Welcome to my personal blog.
Here you will find my musings, thoughts and observations, all inspired by my experiences as a full-time professional tarot reader.
Four Things I Learned at the Masters of the Tarot Conference at Omega Institute
Each presenter at the Masters of the Tarot Conference taught me something important.
I was a presenter at The Masters of the Tarot Conference at Omega Institute this summer. It was opening weekend at Omega, after a year-and-a-half pandemic closure.
Mary K. Greer and Rachel Pollack have led this annual conference for many years. For me, it had been a goal to attend, and a dream to present, for just as long.
One of the perks of presenting at a conference is the ability to attend the classes of your fellow presenters. I could write volumes about everything I experienced and learned over that three-day weekend. For this post I thought it would be fun to share just a single tidbit from each presentation; some inspiration that I will take forward in my own life and tarot practice.
Friday night we gathered for an interactive session with Mary K. Greer. This was an icebreaker which quickly taught deep tarot skills. One thing I learned from this session is the power inherent in simply describing a tarot image.
I am not typically an image-based reader. Some decks read better for me than others, but I do not overthink the art. I often joke that I could easily read with seventy-eight pieces of notebook paper. When Mary had us describing images rather than reading cards as I normally would, I was immediately out of my tarot comfort zone.
As it turned out, I spent much of the weekend pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone. This is why our gatherings and conferences, both in person and online, are so valuable. We never know everything there is to know about tarot, or about ourselves. We must always keep pushing and challenging ourselves to grow.
What I learned about describing a tarot image is this. There is a magic that happens in the connection we make with the image, the words we choose to describe the image, and the spiritual forces that are always available when tarot is present. Of course, I knew this, because I have seen new tarot students look at a card and find wisdom within it time and again. Yet, being forced to verbally describe the image without benefit of classic interpretations and symbolism was surprisingly personal, powerful and insightful.
The next session was Saturday morning. I was excited to present “How Tarot Helps Us Heal”. I will leave it to those who attended to share what they learned; I hope they learned a lot!
That afternoon was Madame Pamita’s turn to present.
Madame Pamita taught a hands-on approach to tarot magick that was as fun as it was enlightening. I learned quite a bit in this class, even though I use and teach tarot magick regularly.
One thing I learned from Madame Pamita that will be helpful as I continue to teach tarot magick is a simple way of talking about tarot magick versus divination. The problem I have encountered is this. When we do divination exercises in class it is common to say, “pick a card,” or “pick two cards to tell you…”. When we do tarot magick exercises we are not picking at random. We look at the cards and cognitively choose cards to serve us in the magickal work we are doing. It has sometimes been very hard for me to communicate this difference effectively. Sometimes, when I ask students to choose a card cognitively, rather than at random, they are confused and do not know what to do.
Madame Pamita shared simple nomenclature for which I am grateful and very excited to adopt. We choose cards either face up or face down. When we choose cards face down, we are choosing at random, and divining. When we choose cards face up, we are selecting the cards whose energy we wish to employ in magick. What could be simpler, or more brilliant?
Saturday evening was Rachel Pollack’s session. I was excited that Rachel asked all the presenters to sit on a panel and discuss issues that we face as professional tarot readers. At the end, Rachel chose a member of the audience for whom to perform a sample reading.
Rachel, like Mary, is a seemingly limitless supply of tarot knowledge. It is thrilling that Mary K. Geer was a headlining presenter at StaarCon 2021, and that Rachel Pollack will be headlining for StaarCon 2022.
One thing that Rachel said during our panel discussion has stuck with me and has caused me to shift the way I speak and think in a very specific way. Rachel was talking about the different sorts of readings we do, and the language readers use to describe their readings. Rachel took exception to readers who say they use tarot to ‘empower people’. This is something we often hear. Never had I heard it the way Rachel hears it.
Rachel said that if we ‘empower someone,’ we have really disempowered them. No one person can empower another. Personal empowerment can only come from within. If we, as readers, try to empower someone, we see ourselves as the keepers of power. That is not empowerment.
Going forward, I will consider that I might use tarot to help people discover their power, utilize their power, or know their power.
I approached our Sunday morning session with Shaheen Miro with that sad end-of-summer-camp feeling. I had no desire for the conference to end, nor to leave Omega.
Shaheen’s workshop provided the biggest challenge of the conference for me. This is because Shaheen’s presentation had us working with art and intuition.
While I am a very creative person, I am not an artist. In fact, I am the one member of my family of origin who cannot draw and paint. This was a source of shame for me as I was growing up. Worse, I was always the one who would spill the paint and make a mess.
I was tempted to shrug off Shaheen’s presentation and enjoy a few hours strolling the lovely Omega campus. It would be easy for me to say that what Shaheen was serving simply wasn’t on my diet.
Yet, over the weekend I had developed a fondness and admiration for Shaheen that would not let me take the cowardly way out.
In that workshop, I did not learn that I have a hidden talent for drawing. I did learn that nothing bad would happen if I experimented with markers and crayons. I learned that I could express my intuitive thoughts through color and shape. For me, that was huge.
We are fortunate to have a tarot and divination community which offers so many opportunities, online and in person, for fellowship and learning. Each conference has its own unique personality. The Masters of the Tarot offered a deep connection to community and tarot, as well as an opportunity for growth and healing. I am delighted to have been a part of it.
Magic with the Two of Wands: Strength, High Rank and Wealth Without Shame
For the Spring Equinox Tarot Blog Hop, some magic and musing about wealth, inspired by the season, the Two of Wands and the Picatrix.
It’s Ostara, or the Vernal Equinox. That means it’s time for another Tarot Blog Hop. This time our wrangler, Joy Vernon, has given us many options for our seasonal task, ranging from your-head-might-explode-with-mystical-brilliance to share-a-seasonal-recipe.
I chose something in between.
Joy was inspired by her tarot group’s work with the Picatrix, an ancient book of astrology and magic.
Per the Picatrix, now is the time to use magic to manifest “strength, high rank and wealth without shame”.
Of all the options and information that Joy gave us, the thing that struck me most was that odd phrase, "wealth without shame", and its connection, via astrology, to the Two of Wands.
Tarot is a youngster when compared with the Picatrix. Yet, the connection between tarot and astrology allows us to assign the Two, Three and Four of Wands to the three decans of Aries (and thus the vernal equinox), and to the magical directives found within the Picatrix.
It’s also interesting to note that for each decan (third of an astrological sign) the Picatrix describes an assigned image. The knowledge that images hold power is something else the Picatrix and tarot have in common.
I have an affinity for the Two of Wands. To me, this card reminds us that everything is possible if we are willing to dream it, and willing to work to bring it into being.
The Two of Wands is the “Lord of Dominion”. The magic of the card is to recognize our own inner Lord of Dominion; to understand that we have sovereign power over the paths we choose and the lives we lead. Our only limitation is in our failure to recognize that power.
Because of this, I often think of the Two of Wands as the card of manifestation. There is something ouroboric about doing manifestation work with the card of manifestation that feels powerful to me.
That strange and archaic magical goal of strength, high rank and wealth without shame aligns with the Two of Wands for me, and fits my current magical musings precisely.
I have a problematic relationship with wealth that began even before my career as a successful full-time tarot reader. In an era when extreme wealth is enough to qualify a person to reside in the White House, I must assume that my own feelings about wealth are significantly out of step with the culture in which I live.
For better or worse, I was raised to believe that materialism is dangerous, that greed is a sin, and that there is a type of spiritual grace found only in poverty. My father was a United Methodist minister, whose faith translated into a commitment to social justice.
There’s a huge contrast between the Christianity I learned in Sunday School and the doctrine of the modern “Prosperity Gospel” that suggests that material wealth is a sign of God’s approval, and that impoverishment is an indicator of God’s disdain, which justifies our own disdain for the poor.
As a full-time tarot pro, I’ve had to deal with tarot enthusiasts who think I am a mercenary bitch because I make my living with the cards. I’m a red-headed Scorpio, so they may have gotten the bitch part right, but, mercenary? Little could be further from the truth.
The concept of wealth without shame invites me to consider the shame, or potential shame, I have felt about the prospect of acquiring some meager personal wealth.
While my father was a gentle pastor, my mother was an artsy hippie. Mom didn’t want to buy a desk, she wanted to make a desk with a wooden door laid across stacks of cinder-blocks. Her favorite store was “Sal’s Boutique”, the Salvation Army Thrift Store. From my father, I inherited a sense of spiritual mission. From my mother, a thrift shop aesthetic. Together, they impressed on me their favorite motto; “Live Simply, That Others May Simply Live.”
I am learning that there is a difference between simple living and self-denial. Self-care seems more important now than when I was younger. At some point, wealth becomes access to greater self-care, and that can’t be a bad thing.
Being a tarot pro adds another dimension to wealth-shaming. There is a school of thought amongst some tarot enthusiasts that it is somehow bad and wrong to take money in exchange for a reading. I won’t even justify that notion with an explanation.
However, it’s important to note that most pro readers go through an emotionally trying process to find peace with taking money for their services.
Another complication is that there exist pro tarot readers who routinely scam their clients by using scare tactics to extort expensive gifts and large sums of money. Much of the general population does not make a distinction between what that sort of tarot reader does, and what I do.
Because of this, In the general society within which I live, there is a cloud of shame and suspicion around the tarot profession. That makes it difficult to take the same pride in the rewards of my labor that most people have without thought.
There is a twist on "wealth without shame" that might feel ironic in that context. There are ways to make money that would feel shameful to me. As a business owner, I can choose to operate within my ethical boundaries. Never do I have to do something that feels wrong because I am "following orders".
I look to the Two of Wands, then, to manifest a new paradigm around resources in my life – a paradigm where I may enjoy the fruits of my labor (my "strength and high rank") without shame, and with an open heart and hand.
I picture myself with a globe in my hand, standing over the long horizon.
In the number Two I find the balance of fare trade. The wealth I receive is equal to my needs. The services I provide are a good value for all.
In the Fire of the suit of Wands I find my passion, my spiritual calling, and the life energy with which I create this new personal paradigm. May I use this energy to bring insight and healing to others, and may it bring me vitality and youthfulness long into my old age.
In this season of Spring, in the balance between light and dark, I hatch the metaphoric eggs of new ideas, new vision, new inspiration and new opportunities. I welcome new life bursting all around me.
May these blessings of the season be yours as well!
