May 7 & 14, 2008 -6:oo - 8:00 PST - 8:00 -10:00 EST
$50.00

Register Here

Alchemical symbols are connected to a wisdom tradition that is derived from the Higher Self. Therefore, the alchemical images in The Alchemical Tarot magnify the symbolic purpose of the Tarot and unveil the transformative wisdom of the Higher Self.

In these two classes we will walk through the alchemical imagery of the Alchemical Tarot with its creator, Robert M. Place.

Sample Page from Class Notes:

Hieroglyphs From The Soul

June 11, 2008 -6:oo - 8:00 PST - 8:00 - 10:00 EST

$25.00

Register Here

Robert Place sees the Tarot as a spiritual tool that works, through its archetypal images, to assist our Higher Self to guide us to enlightened choices and spiritual wisdom. He recommends three card readings as a Tarot staple, and sets out a guideline for interpreting them called “The Seven Patterns.” These patterns include: linear, choice, central origin, central destination, the central problem and the central teacher.

The course will include an introduction to the method, description of the patterns, and sample readings. For the three card spread. Class notes will be provided in advance to illustrate the patterns. The Rider Waite Smith Tarot and Alchemical Tarot will be used.

Read a review of this class by Cynthia Tedesco.

The Relationship Spread

June 18, 2008 - 6:00 - 8:00 PST - 8:00 - 10:00 EST
$25.00

Register Here

Tarot readers are most commonly asked for advice about love or career. By treating these questions as a relationship between the querent and another person, company, or institution this spread can handle both topics. This spread can be applied to relationships between the querent and a lover, a boss, or another person, a job, a home, a culture, a city, or another environment. Instead of predicting the future, it gives insight into what each party is thinking and how they are interacting. Then the cards can provide insight from the Higher Self and tell the querent how to improve the relationship or other advice. This is a truly versatile spread that is capable of bringing insight and guidance to any situation.

The class will include an introduction to the spread, the three stages of relationships and how they relate to the Tarot trumps, and sample readings. This class builds on the lessons learned in Hieroglyphs From The Soul and will expand on the three-card reading.

Class notes will be provided in advance to illustrate the patterns. The Rider Waite Smith Tarot and The Alchemical Tarot will be used.

Teleclass Information

You will be responsible for the long distance rates or tolls will be charged by your phone company. For most people, this usually runs about $3-$6 for an hour. Calling Cards can also be used. (Note: If you are a Tarot Professional, your tuition may be tax-deductible as a training expense. Consult your tax advisor.)
What you need:

1. Telephone (land line if possible, we will be recording the class)
2. Quiet Room
3. Tarot Deck
4. Handout (provided)
5. Notebook
6. Pencil

You will be notified by e-mail with the conference call number and passcode. Please write in with questions for a reading. Robert Place will select a couple of questions for use in the class.

register for these classes at shop.tarotconnection.net

Tarot Table Talk Episode Number 6: Interview with Leisa ReFalo of The Tarot Connection

Susan Gold interviewed me for her podcast. She was able to get me to talk more about myself than I am usually willing to do. This interview helped me to get motivated to launch the Tarot of the iPod project.

Here are a few pictures that related to the conversation.

The Osborne Computer

Some of my Lace

Hieroglyphs From The Soul

11/28/07 - 6:00 - 8:00 PST
$25.00

Register Here
Robert Place sees the Tarot as a spiritual tool that works, through its archetypal images, to assist our Higher Self to guide us to enlightened choices and spiritual wisdom. He recommends three card readings as a Tarot staple, and sets out a guideline for interpreting them called “The Seven Patterns.” These patterns include: linear, choice, central origin, central destination, the central problem and the central teacher.

The course will include an introduction to the method, description of the patterns, and sample readings. For the three card spread. Class notes will be provided in advance to illustrate the patterns. The Rider Waite Smith Tarot and Alchemical Tarot will be used.

The Relationship Spread

12/12/07 - 6:00 - 8:00 PST
$25.00

Register Here

Tarot readers are most commonly asked for advice about love or career. By treating these questions as a relationship between the querent and another person, company, or institution this spread can handle both topics. This spread can be applied to relationships between the querent and a lover, a boss, or another person, a job, a home, a culture, a city, or another environment. Instead of predicting the future, it gives insight into what each party is thinking and how they are interacting. Then the cards can provide insight from the Higher Self and tell the querent how to improve the relationship or other advice. This is a truly versatile spread that is capable of bringing insight and guidance to any situation.

The class will include an introduction to the spread, the three stages of relationships and how they relate to the Tarot trumps, and sample readings. This class builds on the lessons learned in Hieroglyphs From The Soul and will expand on the three-card reading.

Class notes will be provided in advance to illustrate the patterns. The Rider Waite Smith Tarot and The Alchemical Tarot will be used.

The Four Elements and the Four Functions of Consciousness

1/9/08 - 6:00 - 8:00 PST
$25.00

Register Here

The famous Swiss Psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, is best known for his theories about the unconscious mind but Jung mapped the conscious mind as well. In the conscious mind he found a mandala of four personality types that he called functions. Although Jung started by examining the four humors of classical medicine, he quickly realized that they did not describe true psychological states. He replaced them with the four qualities that he did discover in the human psyche and labeled these qualities: thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition. Although Jung veered away from the theory of the humors, it is still possible to make a connection between his four functions and the four elements of the alchemists and through this connection to link them with the four minor suits in the Tarot.

This class will explore the symbolism of the four minor suits and demonstrate that they contain a mandala like structure that relates to the four directions, seasons, elements, and other fourfold systems including the four Jungian functions. We will learn more about the functions through examples and each student will attempt to discover their dominant function. Through their relationship with the functions, the cards become a valuable psychological tool that can point out difference in personality and harmonize relationships between different personality types.

Dream Divination

1/23/08 & 1/30/08 - 6:00 - 8:00 PST
$50

Register Here

We spend about one third of our lives sleeping. When you are asleep you are naturally communicating with the unconscious part of your mind, where the archetypes live and your dreams are that communication. The ability to dream evolved in mammals about 130 million years ago. Like all mammals, humans dream and have always dreamed as long as they have been around. It is not surprising, therefore, that dreams are the oldest and most natural form of divination. They are also one of the most insightful and reliable. Dreams can heal us mentally and physically, they can teach us, they are a source of inspiration, and they can predict the future.

In these two classes we will learn about ancient oneiromanic practices and the modern theories of Jung. We will learn about the principle archetypes and some common dream symbols. We will learn how to remember dreams and we will make use of the methods devised by psychiatrist Montague Ullman to hold a group dream discussion. Bring a pad and pencil and some dreams.

Vampires and the Tarot

2/13/08 - 6:00 - 8:00 PST
$25.00

Register Here

Although the Vampire of modern literature and film is a blood sucking monster he or she is also the focus of sexual desire. This is exemplified by the fact that although Bela Lugosi made his reputation playing Dracula, the most famous vampire fiend, women all over the world swooned for him and he received hundreds of proposals of marriage. This paradox illuminates the fact that the modern Vampire of pop culture, particularly Dracula, is in reality an ancient mythological figure who has covertly entered a culture that is consciously attempting to cut itself off from myth. The story of this mythological Vampire is also related to the Tarot trumps.

Stoker’s biographer, Barbara Belford, points out that Dracula author Bram Stoker, was aware of the Tarot and seems to have based many of the characters in Dracula on Tarot trumps. In this lecture we will explore how and why this is so and find out why Pamela Coleman Smith and Stoker were friends, who influenced who, and if Stoker was a member of the Golden Dawn. We will also find that an appreciation of Dracula can deepen out understanding of Tarot symbolism.

New in the Tarot Connection Shop

Susan Gold

Genre: Spirituality
© Copyright 2007 Susan Gold. All rights reserved.

Teleclass with Robert Place on October 24th 2007

The power of the Tarot comes from the fact that it communicated with pictures, the same way one’s Higher Self communicates and the same way that a dream communicates. As the Tarot images are highly symbolic and archetypal they may be considered a type of picture writing, like Egyptian hieroglyphs, that can be used by one’s Higher Self to communicate ideas and describe events. If one thinks of the Higher Self as the wiser spiritual part of his or herself it may also be referred to as the soul and these hieroglyphs that emerged from the visions of Renaissance artists in the 1400s can be considered hieroglyphs from the soul.

Robert Place will be teaching a teleclass on three card readings as a Tarot staple. He sets out a guideline for interpreting them called “The Seven Patterns”. These patterns include: linear, choice, meeting, central origin, central destination, the central problem and the central teacher.

• Date: Wednesday October 24th 2007
  
• Time: 6:00 - 8:00 PST
• Cost: $25

For more information and to register visit shop.tarotconnection.net

Vist the Gallery at gallery.tarotconnection.net

Pre-order at shop.tarotconnection.net

Our presenters and topics for the day are:

GAIL FAIRFIELD.

Choice Centered Tarot and Relating
Hardly a reading goes by that doesn’t include a question or comment about relating. Whether the person is asking about a child, partner, parent, or colleague, relationship questions are fraught with more emotion than any others. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to evaluate:

• what works or doesn’t work in a relationship
• what to embrace or avoid
• key questions to ask yourself or the other person
• the purpose of the relationship

As we identify the key questions to ask, we’ll also consider the layouts that could answer those questions. We’ll also keep the focus on empowerment rather than predictions.

RACHEL POLLACK.

Archaeology of the Tarot.
Many card meanings we have today are not the original interpretations. The Fool did not originally mean a wise innocent journeying through life, but rather a crazy person driven from place to place–like the homeless beggars we see in our big cities. Are these older meanings just a curiosity or can they enrich our readings today? In this session (based on her series of Tarot Intensive workshops, and the forthcoming Intensive book) Rachel will trace the development of meaning in the tarot, and we will look together at how to use this knowledge in practice.

JAMES WELLS.

Tarot In Action!
We know how rich and meaningful a tarot consultation can be. Imagine this insight and wisdom creating positive change in your psyche and in your ‘real’ world! Learn creative and powerful methods to bring the energy of your readings down to earth so that you and your querents not only learn about life, but also transform it through consciously sculpted actions.

Plus opening and closing Q & A panel discussions with all three presenters!

10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at WonderWorks, 79A Harbord Street, Toronto (just west of Spadina).
Please arrive between 9:30 and 9:55 so we can begin on time. Thank you.

You’ll need to bring:

• a tarot deck of your choice
• a notebook
• a packed lunch or money to buy lunch nearby

Only $100 for a day of stretching your tarot skills and meeting other great tarot people. Open to people of ALL levels of tarot experience. First-paid first-served basis.

PRIVATE TAROT CONSULTATIONS with our presenters will take place on Sunday, September 9. These one-hour sessions are $150 each and will take place near Castle Frank station in Toronto.

Presenter Bios:

GAIL FAIRFIELD (Choice Centered Tarot, Choice Centered Astrology, Choice-Centered Relating and the Tarot) was born in China and raised in Japan by missionary parents. She was encouraged to find her own answers to life’s questions. Gail was introduced to the tarot in 1973 and was hooked immediately! Gail’s studies in psychology and education contribute to her choice-centred manner of living life and using tools such as the tarot, astrology, and NLP. She currently makes her home in Bloomington, Indiana.

RACHEL POLLACK (78 Degrees of Wisdom, Forest of Souls, Shining Tribe Tarot, and more) is a poet, award-winning novelist, authority on the modern interpretation of tarot cards, and a tarot card artist. She began her journey with the cards in 1970. Since then, Rachel has written thirteen tarot books, including “78 Degrees of Wisdom”, often called the “Bible of Tarot Reading”, and the “Shining Tribe Tarot”, designed and drawn by Rachel herself. Rachel resides in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley.

JAMES WELLS (Tarot for Manifestation) is a Toronto-based consultant, teacher, and facilitator devoted to merging soul and strategy. Through tools and processes such as tarot, reiki, council circle, and journal writing, he and his clients and students are inspired to become more of who they really are. Tarot has been a part of James’ life since 1979. His insightful, down-to-earth, proactive style makes him a popular practitioner and presenter at home and abroad. James enjoys writing, reading, walking, and good martinis.

Astrologer Dena Decastro, who has been a regular guest, has a new Astrology podcast.

I’m the guest for Episode 3 which explores the differences between tarot readings and astrology readings. You can listen here, download the mp3, or subscribe via iTunes!

Download or Play the Episode

Running Time: 49:22 min | File Size: 56.5.X MB

Download audio file (EvolutionsOfAstrology3.mp3)

Three of Swords and Ace of Cups created from the Alchemical Tarot with permission of Robert Place. I enlarged scans of the cards in Photoshop to the size to fit the frame and then applied stained glass to the glass that came with the frame. I used nuggets, mirrored glass and ground some of the pieces to shape them.

78 Notes to Self: A Tarot Journal

Ginny Hunt: I started 78 Notes To Self because I love tarot, I love writing, I have a lot to say and hope there’s someone who wants to listen. I also really enjoy helping people process through their stuff. I’m all about the process. Reading tarot for others is a mutually satisfying endeavor because I get to read the cards and hopefully help you process through some of your stuff, and you get to make a little sense out of something that has been nagging you and making you crazy. See? Win-win.

Hermit’s Journey with Bonnie Cehovet

Bonnie Cehovet: Tarot has been many things to me - most of all, a tool of transformation. In the light of the fire we will take a look at the many ways that Tarot can be used to clarify where we are currently, to show the way for the future, and to bringing healing and integration into our lives.

Kathy McKeever is organizing an art show May 5th - June 7th 2007 at Art / Not Terminal Gallery in Seattle, WA www.antgallery.org

and YOU can enter

• any medium is welcome
• $20 show fee per participant ( covers space rental )
• each artist can show up to 4 images
• reserve your cards by April 15th, no images will be repeated
• opening party will be Sat. the 5th with tarot readers
• non-juried and first come first serve

To reserve your cards, contact Kathy McKeever by phone at 206-860-3034 or urbancauldron@yahoo.com

Music: Art vs. Process from Chronic Dreams by Four Stones

Download or Play the Episode

Running Time: 14:18 min | File Size: 13.2 MB

Download audio file (TarotConnectionArtShow2007.mp3)

I e-mailed Ciro Marchetti to gain permission to use an image from the Tarot of Dreams for the show notes. Ciro likes to provide high resolution images files for reviews and he sent along the Queen of Wands in case I might be interested in seeing one of the first cards from a deck that is in progress.

I have wanted for a long time some artwork to use for my site. As you know I’ve been using the Crystal Ball by John William Waterhouse which is beautiful and introspective. I would say she would be a combination Queen of Pentacles and Cups.

My quandary has been how do I find something that I have permission to use that can compare to the oil on canvas painting of Waterhouse. Honestly, I couldn’t even picture what I wanted. That wish seemed impossible until I saw the Queen of Wands; sure she is a fair bit feistier. A friend thought she looked mysterious and dangerous. My father said she looked like she was about to start something. I prefer all of these qualities. I also love the use of light and color. Check out the detail on her veil and the golden caps on her braids. It pleases me to no end that she my favorite Tarot Queen.

The Queen of Wands is from his 3rd Tarot Deck. His other decks are the Gilded Tarot and the Tarot of Dreams. The Tarot of Dreams Deck and Giclee prints are available for purchase at ciromarchetti.com. (Including a print of the Queen of Wands)

This paragraph is no longer part of the article but here is how it read in October 2006

The advent of computer technology and the internet is changing the way tarot information is disseminated. For the self-published The WorldTree Tarot, artist Ann Cass provides a handbook as a free downloadable .pdf file from her website. Ciro Marchetti’s self-published Tarot of Dreams includes, in place of a handbook, a CD-ROM which contains a game-like interface supplying animated card images and divinatory text, as well as a full-length handbook in electronic format. Many tarot beginners find information and advice on forums such as Aeclectic Tarot Forum and e-lists such as TarotL. The Tarot Connection is a series of podcasts featuring interviews with tarot practictioners, authors, artists, and others prominent in the tarot community. There is even a Tarot Wiki.

http://www.myspace.com/tarotconnection

or

Steven Ashe has a new podcast and a YouTube video that are worth your time. Steven is my favorite modern occult author and I’ve purchased everything I can get my hands on. Some of my motivation for putting out a podcast is I can’t get enough esoteric/occult audio. I found him on e-bay sometime last year but you can now go to lulu for his books & audio. He is offering an number of his audio programs for download on his web-log.

You can watch the video here.

Â