Entries Tagged 'Readers Studio 08' ↓

Okay, now that I’m back and I’ve talked marketing a little, here’s more on what went down at The Readers Studio!

I’ve found a couple of updates so far that are bound to be much more involved than this one will be. Debbie has a detailed four day recap, Joanna has a lovely wrap-up as well. Any others? (Keeping my peepers peeped for one from Corinne, whom I didn’t get to talk to much - dang!!)

The highlight of the weekend for me was meeting old friends and making new ones, without question. I hadn’t seen Barbara Moore since… goodness, I can’t even remember. It had been a while! And she gave me some of the very best readings of the weekend, hands down - like, sit-and-ponder-change-your-life kind of readings. Very helpful to me, indeed. And Mary Collin, UK business coach and leader of the popular Readers Studio Tarot Round The World webinar series - what a lady! You guys are in for a treat because Ms. Collin is quite the expert on marketing herself and shared some great ideas at my workshop, which I’ll be passing on to you shortly here on the blog or in the newsletter.

Also wonderful was getting to thank James Wells in person for his expert interview here on BYMB (if you haven’t nabbed it yet, be sure to sign up for the newsletter in the upper right hand corner of the BYMB homepage). And Matt Brooks! Holy smokes, Matt Brooks in the house! I’ve known Matt since the ATA days (for some reminiscences, see this post on my personal blog). And the Aeclectic peeps!

See what I mean? The Readers Studio is all about the people.

I can’t do a play-by-play ’cause it would take too long. Here are some highlights…

One of the big themes that kept coming up again and again: oracles as the antidote to what Thalassa calls “our fractured culture” - our sound-bite culture, our lack of connection to one another and the speedy dwindling of all that is Sacred-With-A-Capital-S in the dominant culture. This “fractured culture” stuff is a big theme for me (it’s something I think about a lot) but I’d never considered my work with Tarot as “subverting the dominant paradigm” or a remedy to that particular rift. Of course, it makes perfect sense. Psychics as agents of change. Definitely something to chew on.

Kevin Quigley shared an amazing 7-card spread to evaluate ourselves as readers. Check out Debbie’s post for positions and details. This was incredibly useful to me, not to mention illuminating… in that Tower sorta way, if you know what I mean. (”Wait, I do what?” “Them cards don’t lie…”) I highly recommend you check it out - I might even ask Kevin if I can pass it along it here.

Like Kevin, the highlight of Thalassa’s session for me was the spread - this one about how to move through massive change. I am very much a how-to/practical solutions kind of reader, so it resonated. (Again, Debbie’s got the deets on positions of the cards.)

The deck highlight of the weekend for me was the Bohemian Gothic, hands down. I know the BG is probably old news to everyone reading this (after all, there is that massive thread on Aeclectic), but still, I’d not yet gotten around to ordering one of my own. Well. Barbara had her silver out for the Foundation Reading (first session), and let me tell ya - I made a “do not pass go, do not collect $200″ beeline to the Tarot Garden table. It was “I cannot be without this deck for a minute longer” moment! My freebie goodie back deck was Tarot of the Thousand And One Nights, featuring Léon Carré’s splendid illustrations (not seen since a Sir Richard Burton edition of The Arabian Nights from the 20’s) - also good stuff. (And apt- I have a webcomic that’s a modern-day send-up of the Arabian Nights called Scheherazade, incidentally. It’ll be a Real Big Project someday when I have the leverage to do it right.)

It felt like I got a lot of messages this weekend, which is probably not a bad thing for a Tarot conference. From the cards I drew to what my session partners were telling me to the mid-session doo-dads (”You are POWERFUL!” on an affirmation card), it felt like the antennae were UP more than usual. Now to ponder over it all…

I’d love to hear more Readers Studio stories, so if you’ve got ‘em, be sure to leave ‘em in the comments!

Last but by certainly no means least, here’s the link to my pictures on Flickr - I’ve added a few since I posted last.

Back from The Readers Studio, refreshed and energized. (Unlike every single other multi-day event I attend, be it a seminar or a workshop or convention or whatever, The ‘Studio seems to leave me with more energy, not less, despite the level of activity… which is really saying something, if ya asked me!)

Before I launch into more blogging about the event, I just want to be sure to take the time to extend a big thank you from the bottom of my cockles to all of my workshop attendees! I was absolutely floored at the response, and the subsequent outpouring of thanks from all of you.

For the rest of the weekend, I had folks coming up to me to let me know how helpful they found the workshop, how they could have sat through another two hours, etc. That meant so much to me!

I have to admit, I didn’t know what to expect… so I kept my expectations for turnout low. I would have been thrilled with just 10 attendees. We had close to 30!

I’d also like to extend special thanks to Maribel, who videotaped the session, and Sasha, who took care of bidness (leaving me free to teach).

I should let you guys know something right up front. I’d been hemming and hawing with the idea of this site for so long, but I’d been afraid to throw myself into it wholeheartedly because I just wasn’t sure marketing how-to’s was something metaphysical practitioners wanted. Now I can see that you guys aren’t afraid of marketing, you’re hungry for it. Message received!

Just keep an eye on the blog and be sure to sign up for the mailing list… I’ve got much more in the pipeline, I’m tellin’ ya!

Thanks so much again.

[Thank-you image by Kathleen, who has a wonderful blog, found by way of Google Image Search. ]

What a day!

All was well at the end of Day One at The ‘Studio… I floated back to my hotel room in the best mood I’ve had in a little while (did I mention all those deadlines at the end of April?) Kevin Quigley’s session, while obscure in spots, was nonetheless grand, the cocktail party kept everyone chatting (and fueled - the “hors doovers” saved us all a trip to the Bistro) and the study groups were rockin’ far into the evening (if I do say so myself!).

The lovely and sweet Maribel of Liquid Video VIDEOTAPED my session! How wild is this? Let me tell ya, it was really a case of the Universe granting my wish… a couple of weeks ago I got to thinking “Wouldn’t it be great if…” which then became, “Gee, I really should…” and then “I do not want to let this cool thing go by without…” But I didn’t have a solution. I really started to come to grips with the idea of not getting it done (there’s only so much I can do) early this week, when Maribel called me out of the blue. A total godsend. Thank you, Maribel!

And if you’ve never seen Maribel’s work before, let me be the first to introduce you. Here’s a bit of Wald on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BXb79ZneLM

So if you’re in the New York/NJ area and need professional video done (we’ll be talking about the benefits of video here on the site), she’s the lady to call! I’ll be adding her to the “Resources” section when it’s up.

Ordinarily I like to chill out in the hotel lobby in the evening (’cause that’s where Wald always is, don’t you know), but last night I was just beat. So beat, in fact, that I didn’t even try to make Robert Place’s session this morning, as I knew it would test the laws of physics (getting there, not the session itself). That’s what The Readers Studio does - gets ya blissfully tuckered.

I must confess, I’m finding it difficult to get articulate blog posts together while in the thick of it, and my Internet access time will run out (it’s not free in the hotel rooms). But I’ll post more when I get home.

In the meantime, I did add some more pictures…

Highlights of the day so far:

1. Got a massive hug from Rachel Pollack. What’s not to love about that?

2. Rachel also brought some of her beautiful jewelry (which she’s selling - if you’re here, do find Rachel and check this stuff out):

3. After the opening ritual, Wald & Ruth Ann kicked things off by interviewing the 3 presenters. James Wells talked about his love of questions, which in turn raised some interesting questions for readers to ponder, both for their querents and themselves….

“What’s the next right thing?” (James’ favorite)

“What is the loving answer?” (Ruth Ann’s)

“What is the mystery that is calling me?” (Another James favorite, from Christina Baldwin)

All three of the presenters gave lots of food for thought, more of which I’ll share with you later (Thalassa, in particular, got the wheels turning for me). But for now, I’ve got to get back downstairs.

I posted more pictures, so go check ‘em out!

… and we’re off!

Got in yesterday afternoon after an arduous 2-hour trek by public transport. 2 hours from Brooklyn to Newark is just wrong. (But I digress…)

Readers had already begun to arrive (most here for Wald & Ruth Ann’s pre-game Advanced Birth Cards class) and the energy was extremely high. I need to get more sleep…

And now, it’s registration time. The fun begins…

I’ve got a Readers Studio set going on Flickr, so that’s where they’ll be.

Spotted so far: Mary Greer, Llewellyn lady Barbara Moore, Corinne Kenner, James Wells, the amazing and fabulous “old soul” Matt Brooks (who missed last year, as did I), Debbie Lake, Johanna Sherman, Garnet Schaffer, Prudence Theriault, Ciro Marchetti… AND! The one and only Shawn Nacol, who will be giving his Tarot for Writers workshop this evening. Hoo boy… I’ve seen the handouts, and let me tell ya, the boy has got it goin’ on. But of course we knew that.

Here’s the man himself…

(As a working writer myself, Shawn is one of my cheerleaders and heros. I just wish I had his energy!)

Last night, while taking what will probably be one of the only meditative minutes I’ll get this weekend, I closed my eyes, shuffled, and selected a card for the conference.  Three of Cups.  (Which, incidentally, was my personal domain name for a long time.)   That’s what I’m talkin’ about!

Time to go downstairs and get settled. More in a bit!