|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Tarot cards, with their compelling visual imagery, rich symbolism and intriguing characters, can evoke thoughts of magic and divination. For tarot enthusiast and Peninsula-raised writer Kristen Witte, they’ve also proven to be a practical tool for supporting reflection and mental health.
A former elementary school teacher, Witte said using tarot can be an engaging strategy for helping children think and talk about their feelings and experiences. Her debut book, “The Children’s Illustrated Book of Tarot: An Adventure Through the Major Arcana,” with art by Margarita Kukhtina, is out this month from Odd Dot (an imprint of MacMillan). Witte will be at Books Inc. Palo Alto for an author talk and tarot demonstration on Aug. 24 at 11 a.m.
It was during the pandemic that Witte began using tarot cards, which have centuries-old roots in European card games, as part of her daily life and self-care practice. She was living in Amsterdam at the time, feeling isolated and depressed during lockdown, and trying to journal daily but feeling like she wasn’t getting anything out of it. One day, she turned to the tarot deck to pull cards to use as prompts to help guide her thoughts.
“I found it was really helpful to open up my own perspective,” she said. “It opened up a few new questions I could ask myself.”
Since then, she’s studied and practiced tarot extensively. At a tarot and yoga retreat, she found herself chatting with the person next to her about her idea for a children’s book that introduced young readers to the archetypes of tarot by using rhyme, illustrations and storytelling. Luck was on her side: The stranger she happened to be talking to turned out to be an editor (and now a literary agent), who was interested in the idea immediately.
“She said, ‘Hey, if you write that book I’ll try to pitch it.'” Witte said. “That girl is my agent today.”
Designed for kids ages 5 to 8, the book follows the innocent and curious Fool’s journey through the major arcana – the set of 22 named cards in a tarot deck (the minor arcana includes 56 numbered cards, divided into four suits). Readers meet symbolic characters including the High Priestess, the Chariot, the Hanged Man and many others, along with rhyming words of wisdom. Each character also comes with a prompt, the text asking a themed question such as “Did you create anything today?” in connection to the Magician and “How do you feel when you spend time alone?” in relation to the Hermit. Kukhtina’s illustrations are reminiscent of traditional tarot art but with a soft, playful style.
Witte envisions two ways of engaging with the book. First, reading it front to back as a typical storybook. Secondly, using it in place of or in conjunction with a tarot deck, flipping to a page and considering what insights or conversations may arise from it.
“I really love the idea of people doing this at the end of the school day. Instead of saying, ‘How was your day?’ Let’s flip to a page and ask that question. My ultimate goal is that it opens questions between children and adults,” she said, drawing on her experience as a teacher. “Sometimes kids have more to say but you have to ask the right questions to get them there.”
The major arcana include cards with happy connotations as well as ones that touch on some challenging or more ambiguous symbolism. The book is “encouraging talking about things that are both positive or less positive throughout the day, so it’s just like an open space for communication and reflection,” she said. “I tend to appreciate the heavier cards because they’re really validating; they come up for a reason. Sometimes we tend to gloss over heavier topics with kids.” Her goal was to introduce those types of cards in a gentle, child-friendly way. The section featuring Death, for example, portraying a lovely black-cloaked, flower-crowned horseback rider, offers the lesson that “sometimes doors close so that others can open, which is what that death card really means,” she said.
Witte grew up in Palo Alto and attended local schools, including Walter Hays Elementary School, Castilleja, and Palo Alto High School (her father also grew up in town). After a stint in Austin, Texas, she’s back in the Bay Area and is currently based in San Francisco. She didn’t expect to become a writer, although, in retrospect, there were perhaps signs that she might.
“I didn’t really realize I was writing throughout my life,” she mused. “I can see all the things that were there the whole time that I had just never given attention to.”
She recalled a junior-year assignment at Paly to take on a creative project, for which she ended up choosing to write a children’s book in rhyme.
“Looking back, it seems really obvious. Apparently I’ve been writing children’s books for a while and never thinking anything of it,” she said with a laugh. Her second book is due out in 2027 and she’s now working on a novel.
Witte, who is also a Pilates instructor, has had a career in the tech world as well, typically working in logistics and supporting community relations, and described herself as “pretty left- and right-brain balanced.”
Blending creativity and intuition with organization, logic and utility is par for the course for Witte, including when it comes to tarot.
“I’m interested in a mix of practical application and whimsy, I think there’s a lot of cool, mysterious things about the world … that can either be seen as gimmicky and ‘woo-woo’ and ‘weird’ or can be useful tools, if you use them in the right way.”
Aug. 24, 11 a.m., Books Inc. Palo Alto, 855 El Camino Real #74 (Town & Country Village), Palo Alto; free; booksinc.net.
