How Do You Measure Success?

Storyteller Spotlight: Grisel Scarantino

Today’s story is about arriving at and enjoying success, and my own successes would not be possible without my dear friend and Soul Sister, Grisel Scarantino... who happens to be celebrating a birthday today! Please enjoy this story about my dear Soul Sister, Griz, and do help me wish her the best birthday ever!

Grisel Scarantino strolled into my life during the fall of 2014. It was the day after my own birthday, and it didn’t take long after meeting her to realize she would be one of my favorite gifts. Her presence in my life has changed me so profoundly that I can measure who I was before Griz with who I have become since that fall day.

You see, Griz is one of those empathic souls who feels the spectrum of human emotion deep down in the depths of her spirit. If you are happy, Griz is happy. If you are sad or frustrated, Griz will sit beside you and hold your hand. Sometimes there aren’t words for what you’re feeling, and when that happens, somehow Griz knows, and she sits in silence with you and for you. Everyone who meets her loves her, and when she walks into a room the entire space lights up. There’s a palpable energy—healing and encouraging and exhilarating—when you are in her company, and if you have yet to meet her, I sincerely hope you are lucky enough to someday connect with her.

Apart from being a friend and confidant, Griz has also been a mentor and a coach. Over the last few years, she has worked with me to strategize a plan for merging my passions (storytelling, design, and tarot) with my professional skills (instructional design and adult learning) in such a way that I have been able to hone my writing endeavors from passion projects into a thriving business, Haint Blue Creative^®.

With Grisel’s help, I feel more confident and empowered to express myself clearly and authentically. Now more than ever, I am happier and more fulfilled in the work I’m doing, and that satisfaction has been lucrative in amplifying my creativity, my personal growth, and my overall success.

In my new book and companion tarot deck, Mystic Storyteller, I have dedicated the Six of Wands card to Griz. Because she is MY gift, I hope this card blesses her with continued success in everything she sets out to accomplish. And if you’d like to experience some much-needed and deserved success in your own life, taking your career to the intersection where authenticity meets prosperity, do consider reaching out to Grisel. You can find more information about her work as a career and work-life success coach here on her website. She is also the author of Trust Your Wings: How I Left My Corporate Job to Start a Consulting and Coaching Business from Scratch, which you can find on Amazon.

Six of Wands: A Celebration of Success

One of the tarot’s celebration cards, the Six of Wands strides onto your writer’s desk confidently and triumphant. Perhaps you and/or your fictional character(s) have been victorious in your pursuits. Maybe there’s good news to share? Have you finished your first draft? Did your work capture the eye of an agent, magazine, or publishing house? Whatever the reason for your glory, this card is an invitation to celebrate your successes! After all, word on the street is that everyone who has read your work is singing your praises. The reviews are in, and they are glorious! If the individual in the card resonates with you, then despite the confetti and congratulations, be sure to remain humble and focused. Keep your attention resting directly ahead, over the crowds and beyond the echoing of cheers, not on your laurels but on your next goal.

As a fictional character, the Six of Wands might be a bringer of good news, a famous person, royalty, a soldier or Marine returning home, a victorious person, a winner, or a warrior. However, in its lower polarity, this card warns of egotism, fame having gone to one’s head, sitting on one’s high horse, or acting too big for one’s britches.

When the Six of Wands lands on your writer’s desk, ask yourself: After enjoying my recent successes, what’s on the horizon? What creative goals am I ready to conquer next?

Release Date and Other Details

The Mystic Storyteller book and tarot deck is being launched on BackerKit this August. That means YOU will have the chance to demonstrate your Magician skills by helping manifest this endeavor. Stay tuned for a release date and other details! As a subscriber, you’re on the fast track to staying updated on this magickal project.

As a subscriber, you’re on the fast track to staying updated on this magickal project. THANK YOU for your interest, your kind words of encouragement, and your celebration of Mystic Storyteller! If you are not already following @MysticStorytellerTarot on Instagram, please click the image below!

---

In her more than thirty years as a storyteller and visual designer, Amanda “Mandy” Hughes has written and designed over a dozen works of literary, Southern Gothic, and women’s fiction under pen names A. Lee Hughes and Mandy Lee.

Mandy is the founder of Haint Blue Creative^®, a space for readers and storytellers to explore, learn, and create. She holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in Psychology, and she has worked as an instructional designer for nearly twenty years.

When she’s not writing, Mandy enjoys the movies, theater, music, traveling, nature walks, birdwatching, and binging The Office. She is a tarot enthusiast who uses the cards to enhance creativity and foster wellness. Her book Mystic Storyteller: A Writer’s Guide to Using the Tarot for Creative Inspiration and companion tarot deck are coming to La Panthère Studio in 2024.

Mandy lives in Georgia with her husband and four sons, two of whom are furrier than the others (but not by much). Visit her website at haintbluecreative.com and follow her on Instagram @HaintBlueCreative and @MysticStorytellerTarot.