Friday Tarot Prompt

Nine of Pentacles

If it’s Friday there must be tarot, friends. And so I shuffled my cards once and this card came leaping out, begging to be shown to you.

I laughed when I saw it because this card is pretty timely for me, as well.

What card is it?

The Nine of Pentacles

This week, I used the Modern Witch Tarot deck and the imagery is a riff off traditional Rider-Waite cards—a woman with a bird in a bountiful garden. It’s time to harvest the fruits of her labor.

Key Words: Abundance, security, comfort, success

For Your Stories

We spend a lot of time putting our characters into peril and pushing them out of their comfort zones. But we also need to know where they feel most at ease and how they relax. Where do they like to vacation? Do they have hobbies? What is their relationship to gratitude?

Story Prompts

-Write about a self-made woman who takes on a young mentee.

-Write about a farmer who reaps a surprising harvest from his garden.

-Write about vineyard with magical grapes that yield a wine that cures people of doubt

For Your Creative Journey

This card asks us to stop and take stock of our accomplishments and blessings. If we can be still for a moment, it’s easier to see the abundance in our lives. Pentacles usually is associated with money, but abundance comes in many forms.

The reason I laughed when I got this card this week is because it’s in direct response to a conversation I’ve been having with a lot of my peers about imposter syndrome.

Most of my writer friends have been in the business for more than a decade. We’ve hit bestseller lists and won awards, we’ve got advanced degrees and taught in rooms packed with people, and we’ve had major setbacks and dusted ourselves off and kept going. Yet, to a person, when we get together and talk about our careers, the conversation is peppered with self-doubt. “What if I never sell a book again?” “What if this story sucks and everyone laughs at me?” “Who do I think I am to try this new thing?”

The Nine of Pentacles asks us to stop and take stock of the abundance we’ve created in our lives so far.

When was the last time you sat down and listed out your accomplishments?

We get so focused on what we haven’t done yet that it’s easy to lose sight of all the good we’ve already done. It’s time to be still and witness ourselves as creative, wonderful people. To remember what’s really important and give ourselves credit.

Maybe you haven’t hit a bestseller list, but have you finished a novel? Have you written a short story? Did you get a poem published? Did you take a class that scared you? Did you read your work in front of strangers? Did you invest time in yourself and your craft? Did you help a friend by beta-reading their story? Or give a pep talk to a friend who was feeling like giving up?

Make your list today. Don’t be modest. I want you to really crow about yourself!

Then, on days when the imposter rears up and whispers nasty lies in your ear, you can pull out this list and say to Doubt, “Suck it, I’m awesome.”

If you’re feeling bold, share one of your recent accomplishments in comments by clicking the button below.

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