Today is official World Tarot Day.  It is also the birthday of my friend from high school, Craig Hermes.

Craig is a generous guy, so I am sure he won’t mind sharing his birthday celebration with all of tarot.

For me, celebrating Craig and celebrating tarot share the common theme of celebrating old friends. 

I will celebrate World Tarot Day by visiting The Pointe at Newport Place in Boynton Beach, an assisted living senior center, to share a bit about tarot with my elderly friends.

This evening, I will host a Skill Share in my office.  Tarot students and professionals will gather to give and receive readings and healing energy.

Again, the theme seems to be the same; old friends.

Can I really call the tarot cards my “old friends?”  Well, let’s see.  They are old- about 500 years old.  And they have been my friends for many, many years.  I do have a personal relationship will each of the seventy-eight cards.  And, like a good friend, they will tell me when I’m wrong, even when I don’t want to listen.  They also put me in contact with the people I enjoy the most.

One of my students said once, “I like my friends who read tarot best, because I can communicate with them using tarot references, and they get it on a level that no one else does.”

I agree.  My tarot friends are often my best friends.  Gathering with friends to study or read tarot is one of my very favorite things to do.  I have many on-line tarot friends that I have never met in person, but still really enjoy and appreciate.

Tarot is the basis for my career and my primary spiritual tool.  My first published book is about tarot.  Tarot is interwoven into my life to the point that I cannot imagine my life without it.

I feel the same way about other old friends, like Craig.

In high school, Craig was amazing at remembering and celebrating people’s birthdays.  He would bake the cake, collect for the present, creatively decorate the cake, and make sure the birthday person was appropriately surprised.  I would love to be able to return the favor and bake him a cake this year!

Craig and I don’t see each other often these days, or even talk on the phone much.  He lives in San Francisco; I’m in West Palm Beach.

If it weren’t for the internet, we probably wouldn’t still know each other.

And yet I feel so blessed to have known this person for more than thirty years.

Having old friends gives us a sense of continuity.  It helps us remember who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going.

Tarot does that, too.

Happy World Tarot Day, and Happy Birthday, Craig!