A Guest Appearance from Ella Wilson

Greetings to all Toads, near and far! Today it is my great pleasure to introduce as our prompt host, none other than Ella Wilson, one of the founding members of The Imaginary Garden With Real Toads!

Hello Toads!  Kerry and I reconnected this spring when I discovered her beautiful tarot card images on Instagram.   She is so, talented!    I took a leap of faith and was doing a tarot challenge.  She nudged me to participate in #NaPoWriMo2019, in April and I did.  Kerry mentioned perhaps sharing Tarot in the Imaginary Garden and invited me to stop by and share this prompt.   Thank you, Kerry~

Tarot came into my life when my mom bought me a mystical game for Christmas.   I found the game on Ebay and discovered the cards associated with the roulette wheel and glow in the dark marble were Tarot cards.   My mother’s inquisitive nature set me on this path.   I believe we all have the sixth sense.   Tarot for me is part history, mystery, mythology, and a language of visual symbols.  I read intuitively and I  hope today’s prompt will encourage you to pen a poem using your sixth sense.

We are all familiar with the phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words. “  -Fred R. Barnard 
As poets we know, “…..a word may well be worth a thousand pictures.”   -Wald Amberstone
I believe Tarot can be used as a life map. Let’s dive in…

There are 22 Major Arcana cards and these have the strongest messages.  We began with The Fool, a young adult setting off to discover the world-not fully aware of his/her surroundings, who meets people who advise him/her and he/she learns lessons along life’s path.   The last card is The World where we feel we have accomplished a goal.  When we decide to set another goal, we will set off again on another adventure as The Fool.

There are 78 cards in the Tarot, 22 of these cards are the Major Arcana - they have Roman numerals on them.  Sixteen Court cards which include Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings which correlate with the 16 personalities in the Myers Briggs. Click for a graphic display!

The other 40 cards as well as the court cards are aligned with four suits with cards Ace thru Ten.

Wands = creativity and align with the Fire signs in the Zodiac: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Swords = thoughts/ideas and align with the Air signs: Aquarius, Gemini, Libra
Cups = emotions based on the Water signs: Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio
Pentacles = abundance and represent the Earth signs: Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo

OUR CHALLENGE

Here are three decks - select the symbol (feather, shell, peacock ore) or deck you feel most drawn to. I will show you three cards from each deck for you to use to inspire your poem. The key is to pick out symbols that stand out to you. When I read, I pick out symbols that catch my eye. For example, the Death card, in most situations, is about transformation, not death.

STEP ONE: SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING SETS OF CARDS.

STEP TWO: WRITE A POEM BASED ON YOUR INTERPRETATION OF THE CARDS

PLEASE NOTE:
YOUR INTERPRETATION DOES NOT HAVE TO FOLLOW THE TRADITIONAL READING OF TAROT, BUT MAY BE AS MAGICAL AS YOUR OWN IMAGINATION.
ELLA HAS ALSO SUGGESTED THAT THE CARDS COULD REPRESENT PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE AS SEEN FROM LEFT TO RIGHT.

THE SHELL DECK

Nicoletta Ceccoli Tarot
Fair Use Principles

(MAGNETISM)
THE EMPEROR
5 OF CUPS
7 OF SWORDS

THE FEATHER DECK

Vision Quest Tarot
Created by Gayan Sylvie Winter, Jo Dose
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(MOTION)
BALANCE
INTEGRITY
SPIRIT GUIDE

PEACOCK ORE DECK

The Smith-Waite Centennial Deck
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(PERCEPTION)
3 of PENTACLES
2 of WANDS
THE MOON

You can find Ella on Instagram @ellasedge and read her work in Bella Grace Magazine: spring and summer editions.
If you use Ella's photos, either on your blog or on Instagram, please credit/tag Ella's Edge.
All photos displayed in this post are copyright of Ella Wilson, and Used With Permission.