At the Intersection of Tarot and Food

The Four Elements in Bread, for the Pocono Tarot Picnic

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The Fall Equinox, or Mabon, is also called “The Second Harvest”. To celebrate that theme, the Tarot Blog Hop is writing about food and tarot.

That’s not as much of a stretch as you might think. There are actually lots of ways that tarot and food intersect, and many, many tarotists are foodies.

There are even a few notable tarot food publications, such as Theresa Reed’s “Tarot by the Mouthful”, and Corrine Kenner’s Epicurean Tarot Recipe Cards, now sadly out of print.

I’m only truly a foodie to the extent that I love foods from different cultures, and I love to shop at Whole Foods, although my bank account doesn’t. I review restaurants on UrbanSpoon, and my favorite thing to make for dinner is reservations.

Since I haven’t a recipe to share, and you probably don’t want to hear about the three great restaurants I enjoyed when I was doing readings in New York City last month, I will instead share some thoughts about the ways I have seen food weave in and out of tarot over the years. I may have shared some of these stories before; I guess some of my favorite memories involve food and tarot.

One crossing of food and tarot is simply operational. I’m a Waite-Smith reader, and I’m programmed to think about the smallest details in the cards, including the food that appears. Sometimes that food becomes part of the reading.

What happens, for instance, when a person dealing with a gluten issue is presented with the wheat-surrounded Empress?

Might the pumpkins in the Three of Cups suggest that one eat more root vegetables?

Sometimes, the pomegranates of the High Priestess could advise a diet higher in superfoods and anti-oxidants, perhaps.

While we certainly can’t prescribe diets, the issues of food, diets and weight loss come up so often in tarot readings that I often jokingly call my tarot deck the Weight-Smith instead of the Waite-Smith.

I’ve done many readings for people about their complex relationships with food, body weight, health and body image. So often, these things are rooted in painful early trauma.

Frankly, I’m trying to use tarot to help me through my own journey toward weight loss and a better relationship with food and exercise. Results, so far, vary.

The connection between food and tarot isn’t always deep and painful, though. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to organize a few food-related local tarot events. In fact, it seems that every tarot event ends up being food-related in some way.

The first event was so long ago that it was in the days before digital cameras were common, so, no pictures (but it DID happen).

I rented the banquet room at the Plainfield Yankee Motor Inn in Plainfield, CT, for $75. I think the year was 2001 or so.

The event was a tarot potluck, where everyone had to dress as a tarot character, and everyone had to bring a tarot-themed food.

The tarot-themed foods were amazing. People were really creative. There was Death Chili, Eight of Wands Chicken Skewers, Hermit Cookies, Devil’s Food Cake, Pentacle Pie, and more.

The event was fun, and well-attended.

Belly dancing at the Pocono Tarot Picnic

My next attempts at fun local tarot events were the Tarot Picnics, held three times in the Poconos, and once in Connecticut, at Devil’s Hopyard.

The Tarot Picnic was a day-long event with workshops, music, dancing, drumming, tarot readings, and, of course, food.

In the Poconos, we had a great venue with a full kitchen, and one of our Tarot Circle members was a fabulous cook. As well as making a great meal for us, Regina made the Tools of the Four Element in bread. At the end of the event, which was held in September, we threw the bread to the fire.

When I first started holding tarot fellowship meetings, in the days before Meetup, having good food at the meeting was really important.

Now I hold monthly meetings online, using WebEx and, most recently, Facebook Live. The thing I miss most about meeting with my tarot friends in person is the ability to share food as we share tarot and friendship.

I guess this food-themed blog hop is the closest we’ll get to sharing food with tarot friends online!

Holiday Open House 2015, Beef O'Brady's, Land O Lakes, FL

As much as we tarotists enjoy sharing food with each other, we also enjoy working together to share food with those in need. For most of the past sixteen years, I have hosted a “Holiday Open House” near the Winter Solstice. What this event has evolved into is basically a psychic fair where the currency is non-perishable food items.

Readers and healers volunteer their services, the public enjoys readings and healing sessions, and holiday snacks, at no cost, in exchange for their donation of food for the local food bank.

Holiday Open House 2012, at the Harvey Building in West Palm Beach. We raised a lot of food!

The event always raises as much fun as it does food, and brings visibility to a lot of great local tarot talent!

There is only one way in which we don’t want food to intersect with tarot, and this is physically. There is nothing worse than wine or tomato sauce splashed on your cards!

Now let’s see what’s cooking at Meniscus Tarot as you continue along the hop, or at TarotWitchery if you ate dessert first.

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Another Successful Psychic Foodraiser: Holiday Open House 2015

On December 20, 2015, I was able to revive an old and favorite holiday tradition of mine, the Holiday Open House.

Early in my career, the Open House was simply a day during the holiday season when I would give free readings and holiday snacks to anyone who stopped by. I remember my young children (they are now adults) dressed up in their fanciest clothes to serve cookies and soda to the guests as they waited to see me for a holiday reading.

Eventually, as I started to build tarot community, the Open House became a group project for a great cause. My students and colleagues worked with me to raise toys, funds and food for the needy.

Over the years, I have held the Holiday Open House in a number of locations, including six locations in Connecticut and two in Pennsylvania. There were some years I held two Open House in separate locations, in order to serve as many people as possible

 After moving to West Palm Beach, I held the event in the Harvey Building where I had my office. In the five years I kept my office there the event grew to an enormous size. Our 2012 Open House featured twenty-two readers and healers, and raised 600 pounds of food.

Our volunteer host, Brenda, organizing 600 pounds of food in the lobby of the Harvey Building at the 2012 Holiday Open House.

Now that I’ve opened my office in the Tampa area and founded the Tampa Bay Area Tarot Meetup, it seemed time to revive the Open House tradition. This time I chose a different kind of venue- the private room at Beef O’Brady’s in Land O’ Lakes. I hadn’t thought about the advantages of having food and libations available, but now I see it as a definite plus!

Regardless of Beef’s tempting menu, the snack table at the event was full of treats provided by our attendees. A number of people did enjoy a bit of holiday cheer from the bar during the afternoon’s festivities.

Our volunteers for the event were fabulous. We had amazing professional readers, including Beverly Frable, Michael Newton-Brown, Jan, Brenda and Lori, who read for folks throughout the day. These pro readers did a wonderful job sharing their skills with the many people who stopped by.

 We also had a new student, Michele, working with Lenormand cards. She kept pace with the pros and received great feedback! There is nothing like reading for the public to let you know you’ve got what it takes to be a reader.   Helping readers develop their skills is a definite side benefit of these Open House events.

Three wonderful readers made time to stop by to share a few readings during the day. We were honored to have Erika, Magda and Aria Sparrowsong with us for a few hours.

One of our tarot meetup members, Joy, offered a unique service. She is a calligraphy artist, and created colorful tags with special words for people. It was fun to see the words folks chose. Some did their name, or a concept or theme they wanted to keep in focus.

One person asked the Universe for guidance as to what words she should use. The message that came to her was “New Beginnings.” Then, she sat down to have an oracle reading. The first card drawn in the reading was called “New Beginnings!’

I was really happy with the level of support from our meetup members. Everyone who was available stopped by and helped out. Marianne and her daughter stayed all day to help me host!

The local community turned out in force, all ready to enjoy a day of fun and insight, and to help the needy.

Our crew of volunteers also included a coworker of mine from Origins Spa and Wellness Center. Rochelle did an amazing job giving ten-minute chair massages.

Our volunteers provided their services for free, in exchange for donations of food. The next day, I brought our collection of food and cash to Feeding America Tampa Bay. Our donations equaled 1,092 meals for local area families. It really feels good to make such a substantial contribution!

Afterwards, in the spirit of TarotCon, some of us stayed for a “Survivor’s Dinner” at Beef’s. The fellowship and fun continued, even after the Open House had officially ended.

The following week, I heard feedback from someone who had attended the Open House and taken the time to sit with each reader. A few readers mentioned a pregnancy around her. She is well past the age for pregnancy, and wondered why this message kept coming up. At Christmas dinner with her family, a pregnancy was announced. It became clear that my friend would have a special role in this child’s life, just as many of our readers had foreseen!

Thanks to everyone who volunteered and to everyone who participated. We’ll continue the tradition next year.

Enjoy the pictures from the event below, and, if you are in the area, make sure to join the Tampa Bay Area Tarot Meetup!