Counting Cards

by Tina Whittle

It was one of those social media things making its rounds on Facebook—share ten things that most people don’t know about you. I mentioned the usual—like being attacked by baboons on an elementary school field trip—but it was the last item that sparked the most conversation.

Once upon a time, I was a semi-professional tarot card reader.

Tarot is often associated with fortune telling, but I practice intuitive tarot, using the cards to engage the subconscious knowing so that it emerges in sudden hunches and gut feelings. This kind of tarot reading can feel a bit like playing hide and seek—sometimes it seems the harder you look, the more elusive your quarry becomes—but this is where my work as a mystery novelist comes in handy. For just like creative writing, tarot is all about creating a narrative

Tarot gives the subconscious a set of pretty pictures to play with, which sometimes lures it out of its hidey-hole. It’s this aspect of reading the cards that I find both most challenging, and therefore, most rewarding. When a reading starts to take shape, it’s the same feeling that happens during my writing when a crucial bit of backstory plugs right into a plot hole, or a previously misunderstood character motivation suddenly shines with clarity. There’s this bright burst of “aha!” followed by an almost effortless falling into place.

Like a good book, each tarot spread has a narrative thread running through the middle, connecting each image to a central theme. My job is to help my clients figure out this narrative for themselves. I interpret the cards, ask questions, make comparisons. But the heavy lifting of the reading is done by the client, not by me. I’m more of a midwife, guiding and encouraging and explaining as the answer to the question on the table starts to become more apparent.

The tarot functions as a tool, a channel, a container for meaning. And most of the time, the answer that bubbles up in response to the seeking isn’t a surprise. My clients already know what they need to know—sometimes they simply need a place to put that knowledge.

As a mystery novelist, I’m often stuck behind a computer making up imaginary scenarios for imaginary people. Tarot pulls me into the real world again, into the company of real people. It keeps me authentic, and it grounds me in the greater human narrative. Even with my skill at making stuff up, I don’t think I could have made up a better second job for myself than reading tarot.

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Tina Whittle writes the Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver mysteries. The sixth book in this Atlanta-based series—Necessary Ends—is available now. Tina is a proud member of Sisters in Crime and has served as both a chapter officer and national board member. Visit her website to follow her on social media, sign up for her newsletter, or read additional scenes and short stories: www.tinawhittle.com.

Tarot Tells The Tale

I'm not psychic. I'm not a fortune teller. I can't read your palm. But I can read your cards.

I'm a tarot reader, you see. I use the imagery of tarot cards to help people—and myself—access the information and wisdom that we already have at a subconscious level.

There are many different ways to read cards, and knowing as many as possible helps me decide which particular approach is best for any particular occasion. I also study new spreads (patterns that the cards are laid out in), new methods of shuffling and dealing, new approaches to explaining what I see, new symbolic interpretations. I especially enjoy exploring new decks. My favorite right now is the Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell—it's very sci-fi geeky, with clockworks and dirigibles, a Victorian esthetic combined with a gearhead love of nuts and bolts. I also have ghost decks and Renaissance art decks and decks based on the Welsh Mabinogion lore. Decks with woodcuts and decks with watercolors and decks with images like stained glass.

Regardless of what some may say, there is no carved-in-stone "right" way to read tarot. I enjoy a narrative approach, where I let the cards' various interpretations connect into a storyline, just like I do when I'm writing mysteries. And like crafting the plotline for a novel, I find that this narrative approach is best served if I leave room for intuition to blossom.

To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a sword is just a sword. And sometimes a sword is a representation of the dual-edged nature of the human intellect. Being open to the many symbolic possibilities of the images on the cards makes a reading not just personal, but universal.

I believe the tarot works on many levels: psychological, spiritual, intellectual and practical. It works equally well for "spiritual" people as it does for atheists and agnostics. The key is the willingness to engage your own conscious and subconscious in a way that lets information and wisdom bubble up where you can reach it. Some call this intuition. Some call it divination. I understand it as both.

Does it matter what the person I'm reading for calls this power? Only as much as it helps me frame my responses. The tarot itself is neutral on this issue. If you treat it and the process with respect, you'll get a treasure trove of information in return.

(PS: If you're interested in reading more about tarot, including my weekly Writerly Tarot posts, you can visit my Tarot by Tina blog. There you can sign up for my weekly Writerly Tarot, read a tarot-themed mystery short story, or explore previous posts on the art and science of tarot).

Pleased to Meet You!

I so honored and delighted to be making my debut here among Writers Who Kill. In the spirit of getting to know each other, I decided to share some of the things that make me who I am (as if that photo of me with a plastic orange assault rifle doesn't tell you enough).

1. Before I became a full-time mystery writer, I worked as a high school English teacher, a newspaper editor back in my tiny Southern hometown, a freshman composition instructor, and a professional Girl Scout. So believe me when I say that I understand homicidal tendencies.

2. I am also a tarot reader, although no longer professionally. I still enjoy reading for friends and family, however, and also for myself. And my characters. Boy, do my characters need guidance.

Book Five! Coming in April!

3. I currently write the Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver mysteries with Poisoned Pen Press (that's the cover to the next book in the series over there to the right). Tai runs a Kennesaw, Georgia, gun shop that caters to Civil War reenactors. Trey is a former SWAT sniper recovering from a TBI (a Traumatic Brain Injury). They are partners in both crime solving and romance, and as such, definitely need those tarot readings.

Haunted Savannah Streetlight

4. I live near Savannah, Georgia, reported to be one of the most haunted cities in the country. And though I've toured every haunted inn and restaurant and brew pub and restroom and tree and cemetery in town, I have yet to see a ghost.

5. I have, however, seen a UFO.

Baboons! How sweet, you say. Ha.

6. Also, I am one of the small subset of Americans who have been attacked by baboons.

7. I am an advanced open water scuba diver (wreck diving being my favorite, although my favorite dive of all time was a shark dive in the Bahamas. The baboons were scarier than those sharks.)

8. My redneck credentials are firmly established. I can shoot a shotgun, bake hoecake, catch a catfish with my bare hands, and drive a stick shift. I own chickens and overalls and cast iron skillets, and the Southern storytelling gene runs strong through my DNA. Even the pots and pans in my house have stories.

George getting ready to meet me

9. My bucket list includes going on an Alaskan cruise, bicycling through wine country in France, and meeting George Hamilton.

10. I once almost ran over Clint Eastwood. True story. His bodyguard probably still talks about that crazy redneck lady.

And that's me in a nutshell. Very pleased to make your acquaintance. Why don't you share something about yourself in the comments so that I can get to know you better? And thanks for stopping by!