NWTS 2024 Reflections

This year's Northwest Tarot Symposium had a different vibe for me than previous years. I suppose that's only befitting an art that tends to be reflective of the inner life of those practicing the art. It was still very much full of magic, amazing people, and wonderful insight, but also quieter and calming in a way that I hadn't experienced at the event before. Which is a little ironic given that we switched venues last minute (and the NWTS team pulled off–kudos!), some presenters shuffled slots or had to cancel, and my car was in a non-optimum state for a 6.5-hour drive (one-way). Usually, any of those might have caused a bit of anxiety, much less all three. That wasn't the case, though, and some true gems shined through the outward kerfuffle, and this may be my most transformative NWTS yet.

I will preface my reflection with a disclaimer that I didn't take any photos this year with the intention of posting them online. Heck, I only took a handful of photos during the workshops, and not one selfie. So this will be wordy. Maybe consider it retro-chic and a throwback to the old weblog days minus the personality-signalling animated GIFs (hard "G", always).

Keynote: Ethony - Meeting Your Shadow with Tarot

Day One opened with a "Bang!" Well…bang like the sound of something rummaging through your closet at night threatening to reveal itself. And then maybe it peeks out a little to let you know that something is indeed there in the shadows. Addressing the work each of us needs to encounter every now and again (or maybe every week with our therapist), we took a look at meeting and building a personal conversation with some big "shadow" emotions: Fear, anger, envy, and shame.

Each of us was given one of these to meet, draw, and do a tarot spread that facilitated communication. I had to reach a little bit for mine, back to a time I had consciously forgotten. It proved to be a deep and accurate reading of an aspect of me that I hadn't addressed in some time, and was relevant to healing in the present. This method–while not a substitute for licensed counseling–I found to be a powerful and safe way to engage in the very personal practice of "checking-in".

[decks pictured: The Muses of Tarot by Ethony and the Ethereal Visions Tarot Luna Edition by Matt Hughes]

Panel: Tarot and Business Ethics - SallyRose Robinson, Catiara Marie, Heather Agosta

This was a very practical conversation centered on ethical considerations when running a tarot/divination business. Topics ranged from working with common client issues that can arise during a reading to setting up legal protections for the business. A great discussion that anyone in the business of tarot could find useful.

What Are You Really Meant to Do In Life? - Callie French

Callie presented a method she created to craft "life statements" using a combination of astrology, numerology, and tarot. This particular combination reduced the former two into a combination of three major arcana to produce a three-part statement that held a form of symettry. My statement was, "Learn and teach morality without judgment of others or yourself by being willing to fluctuate, change, or alter yourself peacefully in order to look closely behind the veil when dealing with fear." A fine statement, and–when viewed through a personal lens–holds the flavor of some of the work I do.

Gestural Spell Casting with "Modern Mudras" - James Divine

James gave us a crash-course/refresher on his flavor of palmistry, particularly on the significance of each finger and the direction a palm is facing. With these tools, we examined popular gestural "emblems" or signs used to communicate, like "thumbs up". This followed with an interpretation of these gestures using palmistry: We examined which fingers were active, which were withdrawn, which were connected or disconnected, etc. It was fascinating to see the connections between the attributions given to parts of the hand and the ideas being communicated by the emblems. We then gathered into groups and created a gesture to consciously tap into an idea or quality we'd like to develop. Each group shared theirs with the larger group and brought their magic into the world. Fun and insightful!

Somatic Flow Tarot - Lira Messina

As with every year, there were some difficult choices to make between sessions. Luckily, the presentations are recorded and we can go back to see the sessions we might have missed, as well as to remind ourselves of the ones we attended. I gave myself the condition that if I was presented with a tough choice, I would attend the one that required the most "embodied" aspect in-person. So to wrap up the sessions of Day One, I attended "Somatic Flow Tarot" with Lira.

Embodied knowledge and wisdom has been a core aspect of my path in life, and I appreciated the time we spent to get up, move, and play at tarot using full-body motions. In small groups we took a three-card spread and acted it out, drawing out aspects of the cards and putting them into motion. This exercise would be part of a series of synchronicities that appeared throughout the weekend which lent affirmation to aspects of an upcoming trip. More on that with the "Journey to Delphi" below.

Meet-and-Greet

The social event of the night was a chance to meet and mingle with the presenters and attendees. This was a great opportunity to connect with those we might have met at the tables during the sessions, or those we may not have a chance to yet meet in the breaks between sessions. I had a chance to meet and chat with Gavin of Jones Davy's Locker, Sharon of Blue Empress Tarot, and Aline of Vivre Intuitif, among others. It also lead to a winning raffle ticket the next morning. Catch me in person for that story. More importantly, I believe the guidance I received awoke my senses to be ready to hear what was coming in dreams that night and in the conference room the next morning...

Keynote: Journey to Delphi - Charles Harrington

This was a treat for me. Charles shared a bit about the history, practices, and politics connected to the Pythia and the Oracle at Delphi. This became an anchor on how to give a less ambiguous reading than those the Oracle was famous for. The exercise that followed was practical and useful, and the leads and resources he shared are personally exciting for me.

There was a thread of synchronicity, a bit of "kairos" to this moment. It came after a powerful confirmation of "sidewalk tarot" just a few minutes before on my morning walk to a coffee shop. This, in turn, reflected a mysterious image that had shown up the day before, most prominently in the Somatic Flow workshop. It had literally appeared on the street, in my hands, and in the stories that echoed in my car on the drive to this magical event. And here it was again, in the words filling the room and in the artwork imagining the Pythia. In a few weeks I'll be visiting Delphi and Delos during a pilgrimage to Greece, two of the most recognized Oracles in the ancient Mediterranean. I realize this description itself is a bit "delphic" and I'm happy to discuss the details in-person and one-on-one if you feel called to hear.

[image credit: Priestess of Delphi by John Collier]

Manifestation Magic with Tarot’s Path - Tarot's Path Team

During a previous year's workshop, the Tarot's Path team sparked the seed of a game to teach tarot for manifestation magic. We got a sneak peak at the deck and game layout–it's lovely! I have a penchant for backing games, decks, and artbooks on Kickstarter, and there's no question that I'll be backing this team's work. Now someone has to run a Kickstarter for shelves to hold all my Kickstarter backings...

Tarot's Secret History - Charlie Claire Burgess

I love historically-based presentations on tarot. Charlie covered the early-Italian decks by the Visconti/Visconti-Sforza family. These earliest decks were playing cards (without known divinatory uses) whose images reflected the "pop culture" of the day–images that were likely instantly recognizable by those playing with the cards. Charlie focused on a handful of cards and images to demonstrate their connection to these social (and political) norms, particularly how the cards could be seen as ways to transgress those norms. As many of these images and/or ideas made their way down to modern tarot decks for divination, they showed that even the roots of tarot could be seen as pushing the boundaries of the "polite" culture of the day.

For example, Charlie deomonstrated connections of the Papess (transformed in Golden Dawn-derived decks as the High Priestess) with the folk legend of Pope Joan, Guglielma, and the Visconti family. This can be seen as a sort of anti-orthodoxy and populist ideal juxtaposed against the institutional norms of the time–certainly something the Church would not have been happy with. This dovetails nicely with their most recent book, Radical Tarot: Queer the Cards, Liberate Your Practice, and Create the Future, and their latest deck, The Fifth Spirit Tarot. Both highly recommended!

Lenormand Made Easy - Emilie Muñiz

I've only played with Lenormand a handful of times, so Emilie's refresher and exercises were a great way for me to mix things up. Serendipitously, I had been gifted a Lenormand deck recently by a dear friend and had an opportunity to break it out for the first time. Beyond our work in pairs, we had a fun exercise with all the others at our table where we constructed a story (not necessarily divinatory) using the cards. "Story Cubes with a Lenormand deck" proved to create some nice stories…and insight into the minds of other groups (aka, the "lumberjacks"–you know who you are).

Play the Fool - Catiara Marie and Reese Marren

One of the scheduled speakers had an unfortunate last-minute cancellation, and Cat and Reese stepped up to fill the gap. They took an idea they had been playing with and shaped it up into a presentation and workshop overnight. All tarot readers are familiar with "keywords" associated with cards. Cat and Reese offered the idea that the cards could be connected to common idioms and pithy phrases. For example, "Teamwork makes the dream work" for the Three of Pentacles. The banter between the two was golden as they sometimes agreed, sometimes disagreed on what a good phrase was.

Each table received a list of cards and we had to come up with adages/idioms/proverbs/cliches that might fit each. There were some great ones throughout the room, and I'll have to go back to the recording to capture them. My favorite at our table was "Sharing is caring" for the Two of Cups.

Dance and Karaoke

Our social time for the night had folks cut loose on the mic and rock the dance floor. The playlist was loaded with 80's, 90's, and early 00's, so I was happy to sing along and groove with everyone. I can neither confirm nor deny there were air guitars involved. Fine…it was a fixed bridge Flying V with Humbuckers.

What, When, Where, Why, and Will - Catiara Marie

Catiara Marie's workshop brought us back to basics and then shook it up. Many (...most...all?) readers at some point fall into a habit of reading particular elements on individual cards. Cat identified six of these – color, scenery, position/posture of figures, symbols, astrological correspondences, and keywords. We then took the five questions and applied different combinations of three of these elements using a single card. The questions were the same for each card, but the combination of elements really made for different approaches to an answer, and forced us to not fallback on our habits.

For example, for the question, "What is holding me back?" we might use colors, scenery, and the posture of the figure in the Eight of Pentacles to answer. No keywords, symbols, or astrological correspondences at all! A potential response could be, "I'm too focused on my work" (the posture of the figure), or maybe "I have no passion for what I'm doing" (the abundance of the color gray in the Waite-Smith version of the card). A fantastic exercise to keep us adaptable and creative, and one I'll have in mind for readings to come.

Panel: Top Eight Things to Creating a Deck - SallyRose Robinson, Emilie Muñiz, Callie French, Ethony, Mariza Ryce Aparicio-Tovar

This was a fun discussion by several who had worked on decks as authors, designers, artists, or a combination of these. Questions ranged from personal obstacles and challenges to business advice on crowdfunding, choosing printers, setting up contracts, and the like. A good resource as many in attendance have plans for creating decks.

The Major Arcana in the Mind: Mapping your Brain Onto the Cards - Siddarth Ramakrishnan

We wrapped up the weekend with a crowd-favorite, Siddharth Ramakrishnan. Bringing neurological research and applying it to tarot, Siddharth took the Major Arcana and used them to create a representation of the brain based on function. I will admit that my brain was a little fried by this point from attempting to adapt and assimilate the information over the weekend–a little Tower demonstrating neuroplaticity? Even still, it was a fun and creative exercise!

I had much to consider and integrate on my drive back to Boise. As always, this little annual adventure is exactly what I needed to not only breathe some new life into my tarot practice, but into my life's path in this moment. Hope to see you there next year!

- Tim