This will be my last post from Minnesota until August. The Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI) honored me by inviting me to be their keynote speaker at their conference this weekend. They have asked me to present two workshops and I have had a lot of fun preparing for them. The first one is called How the Fool’s Journey Becomes Your Journey. And is based on an article written by Rachel Pollack in the 2001 Llewellyn Tarot Calendar. I’ve played with this spread for almost ten years and love it. In this workshop, I present how the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana illustrate the quintessential Fool’s Journey. Following the Fool’s travels through the cards is a great

Here is the next question in the ongoing interview with Riccardo Minetti from Lo Scarabeo. If you missed the other two, click here and here. Question: What is your favorite deck that you’ve worked on directly? Riccardo: A strange question. The one I use most often is the Etruscan Tarot. Possibly because it is the one asking less commitment on my part. The one I gave more of myself to was the Gothic Tarot of the Vampires. The one I want to continue with is the Manga Tarot. A new deck is been currently drawn, and it takes the intuition I worked with in the Manga to a further level. So maybe that deck is the one that most describe my contribution to Tarot. But favorite?

The Ace of Pentacles is one of my favorite cards. But this was not always the case. Pentacles in general have always been my suit of choice, but I never favored the Ace until I noticed that Arthur Waite tells us that this card is “the most favorable of all cards.” Usually I don’t pay much attention to Waite (I find him dull and incomprehensible, although some of my colleagues assure me is incredibly funny with this amazingly dry wit. But then, there is no accounting for tastes, is there?), but in this case, I’m clinging to his words simply because they please me. In addition to pleasing me, Waite’s phrase inspired a modification of a technique I like to use. I think of this

Last month, I posted about the importance of asking the right question. You can see that post here. Even though I meant what I said there, for myself and for certain querents, there are times when it is appropriate to play with the question, to dig deeper together in a more interactive way. One technique that I like a lot is one I learned from James Wells at the 2008 Readers Studio. Use any spread and any deck you wish. Ask your question, shuffle your cards, and pull just one card. Read that card in each position. This technique accomplishes a couple of things. First, as James pointed out, it shows how the question asked has a huge impact on what the answer will be. After all, the