Once Upon A Tarot Story: 2026 Edition

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

A couple of years ago, I did a workshop with Wise Woman Witchery's Emily Morrison about writing a story using prompts and a tarot deck. I really enjoyed it and have tried to do a new version each year with a different deck each time too. While the prompts stay the same, the stories are all different and I love this!

For this year's edition, I didn't know which deck to use as I've got 18 decks that I used semi-regularly. So I gathered them all together, apart from the ones I've used in the past, took a picture of them and sent that photo to a couple of friends asking them to choose which deck I should use. While they did initially suggest two different decks, when I mentioned the deck one friend chose, my other friend said they almost suggested it but as they are really into the topic of this deck, they didn't want to think they were biased.

All that to say that the deck I have chosen to use for this year's story is the Magical Nordic Tarot deck by Jayne Wallace. This deck has a key-word or -phrase that comes with it which may end up being helpful.

With 13 prompts, I did not manage to pull just one card for each one but I'm intrigued as to how this story will play out.

Once upon a time, a portal opened, birthing me into the world, a seed ready to blossom, full of Maturity. Called an "old soul" by some, I was also seen to be an authority on almost anything and who was not unapproachable.

But I still had my own guides who I could turn to for wisdom and advice. They were not my constant companions, however, as they could change and be replaced by whoever I needed in the moment.

I also had the tools I would need to discern messages on my own and also exercise my autonomy and will.

I was full of the knowledge and Maturity that needing help and guidance was not a weakness as the act of requesting assistance was a sign of strength, of knowing my own self enough to understand that I could not do everything on my own.

As I grew, so too did my curious mind and powerful gifts: Clarity and Determination.

Clarity grew stronger as I discovered exactly what I wanted, where I wanted to go, how I wanted to do it, who I wanted to share everything with, and why I wanted to do it. My curiosity helped me to be more clear as I answered my own questions while also assisting others with finding their own Clarity.

There was nothing stopping me from finding a clear path through life, apart from the murky mists that attempt to naturally hide everything from me. But it was no match for me as I carried my own inner compass which pointed me in the direction that would lead me to where I needed to be.

But my Clarity was also a kind of weapon as without it, I was unable to defend against those who asked questions they didn't need answers to.

My Determination grew and was fuelled by my Clarity. Without Clarity, I would not have known where to go or what to do so they would always go hand in hand.

Regardless of what I might face, I would be able to face it and get through whatever the experience was.

I was also determined to defend myself, my lifestyle, my decisions, and my choices. My Determination lent me the energy and willpower to do anything and everything I wanted to do.

Without both Clarity and Determination, it was not known whether I would have learned what I did or made the same choices and decisions as I moved through life. Having Clarity would allow me to know where to go while Determination would get me there.

One seemingly perfect day, a message arrived in the form of a knowing and I was required to sacrifice my Freedom.

Freedom isn't just personal as it is also civic and political. So there are six parts to freedom: choice where I make my own life choices, action where I move and act without an obstacle, mind or mental where I am without heavy fears or wants, liberties that are protected like my speech and religion, independence where the place I live in governs itself, and safety where I live without fearing slavery or jail.

But which of these was I being asked to give up? I could not easily discern, however, I knew that I was at a cross-roads with three choices before me that would lead me to relinquish one of three freedoms I had enjoyed the privilege of having until then.

In the aftermath, I looked in the mirror ad found reflected Success.

But Success, like Freedom, comes in many forms: financial, mental, material, romantic, friendships, inner peace, physical health, family and community, career, physical and daily, and inner and personal.

This time, Success would come from two of the three paths I was shown when asked to sacrifice my Freedom. So even knowing which paths would lead to Success were immediately hidden from me.

However, because Success comes in many forms, the form it would take was also kept shrouded in mystery until I had chosen which path I would take and started to walk it. And that was only if there was one form of Success that waited for me as it could be multiple.

A shattering occurred. The constructs of my old beliefs fell away and a new story emerged: Passion.

Passion for anything and everything I wanted to do, who I wanted to be, the life I wanted to live, and the causes I believe in.

But also Passion for others, seen through the love I held for them.

The threads of Passion wove a story and connection between myself and all of those around me, whether people or animal.

Caring for the natural world would be a huge Passion, as no one else could speak for the animals we could not communicate with using a shared language.

I would also hold a Passion for the sacred places that were slowly being lost to the modern idea of progress and building.

One initiation after the next led me to my most recent birthday when the omens foretold Rebirth.

But it wasn't just the omens that foretold this as it was Hel Herself who sent these messages to me. She appeared to show that even as She could help to bring about a new world after Ragnarok, so too could I begin again. Just as the old worlds were destroyed during Ragnarok, so too could my own world and life be rebuilt.

Losing my Freedom would lead to Success, but perhaps that Success would be in rebuilding my sense of self, my life and, by extension, my world.

Destruction always comes before new life, and even in today's events this is seen - after wild-fires, the area is renewed and allowed to bloom with other life that perhaps hasn't been seen for a while.

New gifts arrived in the shape of Fate and Affairs of the Heart.

With the gift of Fate, I was blessed with the power to believe in what was happening around me.

I was also able to trust in the mysterious wisdom of the Norns, who weave my Fate and the fates of those around me. Trusting that while my Fate is set and unavoidable, the path to it is not. The people I meet along the way will not be the same as I choose which path I take.

My gift of Fate allowed a sense of hope to flutter within me, similar to the what butterflies do as they make their fated ways through their own lives.

Transformation is always possible and called Fateful but only if growth is given its own place within life.

I had to be completely willing to weave Fate, hope, transformation and growth within my self and my life to let this gift truly be integrated within.

The gift of Affairs of the Heart was complicated as it combined both happiness and meaningful relationships with heartache and emotional pain.

Connections with others and a sense of community always has a balance of the good times with sadness and hurt.

However, the hurt can lead to happiness and trust as the painful endings of relationships could lead me towards the knowledge and wisdom of who I could trust to be supportive and helpful as I walk this path through life.

Some of my Affairs of the Heart would be connected with people, while others would be with animals, places and even the Gods and Goddesses, as They teach me to trust my own intuitive heart as much as my logical head.

Yet still, as the clock struck the witching hour, I was haunted by the ghosts of self, appearing as Unity and Mastery.

Unity haunted me as I longed for a truly significant romantic relationship.

It came to show me that I could also find a union within myself between who I am and who I believed I was worthy of being.

Unity also came to teach me that I did not need another person to find fulfilment within a relationship as I could develop a union with the land I live on, with those who lived before me (both blood ancestors and ones of the land), with the animals, and with the plants that live around me.

Unity showed me that connections are more than just relationships with people. They are with everyone and everything around me.

Mastery haunted me as whenever I felt any activity became easy for me, I immediately felt the need to find something more challenging, not integrating the knowledge and wisdom that achieving Mastery gave me.

Being able to Master my willpower, my strength, my emotions and the physical world around me would all individually serve their own purposes. But being able to put them all together would bring a different kind of Mastery, a much deeper one that could lead me towards a more personal and internal Mastery: Mastery of Self.

Mastery came to show me that I could travel along any path but I would be able to learn how to know my own Self while also showing others how they could do the same. But it was not about Mastery or power over others.

As the shell of Winter cracked and the Spring whispered soundlessly, the ghosts made their needs known: Motivation and Courage.

The ghosts' need for Motivation showed me that without some kind of purpose, I would only travel aimlessly around the world, but I would not be able to truly know the world.

I needed to find my own Motivation to connect with the world and build my own relationships with everything around me. I also needed the Motivation to continue to learn, knowing that I would always be a student of Life.

But I would also need Motivation to desire meaningful relationships with people, so that I could move past the traumatic connections I had made before.

But Motivation is nothing if I do not take action to make my desires real.

The ghosts' need for Courage required me to have an internal strength that could stand up against those who might prefer to see me fail.

But Motivation and Courage can work together as Motivation gives me a reason to want something while Courage gives me the power to start. The resulting action can build up enough confidence to keep going no matter what.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Instead it is the action taken despite the fear. So regardless of how scared I might be to find Success, I should still have the Courage to move towards it anyway.

Success has always scared me but perhaps with the help of the ghosts, I could finally find the Courage and Motivation necessary for truly achieving the Success I needed most.

In the deep sleep of integration, prophecy bled from dreams and slid into the now with the promise of Power.

But this wasn't Power over others - it was the quieter kind that is more personal and internal.

The promise of Power came to me, showing that I could have tenacity and Courage by getting through whatever obstacles Life decided to throw my way and coming out the other side a little stronger.

This promise also came with a quiet knowledge of my own Self, the kind that results from being quiet and still when emotional reactions might have the appearance of being appropriate.

Knowing when to wield Power and when to let others wield their own is its own kind of strength that can be misunderstood and easily dismissed.

The ancestors and descendants gathered as guides and offered Wishes.

While Wishes appear to be more unrealistic or unlikely to happen, they are still a desire for something good.

My ancestors and descendants came with these Wishes to remind me that I could build my "castles in the sky" but that I still needed to have the strength to make them a realistic hope that I could truly achieve.

These Wishes also came to represent the regrets of my past, where I could have done something different instead of what I chose to do.

But my ancestors and descendants Wished for me to be different and have a different life, even though they could not influence my choices and decisions.

The Wishes shone like stars in the sky, like a million personal hopes.

My future Self reached back across time, wisdom echoing with a message of Vigilance.

While my future Self provided a message, it appeared as a warning to watch what I do and say in the future and the people I associate with. Not everyone who crosses my path will have my best interests at heart.

I could have compassion and sympathy for others but would need to be Vigilant in order to avoid someone else causing chaos and ruining my plans.

While I would not need to heed the warning of a certain one-eyed character and maintain "constant vigilance" in every situation, I would still need to have "constant Vigilance" in regards to my gut and intuition or I would run the risk of missing vital warnings that I could otherwise avoid.

In the end, my next beginning was born: Happy Occasions.

A seemingly fitting end to this part of my story, knowing that this is but another cycle.

With the knowledge that my rebirth would be a Happy Occasion, I was prepared to rebuild on a more solid foundation where love, laughter and celebrations would abound.

As one story ends and another begins, it isn't always a Happy Occasion but celebrating what came before while looking forward to the future should be a Happy Occasion.

Finding community, love and a sense of family, even among those I'm not related to, should always be Happy Occasions and deserve to be heralded and celebrated. Just like achieving any kind of goal or desire.

I must admit, it was really interesting using this deck as the key-words and -phrases were helpful. This exercise even aided me with developing a deeper relationship with this deck.

I hope this inspires you to see what creative writing exercises you could do with your own decks.

Peace and love to all!!!!