I draft this post from my airline seat, while at 30,000’ and somewhere over middle-America, on my way home from Readers Studio 2011 and I’m still decompressing and processing the experience. It really all began long before Wednesday evening, when RoseRed and I boarded our red-eye flight from SFO to JFK, but that’s when it really felt like at real thing. I hardly ever sleep when flying so a long day at work, followed by an entire evening and night traveling is a really draining experience (my Chariot had run its course). Even after arriving at JFK early Thursday morning, we had one more journey: a taxi cab ride to the hotel. I missed the last two years of Reader’s Studio due to work issues. Plus, this year Tarot Media Company was an official vendor at the event as well, so there was much setup to be performed.
A LOT of stuff happened at Reader’s Studio this year and I’ll try to recap what I can remember:
Corrine Kenner taught a class on Astrology and the Tarot. Now I confess, I’m not very much into astrology and this class was a little too deep for me. I don’t really get it when someone says: “Oh, that’s because they’re a Virgo,” or “he was a Scorpio, so it’d never work out.” For a long time I personally found it insulting when someone acted like they knew all about be when they learned that I’m a Gemini. Corinne’s class required bringing your birth chart, and frankly when I looked at mine, I first impression was that Cylon raiders were about to sink my BattleStar Galactica (yeah, I’m a geek). Sadly, even after her class, I still don’t get Astrology and certainly not astrology birth charts. Maybe I’ll have to learn a bit more about Astrology. After all, Corinne has a new book on Astrology and Tarot coming out soon…
I did, however, pick up a copy of Dan Horn and Corrine Kenner’s Tarot of Physics, and got him to sign it. I’ll post a review of it soon (I promise!)
The fantastic Barbara Moore taught a class on creating new spreads. Creating custom spreads for my querent’s questions is something I already enjoy doing so I was looking forward to learning new techniques. Above all else, I learned about using a moving Significant card in a reading, which I’ll have to play with more in the future. She’s also working on a Steampunk themed tarot!
I also got to catch a glimpse of Ciro Marchetti’s new Oracle cards and I can’t wait to order mine by the end of the month. He also had lots of other nifty merchandise, so check out his website here.
Caítlin (pronounced Kash-lin) Matthews ‘s presentation was a more complicated affair of sorting and divining cards when performing a reading. Personally, I just shuffle and draw enough cards for the number of places in the reading, but Caítlin presented methods of shuffling and dividing the cards into as many piles as places needed in the reading, with any remaining cards serving as an ‘ally’ set for use in enhancing existing cards. Alternatively: pick a Significant card, reshuffle it back into the deck, then dividing the deck as before and choosing the pile that contained the Significant card to perform the reading with. I also must say, Caítlin has a lovely voice when she sang for us!
Saturday night was a costume ball where everyone dressed up, often as their favorite Tarot card characters. While RoseRed and I didn’t have specific characters in mind we did try on some new duds and got plenty of pictures taken with friends and hobnob with celebs.
During the final day, Shindig software showed off their virtual tabletop reading space, allowing querent and reader to not only see the same cards being laid out, but also see each other via webcams as well. They go live sometime in the next few months, so we’ll have to see how that works out for them.
This resulted in a conversation between Susa, Beth any I later that evening on the future of digital communication and divination. There was much concern about removing the physical metaphysical connection between reader and querent. How can one intuit or cold-read someone over a webcam? Then again, who’s to say that we can’t adapt and learn new techniques for divination in the future? Tarot cards are just a tool, just like oracles, runes, stones, bones and the entrails of birds. In the 22nd century, will we divine with the hologramatic entrails of virtual goats?
So that’s about all I can recall at this moment. We’re coming in for landing and I have to shut my laptop down. Next week I’ll get back to my Zero cards for the minor Arcana and review some decks.
~Andrew
Hi Andrew! The first few times you sit down and try to learn astrology, it doesn’t make sense. It’s like learning a foreign language. The only way to really begin is to immerse yourself in the sound of the words. Just listen to the dialogue and let it wash over you. It sounds crazy, but if you just roll with it, one day you’ll hear someone speaking astrologese and suddenly realize that you understand them!
Thank you Corrine! I look forward to your book on the subject coming out!