By Sarah Taylor
One of the things I love about gathering with a group of tarot readers is that I get an insight into the many different approaches to a tarot reading, both in terms of field of expertise and technique. (It’s also a great opportunity to participate in some “Ooooh, what deck/s do you use?” banter, with its inevitable cohort: deck envy. Good times!)
This past weekend, while attending the UK Tarot Conference’s ninth annual get-together in London (The theme was ‘The Hermit’, ninth card in the major arcana), I was fortunate enough to meet and talk to a number of colleagues and new friends about their work with cartomancy. I came away with a sense of connectedness to a process that refuses to measure up to some Western empirical ideal but which consistently and simultaneously validates what is happening and expands on what is possible.
Most inspiring of all was the headlining speaker, Rachel Pollack, who was at once learned yet approachable, teacher and maverick, with a depth of knowledge that I would dearly have loved to tap if I had been able to spend some one-to-one time with her. She is at ease with the psychological school of tarot, but makes no bones about her belief in it as a tool of divination. You ask a question; you get an answer. Simple as that.