Thirty days of creative tarot prompts

Come home to your creativity this September...

Aug 29, 2024

Hi little coven.

My tarot practice has always been deeply enmeshed with my creative life — the first time I ever had my cards read, I had my creative work in mind (shout out to my dear friend Kat for convincing me to trust the cards with the novel I was muddling through at the time).

Still, it took time for me to recognise that formal connection. When I started my tarot reading business, I wasn’t consciously thinking about servicing creatives, but rather about opening the door to tarot for sceptics.

Then: a well-timed consultation with a mentor who, like me, saw the tarot as a conduit for self-expression and creative exploration. She blinked at me over a Zoom screen as I described that my favourite clients tended sceptics who also happened to be fellow writers and makers. “Chelsey,” she said, gently but with the faintest aroma of “duh!” riding her voice… “Can’t you see that that’s your business?” My USP wasn’t in my agnosticism after all, but in my deep faith and reverence for the creative process and my decade-plus of experience working across theatre, publishing and media.

That’s when I decided to get serious about devising a formal approach to the tarot as a creative tool. I wanted to take what I had been doing intuitively in my tarot practice - but also in my many years spent learning about my own creative strengths and processes - and articulate it into a way of thinking and talking about the tarot.

The result of this effort, of course, culminates my upcoming book, Tarot for Creativity1, and is continued here on The Shuffle with Chelsey Pippin Mizzi.

But before there was a book or a Substack, there was just me, my deck, and my own creative impulses.

This September, in the lead-up to Tarot for Creativity’s North American publication date, I want to give you the same opportunity I gave myself: to sit with yourself, your deck, your creative impulses and see what happens.

Below you’ll find all 30 prompts for the month ahead.

Feel free to adapt, change, or skip ones that don’t work for you - but take some time to engage with the creative possibilities before dismissing an idea that doesn’t immediately spark you.

I’d love for you to leave notes and thoughts about what surfaces through your creative engagement with the cards in the comments below. From September 1, I’ll also be sharing each daily prompt on Substack Notes, and over on Instagram and Threads (follow me there @pipcardstarot), so make sure to follow along for daily reminders to pull a card or two and get creative!

Our 30 Days of Creativity starts here…

September 1. Draw a card to represent the creative journey ahead of you this month, and journal about it.
September 2. Draw a card and create a playlist inspired by its energy.
September 3. Draw a card and design your own version of it.
September 4. Intentionally select a card that represents what creative inspiration feels like to you.
September 5. Draw a tarot card and interview it, as if you were a reporter. You can imagine its answers, or draw new cards in response to your questions.
September 6. Draw a card and curate an outfit based on the colors and vibe of the card. (my friend Annie Aboulian has an incredible talent for this!)
September 7. Draw a card and write a haiku inspired by it.
September 8. Draw a card for advice on a creative challenge you're currently facing.
September 9. Draw a card and take a photo of it in a place you love, or with an object you love. Write about what makes this place/item special. Share the photo and what you write with a friend, on social media, or in the comments of this post!
September 10. Draw a card and write two stories inspired by it - one with a happy ending, and one with a tragic ending.
September 11. Intentionally select a card to represent how you want to feel in your creative life.
September 12. Draw a card and write, stream-of-consciousness style, about anything and everything it makes you think of.
September 13. Draw a card and take a photograph of things that remind you of it throughout the day.
September 14. Draw two cards and write a short play that puts the images into conversation with each other.
September 15. Draw two cards and create a piece of art inspired by the card you feel most drawn to.
September 16. Draw a card and write a poem or song in response to how it makes you feel.
September 17. Draw a card and reflect on how it represents a moment from your creative life in the past.
September 18. Draw three cards and write a story: let the first card represent the beginning of the story, the second card represent the main conflict, and the third card represent the resolution.
September 19. Draw a card and turn it over, try to redraw it from memory.
September 20. Draw a card and brainstorm a list of things it makes you want to do.
September 21. Draw a card, then visit a local art gallery and seek out artworks that remind you of the card.
September 22. Intentionally select a card that represents what creative block feels like for you. Then draw a card at random for advice on how to dissolve the block.
September 23. Draw a card and identify one detail that stands out to you. Create a piece of visual art inspired by that detail.
September 24. Think of a song, poem, book, painting, or film you love. Then decide which tarot card best represents that artwork. Journal about what the card and the artwork have in common.
September 25. Draw a card and write about a person the card reminds you of.
September 26. Draw a card and write a letter about it to someone you love.
September 27. Draw a card and create a self-portrait that captures the essence of the card.
September 28. Intentionally choose a card that "scares" you. Script a short horror film inspired by the card.
September 29. Draw a card and share a blog or a social media post inspired by what you see in the card. Tag me here, or on Instagram or Threads @pipcardstarot
September 30. Intentionally choose a card to reflect the creative journey you've been on over these past 30 days.

If you love working with these prompts, please update me and the rest of The Shuffle community on what surfaced for you by leaving a comment below, or resharing this post in Notes and tagging me!

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