Fool to the World: The Tarot

The Fool

The card shows the innocent Fool, obvlivious to his surroundings, about to take a fateful first step. Of course, this boy became my hero Matt. I changed the white rose to a cell phone. He has a staff (or Wand) over his shoulder, perhaps blithely unaware of its power, so I decided that the Wand would be the first Charm he picks up. The little dog surrying around his heels was the inspiriation for Diogee and that the dog followed the Wand. Of course that meant I'd have to dream up Animals for the other three Charms.

The Magician

Here the Magician has all four Charms on display before him. That's how I decided that anyone who gathers all four gets the title. He seems to be performing, so I made him a kids' show magician (like I used to be!). The infinity symbol above his head told me that The Magician is long lived. Which, of course, meant that each Charm had to extend the Ace's life span by a certain degree, with each additional one increasing the effect. Sadly, because I wanted Matt, the Fool to become the Magician, I had to kill of Raymond the Great (which was the name I used when I did magic shows as a clown!)

The High Priestess

It's hard to say how this card turned into Black Agnes. Except that she's seated on a square pedestal with a flowing robe, much like the Black Aggie statue is said to be. She's holding a scroll which is said to contain "The Secrets" of the Torah, hence my Black Agnes "Knows and Keeps." The card has the two pillars with the curtain which the actual statues does not have, so I added them and made "curtains" be the way she arranges for the travels of others.

The Empress

This was easy! With the big hair, the tiara, and the moomoo, there is only one Baltimore celebrity that could fill such an oversized role! Of course my character is a completely reimagined version of Divine. The Empress is sort of a "Mother Nature"-type influence, so I decided mine would be maternal (hence all the kids), in love with plants (specifically flowers), and have some weather-affecting abilities.

The Emperor

With Divine as the Empress, it only made sense that a version of John Waters would be my Emperor. That's about the only tie in to this card except that it's a 4 which is a number of stability (ie: square) so that made him the "base" of the Arcana operation.

The Hierophant

The Hierophant of the Tarot is really more of a religious leader, which didn't fit with my story idea at all. However, I took note of the two small acolytes in front of him and realized that they would make a perfect tie-in to the mythical Midget Town, which would then make the Hierophant a guardian of sorts. For those who know a bit about the Tarot, usually the card means one thing if it is shown right-side-up and the opposite if it's upside-down. I knew my Hierophant needed to be...not necessarily the bad guy, but in cohoots with the bad guy--which is why when Matt first meets the Hierophant, the Hierophant is hanging from an inversion table!

The Lovers

This was another tough one to fit in. The card actually refers to the choices we have to make about the things/people we love and how some of those things might not be best for us. Knowing I needed a love interest in the book, I decided to make it about Matt starting to come to grips with all the budding love interests. He thinks he's falling for Renae (not knowing her secret), he thinks Brian is jealous that Matt may be attracted to Marie, and he's completely oblivious to Brian's attraction to him.

The Chariot

The point of the Chariot is that there are two "engines" -- the Sphinxes -- that are pulling the Chariot in opposite directions, yet it's the will of the chariot driver (the Emporer?) that makes them go where he wants. After a lot of brooding, I dreamed up the idea of Orc and Zam the two engines in a modern day vehicle. I then had to dream up a backstory for them. Then gave them equal weight by having them change places and forms during the day. Once I decided that one lived in the radio, it then became necessary to look up a whole bunch of Heavy Metal and 80's Pop songs to use to punctuate their goings-ons. All-in-all, the Chariot turned out to be one of the readers' favorite characters.

Strength

This point of this card is that the person shown has the quiet fortitude necessary to succesfully close the maw of the roaring lion. So I thought I'd try to start building up Matt's own inner strength and have him preparing (even if unaware) to take on his new role. But...that lion.... That's where I came up with the idea that Diogee could change shape and that it would be a unique talent related to Matt. Of course that meant I had to come up with lots of different shapes he could take. And then I realized that if that were the case, all FOUR animals would have to have multiple forms when Matt eventually claimed them! In the end, it worked out well for the various confrontations that enused.

The Hermit

This is a wise man who lives apart from the world at large, so I had to figure that out. Fortunately, I remembered the Point of No Return and got the idea to turn that into a "gate" that leads to a sort of side dimension on the college campus. Trying to figure that out, led me to do (minimal) research and I found out about the very real fire that took place there. So I blamed the fire on Orc and Zam arriving during their spat. The fire burned down all the buildings, and the Point of No Return became the remnant of the trap that Robert Mills built to capture the aliens and trap them in the original car! Whew! The fellow on the card is old, so mine was too. That meant that, even though long-lived, his time might be nearly up, which is why Marie is being groomed to take his place as historian. On the card he holds a lantern to "guide the way," and as I pondered the word "lantern," I thought of a magic lantern, which turned into an old movie projector. What movie would he show them? ...and thus Robert's movie and the treasure hunt idea was born.

The Wheel of Fortune

This card is meant to show the vagaries of Fortune. Just as easily as something comes UP the wheel, something else goes DOWN. With that in mind I tried to think of a way to have Matt begin to figure things out. So I turned the Wheel into an actual game (that I completely made up) and then crafted in some foreshadowing of things to come and the big reveal of Brian's attraction to Matt. I completely love how I resolved that conflict by revealing that Matt is not at all hung-up about such things which is (by and large) reflective of how most Millenials feel.

Justice

This is the first card that deals with "the results of one's actions," and I felt it would be a perfect place to show how Vincent was sentenced to his state of stasis. Because I knew we'd have at least one--if not two--trials, I decided to make Justice an event rather than just a concept. We are also about halfway through the number of chapters, so I felt it was time to ramp up the action and--because the Sword appears on this card--it was a perfect place to introduce Robert's treasure hunt for the Sword--even though it really began with the box locked in the back of the Chariot.

The Hanged Man

Here we see a man hanging upside down, possibly being punished for some offense. The fact that he's upside down perfectly mirrored the first time we met the Hierophant on his inversion table, so I knew that this was the time that Elwood is taken to task for working with Vincent. The card also carries the meaning of "suspended decisions" and so I also revealed Helana's true form putting Matt in a bind regarding Renae/Helana as well as his reaction to Helana's appearance.

Death

Despite what the movies show, this card does not usually mean actual Death. Rather it means a transformation of some sort. But---what the heck?! Let's put in a death! Up to this point, the gang has been sort of puttering around getting Matt up-to-speed about the Arcanum, the Charms, and Vincent. But with the murder of Eliot's father and the abduction of Eliot himself, the gang finds they need to transform their efforts into a serious hunt for Vincent before the birthday deadline arrives in only a week or so.

Temperance

This was another tough one to tie in, so I had to shoe-horn it a bit. Temperance, of course, is self-control. So I decided that after Matt's bungling of the events at the Hermit's place he'd take time to rethink his position on romance, friendship, responsibilities, and so forth. Of course, the book only has a few chapters to go and I still wanted him to get the remaining three Charms so I had to move fast. Fortunately, Millenials can be flexible, and this particular group are all good kids, so he was able to adapt quickly. The angel on this card is holding Cups, so I felt it would be a good time to have Helena pass Osessam to Matt.

The Devil

This is the card that sort of set the whole story in motion back when I was flipping through Wierd Maryland so I knew he was the Goatman. On the card, the Devil is holding a torch which isn't quite the same as the ghostlights, but...fiction! The male and female figures on the card meant that Matt and Helana had to be the ones to encounter him.

The Tower

This card is really more of a disaster card than Death is. It means figurative lightning strikes and your world comes tumbling down. In the first draft of the story, I used the Shot Tower. But after a few rounds of editing and commentary, I moved it to the Bromo Seltzer Tower.

The Star

In the Tarot, there's usually a big to-do about any scene in which water trails off the edge of the picture, dubbing such as "stream of consciousness." I felt this would be a good card to use for a dream-sequence while Matt was healing up. The woman there became all the different women that Matt interacts with while dreaming. And, since there's not much for Matt to do while healing (even at the speed of two Charms) it was a great place to fill in a large chunk of John and Divine's backstory.

The Moon

Baltimore's Paper Moon restaurant is one of my favorite places to take visitors who have never been to Baltimore. Setting a chapter there was an easy decision.

The Sun

Handily, Baltimore's newspaper is called The Baltimore Sun, so of course this card had to make use of that somehow.

Judgement

I knew early on that this would be the card used when Vincent was finally captured again and put on trial. But, this had happened before, so "Judgement" became an "event" when Arcana justice is meted out.

The World

Just like the Moon and the Sun, Baltimore has a "World." The World Trade Center (not the 9/11 one) is located in the city's Inner Harbor, so it was there that the final show down had to take place.

Other Cards: In addition to the Major Arcana, I also slipped in a few cards from the Minor Arcana for those who might be "in the know." They have no meaning or impact in the story; they're just there because why not?!; Each of the four Aces shows a hand holding the corresponding Item. That's how I decided that whoever holds an Item becomes the "Ace" of that item.; When Matt is walking through the cemetary to find Black Agnes, he sees an employee struggling with a bundle of PVC pipes.; The 5 of Wands shows a group of youngsters having a fight. Is it real or play? This is the scene were Matt first meets all the kids at the Enchanted Forest having their broomstick fight. However, when I first wrote the book there were five kids (as in the card), but upon a few re-writes it was pointed out that one of the kids just didn't really have a purpose (other than to be the 5th kid) so I erased him from the story leaving just four kids. Still, this card created the Arcana Kids.; The 2 of Pentacles appears as Matt is visiting Midget town. He sees a juggler manipulating two discs and a ribbon for an audience of youngsters.; During The Lovers chapter, Renae brings out some bottled sodas and the three kids that are there raise their bottles in some sort of silent tribute.; During the toast, Brian scoops up four bottle caps which he later tosses to the ground in front of him after the Wheel of Fortune says he must kiss Matt.; Garry the Bartender at the Mt. Royal Tavern shows Brian his pec-tattoo of a thorned heart piered by three swords. The real-life Garry has a similar tattoo (without the swords, but with a missing puzzle piece).