London Tarot Conference 2009

This was the first time I have attended the London Tarot Conference and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to mix with other Taroists and like-minded people. On arrival we were signed in and given a name badge by organiser Kim Arnold's helpful husband Martin. I didn't attend the Friday evening workshops and Cocktail party so can't report on them. In the large conference room we choose our seats and received our goodie bags which included a pack of The Llewellyn Tarot cards - very nice. We had a short welcoming speech by Kim and then into a talk by Liz Dean who is a former editorial director in mind, body, spirit publishing, writer, editor and poet. Liz talked about the Major Arcana's dark beginnings in a brutal Roman festival and its first appearance as a hand-painted deck commemorating a royal wedding in 1441. We were taught how to play the card game of Tarot which was quite fun once we got the hang of it.
Following a coffee break there was the workshop, The Living Celtic Cross by Corinne Kenner the well-known tarot master and author of several books. Corinne gave us very large tarot cards and chose eleven people (yes, eleven) to arrange in a Celtic Cross spread whilst holding the cards. The "querent" asked their question and Corinne read the cards. Then it was the turn of the people holding the various cards to speak to the querent and give their version of the messages from the cards they were holding. Three readings were performed in this manner - the first with a relationship subject read by Corinne, the second with a money subject was read by Emily Carding and the third with a health subject was read by Corinne's husband, Dan.
We then had our lunch break and the optional lunch time workshops - Reading Professionally by Mary Collin, the Transparent tarot by Emily Carding and Tarot & the Creative Process by Kay Stopforth.
After lunch we were treated to an hour long talk by Richard Abbot showing us how to find and explore our Inner World using tarot as the link to familiar themes and anchors and finding out where common experience ends and personal experience begins. Richard runs a print and publishing company, organises festivals and events, has written six books and numerous magazine articles.
Another much needed coffee break brought us to the workshop: Hunting the Lady by Caitlin Mathews. Caitlin taught us how to discover where a querent's deeper issue is located in a Tarot Reading and using some intriguing spreads we hunted the significator and revealed the hidden agendas.
This was followed by a Tarot Meditation led by Emily Carding which was enjoyed by many and I overheard some positive feedback.
Kim closed the Conference by asking all the speakers of the day up to the front for a round of applause and a photo call.
A very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday and the chance to meet up with some more TABI members

The Magic of Twitter

I think it was two to three years ago that I downloaded some Tarot podcasts from the Tarot Connection to my laptop and MP3 player. I listened to these in the car, in the bath - whenever I could. The podcast contributors included Leisa ReFalo, Ginny Hunt and Bonnie Cehovet. There were others but these are the ones that stick more firmly in my mind. I marvelled at the knowledge and experience these people had but they were distant voices from another part of the planet and as much as I admired them, I had no real connection to them apart from an interest in Tarot. Until last week that is. I now find myself discussing mundane, day to day, household issues with.......Bonnie Cehovet! The distant voice from my treasured podcasts is now communicating with me via Twitter.

It seems such a bizarre situation that I had to blog about it. Twitter, for me, is a great equaliser of all people. The famous mingle and communicate with the everyday people at home. It does them good (I hope) and helps to keep them grounded and at street level and it does us ("normal" people) good to think that the people we admire are interested in what we have to say. Whether they are or not, I don't know but it's good PR for them. So it works for everyone and keeps us all connected. Perhaps a rather simplistic view and I know that Twitter isn't everyone's cup of tea but I find it fun and all the time it's fun - I shall be using it.

UK Tarot Conference 2009

Less than a week to go now until the UK Tarot Conference 2009 on the 16th and
17th October. This is the 6th UK Tarot Conference founded by Kim Arnold who was also responsible for launching the Psychic Café in 2005.
Kim started the Tarot Conference in order to bring Tarot out of the shadows and into the 21st century. She had been intimidated in the past by members of a church, because of her work with the tarot, so decided to do something about it.
This will be the very first time I have attended anything like this and I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about it. Having met Kim before, I have no doubt that it will live up to my expectations.
I can’t wait!