Two weeks ago I attended the Tarot Fest in Switzerland. a marvelous day with very fascinating speakers and workshops gathering of Tarot lovers coming together to explore the mysteries of the Tarot. The Festival offered a casual and relaxed setting for Tarot authors, artists, teachers, beginners and professional readers to come together in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, a place where skills and teaching expertise were shared. An opportunity to tap in to the wisdom and knowledge from those who have studied and worked with Tarot for many years.
There were interesting speakers, a great gathering of like-minded people, a beautiful setting, lots of learning, great lunch, sunshine and lots of laughter.
The fest was held in Schloss Liebegg, home to the Swiss Hexen Museum is mind blowing, the dedication and passion shines through in every item lovingly displayed.
As the schedule was quite tight there wasn’t a lot of time to practice with our cards, but I would like to share some of the spreads (and my readings) we did this day.
The Tarot Fest was opened by Kim Arnold and Wicca Meier Spring.
Tarot Talismans/Tarot & Witchcraft
The presentations were kicked off by Wicca Meier-Spring, owner and creator of the Hexenmuseum and host and organizer (together with her husband Biba Christoph Meier ) of this beautiful day.
With the opening in 2009, of the only Museum of Witchcraft and Superstitious in the German speaking part of Europe, Wicca Meier-Spring planted a Milestone in the world of Witches and their history. After several studies about the history of Witchcraft, Psychic Sciences and Spiritualism and lots of travels around the world, Wicca is a teacher, author, Museum director, historian, Tarot- and palm reader, and participates in different TV programs and gives countless interviews in all kind of Magazines and Newspapers since more than 18 years.
Wicca’s Talk/Workshop History of Tarot and Witchcraft/Tarot Talismans spoke of the origin of the use of Tarot cards in witchcraft hidden in Europe. Especially in Venice, the cards were also the subject of numerous witch trials. As a prelude to a day full of knowledge and numerous practices Wicca Meier-Spring led in different, energetic exercises. Recognizing the magical symbolism in Tarot cards and the targeted choosing of a specific card as a personal talisman. As well as programming and loading it with the desired support program. Magickal!
One exercise we did was to ask the cards what kind of witch we are. In the middle place the Queen of Wands which represents the witch archetype. Pick one card to place on the left which represents what hinders you in fully showing up as a witch and to the right pick a card to represent full witchcraft potential. I (blindly) drew the Ten of Pentacles hindering me. Meaning legacy, family and security. And the King of Wands empowering my witchcraft, representing leadership, overcoming challenges, pure creativity. Now pick up the right card and cross on the left card to block out that what hinders you. Also we talked about choosing cards to work with as talismans.
TarotNaving through Life
Next was Linda Marson, a professional Tarot reader, teacher and former President of the Tarot Guild of Australia. She is also founder and director of Global Spiritual Studies, an online learning hub with a wide range of video classes on Tarot, Kabbalah and Petit Lenormand. In 2006 she published the book, Ticket, Passport and Tarot Cards. The book was quickly followed by a TV series which won an award for the best spiritual or personal development program on Australian community television.
Linda’s talk was called TarotNaving through Life.
“If you’ve had a Tarot reading, you’ve experienced the Tarot as a global positioning system, a GPS,” says Linda Marson. “Using the Tarot as a GPS is both simple and potentially difficult. Simple because all you need to do is ask a clear question, select cards and use your knowledge of Tarot card meanings to identify the best way to reach your destination. Using the TarotNav GPS is potentially difficult because you have to ask the right sort of question, one that puts you in the driver’s seat.”
Linda provided an overview of TarotNav, her unique set of video and written resources about doing Tarot readings for yourself. In honor of 2019 as the year of The Hanged Man (2+1+9=12), Linda played her video on The Hanged Man to show how following directions from a one-card reading changed her life! With input from participants, Linda discussed how to formulate clear questions for our Tarot GPS, how to select appropriate layouts, do readings and consider the directions given by our Tarot GPS. Will the roads be clear or will we encounter road blocks and traffic jams as we drive towards our destinations?
We also did a 3-card reading: 1. What aspect of life should I focus on? 2. What would not be helpful to do in this situation? 3. What should be helpful? These were my cards:
- Ace of Pentacles (RX) – Lack of planning and foresight.
- Five of Swords -Competition, conflict, disagreements and trying to win at all costs.
- Two of Swords -Weighing options and try to see the whole picture.
I invite you to also do this, write this in your work book or journal and look back a month later and ask the same questions. Journal on your findings and insights .
Tarot Cards and Magic Spells
Judika Illes is the famous author of The Encyclopedias of Witchcraft and 5000 Spells and many other books in the Paranormal. An independent scholar, her interests include tarot and other forms of divination, astrology, spell-casting, witchcraft, amulets, traditional healing and spirituality, Kabbalah, the Egyptian Mysteries, runes, magical oils and perfumes, mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. Judika has been a professional tarot card reader since 1988.
Judika’s Workshop was called the Tarot Cards and Magic Spells.
Tarot cards serve as tools to influence future events, as well as to predict or influence them. They are used in all sorts of magical spells including charm bags, dream incubation, and candle magic and for a wide variety of purposes. In this practical workshop, we discussed a variety of these spells and casted one together! We learned the mechanics of how and why these spells work, so that we can create our own for our own personal needs.
A few examples she gave how to work with the tarot and witchcraft is using cards as a magickal tool, like placing cards under candles, for instance the Two of Cups for true love, career and wealth. Place cards in spell bags or under your pillow.
Tarot and Astrology
David Wells is best known for his TV presence and being a Hay House author, his psychic and spiritual connection gifts were activated when, in adulthood, a near death experience allowed him access to other worlds and powers. Since then his on a mission to help others tap into their own innate power trough Past life regression, Qabalah, Tarot or Astrology.
David’s Workshop was called the Tarot and Astrology
Not Tarology, not astro-tarot, no made up name. The alignment between two great magical systems but acknowledging them as equals, powerful in helping the individual traverse this earthly life with spiritual guidance.
Every card can be associated with a planet, sign or astrological event and in this workshop, David introduced us to the Major Arcana’s astrological alliances and how they can help us not only with client readings but with our own journey into understanding Tarot on a deeper level.
You might already use the elements, common to both Tarot and Astrology, and probably know the signs attached to Air, Fire, Water and Earth but taking that a little further the Major for the Fire signs are as follows; Emperor is Aries, Strength/Lust is Leo and Temperance/Art is Sagittarius.
The great wheel of the zodiac has a beginning and an end based on your time, date and place of birth which in turn gives you your rising sign. If you know your rising sign you can then associate a Tarot card to each sector of your life, using the clock-grid. David took us on a journey using this grid to uncover what each sign, tarot card, says about each sector of our lives.
My Sun sign is in Libra; relationships, love, beauty, the 7th House of committed long-term relationships, diplomacy and legal questions. This is the card Adjustment (Thoth Tarot) or Justice (RWS) – balancing the scales, the Goddess Maat.
David showed us how to make a grid of the Major Arcana cards and planets so we can use them in combination with our readings.
Casting Miracles
Carrie Paris was in the first class to receive a Masters in the Cultural Study of Cosmology and Divination from the University of Kent, UK. She has indie-authored numerous Magpie Oracle casting kits, the Relative Tarot, the Legendary Lenormand, Sirens’ Song Lenormand and co-created the award winning Lenormand Revolution deck. Carrie has also taught and co-authored a series of popular online courses that explore mediumship and ancestral communication through casting. Carrie considers herself a global citizen and enjoys teaching her craft in many countries and online from her home in northern California.
Carrie’s Workshop was on Casting Miracles.
We located Healing through the Tower Card and Charms. What if you approached tarot as a way to petition favor from supernatural beings, and what if in addition to the cards you used metal charms as conversational markers for navigating miraculous outcomes? Ex-votives, also known as milagros, or miracles are small metal charms that point to and predict possible challenges in the human experience and are traditionally presented as gifts offered to the Divine in thankful reciprocation for favors received over chaotic outcomes.
In this workshop, we discovered how the Tower card can ultimately serve as a healing emblem during chaotic times and combine this outlook with the art of casting miracles with Carrie’s latest charm casting kit, the Milagro Oracle. Ultimately we learned to divine from a place of gratitude while petitioning supernatural support. We also practiced casting methods that show how milagros can act as verbal signposts for the supernatural to communicate how we can avoid a life of calamity in exchange for one of miracles.
With one exercise we were ask to blindly pick 4 charms and place them on one of the elements. I drew a Piggy bank to go on the Diamond (Earth), Ghost to go on Spade (Air), Baby buggy on Heart (Water) and Car on Club (Fire). For me the Piggy bank represents money and security, the Ghost fearful thinking, the car, driving away from the problem and the Buggy childhood pain. We were then asked to then shuffle our tarot decks and draw go through the deck and pick out the first Pentacle, Sword, Cup and Wand card. The Pentacle card represents how housing the (charm) maintains the situation in the physical, the Cup card answers how an emotional attachment to (charm) maintains our feelings for it, the Sword how thoughts maintain how we are thinking about the situation and the Wands card the passion that fuels our lives. With this you can petition a higher power and ask “How can I….” Try this yourself, as it is very insightful!
Gypsies, Superstitions and the Big Bad Wolf!
Kim Arnold is a professional Teacher & Reader of Tarot, founder of the UK Tarot Conference, co-founder of the London Tarot Festival, Psychic Café Network and Hay House author, Kim is also the author of the accompanying book to Victoria Frances Gothic Oracle (Lo Scarabeo).
Kim’s Workshop was about Gypsies, Superstitions and the Big Bad Wolf!
During her research working as a mentor to Geraldine Chaplin playing gypsy Maleva in the Universal Studio Wolf Man film, set in 1891, Kim discovered that the Victorian Gypsy communities were deeply superstitious when it came to reading Tarot cards. During this workshop we explored the superstitions and how the popular spreads we use today, have evolved through the decades.
We created our own unique spread guiding us through our most sought after questions.
This reading tells me I am hiding from my potential, inspiration and ideas, embracing the new journey (Page of Rods). I need to change the past shaping my future expectations (Justice) in order to shine my light. Stopping me from reaching my goals is my sharp mind (Ace of Swords) and success will serve me by providing me with contentment, gratitude and wishes come true (Nine of Cups). My weakness is issues with receiving new financial or career opportunities, manifestation and abundance (Ace of Pentacles) and my strength is creative power and femininity (The Empress).
I now reflect on a wonderful day filled with inspiration and magick!
Thank you for joining me.
