The World, an original card from the Tarot of Marseilles by Jean Dodal, 1701-1715
Cartomancy is telling the future via a deck of cards. These can be tarot, oracle cards, or quite simply, a deck of playing cards. Here we’re thinking about the cards as a method for tapping into our creativity and finding stories to tell and ideas and feelings to express.
Every suit in a tarot deck tells a story about human existence. There is the fiery wands suit, the journey of passion and motivation; the watery cups, which explores our introspective, emotional side; earthly pentacles, which speak of the material world; airy swords, which consider the intellect. Within each there are stories of trials and tribulations, momentary victories, periods of peace and tumultuous times. In the major and minor arcana we also find symbols and archetypes.
Much of the occult symbolism was given to the Rider-Waite-Smith deck by Arthur Waite and illustrator Pamela Colman Smith, both members of the 19th century magical order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The tarot is rich in imagery, borrowed from the Western Occult and Kabbalah. Besides this understanding of tarot as something that can be learnt and memorised, there are also the images themselves, and our intuitive reactions to them.
Many creatives have used the tarot to guide their work. Shirley Jackson’s novel Hangsaman draws on the archetype of The Hanged Man, which can indicate spiritual transformation. In Italo Calvino’s novel The Castle of Crossed Destinies, the characters recount their tales via tarot cards.
But your approach needn’t be so explicit. We are open to how you use the cards to inform your work. The tarot can simply be a tool to prompt a mundane story about the everyday. Alternatively, your response might be full of magical imagery. Let the cards be your doors to ideas. Weave together the stories of the characters whose lives you follow through the cards. Ask the cards what happens next. Home in on symbols and, perhaps, come to know the cards better. If you don’t have a tarot deck, you can download an app like Golden Thread Tarot or purchase one from Treadwell’s or Little Red Tarot.
You may respond to this theme with short fiction, creative non-fiction, or poetry (maximum three poems).
How to submit
We accept submissions via email. Please send your work to cunningfolkmagazine@gmail.com. We ask that you include Spiritus Mundi in the subject line, followed by your name and the genre of the work you are submitting. Your work should be provided as an attachment, not pasted into the body of your email. It needn’t be occult-themed, though we do love work that draws on the occult, mythology, folklore and magic; more importantly, its creation must in some way respond to the theme. All submissions should be accompanied by an artist bio of no more than 100 words. Unfortunately, we are currently unable to offer a fee for submissions. We are fully volunteer-run. The deadline for the current theme is 15 September 2020.
*Please note, we’ll be sharing responses to our first theme, Serendipity and Synchronicity, in August.