199. Use Divination Cards to Spark Stories

“If you need help with ideas, if you want to play with randomness, to inspire you, to jumpstart your creativity, to come up with new ideas that you wouldn't have ordinarily thought of.” - Beth Barany

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In this How To Write the Future podcast episode, titled “Use Divination Cards to Spark Stories,” host Beth Barany shares her personal journey with Tarot, plus how you can use Tarot and the Mythulu Desk for your science fiction and fantasy stories. 

Discover practical tips for writers, including how to develop your characters using these decks. 

RESOURCES

Books and products mentioned in this episode:

• Mythulu deck: https://mythulu.com/pack-a-intro/
• Crowley Thoth deck by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Frieda Harris
• Mirrors of the Soul: Handbook for the Aleister Crowley Tarot Paperback by Gerd Ziegler
• Writer’s Adventure Guide by Beth Barany
• Story Grid by Shawn Coyne

Shop here: https://bookshop.org/lists/writing-resources-mentioned-on-how-to-write-the-future-podcast

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• SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
• SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
• EDITORIAL SUPPORT by Iman Llompart

c. 2026 BETH BARANY

https://bethbarany.com/

Transcript

BETH BARANY 0:02

Hey everyone. Beth Barany here with How to Write The Future podcast. I am a science fiction and fantasy writer and at heart. I have always, always, always loved magic since I was a girl and I wanted to be magic. I might've mentioned that in one of the previous podcasts. And recently, a fellow writer asked me if I would talk about tarot or tarot and writing. And what's so funny is I sat down to write a book about tarot and writing, gosh, 20 years ago. But instead, what came out of me, because I am so process oriented, what came out of me was my book, The Writer's Adventure Guide, which is basically the hero's journey as applied to writing. It's a self-coaching guide for writers, and even though I've been doing tarot since my early twenties, actually no. I think I started when I was 19 and I was even a professional tarot reader for a moment in my thirties. I went off in this other direction as a writer, as a, as a writing teacher. I went towards structure. I went towards how to overcome writer's block, and here we are. I now fast forward, you know, 20 plus years later, I've got this question about using tarot and writing. And for me it was like. The most obvious thing. Why do I need to talk about this? There are so many books out there. There's even wonderful, um, at least one resource that I know written by someone on how to use tarot specifically for your writing. It's awesome. I love it. There's so many resources out there. I actually don't use tarot much anymore for my writing. I use the Mythulu deck, but I used to use, the Tarot deck and I love the Crowley Thoth deck. That was my favorite Crowley designed by Lady Frieda Harris. and there's so many decks out there, I have many decks here at home. So how do you use tarot cards or the Mythulu deck or any divination card for your writing? So I'm gonna give you some quick tips today and invite you to play with these tools if you need them. And maybe I should address why do people, need them? Well, you only need them if you are stuck. If you need help with ideas, if you wanna play with randomness, to inspire you, to jumpstart your creativity, to come up with new ideas that you wouldn't have ordinarily thought of. That's why I love the Mythulu deck so much is because it isn't based on any system like tarot is based on a, a very old system that has come down through the ages and has has offered many archetypes to us throughout the ages. And if you're trying to write something new, then I really point you toward the Mythulu deck, because. That is more random. It has all kinds of beautiful art on it, and it's not based on an archetypal system, although it includes many archetypes in there. Uh, so the reason for choosing cards is when you are stuck. Uh, how do you use these decks? Any deck that you use, I highly recommend that you go to them with a question. So you ask a question like: what could be this character's motivation? What do they fear the most? What might happen next? What is the worst thing that could happen to them next? I often use it to do deep dives into character. So I want to know what drives them and then what drives them below that. So I might start with one card and say, what drives them to behave like this? Or what is the reason they would say yes to this incident? Or what other way could it be? Broad open-ended questions. So, I encourage you to play with these tools, when you are stuck, and you could even do it, in groups. It's fun to hear what other people think of those cards. Another way you can use cards, and this comes from traditional tarots where you have a standard layout. And actually I used cards like this years ago when I was learning story structure as I laid out, for example, five cards for the five, parts of a story like, the Inciting Incident, the rising Action, the Crisis, the Climax, the Resolution. So that's just five. That's a five point story structure inspired by story grid, Shawn Coyne's book, Story Grid, that I use a lot to think about a scene and a story. So that again, is inciting incident. Uh, rising action, which is actually rising conflict, more things becoming difficult. That's number two. Number three is the crisis, which is often the form of a question where the protagonist has to make a choice this way or that way. They can't have it both ways. They have to choose. And then the climax, which is the protagonist choosing, and then the resolution. How do they feel afterwards? So you could pull a card for each one of these and see how they spark inside of you, the story, that you have in mind. That's one way to use it. Another way to use it is, character development. You could think about: what is my character's outward, role in the world? That's one card. The next card is: what is their secret face? The secret face they only show themself. What is, a secret in their past? Put that on the left hand side. And then on the right: What is it they desire? So that's a four card spread, for example. So if you would like more ideas on card spreads and how to use divination cards, let me know. This is just a short episode on using divination cards and writing and writing your stories. I'm eager to hear from you. If you would like, any further resources. let me know. That's it for this week, everyone. Write long and prosper.