If you have been following me online, or even if you just read the introduction to the guidebook of the Mermaid Tarot, you will know I have had complicated feelings towards creating this deck. Our relationship was rocky from the start, yet somehow over the three years from idea to fully created deck, we have come together in a beautiful and respectful way. The story of this deck is pretty much the story of a lot of ideas that seemed stupid, ridiculous, and even a little embarrassing at first. I mean, come on, mermaids and me, that's just insane. But this idea, this vision, the voice of this deck stalked me. It literally threw itself in my path on more than one occasion in the form of mermaid music CDs, mermaid pictures, and mermaid statues. I shook it off, rejected it, kissed it away, but it kept coming back again and again with the same message: You are going to create me. Of all the books I have written and the decks I have worked on, this one has taught me the most about what it is to live a truly creative life. The profession of a writer is a complicated one to begin with, but noisy, persistent ideas that stalk you in both your waking and sleeping hours really need you to see them through. So if you have an idea that you think is silly, or one that you feel might be nice if someone else did it, pull up a chair and let's have a chat. Because I am going to share with you the wisdom of the Mermaid Tarot and how your stupidly embarrassing idea that won't let you live a normal life may just be the best idea you have ever had. Mermaid Wisdom 1: Your Ideas Don't Belong to You A great way to get even more clarity about this point is to pull a card from your deck and then do some automatic writing or journal work with it. See if you pulled a card that shows collaboration or partnerships, like the 3 of pentacles, the two of cups, or even the 4 of wands. See if you got the green light to move forward with cards like the 3 of cups, 8 of wands, or 6 of swords. Or maybe you are not quite hearing your idea correctly and you got cards like the 10 of swords, the 8 of cups, or the 5 of pentacles. Pulling a card or two will help to get some more information around your stalker idea. Mermaid Wisdom 2: Perception Is Everything Mermaid Wisdom 3: It Takes a Village Grab your tarot deck and spread the cards out face down in front of you and ask the cards what will your village look like. See if you can get some hints from the cards about what sort of energy and skills your village will need or have. Open your journal and take some notes about the village you will need to take your idea from crazy to real. By now you will be getting some valuable information in your journal about your idea. Maybe you are starting to see it is not that silly after all. Mermaid Wisdom 4: See It Through to the End No matter what you think of your idea, if you have gotten to this step you have to make a commitment to it. You have to promise to exercise it, to give it permission to expand and grow. If you still don't like what you see or you still feel out of alignment with your idea or spark of inspiration after all of this, then maybe it just means it's not the right idea for now. I had to let go of the mermaid idea for a while. It was a good four months before it came back around and the stars aligned, and I am so glad they did, because I have never been prouder of a silly idea in my life and I can only hope all of my other stupid, half baked ideas will turn out just as good. I hope this article has given you some light in the sometimes confusing dark space of the creative process. If you are still struggling, take a swim with the Mermaid Tarot and let them sweep you away into the undertow of inspired inspiration and show just what can come of following a silly idea all the way to the end. |
Leeza Robertson is an international bestselling author with Llewellyn Worldwide. She is a girl from the Aussie bush living her best life in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her wife. When she is not writing books or creating decks, ...