Blog, Conferences, Publications

2017, A List of Accomplishments

2017 has been rough. Between health issues, deaths in my tribe, and the events on a global stage, it’s amazing any of us were able to get anything done. The last few weeks have been especially rough. As a result, I created this list of accomplishments for 2017. This is my reminder–no matter how shitty things go, I DID do something. I matter and the things I do make an impact.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten some items and some things (like events I’ve read at) are deliberately left out. Overall, these are the things I’m most proud about.

Tarot Visions Podcast
Charlie stepped down from being co-host/producer and asked me to step in. Since then, I’ve been recording my voice, processing the shows, and writing the show notes as of February. I recorded 28 new podcasts with Rose Red. We interviewed a lot of awesome people from our tarot tribe and had some great discussions around the cards.

Triple Goddess Tarot
The big release this year, my first directed tarot deck. I had been working on this vision and the booklet since May 2016 and it released in March. I’m very proud of this creation, and while I know it’s not 100% perfect, it represented the vision the triple goddess ladies gave to me. Since it’s release, it’s gotten a lot of positive feedback and it was nominated for “Best New Traditionally Published Tarot 2017” from Spread This, Witches. Art from the deck was also featured in a museum in Turin, Italy for an installation by Lo Scarabeo. I’m pretty happy and look forward to teaching classes around this deck, writing a companion book for it, and to using the lessons I learned here for other deck ideas.

Taught a class at NWTS
I taught Imbibe and Divine at NWTS this year. It’s my 21+ tarot class where attendees drink a glass, or two, of wine and do readings for one another. The goal isn’t to get drunk and read, it’s to see how being in altered states affects your readings (good or negative). I’ve taught this course a few times over the years and was never satisfied with the flow. This year, with the changes I made (and the help of the hotel’s bar!), I think I finally have the recipe to make this class a success.

Taught a Study Class at Readers Studio
I taught Inspiring the Muse, in NYC for Readers Studio. This course combines my love of creative writing with the cards to help students craft fun stories and remove writers block. Seeing the spark for writing shine in my attendees eyes was amazing. I also got to spin my glow poi during the banquet, which was the first time I did a show since hurting my ankle in 2016.

Runes of the Northern Light
This was my first foray into writing oracle booklets. Lo Scarabeo contracted me to write a rather lengthy booklet for this stunning rune deck. I created mini-guided meditations and stories to go along with the meanings for each rune.

Panda Tarot
Yes, I wrote the booklet for the Panda Tarot! I even had fun doing it, so there. It’s a deck with pandas on each card and honestly, it’s not bad. I chose to do some fun things with it and even made a write-up on my blog about how pandas REALLY invented tarot. If you like anthropomorphic pandas, then this deck is for you.

Triumph of Life Tarot
The Triumph of Life Tarot is a collaborative art deck featuring 72 artists within our tarot tribe. All the proceeds of this deck go to help kick cancer’s butt! With the help of my partner, kender, and Andrew McGregor, I submitted an image of my face for the Queen of Swords card. I also helped edit and collate some of the instruction material.

Etteilla Tarot Deck for Kickstarter Project
This was a quick project, to write up and modernize meanings from an Etteilla deck produced for Lo Scarabeo’s Tarot Compendium kickstarter. Sadly, I don’t have a copy of this project, so I’m not sure how it turned out. If you read this and have a copy you’d be willing to give/sell, please let me know!

The Cartomancer, Volume 3, Issue 4
Throughout this year, I edited many of the articles in The Cartomancer. However, I wrote “Divine Inspiration” from Volume 3, Issue 4 on using the cards for creative plot and character generators. It’s a small taste at what I love to teach in Inspiring the Muse.