Your Guide to Tarot Mastery · You can use the Lenormand Oracle to find lost objects. One of the...

The Tarot Your Guide to Tarot Mastery

Edition 14 Summer 2013

This edition’s theme is based on the card called Temperance.

In this card an angel stands with feet apart - one foot is on land and the other is in water. It represents living in the physical realms while maintaining a strong connection with the still waters of the unconscious mind. Divine energy flows from one cup to the other, and Waite (the designer of this deck) calls this energy ‘the essences of life’. He also mentions that this angel ‘harmonises our psychic and material natures. Under that rule we know in our rational part something of whence we came and whither we are going.’ This flow of energy between the golden chalices is the centrepiece of the card, and it asks you to consider the interaction of your thoughts and actions, so that you, too, can have balance and harmony in your life.

While looking at this card, consider where you are on your Tarot journey. Are you still dipping your toes into the waters of this big adventure, or are you ready to dive wholeheartedly into the exciting world of Tarot mastery?

If you want to take the next step on your Tarot adventure, come along to my next workshop on the Major Arcana. In this class you’ll realise the significance of the Major Arcana cards as a model for your spiritual growth and personal enlightenment! Details are on page 6 of this newsletter.

Tarot Blessings, Don McLeod

– Editorial

Page 2 – International Tarot Conference

Page 3 – U.K. Tarot Conference Review

Page 4 – Tarot Gatherings

Page 5 – The Lenormand Oracle

Page 6 – Workshops and Classes

Page 7 – The Light Switch

Page 8 – French Tarot Deck

www.MisterTarot.com

In my last newsletter I gave a quick review of the

International Tarot Conference held in Melbourne

in August. Since then I’ve had a bit more time to

reflect on the workshops and conversations I had

during that event. Here’s some more information

gleaned from that wonderful conference.

80% of the participants only use their cards upright. 10%

sometimes use reversed cards, and only the remaining 10%

use reversals every time.

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 card are

looking and see who they are interacting with.

You can use the Lenormand Oracle to find lost objects.

One of the reasons why the Rider-Waite deck is so good

for readings is that the features on most of the character’s

faces are expressionless. This opens the meaning of the card

to a variety of possibilities.

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.

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the

weekend…

“The card you least like is your soul card.” (B. 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.” (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 that we cannot see by our

own limited means of perception.” (Rachel Pollack)

“Soulful moments punctuate the everyday…” (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)

This conference was a rewarding and enlightening

gathering of Tarot enthusiasts. The conference theme was

Reflection, Celebration & Revisioning, and it covered all

of these areas with professionalism and passion. I’m sure

all of the participants left with an invigorated desire to

incorporate their new understandings of Tarot in their

readings for themselves and others. You can see more

photos of this event by clicking on the following link…

http://youtu.be/fdm2Ew39j7Y

The Tarot Guild of Australia’s

International Tarot Conference Melbourne 2013


Mar

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. G

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, C

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http://youtu.be/fdm2Ew39j7Y

After playing tourist in the vibrant, crowded,

and crazy city of London for a few days, it was a

pleasure to settle in for a quiet session of Tarot at the

UK Tarot Conference. I found myself sitting at a table

with a warm and welcoming group, some of whom had

travelled from as far as America and New Zealand.

The day began with a talk by Carrie Paris who

spoke about ‘collection oracles’, in which items such as

shells, bones, stones, and trinkets are cast and the

resulting pattern is examined for meaning. This was

followed by an opportunity to try Carrie’s famous

Magpie Oracle, and her Handbag Tarot idea, in which

we attempted divination using everyday objects from

handbags or pockets. It was a fascinating exercise that

explored the underlying essence of divination.

Caitlin Matthews’ workshop focused on some

forgotten techniques by eminent card readers from the

distant past. In her talk, ‘Tarot & Ancient Cartomancy

Skills’, she maintained that some of the older styles of

reading had a more direct, succinct, narrative style

compared to the flowery, psychological style that we

see today. Caitlin also said, “One of the things that I’m

very keen on is the significator…how important a

significator can be in a reading, and how boring it is to

just leave it on the table. It’s much more fun to shuffle

it into the deck before a reading. In older forms of

cartomancy, it’s the significator that makes everything

come alive, because it’s the juxtaposition with the

significator that makes everything stand up and sing.”

People were so keen to explore Tarot with

each other that a couple of extra talks were scheduled

during the lunch break. I went to the discussion on the

Court cards with Alison Cross and we learnt a variety

of ways to determine the meaning of a Court card

when it surfaced in a reading.

After lunch, Lyn Olds gave a workshop

entitled ‘Three Card Draw’. But it wasn’t a spread, as

such. We pulled 3 cards for a reading then took parts

of the images and using a pen and paper we created a

4th card to play with. The idea was to deconstruct the

images and then reconstruct a whole new card. You

also add in other imagery to fill out the card. In a

backwards manner, once we had created our new card,

we were told that this card answered the question,

“Who am I right now.” It was a fun and enlightening

way to learn more about the cards and the nature of

card reading.

Towards the end of the day the über-talented

Ciro Marchetti gave a stunning visual presentation

that showed how his decks evolved from inspiration

through to manifestation. And he discussed the

historical role and highly emotive forces behind

symbolism and visual communication.

This brilliant conference closed with a Wheel

of Fortune meditation, given by the founder and

organiser Kim Arnold. The next UK Tarot Conference

starts on the 10th of October 2014. Mary K. Greer and

Dolores Ashcroft-Norwicki will be the special guests.

If you can get there, I know you’ll find it to be an

enjoyable and rewarding experience that will enrich

your understanding of Tarot.


Edition 13 Spring 2013


U.K. Tarot Conference

Kim Arnold

Caitlin Matthews





TAROTCON (OZ) 2014

The Australian Tarot Convention

will be held in Melbourne from 4th to 6th April.

The venue (Batman’s Hill on Collins Hotel)

is in the heart of Melbourne and will serve

as the Tarot Temple for the weekend.

This is a weekend of cutting-edge Tarot with

leading international authors and speakers such as

Barbara Moore (USA), Marcus Katz (UK),

and Tali Goodwin (UK).

The aim is to provide authentic and

original Tarot to engage life, not escape it.

www.tarotconvention.com

Learn how to combine Tarot and Palmistry in an innovative, five week course, held once a week at Hahndorf, S. A. Only $190 Email Trev: [email protected]

Free Tarot Readings Some of the students from my Tarot Workshops would like to do free readings in exchange for feedback. If you’d like to be added to the list as a reader, or if you would like a free Tarot reading from someone who is hoping to gain confidence through experience, send me an email and I’ll put you in touch.

[email protected]

Tarot Quiz

Q: In the card called Temperance,

what are the strange symbols at

the top of the angel’s gown?

Adelaide Tarot Gatherings

The Tarot Guild of Australia is sponsoring these gatherings and

meetings are held on the last Wednesday of each month.

Meet like-minded enthusiasts to share, practice, and discuss your favourite

spreads, decks and authors. You don't need to be a Tarot expert.

All are welcome!

For more information on each monthly event, contact Martha on 0403 276 319

or email: [email protected]

Venue: St John’s Spiritualist Church 271 Carrington Street, Adelaide

Starting time is 7 p.m. Cost is $5

For a state-by-state listing of monthly Tarot gatherings around Australia, see the Guild’s website: www.tarotguild.org.au

mailto:[email protected]




What is the

Lenormand Oracle?

One of the latest variations of Tarot to hit the

big time is the Lenormand Oracle. New Lenormand

decks are being produced and marketed to eager

purchasers. Where and when did all this excitement

originate? We have to travel back in time to the

beginning of the nineteenth century to find the

answers.

In France, in the

early 1800s, going to a

fortune teller was a popular

form of entertainment, even

though the practice of the

“black art” was strictly

forbidden. One of the most

popular readers of that time

was Marie Anne Adelaide

Lenormand.

She wrote that when she was 14 she was

given her first deck of cards by gypsies who taught

her how to read them. She had an apartment in Paris

where she read the cards for the general population,

as well as famous people such as the Empress

Josephine. Unfortunately for Mademoiselle

Lenormand, she also gave predictions about the

Emperor Napoleon and some of his future failures.

For being so brash as to suggest that this Emperor

could possible fail in any of his military campaigns,

Mademoiselle Lenormand was imprisoned for

many years.

Mademoiselle Lenormand understood the

value of atmosphere, and it is said that the walls of

her apartment were covered with huge dead bats,

nailed by their wings to the ceiling, and there were

stuffed owls, Kabbalistic symbols on the walls, and

animal skeletons on display.

Despite the name, the Lenormand cards are

not what Mademoiselle Lenormand used in her time

as a fortune teller! She used the normal playing

cards of the day. After her death, an astute business

man merged her name with a children’s parlour

game and passed it off as a famous fortune-telling

system. Tarot readers like it because it gives them a

new way of looking into the future. But the two

systems are different in style and very different in

the way that you read and interpret the cards.

Quiz Answer

Q: What are the strange symbols at

the top of the angel’s gown?

A: On top of her gown, written in

Hebrew from right to left, is the

divine name, Yod He Vav He

This lettering enhances the spiritual

qualities of this card. The meaning of this

card is no longer just about coordination,

cooperation, and moderation. It’s now

about finding harmony between your

material and spiritual nature. The angel

called Temperance blends divine wisdom

with outer knowledge and helps you to

create a more meaningful life.

Don McLeod’s

Tarot Workshops 2014

Want to get serious about learning Tarot?

Next year I am running a series of workshops

to help you become a more confident and

proficient Tarot reader.

If you’ve already been to one of my Tarot

Simplified classes, or if you have a good

understanding of the basics of Tarot, then

you’re welcome at these workshops.

January 19

The Major Arcana

Gain an understanding of the role of the Major Arcana

in Tarot readings.

Discover the meanings of the Major Arcana.

Realise the significance of the Major Arcana as a model

for spiritual growth and personal enlightenment.

Do spreads using only the Major Arcana.

April 13

The Court Cards

Who are the characters in the Court cards?

Discover the types of people shown in these cards.

Use spreads specifically designed for the Court cards.

Gain a clear understanding of Court card meanings.

June 15

The Minor Arcana

August 24

Tarot Spreads

October 19

Tarot Spirituality

All will be held in the workshop rooms of

Cosmic Pages Bookshop from 12:30 to 3:30

p.m. These workshops are only $75 each.

Bookings are already open...

Phone 8231 9105 to reserve your place.




Tarot Simplified a workshop with Don McLeod

Sunday February 9, 2014 from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Held at Cosmic Pages Bookshop 338 - 340 King William Street, Adelaide

How Tarot Works

Demystifying Tarot

Insightful Tarot Spreads

Learn Easy Interpretations

Practical & Spiritual Uses

By the end of this workshop you

will feel comfortable using Tarot

cards and you will have a better

understanding of their meanings.

3 ½ hours training for only $65

Requirements: Rider-Waite Tarot Deck

Bookings essential: Phone 8231 9105

Elite Tarot Coaching

One-to-one sessions are available for personalised,

professional Tarot coaching with Don McLeod.

Each elite coaching session goes for two hours and

provides tips and techniques to give you confidence in

doing readings and making interpretations.

Email: [email protected]

The coaching fee is $99

Personalised Classes

Want to learn Tarot with your friends?

Get a group together and I’ll come to you!

Email: [email protected]




In November I had the opportunity to be interviewed at

Amber Petty’s Light Switch event in Adelaide. It was a

full day of talks with some of Adelaide’s spiritual

practitioners, including the Soul Sisters from Power FM

radio station.

When I was interviewed on stage, we discussed the history

of Tarot and my own journey as a Tarot reader. We also

did a 3 Card Spread for one of the audience, and a Soul

Reading for another enthusiastic individual.

Amber’s questions made me think about some basic Tarot

concepts, and I decided to write down some of the

thoughts that were generated from that day.

What is a Tarot reading?

Tarot is different things to different people. You can use it

in a variety of ways. In its most general form, people use

it for fortune telling, but you can also use the cards for

psychological evaluation, or to discover why you react in

a particular way when faced with specific situations. Or

you could use them to see why you repeat patterns of

destructive behaviour; this then helps you to understand

the thought processes that have lead you to this point in

life. And of course you can use Tarot on a spiritual level

too; you can choose cards to discover how well you are

progressing along your spiritual path.

Tarot is an intuitive tool that allows you to connect with

deeper levels of consciousness. You use your intuition

when looking at the symbols on the cards to discover

what your higher self is wanting you to know about any

situation.

Tarot readings give an overview

of your life. A reading gives you

an idea of where you are now,

where you’ve come from, and

where your life is heading. When

you need to make a major

decision, it can help you to gain a

fresh perspective on the situation.

A Tarot reading can help you to

see the most important issues to

consider, opening your eyes to

circumstances that you may have

glossed over if considering things

only on a purely objective level.

Tarot helps you to be more intuitive in general, and it

is an incredibly accurate method for making choices in

everyday life. Whether it’s big decisions about which

job to accept, or even if it’s just a decision about which

restaurant to go to for a special dinner…you can use

Tarot to get an answer.

Thank you to Amber Petty for organising a great day

of discussion about spirituality. It was a wonderful

opportunity to meet enlightened people (such as the

Soul Sisters) who work on a daily basis in the field of

personal development. I’m sure this is just the start of

a series of Light Switch events, so stay tuned for

updates and make sure you go along to the next one.

The Light Switch

Mister Tarot and

the Soul Sisters


www.MisterTarot.com

Mister Tarot is on Facebook! Visit here and click “Like” to get all the latest Tarot news.

“Tarot is a talisman which

reminds us that every moment is

a profound opportunity to

experience the truth of what is

occurring here and now.”

From Tarot Professionals

Facebook message 11th July 2013

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter,

simply send an email to: [email protected]

with the word ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject area.

Copyright on all articles in this newsletter belong

to Don McLeod unless specifically stated otherwise.

Temperance is thoughtful, careful and considerate, and as this is a card that can represent feelings and relationships, the

angel illustrates a prudent and watchful approach to her task of pouring the liquid without spilling a drop.

- from Tarot Masters, chapter 14 by Juliet Sharman Burke

My New Tarot Deck

What sort of souvenir does a Tarot enthusiast like to get while travelling overseas? A new Tarot deck of

course! While in Paris, my lovely wife went shopping and came back to our hotel with a present for me. She’d

found a Rider-Waite deck (my favourite) with French titles on the cards. And from a Tarot point of view, this

was fascinating because the manufacturers hadn’t just translated the English names for these cards…they used

the images from the modern Rider deck, but they added the titles of the Major Arcana cards from the Tarot

de Marseille cards. Here are a couple of examples: instead of having a High Priestess, Hierophant and Tower,

my deck has The Papess (Female Pope), The Pope, and The House of God.

The other variations that I noticed are with the suits. Cups and Swords are still translated as such, but

Pentacles has reverted to Deniers, which equates to Coins. Deniers literally means money, but a denier was

a medieval coin which was minted in France and Italy in the Middle Ages. The suit of Wands are known as

Bâtons, which usually means sticks, but the translation can be stretched to wands as well. To be precise, a

magic wand is normally (and to my mind humorously) translated as une baguette magique.

So, now I have a standard,

modern Rider-Waite Tarot

Deck, but with French titles

taken from a pack created in

1760! It’s a lovely and quirky

reminder of a great holiday and

I’ll treasure them for their

novelty value and their links to

Tarot’s history and evolution.

http://www.facebook.com/MisterTarot

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