This Week's Writerly Tarot: Judgment

This tarot thing, it's a practice. That word can be looked at as a verb: to perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain proficiency. It can also be extended to a related noun: praxis. The practical application of a theory.

And in the case of tarot, the theory we're applying is the theory of divination, the idea that something like a deck of cards—or a set of runes or a group of I-Ching sticks—can be used as a tool for wisdom and guidance. A way to bend the attention of the Universe your way for a short time. As such, it is very personal.

That paradox is the foundation of what I do here each week for you, the members of my writerly tribe. I ask the cards what I, as a creative person, need to know in the coming week. I ask for me, but since the truly personal is also the truly universal, I am also asking for you.

Usually, I pull one card—either randomly or by design—but this week I decided to pull three. It's spring moving into summer, the light growing stronger day by day. It felt like a big time, engaging the larger gears of the celestial clockwork, so to speak, so I decided to honor that feeling with a slightly bigger reading than usual.

The Universe heard my request. Everything but the "slightly," it seems. Because let me tell you, this reading was big. Three major arcanas: Judgment as the central card flanked by Temperance and The Moon.

So no, not big. HUGE.

Which is why I decided to take this reading one card at a time, and then explain the significance of the cards working together. I decided to do this in parts, starting with the card you see on the left.

First of all, don't take the title of the card at its most obvious—this actually isn't a card about judging (which I explain in this post). In fact, many decks prefer to call this card Rebirth, and the most important aspect of it isn't the naked folk rising from the grave or even the angel above—it's the trumpet.

As you might expect, this is no ordinary musical instrument. For starters, it's a trumpet. Trumpets have a very long history, dating back to at least 1500 BC. They were found in Tutankhamun's grave in Egypt, also in China and Peru and Scandinavia. They were played in Solomon's Temple and mentioned many times in the Bible, especially as the symbolic "last trumpet sound" that announces the End of Days. In this sense, they are associated with the archangel Gabriel, the Great Revealer.

So no, not an ordinary instrument. And not an ordinary card.

Judgment reveals that you are at a crossroads. To quote the old Chinese blessing/curse, you are about to enter the Land of Interesting Times. Make no mistake, though—the road ahead is the one you were meant to be on. It may not be the road you wanted. It may not be the road you chose. But it's your road, and as such, it is as royal and rewarding as they come.

For writers and other creative folk, begin listening. Extraordinary trumpets rarely make a lot of noise. They are the still small voices of the creative ether. But once you've caught the note, there's no pretending you haven't.