Monday, July 16, 2001

There was only one Tarot Circle scheduled for the month of July for three
reasons.  First, it's a busy month, and a vacation month for many.  Second,
I want to see many Tarot Circle people at our Reading Swap.  Third, I've
been the Morning DJ at Q105 and Rock 102 quite a bit this month, which
limits my time.

Our Tarot Circle meeting on the 16th was the first meeting since the ATA
Convention.  Paula and I were just brimming with stories and ideas.  First,
we read some samples of tarot poetry from the Internet.  All Tarot Circle
folk are asked to submit at least one tarot poem for our website, and for
the next edition of our Tarot Circle book.

We discussed tarot skits for the Tarot Ball, and played with a tarot
scenario that we are also discussing on the Tarot Topics list.  The Fool,
The High Priestess, the Hierophant and the Hanged Man are in a shipwreck.
There is only room for three in the lifeboat.  What happens?

The majority felt that the Hanged Man would sacrifice himself, and the other
three would take the boat to safety.

Then, we broke into pairs and did one-card readings for each other.  The
idea was to read using one card and one card only, for 10 minutes.  The
readings were easier and more profound than I think any of us expected.

Then, we moved to the other end of the spectrum, and tried Rachel Pollack's
78 card reading technique.  At the Convention, we saw Rachel give a 78 card
reading in 4 and 1/2 minutes.  I came in it at 7 minutes, and was the first
one done.  But we all enjoyed the process of making the cards flow, one to
another.

We practiced some new spreads from the internet, and closed with another
Rachel Pollack exercise. We played "Story Scrabble" with the tarot.  Each
person was dealt seven cards, and using the cards as sentences, had to lay
down cards to create a story.  Each person built on the sentences played
before, moving the story forward.