Monday Writer's Tarot

The Hierophant

Keywords: Spiritual authority, traditions, institutions

I always have a hard time with the Hierophant. It’s a card with heavy religious institution energy. On some decks, the Hierophant is the pope, which triggers the recovering-Catholic in me. It probably also tweaks my Gen-X heart, which fundamentally distrusts all institutions.

Since this is a reading for writers, and I asked the cards about what lesson would help you this week to further your creative path, I want to focus on the idea of tradition and rules as it pertains to writing.

As much as writers like to believe ourselves to be iconoclasts and rule-breakers, the truth is that we are all influenced by our literary ancestry and the traditions of our type of stories. This week, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, ask yourself about the rules of the type of story you’re telling. What has been proven to work? What tropes and structures are already established and why? If you’re trying to shake things up in your genre, ask yourself why it hasn’t been done before. Perhaps it isn’t in the market already because there isn’t a market for it and you need to focus on more traditional storytelling to get the job done.

Speaking of tradition, have you ever created a list of your literary ancestors? What is your writing lineage? Which authors do you look to as your mentors and spiritual guides?

Let’s say your literary mentor is Nora Roberts. There are worse mentors, for sure. Make a list of what you like about Nora’s stories or how she’s approached her career. Write “What Would Nora Do?” on a Post-It and place it somewhere you can see if every time you sit down to write.

Tradition gets a bad wrap. This week, I want you to reframe your relationship to writing traditions and conventions. How can you use them to free yourself up to be more creative, not less?

Happy writing, friends!