20/7/2017 = 19 The Sun (Thank you Tarot Community for Caring)

Today is a Sun/Wheel of Fortune day and this morning I had a message from a wonderful tarot friend offering to put some money in to the bursary fund.  One thing I decided when I started the conference is that NO ONE would not be able to attend because of lack of means. I will always try and make it happen as some of you reading this who have benefited will know.

This lady filled my heart with joy, her kindness in recognising the huge task ahead of putting on such an event makes me realise I am not alone, a one man band maybe, but with the support of the Tarot Community we will get bigger and better each year.

However, the Bursary fund means that we can offer more to those in the tarot community who cannot normally afford to attend the conference.  So thank you to everyone who has hit the £10 donation button, I promise you it all goes to the people who need it most.

If you want to donate you can find the button at the bottom of the page HERE

Meet our 2017 Speakers - Keynote Speaker: Sasha Graham

Sasha was born just after midnight on a chilly Halloween night.  Sasha received a BA in Literature and Religion and began her work with tarot. She conceived and produced tarot events at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Morgan Library and brought the tarot community behind the scenes with curators and educators. Rare Visconti, Marseille and Minchiate cards along with uncut Italian card sheets were unveiled. These treasures, previously shuttered in museum archives and unavailable to the public were examined and considered in a modern context.  Sasha is proud of her Tarot Outreach Program. Sasha’s first ever of it’s kind outreach was developed for New York City’s at-risk, inner city youth. Working with kids who were transitioning out of the foster care system, Sasha used tarot and symbol as the igniting point of nurturing personal intuition. She taught that trust in oneself can be rebuilt. Sasha is the author of Llewellyn’s Tarot Diva, 365 Tarot Spreads, 365 Tarot Spells and served as editor and contributing writer of Lo Scarabeo’s Tarot Fundamentals, Tarot Experience and Tarot Compendium. She is currently working on Llewellyn’s Complete Guide to the Rider Waite Smith Tarot, hitting shelves in 2018. She is creating her first tarot deck with Marvel and Disney artist Mirco Pierfederici, The Haunted House Tarot. It will be released by Lo Scarabeo in 2018.

Sasha will be leading two workshops at the 2017 UK Tarot Conference 

Friday: Tarot and Your Shadow Self  & Saturday:  Romance and your Highest Self

The Arnold's go to .. Salisbury

Every now and again I need to connect with my ˜woo woo’ side just to keep everything in balance.  We set off from Kent on a Sunday afternoon, and arrived at the hotel which we had researched on Trip Adviser, we were looking forward to our Executive room.  We got to the room and it was like the black hole, ground floor looking at a wall, we put the light on and it made no difference, I marched to reception and made a complaint, the manager came and upgraded us to the best suite in the hotel (ha ha) it pays to complain!

On the advice of Trip Adviser we went for dinner to an Indian Street Food restaurant, 5* rating, Martin has been to India many times and said he had never seen food like this, it was ok, extremely overpriced, in fact would have fed a family in India for a month with the amount of money it cost. I am beginning to lose faith in Trip Adviser!  We had walked miles and were unsure where we were in distance to the hotel, so went to the taxi rank, the driver tutted when we said where we were going, apparently a train was due in and we were not going far so WE had made him lose a decent fare. He had waited in the queue to be at the front for an hour, now he was taking us on a £6 drive, he was not happy, however, it was funny as he sounded like he had been educated at Eton, the poshest taxi driver we had ever met, shame he was a dick head.

The next day we went to Glastonbury, I have been here many times before but decided I wanted to buy a diva friend as a companion to the one I already have.  Here she is, I love her!

From here we went to Avebury just in time for a guided tour of the stones, we were in a nice little group, then it happened, the fluffy question asker joined us, at every point she compared the stones to the Egyptian pyramids, (yes because they are nearly the same (not)) Christ she got on my nerves, I said to Martin I bet she is just back from Egypt,  sure enough she could not wait to announce she was just back from Egypt, I mentioned to the nice lady standing next to me, what an arsehole the annoying lady was, I did not realise they had come together and were friends, oops.. We went to a stone called the Devils Seat, of course she sat in it and had an ‘experience’ yes of course she did. “Can I share what I felt” she said, the guide ignored her and we walked on, the next thing she was crying with emotion, probably because no one was taking notice of her.  It was entertaining to say the least. Because of her, the one hour tour took 2, it does get to a point when you have seen one rock you have seen enough. The wishing tree was beautiful with all the ribbons blowing in the wind, and we had the privilege of standing in the newly found spot where they have found a new set of stones under the earth which are in a square, excavation starts at the end of the month. This stone (below) is the point where they will start digging, apparently they are expecting a big historical discovery.

We had been out for 10 hours and feeling knackered, we made our way back to the hotel, quick change and out to a beautiful Lebanese Restaurant.

The next day we spent in Salisbury, we went to the Cathedral but at £7 each I refused to go in, I won’t give the church a penny, but the place is lovely as you walk around the grounds.  The following day we picked up Grandma as it was her birthday, she lives about an hour from Salisbury, we took her on a mystery tour, our destination was the Bombay Sapphire Gin Distillery, we had a lovely day here, the weather was glorious and to finish off, a gin cocktail to die for. Phew we did fit in a lot in 4 days, but a change is as good as a rest, now raring to go with preparation for the conference, clients, meditation groups and private tuition.

Review Victoria Frances Oracle Cards

Artwork Victoria Frances & Book by Kim Arnold

Lo Scarabeo £15.99

When I was first approached to write the accompanying book for this deck I was thrilled, however, on receiving the images initially my heart sank (stay with me), some of the images I found distressing, but I had committed to write, so no turning back.

Working with this deck was very different from any other, it taught me how to react and work with the darkness which often lurks within each of us. Of course we don’t talk about this, preferring to pull a nice fluffy angel card or something more familiar out of our Tarot decks for guidance.  As I worked with each card, with every one of the 36 cards I spent in quiet contemplation, I would sit quietly, observe and look at the voice within each of them and take note of what was going on beyond the images, intuitively I would be guided to the meaning of each card, some I struggled with, but I realised, this reflected my own struggles, the images make you work at facing your fears, and love or loathe them, Victoria Frances is one very talented artist.

This may not be a deck you would naturally be drawn to, but I feel that for self development there is not a better deck on the market. There is also a meditation to help you get started.

Half way through working with the deck I was ‘given’ the Arch Spread which is detailed in the accompanying book::

1. What blocks me?
2. Who is blocking me?
3. How do I remove these barriers?
4. How will my life flow differently once I make changes?
5. What is my true potential?

Much of this deck works with light and dark, it guides and advises us to appreciate that where there is darkness the light is not far behind.

Of course I highly recommend this deck, as the author, I know how much love, soul searching and effort went in to this.

Please go to our Shop page to order a copy signed by Kim 

(Please note for signed copies the seal will be removed)

Review: The Good Tarot by Colette Baron-Reid

Hay House

My first impression of this deck is that it is half way between a Tarot and Oracle deck. There are 78 cards, and the suits are divided in to Earth, Air, Fire and Water. My initial curiosity was to flick through the cards to find Death and as I thought, no Death but Transformation. 

The borderless cards are beautiful and nice quality, but if you are looking for a traditional Tarot deck then this does not tick the boxes.  There is hardly any visual reference to tarot symbolism, this is explained later in my review. 

Each image is gentle but as a traditional Taroist, I did find them hard to read. For me, I would have to read the images intuitively rather than connect them to the traditional card meaning, as if you know your Tarot, the image does not always relate to the card number , for example 5 of Fire V’s 5 Wands, visually I just don’t get it!

The guidebook is well written and Colette actually mentions that the deck was a calling from spirit and this clearly comes through in the images.  I love the fact that each card has a meaning and an affirmation to work with, I think this would be helpful for some clients.  Colette writes that she was guided to do things differently, in a non conformist way and it will take time to get use to working with them.  I agree with this, but I must reiterate the cards are beautiful, and it is good to see something new hitting the Tarot shelves.

Take a look at the cards, if you want something different then invest in the deck, certain cards will call you as they did me, in particular for me The Magician.  This deck will stretch your imagination and make you think outside the box, as a reader this can only be a good and positive thing.