In the last Psychic Thought, I recounted my rendition of incubating a dream which led me to sign up for the tarot Readers’ Studio.
Now I’ve wrestled with my chosen and daunting task of attempting to distill down the varied and rich experience of the Readers’ Studio. I can really only provide a small snapshot to give you some impressions of what was available.
The Readers’ Studio opened on Thursday night with an optional master pre-class called The Power of Silence. This was conducted by our hosts, Wald and Ruth Ann Amberstone.
Wald almost breathed the word “wait.” And this idea of waiting became an underlying theme in the conference.
Wald and Ruth Ann talked about darshan, which they defined as “what happens when you are invited to enter the presence of someone you deeply respect but don’t have a personal relationship with.”
Sometimes the purpose of darshan is just to experience such presence. Other times it is to receive an important communication or blessing.
We can revere all beings and enter Darshan with anything– a rock, the ticking of a click, a pencil, a cup, the cards– whatever we choose; we need only approach each with respect, patience, and willingness to listen.
We were guided into a brief and gentle process to invoke quiet. From there we entered what Wald and Ruth Ann called “The Song of the World,” a place of pure energy.
“Quiet is the absence of sound, but silence is embedded in sound,” they said. Wald spoke about noise separating us whereas “silence is what is the same in all things; it is a communication among them and does not demand your attention.”
“If you learn to have darshan with the world around you, you will never be alone,” Wald said.
Silence in a reading was not to be feared but received. Generally, as readers, we intend not only to earn our money but to look like we’re earning it. I know that I can usually fill the time with information and it’s important to see that sometimes less can lead to so much more.
Since the value of inner work and transformation is difficult to quantify, we have to trust it whether the client appears to or not. When it’s appreciated, its magnificence is magnified.
The mystical context was well-established as we then entered into mind’s eye conversations with people, places or things.
We were reminded to treat the cards with this respect. Many of us know we can send our minds inside the cards and ask questions, but few of us set the time aside to actually practice the art of this presence.
Another underlying theme, highlighted by Geraldine Amaral, but truly evident throughout the conference, was to focus our intention on being of service rather than being overcome by a client’s desires or our own egocentric wishes.
After this first class, I was immersed in a mystical sense of grace when someone dashed over and asked to meet me because I “stood out.”
I had wondered what my place among all these readers was, so it was revelatory to hear that I stood out in a group where there was more than one person with rampant blue hair, and I wasn’t one of those people!
Friday opened with greetings and an initial foundation reading for a partner with whom we would plan to re- connect on our last seminar day. We would conduct a second reading on the same questions and see what had changed.
Most people noted changes. I saw a real transition and expansion in my partner and he also noticed differences in me.
People were so open and kind and that brought healing in itself. It made it easy to connect and really easy to receive higher information. I felt a spirit of camaraderie rather than competition.
Most of us are fairly isolated from each other in our work so it was helpful to be able to compare notes about what we experience. Not everyone who attended was a professional reader, and we were able to be guides for each other.
In Brief: Snapshots from some of the three- hour classes
Geraldine Amaral said that Tarot is a database of consciousness. Lighting a candle, she intoned, was symbolic for releasing the wisdom within us.
If we are quiet and train our minds, we will release mental clutter, such as the inner critic, and reach clearer decisions.
“Intuition helps you make decisions based on insufficient information,” she said, quoting Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz.
She reminded us that everything is vibration and encouraged us to raise our own vibrations, to come from an intention of service and release the need for validation.
“All oracles help us achieve a different level of awareness, a doorway to other domains. She had a number of exercises which people really loved and are very similar to many of the things I do. She also uses the sound of a person’s name to enter the vibration.
We hysterically laughed through Valentina Burton’s
dramatic and insightful depiction of the modern reader. Her acting background continues to inspire her in costume and presentation.
She quoted Rachel Pollack:
“The value of a reading always depends upon what a person does with it, and that’s up to the querent.”
Valentina let us know that she would say some blasphemous things. For example, she sees herself as an entertainer and uses the label, fortune teller. If people inform her that they don’t want to hear anything “bad,” she will remove “negative” cards from the deck, and feels comfortable that she still provides a valuable reading.
James Wanless (creator of The Voyager Deck) emphasized the coaching aspect of a tarot readers’ job. Modern readers are more apt to be fortune creators rather than fortune tellers.
He cautioned us to realize and value the range of services we provide, i.e., guidance, therapy, prediction, explanation of the past and past life circumstances, spiritual advice.
Just telling someone where they’re headed is not enough. At our best, and when allowed, we can use the cards to guide someone to achieve their dreams, learn from pitfalls and use past mistakes grow into the person their soul longs for them to be.
This can be particularly tricky because people often reach out to us when they’re in their deepest pain. That pain can be a springboard into a more powerful future.
In ancient times the oracle was a bridge to the voice of the gods. Unlike television, that voice can be subtle, or revealed by signs. As readers, we train ourselves to hear the voice in the wind, or even the voice that precedes the wind.
We learn to interpret what we’re given and more important than that, to help others connect to their divine source.
James Wanless is highly creative and was a dynamic speaker. I believe his Voyager Deck was not only the first collage decks but was also self-published. You can watch the wheels of his mind speed as he speaks and conveys clever ways to approach the deck.
James had us break the cards down into spiritual advisors. For example, using the suit of pentacles for someone with a financial question, or separating out the Lovers Card and the suit of cups to respond to issues of the heart.
Rachel Pollack asked us how imagination differs from the psychic/intuitive? I have my own thoughts about where those two cross.
Our culture denigrates imagination, she said. We say something is imaginary in order to dismiss it.
Conversely, in the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria, imagination is the gateway on the tree of life to higher realms.
Encouraging us to be silly or outrageous, she asked us to create an alter ego who would read for a partner. Her alter ego was Dr. Apollo. Mine was Madame Tatiana.
We then wrote a brief history, or back story of our persona’s life, and proceeded to read the cards in that characters’ voice for the character of our partner. Reading this way is freeing, and yet we saw that an essential truth springs forth which goes beyond the moment of the reading.
This speaks to me of the true value of readings. Our day-to-day concerns are constantly changing, and will change whether we can fathom it or not. Who we are from the inside can and will influence how those changes happen.
How we respond to what does happen contributes to our soul growth and can raise our vibration to connect at higher levels. We all want what we want in the moment, even if the Universe doesn’t seem to be granting it.
But how do we continue to command or expand ourselves as individuals who make a difference in the world no matter what our interpretation of present circumstances?
We know, if only from the opening pre-class, that we can connect with the vibration of anything and that being does not have to be present in the room.
So much more was presented, learned and even forgotten. I took an evening class on reading by throwing stones and not only did that flow, but I met some wonderful people.
Please feel free to ask questions or make suggestions about what you’d like to read here!
It’s likely I’ll be returning to Readers’ Studio 2010, so more information to follow.
Blessings,
Lorrie
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