Make staring at a blank page a thing of the past. Here's the simple process that turns a deck of cards into your most reliable creative collaborator.

Staring at a blank page is so 2025. Here's the simple process that turns a deck of cards into your most reliable creative collaborator.

What You'll Need

Before you sit down for your first tarot session, it helps to have a few things on hand. You'll need a tarot deck and some kind of guidebook. The one that came with your deck works perfectly, but an online resource or a favorite reference book is just as good. You'll also want a notebook, a notes app, or anywhere else you like to capture ideas as they come. And finally, bring a story problem to work on. It doesn't have to be a crisis — any scene, character question, or plot puzzle you've been turning over will do.

The Tarot Prompting Process

The Tarot Prompting Process is a five-step approach to using tarot cards as a creative thinking tool. It's designed to get you out of your head and into your story, using the visual language of the cards and the traditional meanings to spark novel connections and ideas.

Step 1: Find a quiet spot where you can concentrate.

This one is simple but worth honoring. A little uninterrupted time goes a long way when you're trying to do creative thinking work.

Step 2: Choose a scene or story aspect to work with.

Before you touch the cards, spend some time with the story problem itself. Think it through, journal about it, or even talk it out loud. The goal here is to get clear on what you already know and what you're still missing. Ask yourself: What do I already know about this scene? What do I need to know to move forward? What puzzle piece am I missing?

This step matters because the more focused you are going into your reading, the more useful the cards will be. You're not asking tarot to invent your story for you. You're using it to help surface ideas that are already hovering nearby.

Step 3: Choose a prompt or guiding question.

Based on what came up in Step 2, narrow your focus to a single question or prompt to guide your reading. This keeps the session productive and prevents the reading from feeling scattered.

If you're like me and every question spawns a bonus question, you don't need to answer all of them at once. Just pick one to start with.

Step 4: Grab your deck and shuffle with your question in mind.

There's no wrong way to shuffle. The point is simply to hold your question present as you work through the deck.

Step 5: Pull cards to inspire new ideas and interpret them.

Once you have your card or cards in front of you, work with the imagery, the traditional meanings, and your own instincts to generate ideas. If you're just getting started, keep it simple. Pull a single card and see what it stirs up. You can always add more cards once you feel comfortable with the process.

If You're Not Sure Where to Start

If you're feeling overwhelmed or can't decide what to focus on, try one of these simple, open-ended prompts:

• What do I need to know about the next scene to move forward?
• What do I need to know about this character to move forward?
• What can I add to the scene to shake things up?

Sometimes just picking something and letting yourself think about your story is enough to get things moving. The cards give your brain a visual jumping-off point, but the real work and the real creativity is already yours.

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