Readers Studio 2010

So I am finally getting a chance here to finish up, or actually start the blog of the official opening and weekend of the Readers Studio 2010. Of course, had my Foundation reading partner not given me her cold and I am now bed bound this prolly would have taken me another week before I could sit down and write. Thanks Christy for sharing - NOT! lol

As always, the Readers Studio was an adventure, both personally, professionally, and spiritally. What I love about Tarot and the Readers Studio is there is just nowhere to hide from those realities the Universe wishes to discuss, and thus was, once again, my experience here. The King of Swords reigned through my weekend and readings and has been my contemplation throughout the weekend and this week. I imagine as the week wraps up here, he and I will be good friends.

He first started speaking during the pre-studio workshop, as we had to ask a question to work with the color, costume workshop Thursday night. I really had onlhy prepared one or two questions for the Studio this weekend, as it has been my experience that really, thats all one needs. Because the questions are never the issue, and tarot talks about issues, not answers to questions. So I knew that i just needed one or two questions and the universe would provide further questions from there, and I was not disappointed by either the Studio or the Universe.

So my first question Thursday night was asking what I needed to know about sending Blysse to spend the summer wtih her father, and the cards were the Ace of Swords, the King of Swords, and the Ace of Cups. Mind you, the aces came in up-side down, but we worked with them righth side up.

Friday morning the studio opened and we started out with our foundation readings. My partner was new to tarot, her deck was brand new. She was only comfortable pulling 1 card, and seeing one other card stand out, I pulled that one. The one card my partner pulled.. the King of Swords. Thats 2 days in a row the King made his presense known, and I was forced to deal with him. Of course at first, I thought the king was Blysse's dad.. but by the time the second person shared a similar point of view, I was forced to look at the fact that the King was probably me.

And so the studio opened and the fun began..

Dr. Elinor Greenberg, who I had the pleasure of reading with the night before, did the first workshop. She is always amazing, I really love her stuff. She did another workshop at the first Studio I attended and taught us a relationship spread that I still use, and i LOVE her issue cards where each major arcana has an issue question it asks, something else i use all the time. This time we did a workshop I believe she called Turning Straw into Gold, which was about finding positivity in negative cards. I got to work with Jordan Hoggard on this, and it was quite an adventure for both of us, as we kind of approach the topic from different ends of the spectrum yet have the same attitude. Jordan had a tough time because he did not find any card to be negative. I didnt have any trouble, on the other hand, finding cards wtih a negative connotation to me. That being said, both of us easily find the blessings of all meanings and experiences outlined by the cards. It was a great match up, because I was able to point out how others might interpret things negatively, and his gift was just his positivity in the matter. Its impossible to be too intense with Jordan because he just has a great way of making all things positive and energetic - a quality i love and admire in others.

We then went on to do another exercise using Gestalt therapy where we would describe the card, and then become the card.. very interesting. My partner drew the Moon and became the tower and the dog and had a great conversation betweent the two of them. Very fun. I didnt get a chance to really try this out because i had to leave a bit early to catch a play we had gotten tickets to, God of Carnage.

So we did head out to the city to check out the play, which was fabulous! Its about two sets of parents who get together to discuss the issue of their sons getting into a fight where one knocked out the others teeth. It was a funny play, like its meant to be a comedy, but the comedy arises from the reality of what usually happens in these situations. Where people start out polite and civil and within an hour or two start hurling around their anger and their real feelings about the situation and people involved. It reminded me a lot of our own situation between our family and the Bretans.. though I dont find the situation nearly as humorous as I did the play!

After, we headed back to the hotel and grabbed something quick to eat while catching up with Corrine Kenner and her husband, Jordan, Dan Pelletier and Jeannette from the Tarot Garden and a number of others in the lounge area there. Lots of fun and laughs, but we did finally head up to our room to get some much needed sleep for the full day that lie ahead.

Pre-workshop nite

Just had the most amazing nite so far. We have just spent the last 2-3 hours catching up and chatting with Bob Place of the Vampire Tarot, though most of you probably know him better as the artist of the Alchemical Tarot. What a huge source of information and history and just an all around neat person! Blysse is gonna die when she hears we did this, as the whole motivation behind her wanting to come here was to attending his workshop and get to chat with him. Amazing!!

The whole day was pretty kewl though tiring. We got up and headed out for the day. Breakfast here is way too expensive, so we headed for the bus and the train down to Greenwich Village where we sat at this cute cafe and had breakfast and coffee and just enjoyed a great morning. Spent the balance of the day strolling the streets, heading back to the hotel by 3 pm to attend the pre-studio workshop, Color, Costume and Choreography.

Ruth Ann and Wald did a fantastic workshop, i loved it. I am an ambassador where we help those who are new and also we are going to be switching partners and tables. Im really excited about this, as two years ago, it really got strange and counter productive just reading with the same people in the same places. It felt kinda cliquey - so this year when Ruth Ann mentioned the idea of switching it up, I was right there with that!

So the table behind me needed an extra person, and I volunteered to go right away. I really love the idea of meeting and reading with new and different people. Eric said he was okay with this, though I did have to hear later that some people thought this strange of me. I just do not think Eric and i would do each other justice reading with one another. We did talk about it ahead of time.. so anyway, i switched it up right away, which is so different for me and i loved it.

Love the new layers added to reading juust using color and costume and postion of the people in the cards. Very interesting. It works, but not at the exclusion of the story.. they kinda work hand in hand. I got to partner first with Elinor Greenberg - amazing fun!

I also to got to chat more with Jordan Hoggard of the Mysterium Tarot. He will be doing a Feng Shui workshop on Saturday night Im dying to catch!! Im very excited about learning more Feng Shui stuff.

And before I go any further, can I tell you that the Tarot Garden has brought all kinds of goodies - i think they are my favorite addiction this weekend. Im sure I will be back to that table more than once! I got the Twilight Realm A Tarot of Faery deck, The Minute Deck which came in this kewl metal case, and I also picked up this Japanese Manga specialty deck for Blysse for her birthday.. its amazing.

Ciro Marchetti has outdone himself on the poster and also is selling prints on cloth and tarot bags. the Tarot School had the kewlest tarot bags, big ones where you can fit notebooks and stuff. Thalassa and I duked it out over one of the bags, she won. I cant mess with the BAT woman..lol..

After, I spent some time talking to Marcia McCormick, i believe, and her husband. Lovely people, very interesting. We had a lot in common, and i loved chatting.

After, Bob Place sat down, and we were all riveted for the rest of teh night. We had ordered some italian, and we ate and chatted until just now.

Yet another amazing nite of Tarot, and the studio does not even start til tomorrow!

Crazy day! We start the day off heading into the city to meet up with our friends and then go to see Billy Elliott. First, we get directions into the city. I have officially become a country rube! It took us 20 minutes and 3 times explaining to us how to take a bus and then get the train to the city. Not good. But - we did get to the city without a hitch! Loved the people watching - its just amazing to sit on the train and see all the different people and just think about their stories. Im sitting on there thinking, as I watch the guy sleep standing up on the train, "how does he know when to get up to get to his stop? Is he really sleeping.. what happens if someone wants to pick pocket him.. " Or the other people who get into the train seeing and knowing there is not even standing room, yet make room anyway. The best is people who intentionally stay by the door, a dangerous proposition on a good day, choose this and never move as the conductor gets on the PA system stating in a very New York way, "do not lean or touch the doors, move away from the doors.." and no one moves! Its as though they have all ridden this train so often, that they are so immune to the voice, they dont even hear it.. And the lady knows it, but probably would tell you in a conversation during happy hour that no one stands by that door on her watch!

So we get into the city and Gary and Leeza meet us with their daughter Olivia, who is just as cute as a button! We at at the Roxy Deli - pass on this place. The worst, stalest bagel I have ever eaten, and they would not take teh bones out of the white fish that they charge $27! Afterward, we headed to see Billy Elliott.

What a fabulous show! I dont think the kid who played Billy was the best hip hop or jazz dancer, he just did not have the precision on the moves. But this boy could dance ballet!! There were a few dance scenes in this play that moved me almost to tears. He was so light and graceful.. and some dances were true works of art and beauty, and for a kid this age to be able to do that on top of carrying a play of this size, unbelievable!! The music was good, not Spring Awakening good, like I dont need the soundtrack, didnt leave singing the songs, but Elton John did an amazing job. If you did not know ahead of time, you would not be able to tell these were Elton John songs, which is saying something good because they didnt sound Elton Johnny, but were fantastic.

That being said, the theature itself was a mob scene, I felt like I was in a cattle call, i hated it. The line to go to the bathroom before the show even began was longer than the one to get your seat.. and I didnt even dare try to go to the bathroom during intermission or afterward.

So it was about that time between that, the shoving match to get out of teh theater and then the rain outside that were my undoing. Energetically, Manhattan just sucks it out of you! In order to cope and get through the masses, one must become homicidal, or at least that is the aggressive and insensitive energy you must adopt in order to get anywhere. I was seriously considering going back to the hotel instead of heading to Greeenwich, as i was ready to just duke it outu with the next person who shoved me.

But we headed to the subway to meet our group in the Village for dinner. And I am so glad we went! Tonight was the first Readers Studio event where they rented a bus that took everyone to Greenwich Village and we dined together at this restaurant called Dojo, which is a vegetarian kind of place though there were meat choices. It was really good. and the company was fantastic too.

Ran into Beth Owl's Daughter and Johanna Colbert,. Mary Greer, Wald and Ruth Ann and a number of others, some familiar faces and some new ones. It was nice to catch up. Food was fresh, service was good..

After dinner, we all kind of split up into groups and headed out to explore Greenwich. We headed to a new age shop, I cant remember the name, but that doesnt matter because after a prolonged rip off cab ride, we found the shop was closed for good. Of coarse, their phone # still has their hours of business, but there is no storefront. We lost half our group, and so Eric, Beth Owl and I proceeded to walk to the East West bookstore, not wanting to be ripped off by another cabbie. The store was kinda kewl, but their tarot section nil.. which is good, because i would have a hard time buying any tarot deck in a store at this point before the studio opens. After hanging out, we then took a cab to the meeting place, after which we grabbed a table at this little coffee shop and had some cappucino and amaretta (hence my ability to blog at 1 am). Beth Owl had some amazing gelatto. I could literally eat my way through New York, between teh pizza and coffee and bagels and lox and italian food and ..

While there we ran into our other comarades, and we then waited on our bus who was late.. and then headed back to the hotel.

Once at the hotel, we then ran into some more people who have arrived into town in the lounge and spent some time catching up. Oh My!! First, Ciro Marchetti is working on this IPhone application that when done will be awesome!! You can literally do readings on your iphone for people.. works a lot like the software from Legacy of the Divine Tarot.. where you can draw cards and place them where you like turn them over. It has a feature where you can notebook it and save it. Its great. Im a huge fan of his work!

Jordan Hoggard was showing me this way kewl tarot cloth for his cards.. has this blessing done in runes around the edges with grapes and stuff. Really kewl.. and then Gavin, the guy who makes these, shows up and shows us the rest of the cloths. I had to have one! I usually buy these when I have a deck to use.. this time i bought one first and will find a deck to fit.

This other gentleman, whose name i did not get, was showing us these leather tarot cases. They are gorgeous. some are pretty expensive. Garnet found this gorgeous blue one with this kewl clasp and some brass markings.. $500, which i thought was expensive. That is not to say they arent worth it, they are, they were that nice, but I could not reconcile spending that amount of money for that.. not when there are silks and so many more affordable options. But it does make me excited for tomorrow to see what more is going to be shared..

And the studio does not open for another 2 days!!

Readers Studio 2010

So we are here! New York City!! The studio does not officially start until Friday, but we are here checking out and enjoying New York for a few days before.. and also hoping to get some extra time to catch up with some friends too! Its just Eric and I. Blysse was originally to join us as well, having begged and pleaded over the years, and me finally relenting as a gift to her for her 17th birthday, but this was not to be. She just could not get the time off school. Will not elaborate on the details of that here for sure, but she did do the responsible thing by staying at school to work on the grades and all that great stuff.

So we arrived last night. Insane flying, as usual, but uneventful. The hotel is great, beautiful room. Weather is great. I had forgotten how crazy expensive things are here, though. For those of you reading this and getting ready to head out to join us, bring your extra pin money, and then bring some of your extra pin pin money! OMG - the restaurant here is CRAZY. Its $18 for a hamburger, $28 for a piece of chicken! Breakfast buffet this morning will be $17. Lobster bisque $9. So.. out came Eric's IPhone, loaded up the Yelp application and went on search for a local place to eat. Found a place called Sams Pizza - awesome stuff! Rated 4 or 5 stars out of 5 with fantastic reviews. We called to make sure they are still there (one never knows in these tough times) and Sam is the kewlest person I knew yesterday. Told us it would be a $10 taxi ride there, but said he delivers and thought that would be more affordable - and it was! So Sam then delivered to us at the hotel here the most delicous pizza we have had in forever! We have kept his menu for future use. Those of you heading out here who want some good, affordable italian, let us know, we have the menu. =)

We are heading out today to meet up with Eric's friend (and my friend too) Gary and his wife Leeza and their little girl Olivia. We are going to meet them in the city for either Dim Sum (eric is obsessed) or some good ol New York bagels (my preference). We cannot get either in Greensboro, so this will be a treat! We are hoping to catch a show today, hopefully Billy Elliot, there are a few others we are thinking about too if we cannot get to that show. After that we will head to Greenwich Village to dine with those who are here earlier and spend the evening catching up with good friends!

I will try posting every day. Preconference workshop by Ruth Ann and Wald is tomorrow night, and we get to preregister, and we get to hit the Merchant Fair early tomorrow.. im beyond excited to add to my tarot collection. I forgot to pre-order my poster, so Ciro Marchetti will be one of the first people I find to get that done. Im hoping he has some prints or more previews of the Oracle he is working on. From what I have seen on Facebook, it promises to be amazing!

Hopefully I will see you all soon!!