This is a two-part workshop: 11am-12:30pm on May 15 and May 22
Preregistration required: bit.ly/BA-tarot
Tarot decks developed in 15th-century Northern Italy. Through regular use and cross-pollination with groups and cultures that still carried ancient, pre-Christian wisdom with them, tarot became a potent technology of divination. With the publication of the iconic Rider Waite Smith tarot deck in 1910—bearing the innovation of artist Pamela Colman Smith’s narratively illustrated minor arcana—the cards continued to attract meanings to them like a magnet attracting iron filings.
Whether we know anything about tarot or not, its power as a divinatory tool is immediately accessible to us. The images on the cards speak to the same part of us that is activated when we gaze up at the moon in the night sky. If our daytime, conscious mind is a periscope sticking out of the water, zooming in on a limited field of vision, our subconscious is the vast ocean that the periscope emerges from. It is this vast ocean that we are in communication with when we work with the tarot.
In the first part of this workshop, we'll explore the anatomy of a Tarot deck —The Fool's Journey of the Major Arcana, the four suits and elements, and the Minor Arcana, including the pip (or numbered) cards and the court cards. In the second session, we'll do practices together to see how tarot can help us discover the unique shape of our intuition and learn to trust it, stir the waters of our imagination, and remember that play is an essential ingredient in our "work." We'll also address the holographic nature of tarot study and practice—how the way we approach study becomes a part of the study itself.
What you’ll need:
78-card tarot deck (not an oracle deck)
journal/sketchbook/notebook
Seasoned tarot practitioners and tarot newcomers welcome! No prior experience with tarot is necessary. Questions? sheainthecatskills@gmail.com
This event will be recorded and available here for a limited time.
This program is funded by grants from the Central Berkshire Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and Fairfield County’s Community Foundation.