Once Upon A Tarot Story

Merry Meet and Welcome to you magickal souls!!!!

It's time for the next iteration of the story that Emily at Wise Woman Witchery shared as a workshop through her membership only community which is called Diving Deeper. (I would recommend being part of this as there are some amazing lunar and Wheel of the Year rituals which you can take part in if you don't want to or can't do your own.)

I do my best to do this every year, as a creative writing exercise as much as to keep my magickal connection to writing and tarot as a writing prompt. And also because I really enjoyed it the first time and each version I write is so different and has its own personality. I try to use a different deck each time and sometimes from the cards I pull, I have to tweak the prompts that Emily originally provided.

Something that I do want to mention is that as I started to prepare for this project, I had a spider attempt to climb my ankles. Spiders are an animal that I associated with creativity and freedom, so to have this happen, in my opinion, shows that I wrote this at the right time. I also love to see them now that I have overcome a childhood phobia of them, and so I share my home with a few.

When I started thinking about doing this edition of the story, I wasn't sure which deck I would use as I had a couple in mind (the Forest of Enchantment deck, or the Celtic Dragon tarot deck). Ultimately, when I stood and looked at all my decks, my eyes landed on Kim Krans' Wild Unknown Tarot deck, I knew I had to use it.

While pulling the various cards, I did end up with two cards for a few of the prompts - something that I wasn't totally unsurprised about as I usually end up with multiple cards when I do a personal reading. So rather than 13 cards, I ended up with an extra 4, taking my total to 17 cards.

A few days before I sat down with these prompts, I did use numerology to discover my Lifetime and Current Year cards by adding all of the numbers together of my date of birth, and then this date of this year's birthday (including the year) until I got to a number between 1 and 21, the numbers of the Major Arcana but excluding The Fool. My Lifetime card is The Emperor while my Current Year card is The World.

Once upon a time, a portal opened, birthing me into the world, a seed ready to blossom, full of the promise of a harvest, whether that was support, warmth, somewhere to perch and rest for a short time, or even a long-term place to call home. I was filled with a sense that I was ahead of my time, wiser than my years, but come to guide others as they walk an unknown path to inner wisdom.

Standing tall as a lone tower in a barren plateau, I was brimming with love and care for all around me, both human and animal. Showing that I can be flexible at the same time whenever a storm tries to threaten to tear me down by the roots or the head.

But I stayed strong, rooted deep within myself and the Earth, grounded in the deepest sense. Standing as an example of how to weather any crisis or unexpected and unplanned event, by bending but not breaking, enduring more than can be seen or witnessed by one alone.

As I grew, so too did my curous and powerful gifts. I grew able to focus on my own goals, despite the myriad of wondrous things I was surrounded by, flasing like fireworks and begging, almost demanding, to be noticed even as I paid them no heed.

I knew I held the tools for both healing and destruction within me and my grasp but as I approached maturity, I learned the wisdom of true healing actually occurs: when I am willing to sit with that which caused hurt or perching on it for a moment and it no longer hurting me in any way.

I became free to roam and fly where I pleased, living according to my own body and time rather than what I was ordered or demanded to do.

I learned and grew into my own intuition which directed me towards my goals, that sweet freedom which can be achieved by observing but not participating in the scripted dramas of the world.

I grew to understand that my wounds, and the weapons used to inflict them, were fleeting, even if they felt more permanent when they occurred and at the beginning of healing.

With that understanding also came the knowledge that I was more than those wounds, that I was again still whole. That I could overcome the long healing process started by the events surrounding those wounds. That those who would inflict such pain on anyone had no business holding a permanent place in my life, and/or that they needed to be removed from my energy space so that I could begin the healing process.

No matter what was done to me, I grew to know that I could still endure and become more than my past. My strength grew to the point that I was still able to continue on, even if the path ahead was hidden by mist and fog or by temporary blindness as my Sight was hurt.

One seemingly perfect day, a message arrived in the form of a knowing, and I was required to sacrifice the versions of myself that I had been in order to survive, even if this particular knowledge had greatly helped me and might help me again in the future.

But this did not mean that I also had to forget about who I had been. By moving through life looking for healing and transformation, I could honour those past Sevles by guiding others to the healing that could best help them.

Perhaps I also sacrificed my youth and girlhood, that Spring-time season early on in my life. But who I could have been was also able to be honoured and remembered, as a missed opportunity and untouched potential.

The pain of transformation and healing at first blinded me to the knowledge that it would get more and more easier with time and also with each version I sacrificed.

In the aftermath, I looked in the mirror and found reflected a splintering that was almost hidden from view unless I stood at a particular and specific angle. I saw that this shattering, this wounding, would always be present but it didn't have to be so prominent, noticeable and obvious to those around me as much as my own Self feeling them.

Healing, or the results of it at any rate, was reflected back to me, almost as a sign of hope, that ever-powerful of emotions which could overcome almost anything.

With each crack, it seemed as if another part of my Self had been broken off but the mirror was still whole and visible to me. Anyone who might try to view my whole Self would need to stand behind me, meaning that their distance and angle from the mirror would render it broken and not-whole. This meant that I was never seen as whole so I was something other, broken and damaged goods.

A revelation occurred and as the constructs of my old beliefs fell away, a new story emerged, a story where I was no longer imprisoned or at the mercy of others. I was ale to tsee te truth: that wounding did not mean that I was no longer whole or worthy, nor that I lacked the strength to live in that joyous freedom which accompanies being unfettered.

Healing and being a witness to it had proved a different kind of strength to me: the kind that quietly gets to work and knits bones and people back together without losing the integrity or connections of before.

I realised that the breaks and how misshapen I might appear actually acts as camouflage, hiding the truth from those who might otherwise be tempted to try to use my strength for their own purposes, or my wounds to further their own goals and hold me back even more. But this knowledge allowed me to be free.

This knowledge allowed my own healing to be greater and more powerful than before, knitting back together all the parts of myself that others might prefer to see stay broken.

I was also allowed the opportunity to see that I could have one of three responses to any situation: defend, go on the attack, or just not engage. If I defended, it would be after someone else had attacked first. But if I were to do the attacking, I had to make the first move.

However, the last option is the one that seemed most appropriate. If I didn't engage, then I could observe and watch, to see if and when I might need to take any kind of action. This quickly became a self-preservation tactic that could easily serve me for as long as I wanted to use it.

But all of this allowed me to see that there was also two side to every story, and that there was always a new perspective to be found about any situation.

One initiation after the next led to my most recent birthday when the omens foretold that the World in its entirety would be made open and available to me, in more ways and on more levels than ever before. But not only was the World opened up to me, I was also opened up to the World and Her mysteries were made available to me.

My surroundings began to shimmer, and then to sway with brighter colours and dancing or singing to get me to notice them. And boy, did I notice them! Well, how could I ignore the World wanting and needing my attention? Why wouldn't I want to get more involved with the World and be one of those fortunate few to have this bountiful opportunity?

It was foretold that the power of Wonder would be added to my gifts and it was warmly, respectfully and gratefully received. So I was granted them, deeper access to the World, and so much more!

Even more new gifts arrived i the shape of transformation and change, as life becomes death and becomes nourishment for even more life as the cycle begins anew.

My new sense of Wonder at this process renewed my feelings of hope but also resurrected the power of Love, which ia ever-present and naturally unconditional.

But even within all of this, another Gift was granted: the knowledge that at any given point, the cycle was yet to near its end, although it never would which again built up that Hope within me and made me fall more in love with Life than I ever had been before and regardless of the hurts that had been inflicted on my soul.

I learned that even if I wilt for a while, I can takesome time to reset and recharge before I am renewed and reinvigorated so that I can bloom again like the rose or any other perennial that must lose vitality in order to regain it.

Yet still as the clock struck the Witching Hour, I was haunted by the Ghosts of Self, appearing as various animals and birds which represented the many different lessons I had learned when I was that particular Self.

But this was no horror and terror filled haunting, as it was a Remembering of the versios of me I had been. The Heron came to remind me of the reward of patience and stillness, while the Leopard came with memories of trusting my instincts as to which Gift I needed for the lesson that was placed before me.

I was shown the elements that had taught me how to be in control of myself and grounded or rooted within too. With Water came the recognition and recollection of how it feels to flow. Alongside Fire came the passion and, at times, cleansing nature of release. Even the evocation of what it meant to be Wild was included in this "haunting" but necessary time.

I was also reminded of how I did not need all Gifts to be present and working for my highest good at all times, that I could tap into them when I had need of them but not otherwise.

Another reminder from this "haunting" was that I must always be willing to learn, for the World and others still had lessons wrapped in the threads of the future.

There is more knowledge that is yet hidden from me, pertaining to creativity, goals, and dreams of the mind as well as the spirit.

Equally, I still have to discover the finer points of connections to others, love, friendship, and everything else that comes with a relationship with another being, whether human or other.

Communication, change, conflict, and action are all also topics of possible future learning. Along with generosity, the idea of greed, material properties, income, and the supposed safety of so-called "home".

As the shell of Winter cracked and the Spring whispered soundlessly, the Ghosts made their needs known: that I never forget where they had come from, the circumstances of their birthing.

However, not only did these Ghosts come to remind me of the Gifts and lessons I had already learned but they had also come to remind me of why I gained them.

They did not just come for the happy celebrations but also for the other emotions: the grief for other unfulfilled lives and reams, the anger at missed opportunities and the withdrawal, later dissociation, from true darkness and toxicity.

The Ghosts made it known that these broken pieces of who I used to be could still be put back together, although not in a way that I would become once again the person I had been before.

Another need of these Ghosts was that I always reflect on who I was and why.

In the deep sleep of integration, prophecy bled from dreams and slid into the now with the promise of divining the way forward when it is not known or unclear to me.

My intentions, as well as my intuition, would guide me through the many coloured threads that make up the World's magical web.

But whether I would be the guide for others or others be my guide, I would always find the right way that I needed to take. Even, and especially, if others doubted and scoffed at my activities, I would never do the same of or to myself, as I would hold the beauty of belief in my own Self witin.

This guidance would not have just one form but many, just like the number of colours there are, from runes to tarot, and from casting stones to dowsing rods. However, it would always be tailored to the form of guidance I needed most.

The ancestors and descendants gathered as more guides and offered guidance for how to protect the new life and healing that is still being prepared within the World and my own Self.

Knowing that as I grow and heal and transform, I never have to lose my soul's purpose or drive to always do the best I can.

These descendants and ancestors also offered nurturing and love, such as that which a true Mother might provide, especially within the early years. It was fierce and comforting at the same time, almost at odds but straddling that fine balance between the two.

The most unexpected offering was that of protection, from the wounds of the past as well as any new ones whether similar or different. It wasn't just inner protection but a more physical too, as I never know when I might need to protect my space and/or energy.

My future Self reached back across time, wisdom echoing with a message of hope, full of tat Spring-time energy as Mother Earth prepares for a fresh round of new beginnings and growth.

While constantly growing and learning may seem boring and not exciting, my future Self was reaching for my present Self with an outstretched hand of encouragement, and the mantra, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again" reverberating through time.

For even if the obstacle was too great to begin with, I knew that it wouldn't always be so and therefore it could be overcome at some point.

My future Self knew that new beginnings would be aplenty, and I would always be able to revisit the situation and try to change the outcome by doing something different. I would not be able to ignore these new beginnings either, as they would blaze brightly within my life.

In the end, my next beginning was born, resplendent in the innocence of youth and trusting in my guides to show me even a hint of the way forward that I might be able to take that leap of blind faith into the unknown future.

Emerging knowing the absolute basics of what to do but no more, I was again ready to learn and experience whatever life and the future held for me. I was able to trust that I could survive anything and everything as I took my first steps into this wide new World.

I was ready to explore, to widen my horizons, and to be guided by those with more knowledge, wisdom and experience than I did.

I was without fear for the unknown nature of the Future was just another Mystery in the grand scheme of Life and the World. Nothing could phase me as I willingly entered into a new way of living, always believing I would find my way.

But even my next beginning was shrouded in the mysteries of scrying and intuition.

As emotional as birth can be, knowing when to listen to my body is still ingrained in me, as if the waters within me are always remembering and filled with those age-less, timeless memories.

I was able to stay in touch with and in constant flux with my emotions and energy levels. Due to this, I was more in tune with what I could do and achieve at any given time, knowing when I needed to recharge and when to pour from this energetic cup within me.

A feeling of safety fell over me and refused to leave me. It draped over and around me completely, acting like a cloak of scales that would protect me while also keeping me calm. Any fears I might have still harboured were banished by this cloak which flowed effortlessly around me, even as I took those first steps in my next beginning.

That felt to me like a story and a half, although it also feels like it could also have been in the middle of another story as another chapter. It doesn't feel finished but at the same time, it doesn't feel like it needs any extra work either.

I do think that this edition of this story has helped me to connect with the Wild Unknown Tarot deck by Kim Krans, as I have experienced challenges with developing a relationship with it, more than with any other deck I have. This might have been another reason why I chose to use this deck for this particular project but it did feel and sit right within me when I thought of it while considering which of my decks to use.

I'm definitely excited to do this again next year and I hope this has inspired you to see how tarot (and any other divination methods) could be used to help with a creative writing project.

Peace and love to all!!!!