Typewriter Tarot-Scopes: August 2023
By Cecily Sailer
This month, I used the Literary Witches Oracle Deck, which we've also written a whole blog post about! The deck's two creators — Taisia Kitaiskaia and Katy Horan — both live in Austin, and we've been loving this deck since they first created the book that inspired it. Claire Bowman writes all about both projects — and different ways you can use the deck in this latest post.
For now, you should know: the deck includes two kinds of cards — magical portraits of women writers (literary witches!) and witches' materials cards. For each sign, I pulled one witch card and one witches' materials card. To watch my reading for the collective for this month (from the same deck), featuring literary witch Toni Morrison, along with witches’ materials Apple and Hedgehog, click here.
Cards from the Literary Witches Oracle Deck — Apple, Toni Morrison (Power), and Hedgehog.
As I pulled cards for this month’s Typewriter Tarot-Scopes, I held in mind the fact that we’re currently in Leo season (a time for play, showiness, boldness, and self-appreciation), and Venus (the planet of beauty, sensuousness, and love) is moving retrograde through this sign, inviting us to reclaim some forgotten part of our nature.
I recommend working with the prompt in the memo that belongs to your sun, moon and/or rising sign, and write or journal, or lean and live into the spirit and energy of the prompt. I've also included a prompt for pulling an additional card from your favorite deck to help you personalize the message. Let me know how they land for you!
Cards from the Literary Witches Oracle Deck. For Leo — Jamaica Kincaid (History) and Creature’s Paw. For Virgo — Alejandra Pizarnik (Solitude) and Cauldron.
LEO — Jamaica Kincaid (History) + Creature's Paw: The Jamaica Kincaid work I know best is her short story “Girl,” which is written as a set of instructions from a mother to her daughter. Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap, the story begins. The entire story is a directive address — do this (smile at people you don't like) and don't do that (act slutty). There is no dialogue, no exchange. But still, something simmers between the lines and in the margins, and it's a simmering rage, I believe — the mother's and the girl's over the fact that the world demands this of both of them. I'm not saying you're filled with rage, bold Leo, but I am saying that I think some part of your animal nature wants to come out and roar. (You are a lion after all!) So, I invite you to ask yourself this month: How can I be more feral, more wild? If I were to howl into the night sky, what would I declare through that raw animal sound? And what is my history with being wild (and being tamed)? For an additional card pull, you might ask the cards: Show me the gift of my wildness.
VIRGO — Alejandra Pizarnik (Solitude) + Cauldron: This literary witch lived a hard life and died young, at her own hand. Here, she calls to you, Virgo, inviting you into the same energy (solitude) that belongs to your appointed Tarot card, The Hermit. Solitude, for you, perhaps feels lonely and isolating. Perhaps it recalls times when you indeed felt unbearably alone or abandoned. This month could be an occasion to reframe what solitude means for you. It could be an opportunity to discover how much magic you can make on your own — in collaboration with the Universe. As Piznarik wrote in her book The Galloping Hour: French Poems, “Remember it. Remember that I must want it badly. Remember that this is the only thing left to want, in this world wide and deep.” Use your solitude this month to reconnect with what you desire most deeply, and focus your magic on bringing it about. Try to reframe solitude as a place of power and alchemy. And if you desire another card to support you, you might ask: What does solitude want for me?
Cards from the Literary Witches Oracle Deck. For Libra — Audre Lorde (Justice) and Doll. For Scorpio — Yumiko Kurahashi (Transformation) and Praying Mantis.
LIBRA — Audre Lorde (Justice) + Doll: “Your silence will not protect you,” this literary witch famously said. I suspect, in some moments, your silence did protect you. And in others, it did not. This month, I invite you search through the files of your memory for a time when you were not silent — that time you started a petition in high school, or helped unionize your workplace, or told some power-holder what you really thought, needed, or would no longer tolerate. Write a letter to that version of you who broke the silence. Give thanks, appreciation, admiration, and ask this version of you what lessons you can pull forward into the present. For an additional card pull, you might ask: Where do I need to break my silence or turn up the volume?
SCORPIO — Yumiko Kurahashi (Transformation) / Praying Mantis: Her parents wanted her to pursue dentistry or medicine, but instead Yumiko Kurahashi studied French literature. Her first published short stories brewed such controversy in Japan that it followed her for decades. She wrote about ghosts and she reimagined fairy tales. One of her stories is about woman obsessed with growing heads. This month, Scorpio, I feel Kurahashi inviting you to unearth a younger (or older?) version of yourself — one that's obsessed with the absurd, with random combinations of the strangest things, with making deep meaning from the most obscure and unreadable symbols in our human lexicon. Commune with this freaky-deaky you. Write a scene in which the old or future you and present you step out of the same mirror, tossing some strange object back and forth, discussing whatever it is you need to discuss. Find wisdom in the dialogue you render. And pull another card if you like, asking: How can my obsession with the depths of things transform me now?
Cards from the Literary Witches Oracle Deck. For Sagittarius — Leslie Marmon Silko (Community) and Boar. For Capricorn — Agatha Christie (Trickery) and Glove.
SAGITTARIUS — Leslie Marmon Silko (Community) + Boar: In Leslie Marmon Silko's most well-known novel Ceremony, a lost spirit (a WWII veteran) reclaims himself through stories and rituals that reconnect him with his community of ancestors. Sweet Sagittarius, I think you need your community now more than ever, including your community of ancestors (those who are known to you and those who are not). This month, please be with your people, talk to them in your prayers or meditations, meet them for cold beverages and a dip in the springs. Tell them what's heavy on your heart and let them hold you with love. Be fierce about this, gathering your army of kindred around you. Imagine them appearing en masse, like a fearless pack of feral pigs ready to devour whatever may stand in your way! Your Tarot prompt: What can guide me back into community at this time?
CAPRICORN — Agatha Christie (Trickery) / Glove: Perhaps you're working through a great mystery right now, Capricorn — trying to get the pieces to fit, seeking signs and clues, and interviewing witnesses. If only you could solve this mystery, you could find peace again! But please remember: you are patient and persistent, and this will serve you well now. Do not become entitled or filled with expectations. You are learning something now about the process of knowing. As Agatha Christie's famous detective character Hercule Poirot says in Murder on the Orient Express, “The impossible could not have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.” As you work through this great mystery, believe: the impossible is possible indeed. Your Tarot prompt: Please show me a clue to help me solve this mystery.
Cards from the Literary Witches Oracle Deck. For Aquarius — Forugh Farrokhzad (Rebellion) and Ghost. For Pices — Mirabai (Devotion) and Noose.
AQUARIUS — Forugh Farrokhzad (Rebellion) / Ghost: She divorced at age 21, a revolutionary act in 1950s Iran. Her poems were banned for a decade in her home country following the Iranian Revolution. She took lovers and was shamed for it. She celebrated in her poems the sensual feminine qualities of the natural world. Aquarius, you were born to be a be a rebel, much like Farrokhzad, to skirt the edges of “normalcy” and redefine what's possible for the collective. This month, rather than looking to the future, I invite you to look to the past, where something has resurfaced to haunt your days. Whatever this is — this is your locus for rebellion. How is your life today a rebellion against what life used to be? Write about it. Acknowledge your role as a cycle-breaker. And celebrate your power. Your Tarot pull: What from my past is it time to rebel against?
PISCES — Mirabai (Devotion) / Noose: Mirabai was born sometime in the 16th Century into a royal family in India. As a grown woman, instead of attending to her wifely duties, she wrote devotional poetry to Krishna, the Hindu god of protection, passion, tenderness, and love. Mirabai’s in-laws tried to poison her twice for her “disobedience,” but she evaded their malice, and eventually ran off into the night. Some believe she merged with Krishna's image in a temple dedicated to the deity. Pisces, I suspect some part of you wants to practice deep and divine devotion to something you love and admire, something you want to see more of in the world. But the size of your devotion scares you. This month, please continue your worship anyway. Let it look small and mundane sometimes. Other times, let your worship be grand and wild. For the next 31 days, practice your devotions and discover what's possible as a result. Your Tarot pull: How can I practice my devotion and lessen my fear of its power?
Cards from the Literary Witches Oracle Deck. For Aries — Mary Shelley (Loss) and Pond. For Taurus — Anna Akhmatova (Endurance) and Eye.
ARIES — Mary Shelley (Loss) / Pond: Aries, I wonder if perhaps you are grieving some part of yourself that is fading into the past. I wonder if you feel unsure of the creature you are becoming and shape-shifting into. As Mary Shelley wrote in Frankenstein, “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” This month, come to sit at the edge of the pond of your changing self. Watch and notice the subtle movements of the waters, what rises to the surface and sinks to the depths. Take a swim and feel the water against your skin, your toes reaching down into a dark, unknowable abyss. It's time to simply witness yourself in the process of change. What you discover now will provide a powerful lesson or example for a future version of you — and anyone you care to share it with. Your Tarot pull: Please show me what I gain through this loss of a former self.
TAURUS — Anna Akhmatova (Endurance) / Eye: Russian poet Anna Akhmatova penned lyrical, melancholy poetry, and suffered greatly under the regime of Stalin, as she refused to leave Russia despite the urgings her artistic comrades. In her journals, she wrote: “I am in the middle of it: chaos and poetry; poetry and love and again, complete chaos. Pain, disorder, occasional clarity; and at the bottom of it all: only love; poetry. Sheer enchantment, fear, humiliation. It all comes with love.” This month, Taurus, I invite you to give gratitude, credence, acknowledgement, and nourishment to the powerful eye within you that SEES. Let your gaze range — far and wide, close, sideways, inward, and out into the cosmos. You always have an eye for the world, but this month your powers grow stronger if you exercise your all-seeing muscles! Your Tarot pull: How can I honor the power of my ability to see?
Cards from the Literary Witches Oracle Deck. For Gemini — Sylvia Path (The Dark) and House. For Cancer — Joy Harjo (Bravery) and Book.
GEMINI — Sylvia Plath (The Dark) + House: For Sylvia Path, “the house” was both a site of security and stability, but also a cage and a trap. Perhaps you're feeling or witnessing this darker side of home lately — its responsibilities, demands, and limitations. (Totally valid!) But perhaps Sylvia's words can help: “Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now. Live it, feel it, cling to it. I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted.” This month, I invite you to say to yourself as many times as possible, in as many places as possible: I am at home in the world. Expand your definition of “house” — body as house, ballpark as house, neighborhood in a new city as house — and let yourself feel wildly at home wherever you take yourself. Additional Tarot pull: What is one new definition I can bring into the idea of “house”?
CANCER — Joy Harjo (Bravery) + Book: Joy Harjo, 23rd poet laureate of the United States, takes her last name from her people of the Mvskoke Nation, for whom it means “so brave she's crazy.” Indeed, dear Cancer, your watery tribe of the zodiac has the bravest heart, because it knows best how to be vulnerable, which is where bravery originates. In her memoir, Crazy Brave, Harjo writes, “A story matrix connects all of us. There are rules, processes, and circles of responsibility in this world. And the story begins exactly where it is supposed to begin. We cannot skip any part.” This month, take in the bigness of your story. Or write more pages of the story you've been holding in your heart. Or look at old photographs and notice five different stories playing out in each image. The more you see the power in your story — and the stories that surround you — the more whole your heart becomes. Additional Tarot pull (3 cards): Give me a title for my book. (Use the images in the cards to create a title, such as: The ____, the ____, and the ____.)
The Literary Witches book, along with the Literary Witches Oracle Deck box and cards, surrounded by witchy materials, like crystals, annointing oil, and flowers.
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About Cecily sailer
Cecily Sailer is the creator and founder of Typewriter Tarot. She’s a creative magic coach and mentor, Tarot reader, witch, bird-lover, and writer based in Austin, Texas.