Appendix 1:
A 78-Day Tarot Tale
If you would like to try a final exercise in your seventy-eight-day course, why not shuffle your entire deck and see if you can read a tale by using every single card in the deck? Removing the Fool to start, take one card at a time. Create a narrative using all the skills you have learnt during these last few months, testing and consolidating your learning.
We have provided an example which we created in about ten minutes with a shuffled deck.
The 78-Day Tarot Tale
1. Fool (0): We set off on our journey with no expectations and an open mind
2. Page of Wands: And we find an open road full of possibilities ahead of us
3. Tower (XVI): Although we are going to have to shake old habits and behaviour
4. Hierophant (V): And learn many things in a traditional manner
5. Seven of Cups: Until it seems like our imagination will run riot
6. Two of Swords: And we can’t seem to decide which of many meanings to choose
7. King of Pentacles: So we will have to get to grips with what we know
8. Seven of Wands: Even if other people don’t think it is important to learn tarot
9. Five of Pentacles: And we feel somewhat excluded from the everyday world
10. Page of Cups: However who knows what surprises we have in store for us
11. Sun (XIX): As we set off with an open heart to the light of new learning
12. Two of Pentacles: And juggle what we are being taught in small pieces
13. King of Wands: Feeling strong in our resolve to accomplish our ambition
14. Seven of Pentacles: Whilst realising that some skills will take time to develop
15. Strength (VIII): And others will need practice and perfecting
16. Ace of Swords: Although we may surprise ourselves with sudden insights
17. Queen of Swords: And be able to gain keen insight into the workings of the world
18. Knight of Pentacles: That will actually have a practical application
19. Three of Wands: Taking us forwards into new areas of life previously unexplored
20. Judgement (XX): Waking us up to new possibilities
21. Ten of Cups: Which in turn bring about a deep sense of understanding and contentment
22. Ace of Cups: Opening up to others this new wisdom
23. Ten of Swords: Whilst laying old ideas to rest
24. Eight of Cups: We continue on with our journey into a whole new way of life
25. Six of Cups: Exploring cherished memories and visions from childhood excitement
26. Four of Swords: And gaining a new alignment to the very deepest parts of ourselves
27. Nine of Cups: And whilst others may be content in their circumstances
28. Queen of Wands: We know that we will continue to strive towards our values
29. Eight of Pentacles: Working hard at perfecting our craft as a tarot reader
30. Eight of Wands: And communicating with others as we make progress
31. Magician (I): Leading to new skills and demonstrations of our art
32. Ace of Pentacles: And even financial rewards from clients
33. Ten of Wands: When we make clear to them how they are carrying too much
34. Four of Cups: Missing new emotional opportunities
35. Two of Wands: Or where we clarify their ambitious plans for the future
36. Page of Pentacles: Giving them a good basis for future growth
37. The Star (XVII): And offering a new vision of life’s hopes and dreams
38. Knight of Cups: Where we are true to our own depths
39. Five of Swords: Putting away the hurts and injustice of the past
40. Temperance: (XIV): In order to create a new alchemy of tarot
41. Three of Pentacles: Which begins to build together in community
42. The Chariot (VII): Pulling everyone together in a shared goal
43. Seven of Swords: So that my learning prepares for whatever comes in life
44. Eight of Swords: And I see that I am not trapped in my thinking
45. Queen of Cups: And can access my own emotional depths
46. Five of Wands: Working though the confused values of those around me
47. Six of Wands: Holding my head high so I can lead others too
48. High Priestess (II): By revealing the deeper currents of life
49. Emperor (IV): And not abusing my knowledge and position
50. Six of Pentacles: Because I will share it in charity and fairness
51. King of Cups: Tapping into my own experience and offering my growing wisdom
52. Six of Swords: So that I can take people to new ways of thinking
53. The Moon (XVIII): And guide them in the darkest times of their circumstances
54. Four of Wands: Towards the most beneficial outcome we can imagine
55. Justice (XI): In accord with universal laws and balances
56. Three of Cups: And joyfully respecting and celebrating with others
57. King of Swords: I can learn clearly and sharply as I gain experience
58. Ten of Pentacles: Whilst practising and seeing how tarot works in society
59. The Hermit (IX): With my role as a way-shower and light to other seekers
60. Death (XIII): Now transforming myself through tarot experience
61. Four of Pentacles: No longer holding on to the constraints of the past
62. Two of Cups: Generating from my cards whole new relationships to the world
63. Wheel of Fortune (X): Seeing how luck, fate, fortune, and destiny work
64. Three of Swords: Cutting myself off from powerlessness
65. Knight of Swords: Taking my own life in my hands
66. Ace of Wands: Accepting all responsibilities as my own choices
67. The Hanged Man (XII): And in tarot now understanding the world in a totally different way
68. The Devil (XV): Free of the fear and ignorance I may have experienced in the beginning
69. Nine of Wands: Able to stand my own ground in my learning
70. Page of Swords: And having a clear idea of the way ahead in my studies
71. Knight of Wands: Which I will take with enthusiasm
72. The Empress (III): For there is so much more to reap from this work
73. The Lovers (VI): And new blessings every day
74. Queen of Pentacles: Which will create abundance and pleasure in every way
75. Five of Cups: So that I recognise what is possible for me to overcome
76. The World (XXI): And a whole world of possibilities opens up to me
77. Nine of Swords: Wondering why I had not come this way sooner
78. Nine of Pentacles: To find myself in myself, content.