Expo Update-What A Day I Had!

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 26 Sep 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Satori	26 Sep 2004
First of all, Let me thank the entire forum. Without the support and leadership of all of you, your wonderful input on my threads as well as the talent, and high level of professionalism and knowledge to be found on AT I would not have taken this step. You are all wonderful! **elf tips her hat and kicks up her heels with a wink and a pinch of Magic Elf Powder thrown sparkling at the entire membership of AT** The expo was held a high school gymnasium and was the first one for the area. About 47 exhibitors were there, I was the only official tarot reader, although someone else said she was going to do psychic readings at her Reiki booth.....don't know if she did. I was busy with back to back readings and took five minutes off for lunch and 2 "personal breaks" for the emptying of a certain internal organ! While I sat eating lunch someone was in my chair waiting for me to finish! The expo went from 9-8pm, but I left at 4:30 to go participate in Gardner and Contrascarpe's handfasting ceremony. I turned away at least 6 people who came to sign up for a reading from 4-4:30. I was sorely tempted to cancel my evening plans, but felt that the negative karma wasn't worth the extra money, and left as scheduled. I did not visit any other booths, as I had no chance to. The most amazing part of the day: I had several decks with me. Only World Spirit was clicking for me. The Gill was okay, but the readings with the WS which I finally just settled on after a while, were out of this world! We were just clicking together. The amazing part was not that WS was clicking, but that the patterns I was seeing in the cards, reading after reading, were swirling past and around me like white water foaming and swirling down a rocky riverbed. I started everyone off with a Virtue Healing with the Angels reading. Some of these readings were great, some were just so. They all tipped me off to something about the client, what they would be into, what they were like. Sometimes I left the angel cards out and other times I swept them up and read the tarot on a clean cloth. When the angel cards were still out the messages were quite parallel, but interestingly, I was better off with them packed up again. Once the cards were on the table we were on our way. And what a wild ride. About five of the sitters were having affairs. The women were there wondering about whether to divorce or have the affair, or tell the husband.....Lord above is this what happens when you read for the public? Every unfaithful person at that expo seemed to be sitting with me wanting a reading! Then the couple I read for last of all shows up. He sits first. I see he has two women in his life. One is Queen of Pents, one is Queen of Swords. He is who I have come to call Mr. Sexy the knight of Wands or Rods and hot rods at that! And it is clear he loves the bitchy Queen of Swords who is also High Priestess. I felt sorry for the guy. She came thru so sharp, so edgy, and she had a boyfriend too!!! But he thought I was talking about the girlfriend, Queen Pents. So Queen pents sits. All the same representations in the guys reading pop up again in hers. No lie. She is Queen Pents again. The wife is Queen Swords and Mr. Sexy is there too, but so arent at least three other men.....! She finally admits (because I don't know if she knows about the other woman in her boyfriends life because he didn't tell me he was married) she is the guy's mistress, they've known each other for years, she lives with her ex boyfriend, for financial reasons, but they aren't intimate.....omigosh! And it is all right there in the cards!!!!!! Un real. So. If there is a trial by which you are tested then doing your first expo will let you know if you are made for this and I loved it! I was blown away by the lies we tell others but most of all the lies we tell ourselves when we think no one is watching. Because let me tell you, the tarot gods are watching, they don't miss a trick, and I got to see just how much they know, like it or not.

Kath	26 Sep 2004
Elf, it sounds like you had a truly wonderful day! I’m so glad things worked well, and that you enjoyed yourself! :) It sounds like you learnt a fair bit in the process too :)

Mesara	27 Sep 2004
Im glad you had an enjoyable time. I think a lot of readers would have lost their faith in humanity with that particular clientele.

acolyte	27 Sep 2004
Good to hear that.I am just getting the hang of reading but i do plan to go pro one day in the future so your story is a good one for us young uns.

Satori	27 Sep 2004
The funny thing is that I liked almost every one of the sitters. They were really nice people. One woman wanted to leaver her husband, had no other love interest just couldn't stand him. The cards showed she would be doing them both a favor by going. I had the feeling the Universe was showing me things that I personally needed to learn and see. It was like a great microscope of human life had been handed to me and I had the sense that I was being given a chance to see people's lives thru this very special lens. One woman sat and her relationship with her mother was very similar to mine. I was reading for her and of course you are bringing in your own knowledge as well, and I could very much empathise with what was happening for her. The message from the cards was so simple and clear and for both of us. Hearing myself telling her the things I needed to hear was transformative! I could feel myself being challenged by what I was seeing and hearing from the sitters, yet I never thought of judging. And I'm not saying I'm so very empathetic or accepting, just that in the moment, I was able to put aside personal bias for the moment, and it was not something I was trying to do, I was just so in the zone that I never thought to judge. I was like a reporter, narrating the story, and trying to make sense of the pictures. The women were torn up by it. They were looking for Mr. Right. It was so obvious they didn't want to hurt anyone, just wanted to be loved. How could I lose faith with people who were looking for the thing we all want-love. That was my lesson I think. The judgement part. I came from a very judgemental family. So for me to put it aside and just sort of have this kind of stuff wash over me was interesting. It showed that you really cannot judge until you walk a mile in that person's shoes. And I walked out of there thanking the powers that be for my own marriage. We aren't perfect, we have our troubles, but we don't wander......

shelikes2read	27 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by acolyte Good to hear that.I am just getting the hang of reading but i do plan to go pro one day in the future so your story is a good one for us young uns. I'm glad you had a great day, too! It sounds like it was a fascinating event to take part in. What kinds of booths did they have there (along with Tarot and Reiki)? If you were so busy as to be turning people away, the organizers of the Expo might want to consider adding at least one more Tarot booth if they do this again. If there were enough people who'd have liked a reading but couldn't get one due to time constraints, I hope those people offer feedback to the event organizers so they can gauge that there was more demand for readings than there was time for one person to provide them. It sounds like there was more than enough demand to go around for at least one additional reader. And, of course, that's a Good Thing. :) I can also empathize with your surprise at some of the issues people were asking about in their readings. I very recently (since July) began offering online readings. I've had a few takers so far, and the first time someone requested a reading for a semi-personal question instead of asking for a general reading, it caught me by surprise. "Whoa! They're asking ME this? They've never set eyes on me before!" But then I read some other threads on AT where people posted that sometimes, the service of being a sounding board is just as important, if not moreso, than the reading itself. Aha. Maybe the person coming to me with that question is looking for a neutral third party who can discuss that topic rationally, unlike their friends/family who might have an emotional investment in seeing the issue turn out a certain way. I think the best we can do is just be straightforward about what the cards can and can't do, remind them (multiple times, if necessary :)) that the final decision of how to handle any situation is in THEIR hands, say a prayer that the cards that come out AND our interpretation of them offer real insight, and then... go for it and do the reading.

Imagemaker	27 Sep 2004
Quote: the first time someone requested a reading for a semi-personal question instead of asking for a general reading, it caught me by surprise. "Whoa! They're asking ME this? They've never set eyes on me before! In a way, they're not asking *you*, they're asking the cards, the tool of the wisdom source. You are the channel for the message. Some readers are (learn to become) more clear, more detailed channels than others, and the querent is hoping for information to come through you, not come *from* you. In an ideal situation, anyway.

smleite	27 Sep 2004
Claudia, that was really amazing. Congratulations. You are obvious fit for the task. Human nature is so fragile, isn’t it? I guess a Tarot reading should be an act of love – love in the sense of trust in an upper guidance, and acceptance of the flow of life and its miracles, but also in the sense that the reader has in his / her hands the possibly to perform an healing act. And, you know, maybe the Tarot gods can see everything, but I think they won’t look unless we ask them to. I loved to read about your experience. Thanks for sharing! Silvia

SongDeva	27 Sep 2004
Way to go, Claud!

Flavio	27 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by elf About five of the sitters were having affairs. The women were there wondering about whether to divorce or have the affair, or tell the husband.....Lord above is this what happens when you read for the public? Every unfaithful person at that expo seemed to be sitting with me wanting a reading! Hi elf! I'm glad to know you had a great time at the expo. As for your querents... once the people know you read Tarot they are willing to tell you everything they deeply need to express, that has happenned to me with my aunts and female cousins, they told me about their problems and questions, some of them I had never imagined and as a male they wouldn't discuss it with me, their husbands, boyfriends or sons, at those moments I feel the responsibility we have as readers, we do counselling so we must learn how to handle many surprising situations and provide caring and supporting advice to querents.

Alissa	27 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by elf I had the feeling the Universe was showing me things that I personally needed to learn and see. It was like a great microscope of human life had been handed to me and I had the sense that I was being given a chance to see people's lives thru this very special lens. I love this so much. You express so nicely what I've also sensed inside myself as a reader. Wonderful news and I'm glad you had such a wonderful and successful day!!! :D

Sulis	28 Sep 2004
Wow Claudia well done :) It sounds like you had a wonderful day. When 'you going to do it again ;) ? Love Sulis xx

shelikes2read	28 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Imagemaker In a way, they're not asking *you*, they're asking the cards, the tool of the wisdom source. You are the channel for the message. Some readers are (learn to become) more clear, more detailed channels than others, and the querent is hoping for information to come through you, not come *from* you. In an ideal situation, anyway. This is a good point. But I often view the cards as I would my eyeglasses: they help me to see more clearly. Or maybe we readers are walking Tarot-to-English (or other language) dictionaries, rendering what the cards are saying into the language that the sitter understands. ;) Either way, our responsibility is to be as clear, honest, and accurate as we can be. And it's a huge act of trust, IMO, any time a person is willing to approach a total stranger who happens to have studied Tarot, and ask for advice or information about a personal matter. I take that responsibility and that trust VERY seriously, and I know that everyone else here does, too. That's one reason why I'm glad I found this forum, where so many people spend so much effort to share knowledge with, and learn from, one another. :)

Chronata	28 Sep 2004
Excellent! I am so glad it went very well for you! (I meant to ask you about it that day...but so much other stuff was going on at the time!) Also glad to hear that you did use the angel cards to sort of "test the waters"...That is always very valuable to open a reading knowing a little something about your client! There are those experiences that people can tell you about...and then there are things you just need to experience for yourself! Congratulations! :D

Satori	28 Sep 2004
Hey Chronata, I want you to know that you were really an inspiration to me for the expo. Having you read for me was just what I needed to have happen as preparation for the expo. I was watching you so carefully darlin' did you feel it? No I wasn't googling you although you are a lovely lady :), but I really was trying to connect to your energy as your read for me, and be in the reader and sitter modes. One thing you did that was so wonderful was to be so interested in my commentary even when it was confusing to you. And that happened to me a couple of times during the reads I did. People would go off and start trying to geuss what I was saying before hand....and it would be so confusing. When I got the chance to just talk and read and do my thing they would go, "AHHHH, yes, now I see...." and that was so validating. And the other thing you did was to smile and smile at me. That was so hard to smile at folks, because the stuff coming up was so serious. In fact, I even broke down and cried once. My biggest fear, what if I cry, and yup, I did. Oh well. Tarot readers are human too. I think the most fun was when a 60+ woman came and sat and had never had a reading her whole life. if I asker her something jpoint blank she answered otherwise she was as quiet as a mouse. At the end of the read she says, "okay, let me tell you what you said......." And she filled in the pieces.....she was so excited to show me how close I came to everything that was going on. Now after such success I'm dreading the tarot reader's nightmare that is bound to approach sooner or later......The Dead Zone. Where nothing you say is right and the blank spot hits you in the third eye........(cue twilight zone music......)

The Expo Update-What A Day I Had! thread was originally posted on 26 Sep 2004 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.