Getting to know your psycho-spiritual cast
April 2024 Collective Offering
Happy April, my bbyz.
This month’s offering is giving ‘reaffirming discovery I just had to share with you all’. I hope it’s useful, or at the very least, kinda cute to read me gently nerding out.
Has spring started springing around you yet? I hope so.
My wish for us all this month is to feel the joys of new beginnings - no matter how tentative they may be.
Love,
ilayda
Wtf are the cards saying?
I’m absolutely not an expert in narrative therapy but my understanding from the curious reading and digging I’ve done, is that it places emphasis on the stories that people develop about themselves and then carry through life, which definitely speaks to one of my favourite ways to use the tarot.
The way where you use the cards to build a story about what a person is going through. The way where you get an idea of the meaning the person constructs through these stories, and how the narratives influence their emotions, behaviour and relationships. The way where you might be able to help someone help themselves, or at the very least, provide alternative plots and perspectives that could provide insight or shift things a little for them.
It’s no surprise to me that I prefer to work this way with the cards, given my background in writing, performing and game-making. They say you can take the girl outta show-business, but you can't take away her love of storytelling that got her there in the first place.
I guess the algorithms of tech giants that track my every move, thought and feeling also know this about me, because the other day they led me to a fantastic video about narrative identity theory by
, a therapist, writer and co-creator of Betwixt, a fantasy text-based adventure game designed to help with anxiety and stress relief.The video basically explains that in narrative identity theory, individuals play one of three core roles in their life story: character (5 five of cups), hero (The Emperor), or author (The Magician). The idea behind narrative identity theory, is that a person’s sense of self is shaped by integrating life experiences into a coherent narrative - weaving personal history, projected future, and a sense of meaning together.
Those who adopt an external locus of control see themselves as characters, believing life happens to them. This perspective, while understandable, can lead to feelings of powerlessness or regret (Five of Cups), where individuals attribute their successes and failures to external factors beyond their control.
Meanwhile, the Hero involves building a narrative around overcoming challenges (The Emperor). They may perceive life as a series of tests to overcome, leading to a perpetual need for adversaries or enemies to help define their sense of self. And when none arise? Well, the Hero then runs the risk of turning on themselves.
The third option, the author, involves seeing yourself as the creator of your own life (The Magician). Not in a bullshit ‘dream it, think it, believe it and it will MANIFEST!’ kind of way, but more in a ‘what if I embraced life's uncertainties, and crafted meaning from my experiences?’ way. Authors focus on internal control rather than external factors, fostering creativity and purpose.
As Hazel puts it:
Unlike the character, the author doesn't blame the world, and unlike the hero, they don't need enemies in order to prove themselves. The author's goal is not to vanquish external problems, or slay inner demons, but to explore these things and make something wonderful out of them. The author's world is just as uncertain and turbulent as anyone else’s, but instead of trying to control external factors which are always just a little beyond our reach, the author focuses on what they can command: their own thoughts, feelings, behaviour, their creativity, purpose and drive.
She also points out that there’s no moral failure, weakness or superiority to enacting any of these characters - because we all fluctuate between these roles, depending on what our triggers are, as well social, political, and cultural factors.
I love, love, love, this theory because it speaks so vividly to how I try to work with the tarot.
Instead of using the cards to queue up answers for clients, I use them ask questions based on the many characters, themes, motifs and concepts contained within the story of the tarot. I try to provide a space where people can imagine what it might feel like to sit in the many and varied characters, themes and energies depicted by the cards. Somewhere where they can explore what their reactions, their blindspots, their hopes or fears might be in relation to The Emperor vs The Five of Cups vs The Magician, for example.
After all, if you consistently find yourself in the role of a ‘character’, how can you become the ‘author’ without first understanding or exploring what it feels like to be a ‘hero’? Likewise, if you strive to only ever sit in the role of ‘author’, how are you going to have empathy and non-judgement for yourself when you inevitably embody a ‘character’ occasionally, as we all must? How are you going to come up with a convincing ‘hero’ strategy when life demands it of you?
If, as Hazel points out, we all oscillate between different roles in the shaping of our own narratives, then I believe that tarot cards are a psycho-spiritual map of the roles that we can play in these narratives. I see readings as an opportunity for people to become aware of all the roles they’ve been cast in (either by themselves or others), and indeed, all the new roles they could take on.
So, with all that being said, here are some questions to help you explore the map and your relationship with some of the roles in it this month:
5 of Cups: What is triggering (or has been known to trigger) a sense of disappointment or loss in you? Do you actually let yourself be sad, butthurt and grieve over the things that require it - free of judgement? What small and seemingly insignificant victories could be a source of comfort or joy for you?
The Emperor: What are the things that you can control vs what are the things you can’t? And how does having control (or not having it), make you feel? To what degree does stability and structure bring you to life or stifle you - and what’s required to address the balance of it in your life/outlook? When it comes to growth, are you enacting your own or other people’s visions of success - what kind of growth would you like to seek out and why?
The Magician: What tools are at your disposal to help you make a difference for yourself or for someone else? Tools can be financial, emotional, intellectual, spiritual. Rather than a complete overhaul, what areas of your life could flourish from your creativity? When it comes to creating change for yourself or your life, what can you do to position yourself in the overlap between discipline and surrender?
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