The Story of Global Tarot Circle

The Story of Global Tarot Circle

My in-person Tarot Circle was borne of a conversation with Wald Amberstone at an ATA Regional Tarot Convention back in 1999. In speaking with him about what he and Ruthann were doing at the Tarot School I came to understand that tarot education didn’t need to be segregated by skill level. In a class appropriate for all levels of tarot understanding, new readers would learn from those more experienced, and more experienced readers would develop new insights and ideas, even when covering familiar ground.

I started inviting people to my office in Central Village, CT, for regular Tarot Circle meetings. Later, we held Tarot Circle at various people’s homes and shops in Norwich, Waterford and Niantic.

At Tarot Circle we shared readings, exercises, ideas and techniques with each other.

When we moved to Pennsylvania, we continued to hold Tarot Circle during my visits to Connecticut, meeting at By the Shore Embroidery in Niantic. We also began meeting in the Poconos, first in my office building at Fork Street in Mt. Pocono, and then at my home, Sylvan Lodge.

When we moved to the Palm Beaches, I held Tarot Circle in the Harvey Building in downtown West Palm Beach.

Now Tarot Circle meets at Panera Bread in Palm City, FL, and Lutz, FL. We also meet monthly for Global Tarot Circle on Facebook Live.

In 2011 I started giving webinars on WebEx, a meeting platform. That was when I first developed Global Tarot Circle. The idea was to try to recreate our in-person Tarot Circles in an online format.

Tarot Circles have always included readings, tarot study and tarot exercises. Our in-person groups have been able to create some community activities, like day-long tarot picnics, retreats and fundraisers. I haven’t figured out how to do those things in our online version yet.

Global Tarot Circle on WebEx was really fun and enjoyable. It was a free monthly tarot webinar. Eventually Facebook Live became stable and I switched off WebEx and onto Facebook Live, where I broadcast monthly from my business page, Christiana Gaudet.

Global Tarot Circle lasts for an hour. In the first half hour we read for each other. I choose the question from the comments and pull one card for the individual. Anyone who wants to can also pull a card and add their reading into the comment thread.

For the second half of our hour together we work on tarot study. We might do a tarot exercise together, or discuss a particular tarot reading method.

In between our live meetings we can discuss topics for our next meeting and share our readings and exercises in the Global Tarot Circle Facebook group.

When I traveled to the Northwest Tarot Symposium earlier this month I was thrilled to hear how many people were enjoying Global Tarot Circle, both by catching it live or watching it in archive on Facebook or YouTube.

I think it’s important for us tarotists to gather together, whether in small groups at coffee shops, in large groups at festivals and conferences, or together online, where we can meet with tarot friends from around the globe, while staying in our living rooms.

You can always find the next Global Tarot Circle meeting on the event calendar of my website.