Hello friend,

I hope you are finding many abundant and delightful autumn experiences, if indeed it is autumn where you are. October is one of my favorite months of the year. I’ve been living my best autumn life by taking many long walks, drinking pumpkin beer on the porch, watching Over the Garden Wall, and of course doing tarot things.

It seems like I’ve been very quiet on the internet these days, but I’m lurking around here and there. I’m semi-back on Instagram and occasionally share to stories on my personal account.

But mostly, my focus is on the decks these days. Annie & I launched the Expansion Pack for the Spacious Tarot a couple of months ago so that’s been a whirlwind! I made a video last month talking candidly about the challenges we encountered on this journey.

I also recently shared a free mini-course on how to use the Expansion Pack and I’m slowly adding that series to our blog if you’re interested.

Oh my goodness, every time I look at our cards I feel feelings. They are so beautiful! Wow. How amazing to get to do this with Annie and get to share the cards with some of you. It’s really incredible.

The intensity of launching our second deck has settled down some. And Annie is now on maternity leave as just last week she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. I’m still doing many deck related things, but I also now find myself with a little more SPACE to expand my focus. So now I’m asking myself: what do I want to focus on next? I have a GIANT to do list, but how do I proceed with it?

One of the things I’m considering taking on is doing National Novel Writing Month again. If you haven’t heard of this, it happens every November and I’ve participated a handful of times. I even wrote a blog series about how to use tarot for NaNoWriMo about a million years ago (okay seven years ago, but still).

So it was perfect timing when I found out my friend Heather Demetrios is teaching a Tarot for Writers workshop later this month (if you register, use code CARRIE and you’ll get 10% off!). Heather also crafted a Hermit Inner Journey tarot spread which you can use for your characters if you’re also a writer. Or, you can do the spread for yourself. I’m going to share the spread with you in a moment.

First, I want to gush a little about Heather. She’s the author of many books, including Little Universes which I absolutely adore. I read this book when it came out a couple years ago and as synchronicity would have it, I was in the middle of a re-read when Heather told me about her upcoming workshop.

I obviously love using tarot for writing, so I’d naturally be intrigued by a Tarot for Writers workshop. But I’m EXTRA excited to endorse this because I adore Heather as a human being and as an author. I also love that she’s created tiered pricing for this so it’s really accessible (plus, again, you’ll get 10% off with code CARRIE).

I am certain Heather will share absolute gems of wisdom during this event, AND she has the credentials to back it up. Her official bio follows:

“Heather Demetrios is a critically acclaimed author, writing coach, and certified meditation teacher based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her publishers include Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and HarperCollins.

She has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a recipient of the PEN America Discovery Award for her debut novel, Something Real. Her novels include Little Universes, I’ll Meet You There, Bad Romance, as well as the Dark Caravan fantasy series. Her non-fiction includes the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection Code Name Badass: The True Story of Virginia Hall, and she is the editor of Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love.

Her honors include books that have been named Bank Street Best Children’s Books, YALSA Best Fiction For Young Adults selections, a Goodreads Choice Nominee, a Kirkus Best Book, and a Barnes and Noble Best Book. Her work has appeared in LA Review of Books, Bustle, School Library Journal, and other fine outlets.

Heather works with writers on integrating mindfulness into their writing practice, process, and life. In addition to being a meditation teacher and Zen Buddhist in the Soto tradition, she holds certificates in Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness and Integrative Somatic Parts (IFS) Work.”

Tarot for Writers is happening live via zoom Wednesday October 26 from 7-9pm EST, with a recording available. Pricing starts at only $35 and you’ll receive a 10% discount with code CARRIE.

Okay! Let’s talk about this tarot spread Heather created. As mentioned earlier, you could use this for your characters if you’re doing NaNoWriMo or any form of writing. It’s also illuminating to use for yourself.

As the spread theme centers on the Hermit, Heather suggests finding this card in the deck and setting it aside as you begin the reading. In this way, the Hermit serves as a guiding energy for the cards you draw (I’m partial to Hermit themed spreads and even designed my own a couple years ago).

As you shuffle, Heather suggests asking “what do I need for my inner journey right now?” Or, of course, “what does my character need for their inner journey?”

Excerpted from Heather’s blog, the positions are as follows:

Lantern: This card represents what energy / forces / resources will be lighting your path as you go inward.
Staff: This card represents the grounding elements and forces in your life that will help you stay on your feet as you traverse this rocky terrain.
Cloak: This card represents the things in your life that will support, protect, and warm you during this journey.

I’ll share some insights I got when doing this spread for myself because…PHEW!

I’m using the Pastel Smith-Waite tarot.

Lantern: Three of Pentacles
Staff: Seven of Wands
Cloak: The Tower

My lantern is the Three of Pentacles. This card is particularly on the nose, as a key theme here is collaboration. And that is certainly a major theme in my life right now. Annie and I are always collaborative, but recently we dedicated some extra time and attention to prepare the business for her to step away and be with her little one. There’s even some meta-commentary here on the fact that by sharing this spread, I’m collaborating with Heather and her creative vision. Besides these factors of my work life, I’m also in the midst of a home project which has required collaborating with neighbors and professionals.

It’s lovely to me that the value of drawing upon others’ knowledge and skills, has arisen in this spread centered around the inner journey. It is truly a gift to know that I have support, that I don’t have to do everything alone. If I DIDN’T have skillful collaborators, I would not have any energy to give to my inner work. Trusting other people to carry some of the load means I can feel safe turning within and being more hermit-y when I need to.

My staff is the Seven of Wands and I actually laughed out loud when I drew this card. I mentioned earlier that I have a giant to-do list. Even as I’ve been writing this post, I’ve been interrupted no less than five times by ‘urgent’ tasks popping up. I quite literally feel like the figure on this card, trying somewhat frantically to keep up with every wand headed my way.

Initially it seems like a strange card to see in this position, but on a deep level it resonates. Heather says this card represents “grounding elements…and forces that will help you stay on your feet.” And I do acknowledge that what I need right now is to be spry to stay on my feet. Instead of being like “oh wah, so many wands, they are going to knock me down, boo hoo,” I need to be in this energy of “I GOT THIS! HERE I GO! BRING IT ON, WANDS!” Because the fact is everything that is currently on my to-do list got there because I said yes to it.

And going back to the message of the first card, I need to discern between what I need to step up and do myself, and what I can seek assistance with.

Another powerful message I’m getting from the Seven of Wands here: I have a tendency to push off tasks that when I finally end up doing them take like…ten minutes. Instead of just bursting out like the figure on this card and handling it, I can actually waste a TON of energy by not handling things. Weirdly, sometimes avoiding things is actually more energetically draining than just knocking them out. Even though this spread is centered on the inner journey, this is another reminder that my inner + outer world are inextricably linked. Paradoxically, sometimes it is by engaging with tasks in the outer world that I find transformation in my inner world.

So that’s my key message here: in order to be grounded, I need to just knock things out. If I’m saying yes to something, then say YES to it and blast through it. This is actually…exactly what I needed to hear right now, to be honest.

Now I have the Tower as my cloak. HA! Oh, the Tower. Me and this card go way back. It’s actually one of my favorite cards, even though it can at times be difficult. Here’s what I’m getting with this card in this spread: the thing that will support and protect me is knowing that upheaval is truly a constant in life. That doesn’t mean I don’t deserve peace. But I do have a tendency to avoid doing certain things because I’m waiting for things to “calm down” before I proceed.

In this way, the Tower and the Seven of Wands bring a similar message: life is chaotic. And that’s okay. There’s tremendous power in accepting chaos. In fact, sometimes I wonder if by resisting chaos I actually draw more of it in. Maybe by embracing the cloak of the Tower I can work WITH the chaos, let it flow through me. Because chaotic energy and creative energy are inextricably linked.

Thank you to Heather for sharing this spread. Doing it for myself it did not bring up what I expected, but I feel it brought up exactly what I needed. I can’t wait to use this spread to get to know the characters in my next writing project! If you want to learn many more ways to use tarot in your writing, Heather’s Tarot for Writers is bound to be helpful. And one last time: you’ll get 10% discount with code CARRIE.

Thank you for being here and I hope to be in touch again soon.

Book a private reading with me here.