2010 Readers Studio

I will be one of the three featured speakers, along with Robert Place and Elinor Greenberg, at the 2010 Readers Studio in New York. The website is now updated with all the information about this fabulous event. Hosted by Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone from The Tarot School, Readers Studio is a unique event, geared to those who want practical techniques that will improve their reading skills. As a result, the 200+ attendees experience a community of tarot enthusiasts who share ideas, resources and connections. For instance, just the “give-away” table alone has hundreds of gems to swap, to say nothing of the seemingly “never-ending” raffle. The vendors tables offer books and decks that would be hard to find elsewhere and give you the opportunity to meet a deck artist or book author in person. Publishers send representatives to scout new book and deck possibilities and to give away freebies. Besides the main speakers you can choose among a variety of shorter evening lectures, the breakfast roundtables or get a reading from one of the luminaries. Several of the online tarot forums have found it a great place to meet other members. Come one, come all to a great event.

Tarot Jigsaw Puzzles

Like games? Check out these fun Tarot Jigsaw Puzzles based on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.

Each puzzle consists of two cards back-to-back so you will have to flip some pieces over. This is a great way to examine the card’s symbolism and its placement of elements far more closely than you would have otherwise.

Check out the other games including Solitaire with the Rider-Waite Minor Arcana (tough because there are no colors to go by).

For Shame – 30 Senators vote against anti-rape law

There are thousands of good causes and I don’t want to make this a forum that addresses them. However, in the spirit of the Hanged Man in its original intention of a shame portrait, I want the 30 senators who voted against the anti-rape law to explain why they did so, and I’m willing to hang them in effigy until they produce some good reasons. The bags in the hands of the Hanged Man in the Charles VI Tarot (see right) are there as the mark of Judas and indicate the selling out of trust, honor and goodness. Who is hurt in this case? Hundreds or even thousands of women who work for American companies overseas. Their contracts prohibit them from  suing or speaking out. Instead, they are forced into secret arbitration and most of the perpetrators are never punished. More insidiously rape becomes a practice that “should be expected.” Company arbitration has not been effective at deterring rape among overseas workers. Laws have to be enforced and the consequences severe enough to protect the women. The companies have proved themselves unwilling to do this. This is explained in the video of Rachel Maddow interviewing Jamie Leigh Jones and her attorney—here. You’ll find Jon Stewart’s commentary here, in which he points out that the Republican’ claim that it’s “political,” and that government should have no say regarding the company contracts of those hired by the government, is directly opposite to Republican arguments regarding other companies. By the way, the link to “Republicans for Rape” that pictures and names the 30 senators—with their phone numbers—is a spoof site, designed to show just how outrageous this situation actually is and to make it easy for you to contact the senators and tell them what you think.

Header Decks Identified & a Winner

Congratulations to Gina Rabbin of San Francisco, California who is the winner of the contest to identify the nine cards in my blog header. This wasn’t an easy task, and Gina did an outstanding job. These tarot decks reflect some of my favorite tarot art. Enjoy checking them out.

The cards are, left to right:

Strength, from The Star Tarot by Cathy McClelland.

Wheel of Fortune, from the Tarot Chapel of Avenieres (not a deck).

The Tower, from The Kashmir Tarot by Nicolas van Beek (book by Rachel Pollack).

The Magician, from Arto Tarot by Jane Estelle Trombley (#17 of Adam McLean’s Artwork Tarots).

The Fool, from Ancestral Path Tarot by Julie Cuccia-Watts (o.p.), with author Tracey Hoover as the Fool.

The Chariot, from The Millenium Tarot: Tarot of the Four Worlds by Mary Susan Chamberlain & Ziba Vilmanis-Westenberg (o.p.)

The Empress, from The Healing Tarot by Jennifer Elizabeth Moore.

Death (Le Passage), from Tarot Initiatique Des Maestres (“Initiatory Tarot of the Masters”) by Daniele Didier and artists Tristan Ra & Cleremond (o.p.).

The Hermit, from The New Star Tarot by Erika McGinnis.

Contest – Identify the Decks

Contest Closed. And the winner is Gina Rabbin.

Win a copy of Origins of the Tarot: Cosmic Evolution and the Principles of Immortality by Dai Léon for identifying the cards/decks in my current header.

“Conventional wisdom traces Tarot cards to medieval Italy, but their roots go back much further in time and draw on a surprisingly rich variety of cultures and spiritual traditions. Combining pioneering scholarship with practical spiritual instruction, Origins of the Tarot is the first book to unveil the full range of the ancient streams of wisdom from which the Tarot emerged.” Read more here.

Hints: Most are self-published but viewable on the internet. One has never been published as a deck but I link to the images in my blog.

RULES:

• Do not post your response as a comment until there has been a winner. Instead email me directly with information on all nine cards.
• Include card name, deck title and creator, and identifying info on the one non-published image.
• I can only mail to an address in the United States or Canada (unless the winner is willing to pay postage).

Happy Hunting.

Rest in Peace, Jim Carroll

Jim Carroll (1949 – Sept. 11, 2009), author of the book/film, The Basketball Diaries, as I knew him—poet, friend: Bolinas, California, 1976-78.

Cultural Association “Le Tarot”

Announcing a website, now in English, for The Cultural Association “Le Tarot” whose president, Andrea Vitali, is one of the major researchers and writers of tarot history. Vitali has overseen many museum exhibitions of tarot and related artifacts – examples of which can now be viewed at this beautifully designed website. Vitali’s illustrated essays on the 22 Triumphs are essential for understanding the culture and ideas out of which the tarot arose (see Essays). This site, promoting tarot’s religious, philosophical, anthropological and artistic history, is filled with useful information including links to international websites—many of which you may not have heard.

To get the English translation click on the British flag on the top right.

♥

Important Updates to “Origins of Playing Card Divination”

I have extensively updated my earlier post on the Origins of Playing Card Divination and invite you to check out all the exciting new information. My thanks to discussions at the AeclecticTarot Historical Research forum.

The Unknowable

“The unknowable lives in a pack of cards after it has been fairly shuffled but before it has been dealt, when all the possibilities are open, and when each possibility matters.”

—from Freedom & Necessity by Steven Brust and Emma Bull (NY: Tor, 1997), p. 60. [Note: really good novel but read reviews first to see if it is your cup of tea.]

On Hiatus

Well, I’m off for ten days to teach tarot with Rachel Pollack at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck NY. I hope you’all miss me enough to sign up for next year’s workshops. I won’t be posting here while I am gone. In the meantime, I suggest you look through my blog Index and make sure you’ve seen all the goodies on the site. Or, use this time to write a tarot haiku and send it in as a comment.