Special Guest Presenter Geraldine Amaral This Month!

Because of the holiday last weekend this month's meeting is taking place tomorrow instead of the usual first Saturday of the month.

But that's not the only reason this month's meeting is special!  We will be welcoming guest presenter Geraldine Amaral, local tarot reading and teaching guru, to provide helpful information and pointers about tarot for entertainment purposes - i.e., how to read at parties and other festivities!

Geraldine's talk promises to be informative and hands-on.  She will be covering how to prepare for an event, best spreads to use, what to bring, how to charge for an event, various dos and don'ts, and ways to ensure that your presence at an event is a success.  Plus, attendees will have a chance to practice fast-paced mini readings.

This presentation is an updated repeat of a talk Geraldine gave to the group several years ago.  The discussion topic was so well-received and so helpful that we have no doubt it will be a helpful even to those members who were at the first presentation of this topic.

See you there!

CTS's Living Tarot Spread

The March 2016 meeting of the Capital Tarot Society featured one of our more lighthearted activities: impersonating the cards!

Members signed up to personify specific cards from the major arcana, while other members took turns asking questions to obtain their advice, given in character.

We encouraged members to dress in line with their major arcana characters, or to bring a prop showing what card they had selected.  We didn't expect members to go all out and show up in full costume!

From left to right, back to front: Hermit, Hierophant, Devil, Star, Magician, High Priestess, Moon, Death, Temperance, Sun, and Empress

The meeting was, overall, fun and successful - even if we did seriously confuse our wait staff.

Meanwhile, April's meeting featured a discussion and exercises on the concept of 1,254 cards in the deck - essentially, how two cards paired together (1,254 possible combinations) can lend themselves to a meaning greater than the sum of their parts.

May's meeting, taking place TOMORROW, May 7, will feature a group discussion of the actual mechanisms that make tarot work, enlivened through a fun game of group jeopardy.

Join us in February to Learn About Spreadless Readings!

Thanks to our wonderful member Paula January's name-tag decorating and new year spreads were amazing fun, as always.

In February, the presentation will focus on reading without a spread!

Reading without a spread can be either incredibly straightforward or incredibly in-depth; the difference between the two depends on how the reader approaches it.

This style of reading requires a significant reliance on the images of the cards themselves, regardless of whether they are pictorial or simple pips, and is an incredibly versatile method of reading.  It allows you to develop your intuition and stretch your understanding of the cards and how they interact.

Reading without a spread requires you to synthesize your knowledge of traditional card meanings, your intuition, and various elements of the tarot.  Using a variety of tools when you read can help you delve into the depth of the reading; these tools can also be applied to readings with spreads.

In this session, you will enjoy ample opportunity to practice using these tools in spreadless readings.

Please bring an interesting tarot deck to the meeting so that everyone will have a unique deck to read with.

If you would like to join us for our February 6 presentation on reading without a spread, but are not already a member, check out our How to Join page.  It's free!