Blogging From RS11 - Part Two

Opening Ceremony

RS11 has been so crazy busy that it is hard to find time to blog. So I will have to be brief.

On Friday, the Amberstones started off the event with a welcoming ceremony. Ruth Ann led the opening and then we were down to business. The main presenters were interviewed and they told us what they would be teaching – and it was an exciting roster: Corrine Kenner was going to be teaching us about astrology and tarot, Barbara Moore would show us how to create spreads and Caitlin Matthews would be talking about significators. Wow. This was not going to be a dull event.

But before we got down to the main show, we had to pick a partner for the “foundation reading”. The theory behind the foundation reading is this: we get a reading, keep notes and then at the end of the conference we revisit the reading with our partner and employ some of the techniques we learned from the classes. I chose to work with Hilary Parry (who is ironically, one of the Tarot Apprentice contestants – I enjoyed messing with her mind – talk about pressure! LOL). Hilary blew me away with her deadly accurate reading.

Getting a great reading from Hilary Parry.

This was followed by the class with Corrine Kenner. Corrine is a master teacher and gave us so much info that our brains were spinning! Because I have an astrology background, I had no trouble understanding this. Astrology can be intimidating but Corrine gave excellent details and we were all having fun discovering things about ourselves.

Later, I led my study group, Social Media For Tarot Readers (like a dummy, I forgot to take pictures! UGH). I had a warm and wonderful group to work with. I didn’t envy people who had to choose that night as there were some great classes – Sasha Graham and Shaun Nacol lead some popular workshops amongst others. My class was well received – and I followed it up with a glass of wine and hung out with one of my favorite people, Gina Thies until I was too tired to hang any longer. Exhausted, I hit the sack. And overslept.

So with no yoga to start my day, I headed down to a Breakfast Roundtable discussion with none other than tarot legend Mary Greer. Mary led a lively discussion where we shared our own “tarot pet peeves” and listened respectfully to others share theirs. She talked about “tarot fundamentalism” – how our opinions can become our dogma so to speak. I had to admit out loud that I realized I was a tarot fundamentalist and had a good laugh at that. Mary always makes you think!

Mary Greer

I had to rush over to Barbara Moore’s workshop and help her set up (she was doing a slideshow with her presentation). I was really interested in this class because admittedly, I am not the most creative thinker and I have trouble creating interesting spreads. In fact, I don’t think I am good at it at all. But this is why these conferences are SO important – you get to study with tarot masters like Barbara and LEARN. A tarot reader is ALWAYS learning – and must always be learning. (Wald really emphasizes the need to keep studying and I couldn’t agree more – and I am grateful for events like RS11 which facilitate my learning process in such a big way.)

Okay -I digress. I go off on tangents on occasion. Anyhow, Barbara went over all the fine points of creating a spread and gave some great tips which produced quite a few ah-ha moments. She had us pair up and create a spread. I was lucky to get a really good partner, Jaymi Elford (http:///tarot.shadesofmayb e.com), who was a gem to work with. We created a spread for manifesting goals. I had so much fun – and even better – we won a cupcake! Yup, Barbara Moore handed out cupcakes as prizes during this class! Talk about an incentive! (For the record, I have been off sugar for about 6 weeks – so this was a “relapse”. LOL)

So that is it up until now. I’ll be back tomorrow with more – including my announcement of my Tarot Apprentice winner!

Blessings!

Theresa

https://www.thetarotlady.com

http://www.tarotmentor.com