2020 is a Wrap

Yesterday, 12/5/20, was the last CTS meeting of 2020.  This has been such a strange year, but we managed to continue meeting successfully every month through Zoom.  The group has a lot to be proud of.

Of particular concern was how we would pull off our annual solstice/holiday party.  Under normal circumstances, we meet at a member's home to enjoy a potluck and exchange mystery presents (used tarot decks, books, and related items wrapped up so you can't tell what they are or who they're from).  This year, we pivoted by doing Secret Santas by mail and opening our gifts via video chat, plus some webhosted tarot trivia.

Hopefully, by this time next year, we will be able to return to our old holiday traditions, but we can pat ourselves on the back for how well we adapted in 2020.  We plan to continue meeting virtually well into 2021, until we know it's safe to meet in person again.

The 2021 meeting dates have been posted to the meetings and presentations page.  We are now in the process of setting up meeting activities and presenters for 2021 and will begin posting them as they become final.

Taking Tarot Onilne

Everyone is being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic right now, including tarot readers.  CTS has done its part to encourage social distancing by cancelling scheduled in-person meetings.

But that doesn't mean we can't still enjoy tarot together!  CTS has a new Facebook community (just for registered members - see our how to join page if you're interested in connecting online).  We have also decided to hold our monthly meetings via conference call for the foreseeable future.

We had originally planned an entirely different topic for today's meeting when we thought meetings would continue to be in-person, and when we realized we needed to be socially distancing we thought we would have to cancel today's meeting entirely.  But then one of our newest members jumped to the rescue and came up with an innovative tarot trivia game that could be played over the phone. 

We weren't sure how a conference call would work with so many members, but were willing to try, and it actually went really well!  In fact, we had unusually high turnout because members who live further out, or who have moved out of the area, and have a hard time making it to in-person meetings were able to join. This has inspired us to continue to try to hold meetings by phone until things get back to normal.

You can view our meeting schedule for the rest of the year on our meetings and presentations page.  You will note that the listed schedule is still super tentative as we try to coordinate with scheduled presenters about either converting their presentations to a remote format or, where it would make more sense to hold a particular presentation in person, to postpone their presentations for later in the year and come up with a new, virtual-friendly topic for that month.

In any case, we are thrilled to still get to connect with our tarot buddies during the pandemic.  For many of us CTS has become like family and monthly meetings are a constant in our lives even while other things are up in the air.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Coloring the Tarot!

Those familiar with the traditional Rider Waite Smith tarot deck understand the importance and nuance of color in tarot.  The RWS has been recolored over and over again - from the original cards that came out around the turn of the 20th century, to the Universal Rider Waite, to the Radiant Rider Waite, many have sought to "update" the coloring of the original cards - changing not the hue but the saturation and tone of the hues.  Intellectual property rights to the card images can even hinge on which of these nuanced colors are used.

Color also provides important cues in tarot.  Each of the four minor arcana suits is associated with a different element, and, in turn, we all tend to associate certain colors with each of those elements: bright reds, oranges and yellows with fire (wands); ethereal grays, whites and ice blues with air (swords); deep blues, greens and purples with water (cups); and rich greens and browns with Earth (coins or pentacles).  So tarot deck artists can use color to send important signals to tarot readers about what a card is meant to mean by helping us understand what element to associate it with.  But uses of color certainly don't stop there.

In February, the Capital Tarot Society is thrilled to be hosting special guest speaker Robin Ha at our monthly meeting.  Robin is the author/illustrator of New York Times best selling cookbook Cook Korean, and is also a tarot enthusiast.  She has illustrated a tarot-themed coloring book as well as a number of art prints that appeal to witchier tastes.

At February's meeting, Robin will be leading us through a color-your-own-tarot-card exercise and talking about her inspiration to draw and publish tarot-themed items.  We're all super excited!