cards

 

      Writing the limericks for the court cards (Pages, Knights, Queens, & Kings) came right away with my initial inspiration, and they were all written within two days. The flow of inspiration was so strong I even took my notebook along on the dogs walks!

      Why limericks? Well, my vision, since the focus of these cards would be on the words not the images, was that the backgrounds on the cards would be vintage papers and prints, as well as some vintage nature or botanical images. Because of this older, slightly worn, shabby chic look, and because the court cards often represent people or characters, my mind immediately went to my high school English Literature class and the limericks we had to write for one assignment. And so I went with this guidance. 

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The Major Arcana

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      The 22 major arcana cards are written in Haiku, a poetry form I am quite fond of. It’s subtle, but to the point, with a little twist in the third line.

 

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The Minor Arcana/Pips

 

      The numbered cards for the minor arcana are written in free form poetry, where there is no set rhyme, meter, etc. though many might notice that there is some unstructured rhyming and assonance at play.

      The pips have just 2-3 short lines of poetry, though they string together into a longer poem from the Ace’s to the 10’s in each suit (Swords, Wands, Cups, & Coins). It will be interesting to see how these might string together in a spread!