Category Archive

I know that tarot web oldtimers will be thrilled to hear that Diane Wilkes’ website, Tarot Passages, has been resurrected by Diane, with new deck and book reviews, links and a monthly spread. Those who haven’t been there before—do yourself a treat and check out all the great resources.

The site was originally started in the mid-1990s by Michele Jackson as Michele’s Tarot Page and then expanded when Diane Wilkes took over and it became Tarot Passages. For many years it was “the source” for what was happening in tarot—on the web, in publishing and through conferences. Diane also created the concept for The Jane Austen Tarot (Lo Scarabeo) and wrote the book – a real tour-de-force of Austen research, involving all the favorite books and characters.

Welcome back, Diane! We’ve missed you.

♥

Playing cards, used by inmates in jails for card games, are now being used to get help on cold cases. Each of the 52 playing cards contains information about a murder, a missing person or another unsolved crime. While this topic is not about card divination, I find it fascinating that cards are being used to generate information that would not otherwise be known. Read about it here. The article also shows that the rules concerning use of tarot and other cards in prison cells is not consistent across the prison system (see this post on the use of tarot cards as a religious item in a prison).

♥

Here is a look at BATS (San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium) in pictures. I understand this was the biggest one yet with over a hundred people at the one-day Saturday event and around fifty at the Sunday Salon. A big thank you to Thalassa and the Daughters of Divination for another wonderful symposium. Here’s the newlyweds: Thalassa & Rydell (courtesy of Arnell Ando). Read the rest of this entry »

You have two chances coming up on the West Coast to take part in tarot workshops; meet people; hear about and see decks in the creation phase; find a teacher; buy new,  unusual and hard-to-get tarot paraphernalia, and have an all’round great time.

Saturday, September 27, 2008, 8:30 am to 6:30 pm. The Los Angeles Tarot Symposium (LATS)

The Los Angeles Tarot Symposium (LATS) was started by Barbara Rapp-Geerling of The Crystal Cave, with the help of Thalassa (BATS). It gives a chance for Southern California tarotists to meet on their home turf, although people come fom all over the country. This year it’s happening in Irvine (Orange County).

Correction: October 4-5, 2008. The Bay Area Tarot Symposium (BATS)

The San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium (BATS) took over where an earlier tarot conference series, begun in 1979, left off and as an off-shoot of the infamous Tarot Network News. Thalassa and Daughters of Divination* have done a great job of keeping it going when all else failed, carrying on a venue where tarotists from all over the US have been gathering for almost 30 years. It’s through connections made at BATS that numerous decks and books have been sold to publishers, and people have formed important support and friendship networks. The symposium is one-day but for those who choose to stick around there is a more informal Tarot Salon on Sunday at the hotel just around the corner.

Do yourself a favor by attending a symposium at one or both of these venues to experience cutting-edge tarot at its best and in the making. They are scheduled only a week apart so that travelers can attend one in LA, take a week to drive up the fabulous coast road, and then attend the second in SF. You’ll find more information on the EVENTS page. Photo: Thalassa speaking at LATS.

[* Even guys can be a Daughter of Divination.]

On September 3, 2008, the Seattle Weekly printed a story regarding a county agency discriminating against a Tarot card reader who wished to offer her services for a charity event.

The American Tarot Association (ATA) has issued a response in the form of a letter to King County Executive Ron Sims, along with a Press Release regarding the discriminatory actions of the King County Solid Waste Division.

You’ll find more information and lots of links at aeclectic’s tarotforum – here.

Have you ever wondered about the real tarot history? There appears to be no doubt that it began in Northern Italy, probably between 1420 and 1440. Italy is also the home of a major resurgence in tarot art. Join artist and writer Robert Place, creator of the Alchemical Tarot and the upcoming Vampire Tarot, and Ernesto Frazioli, curator of the Museo dei Tarocchi in Bologna and an expert on Italian history and art, on a Tarot Tour of Northern Italy this October 12—25, 2008. Go to cities in Northern Italy where the tarot began, visit historic and artistic sites, discover inspirations and parallels for the tarot trumps in the mystical symbols of the artworks of the 15th century.

I went on a Tarot Tour to Italy in 2000 with the late Brian Williams (the Renaissance Tarot deck and many more) – read about it here. It was a never-to-be forgotten experience that changed forever my understanding of tarot origins. In the process of directly encountering the imagery of 15th century Italy, you will come to truly appreciate how and why this deck of cards emerged as it did in a way that books can never portray. Plus, Italy is luscious and has just about the best food in the whole world! You can read more about Tarot in Italy and the Museo dei Tarocchi at Fern Mercier’s website – here.

The Readers Studio is a weekend workshop/experience created by Wald and Ruth Ann Amberstone who run The Tarot School in New York. Once a year, experienced tarotists gather together in a conference-like hotel setting to learn new ways to expand their tarot reading skills from three different teachers. The emphasis is on creating a tangible expansion of reading skills marked by the difference perceived between a spread done with a partner at the beginning of the weekend and then the same spread revisited in depth at the end. {Poster by attendee Ciro Marchetti, creator of the Gilded Tarot and Tarot of Dreams.)

In the past, most of the teachers have been tarot authors, this year they were known mostly for other contributions to the tarot field. Kevin Quigley had wowed participants previously with his reading insights and an evening session the year before. Thalassa, a former stand-up comedian and actor at Renaissance Fairs, is the long-time organizer of the San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium (BATS). James Wells reads professionally and teaches in Toronto and has brought other outstanding teachers to Toronto. Thalassa and James are also known for writing tarot articles that are both practical and insightful.

This year we learned, via a seven-layered spread, just what we really have to offer our querents, about reading oracularly, and all about the art of asking questions rather than delivering pronouncements in our readings. Here’s NY tarot teacher, Ellen Goldberg, reading a spread with me.

Over the years, Readers Studio has expanded to include a Thursday early-evening workshop with Wald and Ruth Ann (since, over the weekend, they are totally involved with keeping things running smoothly), morning breakfast roundtable discussions, several choices of evening workshops by other participants, “celebrity” readings by current and past presenters, a fabulous selection of vendors (including Tarotgarden), and representatives from one or more publishers. At least six deck creators freely shared their process of creating decks and several had limited edition prints for sale.

Besides the workshops and other sessions, the most exciting part of this event has been the gathering together of serious tarotists from all around the United States, and a sprinkling from other countries. Many of these belong to tarot discussion lists, forums and Meet-ups. For some it is the first time they’ve met face-to-face with people with whom they’ve been talking for years! For others, it’s become “old home” week, when we can visit with like-minded friends who we see only once or twice a year. New projects get sparked, like the Teleconferences that Mary Collin initiated last year from England, an international Tarot Calendar from Amy Lamash, or this year’s “Tarot for Writers Forum,” which should be appearing any day now on the web.

The most surprising phenomena is something I’ve observed at every tarot event I’ve ever attended and that’s the friendliness of the participants. I’ve never met such an overall supportive group of people before. Newcomers are welcomed—if you love tarot you’re automatically part of the in-crowd! You can pretty much join with any group of people to sit and chat. Discussions are lively, funny and interesting. Ideas and resources are generously shared. There’s no hierarchy of “experts” and “students”—we’re all practitioners of the art who want to learn more. View lots more pictures from Beth Owl’s Daughter here and Elizabeth Genco here. Also visit Elizabeth’s daily RS commentary and cool stuff on running a metaphysical business here.

I didn’t talk about the Readers Studio earlier because the 140 spaces were sold out for months before the event. Next year, a larger conference room will be available as Tarot luminaries Jim Wanless (Voyager Tarot), Geraldine Amaral (Tarot Celebrations) and Rachel Pollack (too many books and decks to be individually mentioned!) will be presenting. Sign up early as this will surely be a sell-out crowd.

If you are hungry for face-to-face tarot fun and learning, then check out the more intimate workshops Rachel Pollack and I will be teaching at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck NY in June, and there’s the always popular up-coming BATS and LATS in the fall in California – more information here.