Being that I live in California, specifically the Bay Area, it was a big deal about Same Sex Couples being able to marry starting June 16th. It was as exciting as it must have been in 1967 when the case of Loving v. Virginia was decided by United States Supreme Court and interracial couples were legally able to marry. I felt the excitement in the air as San Francisco got ready to have this happen in City Hall and the employees all tried to get sworn in so they could help with performing ceremonies. Many couple went to get their licenses and made plans to marry that day. Some people just wanted to show their support.
Of course there are people who feel this is wrong. They feel that marriage is between one man and one woman . Their reason is that if one wants to procreate you need this DNA to produce a child. But I think the message here isn’t about creating children, even though that is a good message. I think it is about respecting people for who they are and the choices they make that do not affect you, and not caring if they are living a different life than you. It is also about defining whether same sex couples are making a choice to be in same sex relationships or not.
Now these men and women are being given the choice to marry if they want to versus saying you can only have the “separate but equal” domestic partnership agreements. I think this says we as a state are open to seeing love in all its forms and that just makes me happy to be from California.
In recognition and respect for these people and this event, I would like to share a Lover’s spread I use when I have a couple or individual wanting to know more about their love life:
Layout:
1 2
3 7 4
5 6
Meanings:
1. How you see yourself in the relationship.
2. How they see themselves in the relationship.
3. How you see the relationship at that moment.
4. How they see the relationship at that moment.
5. How you see the other person in the relationship.
6. How they see you in the relationship.
7. Where you two meet/ common group.
It is a fun spread to use to gain insight on where one seems to be at in their relationship and how one can work together with their partner to build a stronger foundation. It can also point out how different the relationship may seem and where one may wish to work on things. I think it can be useful and helpful if one is trying to get a fresh perspective. Also making sure the person/persons one does a reading for interacts with the cards and reader will bring a deeper meaning to this spread. We need to always remember that we are reading for the clients, and it’s about them, not us.
I’m delighted to announce that the fabulous DVD - 21st Century Tarot, featuring James Wanless, produced by our sister company, Tarot Media Company, is now available via Amazon.com!
The 31st of May thru the 2nd of June was the first weekend of the Valhalla Renaissance Faire, and Tarot-To-Go was there. Rose Red, Anastasia, and I spent Friday afternoon driving up to South Lake Tahoe, and setting up our booth. Saturday morning, we put on our costumes and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Last year this event was a great success for TTG, especially in the second weekend when it was just Rose Red and Anastasia (i had to work last year) and they had customers lined up and taking reservations.
My usual job at TTG events is to hold down the front desk (literally, on windy days). I make appointments, handle money, and explain Tarot to curious potential clients. To arouse interest, we have a basket up front, with little paper slips with the name of a Tarot card on one side, and TTG’s contact information on the other side. I invite people to draw a paper slip, and I show them the card from a giant Rider-Waite-Smith deck we keep up front just for this purpose and do a one-card reading for free. It’s been great practice in learning the cards and how to explaining them to others. Sometimes that’s all someone wants to hear, sometimes they decide they want a full reading. Heck, I’ve even been tipped for doing one card readings!
Anastasia has a weird theory about street faires and renaissance faires and the business of Tarot readings. You see, when things are going slow, she’ll go for a walk and see other vendors and guilds. While she’s away, buisness picks up. If she hangs out too long, buisness drops off. We joke about it. While we never really performed empirical experiments and there’s anecdotal evidence both ways, it does seem to hold more often than not, at least at the street fairs. Saturday I leaned over at one point while things were quiet and said to her: “Want to see if your theory holds?” She laughed, then went for a walk. While away, we had enough customers that even I got to do a reading while Rose Red was performing others. When Anastasia returned, we smiled at her and she said: “Okay, I’ll keep walking then.” When she returned half an hour later, we had nothing new to report. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t…
While I was also at Valhalla last year, I only ran the front desk and didn’t do any actual reading sessions. I didn’t feel ready then. This year was different. After another year of practice, and a crash course in speed reading, I felt I was ready this year to read at Valhalla. Of the readings I did that first weekend, here are a couple of note:
A woman was seeking guidance in making a tough decision. Her daughter had just had her first child, and the now-grandmother was thinking of moving from the bay area to live closer to her daughter and grand-daughter. The tough part was leaving her job, friends, and moving farther way from her son. After discussing the situation for a bit, we came up with a four card spread, which turned into a 9 card spread. The original four positions were: Reasons-PRO moving, Reasons-CON moving, Strengths, and Challenges (locations 1 thru 4, repectively). The initial draw was insightful, but hardly tipped one way or another. No easy decision was this! So we decided to draw another four cards, one for each location, to see what other factors may apply. Again, more information, but still evenly balanced. Finally, I asked her to re-shuffle the remaining cards, and draw one more. She did, and drew The Empress. We agreed that was a pretty clear indication. She was very happy with the reading, and we chatted a bit more.
The other reading of note was late Sunday afternoon, this young woman walks up to the front table. She spends a long time looking at our rates and printed “here’s what we are and aren’t” placards. She looks troubled, pensive. I ask her if she’s ever had a reading, she says no. I offer her a single card reading, and she accepts. I honestly don’t remember what the card was, but she was so shaken by the result, she decided she needed a full reading. She says she needs help and guidance, and it’s obvious that she’s carrying a lot of emotional baggage. So we have a reading. The cards turn up plenty of challenges, speak of weights being carried, and divisions both internal and external in source. So I read the cards and explain the layout, and ask her what’s going on that’s burdening her so.
Ever heard the phase: “Don’t ask questions you’re not prepared to hear the answer to?“ Well, it turns out this young lady’s in a real bind: She’s fighting for custody of her daughter, her best friend is deathly ill in the hospital, and she thinks her former spouse is at the faire in defiance of a TRO she’s filed against him. She’s seeking wisdom in finding the strength to perservere and keep going. Since the first reading didn’t really solve anything and just made the problems clearer, we talk about doing another reading to see where she can find strength and support. Adapting the body-mind-spirit spread, she reshuffles and we draw three more cards. We discuss how these can be sources of strength; be they people, activities, or just emotional ties. She seems a bit better after the second reading; maybe she just needed to vent or have someone listen.
Valhalla is a two-weekend event, so we’ll be back there this next Friday thru Sunday (the 6th thru 8th of June). Next post: Weekend 2!
-Andrew
* - Names and details changed to protect client identity and confidentiality.
Today - May 25 - is World Tarot Day! If you don’t know about WTD, I recommend visiting Den Elder’s site to find out the details.
Since we were busy finishing up the James Wanless video, we ran out of time to put together a World Tarot Day event this year - but stay tuned for 2009!
I hope you’re celebrating WTD in a way that’s fun for you!
Tarot-To-Go continued its tradition of reading at The Pagan Alliance Festival in Berkeley, California on May 10, 2008. The day dawned bright and early (suddenly, it’s summer!). Rose Red and Andrew met me at my house very early, we loaded up the tent and furniture, and off to Berkeley we went!
The festival is one of our favorite events, and we look forward to it each year. The crowd is always friendly and enthusiastic, and the people watching opportunities are unsurpassed - it is Berkeley, after all!
We set up in good time, with only a minor hitch (how is it possible to lose a box of 500 safety pins?!), and everyone did their warm ups, physical and otherwise, before the readings started. The event officially started at 10:00, but of course being in an open park, the public showed up earlier.
I realized I’d left our flyers at home (the hazards of packing early in the morning before I’ve had coffee!). Thing were pretty quiet, so I drove home to pick them up. I returned an hour later, and all the tables were full, there was a line and a waiting list! Andrew was managing it all quite calmly, and I took my place at the front table to catch up on the scheduling and payment tracking. A half hour later, it was quiet again. Artemis J says I’m making this up, but I swear it’s what happens at this event - when I’m at the booth, there’s not a client to be found; as soon as I leave, business picks up and the readers are constantly busy - until I return to the booth, and it dies down again. So, since it was quiet, I left the booth and wandered around to see who else was there and check out the altars set up for the event.
I returned to the very busy booth a half hour later, and then all was suddenly quiet. So I went for another walk. I did finally return to the booth so Andrew could have a break - holding down the front desk takes a lot of energy!
Things stayed busy as long as I stayed away - but I don’t take it personally. They also stay busy when I’m reading, which I was able to do a bit as well.
We had a great time, everyone read as much as they wished during the day, and we made a lot of new friends - definitely a day well spent!
Since all four of us have started blogging regularly, I’ve started to add article attributions in the title of each post. Yes, the name of the author appears in tiny type under the article title, but this way you can see the authors’ names more easily as you scan the page.
You can always pull up all articles by a particular contributor by using the handy links under “Categories” on the left side of the page.
I haven’t tagged my articles, since there’s rather a substantial number to go back and edit. So, if there’s no attribution in the post title, it’s one I wrote. I’d rather spend the time writing new posts than editing old ones!
If you have a suggestion for making it easier to indicate the author of each piece, let me know!
Anastasia
A friend of mine is facing a trip to visit her rather difficult family - during Mercury Retrograde. She asked me if I had any thoughts about using Tarot to help her deal with it. I came up with the following spread:
3 1
5
2 4
With the cards face up, pull the following:
1. One card that represents your hopes about the trip (easy travel, nice time with your brother, etc.).
2. One card that represents your fears about the trip (being stuck overnight in the airport in Duluth, for example).
With the cards face down:
3. Shuffle the deck, thinking about how to overcome your fears. Pull a card - it will tell you ways to deal with them.
4. Shuffle the deck again, thinking about how to realize your hopes. Pull a card - it will tell you how to do that.
5. huffle the deck one more time, thinking about one thing you can do to take care of yourself *right now*. Pull a card, and do what it tells you.
Next time you’re facing anxiety about a trip, try this and let me know what you think!
Day Three. Thalassa’s creative message of working with change, examples of awareness in the body language of others, and continuing to reach beyond your own experience.
In the afternoon session, JamesWells stunned us with his exercises of readee or querent involvement. The answer is in the question. Engage the querent. Each example was to highlight various views and shifts in perspective. Stack all your negative cards, then have them applied to your positive questions. Take a core issue, share it with a stranger in the room, and take away five thoughts from that person to assist you on a breakthrough. Powerful stuff. Working hands-on through all of it.
I cannot help but to express my gratitude to all I came in contact with, shared with, risked with, at times operating outside of some comfort zone. I shared honestly. I listened honestly. It was a total joy to see so many decks in action, so many different reading styles, so many spreads created. I must mention the uncommon experience of meeting the creator of the deck you use. To hear the premise or vision; heart and skill, forged to become what we might take for granted with the deck we use. One of my favorites is the Tarot of Dreams by Ciro Marchetti. To take in his artwork personally. Just awesome! All of the authors, deck creators, presenters and teachers were available for conversation and inquiries; up close and personal. What more could you ask for?
It is crystal clear why those drawn to the Tarot mystery return to this loving and supportive environment. As I review my notes and scan my memories, I continue to feel the impact left from the attending of this event. Ripples abound. I look forward to my return. Kudos to the founders and staff for the creation and vision of this event. Simply a revelation.
Day Two. Registration, opening ceremonies, and introductions. Presenters Kevin Quigley, Thalassa, and James Wells preview each of the upcoming sessions and the group reflected their excitement. Each presenter was allotted three and a half hours for their session. It was clear many of the attendees had been to the Readers Studio before. They knew. I did not. As the previews were completed, Wald led us in a Foundation reading exercise as we paired up with the caveat that this reading and this pairing would be read and shared now, and that exact spread and partner would be revisited Sunday morning-days later with the promise that you would feel the difference in your understanding of the interpretation. This would be based on your growth within the Tarot over these next few days.
Suffice it to say all of the presentations were dynamite. Kevin brought his wisdom with the story of the well frog - expanding knowledge and perspective. He raised the use of social styles as applied within the reading experience. Meeting the querent at his or her specific social style, by the reader, improves the opportunity for flow and receptivity.
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