Tarot News blog has news and information of interest to the tarot community.
Give It Time
First impressions do not always give a full picture.
There are some things, and some people, we fall in love with instantly. There are others that take time to grow on us, or for us to grow into.
Whether it is a book, a TV series, a food, a person, or a philosophy, there are some things we seem to want to dismiss immediately. There are some things we dislike, or with which we struggle. Very often, if we give it time, we will find the inherent value which we didn’t see at the outset.
The need to give something time also applies to the learning process. Whether we are learning a technology, a craft, a sport, a yoga practice, or even something like tarot, it is important to give ourselves time to develop the skill.
Healing is something else that requires time.
Whether we are healing something physical, emotional, or spiritual, we need to recognize the sacred nature of process. Process always takes time.
When we allow ourselves time to discover, time to learn, and time to heal, we give ourselves grace and opportunity.
Sometimes first impressions are accurate. Sometimes, they are misleading. If we take time to decide what we want in our lives, we cultivate rich experiences and possibilities.
The StaarCorner
As we prepare to roll out the new website for StaarCon 2022, we are excited to share a highlight of StaarCon 2021 with you.
As you may know, StaarCon has the stated mission of honoring our art and artists. This included tarot performance art. At StaarCon 2021 we had three tarot performance art presentations. Those were The Tarot Show with Kate Mura, Tarot Improv with Mitchell Osborn, and an original short play entitled, “It’s in the Cards” by David Victor.
That play is now available for you to enjoy on our YouTube channel, StaarCast. Watch “It’s in the Cards”. This play is funny and poignant, as it captures many truths about tarot reading.
Did you miss Clarity in Every Tarot Card?
Take it now in archive at Card and Craft Academy on Teachable!
Includes the class materials and a recording of the live webcast.
Tarot Flow Workshop Live on Zoom
On Thursday, April 22, 7 pm to 9 pm EDT, join me on Zoom for a Tarot Flow Workshop.
In this exciting class you will learn and practice techniques that will help you get into the flow of a tarot reading. Topics covered will include energy work, intuition, formulating questions, working with tarot spreads and dialoging with the cards. These techniques are good for self-reading as well as reading for others.
Join me for a unique and enlightening tarot learning experience. Class fee is $37.50. Register now.
Three Cards for the Wise Use of Time
When we think about giving something time, we need to make sure the effort is worth our time. While patience is important, time is a resource that needs to be wisely managed. Here is a three-card spread to give us insight into the places where we need to invest our time.
Card One: What should I allow time to discover?
Card Two: What should I spend time learning?
Card Three: In what way do I need to give time to my healing?
Have an In-Person Private Reading in Connecticut
I will be in Connecticut for one week this spring, May 21 through 26. During that time, I have a limited number of openings for house calls, small parties, and private appointments at True Bikram Yoga in Madison.
If you would like to see me in Connecticut in person in May, please call or text 561-655-1160, or email me to reserve your appointment time.
I am looking forward to seeing you!
The Week in Review
This week I taught a live class on my YouTube channel called “Minor Arcana Double Vision”. This is a class that introduces a number of important tarot concepts. Watch it in archive, and make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel!
Many years ago, I wrote this blogpost about tarot cards that speak of patience. Our topic this week inspired me to revisit this.
From Around the Web
From GreaterGood at Berkeley, here are Four Reasons to Cultivate Patience.
Want to get some tarot practice? Here are 18 Simple Tarot Spreads.
This is an interesting article from Elle magazine about a new wave of mysticism.
Cards for Your Consideration
There are quite a few tarot cards that advise patience. Most notably, the High Priestess, the Hermit, Temperance, and the Nine of Wands all have ‘patience’ as a common keyword.
When we think about the specific type of patience that is needed when we learn something, or allow something to grow within us, the Eight of Pentacles is an interesting card to consider.
The Eight of Pentacles is often seen as a card of apprenticeship, craftsmanship, learning through doing, and repetitive work.
In this card we can see a need to do something over and over again. Perhaps the effort is to produce the needed amount. Perhaps the effort is to learn the process, or to perfect the product.
In any case, the Eight of Pentacles can remind us that practice makes perfect, and that perfection takes time.
Upcoming Events and Tours
Palm City office appointments and private parties in your home or office will be available starting June 4th!
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
Catch up on your missed Zoom webinars and more!
cardandcraftacademy.com
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 4 Issue 15
April 14, 2021
The Gift of Flowers
Flowers are a gift, and a tool of healing and communication.
Flower blossoms are so fragile to the touch. Yet, flowers are powerful in many ways. The gift of flowers brings happiness and communicates so much.
We use flowers to commemorate important life passages, such as weddings and funerals.
There are many Biblical references about the lessons we can learn from flowers.
When we were young, we did divination with flower petals; he loves me, he loves me not.
There are flower essences and oils which we use for healing. There is a symbolic language of flowers which we can use to perform readings.
The scent of flowers can be mood-altering, delightful, and healing.
In mediumship, our loved ones in spirit often send us the image of flowers as a way of communicating with us.
When we grow flowers, we engage in an ancient ritual which brings hope and joy into our lives.
Flowers bring beauty to us. They also bring the power of healing, wisdom, and communication.
Pay attention to the flowers you see as you go through your day. As you observe them in passing, think about what message they may have for you.
Flowers are a gift of the spring, a reward for surviving a difficult winter.
Flowers are a tool of healing and communication, as well as a joy to behold.
The StaarCorner
Ciro Marchetti is a talented tarot artist and a dynamic speaker. We are grateful to have him serve as part of our Constellation, the planning committee for StaarCon.
We were also excited to have Ciro as a presenter at StaarCon 2021.
Now you can see Ciro’s presentation, “A Journey as a Companion of Fools”, on the StaarCast YouTube channel!
If you missed StaarCon 2021, or if you want to revisit this great presentation, check it out on YouTube, and make sure to subscribe to StaarCast.
Did you miss Clarity in Every Tarot Card?
Take it now in archive at Card and Craft Academy on Teachable!
Includes the class materials and a recording of the live webcast.
Tarot Flow Workshop Live on Zoom
On Thursday, April 22, 7 pm to 9 pm EDT, join me on Zoom for a Tarot Flow Workshop.
In this exciting class you will learn and practice techniques that will help you get into the flow of a tarot reading. Topics covered will include energy work, intuition, formulating questions, working with tarot spreads and dialoging with the cards. These techniques are good for self-reading as well as reading for others.
Join me for a unique and enlightening tarot learning experience. Class fee is $37.50. Register now.
Create a Flower Tarot Spread
Do you have a favorite flower? Why not use that favorite flower to create a new tarot spread?
You might consider the traditional meaning of the flower and use that as a theme for your spread. Or you might think about how the flower makes you feel and let that feeling be your theme.
You can use the structure of the flower to structure your spread, both in terms of the placement of cards and the number of cards. For example, you might have one card for each petal, or leaf. You might have a single card for the stem or use an upright row of cards to create your flower stem.
Let your inspiration and your imagination work together to create and perform your own original flower spread.
Have an In-Person Private Reading in Connecticut
I will be in Connecticut for one week this spring, May 21 through 26. During that time, I have a limited number of openings for house calls, small parties, and private appointments at True Bikram Yoga in Madison.
If you would like to see me in Connecticut in person in May, please call or text 561-655-1160, or email me to reserve your appointment time.
I am looking forward to seeing you!
The Week in Review
This week I shared a blogpost about the Four of Pentacles.
I do a number of live broadcasts each week on my YouTube channel. Please subscribe and join me there!
From Around the Web
Carrie Paris shares a way to divine with flowers.
Maddie Elruna shares her thoughts about flowers in the Waite Smith Tarot.
Texas A&M Horticulture Department shares a list of flowers and their meanings.
Cards for Your Consideration
It would be very difficult to find a tarot deck that does not include flowers somewhere in its design. Some tarot designers consider the flowers as part of the symbolism of the cards. Other artists may simply add flowers as they feel inspired, without considering the meaning of the particular flower.
Some flowers become emblematic for the card. For example, the sunflower in the Waite Queen of Wands, or the white flower on the flag of Death.
When you perform a reading, take a moment to consider the flowers that appear in the cards you pull. Is there a feeling or a message you get from simply looking at the flowers?
Upcoming Events and Tours
Palm City office appointments will be available starting June 4th!
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
Catch up on your missed Zoom webinars and more!
cardandcraftacademy.com
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 4 Issue 14
April 7, 2021
The Power of Hope
Spring is the season of hope.
People all around the world are celebrating holy days at this time of year. Regardless of culture or belief system, one unifying theme is hope.
It makes sense that in spring, as the world is awakening and new life abounds, we remember the nature and power of hope.
Hope is a powerful thing. Hope keeps us trying on the journey toward success, even when the path is difficult.
Yet, hope is also a tricky thing. False hope wastes time and energy. As with anything that yields great power, we must handle hope with care. We need to be discerning about where we place our hope.
Hope often demands action.
We can’t just wait for the things we hope for to happen. We need to take an active role, whether that is prayer and patience, or proactivity and hard work.
This time of year serves to remind us that within every sunrise, every seed, and every springtime, hope is present.
There are situations in life that are hopeless. Yet, we can always find something on which to place our hope.
There is a famous quote that helps me understand hope. It was originally said by John Lennon, though many other people have used it over the years.
“Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.”
May the awakening earth fill your heart with hope for the days ahead.
The StaarCorner
When it became clear that our first conference would need to be online-only, we found that the Accelevents platform provided us with a lot of features that helped our online conference feel like a real event. We felt connected with one another, and part of a community.
Our staff learned a great deal about how to use Accelevents. This means that next year our online conference will be even more robust, and more interactive.
We are also planning to be able to meet in person, for those able and willing to travel. Our in-person meeting place is the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center in Palm Beach Gardens. This is a very comfortable place to meet and stay. The Doubletree is close to Palm Beach International Airport, as well as local beaches and other Florida attractions.
We are already hard at work to make sure that whether you join us online or in person, you will have an amazing weekend with us.
Mark your calendar now for January 21 through 23, 2022. Tickets will be on sale soon.
Sign up for the StaarCon newsletter so you never miss an important announcement.
Did you miss Clarity in Every Tarot Card?
Take it now in archive at Card and Craft Academy on Teachable!
Includes the class materials and a recording of the live webcast.
Tarot Flow Workshop Live on Zoom
On Thursday, April 22, 7 pm to 9 pm EDT, join me on Zoom for a Tarot Flow Workshop.
In this exciting class you will learn and practice techniques that will help you get into the flow of a tarot reading. Topics covered will include energy work, intuition, formulating questions, working with tarot spreads and dialoging with the cards. These techniques are good for self-reading as well as reading for others.
Join me for a unique and enlightening tarot learning experience. Class fee is $37.50. Register now.
A Tarot Spread for Hope
Some people are naturally more hopeful than others. Some people cling to false hope, while others are afraid to be hopeful about anything.
Here is a tarot spread to help you sort out your relationship with the power and energy of hope.
Arrange the cards in a row, laying them out from left to right.
Let the first card tell you about something in your life about which you can feel hopeful, or which gives you hope.
Let the second card speak about something you hope to manifest in the future.
Let the third card help you make peace with a hope you have had to release.
Let the fourth card give you advice about how you can be proactive in making your hopes become reality.
Let the fifth card give you advice about how to balance hope and realistic expectations in your life at this time.
Have an In-Person Private Reading in Connecticut
I will be in Connecticut for one week this spring, May 21 through 26. During that time, I have a limited number of openings for house calls, small parties, and private appointments at True Bikram Yoga in Madison.
If you would like to see me in Connecticut in person in May, please call or text 561-655-1160, or email me to reserve your appointment time.
I am looking forward to seeing you!
The Week in Review
This week I taught a free tarot class on YouTube called “Tarot Questions and Dialogues”. This class will help you learn and practices some helpful divination techniques.
I do a number of live broadcasts each week on my YouTube channel. Please subscribe and join me there!
From Around the Web
From Greatlist, a wonderful article about the joy and hope of tarot.
Bustle has your April 2021 horoscope.
Here is an Easter Egg Tarot Spread from Mystic Star Tarot.
Cards for Your Consideration
There are quite a few tarot cards that have ‘hope’ as a primary keyword. The Star, the Nine of Cups, the Fool, and the Two of Wands come immediately to mind.
Yet, when we consider the power of hope, I would like us to consider the power of divination and cartomancy as a whole.
I believe that divination, and the tools of divination, are meant to keep us hopeful in life.
It is true that sometimes a tarot reading might take away a specific hope. Yet, even if a certain situation is not hopeful, there is always room in a reading to find the place we can put our hope, and the way to summon our hope.
Some tarotists develop a negative relationship with certain cards. Some people develop a fearful relationship with divination.
If we approach cartomancy and divination with the idea that the goal is always to find hope, and to find where to place our hope, the practice will always lead us forward in the best way possible.
In-person Readings at My Palm City Office Will Be Available June 4!
Upcoming Events and Tours
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 (New)
Catch up on your missed Zoom webinars and more!
cardandcraftacademy.com
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 4 Issue 13
March 31, 2021
We and Me
Self-love is the beginning of every relationship.
This past year may of us learned something about the importance of our communities, our families, and our close relationships.
In what may feel like a paradox, our lessons have also been about our individuality. We have had to recognize the importance of nurturing our relationship with self, and of honoring the personal journey.
Truly, these lessons are not new. As humans, we are social creatures. We are capable of great love, and able to do great works when we gather together.
Yet, we are also each unique, and naturally individualistic.
Here there is an important lesson of balance. We must be comfortable in our own skin, and able to love our own company and walk our own path.
Yet, no one is an island. We are part of families, and communities.
When we collaborate, we can create things that we could not do on our own.
Sometimes, we must sacrifice of ourselves for the greater good of the family, or the community.
Sometimes, we must make our own wellbeing the priority, and have good boundaries that make our individual needs more important.
There is no one right answer that covers all people, and all situations.
Every relationship is different in its needs and its dynamic.
There are, though, three things we all have in common.
We all need self-love.
We all need to have relationships will people we love.
We all need to be able to work together within a community.
How that balances out can be different for everyone, and for each situation.
The starting place must always be self-understanding, and self-love.
Once we understand our own needs and desires, we can build the relationships that sustain us.
These can be personal relationships, as well as relationships with our healers, our teachers, and others who tend to our needs, and those whose needs we tend.
From there, we can figure out how we best function within our communities.
We also have other important relationships. These relationships can be with animals, with nature, with creativity, and with spirit.
When we are conscious creators of our relationships with self, with others, and with the world around us, we are better, and the world is better.
The StaarCorner
We will hold the second annual StaarCon on January 21 through 23, 2022. We are planning a hybrid conference. We will meet in person at the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. We will also stream the entire conference online and enjoy participation with our online friends around the world.
Tickets will be available soon.
Our podcast, StaarCast, will resume in April with a series of episodes that focus on teaching the skills of divination, meditation, and other topics which we feature at StaarCon.
Check out StaarCast in video on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Sign up for the StaarCon Newsletter so you can stay up-to-date about this exciting event!
Join us For Class Tomorrow!
On Thursday, March 25, at 7 pm EDT, I am teaching an exciting class on Zoom. The video of this class will be available for replay on Teachable.
Clarity in Every Tarot Card will teach you to combine keywords, context, and intuition to find deep meaning in every reading you perform, whether for self or others.
The class fee is $37.50. Get your ticket and join us!
My Favorite Relationship Tarot Spread
I am going to share my very favorite relationship tarot spread with you.
You can do this reading about any type of relationship, whether romantic, professional, familial, or friendship. You can even do this about your relationship with your pet, or with someone you have yet to meet.
Focus on the relationship in question and break the deck into three piles. Turn the top cards over. If you are reading for yourself, the first card to the left will represent you within the relationship. The card to the right will represent the other person.
If you are reading for someone else, the first card to the left will represent the querent, and the card to the right will represent the other person.
The middle card represents the relationship itself.
Look at the two outside cards. What do they have in common, or how are they different? How do they represent the needs, desires, personality, or issues of each person?
If the cards feature pictures of people, are they looking at each other, in the same direction, or away from each other?
What can you see in the interaction between these two cards about this relationship?
Now look at the card in the center. How can you combine this card with what you have already seen in the first two cards?
Does this middle card offer a solution? Does is suggest a problem? Does it show a way this relationship works well?
If you need more information about what lies at the bottom of the situation, or how the history comes into play, pull out the bottom card from each pile and perform the same reading process.
See, too, how the bottom card relates to the top card of each pile. What information does this give you about each person, and about the relationship?
For further information, perform the same process with the card that lies directly below the original card.
Now you have three cards for each person, and for the relationship itself. As you read these card in combination, how do this help you understand the complexities of the relationship?
Three Tarot Tours, and an Open Palm City Office
After more than a year, I am getting ready to do a bit of traveling and would love to see you for an in-person tarot reading.
I will be in Connecticut for a short visit May 21 through 26. I am available for house calls, small parties, and a limited number of private appointments at True Bikram Yoga in Madison.
In June, I will travel to the Tampa area. I will be available for house calls, private readings at my Airbnb in Wesley Chapel, and small parties June 11 through 14.
In July I will return to Connecticut for a longer stay, and will be available to visit surrounding states, such as Rhode Island, New York, and Massachusetts. I will also be available in Connecticut, and happy to do house calls, small parties, and private session at True Bikram in Madison.
As always when I travel, I remain available for readings by phone, Skype, FaceTime and Zoom as well.
Please call or text 561-655-1160, or email me, to get on the schedule for one of my tarot tours!
While I am getting ready to travel, I am also getting ready to re-open my Palm City office to in-person clients by appointment.
We are making some changes to the office to assure that your in-person reading is safe, as well as enjoyable and enlightening. Our tentative date to open to in-person sessions is June 4. We will keep you informed as we get closer to that time.
In the meantime, do not hesitate to reach out to work with me by phone or online. You can schedule your appointment directly on my website.
The Week in Review
This week I wrote a blogpost about an important tarot reading technique. Whether we are reading for ourselves or others, casually or professionally, we need to learn how to pivot from the anxious question to healing.
Join me on my YouTube channel for live reading sessions, tarot meetups, and free tarot classes!
I’ve been keeping a blog for a long time now. Here are two past posts that are pertinent to our topic this week.
From 2012, here is Tarot and the Search for Identity: Five Ways Tarot Can Help You Discover Yourself.
From 2011, here is The Community Sandbox. It is interesting to see how much the problems I talk about in the post have progressed over the past decade.
From Around the Web
From Allure magazine, an article about tarot and the search for gender identity.
One way we think about identity and tarot is the process of working with significators. From Lisa Boswell, here is a piece on selecting a tarot significator.
From Labryinthos, here is a piece about finding your significator in the tarot Court.
Cards for Your Consideration
Major Arcana Six, the Lovers, is a card we often think about in terms of romantic relationships. Yet, this card can serve to teach us, and speak to us, about any sort of relationship.
In a reading, the Lovers can discuss self-esteem. Are you treating yourself in a loving way?
The Lovers can ask you what you want to integrate into your life. Are you ready to join the gym? How will school fit in with your life?
When you see the Lovers in a reading, remember that this card can speak of things beyond romance. A good key word for this card is “integration”. Others are “decisions” and “communication”.
These are not the most romantic terms, but they do illustrate the range of this card, and the important lessons Major Arcana Six has for us.
Upcoming Events and Tours
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 4 Issue 12
March 24, 2021