A Conversation with Jeanne Fiorini

Every time I drive through Portland, Maine, I always find myself thinking the same thing.  “I bet this would be a great place to have a tarot business.”  According to Jeanne Fiorini, of Tarotworks.com, it most certainly is.

I spoke with Jeanne on the phone a few days ago.  It is always a pleasure to meet a tarot professional who seems like the real deal.  By that, I mean really intelligent, really gifted, really dedicated and really sincere.  Jeanne is all of this, and more.

I asked Jeanne how she got started as a tarot professional.

Like me, she started her tarot journey in the 1980s.  While going through personal transition, she spent time with a friend who had a tarot deck, and a tarot book.  Those first experiences with tarot impressed Jeanne.  “There’s a lot in my life that doesn’t seem real,” Jeanne thought, “But this does seem real.”  What did she like about tarot?  “Tarot seemed to tell the truth,” she told me.  What an authentic way to start a lifelong relationship with the sacred cards.

The book her friend had was Mary K Greer’s “Tarot for Yourself.”  I had that book too.  I wonder if Mary K Greer, in all her humble grace, really gets how much she has shaped modern tarot, and our experience of it.  Arguably, without her trailblazing work, neither Jeanne nor I would now have a career.

This year, Jeanne became a published tarot author herself.  Her new book, "Tarot Spreads and Layouts: A Users Manual for Beginning and Intermediate Readers," from Schiffer Publishing, has received great reviews from the tarot community.

Here’s the part that makes my spine tingle.  Mary K Greer herself gave the book a great review, and actually blogged about it.  What synchronicity and success, to have the author of one’s first tarot book praise your own first tarot book!

If that were the end of Jeanne’s tarot story, it would be a happy story indeed.  But Jeanne is moving forward every day.  Her tarot work includes private readings, phone readings, Skype readings, podcasts, webinars, classes, and workshops.

Jeanne is getting ready to present a very interesting day-long workshop entitled “Embodying the Symbols of Tarot.”  This is a “Jung and Tarot Workshop,” and will take place in Portland on October 22.

Jeanne presents the workshop with Rick Bouchard.  Rick is a clinical social worker and Stage II Candidate at the C.G. Jung Institute in Boston. His in-progress diploma thesis is related to the use of tarot in Jungian analysis. Of course, Jeanne pointed out in our conversation, to tarot folk the connection between Jungian thought and tarot is a no-brainer.  In academia, it is a bit of a courageous step Rick is taking.  Both the Jungian world and the tarot world will be richer for it, I’m sure.

This will be the third time Jeanne and Rick have presented this workshop; the first in Portland.  The workshop runs from 10 am -5 pm.  No prior knowledge of Jungian thought or tarot is required to enjoy the workshop.

A brief description and contact information for the workshop is available below.

Tarot is a field that has many pioneers.  Those pioneers are expanding the ways we work with tarot, and the ways tarot can work for us.  Jeanne Fiorini is such a pioneer.

Embodying the Symbols of the Tarot

Location:  222 St. John Street, Suite 240  Portland, Maine  

Cost:   $85.  CEU's 5.5   

Minimum participants 10, maximum 25.

To Register Mail Full Tuition Payment To:

Tarotworks

P.O. Box 6873

Scarborough, Maine  04070

If you have questions about Registration, Contact Jeanne Fiorini at:Jean ne@tarotworks.com

For More Information and Inquiries About the Workshop Content and Format, Contact Rick Bouchard at:  CONSTL8@aol.com

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This program will explore the juxtaposition of the Tarot's four suits (pentacles, swords, cups and wands), the four psychological functions (sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuition) and the four corresponding elements (earth, air, water and fire) with various aspects of Jungian psychology (including archetypes and complex theory).   

Through "live tarot readings," in which participants step into and speak for the cards and images that appear in specially-selected layouts, this day-long workshop will allow participants the opportunity to expand and deepen their practical understanding of Jungian psychology and the Tarot. 

Several different layouts, techniques and readings throughout the day will allow for a wide variety of opportunities by which to engage in the "live reading" process.   

Prior knowledge of the Tarot and Jungian psychology may be useful, but is not required.