Tarot, Writing and Travel



For those who are not familiar with Midnight Ink, MI is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide (http://www.llewellyn.com/).  Llewellyn has a rich and long history (110 years!) of publishing titles that fall under metaphysical or body, mind, spirit categories - pagan, wiccan, yoga, chakras, ghost stories, astrology, tarot, magick...  you get the idea.  Well, quite a few of us here read our tarot cards and horoscopes regularly.  There's a group of us that draws a tarot card for the day - today my card was the Chariot.  How appropriate!



From the Shadowscapes deck
published by Llewellyn

 When the Chariot appears upright in your tarot spread, it indicates that you have all the tools necessary to triumph over any obstacles that stand in your way. The successes you achieve are based on your ability to harness your instinctive drives. The more effort you put out, the more successful you will become. Self-discipline is necessary. This is a time to remain focused and stay devoted to managing your conflicting thoughts and feelings. You may be feeling frustrated at the speed of events you’re focusing on. Patience is required. Know that if you wait, things will materialize in your favor. If you lack clarity, progress may be slowed. It is best to concentrate on what you want. Your intentions will set things in motion. In a tarot reading, the chariot also represents travel of some kind.

For me, it's the last line...  travel of some kind.  I will spend the next three weeks out of the office save for a couple days.  First I have a vacation, then Malice Domestic, then a writer's conference in Houston.  I think I will just have enough time between trips to do laundry and repack!

But you know what else is cool about tarot?  You can use tarot to develop your characters.  Seriously.  Llewellyn has published a great book called Tarot for Writers.  The author, Corrine Kenner, is a certified tarot master.  The book provides 500 writing prompts and idea stimulating exercises that call upon archetypal imagary and symbolism in tarot.  It also uses classic tarot layouts and spreads to structure your story.  How awesome is that?  You don't have to use/know tarot to use this book.  You can check it more at http://tarotforwriters.com/ or at http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738714578.

So everyone - happy writing!!  And happy travels for those also going to Malice Domestic!  I will be blogging off and on, hopefully uploading pics from Malice.  I am looking forward to hanging with a whole bunch of Inkers!

Devil in a Blue Dress, by Jess Lourey

Have you ever read Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley? It was Mosley's debut novel and received rave reviews when it came out in 1990. Mosley was hailed as the next Raymond Chandler, probably for his "gritty realism" (read: tough men, much violence, meddlesome yet sexy women who need to be straightened out by the protagonist whom they are reluctantly yet passionately attracted to--the typical male romance novel).

I began the book with as much trepidation as I watched Capote--I was doing it because it was supposed to be good for me, not because I was going to like it. Turns out I liked it AND it was really really good. You know how when you're at a movie that is so good that you forget you're in a theater? Devil in a Blue Dress made me forget I was reading a book.

Here are my two favorite sections, both of which give you a feel for the sense of place and voice throughout the novel:

"When I opened the door I was slapped in the face by the force of Lips' alto horn. I had been hearing Lips and Wilie and Flattop since I was a boy in Houston. All of them and John and half the people in that crowded room had migrated from Houston after the war, and some before that. California was like heaven for the southern Negro. People told stories of how you could eat fruit right off the trees and get enough work to retire one day. The stories were true for the most part but the truth wasn't like the dream. Life was still hard in L.A. and if you worked every day you still found yourself at the bottom.

But being on the bottom didn't feel so bad if you could come to John's now and then and remember how it felt back home in Texas, dreaming about California. Sitting there and drinking John's scotch you could remember the dreams you once had and, for a while, it felt like you had them for real."

That's good writing. Here's some more:

"I was sitting there, naked on the toilet seat, and watching her go through the mirror-doored medicine cabinet. I felt something deep down in me, something dark like jazz when it reminds you death is waiting."

Check out that language so tight it cries. And I enjoy mysteries with strong character development, ones that go below the surface and examine the human condition, and Devil in a Blue Dress does that. Lots. Oh, and it's a movie! You know it must be good then.

Today's blog freebies: Stuff on My Cat and Llewellyn's Free Tarot Readings. It looks like love is in my cards, and all I can say is that it's about freaking time. What's in your future? Or on your cat? And whaddya know about Mosley?