The Tarot Apprentice, Readers Studio, and the Waiting Begins...

Courtney Weber blogged about me today in connection with Readers Studio. This is my first time at Readers Studio, and I have butterflies in my stomach. It's going to be an amazing event and I am going to be learning much more about tarot than I ever thought possible. This will make me an even better tarot reader, and I can't wait to share the new skills I will be gaining with clients.

In preparation for Readers Studio, I am packing the following to use as my workhorse decks for the conference:

• Tarot of the Boroughs (available at Readers Studio for purchase and here)
• Legacy of the Divine Tarot
• The Llewellyn Tarot

Why three decks? Because I am fickle, and I want to be prepared for that fickleness. I know I'm going to feel that I want to read with a certain deck and if I don't have it on hand, I will drive myself nuts.

In Tarot Apprentice contest news, the final challenge was posted on Monday. Now the waiting for the announcement of the winner begins. I feel a mix of relief, excitement, and nervousness. What if I'm not picked? What if I AM?! Either way, being a contestant on the Tarot Apprentice really pushed me to some of my limits (Read: vulnerabilities) both as a reader and as a potential businesswoman. It also made me aware of some things I say I don't do just because they are scary and difficult. Discomfort from something being new is one thing; that's something I can work through. There's a difference between setting boundaries because you realize that something doesn't work for you versus setting boundaries because you've never tried it. This is something I need to continue in my life, both as a reader and personally.

I will try to post a new blog after this weekend describing the indescribable: Readers Studio!

The Tarot Apprentice—Week 2

For the second installment of the Tarot Apprentice contest, go here.

This challenge for me was very tough... creating a tarot spread. I have never created a tarot spread before. Even though I would consider myself a bit of an unconventional soul, I'm like everyone else when it comes to things that scare me; I tend to stick with the familiar when I feel a threat to the status quo. Change is scary! But in this case confronting something that's scary was the only route to go, considering I had two choices: do the challenge, or forfeit the competition. Fear was not an option! Well, maybe fear was an option, but working through that fear won out. It also helped that I was half-coherent since I got a cold on Monday. I wasn't second-guessing myself as much.

I created the Clock Spread. For the spread, a sample reading, and my assessment of it, go to the link posted above. I am the first post. If you use it to do a reading of your own, please leave your thoughts in the comments section. I would love to hear them!

The Tarot Apprentice—Will It Be Me?

I am entered in a contest called the Tarot Apprentice. The first challenge of this competition kicked off yesterday. To follow my progress in this contest, go to The Tarot Lady's blog (blog.thetarotlady.com). For guidelines of the competition, they're here.

Watch for a new adventure each Monday during the month of April. Root for me!

Advice for New Readers

Earlier this week, I read for a friend in exchange for a sushi dinner. Once we had glasses of plum wine in front of us, she shuffled and I laid out the cards on the table and proceeded to read, hoping that I would finish her reading before the food came out. I did not. What followed was our waitress seeing the cards laid out and getting so excited about the cards and me reading them. She wanted to know how I did it, and I felt it was almost like asking a magician how he does his tricks. Not because reading tarot is in any way a magic trick, but because I was being asked to explain the process of how I read the cards. Much like, "How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?"

I think it was a very needed question to ask. If we start to do something by rote, the thought starts to go out of the process. So I broke it down for our waitress to the following (simplified) process: I learned and memorized the meanings of the cards first. Once I was done with memorization, I felt comfortable using the pictures to form my own interpretations of the cards. The memorization was the foundation on which I built upon.

What follows is a few tips I'd like to share with new tarot readers, gleaned from my own practice with the cards and combined with some advice that was given to me.

• Do not be afraid to say what you see, no matter how odd, obscure, or seemingly unrelated. YOU don't know how related or unrelated a seemingly random song popping into your head as you are in the middle of spread is to the person you're reading for. So say it. What's the harm?
• When I read, I relate situations I'm seeing in the cards to my life as a way to explain what I'm seeing to the client. For example, I once saw the Five of Cups in a reading I did for a kid (no pressure or anything!). I was using the Llewellyn Tarot at the time, and the card portrays a cloaked figure standing on the shore of a river, with his head down, a castle in the distance, and three of the five cups at his feet are spilled over. When I looked at this card, I remembered my best friend that moved away and I lost contact with from my childhood. So that's when I said, "Has a really good friend of yours just moved away?" Sure enough, that's what happened.

We see life through the lens of our own perspective. So do tarot readers as they're reading (at least THIS tarot reader does). Don't be afraid to make mistakes. You're going to make them; you're human. Start slowly, be gentle with yourself, and find some supportive guinea pigs who are willing to be read for. Grow from there. Not all tarot readers want to become professional readers who do this for a living. Some just read for themselves exclusively. Some just read for family and friends. Some take the leap of going pro. But however you come to the cards, come with humility and respect.

The "P" Word

Do I consider myself a psychic? No. Do I consider myself intuitive? Yes. What's the difference?

To me, it's all about what labels people are comfortable with. Me, I'm not comfortable with the word "psychic" in general. Any time anyone calls me one, it gives me pause. I feel that label is taken to the extreme in both a positive and a negative way. In the positive way, if you're labeled "psychic" you either do it full-time as your profession and you're always "ON". In a negative way, "psychic" to some people equates directly to "charlatan", which is extremely unfortunate, and a generalization of a group of people. There are phonies in every line of work; in every walk of life. Those that think psychics are a crock based on experiences with the crooked minority are closing themselves off to the psychics that are there in the service of growth of the human spirit.

So based on the connotations of the word "psychic", I choose to identify myself with the word "intuitive" instead, something I believe everyone is, some more than others, and something that can be cultivated and developed with practice. Not all tarot readers read intuitively. There are some that memorize the standard meanings of all 78 cards and their reversals, and then read based on that. When I began reading, I memorized. Memorization is a great thing for a beginner. As they say, you need to learn the rules before you break them. As I read the cards more, I began to trust in what I was seeing in the pictures more than what I had memorized for a card. From then, I associated the memories from my own life that the cards evoked to what my client was asking about when I read for them.

My sister once introduced me to a friend of hers as psychic. It was possibly the ONLY time I've ever felt comfortable with the designation. So call me a psychic if you want to, but I might look at you askance.

Tarot, I know. Astrology, I don't.

So, I may know a bit about tarot, but I know very little about astrology (all I know I know about Aries, my sign). Thankfully, George Courtney, co-creator of Tarot of the Boroughs, has started a blog on astrology. Please check out his blog!

Tarot Review: Tarot of the Boroughs

Deck: Tarot of the Boroughs
Created by: Courtney Weber and George Courtney
Date of Publication: August 2010
Published by: Self-Published

I count myself fortunate that I know the creators of this deck, Courtney and George. This is a marvelous tarot deck set in New York City and cast with the most eclectic personalities to represent all the variety of inhabitants in the five boroughs.

I have noticed a minority of photographic decks in the tarot world. Maybe it is because people think photographs detract from the mystery of the cards. In this deck, the photography is its strength, as is the models that were used. And "models" is the wrong word in this case . . . the people in this deck are the most accurate depiction of that rare race of people known as "New Yorkers," and were carefully selected as representative of the card they are featured in.

This deck I feel would be an excellent starter deck for even the most inexperienced reader. The photography makes tarot feel very accessible. It is not an ethereal thing. It is real and grounded. Because of this grounded perception, I feel more people would be willing to read the cards for themselves and not feel strange about it.

What makes this deck so strong is the Minor Arcana. Even a person that has read tarot for years can still struggle over the Minor Arcana cards. In this deck, each Suit carries a storyline running through it, and keeps the cast of models of each Suit the same throughout it. The two couples that may have been fighting in the beginning of the Cups suit are at peace by the time the Ten of Cups arrives. The inkling of a creative idea that is present in the Ace of Wands, represented as a paintbrush here, has blossomed to fruition by the Nine of Wands.

The little book that comes with the deck is not something to lean on, nor is it the intention of the creators of this deck for anyone to do so. In fact, it is encouraged for the reader to come up with their own interpretations for these cards, as only a basic meaning of each card is given.

However, the rich imagery of the cards invites any reader to dive right in. The strength of these images is summed up in one word: familiarity. We know these stories, because these stories are our own. Struggling with the photocopier, a symbol of the minor annoyances of office life, is on display in the Three of Coins card. The meaning here is obvious, but straight from the little book that comes with the deck . . ."Shit fucks up." Brilliant. Going to yoga class to regain balance (Temperance) . . . a dancer exhausted after a rehearsal, but happily wiping the sweat from her brow (6 of Wands) . . . the ex that you know is bad for you (The Devil) . . . the tentative first breakfast with a new love (3 of Cups) . . .

Tarot of the Boroughs is available in select stores and online at www.tarotoftheboroughs.com. Autographed decks are available at Whimsies Incognito.