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How I Use Tarot and Oracle Cards Creatively

As you might expect from someone who runs the Creative Circle here on TT&M, I really enjoy using the cards in creative ways.  They help me to generate ideas and give me inspiration for starting points of my projects.  I wanted to share a few ways that I like to use the cards to help me with my creative projects!  I like to use lots of different decks to give myself more options but you can use all these ideas with whatever decks you like!

Be inspired by colours in the cards
A lot of my projects start from a love of colour.  I like to use the cards to help me find new colour combinations that I can use in my projects.  I do a lot of spinning which is very driven by colours so, depending on the deck, it can be nice to draw colours from a particular card.  For example, The Sun card in the RWS deck has a lot of yellows and oranges in it which are a lovely colour combination in itself, but the white horse could also be included with streaks of white coming through.

A few questions that help me get started with using colour from a card:
- What colours are dominant in the card?
- What colours are missing?
- Are there combinations of colours I wouldn’t usually put together that look good?

Be inspired by objects in the cards
Sometimes, you look at a card for a while and you spot an object that you’ve never noticed before.  I particularly like to do this with decks I don’t know very well.  When you’ve found the object that inspires you, you can make a version of the item, use the item as the basis of a painting or drawing or whatever other way inspires you.
Lately for me, I’ve been looking at The Fool a lot and I’ve been noticing the beautiful footwear that the Fool often gets to wear.  So me being me, of course I decided that clearly its the time to follow my desire of learning to make shoes!
Another example is the Lantern that the Hermit often carries.  Now, I’m not saying you should go and make a lantern (although that would be cool) but you could use it as an inspiration.  For example, I used the Hermit’s lamp to inspire a yarn that I spun.  I focused on the fact that the lantern helps you find your way in the dark so I made a yarn that was mostly black and dark navy but had streaks of golden yellow and glittery gold running through it to represent the light in the dark!

A few questions that help me get started using objects in a card:
- Is there an object I’ve never noticed before?
- Is there an object that keeps grabbing my attention?
- Am I noticing an object because I have a desire to make it?  If so, what’s stopping me making it?

Be inspired by the meaning of a card
Sometimes you can be really drawn into the meaning of the card and that can help creatively too!  For example you could be inspired by the Three of Pentacles.  This is card that represents teamwork and planning.  So you could have a basic idea of what you want to do, but then get other people involved to help you complete - for example a mural where you’ve perhaps drawn the basic design but you want someone else to come along and add the colour and perhaps another person to add some smaller details in.  The Moon card can represent illusions so perhaps you could make a project that appears to be something that it isn’t.  One of my favourite illusions to make is to weave fabric that from a distance appears to be a single colour but up close you realise that its made of two colours!

A few questions that help me inspired by the meanings:
- What keywords do I associate with this card?
- What do the keywords mean to me?
- What can I make that demonstrates the keyword in some way?

Be inspired by what the people in the card are doing
This can be a great one for writers!  Look at the card and the snapshot in time that its showing.  What happened before this snapshot?  What will happen afterwards?  Can you use that as the basis for a poem, short story or even a comic?
For example, The Hanged Man.  How did he end up in that position?  Maybe he was climbing a tree, dropped his scarf, got it caught around his foot and the tree and fell.  Maybe someone else did it.  What happens after this?  How long will he stay there?  Does he get himself down or does someone else help him?

A few starting questions:
- What is the story in the card?
- What happened before the scene shown in the card?
- What will happen afterwards?
- Can I forget the keywords and interpret this image in any other way?

So there’s a few ideas on using the cards creatively, do you have any ways you like to use the cards to inspire creativity?

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