Based on the premise that fortune telling is a spontaneous narrative exercise, this paper proposes that the Tarot deck is a marvelously intricate and finely tooled mechanism for generating innumerable, remarkably coherent stories in the archetypal mode. It explains the organization of the Tarot deck, the 78 cards and their meanings, and the symbolism attached to individual cards and groups of cards. The paper also shows how the basic elements of narrative--plot, character, setting or situation, style, symbolism, and theme--are all inherent in and arise from the structure of a Tarot reading. The conclusion of the paper relates how Tarot reading has been used successfully as an instructional technique, one that shows writing students the ways in which basic narrative elements can be combined and recombined in myriads of ways to create stories. Illustrations of selected Tarot cards are appended. (RL)