Written by: Chloe McCracken / Inner Whispers

Continuing our introductions to the wonderful speakers at this year’s TABI Conference, here is Joanne Sprott:

Gilded Royal: Marcetti

Card(s) that represent me?

Besides the two cards that numerologically are assigned to me in this lifetime (The Hermit and The Moon), I find myself wandering amongst all of the queens, although I’d say my strongest affinities are with the Queen of Wands and Queen of Cups. It sort of depends on the day, really.

How I got into Tarot?

Part of my mid-life transformation. Like a lot of folks who move into a more contemplative phase of life as their children grow and leave the nest, I did, too. Looked into the current incarnation of the New Age movement and learned to meditate and feel other people’s emotional energies as well as getting in touch with my own.

In 2000, I thought back to my interest in astrology and my childhood fascination with mythological symbolism and discovered the Tarot. With my trusty Robin Wood deck and a copy of Tarot Plain and Simple by Anthony Louis (a nice balance of the spiritual/counseling angle and traditional meanings along with numerological and astrological associations), I did readings for myself and friends and family.

Radiant Tarot: US Games

Didn’t really plan on doing much else with my Tarot interest until 2011 when I met (on Twitter!) a lady living in Caithness, Scotland, who was both an editor and a Tarotist: Sara Donaldson. She’s totally responsible for manipulating me into the Tarot fold and into TABI. 🙂

Where did I come from (well, besides the Universe at large)?

I’m originally a military brat whose parents are from New Hampshire, USA, but I moved around a lot, of course.

After spending some time in my teens and college years dabbling in astrology mostly (in spite of being brought up Roman Catholic—all that witchcraftery being evil, you know), I left my esoteric studies behind to make an interesting life in the “real” world, with a science fiction-based philosophy (read Star Wars fan) as my internal compass. Spent some time in the United States Air Force in the early 1980s (stationed in the UK) being an intelligence officer, then took a “break” to have my beautiful son and daughter. In 1995, I started my editorial business, AfterWords Publishing Services, and have been reading really interesting stuff (well, mostly interesting) ever since. 😉

I am currently serving as co-chair of TABI and operate as a professional reader. The TABI community is one of the most supportive, cordial and downright friendly organizations I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of.

In addition to my editorial biz and TABI, I also love gardening. I currently live in Oregon, USA, which is absolutely gorgeous!

I have, of course, gotten bit by the deck collecting bug, but not too badly yet (only about 25 decks between Tarot and Lenormand). I also have my own deck idea in the works, harking back to my interest in science and the cosmos and employing my small talent in poetry amongst other things (see the Moon card above).

So, what are we going to cover in my little workshop at this year’s TABI conference?

After learning the traditional Lenormand reading method, I was intrigued by how differently it approached reading the cards than the way the Tarot is usually approached these days. I found that a lot of folks were trying to use Tarot intuitive single-card-style reading techniques with Lenormand, but I thought that was a shame, since it’s the method that makes the Lenormand different and to me, most interesting. I decided to try applying some aspects of Lenormand to Tarot draws, particularly the five-card line and the nine-card square. Using distance, mirroring, and the linguistic relationships between the Tarot cards provided lots more angles to a reading. I will be teaching the group how to apply these Lenormand methods to the Tarot through an introductory presentation and follow-up practice with your own cards.