1st: New Moon in Scorpio

15th: Super Beaver Moon in Taurus

28th: Thanksgiving

A Note: This month, I've chosen to use Intuiti, an Italian creativity aid deck inspired by the tarot. I've chosen the "Creative Block" spread to help readers work through what stands in the way of a creative writing project or process.

In my 20s, I once participated several times in National Novel Writing Month, a challenge to write 50k words in a month. Though I no longer feel I can dedicate this tarot forecast to that experience, it still feels relevant to address the creative spirit, and that which might stand in its way. In the creative process, motivation is an elusive thing. We receive this rare and sudden burst at the outset of the month with the New Moon in Scorpio. How to make the best use of it relies not on a single great outpouring, but on building a sustainable model to keep the fire going for a long period. Distractions and excuses threaten to impede our progress, rather than a lack of will. It is our ardent passion that motivates us to shed what does not matter. Only then can we truly devote time and energy to the creative process and do the daunting work of seeing our projects through. Only through much fashioning and removal does a project reveal its most intimate form.

As we will find on the 15th with a Super Beaver Moon in Taurus, we begin with a passion, in search of a home. Home is a practice we repeatedly turn to and commit to. It is a sense of ease and comfort we nurture between ourselves and our artistic medium. At home we feel free to express ourselves vulnerably, and reveal intimate thoughts that we can then invite our listener, viewer, or reader to. Flourishes fall away, in favor of what needs to be said, from one heart to another. Gratitude reminds us what a gift this is. Gratitude keeps us generative. In the endeavor to reach another, we reach ourselves. It leads us to define what we might otherwise leave murky and unknown within. The chill of solitude has us reach a branch out to another, and trees form a comforting underground network of roots to endure the winter ahead. The community we solidify in this time is something we’ll be able to turn to for strength in the cold months ahead.

Creative Block Spread

How I Feel: Reverse Fool

This month in our creative endeavors, it can feel that for all we’ve learned thus far, we find ourselves back at square one. We reach the extent of our knowledge, only to find that we know nothing at all. It may feel as though we are so entwined in an old way of doing things that to extract ourselves means to start all over. To eschew what we thought we knew can feel vulnerable and ungrounding, as though all prior efforts were a pretense and the artistic journey only begins now. However, there is unlimited potential regained in embodying the Fool–a restoration of childlike wonder, exploration and inspiration. We have recovered the elusive Edenic state so that many seek to reestablish. Though it is natural to want what we can’t have, a state of gratitude and appreciation will allow us to make the most of this experience. To bask in the energy of the Fool is to dance, frolic, paint and play without censorship. It is a shedding of old forms, getting back in touch with our inner fire, and entering a state of receiving. It is relearning with all the foundations we wish we’d been given before, and seeing the potential in ourselves that we would see in a child. It’s a moment to take our dreams as a real possibility and encourage them, to give ourselves the opportunity to grow. 

How I’d Like to Feel: Reverse Hermit

In response to feeling like the Fool, we find ourselves wanting to feel like the Hermit. We envision the Hermit as a wisened or seasoned creator, who is able to generate and maintain a creative fire all on our own. In our eagerness to “grow up,” we want to hit the fast forward button to our success. Time in itself is not going to ground us or get us where we want to be. We can’t gain automatic wisdom, maturity or authority, though we may earn them through lived lessons. With the reverse Hermit in place, there is a risk of becoming jaded, hardened, set in our ways or locked into a single path. We are advised not to rush or hurry to get there. The inner child (ie the Fool) is a state we want to cherish throughout our creative process, even as we grow into the desired state of the Hermit. In this way, we can keep evolving as creators without reaching a standstill. In time, we find that we are the beacon we seek.

Nature of the Block: Reverse Lovers

The nature of the block is the binaristic nature of how we feel (the Fool) and how we’d like to feel (the Hermit). The two butt heads rather than working together, when we try to wrangle ourselves into an opposite path that doesn’t speak to where we truly are in the creative process. Together the Fool and Hermit could combine to make a giant flame, but when placed at odds with one another, these forces cancel each other out or at best leave a weak sputtering flame. It could also be that as the Fool, we try to embody many different paths which dilutes the choice that needs to be made in order for a creative project to flourish. When stuck in a creative block, we are called to return to self and make the choice that speaks to it, or else disengage. In time we may find there is a middle path that unites these forces, and play to each strength as creator.

What Could Help Me: 8 of Pentacles

The key to working through the creative block is consistent practice. When we are able to have our needs consistently met, we can work in a calm and steady manner. Ultimately, creation is a marathon and not a race. We want to get to a place where our creative process becomes second nature to us, so that we gain natural progress that we don’t even have to think about. The image in question is a square of circular links, which has equal light rays shining from each (as opposed to the irregular bursts of light the isolated fire in the hermit above seems to emit). Each link might be part of a multifaceted routine, with lots of entry points to lean on and shine from. The practice in itself is generative. While we are still wrestling with the nature of the creative block, it is advised not to add anything on to our plates, as we are already juggling enough and need to learn to work hard on our existing projects with familiar resources. 

Bonus: The Enchanted Map Oracle by Collette Baron-Reid offers fairytale-like themes in relation to the personal journey. Below is an additional clarification card for support.

Commitment

The commitment card shows a moment of faith in which a smaller hand reaches out to a bigger hand. Magic occurs when this happens–a rainbow of opportunity, fluttering hearts and stars appear, and a key takes flight. A creative project can be seen to fruition, and a block can be overcome–but only if we commit to consistent practice. To do that, we must first define what it is we are committing to. Rather than jump headfirst into the routine of the seasoned Hermit, it is best if we establish a sustainable practice that meets us where we are. Once this is in place, the guidance we need and the creation we seek are there. Everything we need is within, if we can meet it halfway.