Thank You for a Great Time!
The StaarCon Fairy for 2024 by Ciro Marchetti.
We are back from the Hilton Palm Beach Airport Hotel and working to get recordings of sessions fixed and the AfterGlow lounge sessions scheduled and posted.
StaarCon 2024 was a tremendous success. I am particularly grateful to our presenters, especially headliners Benebell Wen and Emilie Muñiz, and those presenters who traveled great distances to be with us, including Karen Winkel, Marion Kirk, Erika Robinson, Nancy Hendrickson, Mark Horn, T. Susan Chang, Jen Sankey, and Maria Alviz Hernando.
We had a fabulous group of attendees who had fun, made friends, and were always willing to help with anything. I am grateful to everyone who got on a plane, train, Uber, car, or the internet to join us.
StaarCon 2024 had a wonderful group of volunteers helping us make the magic happen. I am grateful to everyone who shared their time and talents.
Now, the AfterGlow begins. At the same time, I am making plans for StaarCon 5, our fifth annual conference, which will happen in January 2025. Watch for announcements about that coming soon!
I am back in the office and welcoming clients for readings, so do not hesitate to reach out.
I will return next week with a regular edition of the weekly newsletter. Thank you so much for all of your support.
I. T. John has again chosen a few fun articles I published in previous years in my Community Blog. These topics seemed appropriate for the community-building experience of StaarCon 2024. Enjoy “Five Reasons your Tarot Friends are your Best Friends” posted on February 10, 2014. Next find “Group Readings: The Performance Aspect of Tarot” first posted on February 17, 2019. Finally “Two-Card Tarot Spells” to show you a little tarot magick.
Fun and dancing at StaarCon 2024.
Christiana and friends explore tarot and snacks.
Five Reasons your Tarot Friends are your Best Friends
Originally posted February 10, 2014
Right before a Tarot Circle meeting in West Palm Beach, as we were enjoying snacks and conversation, an almost-late tarot student came running in, looking frazzled. “I love my tarot friends!” She exclaimed. “Because I can tell you I have had a Tower day and you know what I mean.”
It may have been at that moment that I started using the phrase “Your tarot friends are your best friends.” I really believe it to be true. Here are five reasons your tarot friends are your best friends.
1. We speak the same language.
Tarot is a language of archetypes, images and symbols. A few words can express deep concepts and subtle nuances.
2. We cut through crap.
Tarotists can smell BS a mile away. You have to be authentic with your tarot friends; they will know if you’re not.
3. We are creative.
Tarot, by its very nature, attracts artists, poets, musicians, writers and other crafty folk. The opportunities for fun and profit in collaboration are unlimited.
4. We laugh a lot.
Tarot people tend to be witty and clever. It takes a certain mindset to work with tarot. Humor is a big part of that.
5. We share goals.
The tarot community is diverse. We all have different views on religion, politics and art. As tarotists we discover common goals in our desire to develop spiritually and help others.
Sometimes tarot friends are online friends who never meet in person. Sometimes tarot friends gather at conferences and symposia. Sometimes your tarot friends were the friends who signed up for the beginner tarot class with you.
Making tarot friends is one if the many benefits of living a tarot-filled life!
The Magician, the High Priestess, the Sun and the Moon from the Weiser Tarot.
Group Readings: The Performance Aspect of Tarot
Originally posted February 17, 2019
Recently I found a blogpost from Ethony, headmistress of the Tarot Reader’s Academy, suggesting that tarot readers consider avoiding allowing anyone other than the querent in the room during a tarot reading.
She makes some good points in empowering readers to say no to an audience, and to say no to controlling, skeptical or overtalkative friends or family members who can make the reading more difficult, and therefore less valuable to the client.
Ethony also mentions the possibility of psychic leak. That is, moments when the reader can pick up energy from a person in the room who is not the client.
She also allows that there are times when it’s appropriate to welcome groups into the tarot room. As one who has over the years managed to master the psychic leak problem, I enjoy reading for groups.
I’d like to share some circumstances under which group readings have worked for me, and some advices on how to make them work for you.
Before I begin, though, please understand that every reader, and every reading, is unique. Let me echo Ethony here in saying that we all have the right, and responsibility, to say an emphatic no to anything that makes us less able to provide the best experience for our client.
But, if you want to try group readings, here are some of the circumstances in which they work well for me, along with some hints on how you might make them work for you.
First, you need to decide if you might be good at this sort of work. Folks who do performance-style tarot typically have a stage presence, are comfortable with public speaking, and understand and enjoy the performance aspect of tarot.
I was a theater major in college and have done a bit of community theater over the years. Here’s a picture of me playing Miep Geiss in a production of The Diary of Anne Frank way back at the beginning of my pro tarot career. The truth is, I’ve been too busy since then to take on any more roles, but the role of tarot reader is keeping me happy.
Christiana Gaudet appears as Miep Geiss in The Diary of Anne Frank.
Readings Around the Table
I’ve worked many parties of close friends or family groups who want to sit around a table together and hear each other’s readings. I even offer this sort of reading at the conference table in my office.
To make this successful, everyone needs to fit around the table, and pay attention. There can be no side conversations. Readings should be short, usually about fifteen to twenty minutes. Everyone has the opportunity to ask questions for each other, and can comment on the readings, but I keep very firm control on the conversation. I also tell people that this is not a spectator sport. If they are at the table, they are part of the experience, and need to stay present and focused.
Support Team
Much like the parties around the table, this is when a friend brings a friend, or two friends, to witness their reading. Sometimes the friends also plan to have readings, something not. However, after hearing their friends’ reading, they almost always make appointments for themselves.
I have very clear instructions for the supporting friend(s). They are to ask questions that the querent, their friend, may not think to ask. They are to listen, and if something isn’t resonating with their friend but makes sense to them, they should help the friend own their truth.
This invitation does sometimes cause a friend to try to highjack the reading. If you, as reader, keep control of the energy of your table, they won’t get very far when they do.
Couples Readings
Typically, a couples reading is for a romantically-involved couple. Yet, it can also be sisters grappling with a family issue, or bereaved family members getting closure to, and messages from, a deceased loved one.
If you are reading for more than one person having the same issue, it’s easy to read on the issue for both of them. If you are reading for a family group, the mediumship aspect is easier because more people offer more energy to assist in the focus and communication.
A reading for a romantic couple, however, can be tricky.
The times I have refused having someone sit in on a reading have been when I perceive a controlling romantic partner, and that my querent may need to hear some hard things about that partner.
The problem of the abusive or controlling spouse doesn’t crop up often in couples readings, though, because typically abusive partners won’t consider putting themselves in that situation.
Yet, relationship problems can show up in the readings of even the happiest couple. The skill here is to present those problems in a way that offers solutions, normalizes issues and treats those issues with good humor and compassion.
The goal of a couples reading is to foster understanding, not create bad feelings. If you see deeper issues in a couples reading, you are ethically bound to refer them to a good counselor.
Psychic Gallery at Soundings Lounge in Mystic, CT, 2004.
Gallery Readings
I have performed psychic galleries with tarot in nightclubs, churches and living rooms. The key here is to move quickly from reading to reading. Keep readings short and make them entertaining and accessible to everyone.
The energy of a gallery can be very conducive to amazing psychic work.
Very often, the biggest problem with readings that require a performance aspect is that the reader lacks confidence. It takes confidence to command a table, and it takes confidence to command a room.
Sometimes confidence comes with practice, and sometimes it comes with personality.
I do think that we need to sometimes stretch a bit to do our best work. There is a lot of focus on the idea that we readers shouldn’t have to do anything doesn’t make us comfortable. I scoff at this idea. If I didn’t do anything that made me uncomfortable, I would still be in my pajamas right now. Sometimes we must get out of our comfort zone in order to grow and learn to do our best work.
If the performance aspects of tarot don’t resonate for you, or really aren’t in your wheelhouse, just say no to the group readings and gallery sessions. If you are comfortable reading tarot with an audience, know that the practice is valid, helpful and very much appreciated by the clients you serve.
A two tarot card spread next to a crystal ball and tea in a cup.
Two-Card Tarot Spells
Originally posted February 28,2020
I love to think about, write about, teach, and practice tarot magick. Over the past many years, I have become more and more convinced that we can use the cards for manifestation as easily as we can for divination. Very often, we can do both at the same time.
I write about tarot magick on my 78 Magickal Tools blog.
Sometimes the exercise of thinking about which cards to use for a particular need also helps us understand specific cards and card combinations in new ways.
The magickal tarot exercise I want to share with you here is simple, yet profound.
Think of a particular need that you have, or that someone you know has. What two cards would serve that need, when combined together?
Here are three examples.
To break a repetitive pattern in life, the Wheel of Fortune and the Ace of Swords.
To be accepted to a school or education program, The Hierophant and the Page of Swords.
To have a fair outcome in a court of law, Justice and Judgement.
You can use a pair of cards to manifest something, create change, or influence an outcome in a number of ways. You can meditate with the cards. You can do a ceremony with the cards in a central place on your altar. You can make a jar candle with images of the cards on the jar. In all cases, you must visualize your desired outcome in the present tense as a certainty, rather than as a wish.
If you happen to see a pair of cards that you have already used for a magickal purpose appear in a reading, consider that the cards may be speaking of the same or similar situation.
What two-card tarot spells can you think of?
Share them in the comments if you like!
Upcoming Events
Card and Craft Academy
Classes presented by Christiana are available right now at Card and Craft Academy!
Christiana’s Candle Magick
Christiana’s Eleven-Card Celtic Cross
Finding Meaning in the Minor Arcana
The Major Arcana, Magical and Mundane
Practical Tarot Techniques
Psychic Tarot
Personal Tarot: Reading for Yourself
Sharing Wisdom: Reading for Others
The Meaning and Magic of Tarot Reversals
Journey Through the Major Arcana
Your Journey Through the Minor Arcana: Numbers, Elements and Truth
Tarot Beyond the Veil
Your Journey Through the Tarot Court
Tarot Stories, Trends, and Blends
Tarot Readings for Personalities and Relationships
Clarity in Every Tarot Card
Tarot Flow Workshop
Making Magick with Tarot
Fearless Wisdom Tarot Workshop
Tarot Keywords and Interpretations Workshop
Tarot Spreads Tools and Techniques Workshop
Tarot for Magic and Mediumship
Tarot Communication for Clarity and Depth
Weaving the Tarot Reading Story
The Elemental Major Arcana
Minor Arcana Numbers, Elements, and Truth
Personal Healing with Tarot
Create and Interpret Custom Tarot Spreads
What the Court Cards Want You to Know
How Spirit Speaks Through Tarot
Catch up on your missed Zoom webinars and more!
Marion Kirk and Allison Gaudet pose with the twins at StaarCon 2024.
About Christiana Gaudet
Card and Craft, Inc.
Southeastern Tarot Artists and Readers, LLC.
Christiana Gaudet
3559 SW Corporate Parkway
Palm City, Florida 34990-8152
Email cgaudet@cardandcraft.com
On the web www.christianagaudet.com
Online classes www.cardandcraftacademy.com
StaarCon information www.staarcon.com
YouTube @YourTarotFairyGodmother
Instagram @christianatarot @staarcon
Private telephone, Skype, FaceTime, Zoom and in person readings and instruction are available by appointment.
Tarot parties at your home or office are available throughout Florida.
Zoom parties and group instruction available almost everywhere!
Call toll free 866-99TAROT (866-998-2768)
Palm City 772-301-0232 x102
or call or text 561-655-1160
for more information or to schedule your event.
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Schedule online at https://christiana-gaudet.as.me.
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Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 7 Issue 4
January 24, 2024
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