Making Tarot Welcome

It’s a fact that tarot isn’t welcome everywhere. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way a few times. However, my personal mantra, and the advice I give fellow tarotists, remains the same. Always assume support.

If someone doesn’t support your tarot work, they will let you know. Otherwise, why give people a reason to distrust it, or you?

I’ve heard tarotists begin their introduction with negative statements about tarot, as if they are trying to anticipate and preempt objections even before the objections come. That doesn’t usually work as well as assuming support, and forcing a few uninformed individuals to voice their lack of support, or remain silent. (I know that’s hard when those uniformed individuals happen to be your friends or family.)

Sometimes, those uninformed people are surprisingly good unintentional advocates for tarot. When the obviously undereducated person in the room is the one with the strongest negative opinion, well, that just speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

Yesterday, I had my first library summer speaking engagement. I’m on the speakers list for our local county library system. The program I offer is “An Evening with the Tarot.” Most libraries run a series of speakers in the summer. I’m happy to be a part of that. It’s an opportunity to promote the library, to promote tarot, and to promote my practice. I always meet some great people when I do these events.

Librarians are some of the most open-minded people on the planet, quite contrary to their prim reputation. The many librarians who have booked me to speak all voice the same concerns. They know there will be members of their community who don’t approve of tarot. At the same time, they know their few tarot books fly off the shelves.

The librarians fret that adults don’t often come to library programs. They hope maybe the people who borrow the tattered tarot books from the library might come out for an evening program about tarot.

Last night, at the Thonotosassa Branch Library, the folks that came out, some with tarot decks in hand, proved that theory true.

I had never been in Thonotosassa before. I am still not sure exactly how to say the name of this small Florida town. Although it’s a suburb of Tampa, you would never know there was a large city twenty minutes away.

Driving in to town, I saw the run-down mobile homes interspersed with Pentecostal churches. There were huge, hand-painted signs about the financial habits of Jesus (He saves). I could have been anywhere in the Bible Belt, or in a scene from a swamp-themed horror film.

When I got to the library, there were exactly two cars other than mine in the parking lot. This can’t bode well, I thought.

The librarian echoed my fears. She didn’t want me to be disappointed if no one showed up for my program. Apparently, to her dismay, the flyers advertising the program had only gone out a week ago. There were literally no patrons in the library at that moment.

The community room was decorated for the successful children’s events. My tarot display seemed a bit surreal set up next to the brightly colored games and toys.

One by one, folks drifted in to the community room, anxiously looking around, hoping they were in the right place.  A few of them were carrying tarot decks.

For the next two hours, we had a wonderful time learning about tarot, talking about tarot and experimenting with tarot. The event was a resounding success.

Our small group was diverse. Our youngest was twelve years old; our oldest was closer to eighty than fifty. Everyone stayed engaged, and participated and interacted with each other.

The next time I drive through a small Southern town with hellfire-and-brimstone hand-painted billboards lining the main road, I’m going to remember what happened in Thonotosassa. Somewhere in between those ramshackle churches and trailer parks are people who love tarot, who are hungry to meet like minds and to learn.

I know it’s easier to be a tarot reader in Massachusetts than in Oklahoma. However, this is a reminder to all of us who find ourselves thinking “No one around here is interested in tarot.”

It’s true tarot isn’t welcome everywhere. However, every day, everywhere, tarotists are making strides to make tarot welcome in more places.

Events such as last night’s library program are encouraging signs that we’re moving in the right direction.

Tarot Facts in Fifteen Minutes

This past Sunday, I was honored to be a presenter at the “Something for Everyone” Library Open House at the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library. I, along with experts on a variety of topics, presented a fifteen minute talk.  My talk was entitled, “The History of the Tarot.”

Just how much can you say about tarot in fifteen minutes? Actually, quite a lot.

Here’s some of what I covered.

• Tarot is the name given to a deck of 78 playing cards. Tarot has a specific structure, which includes two sections; a Major Arcana of twenty-two trumps and a Minor Arcana of four suits. Each suit has pips ace through ten and a court of four characters.
• The word “arcana” means “secrets”.
• Tarot originated in Italy in the 1400s as a trump-taking game created to commemorate important events.
• Tarot become the inspiration for poetry, called “tarocchi appropriati”.
• In the 1500s the trump-taking game of tarot included each player being assigned a trump. The assigner would have to delicately explain why the particular trump fit the player’s personality. This explanation as given in the form of a poem.
• The first written record of tarot as divination comes from the book written in the 1700s by Jean-Baptiste Alliette, known as “Etteilla.”
• In the late 18^th century a small group of Freemasons and Rosicrucians formed the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in England. Golden Dawn members included William Butler Yeats, and two men who became the designers of the world’s most popular tarot decks, A.E. Waite and Aleister Crowley.
• In the early 1970s, with the help of tarot authors Eden Gray and Mary K. Greer, tarot became a mainstay in popular western culture.
• Now, tarot is popular world-wide.
• Today, there are literally thousands of different tarot decks available.
• There has been a great effort to create new tarot decks that are inclusive. This effort acknowledges that tarot’s medieval origins inherently create a measure of patriarchy, classism, sexism and racism within the early images.
• Tarot is of interest to historians, artists, collectors, psychologists, writers, diviners and spiritual seekers.
• Tarot inspires popular movies, like “The Red Violin.”
• Tarot archetypes, like “Father Time,” remain prevalent in our culture.
• Tarot, as a unique art form, is inspiring to artists and contemporary fashion designers, including Dolce & Gabanna and Versace.
• Tarot is not the only type of card oracle. There are many other oracle decks, included another structured deck used specifically for fortune-telling, the Lenormand cards.
• Tarot enthusiasts see correlations between tarot and many esoteric systems, including astrology, Kabbalah, numerology and the Four Elements. There is no historical evidence that these correlations were intended by the original designers of tarot.
• In recent years, other interesting correlations have been discovered, including a correlation between the sixteen Court cards and the Myers-Briggs personality types.
• That these correlations exist is a topic of study and discussion for tarot enthusiasts, and influences card interpretations in tarot divination.
• Today, tarot cards are used as creative prompts in improvisational theatre and creative writing.
• Tarot decks are often designed by CCG (collectible card game) and fantasy artists.
• Tarot is often seen as telling the archetypal epic journey of the hero. Each card represents a universal experience, character, theme or lesson; which we experience on our own ‘hero’s journey” though life.

If you had only fifteen minutes to talk about 500 years of tarot, what would you say?