Workshops & Presenters
The following workshops will be available at the 2005
Tarot Conference
Below are the descriptions as they stand
at the time of publication. Some changes are inevitable
over the coming weeks, and provide this version for those
interested in previewing likely presentations. Please read
these in conjunction with the schedule, viewable in the
Conference Pamphlet or here.
Workshops:
List A - Saturday 11:00am
- 12:30pm
List B
- Sunday - Tuesday 11:00am - 12:30pm
List C
- Sunday - Tuesday 2:00pm
- 3:30pm
Common Lecture series on Conference theme:
Theme Main Lecture series:
each morning from 9:00am - 10:30am
List A: Saturday-only
morning presentations
Helen
Farley - Currents of thought informing tarot symbolism
A presentation arising out of Helen’s research on
the cultural history of tarot symbolism from the Renaissance
until the present day. She will be investigating the factors
that influenced the evolution of the symbolism including
historical, religious and social factors.
Helen Farley
Helen Farley is currently doing a PhD in the evolution
of tarot symbolism at the University of Queensland, where
she also teaches the philosophy of religion and the history
of divination. Helen is also the editor of the academic religious
studies journal KhthS´nios. In addition she teaches
classes in tarot and tea-leaf reading and is the author of
The Complete Guide to Tea-Leaf Reading (Lothian 2000).
Pat Martian
- Tarot for Business
The Tarot is a great tool for improving self awareness.
Whether you are in business or not, you will find this
method of using the Tarot useful. Pat shows you how
to find areas in your life that can be worked on, and
strategies to apply to help make the desired changes.
Pat Martian
Pat Martian is a former New Zealander, now working
in Perth. She has been a full time professional reader
for more than ten years, was a speaker at the Second
International Tarot Congress in Chicago, and appeared
on The Profilers in New Zealand. Together with Fern Mercier,
she co-organised New Zealand’s first Tarot Summer
School. Her interest in making decks arose when she first
started reading Tarot, because she couldn’t find
the deck she needed, and was forced to make her own.
She has been making decks and inspiring others to do
the same ever since.
http://www.keen.com/memberpub/homepage.asp?user=faith+new+zealand
Fern Mercier - Up Close and
Personal
The quest for love is the oldest story as every tarot
reader knows. Tarot wisdom has much to tell about our
yearnings for romance and intimacy. In fact, every card
has something to say about our personal relationships,
but some speak louder than others. Discover some easy
tarot directions to guide you through love’s maze,
and help with the choices that our emotions provoke.
Fern Mercier
Fern Mercier has a Bachelor of Arts in History
and English (1968) and discovered tarot in the early 1970s
whilst in Europe. Her first deck of cards was a 16th century
woodcut reprint from the British Museum.
Although tarot is her heart’s passion, it has
a twin sister, springing from the same source. Astrology
has its own sweet muse, and is co-driver of her life’s
chariot.
Based in Auckland, Fern has been practicing tarot and
astrology since the late 1970s and works as a consultant,
writer, columnist and educator. She has been teaching
both disciplines since 1990 and runs workshops and classes
including a year-long Diploma Course in tarot. Together
Pat Martian and Fern co-organised New Zealand’s
first National Tarot Conference in 2002’s Auckland
summer.
In April 2003, Fern was one of the founding members
of the Tarot Guild of Aotearoa.
Fern has made regular appearances on NZTV in different
programs and popular series and writes a weekly horoscope
column for NZ’s biggest national Sunday newspaper.
Fern uses and teach both Astrology and Tarot, with a profound regard for their
sacred and philosophical origins. Because both are part of our western oracular
traditions, she has no problem in reconciling their psychological and spiritual
aspects with their wonderful fortune-telling and predictive capacities.
http://www.tarot.net.nz
Norma Cowie - The Court Cards
as attitudes
The Court Cards read as attitudes of life can open up
a reading tremendously. Instead of looking at court cards
as people, you will learn how to look at them as habits
of response. Your day to day attitudes. You can tell
if a person has a positive outlook or not. You can see
how they will respond in most situations. You can see
if they are procrastinators or are able to move forward
with ease. Hear how these 16 symbols can open a reading
so you understand how come your client is not succeeding,
or what they need to change in order to be the success
they want to be.
Norma Cowie
Norma Cowie has been studying the Tarot for 40
years. Author of Tarot for Successful Living, Exploring
the Patterns of the Tarot Secrets for Living Happily and
other books. Her latest Tarot book Pathways of the Tarot
will be completed for the Conference. Plus a DVD set of
Learning How to Read Tarot is available. Norma is a founding
member of the Canadian Tarot Network as a Tarot Grand Master.
http://www.normacowie.com
Kay Steventon - The
Celestial Tarot
Underpinning the 78 cards of Celestial Tarot are
the ancient traditions of astrology, astronomy and
mythology, which over time have coalesced into the
archaeology of the sky. Embedded in our night sky
are these archetypal images, symbols and stories
that have enchanted and inspired the human soul for
aeons. This ancient sky forms the background for
Celestial Tarot allowing the astrology, mythology
and symbolism of the planets and constellations to
breathe new meaning into the cards. In this workshop
Kay will share the experience of painting the 78
cards and the process of being engaged in creating
a new Tarot deck which broaden the traditional meanings.
Kay Steventon
Kay Steventon has combined her background
in creative art with her knowledge of the ancient wisdom
to create a prolific portfolio of work. She is the
creator of the popular deck the Spiral Tarot and more
recently the Celestial Tarot. In the Celestial Tarot
Kay has merged her astrological expertise with her
creative flair to produce 78 beautiful images. In 2006
US Games, Inc. will release her newest work on the
Goddess called The Ancient Feminine Wisdom of Goddesses
and Heroines. Kay is a local Melbourne artist and well
known in the local Tarot and astrological community.
Abigail Turner - Teaching
Tarot in conventional institutions
The path of the higher arcane and how it is able
to be read, regardless of abilities, and how to be
able to keep a class with participants of so many
abilities within the guidelines needed by a conventional
institution, but still give the students the opportunity
to open themselves up and develop their inherent
psychic skills.
Abigail Turner
I am 39 years old originally from Lancashire in the UK, now in Perth Western
Australia. If people ask me what I do I primarily put out there that I am a
tarot reader. I teach tarot privately and through a few of the TAFEs [Technical
And Further Education] in Western Australia. As an adult education program
the tarot course has now been running for over two years and has run well enough
that TAFE have been open to offering more of my courses. I currently teach
Psychic Awareness, Using Auras to Empowering yourself as well as Tarot for
self awareness. I believe there is wisdom to be found using tarot for all regardless
of psychic ability.
Personal views:
I started teaching as a way to learn, I had been unable to find someone
to teach me and by teaching others I get to learn from my students as their interests
and paths are so varied and it puts me in a position I have to keep learning
to be able to address the questions students have. And the wisdom goes beyond
the fortune telling that is commonly associated with tarot.
Teaching through a conventional education system:
With teaching through TAFE I deal with a wide range of interests and abilities
I teach tarot as learning to learn the language of the pictures as symbols as
a book written before words.
My focus when teaching is gaining self insight for
students rather than learning to read for others
and using the higher arcane as the book of life and
wisdom and the circle of life and each issue we face
how that is reflected through the higher cards also.
By learning and understanding that pathway at times
where we feel stuck and unable to move forward we
can not only see the next step but see consequences
and outcomes so we can choose wisely.
Trevor Hunter - The
Visconti-Sforza Deck: Geometry and the Gnostic
Connection
The Visconti/Sforza deck exhibits many tantalising
clues to an underlying message. What is that message?
The journey to find some of these answers has been
multifaceted proach, at times arduous and frustrating.
At the same time it has been tinged with excitement
and the odd moment of rapture when another piece
of the puzzle is found.
The presentation will cover Trevor’s ongoing
research and his results thus far, which has links
that span time from the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops)
to the Knights Templar and the Saunier parchments
of Rennes le Chateau. The link is the discovery (recovery)
of an ancient geometric “key” which challenges
established academic methods for solving the construction
of geometric shapes/patterns.
Trevor Hunter
Trevor is a relatively new comer to tarot.
His background is in engineering/drafting with a
long standing involvement in calligraphy, gilding,
heraldry and esoteric geometry. He has recently completed
a certificate in Ministry and Theology through Trinity
College, Melbourne.
Trevor’s calligraphy and heraldic art has
been displayed in a number of exhibitions and he
has also taught and presented lectures on these subjects.
His approach to geometry is very much a “hands
on” approach where no real knowledge of maths
is required.
The knowledge gained from his various areas of interest
have been applied to the study of the Visconti-Sforza
deck and its Cathar/Gnostic links. The results and
progress of his research will be the focus of his
presentation.
Sally
Rosson - Tarot Profiling
Profiling is a technique that steers the client
away from the Tarots (historical) insistence on future
predictions. Building a profile allows the "still
forming picture of the future" to be accessed
through the setting of outcomes based on inherent
character and talents. This presentation introduces
the format of Tarot profiling rather than Tarot reading.
The idea is to allow your interpretive and empathic
talents to surface as well as encouraging the Tarot
Practitioners role to be taken more seriously and
hopefully better utilized by the other professions!
For those of you already adept at this style of
Tarot, the Profiling workshop might provide a further
context as well as some additions to your existing
approach.
Linda Marson
- You and the Tarot cards
Ticket, Passport and Tarot Cards is a new “do-it-yourself” Tarot
book to be launched at the conference. At the heart of
the book is a self-reflection spread, designed to help
people read the cards for themselves.
It’s a simple 6- card spread where the deck is
divided into three a° the Major Arcana, court cards and
Minor Arcana.
And what’s the significance of the book’s
title? Well, as we all know, the 22 major cards tell
the story of universal human journeys. But no one has
ever done the obvious, that is, use travel stories as
a way of explaining the meaning of the cards! Linda Marson
does just that. Stories from her personal travels show
how her outer journeys ran parallel to stages in her
inner journey.
This is a hands-on session where you’ll hear some
of Linda’s stories and practise using the spread
to reflect on past events in your life, as well as something
that’s on your mind right now!
Linda Marson
Linda Marson is President of the Tarot Guild of
Australia. She has been studying and reading Tarot cards
for almost 20 years. She has travelled extensively, and
it was on these travels that she realised the close link
between the inner and outer journeys we all undertake in
our lives. She has written regular articles for the Guild’s
journal, The Magician, in which impressions of countries
and places are used to illustrate key themes in the Major
Arcana cards. In 2004 Linda turned this concept into a
book - Ticket, Passport and Tarot Cards - which will be
published in 2005 and launched at the Conference.
Beyond the world of Tarot, Linda has been a consultant
in vocational education and training since the early
1990s. In 2003 she began writing professionally in the
field of multimedia educational products.
http://www.tarotguild.org.au/linda.htm
Philip
Johnson - Beyond Prediction: Tarot Archetypes and Jesus
Spirituality
An exploration of tarot archetypes, their spiritual
symbolism and their surprising connection with the spirituality
and pathway of Jesus. Includes a guided meditative exercise.
Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson is the co-author of the ground-breaking
study Beyond Prediction: The Tarot and Your Spirituality.
He is a graduate of Sydney University in religious studies,
and for fourteen years was a lecturer in two bible colleges.
He is the co-founder of the Community of Hope, which operates
exhibitor's booths in alternate spirituality festivals
in Sydney and Melbourne. He has taught about tarot symbolism
and Jesus' spirituality for the past 12 years across Australia,
and in New Zealand and Thailand.
List B: Sunday - Tuesday Tarot
options (workshops over three consecutive mornings)
Jeni Bethell
- The Heroine's Journey
If mythology speaks to the soul, then I believe women
need exposure to a variety of mythic heroines to provide
inspiration and personal understandings. This workshop
introduces three mythic heroines who have taken extraordinary
and very different heroic journeys - Isis of Egypt, Hiiaka
of Hawaii and the Indian, Phoolan Devi, mythologised
in her recent lifetime as a reincarnation of the warrior
goddess, Durga.
These heroines’ journeys will be considered and
compared. Participants will then focus on their own journeys
- past, present and future, gaining insights from these
mythological role models and applying a new Heroine’s
Journey Spread specifically designed by Jeni.
We are all travellers through life. Whatever specific
journey you may wish to focus on, be it past, present
or future, be it large or small, this workshop provides
models and tarot understandings to support and expand
the awareness of you, the heroine, on that journey.
Jeni Bethell
Jeni Bethell is a professional Tarot reader and
conducts classes and workshops in Tarot, Dream Exploration,
and Women’s Spirituality through Mythology and the
Goddess. A founding member of the Tarot Guild of Australia
and registered teacher, Jeni has a Master of Arts in Women’s
Studies and also periodically lectures at tertiary institutions
in Mythology and Symbolism in the Writing Process.
http://www.tarotguild.org.au/jenibeth.htm
Norma Cowie - Tarot and Past Lives
The tarot gives us an understanding of what is happening in a person’s
life. Through the vibration of any individual you can explore the past, present
and future. It is now common knowledge that your beliefs are what creates
your reality. What is not commonly understood is that the decisions which
put the beliefs in place first begin with connection to past lives. Past
Lives are tremendously important in understanding what energies have played
a part in creating the decisions. The Tarot can show what these energies
are. Hear how past lives play a huge part in our day to day lives. Come to
understand how beliefs can be changed and most importantly how the philosophy
and symbology of the Tarot can show the way.
Norma Cowie
Norma Cowie has been studying the Tarot for 40 years. Author of Tarot
for Successful Living, Exploring the Patterns of the Tarot Secrets for Living
Happily and other books. Her latest Tarot book Pathways of the Tarot will be
completed for the Conference. Plus a DVD set of Learning How to Read Tarot
is available. Norma is a founding member of the Canadian Tarot Network as a
Tarot Grand Master.
http://www.normacowie.com
MeeWah
Reynolds - The Celtic Cross Spread: its applications
DRAFT ONLY
Introduction
- History (to entail research into possible origin)
Demystifying the spread components
- Based on personal view
- Favoured spread design developed
As a general reading or broad overview towards the
various life aspects
- All time in the now concept (?)
As a layered reading
- Body, mind, spirit
- Past, present, future
Chakra associations (an experiment)
Examples citing its use in actual readings culled from reading experiences
(general references to avoid sharing hardcopies of private readings as nigh
all of a few or more pages & in archaic language)
- Handouts (estimate 3 dozen copies minimum)
+ Copies of personal 10-Card, to include 15-Card extended version of additional
5 cards towards insights other than prior 10-Card
+ Or, separate copies of 15-Card Extended Celtic Cross Spread.
As a 6-Card using only the Cross card positions for a Here&Now view (with
reference to the 10-Card copies for audience)
Hands on by workshop participants to see the spread “in action” as
a general reading; a layered reading, etc..
MeeWah Reynolds
MeeWah is a professional reader with decades
of experience, originating from the childhood experiences
with regular playing cards and other means. Maintains
a private practice whilst employed in business and continues
the personal studies. She sees Tarot as a spiritual body
of knowledge applicable on a multi-level basis to promote
the individual insight and guidance, ultimately leading
to the greater understanding of self, of others and the
general life conditions.
Under the auspices of the Edgar Cayce Search for God
Study Groups in the borough of Queens, New York City,
New York, presented talks on the subjects of Dreams;
Symbols; and Numbers. A representative for Queens at
the New York A.R.E. Council of Study Groups. Enabled
the formation of study groups in New York City and
subsequently, in Virginia Beach, Virginia whose purpose
to teach meditation as a tool for the general well-being
and to study the material based on Cayce's readings
towards fostering the spiritual.
Wrote articles for Body, Mind, Spirit and for Timeless
Spirit, both online publications headed respectively
by Jeni Meyer and Aleesha Stephenson of Canada.
A Senior Moderator on the Aeclectic Tarot Forums,
active primarily in the individual forums of Tarot
Decks, Talking Tarot and Your Readings.
Michael
Owen - The Xultun (Mayan) Tarot - Lovesongs of Spirit
and Matter Woven on the Loom of Time
The Mayan tarot is the only tarot deck where the
major arcana form a complete picture when laid out.
It shows the underlying archetypal structure of the
tarot, is one of the few tarot indigenous to the Americas,
and it tells the story of our spiritual DNA (the soul’s
journey into spirit) and our physical DNA (spirit’s
journey into matter). In these workshops we will look
at the Mayan tarot using the analytical psychology
of C G Jung and indigenous teachings of the Twisted
Hair Medicine Council of Elders.
Sunday - The Three Paths to Wholeness: the creation,
destruction and rebirth of the ego
Monday - The Five Movements of the Book of Life:
Erasing Personal History, Using Death as an Advisor,
Stopping the World, Controlling the Dream, and Assuming
Authority
Tuesday - The Sacred Marriage in the Heart of Heaven:
DNA, the Mayan calendar and 2012
Michael Owen
Michael Owen teaches internationally and has
worked with the tarot for over 25 years. He is a clinical
psychologist, has studied at the C G Jung Institute,
Zurich, and is author of Jung and the Native American
Moon Cycles, and The Tarot Codex: Lovesongs
of Spirit and Matter.
http://www.tuitui.co.nz
Dan
M. Pelletier - Show and Tell - Treasures from the
Tarot Garden
Some very rare decks and original art pieces will
be on display during the Conference. A rare chance
to see pieces that would have pride of place in some
art galleries and museums.
Dan M. Pelletier
Dan is an accomplished tarot reader with over
thirty years of experience. Dan has also contributed
to publications on Aeclectic Tarot, Tarot for Life website
newsletter Seeker’s Journey, and Tarot Passages
magazine. He is also co-owner of the well known and highly
respected Tarot Garden.
http://www.tarotgarden.com
Fern Mercier
- Exploring Connections Between Tarot and Astrology
Synopsis of workshop over 3 day period.
Fern’s intention in exploring the correspondences
between astrology and tarot is to stimulate an active dialogue
between these two disciplines, and to find useful and creative
connections that widen and deepen our treasury of symbols.
The language of tarot is full of hidden codes that unlock
many layers of meaning. Astrology is a very dynamic player
in the enigmatic pictures, as well as being contained within
the infrastructure of the deck itself. During the workshops
we will uncover the tarot’s use of sacred geometry
and hidden graphic structures to reveal the astrological
glyphs and symbols contained within.
We will discuss how tarot constructs the classical elemental
system within the deck to highlight the differences between
astrology and tarot’s understanding and use of Earth,
Water, Air and Fire.
We will not be working with one system of set correspondences
between astrology and tarot, but will explore through practice
and experimentation how many different signs and planets
can be found in just one card. Thus when weaving the cards
together there can be an endless play of new information.
Hands on!
We will be reading together in the group and in pairs, using astrological layouts.
Bring your own cards to play. Suitable for beginners and old hands alike.
You don’t need to be an Astrologer to attend.
Fern Mercier
Fern Mercier has a Bachelor of Arts in History
and English (1968) and discovered tarot in the early 1970s
whilst in Europe. Her first deck of cards was a 16th century
woodcut reprint from the British Museum.
Although tarot is her heart’s passion, it has a
twin sister, springing from the same source. Astrology
has its own sweet muse, and is co-driver of her life’s
chariot.
Based in Auckland, Fern has been practicing tarot and
astrology since the late 1970s and works as a consultant,
writer, columnist and educator. She has been teaching both
disciplines since 1990 and runs workshops and classes including
a year-long Diploma Course in tarot. Together Pat Martian
and Fern co-organised New Zealand’s first National
Tarot Conference in 2002’s Auckland summer.
In April 2003, Fern was one of the founding members of
the Tarot Guild of Aotearoa.
Fern has made regular appearances on NZTV in different
programs and popular series and writes a weekly horoscope
column for NZ’s biggest national Sunday newspaper.
Fern uses and teach both Astrology and Tarot, with a profound regard for their
sacred and philosophical origins. Because both are part of our western oracular
traditions, she has no problem in reconciling their psychological and spiritual
aspects with their wonderful fortune-telling and predictive capacities.
http://www.tarot.net.nz
Tom Schick - Creating
Your Own Tarot Deck – Why Would You Want to do
That?
I. What is tarot?
A deck of 78 cards: 22 trumps, 16 courts, 40 pips. Discussion
on the impulse behind the tarot, followed by discussing
the differences between the 3 major types of decks, that
is, the Marseilles, the Thoth and the RWS
Tarot or Oracle?
II. Why would you want to create your own tarot deck?
Personal connection; Decks that appear in the mind’s
eye. Learning; Card energy and spell work; For fun!
III. The experience of others – the Tarot Lovers’ Calendars
Discuss a selection of artist’s experiences including
both published artists and artists with no intention
to publish. Details of which artists to follow
IV. My own experience – Major Tom’s Tarot
of Marseilles
78 weeks of regular study; The challenges; The joys;
The practicalities
V. Where do you start?
Which model of the tarot? Themes; Types of media; To
publish or not to publish; Copyright considerations;
From the beginning or skip around?
VI. How do you start?
A marathon not a sprint – how long will it take?
Workspace; From the beginning or skip around?
Major Tom Schick
Major Tom Schick has been reading and studying
tarot for more than 20 years. He is becoming known internationally
for his production of the international Tarot Lovers' Calendar,
the fourth edition of which will be launched at the conference.
He reads and teaches tarot classes in Ipswich, Suffolk,
England. He was also one of the organisers of the 2004
UK Tarot Get-together.
http://www.majortom.biz
Mary Greer - Developing
Reading Skills
Sunday’s focus: Twenty-One Ways to Read a Tarot
Card
The twenty-one ways to read a tarot card are the “tricks-of-the-trade” carried
in the Fool’s bag. They are interpretative processes
that deepen personal insights by enlivening the images
on the cards. With the twenty-one ways you can expand your
interpretative techniques and evolve an individualized
yet flexible sequence of steps that best serves your purpose
in reading the cards. Bring a tarot deck.
Monday’s focus: Understanding the Tarot Court
Agatha Christi’s elderly detective, Miss Marple,
solves crimes by recognizing, in the suspects, personality
characteristics like those of people in her village whose
quirks and foibles she knows so well. If you are to know
the cards of the tarot court, they must become the well-known
inhabitants of your own small village. This session guides
you through experiential exercises to discover who the
court cards are for you.
Bring your tarot deck.
Tuesday’s focus: The Breakthrough Process: the
Self-Empowerment Method for Ending a Reading
Learn an empowering technique for concluding your readings
that puts fate where it belongs: in the hands of the individual.
Assist the querent to make his or her own decisions about
how to break through problems using the images on the cards.
End with a unique, personal prescription for desired growth
and change and with a commitment to action. Bring your
tarot deck.
Mary Greer
Mary K. Greer specializes in teaching methods of
self-exploration and personal transformation. The study of
Tarot has been the major focus of her life for over thirty-five
years resulting in six books featuring an experiential approach
to the cards, including: Tarot for Your Self, The Complete
Book of Tarot Reversals, and Understanding the Tarot
Court. She worked with Ed Buryn to create The William
Blake Tarot of the Creative Imagination. An ordained
priestess in the Fellowship of Isis and author of the biography Women
of the Golden Dawn, she is active in the fields of women’s
spirituality and ceremonial magic. She lives in the Sierra
foothills of Northern California.
http://home.pacbell.net/mkgreer
Rob
Docters van Leeuwen - “Divination Revealed” and “A
Garden of Spiritual Unity”
Sunday - The workshop “Divination Revealed” is based on the manuscript
of his forthcoming book of the same title. Four major systems of divination
will be discussed: the Beth-Luis-Nion (BLN) Celtic Trees, the I Ching, the
Futhark Runes and the Complete New Tarot and correlated with each other. Of
special importance is the long-awaited hermetic and complete one-to-one correlation
of the Complete New Tarot arcana with the I Ching hexagrams and trigrams. Fundamental
to the solution of this correlation are the Chi-octets and their esoteric Tarot
and I Ching Chi-information energy streams, symbolised in the octet-binding
trigrams. Also explained is how synchronicity and divination work. In conclusion
Dr Docters van Leeuwen presents the Perambulant Consciousness paradigm as an
aid to the understanding of the way the human mind interfaces with the unconscious,
our daily world, and supernatural levels of existence such as occurs in Tarot
divination.
Monday - The workshop “The Garden of Spiritual Unity” features
the correlation of the Complete New Tarot with the Beth-Luis-Nion
(BLN) Celtic Tree Calendar and alphabet, the I Ching, the
Western and Chinese Zodiacs, the Chinese dragons and Futhark
Runes combined in Twenty Ennead Tablets. These esoteric
elements are used to create a unique design for a Garden
of Spiritual Unity. Photographs will be shown of the Garden
of Spiritual Unity that is currently being established
in The Netherlands.
Tuesday - please take note that Rob Docters van Leeuwen
will be unavailable for this third session. Time
is here allocated for work and discussions arising out
of the previous two days. The workshop co-ordinator is
to be announced probably only during the Conference.
Rob Docters van Leeuwen
Rob Docters van Leeuwen PhD (4-1-1940, The Hague,
The Netherlands), taught and wrote textbooks on chemistry,
the philosophy and methodology of education, and later educational
information systems, at the University of Utrecht in The
Netherlands and at several universities in Australia. As
an educational management information systems specialist
he worked for several years for Asian governments in projects
sponsored by the United Nations, the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank.
Rob also studied philosophy and the history of the natural
sciences. Since his youth he has had an abiding interest
in the I Ching, the Tarot, astrology, palmistry, Egyptian
and European mythology, Zen-Buddhism and Islam and practised
yoga and Subud. He was for esoteric reasons also particularly
drawn to the history, culture and symbolism of the Celts.
Deeply interested in divination as a philosophical instrument
and gateway to the supernatural, he together with his brother
Onno, restored and structured the Tarot and integrated
it with other divinatory systems and esoteric knowledge.
He sees the Tarot as a pictorial and archetypal gateway
to supernal levels of existence that offers us insights
into our world, our path through life and our goal to Self-actualization.
Docters van Leeuwen’s recently translated book,
The Complete New Tarot, suggests a standard of eighty Arcana,
namely twenty-four Major Arcana, sixteen Court Arcana and
forty Minor Arcana.
http://www.sterlingpublishing.com
List C: Sunday - Tuesday
creative and artistic options (workshops over three consecutive
afternoons)
No prior knowledge is assumed for any of the following
workshops
Jacqueline
McLeod - Colour, Creativity and Symbols
Colour and symbols are integral aspects of the Tarot,
adding layers and complexity of meaning to the messages
that the cards convey. They can function both as a guide
to enrich our understanding and as a prompt to find our
individual response to the images presented. This in turn
challenges us to be more intuitive, but sometimes we may
resist the invitation and stay stuck instead in the linear
mind.
In these sessions you will be encouraged to explore the
personal significance of colour and symbols through a series
of hands-on ‘fun’ activities that are also
designed to stimulate your creativity. When you enhance
your creativity and let it infuse all areas of your life,
it becomes a vital form of self-expression.
Taking time to be aware of creativity and that it is also
an integral part of Tarot can be wonderfully affirming.
Structure of the sessions
- Discussion of colour, Colour meditation, Playing with
colour to discover its dimensions.
- Discussion about creativity, Meditation, Learning to
produce an inspired painting:
Using the medium of watercolour Jacqueline will assist you in creating an
inspired painting, out of which symbols with personal meaning may emerge.
- Discussion of symbols, Meditation, Developing/exploring
symbols that hold personal resonance.
Jacqueline McLeod
Jacqueline brings a wealth of world and life experience
and a background as a health professional clinician which
complements her esoteric knowledge and intuitive skills.
Jacqueline is a certified Voyager Tarot consultant and
Astrologer and has studied other psychological, spiritual
and alternative health subjects. She not only teaches Colour,
Creativity and Symbols but also Art Classes for Inner Peace,
Empowering Your Goddess Energy, Stepping into Astrology,
and Explore the Voyager Tarot classes, workshops and retreats.
In addition, Inspired Paintings are created by Jacqueline
for individuals as a form of energy healing.
Jacqueline has travelled extensively in Europe, Asia,
South America and Egypt. She has an on-going interest in
painting and, with her husband, is developing a beautiful
three acre garden at Warburton for those seeking peace
and tranquillity.
Kat Black (with
her lovely assistant) - Digital Collage Workshop
For those with at least basic computer skills, a digital
collage workshop using Photoshop to layer public-domain
images to create your own personalised tarot cards.
Kat will show you the tricks of the trade, how she managed
to blend images from sources as diverse as frescoes and
illuminated manuscripts to create reasonably “real” looking
whole images for Golden Tarot.
This will be a hands-on practical session with computers
kindly supplied by sponsors (or bring your own, if you
have Photoshop or Paintshop Pro version 6 or above).
Kat Black
Kat Black’s celebrated and recently published
Golden Tarot only adds to her previous artistic repute. Kat
has had experience with gilding, and has had her artistic
work exhibited interstate.
Her (lovely) partner was a fellow art student who has
very similar aesthetics and skills. Together they often
collaborate on art projects, and are expected to combine
their skills on a new forthcoming tarot deck.
http://www.goldentarot.com
Pat Martian - Making your own Tarot deck
Making a Tarot deck was part of the traditional Tarot
apprenticeship. Even if you think you have no artisitic
talent at all, you will learn ways to turn out beautiful
personal cards at very little cost, and because you have
made them, you will have a special connection to them.
Warning: No one has ever left one of Pat’s courses
without becoming hooked. This is a very addictive occupation!
Pat Martian
Pat Martian is a former New Zealander, now working in Perth. She has been a
full time professional reader for more than ten years, was a speaker at the
Second International Tarot Congress in Chicago, and appeared on The Profilers
in New Zealand. Together with Fern Mercier, she co-organised New Zealand’s
first Tarot Summer School. Her interest in making decks arose when she first
started reading Tarot, because she couldn’t find the deck she needed,
and was forced to make her own. She has been making decks and inspiring others
to do the same ever since.
http://www.keen.com/memberpub/homepage.asp?user=faith+new+zealand
Elizabeth Wheldrake
- Tarot + Tarot
Elizabeth will engage participants with her board-game Tarot
+ Tarot.
Elizabeth Wheldrake
Elizabeth Wheldrake is better known through her exquisite board game TAROT
TAROT. This includes a new deck of cards based on the Waite pack. Each card
contains a positive message. She has a long connection and expertise in Tarot.
Elizabeth presents regular workshops in Adelaide and visits Cairns, Melbourne
and Sydney annually for consultations. Elizabeth has written 2 books. The
Contemplative Journey is a book of tarot affirmations, with superb art work,
to complement the verse. Tarot is a very concise publication “How to
read the Tarot,” using the Waite deck.
Elizabeth has also undertaken original independent research
on the theme of “Tarot and early Christianity”.
Rain Fisher Wolf - Tarot
and the Living Landscape
What is your relationship with the Land that you walk
or ride through every day? Our ancestors were sometimes
a travelling people. How did they form lasting relationships
with the new lands they crossed or settled? This
is a vital question in Australia at present, but, really,
it's vital everywhere.
In the Heroic stories told and written down by our physical
and intellectual ancestors, there is a recurring theme: the
Hero's Journey. But what of the Lands the Journey
takes place in? I take it for granted everyone is
the hero of their own journey. What I offer is a
list (1 and 21 items long) of specific Landscapes and the
ways that Hero/ines interacted with those Lands of their
Travail...with the view of repeating their Rites of Passage
(though maybe not in full form at the Workshop).
Come and Wander with me! Bring comfy shoes for walking.
(Tarot does feature in this, really.)
Rain Fisher Wolf
Rain has been reading myth for 27 years, and reading and studying Tarot for
21 (he got a fairly useless Architecture degree in there somewhere, as well). For
the last 15 years he has been studying the interrelationships between European
descent peoples and their Lands, with especial focus on recovering a sense
of 'belonging' that seems to have fallen out of spiritual fashion. He's
been a co-director of Metamorphic Ritual Theatre, and is presently a Witch
Doctor living in the Birrarrung Valley (Yarra Valley).
Jean-Michel
David - Sacred Geometry
From the simple depiction of a pentagramme to a three-dimensional
platonic solid, enjoy using some basic skills and engage
in this activity. Please do bring along colouring pencils,
a ruler and compasses if you have them (equipment will
be available for use for those without).
Jean-Michel David
Jean-Michel David has presented at various Conferences internationally and
is highly active on Aeclectic’s TarotForums.
His research stems from work undertaken as a result of noticing numerous
similarities between Mediaeval Lumiere Cathedral stone-carvings and Tarot
iconography. Over the past 20 years, Jean-Michel has taught various courses
on Tarot and other subjects, and as also taught philosophy at University
and mathematics and psychology at secondary level. He is currently involved
in Waldorf/Steiner teacher-training and in teaching in a secondary Steiner
School in Melbourne. Jean-Michel is also one of the principal organisers
of this Conference.
Lisa Blainey
- Felting to Tarot Bags
In this workshop you will make your own soft felt tarot
bag using fine Australian Merino Wool, silk, and cotton.
Felting is an ancient art, one that is fun and really easy
if you are willing to put in a bit of effort. Why don’t
you sign up and try something fun and different, the bonus
is you’ll have a super piece of felt that you can
easily use as Tarot Wrap or sew into a Tarot Bag.
Due to the nature of the workshop, places are limited
to sixteen.
Lisa Blainey
Lisa Blainey is an accomplished textile artist living on the Coral Coast, at
the base of the Great Barrier Reef. Creating under the label “Myluka”,
Lisa uses predominately natural fibres; wool, silk, cotton and creates shawls,
wraps and scarves in both felt and silk, together with a limited selection
of Tarot Bags.
Lisa is busy working on her 2005 Winter collection, a
sample of which will be available for sale through the
ATS stall during the conference and starting up the Bargara
Beach Markets, an outlet for local artists and artisans
in her home town. If you like colour and texture, then
make sure you sign up for my workshop. We are going to
have fun learning how to make felt Tarot wraps and bags.
http://www.myluka.com
Sally Rosson
- An Invitation to Play ‘The (Tarot Profiling) Game’
Come take your place in a Knights of the Round Table setting
and learn to play the TAROT GAME. Answer and have answered
any questions you like. I should clarify what I mean by
answer...there are no YES or NO answers each participant
is encouraged to offer there insights and life experience
through metaphors and stories and Zen Koans that allow
the questioner to ultimately answer there own.
The technique is known as PROFILING - cause you get to
gently build a profile (understanding) of your particular
issue. You’re guaranteed a clarifying experience
and heaps of fun!
Sally Rosson
Sally is very influenced by the work of American independent intellectual Ken
Wilber. His Integral theory - a synthesis of western and eastern psychology
and philosophy - is the foundation of her first book, which she has just
completed. She applies Tarot & Astrology in personal development programs,
which she runs at community facilities in Sydney.
Theme Main
Lecture series: 9:00 - 10:30 am on theme
These will be presented in the Lecture Hall
(comprising of joined rooms 9, 10 and 11).
Saturday:
Jean-Michel David - Tarot's prehistory:
Mamluk cards and Cathedrals
Focus will primarily be on showing depictions
from 12th and 13th century Lumiere or Gothic cathedral
stone carvings and their reflection in the Tarot's Atouts
(Major Arcana). (approx. 45 min.)
Elizabeth Wheldrake - The Major Arcana and
early Christianity
Elizabeth will present her research and discoveries
arising from her British Museum finds. (approx. 45 min.)
Elizabeth Wheldrake is better
known through her exquisite board game TAROT TAROT. This
includes a new deck of cards based on the Waite pack. Elizabeth
has written two books. The Contemplative Journey and How
to read the Tarot.
Sunday:
Elizabeth Wheldrake - The Major Arcana and
early Christianity - cont...
Elizabeth’s finds from the British
Museum will continue. (approx. 45 min.)
Docters van Leeuwen - The Complete New Tarot:
Research, Restoration, and Correlation" Part 1
An encompassing view is given of the many
aspects to this new book by Onno and Rob Docters van Leeuwen. (i)
the new standard of eighty Tarot arcana and their archetypal
symbolisms, (ii) the search for the original Tarot through
history, (iii) the internal structure of the Tarot.
Rob Docters van Leeuwen
Rob Docters van Leeuwen PhD (4-1-1940, The Hague,
The Netherlands), taught and wrote textbooks on chemistry,
the philosophy and methodology of education, and later
educational information systems, at the University of Utrecht
in The Netherlands and at several universities in Australia.
As an educational management information systems specialist
he worked for several years for Asian governments in projects
sponsored by the United Nations, the World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank.
Rob also studied philosophy and the history of the natural
sciences. Since his youth he has had an abiding interest
in the I Ching, the Tarot, astrology, palmistry, Egyptian
and European mythology, Zen-Buddhism and Islam and practised
yoga and Subud. He was for esoteric reasons also particularly
drawn to the history, culture and symbolism of the Celts.
Deeply interested in divination as a philosophical instrument
and gateway to the supernatural, he together with his brother
Onno, restored and structured the Tarot and integrated
it with other divinatory systems and esoteric knowledge.
He sees the Tarot as a pictorial and archetypal gateway
to supernal levels of existence that offers us insights
into our world, our path through life and our goal to Self-actualization.
Docters van Leeuwen’s recently translated book,
The Complete New Tarot, suggests a standard of eighty Arcana,
namely twenty-four Major Arcana, sixteen Court Arcana and
forty Minor Arcana.
http://www.sterlingpublishing.com
Monday:
Docters van Leeuwen - The Complete New Tarot:
Research, Restoration, and Correlation" Part 2
An encompassing view is given of the many
aspects to this new book by Onno and Rob Docters van Leeuwen. (iv)
the Tarot-quartets, (v) TARO-music and Zenzar, (vi) Tarot
divination understood in the light of Ouspensky's eternity-space
paradigm, (vii) and three new spreads: the Ourobouros,
Bolt-or lightning and Chakra spread.
Mary Greer - The Secret Tradition in Waite’s
Minor Arcana
The sources of the revolutionary Waite-Smith
Minor Arcana pictures have long been in question.
It turns out there is a hidden dimension
to these four suits, never mentioned directly by Waite,
but clearly delineated in his works on the Holy Grail and
Freemasonry. They describe the path and pitfalls on the
journey to the innermost shrine in the heart and the realization
of Divine Presence there.
Mary Greer
Mary K. Greer specializes in teaching methods
of self-exploration and personal transformation. The study
of Tarot has been the major focus of her life for over
thirty-five years resulting in six books featuring an experiential
approach to the cards, including: Tarot for Your Self,
The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals, and Understanding
the Tarot Court. She worked with Ed Buryn to create The
William Blake Tarot of the Creative Imagination. An
ordained priestess in the Fellowship of Isis and author
of the biography Women of the Golden Dawn, she
is active in the fields of women’s spirituality and
ceremonial magic. She lives in the Sierra foothills of
Northern California.
http://home.pacbell.net/mkgreer
Tuesday:
Mary Greer - Tarot and Emotions
This is a report on the results of my Tarot and Emotions
Research Project in which I explored the role feelings and
emotions play in a Tarot reading and how they are expressed
in the cards. People want readings to alleviate anxiety,
achieve desires, and find meaning. The process results, unless
blocked, in increased awareness or consciousness. Emotion,
it turns out, is an essential part of these central goals
and yet is largely ignored in traditional tarot card interpretation.
Dan Pelletier - History, Myth, and the Myth-stream
and the reader
Why do you read Tarot (for others). (approx.
45 min.)
Dan M. Pelletier
Dan is an accomplished tarot reader with over
thirty years of experience. Dan has also contributed to
publications on Aeclectic Tarot, Tarot for Life website
newsletter Seeker’s Journey, and Tarot Passages magazine.
He is also co-owner of the well known and highly respected
Tarot Garden.
http://www.tarotgarden.com
Wednesday:
Dan Pelletier - the sitter, deck selection
- a non-traditional approach
Why do they come to us? (approx. 45 min.)
Jean-Michel David - Synopsis of week: History,
Symbols, Inner-Path
An overview of the week's presentation.
Jean-Michel David
Jean-Michel David has presented at various Conferences internationally and is
highly active on Aeclectic’s TarotForums.
His research stems from work undertaken as a result of noticing numerous similarities
between Mediaeval Lumiere Cathedral stone-carvings and Tarot iconography. Over
the past 20 years, Jean-Michel has taught various courses on Tarot and other
subjects, and as also taught philosophy at University and mathematics and psychology
at secondary level. He is currently involved in Waldorf/Steiner teacher-training
and in teaching in a secondary Steiner School in Melbourne. Jean-Michel is also
one of the principal organisers of this Conference.
... and more
time has also been set aside for unscheduled workshops
and discussion groups, as well as panel discussions.
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