Madelaine Gnewski is a writer and linguist whose work has appeared in a number of literary magazines in the UK and the US. Influenced by her therapeutic training, she explores family dynamics, memory, attachment, and the narratives people create around intimacy and belonging. She writes experimental, psychologically driven fiction and creative nonfiction.
Follow her on Substack: madelainegnewski.substack.com
16/08/2026, 14:34 - Finbarre:
Welcome to Tarot DMs with Finbarre where we use three tarot cards to explore the process of a fabulous creative.
Madelaine Gnewski is a writer, a linguist, whose work has appeared on Friends on the Shelf, South 85 Journal, The Hemlock Journal, and elsewhere.
Her fiction and creative non-fiction explore family, memory, and the stories people construct around intimacy. For this Tarot DMs conversation, we’ll let three cards lead the way.
16/08/2026, 14:35 - Maddi Gnewski:
Hello Finbarre! Thank you so much for having me on Tarot DMs. I am really excited and also quite nervous, but mostly excited to see where all the cards will take us today.
16/08/2026, 14:36 - Finbarre:
Maddi, there is no need to be nervous. I’m sure we have exceptionally well-behaved cards today. And of course, there are no bad cards, apart from the bad cards. But the odds are in your favour!
What experience do you have of tarot?
16/08/2026, 14:37 - Maddi Gnewski:
Well, so this is the thing: I only started reading tarot about eight months ago.
For the last five years, I’ve been listening to tarot readers on YouTube. I was fascinated by how they could create stories around just two or three cards. At one point, I don’t really know why, I decided that maybe I should try it. And so I did.
I bought a new tarot deck, and something actually happened. When I touched it, there was this energy. I felt very connected to the deck, and I started reading and became completely obsessed with it.
But I am new to it. I’ve got a beginner’s deck and still need a lot of support, but I feel very connected to tarot. It’s amazing.
16/08/2026, 14:38 - Maddi Gnewski:
How long have you been reading Tarot? I’ve always wanted to ask you that, by the way. I’ve been following you for a while. I’d love to know.
16/08/2026, 14:40 - Finbarre:
Ahem This is a picture of me from 1999 when I was reading cards to students in basement bars in Manchester round the Oxford Road
16/08/2026, 14:41 - Maddi Gnewski:
I love it. That is amazing. So it’s fair to say you’ve been doing this for a while. So you know what you’re doing. That is a great picture.
16/08/2026, 14:42 - Finbarre:
A Manchester artist called Melodie Neesom somehow captured my likeness in this picture, and I like it very much. It hangs on my wall, but I suspect that it’s probably cursed.
I’ve been reading cards since about, I want to say, 1993, when I went to Brighton with my mum and my nan. We ended up in one of these mystical shops, which had a beautiful smell of incense as you walked around. Now, the name of the shop escapes me, and it will come to me. It had a picture of a unicorn. It might actually have been called The Unicorn.
I got myself the standard Rider-Waite-Smith deck and tore it open on the train back to London. And you’re right, I was looking at each card in turn with rapt attention. I think my grandmother was slightly disapproving, but she was a very devout Methodist.
But you’re right, there is just something—I don’t want to say compelling—but there’s something mesmerising about the artwork.
16/08/2026, 14:44 - Finbarre: Thirty three years on I’m still reading from the same deck!
16/08/2026, 14:45 - Maddi Gnewski:
Yeah, there really is. I never had a plan when I started reading tarot. I didn’t even know how I would use it. I just thought maybe I would use it every now and again for myself.
But it’s become such a big part of my creative process, and I could never have seen that coming. It’s like you say: the imagery is so mesmerising. Every time I pull a card, even if I’ve seen it before, there’s something new that I notice based on the context and the question I’ve asked. I find that fascinating.
I think I’ve realised that I read very narratively, so the story happens inside the card rather than treating it as having a fixed meaning. I don’t even know if that makes sense, and I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong way to read tarot. I just try to follow my intuition and see where it takes me.
It’s very interesting. I’m still so fascinated by it. Hopefully, this fascination will stay with me forever.
16/08/2026, 14:49 - Finbarre:
Oh, you are absolutely right about finding your own practice and discovering what works best for you. It’s something I wish my teenage self had picked up on.
When I first got my deck, like a lot of people, I tried to memorise all the meanings: upright and reversed, which card combined with which, and all of that. It’s very useful, and it’s a fabulous starting place.
But when I was, I think, 15, I was dating somebody and read her cards. She said, “That was great but when I read the cards, every reading is different. Every time I look at a card with that person, it’s different. I put myself in the moment.”
That’s something that has stayed with me, because otherwise you might as well have ChatGPT read for you or just randomly pick meanings out of a book. But that personal exchange, being in a moment with somebody else and exploring what it means to both of you, is powerful.
16/08/2026, 14:50 - Finbarre:
Something I could talk about for hours, but we have your first card. The Anchor card. The same card that everyone has this month.
And you get the Hierophant.
16/08/2026, 14:50 - Finbarre:
16/08/2026, 14:51 - Finbarre: A card of conformity to order, adherence to traditional ways. Sometimes dogma. Doesn’t sound like what I know of you!
16/08/2026, 14:54 - Maddi Gnewski:
A strong card, the Hierophant.
Yeah, I see him as being about learning. It’s almost as though he’s teaching the people beneath him. There’s something to do with tradition as well. He reminds me of the Church, religion and that kind of thing.
In my writing, I’m quite interested in where ideas come from: what we’re taught by our families, our relationships and the cultures around us, and then what happens when we start questioning those things.
For me, the Hierophant is a reminder that we all come from something. It may not necessarily be traditional, but we all have something we’ve inherited. It’s a fascinating topic.
In terms of writing itself and the craft, I’ve had mentors and writing communities that have shaped the way I work. I think there’s definitely a difference between learning from tradition and following it. For me, becoming a writer has partly been about learning the rules and then trying to figure out what belongs in my work and what doesn’t.
That was a very long answer, and I don’t know if it made sense! But one part, I guess, is about what we inherit and which stories we take with us. The other is more about the craft.
An interesting card.
16/08/2026, 14:57 - Finbarre:
I find it doubly interesting, considering that just a few seconds ago we were talking about taking an intuitive approach to tarot.
So going back to what you were saying about bringing these stories, these elements, these traditions, these aspects of the past through with you.
Now, my understanding is that you were born and raised in Sweden with Polish parents, and you’ve lived through several different places, different cultures.
What aspects of your past do you bring through to your writing now?
16/08/2026, 15:03 - Maddi Gnewski:
That is a good question, and one I think about a lot, actually.
I’ve lived in many different places. I’m currently in Denmark, but I’m moving back to the UK at the end of this year. So, once again, I’m moving. It’s like I can’t help myself.
I’m very drawn to family and belonging, and to complicated ideas about who we are, what is inherited and what isn’t. Having lived in so many places, I feel that I have an insider-outsider perspective on how places change you and what they mean.
When I think about my own life, the places I’ve lived are almost like timestamps. I lived in Australia in my early twenties, and that shaped me in many ways, but I can’t imagine ever moving back. It’s like a timestamp of who I was then. I think I bring a lot of that into my writing.
I’m also interested in memory itself. The way I understand past events changes as I get older, obviously, so I don’t treat memory as an objective archive. I’m also a linguist, and I speak a few different languages. I think that plays a part in my writing too. I pay a lot of attention to language and what different words mean. Every writer does that, I suppose, but when you speak several languages, there’s something about being able to bend language a little more.
Those are some of the things I bring to my writing. The experiences I’ve had have definitely shaped what I notice. They’ve made me very interested in contradictions, recurring patterns, what people say or don’t say, and cultural differences in how people behave. I’m interested in the gap between how something looks from the outside and how I might experience it.
As I think I mentioned, although I don’t know whether I said it in this voice note, I’ve also been training as a therapist. I think that has made me even more interested in these things. Culture is so fascinating.
16/08/2026, 15:05 - Maddi Gnewski:
I’d say that I bring quite a lot of my past into my writing, particularly my experiences of family. I’m fascinated by family, belonging and relationships.
Having lived in different countries has also made me interested in being both the insider and the outsider, and in how our sense of home and identity changes depending on where we are.
16/08/2026, 15:09 - Finbarre:
I’m always astonished by people who can express themselves in so many different ways through different languages. I can barely understand French and, try as I might with Duolingo, German and I just aren’t getting along.
But I’ll stick at it and hopefully learn to communicate, because my daughter is studying German. I’d like to be able to have a conversation with her over the breakfast table, at least. At the moment, I can probably only tell people that my leg and my head hurt. That’s about as expressive as I can be.
We need to pull your second card. So, Maddi, this is your wild card. It could be anything.
Of course, we already have two cards set aside from the deck: your gift card and your anchor card. But for this one, anything goes.
I’m going to shuffle the deck. Tell me when to stop, and we’ll see what you get.
16/08/2026, 15:09 - Maddi Gnewski:
16/08/2026, 15:10 - Maddi Gnewski:
I thought I’d send you this. Family is very complicated. But that being said, I’m also very proud of where I’m from.
And this is a poster of my mother. And I’ve had this poster for years and I bring it with me everywhere I move.
So this poster is coming to the UK. Family is complicated, but it’s also incredibly interesting.
16/08/2026, 15:11 - Maddi Gnewski:
Okay, stop.
16/08/2026, 15:11 - Finbarre:
Every week I try to lay the cards out on a different surface. This week I’m using a painting. Would you like me to place this one by the town or throw it in the sea?
16/08/2026, 15:12 - Maddi Gnewski:
Let’s throw it in the sea and see what happens.
16/08/2026, 15:13 - Finbarre:
16/08/2026, 15:13 - Finbarre: How could you do that to the Page of Wands?
16/08/2026, 15:13 - Finbarre: My goodness
16/08/2026, 15:13 - Maddi Gnewski: Haha I feel bad!!
16/08/2026, 15:15 - Finbarre: So, Maddi, apart from Tarot, tell me what you’re most intensely curious about, to the point where you almost wish you could do it all over again and start from the beginning.
16/08/2026, 15:18 - Maddi Gnewski:
Something I’d love to experience for the first time again is probably horse riding. I love animals. I absolutely love them. I can’t have pets at the moment, but I’m quite obsessed with animals: cats, dogs, horses, cows and goats. I love goats!
Experiencing horse riding for the first time as a child was incredible. Being so close to an animal while also feeling completely out of control was amazing. I’d love to experience that feeling again. In fact, I’d love to relive almost any experience involving animals.
I can’t wait to get my first pet. That’s something I’m really looking forward to, and I’m already imagining it. It will definitely come from a shelter, probably a cat or two.
But yes, animals are my passion.
16/08/2026, 15:19 - Maddi Gnewski:
I quite like the symbolism of throwing the Page of Wands into the sea.
Wands are all about fire and impulse and then the sea with water, emotion.
Not sure what it means, but I think there’s something symbolic there.
16/08/2026, 15:20 - Maddi Gnewski:
16/08/2026, 15:20 - Maddi Gnewski: This is my dad’s dog Lenny who I was dog sitting last week. He woke me up at 5:30 am every morning!
16/08/2026, 15:20 - Maddi Gnewski:
16/08/2026, 15:23 - Finbarre:
There’s something about seeing the Page of Wands in the ocean that makes me think of those flashes of inspiration you have at two o’clock in the morning: those brilliant ideas, or what you think are brilliant ideas.
You write them down, but when you look at them later, you see them with different eyes. It’s almost like writing the idea down, putting it in a bottle and throwing it into the ocean. Perhaps it will reach somebody else, or perhaps it will eventually return to you.
It’s a very positive card to receive. We’ll see where the cards take us.
You’ve just shown me a picture of a dog. That is a fabulous hound! He looks rather curt and surly in that photograph, as if to say, “What are you doing? I should be either sleeping or eating right now.”
16/08/2026, 15:25 - Maddi Gnewski:
Yes. I think the Page of Wands, I think, right. I think he also, he feels like an adventurer to me. Maybe the sea is where he belongs. Yeah, it’s a very sort of creative energy, very warm. Whenever I get it, the card in one of my own sort of tarot pulls, it feels very warm in my hands, very curious. It’s a really nice energy and quite playful as well. Yeah, it’s a great card.
Yes, Lenny is, he’s a strange little dog. I think I was asking him why he was waking me up at 5.30 in the morning. But he’s an interesting little dog.
16/08/2026, 15:26 - Finbarre: WITH SUCH SOULFUL EYES
16/08/2026, 15:27 - Maddi Gnewski: It’s impossible to say no to him
16/08/2026, 15:27 - Finbarre: Out of interest, which languages does Lenny respond to?
16/08/2026, 15:28 - Maddi Gnewski:
Well, so my dad and his partner live in Italy and Lenny is a rescue from Italy.
So my dad speaks to him in Polish and my dad’s partner speaks to Lenny in Italian.
And when they’re together and talking to Lenny, both of them talking to Lenny at the same time, it’s in English.
So Lenny speaks a lot of different languages. Very clever.
16/08/2026, 15:31 - Finbarre: A polyglot pooch! Who’s a clever boy! Or. Chi è un bravo ragazzo? Maybe?
16/08/2026, 15:32 - Maddi Gnewski:
He is very clever. Well, actually, he’s also one of the dumbest dogs I’ve ever met. It’s incredible.
He’s an old hunting dog. And he was found by the... Well, he was really bad at hunting, I think.
So his former owner must have just released him into the woods somewhere in Italy in the hills.
And the shelter found him with a bunch of other dogs. And then my dad and his partner decided to...
They went to this shelter and decided to adopt him. And he is really sort of... He’s a terrible hunter.
I spot deer before he does. And he’s quite sort of... Yeah, he’s a polyglot, but not a very intelligent dog.
And I love that about him. And he doesn’t hide it.
16/08/2026, 15:35 - Finbarre:
I’m afraid, Maddi, this is where the tone of the conversation needs to change.
So abruptly, if we were driving a car, you’d be hearing the crunching noises coming from the gearbox.
You have a card that’s been gifted to you, but it’s a difficult one.
So I’m saying that to you in advance.
Now, the person who gave this to you was very lovely, and I’m sure wouldn’t want to hand this to a stranger, but...
16/08/2026, 15:36 - Maddi Gnewski: I’m ready!
16/08/2026, 15:37 - Finbarre:
16/08/2026, 15:38 - Finbarre:
It’s good to hear that you’ve steeled yourself. This card is from Claire Gilman, one of the curators at Tarot, Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions, at the Morgan Library and Museum Exhibition, which is currently on in New York.
16/08/2026, 15:39 - Finbarre: The meaning of the Thoth card she drew was Cruelty and this RWS card is often attributed to the “long dark night of the soul”
16/08/2026, 15:46 - Maddi Gnewski:
The Nine of Swords upright is quite a difficult card. I’ve pulled it several times in my own tarot readings in connection with overwhelm, anxiety and the mental loops in which I can become stuck. Even though it’s a tough card, I’m familiar with it and not necessarily frightened of it, which is probably a good thing.
I think it connects strongly with what I already explore in my writing: family, belonging and, particularly, the private aftermath of difficult experiences.
What interests me about the Nine of Swords is that we don’t actually see what has happened to this person. We only see what they’re carrying afterwards: the overwhelm and being alone with their thoughts. Whatever happened to them is continuing internally.
The idea of cruelty also connects with my interest in narrative, particularly the stories that other people construct around us and those we construct about ourselves, and how painfully they can become the truth.
I hope that makes sense. As a writer, you’re always alone with your thoughts, so it’s quite a fitting card for one.
16/08/2026, 15:50 - Finbarre:
If only the deck consisted of cards like the sun and the star and the ace of cups. But unfortunately, life isn’t like that. And that was a revealing and intimate interpretation of the card. Thank you for sharing that with me.
The question I’ve got based on your work is that fear and anxiety are physically vivid in the piece that you wrote called A Letter. And it includes nightmares and awareness of danger. I’m curious about what does writing a story express about those fears that other conversations and explanations can’t?
16/08/2026, 15:53 - Maddi Gnewski:
Yes, A Letter is actually a great example of the kind of anxiety I struggle with.
When I put something down on the page, it’s almost as though I remove it from inside me, if that makes sense. I usually begin by writing things by hand before moving to the computer. Once something is on paper, it’s no longer in my head or my body.
I may then have other anxieties to think about, but nothing else removes anxiety, nightmares or whatever I’m dealing with in quite the same way that writing does. I haven’t experienced those episodes since writing that essay, which is really interesting. I’m sure there’s an explanation for it somewhere that I don’t know, but it really does work for me.
I also run and do many other things to help with my anxiety, but nothing works in quite the same way as writing. I think there’s something about removing it from my head and putting it somewhere else. Then it stays there.
That feels unique to writing because the words remain. You can read them again and again. I don’t really know another medium in which you can do that.
16/08/2026, 15:59 - Finbarre:
Me and a friend yesterday were talking about the cathartic nature of writing.
And initially we were thinking what you should do on your WhatsApp or Telegram signal, whichever messenger you use, you should have a contact that doesn’t exist, that you can write to and rage at and tell your secrets to and offload upon this fictitious character.
Except then we realise that somebody somewhere is probably scooping up all that data.
So the idea of something as deeply personal as writing to paper, maybe people can see it, maybe they can’t, and only you know it exists in that moment. Sometimes that’s what you need.
Thank you, Maddi.
I was going to say the gift, the chance, the opportunity to shape somebody else’s reading by giving them a card. So if you’ve got that deck with you, the one that makes your fingers tingle, could you give it a good shuffle?
Draw one card for the next person, and I’ll say it’s from you.
16/08/2026, 16:01 - Maddi Gnewski: Shuffling now!
16/08/2026, 16:03 - Maddi Gnewski:
The Hermit FLEW OUT
16/08/2026, 16:06 - Finbarre: Possibly the fastest that guy has ever moved. With his lantern only having sufficient light to see the next step.
16/08/2026, 16:06 - Maddi Gnewski: Haha exactly! Who knew he could move that fast
16/08/2026, 16:07 - Finbarre: A great choice for reflection and for bonus points I might ask the next guest to impersonate the pose.
16/08/2026, 16:07 - Finbarre:
Madelaine, thank you for such an open conversation, for letting the cards touch on family and identity.
16/08/2026, 16:08 - Maddi Gnewski:
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for having me today. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon! I really enjoyed it. Thanks so much.
16/08/2026, 16:10 - Finbarre: You can find more of Madelaine’s work at
http://madelainegnewski.com and madelainegnewski.substack.com
Tarot DMs will return soon with another conversation guided by three cards, and don’t forget to greet dogs in every language you know.