TABI Conference 25 Jul 2015

Tarot Association of the British Isles Conference

Birmingham, UK
25 July 2015 

Seeing all my online tarot pals is great, and it's even better when the workshops at a conference bring me new tools for my cartomantic magic bag. If I had to describe the 2015 TABI Conference in one word, it would be 'meaty'. There was a lot of really useful content and learning going on all day long, and my Aquarius/Queen of Swords self was loving it. Hooray for generous, knowledgeable presenters and a room full of enthusiastic readers to practice with.

Check-in and Goody Bags
Okay, it is a little disconcerting to me to be greeted by name by people I may or may not recognise (well, let's be honest, it's a little disconcerting to me to be greeted) -- and  I often can't remember names even when I recognise a face! Caroline Blackler greeted me nearly as soon as I walked in the building, and I am sure I gave her a look that said 'I know you but I can't remember your name, please pretend you don't realise this.' I think she knew, but she didn't let on. :)

photo by Vivianne Kacal 

There was a fabulous raffle, but I didn't take part because I either currently own or once owned every deck on offer -- and there were some really good ones, including a signed copy of Cilla Conway's Byzantine Tarot, which I noticed the winner then asked John Matthews to sign as well. Lucky girl! Our goody bags were pretty amazing: a TABI mug, a TABI bumper sticker, a Llewellyn tarot bag, and two decks, a heart-shaped deck (which I gave to a tarot colleague to use as a giveaway at her meetup) The Lost Tarot of Nostradamus (a John Matthews deck that really doesn't do it for me at all and will be given away at some point), and a book of our choice. I didn't take all this stuff because I didn't need it, but there was a lot of good stuff there.

How to Read with Reversed Court Cards - Alison Cross 
But here's where the REAL good stuff started. Alison is far too humble about her tarot knowledge and teaching gifts. A little less of that, please! She managed to cram a lot of content and hands-on work into this short session, the main crux of which was to teach us two techniques for reading tarot reversals.

photo by Vivianne Kacal

Method 1: Interpret as elemental rank and suit opposite. For example, the Queen of Swords is Water of Air. The opposite of Water is Fire, the opposite of Air is Earth, so the reversed Queen of Swords would be King of Pentacles, Fire of Earth.

Method 2: Switch the elements in the card title. For example, Queens are Water and Swords are Air. Change Water of Air to Air of Water. That would be Knight of Cups.

I've been testing out this skill on Steven Bright's Tarot Thoughts posts on Facebook. :)

Tarot and Love - Jane Struthers

I tend to shy away from 'Love' readings, and so I wasn't sure what I was going to be learning in this workshop! But then Jane starts talking and she's this amazingly knowledgeable astrologer and tarot card reader, and taught us three fantastic tarot spreads. Alas, I was too slow to buy her book (greedy witches!) but was able to order it online as soon as I got home, which of course I did! My favourite one was the Personal History spread, which uses 6 cards:

1. Your attitude two months/years ago (or whatever time frame you pick)
2. Their attitude two months/years ago
3. Your attitude one month/year ago
4. Theirs one month/year ago
5. Your attitude now
6. Their attitude now

I really enjoyed working this spread with my partner, who was using an unusual and hard to find oracle deck that clearly is meant for her.

 Lenormand - Andy Boroveshengra
I was so happy to finally meet Andy Boroveshengra, Lenormand expert, card and palm reader, and writer! He is just the nicest fella you'd ever want to meet and I got a lot out of his presentation.

I bought Andy's book, Lenormand: Thirty-Six Cards, and was very pleased to get it signed! The content of the book is much like we have seen in Andy's online courses 2013-2015. It's great to have all that valuable information gathered in one place. I am chuffed to own this book.

In his presentation, Andy shared some of the information from the book. Just when it seemed like we were about to get our cards out and start digging in, it was over! That was a quick 90 minutes -- which means I was thoroughly absorbed the whole time. I would love to attend a full day workshop with Andy.

Reading the Marseille Pips: Skills from Previous Centuries - Caitlin Matthews

Photo by Vivianne Kacal

(Can I just go totally fan girl here and say this...Caitlin Matthews greeted me at my table! She recognized me! How tickled was this little girl from Arkansas?? Very!)

I came to this conference specifically to hear Caitlin speak about Marseille pips. She gave us a handout packed with information, and then explained it and guided us in a few old-fashioned spreads that were just great fun to play around with. I love this traditional stuff and would love to immerse myself in it for a while, and leave behind contemporary counselling style readings and churned out LoScarabeo and Llewellyn decks that add nothing to the tarot world and in fact may even harm it. Controversial? Shrug.

(If you're wondering what's going on in the photo, that's Caitlin's demonstration of the typical RWS reader's reaction when faced with a table full of pips-only cards. Gaaaaah!)

What a great day it was. It just made me sad to think it's another YEAR before we can do it again. A year is long...too long. This is all just too good to happen only once a year.

Photos by kind (and patient) permission of Vivianne Kacal. Thank you, Vivianne! :) 

Deck Review -- Lord of the Rings Oracle by Terry Donaldson

Today at the TABI Conference I acquired The Lord of the Rings Oracle by Terry Donaldson (Godsfield 1998). The front of the box marks it as 'an official Tolkien Enterprises gift set product,' which might at first seem like an endorsement from the Tolkien estate, but in actuality probably means permission was granted to use the name and intellectual property, which is not quite the same as being 'endorsed'. The set consists of:

• large sturdy box designed to look like a book, with green ribbon tie closure
• 79-page hardback guidebook
• large heavily laminated (sturdy) map of Middle earth
• plaster/resin disc with a hole in the middle decorated with runes which is meant to be the One Ring (the book calls it the Great Ring), but to me looks more like a dwarvish protection charm (an interpretation I actually prefer)
• 40-card deck of illustrated cards 

The Map

My husband is both a Lord of the Rings fan and a cartographer. When he was a child, he drew maps of Middle Earth and this inspired him to create and draw maps of his own fantasy worlds. He grew up to be a mapmaker. So of course the first thing I did upon unpackaging the deck was hand him the map and ask 'Is this accurate?'

Instantly he pointed to the coastline around Gondor and said, 'This is wrong.' Then he noticed that Caradhras (a mountain that should be sitting on top of the Mines of Moria), Rivendell, and Lothlorien are all in the wrong place. And that the forest of Mirkwood is the wrong shape. It puzzles me. Tolkien maps abound -- and it's a small matter to put a name in the right place on a map. I mean, it's just as easy to get it right as to get it wrong.  It's a shame, because it is heavily constructed for a lot of use, and it is colourful. But knowing it's inaccurate puts me right off it. So I won't be using the map. I can get accurate maps of Middle Earth on Amazon for £3, if I decide I need one.

The Ring
You're meant to use the Ring item on the end of a string or ribbon (which you provide) as a pendulum with the cards and the map. You can also cast it across the map without a string and see where it lands. I haven't read this part of the book too closely yet, as I am not that much interested in this type of divination. I'm a card girl.


The Book
At 79 pages, the book is brief, but makes a decent effort at explaining how to use the items in the kit. After 15 pages of explanation, the card meanings begin, pages 16-57. Each card gets one page with full colour thumbnail, a description of the card, then three columns: 'Esoteric Meaning', 'Personal Indications' and 'Reversed Meaning'. There is more explanation and a series of card layouts at the end of the book.

If you've read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, you will understand these cards without the book. If you haven't, the cards won't make sense to you even with the book. This is only a 'plug and play' deck if you are a Tolkien fan and remember who everybody is and where everything is in the stories, and you are prepared to make connections and find meaning in these things as they apply to your own life. (Or the seeker's).

The Cards 
The art in this deck is widely criticized. Aeclectic Tarot gives the deck 1.5 out of 5 stars. It has been called 'vague'. I am guessing that is because the art is not detailed and is more like sketches done with colour pencils. Personally, I like the artwork. I find that the 'fuzziness' makes it more otherworldly. I'm glad it doesn't look like Tolkien's artwork or David Day's or Alan Lee's, and that it doesn't hearken to anything remotely like what is seen in Peter Jackson's films. This is good. I believe it helps to access my own inner versions of these beloved characters and settings, without becoming locked into popular imagery.

Lord of the Rings Oracle, Donaldson 1998

You can see from the above that the art looks, as some describe it, 'sketchy'. But I take exception to it being called childish or unaccomplished. This appears to be artist Alice Englander's preferred style. I like it. I don't like Ciro Marcetti's art style. Some do. It's as simple as that, really. 

There are also complaints that major characters have been left out. That's true, a lot of names are missing, but can you imagine how huge the deck would be if everybody got a card? The places represented in the deck do a good job of triggering thoughts of certain characters, and the system seems more about evoking places (journey through Middle Earth = journey through life) than about particular characters. 

Summary

I got this deck as part of a trade for my unused Daniloff Tarot. I am pleased with my trade, because I love Lord of the Rings so much, and this deck is a cross-collectible for me, as well as a tool to help me work more deeply with the themes, archetypes, characters and settings of Tolkien's truly gifted and rich imagination. These books have meant so much to me for most of my life, whereas I only bought the Daniloff because there was a group buy on TABI. No brainer. 

If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings and you respond favourably to the art work, you will probably enjoy this deck. If not, probably ought not bother.

 Namárië, ar nai aistalë Eldar ar Atani ar ilyë Léralieron hilya le! 

Eleni sílar antalyannar! 

(Farewell, and may the blessing of Elves, Men and all the Free Folk go with you. 

May the stars shine upon your faces!)

-- Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring