The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life

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Indeed, the indelible experience of taking in art marries perfectly with tarot’s wordless and often inexpressible deeper meaning.

What if you could find that spark, plot twist, or next project by simply looking at your life and your art through a different lens? The feminist outlook of the author was also evident, and it added a certain je ne sais quoi to the writing. Death prompts us to say goodbye to ways we used to work or live, and the Devil warns against addiction and obsession. Like a lot of teenagers who wore too much black and had an extensive incense collection, I used to fool around with a tarot deck. Waite’s beliefs, which Crispin includes in the chapter entitled, A History of the Tarot, were: “Waite believed that the magical systems (tarot) of the Golden Dawn and other systems were not about imposing your will on a situation… or about telling the future… He believed they were for elevating the soul and for bringing what is unconscious conscious.

I loved that Crispin gives novel, art, and film suggestions for each card so that the reader can immerse herself in the "feel" or "mood" of them. Personally, I would rather have a tarot book that explains choosing the cards, spreads, and using ones intuition from the images on the card than a memorize everything thing. The author provides two-to-three works (from books to paintings to operas) at the end of each card’s description. Nowadays, Crispin lives in New York when she’s not traveling the globe, and also runs the literary magazine Spoila.

The structure was probably inspired by the Secret of Mana (or the common elementals of many Japanese RPGs), but it could have as easily been the tarot deck that I was just about to start digging into around that time. He had some interesting thoughts about the tarot card reading qabalists, many of whom wrote books like the ones I’ve mentioned above. But, if you can’t explain the system in a way that makes sense, then what’s the point of writing a beginner’s manual.The pieces are meant to show how the card’s meaning is embodied by a certain artist, or in a certain medium. There’s a part of all of us that really just wants to settle down, to get comfortable, to stop seeking. A hip, accessible, and practical guide for artists and creative people looking to tarot for guidance and inspiration in the tradition of The Secret Language of Birthdaysand Steal Like an Artist. Soon most of my tarot clients were artists, looking for a little guidance on what to work on next or how to overcome a block. He had some interesting thoughts about the tarot card reading qabalists, many of whom wrote books like the ones I've mentioned above.

I really enjoy reading esoteric histories, plus all the mystic weirdos like Madam Blavatsky and Gurdjieff and all that. For instance, for The Hermit, she suggests Walden, by Henry David Thoreau; Gravity and Grace, by Simone Weil; and “the photography of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore. from addition, debt, or abuse from a romantic relationship is… not the best way to look at the situation. A helpful “tarot FAQ” in the introduction perfect for those on the fence and concerned about some of the myths and misconceptions around tarot.And even to this day there is only Jessa Crispin instructing me and sharing with me all things tarot. Overall, this book is a wonderfully engaging journey into the often-neglected connections between tarot and creativity. I think that’s because this is more of a creative lifestyle book using tarot as a medium of understanding than a tarot book that’s about creative life. I have a feeling some creative types will balk at the notion of being a conduit for a muse instead of a godlike, ex nihilo creator. Some of her spreads are mainstream, but almost everything else is pure romanticism on her end - it's just come straight off the top of her head.