Friday Lunchtime Tarot Class with Susan Gold

Susan Gold of Tarot Insights has begun a class series at her office in San Mateo, every Friday over the lunch hour.  Rose and I attended yseterday’s class, and had a great time!

Susan’s office is comfortable and warm, and very welcoming – much like Susan herself.  Susan provides Rider Waite Smith decks to use during class, and also sets out several of her decks for people to look at.  Two other women were in attendance, so we had a group of five – a perfect size for a workshop.

Susan led us through a warm up exercise, contemplating the King of Cups.  Even though this is a card we’ve all seen and know, it was interesting to hear everyone give their observations after really looking at the card for a few minutes.  One of the women pointed out that he’s drawn with no shoes on – a king in his socks!  That certainly gave all of us a new perspective on the card!

The main exercise was in three parts:

1. Think of someone close to you – a dear friend, spouse/significant other, family member, etc.  Go through the deck and pull the cards which you think represent how that person sees you.  Make a note of those cards.  (Susan provided us a list so we could check off the cards in each part of the exercise.  I used a different color pen for each person so I could compare them more easily.)

2.  Then think of someone who doesn’t know you very well, and pull the cards which you think represent how that person sees you.  Mark them on  your list.

3.  Think of someone you’re not in touch with any more – a friend you’ve lost touch with, a former lover, an old nemesis – and pull cards for how that person sees you.  Mark them on your list.

I picked a dear friend, a consulting client, and my former husband (divorced since 1997) for the exercise.  The most interesting pattern to emerge was that Death and Tower were included in each set:

For my friend, because we’ve been through a lot together, and we’ve both changed so much over the course of our friendship.

For my consulting client, because I’ve done so many layoffs for her company in the past year (almost 25% of their staff – the employees joke about taking up a collection to buy a black robe and scythe for me).

For my former husband, because my decision to end our marriage felt like a Tower event to him, and was a major transition for both of us.

One card which came up only with my friend was The Fool – that’s because we do a lot of foolish things together, and we’re not afraid to show that side of ourselves to each other.

One card which came up only for my client was the Magician.  I chose that card because in some ways, what I do seems magical to her – she chooses not to know much about my area of consulting, and the idea that I know what I do and am able to do the work for her company which I do is almost mystical to her.

One card which came  up only for my former husband was the Five of Wands, representing the disagreements which led to the end of our relationship.

This was a great exercise, and I’m definitely going to repeat it with other people in mind!

The class is every Friday, noon to 1:30 pm. You can find the details and directions on Susan’s website at Tarot Insights.

See you at Susan’s class!