Tuesday March 28, 2023 marks an important date in my personal and professional history. At 7pm that evening, Melissa Nierman (of now age) and I will commence our final Tarot Salon, in its current form, at Hauswitch. Together, we have ran Tarot Salon consecutively for 78 months— a complete cycle! That’s one Tarot Salon per card in a standard tarot deck. In measure of time, it is 6.5 years. In my professional career as a full-time Witch, educator and psychic intuitive this marks the longest running workshop that I’ve ever hosted (or been even affiliated with, honestly!). It started tentatively as a fun, community-forward experiment in 2016. Tarot Salon gained a following quickly and ran in the Hauswitch shop until the pandemic, when we transitioned to Zoom. The format works wonderfully for what we do, and it’s awesome that folks can join us from all over the country and beyond.
I couldn’t be more joyful and proud of this offering and accomplishment. The community that has gathered around our Salon has been the most magical, curious, warm and supportive bunch of humans that I could have ever aspired to know! I have learned SO MUCH from you all each month, which of course is the truest jewel of communal magical learning: spontaneous intuitive discovery TOGETHER, no matter your level of proficiency.
We’ve been gathering the last Tuesday of every month to practice giving and receiving tarot readings, learn the cards through deep thematic immersion one at a time, and frankly to socialize with cool, likeminded people. We’ve witnessed total newbies bloom into badass tarot professionals in their own right, decks being designed and finessed, graduate work being planned around the tarot, and brave souls just dipping their toe in, once or repeatedly, to stay rooted in their commitment to study this form of divination.
The power of community cannot be understated. A sense of belonging adds such richness to one’s life. Not to mention the art of devotion and returning again and again to one’s tarot practice. It has been so nourishing and fortifying to host such a magical community all these years and to learn alongside such wise and varied souls.
Haven’t attended a Tarot Salon in a hot minute— or ever? Not to worry, here’s a seasoned preview of how this upcoming Tuesday night will go:
The first thing to mention is that the theme card for this night is 7 of Pentacles, which is a lovely card about natural cycles, sacred timing and manifesting your dreams! Melissa and I will meet beforehand to compare and discuss key meanings, nuances and notes and plan the night’s spreads. Once we’ve done the preliminary prep work, 7pm arrives and attendees arrive in the Zoom room, we will do a round of introductions and talk about what can be expected in the night ahead. Folks are invited to chime in using the chat feature to share where they are joining from, what deck they are reading on, and any other info that seems relevant to share. We transition into a meditation that Melissa leads everyone through to ensure that our energies are grounded and centered, and that we are ready to read the cards for one another from a place of integrity within. I then give a brief talk about the imagery and symbolism of this card, to familiarize those newer to tarot with common associations and my own unique insights.
With the introductory flow complete, Tarot Salon becomes and interactive, practice-led activity where you are continuously engaged. We share spreads, pair you up in breakout room where you’ll practice reading cards with a whirl of new partners and diverse perspectives. It is so fun and safe, with low stakes. We encourage you not to try and “perform a reading” for the person you are teamed up with but rather, to lead with curiosity and allowing for each moment to be an invitation to experience a spark of intuition. We encourage all participants to go “off book” versus memorization of canonical ideas regarding each card. Yes, a tarot card is multifold esoterica, it is an intersection of numerology, kabbalah, astrology, elemental magic and much more… but it is also a piece of paper with a picture drawn on it. And if you can learn to see this image with fresh eyes each time, you’ll cultivate the skill and craft of a savvy card reader, not just someone regurgitating someone else’s ideas— and that, really, makes all the difference!
Of course, there’s much more to it and our Tarot Salon really must be experienced for the communal magical learning joy-fest that it so uniquely is…and has been for the past 6.5 years! I’m sure the future of this workshop will be fascinating but for now I will say, off-shoots have been seeded in some cities around the USA and a shiny-new, in-person version of Tarot Salon is being planned near where I live in western Massachusetts. If you want resources and training on how to start a Tarot Salon of your very own in YOUR COMMUNITY, reach out to me and Melissa and tell us so, and stay tuned as we will have something for you in the future :).
Gratitude to each of you that has shown up, even once, to contribute to our circle.
Deep gratitude too, to Hauswitch, which has provided us such a lovely and safe container in which to bloom! Happy Spring, all!!
To keep up with Zhana & Melissa, find them at:
folkmagic.org and nowagetravel.com , respectively.
You can also book readings with Zhana through the Hauswitch Psychic Portal.
