Praise for Bringing the Tarot to Life “Scott Martin’s groundbreaking book, Bringing the Tarot to Life, is a magical mix of tarot and theater. Scott’s expertise in both these arenas is further enhanced by his love of teaching, and his sense of adventure and fun. If you’re looking for a way to freshen up your tarot practice, or a new cast of characters to enliven your theater games, you can’t do better than this book!”—Ruth Ann & Wald Amberstone, The Tarot School “Ingenious and wildly entertaining for either individuals or groups! Whether you’re a budding tarot novice or a lifetime tarot enthusiast, Bringing the Tarot to Life is perfect for experiential fun and pushing the reader to the learning limits of tarot! Author Scott Martin has merged a lifetime of theater and tarot, brilliantly fusing the two into a playful teaching tool that is fun and meaningful. Loaded with brilliant improvisational ideas, imaginative play and inventive experiences, these creative exercises allow the reader to truly bring the tarot to life!”—Donnaleigh de LaRosa, Beyond Worlds Radio “Scott Martin offers an abundance of creative, fun ways to connect more deeply to the tarot and the parts of ourselves to which the cards speak.” —Paul Quinn, author of Tarot for Life
BRINGING T H E
TA ROT TO
Š Britney Young
About the Author Scott Martin has been involved in theater since he was a high school drama student. He pursued his interests in college, earning a BA in Speech and Theater and, in graduate school, an MFA. in Directing. He taught theater and directed plays in high school, community, and regional theaters for 36 years. He studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York City. He has also performed and directed in community and regional theaters, summer stock, and the Off-Off Broadway theater. After retiring from full-time teaching in 2002, he pursued his fascination with the tarot. His studies began at the Tarot School with Wald and Ruth Ann Amberstone. He has also studied with Rachel Pollack, Ellen Goldberg, Elinor Greenberg, Robert Place, and Mary Greer. Recently, he has worked as a mentor for theater teachers at the New York City Department of Education. He has also mentored graduate student teachers of theater at City College of New York.
EMBODY THE CARDS THROUGH CREATIVE EXPLORATION
BRINGING T H E
TA ROT TO
SCOTT MAR TIN Llewellyn Publications Woodbury, Minnesota
Bringing the Tarot to Life: Embody the Cards Through Creative Exploration © 2017 by Scott Martin. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. First Edition First Printing, 2017 Book design by Bob Gaul Cover design by Ellen Lawson Cover illustration by Chris Beatrice Editing by Aaron Lawrence Llewellyn’s Classic Tarot by Barbara Moore and Eugene Smith © 2014 Llewellyn Publications Llewellyn Publications is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Martin, Scott, author. Title: Bringing the tarot to life: embody the cards through creative exploration / Scott Martin. Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications, [2017] Identifiers: LCCN 2016054413 (print) | LCCN 2017006450 (ebook) | ISBN 9780738752624 | ISBN 9780738752860 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Tarot. | Acting. | Drama. Classification: LCC BF1879.T2 M363 2017 (print) | LCC BF1879.T2 (ebook) | DDC 133.3/2424—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016054413 Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business transactions between our authors and the public. All mail addressed to the author is forwarded, but the publisher cannot, unless specifically instructed by the author, give out an address or phone number. Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific location will continue to be maintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website for links to authors’ websites and other sources. Llewellyn Publications A Division of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. 2143 Wooddale Drive Woodbury, MN 55125-2989 www.llewellyn.com Printed in the United States of America
Dedicated to Sasha Graham, whose belief in me inspired this book
Contents
Foreword xiii Acknowledgments xvii Introduction 1 Book Sections 3
Section One: Journaling Exercises Intuition and Creativity 7 Personality Inventory 9 Tarot Card Questionnaire 13 Cast the Deck 17 I Am What I Do 21 Tarot’s Magic If 23
Owning the Cards 27 Animal Exercise 29 All the World’s a Tarot Deck 31 Changing the Where 33 Costuming the Card 35 The Voice of an Object in Tarot 37 The Name Game 39 Tarot Stars in the Revival 41 Conflict, Objective, Obstacle, Tactic, Resolution 43 A Piece of Advice 49 Past, Present, Future 51 Suit the Subject: A Tarot Storyboard 53 Defining Moment 55 A Secret Revealed 57 Tarot Symphony: Opus Number 78 59 Tarot Free Writing 61 Iconic Characters on Stage and in Film Want to Know 65 Please Take Your Seat 69 A Commencement Speech 71 It Takes a Village: A Tarot Eulogy 73
Section Two: Tarot Theater Games Introduction to Theater Games 77 Group Introduction: The Fool’s Traveling Companions 81 x Contents
Twenty Questions 83 Mirror, Mirror 85 Crossing the Line: Group Mirror 89 The Tarot Detective 91 A Lump of Clay 95 Creating a Card’s Vocal Sound and Movement 97 Tableau One 99 Tableau Two 101 Tarot’s A Cappella Chorus 105 The Machine of Tarot 109 Show Me Who I Am 113 Tell Me Who I Am 115 Character-Driven Plot 119 Stage the Card 121 Dueling Tarot 123 The Interview 125 Creating an Event 129 Tarot Poetry 131 Show and Tell 133 Object Metamorphosis 135 A Tall Tarot Tale 137 Topical Topics 141 Tarot Improvisation Face-Off 143
Contents xi
In the Manner of the Card 147 Private Moment 151 Pantomime 1-6-6-1 155 The Interrogation: “Person of Interest” 159 A Perfect Match 163 The Majors: Face to Face 167 Tarot in the Park 169 Press Conference 171
Section Three: Tarot Card Meanings Tarot Card Meanings: Introduction 177 The Major Arcana 179 The Minor Arcana 203 Conclusion 261
xii Contents
Foreword
A
s a writer, I have always been in awe of actors—their level of craft, their dedication to learning. Because of a foolish idea that writing can’t be taught, many writers have to stumble along and discover things for themselves. I used to teach writing (in an MFA program), and it’s fascinating to me to realize that what worked best with my students was often the same kind of approach that Scott Martin uses here, which is to say, games. I would give my students assignments based on a challenge—write a story with no conflict, write a story from the point of view of someone you despise. And sometimes we would use tarot, either making up stories inspired by a few cards, or doing a reading for a fictional character (both Scott and I have done readings for Hamlet!). And I have played simple games in tarot workshops, in particular recruiting people from the class to stage a scene from a card (for example, the Rider Six of Pentacles, which shows a merchant doling out coins to a pair of beggars), and then letting them take it from there. But Scott has a big advantage over most of us who struggle to come up with games—he has spent his life teaching acting, so he can draw on that xiii
incredible tradition. Since theater classes are by their nature group activities, some of the games in this book involve a group of people, most of whom have a basic knowledge of the cards (though his short, precise interpretations of each card will help the beginner get up to speed). One interesting exception to the group actions is Scott’s approach to journaling. Because actors so often prepare for a role by imagining the character outside the script, Scott’s journal ideas include ways to stretch our sense of the card beyond the picture—and certainly beyond any official “meaning.” He suggests we might ask what a tarot figure’s pet peeve might be or where she or he might go on vacation. As I read these ideas, it struck me that it might be a wonderful approach for beginners, or people working with a new deck, to do these sorts of journal interrogations before they actually read whatever book has come with the deck. I also thought how this would be a great way to work with Court cards, those families of Page, Knight, Queen, and King that so many people find hard to interpret. When we ask something like “Did the Queen of Swords have a happy childhood?” or “What school did she go to?” we are not just making things up, we are interrogating the picture. But of course we are really interrogating ourselves, elaborating on a vague unformed sense of what this figure is about. In various branches of the arts people will take classes, as well as practice, all their lives. In, say, dance and music, they do this to perfect their craft and technique. Actors do something different. They attempt to get out of their own (or the writer’s, or director’s) conceptualization of a character through the wonderful kinds of games Scott has so brilliantly adapted to tarot. With Scott’s ideas the deck can become alive beyond the printed image. Tarot works so well with this approach because it began its life as a game (the ancestor of Bridge, the game of tarot is still played around the world). Not a set of doctrines and symbolic teachings, or even a tool for divination—these things did not come until the end of the 18th century, a good three hundred years after the cards’ invention. And unlike a book, xiv Foreword
the tarot can be shuffled, the cards rearranged, without plan or even looking—to reveal new possibilities. Remembering that tarot began its life as a game liberates us to explore it, to experiment, to play with it. Thinking of it as theater opens up new directions as well. Scott describes the deck as “a script with a very large cast.” Or perhaps we might call it a pool of seventy-eight actors, and when we do a reading with, say, seven or ten cards, we do a kind of blind casting, letting that number of actors step forward at random. Scott’s long career in teaching theater is one side of the unique background he brings to this book. Another is his dedication and intense training in tarot itself. He has studied the cards on many levels, with some of New York’s best teachers, and occasionally, when I’m lucky, in some of my own workshops. I love it when Scott attends, first because it’s just a delight to see him, but also because I know I can ask something like, “Scott, what is the Golden Dawn esoteric title for the Six of Swords?” and I know he will have the answer. This book is a treasure for anyone wishing to go beyond official book meanings of the cards and truly bring them to life. I congratulate Scott, but also all those who follow his lead and learn to explore the cards in such creative and playful ways. —Rachel Pollack, author, poet, and artist
Foreword xv
Acknowledgments
M
y thanks go first and foremost to my tarot teachers. I was initially introduced to the study of tarot by Wald and Ruth Ann Amberstone at the Tarot School in New York City. Not only did I gain a wealth of knowledge during my ten years there, but I was also introduced to others in the tarot community, many of whom have become my valued friends. After I read Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack, I, like many before me, called it the “Tarot Bible.� I never imagined at the time that I would meet this great lady, study with her, and count her among my friends. She has deepened my understanding of tarot immeasurably with her 360 degrees of wisdom! I continued my exploration of tarot and later the subject of palmistry with Ellen Goldberg in her cozy apartment on Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village. My understanding of the Golden Dawn and the Kabbalah were illuminated by her expertise in teaching those correspondences to the tarot. It has been my good fortune to participate in tarot workshops led by Robert Place. It was he who first made me aware of the importance of the relative
xvii
position and direction of the figures on the cards. I am also a great admirer of the tarot decks that he has created, particularly his Alchemical deck. Even though we live on opposite ends of the continent, my appreciation of the tarot is richer as a result of Mary Greer’s astounding knowledge and expertise in looking at the tarot in unique and creative ways. One only has to read her 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card to appreciate her inventive contributions to the art of cartomancy. I was fortunate to attend classes she team-taught with Rachel Pollack, as well as her presentations on numerous occasions at the Readers Studio, a tarot convention, which is held each year in New York City. Dr. Elinor Greenberg, psychologist and gestalt therapy trainer, has been a wellspring of inspiration, both in her small group seminars, as well as the occasions when she presented at the Readers Studio. She has shared techniques that have given greater breadth and meaning to my readings. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Viola Spolin, whose Improvisation for the Theater: A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques inspired a number of the theater games in this book. I was introduced to these games as a student of theater. They later served as a basis for the theater courses I taught in New York City high schools for thirty-six years. I am forever grateful to Mr. James Lewis Casaday, my drama teacher at Central High School in South Bend, Indiana. It is due to his influence that I developed a love for theater and pursued it as a career. And, of course, without my background in theater, the concept for this book would never have occurred to me. A number of my friends along the way have provided invaluable feedback by reading the early drafts of this book and providing their astute feedback. They are Lauren Fein, Catherine Kelly, John Kelly, Rory Schwartz, Paul Quinn, author of Tarot for Life, and Michael Galluzzo at Remsen Graphics, Brooklyn, NY.
xviii Acknowledgments
I would like to extend a special thanks to my dear friend Marie Pauwels for her selfless generosity, her keen insights, and her love of language, which have enhanced this book in incalculable ways. And, finally, one posthumous acknowledgment: When I was teaching playwriting at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York, one of our honored guests was Wendy Wasserstein, who wrote The Heidi Chronicles, The Sisters Rosensweig, and others. A student of mine asked her, “When do you know your play is finished?” Her response: “It’s never finished; there’s just a point when you have to get it out of the house.” So, recalling that sage piece of advice, I’m getting it out of the house! —Scott Martin
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction
F
or years, some of my friends in the tarot community encouraged me to write a book on tarot. I couldn’t imagine having anything to say that hadn’t already been said, so I never pursued it. Then I had a conversation with Sasha Graham, author of Tarot Diva, 365 Tarot Spreads, and 365 Tarot Spells, who recommended that I think about what I know and love, and combine it with tarot. With that thought in mind, an idea was born. I do know about the theater, and I love the theater. As an actor and theater teacher, I learned to explore character through text analysis, historical research, backstory, improvisation, theater games, observation, scene study, The Method, and more. It struck me that just as an actor delves into his character, so a student of tarot can explore the archetypes that are represented in the seventyeight cards in the tarot. He can develop his intuitive abilities by participating in the written and performance exercises an actor uses to hone his talent and to create his role in a play. As a student of tarot, I was not interested in the cards as a tool for fortune telling, but rather as an instrument for life coaching through the lens 1
of psychology. This marrying of tarot to theater made even more sense to me from that perspective. Psychology is the study of human behavior; theater is the illumination of that behavior by representing it on stage. The common thread that runs through both the theater and tarot is the exploration of the human condition in terms of what we want in life (objectives), what gets in our way of achieving it (conflict or obstacle), and what we may attempt to finally obtain it (tactics). Paul Foster Case became interested in tarot in 1900 when someone asked him where he thought playing cards came from. This led him to becoming one of the early members of the Golden Dawn. He went on to write The Tarot and founded B.O.T.A. (Builders of the Adytum). Prior to that, he was actively involved in the theater. He was the musical director on a showboat and later worked in musical theater and vaudeville. It was he who said, “The tarot is a book, disguised as a pack of cards.” It might also be said that the tarot is a script with a very large cast, which has taken life within the theater of cartomancy. So what is the “book” or “script” about? It is about us and everyone else who has ever lived. The seventy-eight cards are active in each of us at one time or another. Sometimes, we see ourselves in a particular card. At other times we see people we know, possibly the querent at a reading or those associated with the querent. Each aspect of who we are expresses itself from that particular card’s point of view. So, with that in mind, whatever card is drawn is the “right card.” If one is asking the tarot about dealing with stress, the Four of Cups may advise him to take a time-out and try meditation, while the Five of Wands may recommend working off stress by engaging in some vigorous physical activity.
2 Introduction
Book Sections
S
ection One of the book contains written exercises that an actor may engage in when analyzing his character. Those are best recorded and kept in a journal format for future reference. Section Two is populated with theater games. Both the journaling exercises and the theater games are designed to breathe life into the cards, to get into their hearts and souls and lift them off the stock on which they are printed. This is the kind of work an actor does when he creates his character from the pages of a script. A convenient reference of some standard meanings is provided in Section Three of this book. It should be helpful when working with some of the written and performing exercises. The Llewellyn Classic Tarot deck is the one that will be referenced throughout the book. However, any pictured deck may be substituted if that is your preference. A deck that is familiar to all members of the group is recommended for the theater games. The Llewellyn Classic Tarot deck was inspired by The Rider-WaiteSmith Tarot (RWS) deck, whose illustrations were designed by Pamela Col3
man Smith. There’s actually an interesting connection between the RWS deck and the theater. Pamela Colman Smith, the illustrator of this iconic deck, was also a set designer for the theater. It has been suggested that because of the theater’s influence, Miss Smith designed some cards that have come to be known as “stage cards.” We know that the stage is a place of illusion, of heightened reality. She may have meant to imply in these particular cards that what appears to be reality from that card’s perspective is really only an illusion. Let’s take the Nine of Wands, for example. The figure holding a wand with his head bandaged seems to be standing on a stage and girded for battle. One way of interpreting this card is one who remains vigilant and defensive against a supposed enemy who is no longer a threat. Therefore, the “stage card” may be saying, “The enemy is only an illusion. It’s okay now to lower your guard.” Bringing the Tarot to Life is not a book about acting. On the other hand, if theater is part of your experience, this book is also meant for you. In fact, a person with a theater background may be a good choice to serve as a facilitator for some of the theater games in Section Two. It is my intention to open up new and creative ways of understanding and enjoying tarot through the medium of theater. It is to that end that I have written this book. This book is not only for students of the tarot who have some familiarity with the cards, but for those who are new to the study of tarot as well. So, with that said, class is in session. Tarot goes to acting school!
4 Book Sections
Section One 
Journaling Exercises
Intuition and Creativity
B
efore launching into the journaling activities and theater games that follow, let’s explore intuition and creativity and how they can serve as keys to unlocking deeper levels of meanings in the cards and in readings. Since the Renaissance, when tarot evolved from a card game to a tool for divination, more and more ways to interpret the cards have emerged. We can now consider, among other things, the teachings of the Golden Dawn, the cards’ astrological attributions, how they fit onto the Kabalistic Tree of Life, number symbolism, their elemental correspondences, their associations with alchemy, and more. Yet, with this entire arsenal at our disposal, there is a general consensus among tarot readers that a good intuitive reading trumps them all, or, at the very least, enhances a reading in a way that scholarly learning alone does not. The burning question then becomes, “How does one develop one’s intuition?” One obvious answer is to expose the mind to more creative and imaginative ways of thinking and looking at the world. Creativity and intuition are inextricably linked. One only has to Google “intuition + creativity” to become deluged with a host of articles on just that topic. 7
This doesn’t mean we should discount any of the traditional, triedand-true approaches to tarot interpretation. They work and provide structure to a reading. However, if you are also an intuitive reader, you are able to enhance everything your left brain knows about the cards and bring a richer, deeper interpretation to your readings. The exercises that follow in this book tap into that creative, imaginative source. They are designed to unlock the intuitive, right-brain kind of thinking and to encourage you to trust and use your intuition to probe the deeper and boundless mysteries that the cards are prepared to offer. The journaling exercises can be done on your own or shared in a group setting. The theater games work best in small groups, with one member sometimes serving as the facilitator. This book then can be tailored to individual work, an ongoing tarot class, or a larger group setting, such as a tarot conference. In the tarot community to which I belong, we enjoy getting together informally from time to time in our homes to share our tarot-related experiences. It might be a book, a new spread, a deck that inspires us, or insights gained from a recent reading. This kind of get-together would be another opportunity to try out some of the material in Bringing the Tarot to Life.
8  Intuition and Creativity
Personality Inventory
T
heater students complete an inventory much like the one that follows, whether they are preparing for a role in a play or a character from a scene in an acting class. Its purpose is to fill in the blanks that the playwright leaves for the actor to imagine. Carefully considering each one of them begins the process of the actor getting to know his character in greater depth. The same investigation can be successful for a student of tarot in discovering certain aspects of the cards that might otherwise go unnoticed. Choose a card from the deck, either one randomly or one of particular interest, and answer the following questions. If there is more than one figure, choose one that most typifies the meaning you assign to the card. If there is no figure, as in the Eight of Wands or one of the four aces, consider the suit’s energy, its number, and imagine a character that would embody those traits. The more specific you make your choices, the more alive the card will become for you. The questions address the card as you, and you will answer in the voice of the card. 9
• Age? • Ethnicity? • Physical appearance? • Dress? • Identifying facial features? • A typical physical mannerism (i.e., limp, twitch)? • Body language (open vs. closed, arms folded, legs crossed)? • Gait? (long strides, brisk, short steps, etc.) • Posture? (erect, slumped) • Vocal characteristics? (pitch, volume, rate, force, quality— i.e., nasal, twang, resonant, shrill) • Beliefs? (religious or otherwise) • Sexual orientation? • Romance life? • Requirements in a relationship? • Marital status? • Family background? • Economic status? • Education? • Political affiliations? • Social clubs? • Social strata, place in the community? • Occupation? 10 Personality Inventory
• Personal ambitions? • Hobbies, amusements? • Favorite book, movie, play, song? • Ideal vacation? • Really good at __________? • Health? • Morality? • Temperament? • What makes you happy, sad, angry, or depressed? • Frustrations? • Complexes? • Fears that keep you from __________? • Worries? • Major obstacles? • Unique personality peculiarities? • Pet peeve? • Dominant emotion expressed? • Self-image? • Perception by others? • What would you change about yourself? • What’s the last thing you were most proud of? • Chief disappointments? • Guilt about?
Personality Inventory 11
• Regrets? • An animal you are most like? (Explain.) • A defining moment as: (1) a child, (2) an adolescent, (3) an adult. What advice would the adult give the child and the adolescent? • Person most admired? • Secret desire? • If given three wishes? • One change in your life yet to be made? • Greatest disappointment? • What do you want? Why do you want it, and why do you want it now? (Sense of urgency) What’s next if you get it? What happens if you don’t get it? Now that you have answered these questions, choose the most pertinent responses and include them in a brief autobiographical essay of approximately five hundred words. Go back to this exercise as often as you like, choose another card, and repeat the process. With certain cards, only a few of the questions may be relevant to your inquiry.
12 Personality Inventory
Tarot Card Questionnaire
C
hoose a card from the deck, either randomly or one that you’ve selected, and imagine how the figure in that card would answer the following questions. A different card was chosen in each question for the sake of example. However, only one card should be chosen at a time when doing this exercise. Choose the best answer for each question. There is no right or wrong answer and there may be more than one. Simply justify your choice to yourself or a partner. Keep in mind that any card can answer any question from that card’s point of view. 1. When Strength makes a decision, she is __________. a. clear-headed b. uncertain c. quiet but sure d. weak-willed
13
2. When the Nine of Swords gives directions, he is __________. a. forceful b. hesitant c. overly aggressive d. timid 3. When people’s opinions differ from the Emperor, he is __________. a. prejudiced b. broad-minded c. trusting d. suspicious 4. The Eight of Cups is __________ toward the people he knows well. a. loving b. cold c. generous d. withdrawn 5. When the Moon talks about herself, she is __________. a. boastful b. modest c. honest d. overbearing 6. When the Devil goes to work or school, he is __________. a. competent b. excellent c. efficient d. manipulative
14  Tarot Card Questionnaire
7. The Four of Cups clothing is __________. a. fashionable b. out of style c. ill-fitting d. ostentatious 8. The Hanged Man walks __________. a. quickly b. slowly c. with a shuffle d. with a limp 9. When the Queen of Wands sits, she __________. a. slouches b. sits straight-backed c. sits cross-legged d. leans forward 10. When no one is looking, the Seven of Sword’s facial expression is __________. a. tense b. angry c. puzzled d. happy 11. When the Chariot argues with someone, he __________. a. shouts b. strikes out c. gets sarcastic d. goes silent
Tarot Card Questionnaire  15
12. The Seven of Cups is most often __________. a. honest b. a habitual liar c. deceptive d. half-truthful 13. The Sun knows herself __________. a. very well b. rather well c. not at all, only thinks she does d. not at all 14. The Tower’s physical condition is __________. a. excellent b. good c. fair d. poor 15. Given the news of a likely fatal illness, the Eight of Swords __________. a. becomes morbidly depressed b. rallies her strengths c. give up d. ends her life Did you have any “aha” moments as you worked on this exercise? Enter them in your journal.
16 Tarot Card Questionnaire