First Meeting of the San Francisco Tarot Cafe

On Tuesday, April 6, Rose Red, Andrew, and I settled into the back room at the fantastic Borderlands Cafe and pulled out our decks in anticipation of the first San Francisco Tarot Cafe.  Jude, the manager, was terrific, and helped us pick a perfect spot.  We ordered drinks and snacks from the fantastic, fresh menu, and waited as the clock struck seven.

We were shortly joined by four wonderful people – Camille, Nina, Chaya, and Fey – who quickly became new friends through our shared love of Tarot.

Since it’s always helpful to know who one is sharing a table with, we went around for introductions.  Our group was wonderfully mixed – some new to the Tarot, some who’d been working with it a few years, and a few of us who’d been doing it somewhat longer.

We then went around and shared about our favorite card, or at least a card we really, really like.  The mix of cards – and decks – was great! People shared about Temperance from the Gill Tarot; Justice from the Mythic Tarot; the Woman of Wands from the Voyager Tarot; the Seven of Cups and the Magician from the Bohemian Gothic Tarot; and I shared about the Star card from The Wheel of Change Tarot.

For each card, the person who selected it talked about what drew them to the card, and how they worked with it in readings.  Everyone else chimed in with their ideas, and we spent time admiring each other’s decks – several of the attendees had never seen at least one of the decks someone else was using, and it was exciting to look through the cards and talk about the images. And Fey brought a brand new copy of Robert Place’s Alchemical  Tarot Renewed for everyone to admire!  (If you haven’t seen this deck, I encourage you to check it out! You can also hear Robert speak about it in detail in our Podcast #42.)

Then everyone paired off to trade short (three minute) readings.  This gave everyone a chance to play with different decks and learn reading techniques from each other.  Some pairs fit several cards into the time, and other pairs focused in depth on one card.  Then everyone switched and read again.

We talked about the readings, and what people had learned from their partner’s reading style and interpretation.  It was interesting to see the same card – in various decks – turn up in the readings. Out of six readings, we had three Chariots!  Clearly, this is a group that is on the move!

To finish, we all pulled a card for the coming week, and everyone gave their ideas about what it meant for the person who’d pulled it.  It was like having six readings all at once – interesting, and fun, and fascinating to hear the different meanings people found in the images.  Someone pulled The Devil – clearly, a week to have fun, but to do so in a sensible way!

Suddenly, it was 9:00 pm and the cafe was closing, so we quickly packed our cards, cleared our table, and went our merry ways, laughing and talking as we left.

We’ll be gathering again on April 20, from 7:00 – 9:00 pm.  If you’re in San Francisco, I hope you’ll join us!