What do you get if you take some of the world’s top Tarot authors and mix them with 100 enthusiastic, professional Tarot readers? You get a stimulating and inspirational weekend conference. It’s an event to reawaken your passion for Tarot.

At the venue there was a buzz of excitement right from the start as we gathered in the registration room, which was also the marketplace. Tables were stacked with books and Tarot paraphernalia, and on the floor there was a Qabalistic Tree of Life Labyrinth that could be walked if you wanted time for reflection, guidance, or healing. After coaxing attendees away from the booksellers and into the main conference room, Linda Henery (President of the Tarot Guild) gave the opening address in which she mentioned that people had travelled from various parts of the world for this conference: England, America, Beijing, and Malaysia.

Annie Dunlop (Past President) then began the opening ceremony, which was a ritual based upon The Enchanted Tarot by Amy Zerner and Monte Farber. Annie said, “Give yourself permission to open your mind and your heart to all the possibilities — and the new learning and the new friendships you are going to make.”

Wendy Rule (soulful singer/songwriter) cast a circle of love and participation over the rooms being used for this event. She honoured the directions and the elements through ‘The Circle Song’ shown below…

The East, the Air,
The sword, the mind
The gate that leaves the night behind.

Wendy Rule at the Opening Ceremony

The North, the Sun
The flame, the Fire
The gateway to our souls’ desire.

The West, the womb
The Water’s flow
The gateway to the world below.

The South, the star
The silent Earth
The Gateway to our souls’ rebirth.

The International Tarot Conference marked the 21st year of the Tarot Guild of Australia’s existence, and after the final notes of the music at the opening ceremony faded, Anne Shotter (co-founder of the Tarot Guild) spoke of each of us as being one of the parents of this 21st birthday celebration. She said, “My personal focus has always been concentrated on the practical use of the Tarot, as a tool for my work with clients, and in life issues.” This comment resonated with me, since I’m a strong believer in using Tarot on a variety of practical levels. This was the second International Tarot Conference I’d attended, and once again it fulfilled my expectations as a rewarding and enlightening gathering of Tarot enthusiasts. The workshop presenters were experts in their fields and they provided enlightening concepts that I know I’ll be putting into practice whenever I pick up a deck of Tarot cards.

Here are some of the insights I discovered during this conference…

• 80% of the participants only use their cards upright. 10% sometimes use reversed cards, and the remaining 10% use reversals every time.
• One of the key concepts discussed was how we need to acknowledge the energy of difficult cards such as Death. Rachel Pollack said, “It’s too easy to call it simply ‘death of the old self’ or ‘transformation’. The idea of something dying, of loss, of pain, needs to be addressed.”
• A significator doesn’t have to be consciously chosen. Caitlin Matthews suggested choosing one “by chance” to see what comes out to represent you or the client/querent.
• The term ‘cartomancy’ comes from the word ‘mantic’ — the mantic arts — the art of prediction. So, ‘cartomancy’ is the art of using cards for predictions.
• Check the direction in which characters in a Tarot card are looking — see who they are interacting with.

Guest Speakers at the Conference: Rachel Pollack, Evelynne Joffe, Linda Marson, Caitlin Matthews, Mary K Greer

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the weekend…

• “The card you least like is your soul card.” (Brian Clark)
• “Tarot is a very succinct and rich tool for helping us connect with universal messages.” (Wendy Rule)
• “Signs point to something. Symbols open up.” (Brian Clark)
• “Through the Tarot we can see the unfolding of somebody’s life. We can find meaning, we can find truth, we can find something that is valuable for that person to understand. We can see things we cannot see by our own limited means of perception.” (Rachel Pollack)
• “Soulful moments punctuate the everyday.” (Brian Clark)
• “The Five of Pentacles is so distressing because the spiritual is separated from the physical. The physical ends up as suffering, and the spiritual ends up as inaccessible.” (Rachel Pollack)
• “This is the end of the conference, but also a beginning for all of us. Hopefully we’ll step out carrying all of that integrated wisdom of The World, but also lightly and open-heartedly and bravely like The Fool, and we’ll be willing to take that leap into unknown adventures.” (Wendy Rule)

What were my favourite workshops? That’s a difficult question because I learnt something valuable in each of them. However, the following workshops had my head buzzing with ideas that I could incorporate in my own readings, or they filled me with enthusiasm for new spreads that I could use in my own training workshops.

• Linda Marson’s workshop on ‘Reading for Yourself’ was enlightening.
• Caitlin Matthews’ ideas about ‘Rejoicing in the Significators’ opened my eyes to a concept I had ignored for decades.Brian Clark’s talk on ‘The Soul and Tarot: The Power of Images’ reinforced the fact that Tarot’s symbols are more potent than we realise.
• Mary Greer’s presentation on the ‘Symbolism of Waite’s High Priestess’ revealed the hidden meanings of some of the esoteric imagery decorating this beautiful card.
• And Rachel Pollack’s discourse on ‘Transforming the Cards we Fear’ was a defining moment in my Tarot education, as it changed the way I perceive cards such as Death and the Five of Cups.

Other Highlights

• Rachel Pollack gave me a sneak peek at some of the cards from the Burning Serpent Oracle, in which she was collaborating with talented artist Robert Place. This was their version of the Lenormand deck and the cards she showed me were stunning!
• Wendy Rule’s performance at the welcoming and closing ceremonies added a lively, spiritual element to the weekend that was appreciated by all.
• Chatting with experienced Tarot professionals during the breaks gave me opportunities to discuss various ways of dealing with challenging issues within readings.
• Original artwork from Tarot decks were displayed around the conference room — there are some very talented artists amongst us!
• This conference also gave me greater insight into the Lenormand Oracle, which has created a stir of excitement within the world of Tarot. Lenormand is one of the hottest selling card divination systems of the decade, and more decks and books are being produced every year. About a third of the conference delegates were ardently using the Lenormand cards prior to the conference, and nearly all were interested in finding out how to use this system.

One of the great things about this conference was to see people willingly sharing their Tarot journey. All who attended jumped into conversations with interpretations, suggestions for new spreads, case histories of situations they had faced as readers, and useful resources they had discovered.

The conference theme was Reflection, Celebration & Revisioning, and it fulfilled all of these areas with professionalism and passion. The special guests and presenters were generous with their time and energy, and I’m sure all of the participants left with an invigorated desire to incorporate their new understandings of Tarot in their readings.