Blog, Classes

Blogging Tarot with Theresa Reed

I almost missed Theresa’s telecourse tonight. I was so busy focusing on layout design that when I looked up it was 3 minutes till showtime. Thankfully, this gave me just enough time to log in and be second in line for the class.

Theresa’s amazing. I’m so glad that I got the chance to partner with her at the Reader’s Studio. She started the session right on time and lead us through an hour’s worth of tips, tricks, and inspiration to start, or work on our own blogs.

So what did I learn?

  1. Blogging gives us four things: it helps you get to know me; it allows me to educate you on various tarot aspects; it allows me to entertain you (well, I DO firedance…maybe not with the cards tho); and it helps increase my business awareness online.
  2. Theresa gave me permission to talk about things that have “been said before”. Everything may have been said, but it hasn’t been said in my voice or with my perspective.
    That it’s okay to write for both clients and peers. I want to strike a balance between sharing tarot stories with both clients and peers while getting them the information they need.
  3. I brainstormed new topics to write for and I learned that I should put blogging due dates on my calendar to really make this habit stick.
  4. Blogging should be done with a “just do it” attitude. Or as I like to think of it, a NaNoWriMo mode, where I shove my author and editor brain aside and just write something and get it up. So I’ll be trying to do that more often.

She was even kind enough to answer a question that I forgot to ask during the teleclass.

“What is your take on the difference between a newsletter (email or print) and a blog? I tend to do both and have a hard time figuring out where to draw the line on sharing.”

Her response, “Ah – good question. Here’s the deal: a blog allows you to reach an audience and show your personality. And hopefully it gets people to sign up for your newsletter. Because the newsletter is where you can offer deals, etc. for your clients and get to know them better – and allow them to get to know you even better!” Good advice indeed.

I’m looking forward to next month’s seminar on “Stop Being A Broke Ass Tarot Reader” on Tuesday June 21st. If you’re a tarot reader and could use some expert advice on growing your business, then don’t miss this one!

Blog, Classes

Thoughts on Inspiring the Muse

I spent 2.5 hours yesterday going through the attendees’ feedback from Inspiring the Muse. While I was happy to see everyone got a lot out of it, I believe there’s a lot of room for improvement, both in the content and as I learn to develop my speaking style. Mainly, I think I’m going to break apart the journalling and the creative storytelling parts so that they are featured as their own separate classes. Putting them together, while a good compliment, is just something that overwhelms beginning students in an hour or 90 minute time limit. Breaking up the two parts also gives me the flexibility to give attendees more time to spend doing the work, which consists of writing down their thoughts.

Usually when I teach this class, I have a whole morning (2 hours or more), or a whole day (up to 8 hours), to carefully go through the material. My students are given ample time to dive deep into each exercise and properly share and provide feedback on each other’s ideas. Going into PantheaCon, I thought that if I went over both parts of this course, and gave them less time to write, that it would also give them less time to putter around or feel “stuck” in their heads. I like quick brainstorm ideas because the inner editor does not have time to pipe up and spew the negative vitriol that tells us we can’t do something. This quick-fire brainstorm technique primes the pump and shows students how creative they can be in short amounts of time.

I hope that students of this course went home to experiment with what I gave them in longer spurts. If you’re an alumni of Inspiring the Muse and have done the exercises in your own time, please share. I’m always interested in hearing feedback.

Blog, Classes, Reviews

Tarot Intensive Wrap-up

Last week, I attended the first Tarot Intensive held by Katrina Wynne at her home along the coast. The weather was beautiful for the entire week and I’ve come home with new ideas, tricks, and a whole new crew to support me on my tarot journeys. I have also attained Level One Certification in Katrina’s Tarot Counseling Certificate program. Now that I’m settled in and have hand time to recuperate, I feel ready to write about this wonderful experience.

I left early Tuesday and picked up my companion. We both agreed to help Katrina set up and prepare for both the Intensive and the Retreat. And boy did we work our butts off. We folded large tarps that threatened to carry us away like huge sails. We dodged the monkey-dog Mookie, and we also scrubbed the floors of Katrina’s wonderful yurt so that they’d be polished and ready for the week’s events. I was so tired Tuesday night that I crashed early.

Wednesday morning was cool and I headed to the yurt early to claim my spot and to have a few minutes of quiet. An hour or two passed and the rest of our ragtag tarot crew showed up. All in all our pod, as we decided to call ourselves, numbered five. Which I thought was the perfect size. Big enough to do readings for one another and small enough to have personalized attention from Katrina.

The Intensive started out with a Beginning Tarot course. While I think I was a bit beyond this level, I was excited to see how Katrina taught it. She doesn’t teach any one set of meanings for the cards but the way she does teach what the cards mean is very universal and integrated into the personal meanings of both student and deck imagery. I rather liked it and gained a few extra insights into how I could incorporate this style into my own. We broke for a wonderful Swiss dinner (yes, I’m still savoring how good the cook did), we worked on giving our first set of readings between each other. I slept well that night, even though I felt the first strings of anxiety coming up for the Certification test I was going to take on Thursday.

Thursday started out much like Wednesday, except we went into the more Intermediate Tarot items. We drew daily cards and talked about how they reflected what was going on. I drew the 9 of Wands which perfectly represented the protection, fear, and swirl of emotions over the tarot test and my bright personality. Then, Katrina took us through many types of spreads and also shared a real reading to show us how she performs readings with clients. Seeing how she incorporated her techniques into a real reading was key for me as I’m trying to learn her style of Tarot Counseling. Seeing it live really helped put all the pieces that we learned together and helped give me a more rounded idea of what goes on and how her methods differ from mine and other readers.

After another superb dinner, we spent another two hours reading for each other and taking the written part of the Level One Certificate. This time, Katrina took notes on those of us who were working on our certificate levels. Despite my anxieties, I loved being coached. This was the first time I had ever had another reader really give me feedback on my style and technique and “performance” and it felt good to receive positive and constructive criticism for something I am 100% committed to.

Everyone then left for their tents or hotel rooms and Katrina and I spent another hour and a half talking about my tarot goals and how she could help me. Once we were done chatting and getting a loose game plan going, she printed out a copy of my Level One Certificate. This means I’m now certified! Wahoo!

It was hard to sleep Thursday night but somehow I willed my body and mind to sit still enough to do so. Friday morning greeted me to a hawk flying over Katrina’s wonderful woodland property. I packed my campsite up and with help from another student, we got it all loaded into my car just in time for the last day of class to start. Katrina spent this final session on sharing some psychology counseling techniques with us. This was immensely helpful to me as there’s not enough books out there on tarot that delve into this deep and intriguing topic. My Powell’s wish list has now grown leaps and bounds with all sorts of books that she (and others) have recommended for me.

After swapping emails with everyone else and saying good byes, we all left to return home to our normal lives. I spent most of the drive processing the things I learned and the advice I’ve been given from my new tarot friends. Just after turning down Highway 34, I was gifted with a final sight… a black bear lumbered his way across the highway in front of my car. Which made me revert to childhood age as I exclaimed, “Bear bear! Bear bear!”, while bouncing in my seat for the next mile or so.

All in all I had a wonderful time and learned so much from everyone. Katrina plans on having another Intensive for us, to continue our learning in a few months… in Portland, even. I’m looking forward to continuing learning and growing and experiencing a new way of reading tarot from a very wise woman.

For more information, and pictures of the intensive, check out the wrap up post on Katrina’s blog. I’ll add some images to this post as soon as I get the images off my camera and get permission from the others to post them.

Blog, Classes

Coastal Tarot Intensive Coming Up

Next Tuesday, I’ll be heading out to the coast to participate in Katrina Wynne’s Tarot Intensive. From morning to evening I’ll be steeped in taroty goodness with a few other students who are interested in learning from her. The program starts out in teaching tarot basics but quickly progresses to intermediate and counseling skills.

I’ve known Katrina for several years now and she’s a wonderful instructor. Katrina’s very much an intuitive reader and I look forward to hearing and learning about the cards from her perspective. Plus, it’s always fun to camp out in her wonderful coastal wilderness property. I’m looking forward to recharging my batteries with this trip.

Because her classes at the Intensive lead up to her Level One certificate, I signed up to take that exam. Wish me luck on passing and receiving the certificate. I don’t if she has any spots left for the intensive but you can always go check Katrina’s site and email her if she’s got any more spots open.

When I get home, I’ll post details of my journey at the intensive.

Blog, Classes

Divination for the Curious class success

Last Sunday I stood in front of a small group of people and talked to them about tarot. I gave them the history of the cards, debunked some myths, and answered a lot of questions about how to personally connect with the cards. Anna talked about the runes, and compared them to tarot. She also dove a bit into spirit guides and how one can connect with them.

Overall, we had a fun two hours sharing stories and learning about how the tarot worked. Looking forward to teaching this one again in autumn.