Readers’ Studio 2014 is coming up at the end of April, so if you haven’t booked your ticket yet, (or your flight to NYC), you might want to do so soon.
And that’s really just the beginning, there’s going to be a lot going on. Check out the Readers’ Studio website to get a full rundown of it all – master classes, roundtables, mediations, study groups, Tarot friends, and all around good times.
And to get a little taste of what’s to come, check out this video of Wald Amberstone asking Mary Greer the question, “How has that combination of tarot and psychology affected your own personal and professional evolution?”
The Rider-Waite Smith deck is probably the most popular Tarot deck in the world. Though painted by Pamela Colman Smith, Arthur E. Waite is credited with most of the deck’s design. But is that fair?
In Mary K. Greer’s upcoming webinar, she’ll be investigating whether or not Waite should be given as much credit for the deck as he actually gets.
Though the famed occultist clearly had a specific plan for the Major Arcana, what about the images in the Minor cards? They were some of the first Tarot Minors to be illustrated with actual scenes in them rather than simply suit symbols.
How did they come about and whose idea were they? Pamela Colman Smith’s?
The two-part class will be offered through Global Spiritual Studies and will be live January 24th and 31st at 9:00 pm ET (6:00 pm PT). It will be available afterwards on download and DVD.
Last week, she posted this incredible video of the Russian song Gadalka, or Fortune Teller. I’m crazy about the over-sized cards on the set, and the song itself is fabulous.
Go to Mary’s site for an English translation of the words, and to see another version of the song. It shouldn’t be missed.
Talk about a vacation designed in Tarot heaven, this is it – the 2nd Tarot Tour through northern Italy with Arnell Ando, Michael McAteer, and Mary K Greer. Two full weeks of Tarot in the beautiful country of its birth.
It all starts in Milan at the Castello Sforzesco (Visconti Castle) where legend has it that the cards were first ‘found’ in an abandoned well.
There will be visits with Italian artists, publishers and scholars, and a special stop at the shop of Osvaldo Menegazzi – Il Meneghello. His shop looks like it’s worth the trip alone.
Then it’s on to the Renaissance village of Fererra, and then three days in Bologna led by Museo dei Tarocchi’s own Morena Poltronieri.
Next stop will be the Tuscany region, with a stay at an ancient castle. Then on to Florence, Pienza, and the Medieval city of Siena.
A Tarot tour of Italy wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the magical Tarot Garden of Niki De Saint Phalle, and this tour doesn’t disappoint.
If it weren’t amazing enough to get a chance to see these incredible Tarot sculptures, being there in such great Tarot company will only make it that much more exciting.
In fact the whole holiday is almost too great to believe. I would just love to be there!
If you think you’re interested in going, contact Arnell Ando for more details.
From the beauty of the Hudson Valley, to the brilliance of the company and the magic of the cards, this is going to be an amazing retreat. Get there if you can.
These pieces are rarely seen outside of Italy, so it’s quite a treat. Especially exciting is his masterpiece entitled The Fortune Teller, created in 1595.
On loan from the Capitoline Museum and Picture Gallery in Rome, it depicts a young woman reading the palm of a foppish young man, while surreptitiously slipping a gold ring off his finger.
It looks like there’s been unscrupulous types in this business for some time now.
Though it might portray the worst of the trade, it’s a gorgeous painting and well worth seeing in person.
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And if you’re interested in themes of fortune-telling in art, you might want to check out Mary K. Greer’s webinars, Cartomancers in Western Art, Part 1 and 2 (available for download), or cruise around her website. She’s done a lot of incredible work on the subject.
On stage behind Barbara is the legendary Mary K. Greer nodding her head in approval. Corrine Kenner and James Wells are there too, but you don’t see them till the end.
Who knew that Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange, was crazy for Tarot? I didn’t.
I just got Mary K. Greer’s latest blog update (if you’re not subscribing to her blog yet – do it now) and she’s written about a BBC broadcast of Burgess’ short story Chance Would Be A Fine Thing. The story is about a not-so-wise woman who looks to the cards for some gambling advice. And it’s fabulous!!
Burgess himself designed a Tarot deck and was apparently fascinated by prediction. His biographer, Andrew Biswell describes him as having, “had a strong interest in horoscopes, tarot cards and predictive dreams.” In volume two of his autobiography, he claimed to have predicted Kennedy’s assassination a year before it happened.
This cautionary Tarot tale is brilliantly read by John Sessions. It’s only 20 minutes long, but don’t wait to listen. It’s only going to be available till this Friday, October 29th. After that it’ll disappear till 2013 when we can see it again in the Collected Short Stories Biswell is editing.
Mary, me and Donnaleigh will be talking about Blogging the Tarot.
What’s the difference between writing books and blogging? What makes someone go back to a blog? How has the internet changed the experience of Tarot? Who does Mary bookmark?
Join us!! It’s going to be a great night. (and if you can’t make it, you can always click here to listen in archive)
