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This week has been an awesome whirlwind of Austin Tarot events. Here’s some notes from the 3 events I attended over the past few days:
Tuesday – The Magic of the Minor Arcana (a Tejas Web class)
This class is broken into 4 weekly classes, each covering one of the suits. The first class was the Swords class (Swords = Air = East, being the first Quarter traditionally called in Circle). After a brief into to the make-up and history of Tarot, we jumped into discussing the Minor Arcana. A really interesting part of the discussion that I had never thought of is the way geometry fit so well with the traditional numerological meanings of 1-10 in relation to Tarot.
Cat and Suzanne then talked a bit about the Court Cards, and helped us understand all this ceremonial magic “earth of air” “water of air” craziness, which actually made sense.
- Pages = Earth
- Knights = Air
- Queens = Water
- Kings = Fire
Therefore, the King of Swords is “Fire of Air,” meaning he displays the qualities of Air through his more Fire-y nature… does that make sense? Or if the above correspondences are that court’s “worldview” you can see where they all experience Air differently even though they’re all Swords. Heh, made up that last little analogy myself 
From there we did an automatic writing exercise using the Swords’ Court cards, which was very revealing. Cat lead us on a meditation from the Ace through the King of Swords and guided us through using our intuition to understand and develop our own meanings of the cards. Afterwards, we discussed meanings as a class and talked a little of traditional meanings. I loved when people with really unique decks would show us how that deck portrayed a card. At the end of the class, we did a mini-spread with just the Swords suit, which is a scary proposition but was actually very accurate despite using only 14 possible cards. Can’t wait for next class – the Wands!
Wednesday – Austin Tarot Talkers Meetup: The Hermit Constellation
This Meetup was also the first of a series of meetups about the Hermit constellation, which includes the Hermit, the Moon and the four 9s pip cards. This meetup was just on the Hermit, yet it was hard to stay focused when we kept getting off on wonderful tangents. Despite that, I think everyone left with a greater understanding of the card. We each showed our card and developed our own meanings.
After sharing, we used a variety of books to research any symbolism or aspects of the cards we didn’t know. Everyone at the meetup was a lot of fun and there was a variety of people, from “I just bought my first deck 5 minutes ago” to seasoned professionals. Looking forward to the next meetup in this series – the Moon.
Thursday – Austin Tarot Enthusiasts 1st Meeting
The birth of this group is a match made on the Internet. Arwen, who recently moved to Austin, wanted to 
start a Tarot group here in town. I’d been following her on Twitter for a while so when I read her tweet about an Austin group I jumped at the opportunity. She then advertised the group online, which attracted a variety of people. Five of us made it to our first meeting, where we discussed what we wanted out of the group as well as fun things we could do. An important decision was agreed upon regarding meetings: we’re going to try and meet at the Denny’s in south Austin along the I-35 southbound access road if they’ll have us (one of the group is going to call).
Our plan is to meet every 1st, 3rd (and 5th) Thursday of the month, schedules willing. This is not an exculsive thing either, we look forward to a fluid group with people coming in and out attending and teaching when they can. We even want beginners to try and lead a discussion – no better way to learn than to teach! If you’re interested in coming to meetings, join our Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AustinTarotEnthusiasts/ to get the most up-to-date schedules, etc.Next meetup: The Fool
Have a great weekend!
PS – I’m on MySpace now. If you have an account, please add me 
Lots of Tarot events and fun happening this week! If you’re in the Austin area, you should definitely check these out if you can:
September 16-October 7, Tuesdays, 7-10pm
BODY, MIND, SPIRIT, HEART: THE MAGIC OF THE MINOR ARCANA
With Cat Dancing and Suzanne
The Minor Arcana of the Tarot are mirrors of our daily lives–Pentacles our bodies, Swords our minds, Wands our spirits, and Cups our emotions. This class on the Minor Suits of the Tarot invites us to explore the cards as tools of magic, insight, and transformation.
In these experiential classes we use intuition, spellcrafting, meditation, art, and creative play to begin or deepen our understanding of the Minors. We explore the interrelationships of the Minor and Major Arcana, drawing on Tarot lore and correspondences as well as our own inspirations. We learn new and traditional spreads and gain confidence in reading the cards.
All levels of Tarot experience are welcome. Bring a Tarot deck, your journal, and a willingness to let go of your assumptions and teachings and look with fresh eyes.
Classes meet at Ancient Mysteries. Sliding fee scale is $90-$150-pay what is right for you within this range. Please register in advance, as space is limited; a $25 deposit holds your place. Contact Suzanne, mcanna314@hotmail.com, 512-282-5541, or Cat Dancing, catdancing13@yahoo.com, 512-608-1701, for more information.
There are still a FEW spots left open for this class. Call Cat and she’ll send you more detailed info. Bring your full payment to the class. If you write a check, make it to “Tejas Web” ( an Austin NPO).
September 17th @ 7:30 – The Hermit Constellation Part 1 – an Austin Tarot Talkers Meetup
Location: Borders Books and Music 9500 S I H 35, Austin, TX 78753 Join us as we journey through The Hermit Constellation.This meet up will be devoted to the Hermit. You will be exposed to a variety of different Hermit cards from the decks that you bring. We will discuss what we already know about the card through all six of our senses. This will be followed up by digging through the books and learning and answering all the questions. We will discuss astrology, numerology, kaballah, elements, symbolism and colors.
The meetup will finish up with a discussion on what we just learned and how to use this information in a reading in addition to how the card fits in with the remainder of the deck.
This is the first meetup of a 7 part series. Each meetup in the series we will discuss a new card that fits into The Hermit Constellation until we have studied each card. There will then be a final meetup discussing a conclusion for The Hermit Constellation.
It is important that you bring a journal that is specifically designated for this series of meetups only.
Plan to have fun, meet new and old friends and fall in love with the tarot.
There are still openings for this Meetup. Join the Meetup group to get emailed about future events.
September 18: Austin Tarot Enthusiasts @ Ruta Maya on S. Congress 7pm
From Arwen, the group creator:
“I have started a Yahoogroup for us to organize together. Please feel free to tell others about this group as well. All are welcome!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AustinTarotEnthusiasts/ is the group homepage.
I am proposing that we meet at 7pm on Thursday September 18 at the Ruta Maya 3601 S Congress Ave. Bring a deck. Bring a notebook. Let’s meet one another and brainstorm about what we want from a Tarot Study group. Everyone is welcome. Beginners to old hats!
My vision is a monthly (maybe more frequent) meeting where we can read for one another and discuss new spreads etc. I look forward to meeting those of you who can attend on Thursday.”
This is a new group forming organized by Arwen, whom I met on Twitter She’s also a new Austinite and looking to jump right in!
Notes and updates from all the above events are forthcoming as I attend them. Hope to see you around!
