Author: innowen

Jaymi Elford lives a tarot inspired life. A deck is always close at hand. She believes tarot is a perfect companion to help explore the world we live in. The author of Tarot Inspired Life and Triple Goddess Tarot continues to study, write, and create tarot innovation from her home in Portland, OR. Find her works in Llewellyn, Lo Scarabeo, The Cartomancer, The Tarosophist, and Megalithica Books. She also co-hosts two podcasts: Tarot Visions with Rose Red Robinson and Cardslingers with Melissa Cynova and Hilary Parry Haggerty. Finally, she’s slightly addicted to teaching techniques at tarot conferences.
Blog, Readings, World Tarot Day

2010 World Tarot Towel Tea Party Recap

innowen

Tuesday was World Tarot Day and apparently, Towel Day, and Wear Lilac Day as well. So, armed with that information I decided that it was only fitting that I did any, and all readings, on a towel. (The lilac part comes in later *gryn*.) I invited my tarot enthusiast friend over for a Tarot Party and boy did we have fun.

Me with my card of the day for World Tarot Day.

As part of the official World Tarot Day fun, I participated in the one-card draw that answered the question, “What is the message of Tarot to us worldwide at this time?” I drew the Eight of Swords from the Shadowscapes Tarot. I interpreted this card as, “The Spirit of Tarot says that we should stop relying on one sense (our eyes) and use the rest of our senses when dealing with the world around us. In doing so, we shall be free from the prison that we’ve made for ourselves.”

Then WTTTP kicked off around noon with hugs from my friend Ember (meeting the hug your favorite Tarot Reader quota). We immediately loaded into the car to eat a good lunch, capped with shakes from Cold Stone. We rushed home and settled in to figure out what tarot-y things to do. We started by exchanging readings using our favorite decks. I spent the day focusing on the Shadowscapes Tarot and she used the Fantastical Tarot deck.

After taking turns reading, we spent a bit of time journalling about the reading and meanings and questions posed to each other. We then talked a bit about our decks and which, if any, we’d cull. I slid over the Shadowscapes book and my friend started leafing through it. She stopped on the section that contained some tarot spreads and said, “Huh… that one looks interesting. We should try it.” The spread in question was the A Journey and man were the results interesting and accurate. We decided to just use the meanings from the book on this one as we read the cards and pulled what grabbed our inner intuitions as we read.

I was very impressed with the A Journey Spread. We gained a lot of insight as to why we were feeling stifled and got a greater idea of where the big picture was going. A lot of psychic anvils were dropped on the both of us. There were times when we both were all, “DOY…DUH” when the cards reminded us of things that we knew but hadn’t started yet. And to honor the Wear Lilac Day, one of the cards even had pictures of gorgeous lilacs on it. In the end, we felt armed with more ideas on how we can get back on our path and refocus our energies.

All in all I had a blast with our WTTTP Day and hope to participate again next year. The official site posted a page of 40+ tarot readers and the cards they choose for theVoice of the Tarot for 2010 (page now defunct). I highly recommend you go check it out.

Blog, World Tarot Day

May 25th is World Tarot Day

innowen

Tomorrow is World Tarot Day. This holiday promotes the use of Tarot for the benefit and growth of the spiritual self. Founded by Den Elder, this adventuresome event has been going strong since 2003.

Banner for World Tarot Day
Banner for World Tarot Day

People all over the world will spend some time tomorrow to celebrate with their decks. As for me, I’ll be devoting a day of study to the cards. I’ll work on my Tarot School homework, swap readings with a friend, and take part in the World’s Largest Tarot Reading. This reading answers the question of: “What is the spirit of Tarot for the next year?” Stop by tomorrow, so you can view the results and hear more about my adventures.

For more information on World Tarot Day, visit the official website.

Blog, Classes, Conferences

Speaking at SF BATS

innowen

SFBATS LogoI’m excited to announced that I am a confirmed speaker for the 2010 San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium (BATS). This a two-day tarot event, hosted by Thalassa and the Daughters of Divination, is dedicated solely to the love of tarot. There’ll be workshops, a tarot bazaar, raffles, and of course, readers and tarot enthusiasts from all over the world. I attended last year and had an absolute blast!

Speakers this year include: Mary Greer, James Wanless, Teressena Bakens, Joseph Ernest Martin, Marcus Katz, Diane Wilkes, Ellen Lorenzi Prince, myself, Ms Rabbitt McMatthews, and many more who have not been announced.

My workshop teaches attendees how to use their tarot decks to inspire the storytelling muses in all of us. I’ll give attendants some ideas on how to craft characters, settings, and plot for their own stories. You can discover what I teach by visiting my class offerings page.

If you love tarot and live on the West Coast, you do not want to miss this annual event!

Blog, Reviews

Review: Renaissance Art 3×5 Case and Pocket Moleskine Cover

innowen

Modified from the original post at D*I*Y Planner.

Renaissance Art Leather Case Front
Renaissance Art Leather Case Front

Leather products these days are a sign of class and longevity. I’ve always loved the smell of leather and its cool, slick feel. By now you’re probably wondering why I’m including a case review here? I know I would. Well, this case is unlike any you’ve ever seen. Enter Renaissance Art (they’re now called Innovative Journaling). This small company builds amazing leather products. They produce a wide variety of handmade journals, bags and cases.

Recently, Renaissance Art added a few new products to their line. Products that cater to journalling enthusiasts all over the world. I’m here to tell you about my experience with just one of these new products, the Moleskine Cover with Single 3×5 Card Case for a pocket-sized Moleskine. Bottom line, I think this little leather case is worth the price for tarot enthusiasts to invest in. The idea that you can keep both a Moleskine journal and a card in the same area was just too good to pass up.

I purchased a two-tone Moleskine Cover with Single 3×5 card case from Renaissance Art a few years ago. This little gem is the perfect cover and companion to any small pocket-sized journal. It’s made of rugged leather so has that worn in and well loved look. This little case combines my two passions into one location: tarot and journalling. Opening the case exposes a slide in area that you can slip in a tarot card of the day, or index cards, on the left side and still have easy access to a journal on the right.

My Renaissance Art case open showing tarot journal and card of the day.
My Renaissance Art case open showing tarot journal and card of the day.

This case comes in three different colors: brown, black, and a two-tone brown/black combination. Renaissance Art even gives you three choices for your pen loop (small, medium and large). The leather Renaissance Art uses feels like it’s been around the globe and well traveled; unlike other companies whose fine grain leather feels too smooth and clean. The price is also right, at $50.00 to start (the price does quickly add up as you select various options like monogramming, adding a starter Moleskine, and a gift pouch.) But is this little case worth the price? I think so.

You can place 5 tarot cards (or 10 index cards) snuggly in the pouch area. Sliding cards into the case is easy: first you place the small set of cards into the bottom holder, then you bridge them as if they were a slim pack of playing cards and slide them up through the top strap. This holds them down so they don’t slip out.

Immediately upon purchasing the Cover from the online store, my mind flooded with ideas and uses. My first thought was how I could use this with my tarot practice. Barring the traditional uses for a Moleskine (like journals or planners), here’s what I came up with for various types of people and how they could use this case:

  • Tarot enthusiasts: Slide a daily personal card or meditation card into the pocket. Use the Moleskine to capture thoughts and meditations on the card as the day progresses, or various spreads done to clarify goals.
  • Writers: Use the pocket to keep track of story scenes, characters or settings. Use the Moleskine to write out the actual story.
  • Students: Use the pocket to keep track of essay ideas or cram notes for tests. Use the Moleskine side to take class notes, write essays or compile study questions to use before your tests.
  • Artists: Use the pocket to keep a paper-style watercolor palette of colors. Use the Moleskine side when you travel to capture sketches and scenes from your journeys in a watercolor Moleskine notebook. Replace the pen in your pen holder with a water brush for quick and anytime painting.
  • Programmers: Use the pocket to keep track of current stories in your Agile development project. Use the Moleskine to keep track of meeting notes, extended story and feature requests, and comments from potential users.

I’ve now owned this case for a few years and I’m still very happy with the purchase. The snap enclosure still works and the leather holds up to a constant battering of being jostled around in various bags. Just looking at it makes me smile. Ordering was a breeze and the product came very quickly. Renaissance Art’s craftsmanship is of high quality and I know that the case protects anything inside of it throughout any weather. I’ve even gone camping with this case and it’s protected my cards from being warped and my thoughts from being smudged in some serious Pacific Northwest rain.

Blog, Essays

Hosting the Tarot

innowen

Last night I lead my first GEM meeting. I decided to share a concept that Katrina Wynne teaches in her Transformative Tarot Counseling program. It’s called Tarot Alive, and it is a playful approach to using tarot. It combines role-play, numerology (to help with card selection), and meditation to show people how to embody the energies of the major arcana. Effectively they become the personality in the card.

It was my hope that by sharing Tarot Alive with others that it would present them some practical ways to use tarot, and the archetypes, as personal assistants on their path. For example, they could perform variants of this experiment to embody other personalities to receive help or assistance with blocks in their lives.

I wrote up a quick summary and outline of my experiment on the GEM wiki site and set about to make the worksheets. Yesterday, while I felt better, I created the guided meditation to use during the meeting (it was also the first I’ve ever made) and gathered up all my gear.

At the workshop, I explained what we were going to do. I then helped everyone figure out the numerology that gave them a pool of 3 cards to work from. We spent quite a bit of time going over the cards and meanings, and gathering ideas. I brought some of my favorite tarot books to help them figure out which card to become. I then walked them through the meditation (hopefully giving everyone enough time to do each step) and waited until I phelt that all three participants had embodied their archetypes before moving on.

I greeted and introduced them one by one, and allowed each one to tell us a bit about who they were and what they wanted to share. We had the Hermit, Death, and Balance (aka Justice) with us. I asked questions for each and was surprised at the depth and honesty of each card’s response. The Hermit was a bit quieter than most, but I knew that he was enjoying being present.

I enjoyed interviewing the archetypes. I went in not knowing who I was going to be working with and while I was very nervous about coming up with questions… the ones I did fit and provided us a lot of playground to cover. Watching everyone was also a fun experience. While we did not have any props to use, I definitely noticed a shift in how people held themselves. Death, sat as if they were riding on a horse, and holding a sythe. The Hermit was off to the side, silently drawing within. And Balance played with a hair tie, making symbols representative of various balances one could draw upon in their lives.

I thanked each archetype for giving us their time and helped the participants back into the present. After giving everyone time to get resettled in the here and now, we chatted a bit about the experience and what they learned. Overall, I felt that this event was successful and that everyone was pleased at what they discovered from the archetypes. Many also felt that the numerology aspect helped enlighten aspects of their own life that were previously unknown.

I’m pleased at the results that everyone experienced. I know that a few participants will take this idea and run with it, morphing it as it benefits their own path. As for me, I’d love to be able to do this experiment again and have other participants go through it to see what they think of the experience.