Personal Services Permit

[Mallah]

Many of you have followed and supported my efforts as I've started doing more and more Tarot Gigs. And many may remember that last fall i started reading on the Large pedestrian mall in Boulder Colorado...only to be told after a couple days that I needed a "Personal Services Permit" in order to be doing it legally. I investigated (having performed music on the same mall for years without a permit) only to find that this was truly the law. I lamented it, but then decided not to fight city hall..but that when the good weather rolled around I'd play their game.

It's done by lottery...they award eight permits a month...to a variety of providers...Readings, Massage, hair wraps, face painters.... anything where you are making money, but not from a "product".

You have to apply each month for the lottery, and if you are chosen, you must pay a base rate for the permit (I guess that's in leu of paying sales tax...). So I went up to Boulder about 3 weeks ago and applied.

I've just been notified that I've been chosen for May!!

A month ago I read in the Big Metphysical Bookstore at their Psychic Fair so I'm in their rotation for that...I'll be doing it agian, but don't know when...

And now, I'll be reading on the public mall (probably for donations instead of a set fee...though I'd like to hear your opinions on this).... Last fall on the days when I did it before being told I need a permit, I was making about $80 an hour. I'll have a permit to be there and can be there whenever I like. (I have a part time job now, so I'll have to work around that).

It's quite a distance from me, and though I have a vehicle (borrowed), I'd like to develop a rolly cart and go on the lightrail/bus...which will drop me a block from where I'll be reading. I won't have to deal with parking a half mile away and walking in with my table and chairs.

I'm going to have to run the numbers and see if a bus pass will save me money over driving there and back. I'll make enough money to cover it either way, but i have to weigh the convenience of driving but parking several blocks away, over commiting almost $100 to a monthly bus pass. I might be going there 25 times during the month, and it's 50 miles each way! It's probably going to be a combination of the two...so I don't know. This will not be the last time I do this, so I'll have a chance to experiment with it.

Anyway, just wanted to rant and rave and let ya'll in on the next peice of advancement in the trade.

I have "claimed" the mall...for example when I first went there, upon my return from AZ, I claimed the whole town as my home (It has been many times, and though I don't live there currently, I WILL at some point in the future.

When I learned I would need a permit, I did a lot of visualizing/claiming of the space...and then when I went to apply for he permit a few weeks ago, I took my flutes, and sat near where I'll be reading and played, blanketing the whole place in vibration.

So I have a whole lot of figuring out of things to do!

 

[Est]

That's really awesome! Congratulations on getting the permit for May. It sounds as though the future is looking bright for you and I'm so pleased
Hope it all goes well!

 

[tarotbear]

It's in YOUR cards!

Hal ~ FANTASTIC FOR YOU, BUDDY!

{TB does the Happy Dance for Mallah, even though he needs his cane to keep from falling over!}

 

[Mallah]

Thanks everybody!!!!

I just went a got a little cart...I'm going to need it for my table, chairs, and other stuff; whether I go on the bus or i drive, I'm going to need to transport my stuff several blocks each day...this will help corral it. I'm thinking about getting a couple of umbrellas, to attach to my chairs...but need to scope out my spot first. They assign you a place. if you arrive and there's another street vendor or busker in your spot you can oust them, you just flash your badge given that you "licenced to Read Tarot!" LOL.

It might be a shady spot; so i don't want to invest in 'brellies till i need them!

 

[tarotbear]

I have a couple of chair umbrellas that clamp to an aluminum folding chair and have a goosenecky-thing so you can bend them to block the sun. I found mine at a flea market. Maybe you will, too? They should be out, though, since all the summer pool crappola is out in the stores. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Mallah]

GREAT IDEA, TB. My chairs are the camping/cordura/foldup frame kind...you know, the ones that we started seeing about 15 years ago...that go in a little bag. I'll have to see, but I bet they make something like that. I'm going to Boulder on Monday to "scope my pitch" (Pitch is busker-eese for where you are set up.) Then i'll know my sun to shade ratio. I'll probably be reading there at night as well...the mall HOPS at night in the summer.

 

[tarotbear]

Yes - but the umbrellas are not only for sun/shade, they also create a sense of 'private conversation' for your client, almost as though you were in a gazebo or tent. A big market umbrella would be cumbersome (and the base weighs a TON when you have to lug it!), and you have to think 'Even with a cart I have to lug this. DO I need it?' Make yourself a checklist so you don't forget anything, and keep it in your cart for future reference.

They do make a camping table - the size of a small card table - the legs all fold up and the top rolls up like a sunshade. Lots of plastic, fold-up summer furniture out there!

 

[Mallah]

And that stuff is totally worth the investment...especially since it doubles for camping! I want to be comfortable myself, and it looks like I'll be spending lots of hours there next month. The cart I got is actually a large tool bag, about 24 inches across, with pockets inside...I can put my chairs and table into it's mouth, and bungee them to the pop up handle, so the don't rattle around as i roll along merrily. There's room in there for water, decks, spread, signs, biz cards, flutes, snacks, whatever else I need to take.

I'm very familiar with the environs. Feels like home. I performed there for many years and it hasn't changed. It's very chill. Family friendly, and sort of a festival atmosphere all summer. i'll be taking a flute or two to tootle on when i'm not busy; and a book, no doubt. Frozen water bottles.... sunscreen.... biz cards..... a few different decks.... ipod, maybe....

I have to go get some heavy fishing weights to safety-pin to my table cloth in the corners. In case of wind.

 

[Mallah]

Update on first day out!

Well, I owe you all an update on how it went. I will have to get a picture of me at my pitch so I can put it up here!

I went up to Boulder on Monday...it's about 50 miles from where I live..) and got my permit and looked at my spot...(In busker land we call it a pitch). It's a wonderful spot.

The Boulder mall...let me paint you a picture, if I may: I've been going to "the Mall" since my college days in the early 80's. It's a brick pedestrian mall, about 5 blocks long, where they have blocked off motor vehicle traffic, and beautified with trees and flower beds, climbing rocks for the kids. All year round, but especially in spring/summer/fall there are entertainers...jugglers, face painters, mimes, musicians.

My pitch is about 50 feet from the Jamaican Contortionist who has been there for 10 years now...he climbs inside an acrylic box about 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet...

I used to play music there, with my baby in a backpack, sleeping. I made good tips for a musician in those days. When he grew too big to have on my back, my income went down, lol. That "baby" is now 24, a successful web designer and drummer.

But I digress. The flowers are beautiful....I'm between two beds of purple violets. Semi Shade, plenty of sun.

The mall is crawling with all kinds of people...business people, college kids (Boulder is a "college town".) Families, LOTS of hippies (yes, I have my Morgan Greer).

I have my two little folding chairs, my "TV table" (which is tiny) with the cloth that I found at Goodwill for $2. On each side of the tablecloth I have a sign "Tarot Readings: Donations Gratefully Accepted". I found 6 little stones with indian "runes" on them...these are my paperweights...and I needed them several times!. I also found at a party store some weights that hang off the corners of the tablecloth for wind prevention...I laugh at them because they are garish "crystal" beads (Plastic) and they are huge...and colorful..but really do the trick. I also brought one of my several Native American Flutes, and my Kindle (Song of Ice and Fire...George RR Martin...) and my ipod, which I didn't end up listening to.

Yesterday was a "slow" day...I only did 8 readings (one was a double, so 9). There were SEVERAL hours at the beginning of the day (I was at my pitch for 8 hours) where no one stopped. No big deal, this does not discourage me...the scene is so relaxing with my book and my flute, and the resonant voice of the Jamaican Contortionist..."Hello...I need some attention...the show is starting....Hello....the show is starting....no need to be afraid, I am a vegitarian...I'm here...and I'm sober...." He calls his crowd in as often as he thinks he can gather one....

And it was not an hour before two police happened by and checked my permit.

I have found that there are two restricted Weekends on my permit....which is a bummer, but they let you know in advance that this will be happening. They Mall hosts many arts fairs and music festivals during the summer, and they tell you up front on your permit when one is going to be and they say you can't be out on those days. So I will have to make up the time on another day. I had to pay for the thing, so I want to be out there as much as I possibly can. I'm also working around my part time job schedule, in Aurora, 50 miles away...so there will be a number of days i can't go because of that...but more and more they shift me to early shifts because they understand that i want to go to Boulder afterwards.

A couple of interesting things happened.

See what you think of this:

There was a couple who had me do a reading for them "on a whim". When I was done, they said they have land out in Hygene (a rural town in Boulder county where there are lots of farms.) THey host parties where they have all kinds of local artists, healers, musicians, etc etc out for a whole day and night of interacting, they have some workshops, a professional band....they invited me to come and read....but there's more to this:

As you know, I have been rebuilding my life, and I've recently come back to Colorado, and setting up a new life, with new job, and new careers as a Tarot Reader. I don't have a social life yet, but I've been affirming to the universe that I will find the perfect home (In Boulder or it's environs), the perfect job, and a wonderful artistic community of groovy people as friends, associates, clients. About 3 weeks ago my spirit guide told me flat out that I would soon be invited to a party, to read cards, and that i would make a number of new friends there....and that those friends would end up being my connection for my next living situation.

Hmmm....

So I could NOT pass up this invitation! Even though the event falls on ANOTHER Saturday where I could be out on the mall. But they are going to have me reading there, for donations as well (my preferred mode). And it sounds like I'll be making excellent contacts for return clients and other stuff as well. (As a musician I seek community as well.)

The band they are having is an old friend of mine who I haven't seen for 15 years. So I know this is legit.

Here's the other thing that is happening....TWO of my sitters said the same thing to me...and they were not together...."So these things you are telling me...these are mostly inner processes...psychological...not so much outer events".

You know, that's true...most of my readings focus on the inner processes the individual will be going thru..what they are affirming now, what that's creating in the future....not too much of the "you're going to get that raise"....

And yet the information my guide gave me about the party/artistic community/friends/etc....was very specific "outer circumstance" information that was in the future.

Now, when I read for others, and myself, I don't conciously seek my guide...a bad habit I suppose...I'm so focused on the client and I definately get good feedback...

When YOU read, how much DIALOG goes on with your guides, those that work with guides? Is it a concious connection that you maintain with this "other" entity throughout the process?

Acutally, the conversations that I have with my guide are not during Tarot Readings...though I've recently done one (For myself) where I "channeled" him. I think I need to seek this and tap it...

The information he gave me about the party was given NOT during a Tarot reading, just in "conversation".

Here's another tidbit of something I did yesterday. Just earlier this week, I went back to the Thoth deck. After 15 years away from it... I read with it. Exclusively. It read like a charm. I'm working with reconciling whith there being negative cards. When I read with the Courtney Davis Celtic, or the TdM there are no negative cards. In the Thoth, just as in the RWS there are some specifically "bummer" cards...like the fives, for example, and many of the swords. But as I study more on Kabbalah and the astrology, icome to know why they are there, and i'm devising ways of counseling the stitter over these that they are more of a "warning" against negativity..."here's the way the situation could turn...there's going to be a temptation to get negative, but you don't want to do that, because you can see the result...aren't you glad you know this is coming...you can make a concious choice to choose positive thought forms and allow a lighter version of the card to come thru..." etc etc.

I left the Mall at 9:45 Pm. i was exhilirated. I look forward to going back, but I can't till Sunday because of the Jazz festival that's there today and tomorrow.

 

[tarotbear]

Sounds absolutely wonderful, Mallah!