In what I hope will be a fairly regular series, I’ll be drawing one card per day and writing about not only what the guidebook from my Mystical Cats Tarot deck reads, but also my insights into what it means for me in that moment. So, even if I pull the same card multiple times, the context will often be very different. I’ll be doing three-card pulls perhaps monthly and when I’m really feeling stuck there are some other spreads I’ll discuss.
Today’s pull is the Ace of Sky (in the traditional Waite deck this would be the Ace of Swords)
The Cat’s advice for this card: “This is a time when your mind is alert and perceiving clearly. Use this clarity to ascertain the proper course of action and steer away from harmful choices. Caution is advised, though great advancements can also be made if you keep your integrity intact.”
The guidebook adds, “If you drew this card for a question, the answer is a curious yes.” I didn’t. But the affirmation is good.
The timing of this card is interesting because I woke up at 330 this morning feeling like total garbage and cold and aching from my nerve pain, thanks to it being 31 degrees outside. Although it was 68 in my house) my nerves seem to know when there’s a massive temperature drop and reminds me very painfully. I wasn’t feeling clear headed at all. I meant to just go back to sleep and punt the whole day, planning to not even do my weekly “reset” on Thursday of cleaning my house. But instead, I got some ideas that I discussed with Gemini and not only was it a very interesting story concept… I fleshed it out over the next few hours into a brand new sci-fi epic!
Now, I didn’t want to get too excited because I’ve felt the elation before of discussing various story ideas with chatbots and getting way too invested in its unmitigated optimism. But Gemini, at least the version I’m using these days (the 3.6 Flash model), is a lot more level-headed than previous versions. It seems to be on the same page as me. Of course, I’m not using the prose it’s offering. I just wanted to see if the ideas would go anywhere. The direction is all my own and I’ll be writing it entirely from scratch based on the outline I’m going to derive from the notes I’ve made so far, I’m really excited about it, and it’s the creative project I DESPARATELY needed to get my head and heart back in gear. I am finally over the sinus infection although my energy hasn’t fully recovered.
But, the elation from this creative outburst actually powered me through doing most of my house cleaning. I only did half the vacuuming thanks to having Emily’s old Roomba that at least dealt with the den’s carpet and the dining area (which will have a dining set this weekend if I feel like putting it together… which is doubtful…) But I did most of it and the house is at least in decent order awaiting Emily’s visit. I even have her mattress and mattress pad. So, the path forward is becoming a lot more clear, and like the card suggested about integrity, while it’s tempting to just have Gemini write the whole story for me with prompting, I’m not doing that. I AM going to write it ALL myself and change a lot of the names from the common AI names it loves to spit out, as I want all my character names to have meaning. Although some of the names are good or close to what I’m looking for already…
Yes, I know people may hate me for even engaging with AI for fiction writing purposes. But again, I don’t let it draft the actual story. I’ve learned on it in the past to help me craft scenes and some dialogue and honestly, I regret it. But the plot lines and characters and situations were all my own original ideas. As original as ideas can be, I suppose. OK this is becoming a rant, but I just am finally excited to be back on track creatively. And I didn’t expect it to come from fiction of all things!
And the reminder to keep my integrity as a human-first copywriter is probably not necessary, but certainly welcome! I’m lousy at plot and I do feel like that this series is going to be more character-driven than plot-driven, although there is a plot this time that is actually really exciting, and had absolutely no influence on it by AI at all. I just want it to flesh out some things before I start writing for real.
Be back soon, perhaps tomorrow, with another reading!
