Lionel's Tarot Blog

The new issue of Tarosophist Magazine has recently been released, and I’m proud to say I’m one of the authors! My contribution is ‘The Tarot Machine’, and talks about an essential way to view the Tarot deck. If any of you are interested in picking up a copy, there are print and ebook versions available at Lulu.com.

The issue is Steampunk themed to celebrate Barbara Moore’s new Steampunk Tarot, I look forward to getting my hands on a copy and reading through their interview with her and all the rest of the articles. For those folks around Boulder, I and several other experienced Tarot readers are having a series of talks in October open to the public, in part to celebrate and promote the upcoming Professional Tarot Course beginning in November. Stay tuned!

With summer winding down classes have started, and in November I will join the school spirit and begin co-teaching a year long Tarot course in Boulder – with a twist. In addition to meanings and spreads, the course is designed from the beginning to prepare students for professional reading, including practical tips on the business of tarot, the ethics of being a reader, and ways to integrate tarot study and reading in a variety of careers.

I’ve learned a lot over the last few years about professional tarot, especially about the possibilities. Clients DO come back, people DO read what you write, and people DO care about the details – not everybody, but a lot of them. In addition to reading and writing, teaching tarot has become a treasured part of what I do. I learn so much about how different people express themselves in their interpretation and style, and it gives me ever new ways of seeing and relating to my own deck.

The course is a 3 trimester course with electives which will be taught by a variety of teachers in the Boulder area. More information and registration can be found over at the Montsegure Institute.

The world is getting more diverse and exciting every day, and I hope more and more people will find the archetypal world of tarot more than only a mystery within the world, but also a rich, expressive lens to explore how our inner wisdom informs our everyday life. Check out the class, and enjoy the fall colors as they come!

The Professional Tarot Certification Program has its orientation night on November 4th, 2011 in Boulder Colorado!
»Visit Montsegure.com for a course outline, brochure, and registration.

I drew two cards when thinking of a good friend today, the Eight of Cups and the Nine of Swords. The Nine of Swords today feels like the dreamer, always remembering even when trying to rest. The seeker is the Eight of Cups, searching ardently for the source of the water, why they feel what they feel.

I foolishly propped these two cards on a low wall in the coffee shop this morning, and they slipped unceremoniously down the crack and into the abyss, I’m sure alongside several other people’s lost treasures. While I luckily have spare cards to replenish my favorite deck, I’ve decided to write this post and poem to commemorate these two cards, and as a sort of tarot prayer to my deck and my friend – what nice cards to know and let go of.

I know you’ve found yourself in sleep,
I know you’ve found yourself in thought,
I know you’ve found yourself at rest.

Walking towards inner friendship
outer means nothing less than mirrors
and how well we use these reflections
to see one another as points of light
not only hot needles in our eyes
or even just warm touches

The ocean knows itself by crashing against the land
so you should crash in ecstatic violence when you must
deep enough below, the currents never change.

The Nine of Swords shows a person in bed but awake, cradling their face underneath Nine giant swords. Allowing the swords to be painful thoughts, the subconscious is aching to be heard, only finding a voice in sleep and never giving the consciousness the rest it wants. So the figure reconciles old regrets, reconsiders painful thoughts with patience, and moves into themselves open to every dream without judgement. This is how we can know all of ourselves.

The Eight of Cups has a figure walking away from a pool and up along a stream, away from the eight cups stacked in the foreground. If he looking into the water at himself, he remembered the story of Narcissus and has chosen to search for satisfaction outside his own reflection. The Star card is 17, whose digits add to Eight also. Maybe the figure in the card has sensed they have been introspective long enough for now and is seeking a new experience, closer to the source of the water than before.