- Book Title: Tarot for Creativity – A Guide for Igniting Your Creative Practice
- Author: Chelsea Pippin Mizzi
- Publisher: Chronicle Books, October 2024
- Retail Price: $24.95 USD
- ISBN: 978-1-7972-2555-5
- Reviewed by: Mary du Plessis
From the publisher: “Whether you’re a writer, artist, engineer, chef, or influencer, this guidebook offers down-to-earth advice for honing your voice, overcoming blocks, and cultivating your creative magic.”
These three (my voice, blocks, and rediscovering that magic) checked all my boxes, so I was excited to see what helpful advice I might find. The introduction describes this book as a “mirror and a map” as the author describes how she was able to incorporate tarot as a means for breaking through her own creative blocks, and later help others do the same.
The opening section details the various ‘how to’ methods contained within the book. How to use the prompts and the spreads, advice on keeping a tarot journal as a daily practice and trusting your creative impulses (or how to develop them if you don’t feel creative).
Even though I’ve been reading tarot for a number (quite a few!) of years now, I’m always interested in an overview of tarot basics and the Tarot 101 section did not disappoint. I learned a few things and anyone new to tarot will find this information helpful in learning how to use the cards as a tool to enhance their creative work.
In Part One, the twenty-two cards of the major arcana are described as “Your Creative Heros”, a theme that some will recognize as either The Fool’s Journey, The Hero’s Journey – or both. The author offers advice on using the cards of the major arcana as both creative prompts, and reflective tools, as through reflection we are better able to turn creative prompts into something satisfying and unique.
From Take Creative Risks with The Fool, to Make a Fresh Start with The World, each individual card of the major arcana is assigned a set of creative prompts and a spread to be used in conjunction with the images (from The Modern Way Tarot) and the meaning interpretation written with the creative process in mind.
Part One concludes with a set of exercises to further expand and solidify the readers use of the major arcana from their own creative perspective.
Section Two approaches the minor arcana (including the court cards) as our ‘Creative Toolbox”, literally the tools we need in the everyday experiences of being a human as well as a creative. The four suits are divided into subsections: Cups, the suit of the heart, emotion, and mood; Swords, the suit that governs the mind; Wands, the suit that knows how to have the most fun; and Pentacles, the suit of material things and earthly matters.
These sections follow the same pattern as the major arcana section, with creative prompts, spreads and an exercise at the end of each suit.
Parts One and Two comprise most of this book for good reason. They contain a treasure trove of insight and fresh perspective that offer great benefit to both new and experienced tarot enthusiasts alike. In the final section of the book are appendixes that contain steps and advice for keeping a tarot journal (something I often neglect and am now inspired to commit to daily practice) and several tarot spreads that focus specifically on creativity and creative expression.
As a writer, I often suffer from ‘blank screen syndrome’ and my usual response is to get up and do something else, effectively losing whatever spark of inspiration prompted me to sit in front of the screen in the first place. After incorporating Chelsea’s advice and methods to engage my inner muse, I’ll never sit down to a blank screen without a deck of tarot cards right next to me again.
0 Comments