Mission Accomplished!

After a few weeks without any word from Secret Goddess Agent "L", I admit I was worried about her top secret mission to infiltrate the Vatican. Had something gone terribly awry? Did she make it past the ever-vigilant Swiss Guards? Were Cardinals waterboarding her with holy water in some secret Papal dungeon? And then this week, word finally arrived -- mission accomplished! Goddess be praised! Stay tuned for a full report!

RS09: Lights! Arcana! Action!

In addition to RS09's Master Classes, there were several optional workshops to chose from, which were led by various tarot experts. I chose "Lights! Arcana! Action!" taught by Thalassa, founder of the Daughters of Divination. Thalassa also produces the annual San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium (SF BATS), which is the world's oldest continually-produced tarot event (first held in 1991). According to her website, Thalassa has "mad schemes for global domination through divination-centred events."

Two things in particular struck me as interesting and useful in Thalassa's workshop. One was her "Black Swan, White Swan" method of further illuminating any action or outcome suggested by a spread. To gain more information, the querent picks two more cards. The first card (the Black Swan) reveals something which the querent should let go or release. The second card (the White Swan) reveals something which the querent should move toward or embrace.

The second interesting thing was Thalassa's big bag of giveaway cards. She always carries a large draw-string bag full of miscellaneous tarot cards -- cards from decks where one or two cards have been lost, cards from decks she no longer uses, stray cards from wherever, etc. The cards are all mixed together in a jumble in her bag. She lets people reach in the bag and pick a card to keep as a special way of ending a reading or starting a conversation or "just because." I thought it was a fun idea and a neat way to interact with people.

The card I picked was the Page of Wands from . . . the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, of course! Am I starting to resonate more with it, after all these years?

RS09: Tarot Readers as Entertainers

A very interesting "Lunch 'n Learn" presentation was given by Valentina Burton, a professional tarotist from Dallas, Texas. She reads in her own store, but also reads in bars and at a lot of parties. The purpose of the tarot reader in such venues is strictly to be "the entertainment," she says, so you'd better be entertaining! For that purpose, she dresses in often outrageous costumes and projects a very flamboyant personality. To ensure that no one will have a distressing tarot experience, she also removes all the "troublesome" cards from her reading deck (Death, the Tower, the 10 of Swords, you know the ones!)

She had several practical tips for dealing with drunks and obnoxious clients in a professional but firm manner. Valentina has a male assistant working with her at these events to handle the scheduling of querents and other details. I suspect he's also her "muscle" in case things get ugly due to out-of-control party goers. Valentina also cheerfully admitted to breaking many tarot rules -- she will read to predict the future, she will read to answer a question about someone other than the querent, etc. Valentina was a bit of a refreshing change from the standard tarot reader persona of counsellor, psychologist, spiritual advisor or life coach.

RS09: James Wanless

James Wanless, the creator of the Voyager Tarot, is a powerful motivational speaker. His emphasis is always on action -- don't just dream it, don't just talk about it, do it! Pick a card every day to identify a small, specific, concrete action to take in fulfillment of your plan and then actually do it that day. His Master Class got everyone very pumped up. The most interesting reading tips that appealed to me were:

* If you're asked to do a reading on a very specific area (say, finances), an effective way to get the most powerful and direct answer is to separate the relevant suit from the deck (in this case, pentacles) and do the reading using only those cards.

* A three-aspect reading can be done from a single card. Notionally divide the card into three areas (top, middle, bottom) and read one aspect per section (for example: past, present, future / spiritual, emotional, physical, etc.). Of course, this works best with cards like the Voyager Tarot that are densely packed with symbols spread over the entire surface. If you try it with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, you'll end up interpreting lots of blue sky with maybe a bird or a cloud in it!

* If you have a spare Voyager deck, cut off the borders of each card and then cut the card into four square pieces. Each one of these mini-cards will have a couple of symbols on it. They can be drawn randomly by a querent to enhance the interpretation of any given card in a spread.

RS09: Geraldine Amaral

Geraldine Amaral is the co-author of Tarot Celebrations: Honoring the Inner Voice (1998). I read this book when it first came out and loved it, so I was very excited to see her at the Readers Studio. Her Master Class also concerned honing our intuitive abilities. With a partner, we did an intuitive reading of our soul cards (or DNA cards, as she called them). One thing that struck me in particular was the series of steps she always uses to prepare herself for any kind of tarot reading:

1. Breathe -- Take a few moments to focus on deep breathing because "spirit enters through the breath."

2. Affirm and Protect -- Call on your spiritual ideal for wisdom and protection.

3. Ground and Centre Yourself -- Feel your connection to the earth through your feet. Do not cross your arms or legs while doing so.

4. Soul Connection -- Place your hands (palm down) on the querent's hands (palm up). Close your eyes and breathe. Through the energy conveyed by your palms, try to tune into the querent's vibrations and make a soul connection.

5. Speak Name -- Have the querent speak their name three times. Tune into the name's spoken energy and vibration.

6. Open the Gate -- Imagine a door opening to your intuitive mind, which is "an altered state of consciousness -- the place where synchronicity is produced." With your eyes still closed, imagine yourself walking through that door.

7. Neutrality and Scribble -- Open your eyes and scribble all over a blank notebook page, while silently saying "I release. I release." This is to free you from your own prejudices, hang-ups and preconceived notions so that you can be neutral and unbiased while doing the reading. The scribbling physically enacts this release.

8. Now You're Ready to Read!

Geraldine also recommends "closing our intuition portals" at the end of each reading by thoroughly shuffling the cards before putting them away. A tarot reading imposes order on chaos and on completion, the cards need to be returned to chaos again. This shuffling also ensures that the querent's energy does not remain with the cards.

RS09: The Power of Silence

The first Master Class at the Readers Studio 09 was "The Power of Silence" with Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone. They run the Tarot School of New York and organize the Readers Studio every year. Their book Tarot Tips (2003) is one of the best books I've ever read for practical tips and advice on how to read tarot.

The purpose of the class was to increase our intuitive reading skills. First, one must relax and be open. The best way to do this is to close your eyes, breathe deeply, relax your shoulders and smile. Smiling is crucial because it creates a positive atmosphere. The Amberstones recommend the practice of darshan -- silent communication with another being -- as a way of increasing intuitive skills. Darshan can also be done with things that are wrongly classified as inanimate, Wald said. So we practiced with various items on our tables. I tried darshan with my coffee cup.

The intuitive skills of darshan can ultimately be used to communicate with tarot cards to produce a deeper and richer reading experience.

And, oh yeah -- my coffee cup says "hi!"

Send Her Victorious, Happy and Glorious

Happy Victoria Day, everyone! Long may Queen Victoria's illustrious heirs reign. Hee hee!