BY JOANNA C. VALENTE
What do poetry and Tarot have in common? Both allow us to think deeply about ourselves and our surroundings - and challenge ourselves, our perspectives, and how we live in the world. Language is magic; language allows us to manifest our thoughts and desires, wishes and intentions, into reality - whether it’s the language we use in a Tarot reading or within a poem.
Magic, of course, isn’t just something that happens to us, but something we choose to do, through the use of our energy, intention, and belief - and through hard work. It takes work to believe in yourself, to unselfishly tunnel energy into the betterment of our world and those in it. In another way, magic doesn’t change our reality, but simply change how we live through our reality - and Tarot and writing helps us through this process. It’s all part of it, a life aid.
In the same way that writing and reading Tarot, or having a Tarot reading, is a form of setting intentions and manifestations, reading poetry can help guide us - and inform us, shape us.
Because of this intrinsic connection, I decided to pair poems to each Major Arcana card below.
0. The Fool [new beginnings, fresh starts]
Andi Talarico - '‘The Fool”
1. The Magician [focus, passion]
Sarah Beddow - “Dispatch”
2. The High Priestess [intuition, spiritual growth]
Crystal Ignatowski - “Twenty-Twenty”
3. The Empress [sexuality, creativity, new life]
Jennifer Huang - “How to Love a Rock”
4. The Emperor [order, independence]
Bhanu Kapil - “Verge Notes”
5. The Hierophant [spiritual beliefs, order, stability]
Cooper Dossett - “Take It In”
6. The Lovers [collaboration, partnership]
Zora Satchell - “A Hymn for the Ancestors”
7. The Chariot [balance, new starts]
Maryan Nagy Captan - “In Private”
8. Strength [balance]
Chris McCreary - “Admissions”
9. The Hermit [introspection]
Cathy Linh Che - “Ode To”
10. The Wheel of Fortune [change, good fortune]
Trista Edwards - “Little Bird”
11. Justice [honesty]
Dimitri Reyes - “Only Answers That Matter”
12. The Hanged Man [change]
Arah Ko - “Her Name Was Daphne'“
13. Death [new routines]
Constantine Jones - “Abstract'“
14. Temperance [contentment]
Joe Nasta - “Venus”
15. The Devil [secrets, inner struggle]
Tim Lynch - “Long Term”
16. The Tower [consequences, upheaval]
Prince Bush - “The Worst Recession”
17. The Star [stability, happiness]
Angelo Colavita - “Conductor”
18. The Moon [dreams, emotions, desires]
Maxima Kahn - “13 Faces of Eve”
19. The Sun [abundance]
dezireé a. brown - “are you a boy or a girl, her niece asks, and I turn to smoke,”
20. Judgement [reflection]
Jacq Greyja - “Untitled”
21. The World [positive results]
Christie Towers - “Good Friday”
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Sexting Ghosts, Xenos, No(body), #Survivor: A Photo Series (forthcoming), and A Love Story (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2021). They are the editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault and the illustrator of Dead Tongue (Yes Poetry, 2020). They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and Joanna is the founder of Yes Poetry and the senior managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine.