Tarot Table Talk

Dear Readers,

Last February, I posted an entry titled, “Tug of War: The Fool, Eight of Swords and Knight of Pentacles.” I was contemplating a new endeavor, one that involved some risk, and felt the adventurous tug of The Fool pulling me in one direction, and the cautious tug of the Knight of Pentacles pulling me in the other direction. The Fool won, and what a experience it has been.

I’m at a new juncture of the journey and have made another hard decision—this time to let go of this blog so that I can further focus my energy on this new path. No doubt, if you are a regular visitor, you have noticed that I haven’t been posting, so this may not be a surprise.

I want to thank you all for your visits and comments, which have meant so much and have brought me such joy.

Susan

The Bay Area Tarot Symposium is less than a month away—Saturday October 4, 2008!

Evelyn Pine and I will be doing a Writing with the Tarot workshop. We’d love for you to come write poetry with us!

There are going to be, as always, a lot of fabulous workshops and presentations. I’ve got the inside scoop on Carole Pierce’s Samhain workshop—it will be a wonderful opportunity to engage in self-reflection with the cards. Other presenters include Ruth and Wald Amberstone of the Tarot School, James Wanless, Ellen Lorenzi-Prince, Arnell Ando, Holly Voley, Corrine Kenner and more.

I thought it would be fun to pull a card right at midnight, and I had the deck shuffled and ready for a quick draw. Alas, I was so absorbed in a good novel—The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea—that I didn’t even notice the magical moment had passed.

This morning I asked the cards what I needed to know to make 2008 a good year. Here’s what they had to say:

Had I gone through the deck face up for my selection, I couldn’t have picked better cards! I’ve got a challenging goal for the year, and each of these cards represent aspects of myself that I must cultivate to be successful.  They will serve as good reminders.

Best wishes to all of you!

My day gig is as a high school teacher, and, Carole, the teacher I share a room with, gave me my first tarot reading. I got hooked, and she mentored me in the art. Carole has been our department’s resident reader for years. She reads at department get-togethers and writes beautiful year-card readings for teachers’ birthdays.

I have found “clients” from another department that I was involved with for a while. After school I’ll draw the blinds and lock the door, spread a cloth over a desk, pull out the cards, and hope the custodian doesn’t come in.

Yesterday, Carole and I received an urgent email mid morning. It was from a department head who was concerned about a teacher. “She needs a reading, and she’s open to it. Are one of you available?”

Even at the district-wide, back-to-school convocation when we were all crammed in theater seats, a colleague who has been studying tarot for some time, leaned over, pointing to the administrator at the mic. “Every time I see her, I think of The Empress,” she whispered.

Who says tarot hasn’t gone mainstream?

I’m working on a blog entry—and possibly a podcast—to celebrate the Mexican tradition, Day of the Dead, which is on November 2nd, so be sure to check back. I’ve created a simple Day of the Dead tarot ritual you can use to honor the memory of a loved one who has died.

In the meantime—Happy Halloween.