12 cards, 12 weeks of creative recovery
This summer, The Artist's Way gets a tarot takeover
Starting May 11 I’m bringing you weekly emails and live sessions that braid tarot archetypes and the 12 steps of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way together.
You’ll get:
Weekly essays linking tarot archetypes with The Artist’s Way themes
Creative prompts and exercises to deepen the work
Live Sunday tarot journaling sessions inspired by the theme of the week
Pathways for a “lite” experience, as well as support for anyone wanting to dive into the book’s curriculum in full.
Learn more below, or subscribe now for full access.
F.A.Qs available to read here.
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way first introduced me to the crucial idea that creative practice is spiritual practice.
But on its own, the book wasn’t enough to give me the creative freedom I craved.
It would take several years — and many failed attempts to work through Cameron’s programme as written — before I found the tool that really ignited my own creative recovery: the tarot.
With the cards on my side, many of the book’s lessons began to fall into place. Tarot archetypes helped me access the senses of safety, power, abundance, connection, autonomy, and faith that Cameron set out to help blocked creatives discover and recover.
Cameron’s medium for this is the morning pages, mine is the tarot: both, in their way, forms of divination.
In 2021, whilst developing the early sample material for Tarot for Creativity, I made a note inside my dog-eared copy of The Artist’s Way: It would be cool to run an Artist’s Way tarot-led workshop. The thought has rattled around in my brain ever since.
Now, 4 years later, I’m ready to bring it to you. Not as a straightforward group-read of Cameron’s book, but instead as a guided experience that braids Cameron’s ideas with the creative archetypes of the tarot.
I’ll also offer my own builds, challenges, and adjustments to Cameron’s original curriculum through a contemporary lens (The Artist’s Way was a pre-internet creation!) and based on my own experience adapting the programme to fit me as a neurodivergent maker.
Think of it as a cartographic journey of self-reflection and creative manifestation designed to help us chart our own unique maps for walking what Cameron calls “a spiritual path to higher creativity”.
The Tarot Artist's Way is coming to you this May.
Here’s everything you need to know:
The Tarot Artist’s Way is a 12-week journey that reimagines The Artist’s Way through the lens of the tarot. You’re invited to explore the core themes of Julia Cameron’s classic creativity guide with the added insight and symbolism of the cards.
You’re welcome to follow along with The Artist’s Way book and full programme (I will be), but it’s not required to participate.
Each week, I’ll pair a key tarot archetype with one of the 12 chapters from The Artist’s Way.
Every Monday, I’ll share the week’s card and reflect on how it deepens, challenges, or illuminates what The Artist’s Way has to say about the creative process, starting with Week One: Recovering a Sense of Safety with the Hanged One card. (These Monday emails will replace my usual Mini-muse for the duration of the programme.)
That email will also include journaling and discussion prompts, along with exercises designed to bring the tarot and creative work into direct conversation.
Then, on Sundays, I’ll host live sessions featuring a reflective tarot spread on the week’s theme (replays available). These gatherings are designed to help us reflect on our own creative experience, whether reading along with the book in full or not.
What you’ll get:
Free subscribers to The Shuffle can access
– Monday essays introducing each week’s card and theme
Paying subscribers get:
– Full Monday emails: essays + journaling prompts + open comments
– Access to weekly Sunday live sessions and recordings
– A dedicated Shuffle chat thread for those moving through The Artist’s Way in full
Limited edition tarot reading
During the 12 weeks, I’ll also be offering a special Letter from Your Inner Artist tarot reading, inspired by the programme’s themes and my personal approach to the work. Paying subscribers receive 20% off this limited-time offer. Founding Members can claim this reading for free - drop me an email to arrange.
Schedule:
All live sessions take place on Sundays at 7pm UK time / 2pm Eastern US / 11am Pacific Time
Introduction and intentions
May 11 live session (recording available May 12)
Week One: Recovering a Sense of Safety with The Hanged One
May 12: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
May 18: Live session, Creative Safety Spread & discussion
Week Two: Recovering a Sense of Identity with Judgement
May 19: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
May 25: Live session, Creative Identity Spread & discussion
Week Three: Recovering a Sense of Power with The Magician
May 26: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
June 1: Live session, Creative Power Spread & discussion
Week Four: Recovering a Sense of Integrity with The Hermit
June 2: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
June 8: Live session, Creative Integrity Spread & discussion
Week Five: Recovering a Sense of Possibility with The Wheel of Fortune
June 9: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
June 15: Live session, Creative Possibility Spread & discussion
Week Six: Recovering a Sense of Abundance with The Empress
June 16: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
June 22: Live session, Creative Abundance Spread & discussion
Week Seven: Recovering a Sense of Connection with The Lovers (and the Devil)
June 23: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
June 29: Live session, Creative Connection Spread & discussion
Week Eight: Recovering a Sense of Strength with Strength
June 30: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
July 6: Live session, Creative Strength Spread & discussion
Week Nine: Recovering a Sense of Compassion with The Star
July 7: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
July 13: Live session, Creative Compassion Spread & discussion
Week Ten: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection with Temperance
July 14: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
July 20: Live session, Creative Self-Protection Spread & discussion
Week Eleven: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy with The World
July 21: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
July 27: Live session, Creative Autonomy Spread & discussion
Week Twelve: Recovering a Sense of Faith with the Fool
July 28: Monday email introducing card + theme for the week
August 3: Live session, Creative Faith Spread & discussion
You’re endlessly creative, Chelsey. Really looking forward to spending the summer with you. x
I love your tarot for creativity book ( I just read the back page to come here lol) !! This is so cool, do you write more about the infamous Morning pages?