Podcast 36 is hosted by Anastasia, Rose Red, and Andrew, thoroughly (and often speechless-with-amazement) enjoying a sneak preview of Ciro Marchetti‘s website for his fabulous new Legacy of the Divine Tarot, which is now public. Click here to check it out!
In this episode:
Ciro Marchetti / Legacy of the Divine Tarot / Readers Studio / The Gilded Tarot / Tarot of Dreams / J.R.R. Tolkien / Lord of the Rings / Leisa Refalo / Dungeons and Dragons / Disney /
We’re excited to be part of the Mission Artists United Open Studios this weekend!
In collaboration with Mission Artists United, our building, ActivSpace, is holding open studios on Saturday and Sunday, with a special preview party on Friday night!
The Open Studios event runs all weekend! We’ll have our doors open the following hours:
Friday, October 9 7:00 – 9:30 pm
Saturday, October 10 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm
Sunday, October 11 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm
We’ll be doing free one card readings, and the artists will be displaying their works for your viewing pleasure. The open studios walk includes painters, sculptors, photographers, mixed media, and all kinds of artists!
You can find us at ActivSpace, 3150 Eighteenth Street (corner of Treat), in San Francisco. We’re in Suite 265, with a lovely west view!
Stop by and say hello!
Joanna Powell Colbert has completed her long-awaited Gaian Tarot! If you haven’t been following as she’s worked on the deck, you can see the deck on her website and learn more about it.
The deck will be released by Llewellyn Worldwide in September 2011.
To celebrate her accomplishment, and to allow readers to be able to work with the deck prior to its general release (I mean, really – who can wait two years?!), Joanna is offering a Collector’s Limited edition for pre-order beginning today! The offer is good through November 3, 2009, and it’s a tremendously generous one.
What is the offer? Well, I can’t tell you – only subscribers to Joanna’s newsletter have first chance at the limited edition! So take the opportunity right now to click on through to Joanna’s website, subscribe to her newsletter, and you, too, can take advantage of this fantastic opportunity!
Podcast #35 is hosted by Anastasia, Rose Red, and Andrew, enjoying a conversation with Thalassa, who provides a sneak preview of the wonderfulness which awaits at the 2009 San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium in San Francisco, California on October 3 – 4, 2009. Click here to check it out!
Thalassa / San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium / Rider Waite Smith Tarot / Stuart Kaplan / Pamela Colman Smith / Arthur Edward Waite / Pictorial Key to the Tarot / RWS Centennial in London produced by Kim Arnold / Brian Williams / Mary Greer / Holly Voley / Rachel Pollack / Cynthia Giles / Dr. John Dee / Fleet Week / Castro Street Fair / Bridge to Bridge Run / Cathedral Hill Hotel / Readers Studio / Arnell Ando / Joseph Martin / Pamela Eakins / Dr. Art Rosengarten / Teressana Bakens / The Fifth Tarot / Leisa Refalo / Kooch Daniels / Matrix Meditations / Ellen Lorenzi-Prince / Carole Pierce / William Butler Yeats / Thena MacArthur / Tarot Garden / Drew Ward / Magical Realist Press / Bohemian Cat Tarot / Tarot of Prague / First Unitarian Universalist Center of San Francisco / Solandia / Aeclectic Tarot / US Games / The Halloween Tarot / Pamela Colman Smith Centennial Set / Llewellyn Worldwide / Corinne Kenner / Aleister Crowley / Lo Scarabeo / PantheaCon / John Scalzi
Earlier this year, the fabulous Rachel Pollack released (via Magic Realist Press) The Tarot of Perfection: A Book of Tarot Tales. I finally made time to read it over the long holiday weekend. I stayed up until 3:00 am to read it three times through, dreamt about it all night, and read it again in the morning.
The words that come to mind are: compelling, imaginative, and gothic (only in the case of two of the stories, “The Souls in the Trees” and “Simon Wisdom”). And, like all good literature, educational and enlightening while entertaining.
Rachel is known for the high quality of her writing, which is of course superb in this collection of short stories. Rachel is also known for her ability to take the known, the familiar, and tweak them ever so slightly to create something entirely original and surprising.
The theme throughout most of the stories is a deck known as the Tarot of Perfection (which, if Rachel creates, I will publish in a heartbeat). The title story gives the history of the fictional deck’s creation by the character Joachim. The deck’s next appearance in a story is in “The Souls in the Trees” – in a reading done by our very own Dr. Apollo!
“Simon Wisdom” is the longest story in the collection, and the spookiest. It features the Tarot of Perfection, magical squirrels who are enchanted siblings, popcorn, bullies, and one of the scariest villains in fiction. He never commits an evil act directly on the page – rather, he emanates evil, and what we learn about him as we read is really more horrifying than reading a detailed description of an evil deed as it is committed. I’m not much for horror – I have nightmares all too easily – but this story was so well done that it spooked me thoroughly, but didn’t disturb my dreams.
A few stories don’t directly feature Tarot, but have magical elements which enliven the plot. The tale of a pickpocket (“The Pickpocket’s Destiny”) had me laughing out loud. In a fantastic twist on the usual young-man-seeks-life-wisdom-from-elder, the hero of the story is advised by his guide to become a thief, then a burglar, then a bandit – not your typical career or spiritual development advice! “The Girl Who Went to the Rich Neighborhood” is a magical tale of a poor young woman on a quest to seek aid for her family. She receives it, but not from whom – or in the manner in which – she expected when she set out. Remember: be kind to everyone you meet.
My favorite non-Tarot story, “Carolina in the Morning”, features Caroline, a brave young woman who takes on the Devil. However, unlike a typical Dark Lord, this Devil buys souls on eBay and keeps them in a computer file – fiendishly clever!
The last story, “Master Matyas”, brings the book full circle, back to the Tarot of Perfection. As Rachel recounts in her blog, she took the name from an inscription on one of the fountain pens she uses to write. Matyas is a young country boy who escapes his dull life to become a wizard, and learns that there’s more to life than knowing everything.
I love this book of tales, and I wish I’d made the time to read it sooner! If you haven’t read it, or if you haven’t read it in a while – pick it up and start reading!
I haven’t read Mosse’s prior novel, Labyrinth – although now I very much want to!
In Sepulchre, Mosse centers the story on a fictional Tarot deck which affects the lives of Leonie, a young girl living in Paris in 1891, and Meredith, a 21st century American woman. Each is surrounded by family, friends, and strangers – and it’s not easy to know who to trust, who is telling the truth – or even what the truth is.
The story starts in Paris and moves to the countryside – Rennes-Le-Chateau. (No, I haven’t read or seen The Da Vinci Code – I’m probably one of three people in the Western Hemisphere who hasn’t.) For those who are familiar with the legends (or who are convinced of their historical veracity), the region is thought by some to have connections with Mary Magdalene, the descendants of Jesus, and all kinds of conspiracies. Much of this features in Sepulchre, but Mosse’s book is historical fiction and is not presented as fact.
The Tarot deck at the center of the story is a figment of Mosse’s imagination, and does not actually exist. However, I think a Tarot deck based on this period in France would be fabulous! (If you’re interested in doing one, contact me.)
Mosse does not claim to be a Tarot expert, and she acknowledges in her end notes the individuals who provided her with Tarot information and prepared the reading at the center of the book.
The book is an interesting read, well-written, and a substantial 565 pages – perfect for a three day weekend.
For a plot and character summary, you can see the books’ site at http://www.sepulchre.co.uk.
Tarot, demons, Visigoths, Mary Magdalene, fin-de-siecle France, and modern day international romance – really, what’s not to like?
I recently had a reading from someone who I know is a good reader. Nothing elaborate, no 39.725 card Karmic Past Life Universal Master Symbological spread, just a few quick cards to look at something going on. The spread was a “if yes / if no” two card spread using the Voyager deck.
The reader found many positive things to say about the “if yes” card – Man of Cups (Surfer).
The reader’s tone of voice changed and she didn’t find much positive to say about the “if no” card – 9 of Worlds (Harvest).
The reader didn’t know the particular issue I was asking about, simply that it was about a choice I was considering.
The reading was a wake up call for my own self as a reader. She had assumed (consciously or otherwise) that the choice was something I wanted to say “yes” to, and had pitched the reading in that direction.
The reality is that the opportunity is *not* something I want to say “yes” to, but felt compelled to consider for certain reasons. By working from the assumption that I did want to say yes, the reader spun the reading in a way that didn’t provide much useful information.
So, next time I sit down to read, I have to remind myself – I don’t know what’s best for my client, and I can ‘t assume that I know what the “right” answer is. Before I speak, I’ll check in with myself – am I saying what is really coming through my intuition, or am I imposing my thoughts on the flow of information?
Podcast #34 is hosted by Anastasia, Rose Red, and Andrew, discussing Tarot and classical art with James Ricklef, creator of the Tarot of the Masters. Click here to check it out!
In this episode:
James Ricklef / Tarot of the Masters / Los Angeles Tarot Symposium (LATS) / Lorenzo deI Medici / Lorenzo de Medici Statue by Michelangelo / Michelangelo / Johannes Vermeer / Giovanni Bastista Tiepolo, Allegory of the Planets and Continents / Sebastiano Ricci, The Fall of Phaeton / Hieronymous Bosch, The Magician / Pope Gregory IX / Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), Approving the Decretals / William Blake, The Ancient of Days / Frederick Leighton, And the Sea Gave up the Dead Which Were in It / Herman Melville / Moby-Dick / Jean-François Millet, The Man with the Hoe (Painting) / Edwin Markham, The Man with the Hoe (Poem) / Pamela Colman Smith / Charles Dickens / A Christmas Carol / Diego Velázquez, The Needlewoman / Rachel Pollack / Forest of Souls / Tarot of the Masters Yahoo Group / Tarot: Get The Whole Story / Tarot Tells the Tale / Create Space / Joseph Martin / Mary K Greer / Tarot Affirmations / Tarot Article of the Month
The Tarot Garden is having their annual Reverse Auction this weekend! This is your chance to pick up all kinds of decks – old, new, out-of-print, rare, classic – at amazing prices!
Head on over to Tarot Garden so you don’t miss out!
Archetypes are everywhere – and sometimes you don’t have to look too hard to find them! This ad was in the Montgomery Street BART station in San Francisco.
Justice in Montgomery BART Station
