Written by: Chloe McCracken / Inner Whispers

We look forward to welcoming Italian artist and tarotist Andrea Aste to present a workshop at our upcoming Tarot Conference. In preparation, we asked Andrea to tell us a bit about himself:

1. Which card would you describe yourself with and why? (if it is deck specific, which deck would it be from?)

If I should describe myself with a card I would choose The Fool. I see myself in this tarot card for two different reasons. The first one it is because I am a dreamer, I follow my visions, ideas and dream, whatever others can say. Unfortunately we live in a very materialistic society and above all a narrow minded one: society tells us what is right or wrong, what it is possible or impossible for us to do, how we should be live and think, etc… …well I’ve never followed this over imposed rules, I always tried to listen to my heart. The second reason it is that, like The Fool, I am an explorer (of life). I love discovering new lands and ideas, I love to talk with people coming from all over the world confronting my points of view with them. The difference is the challenge that make me grow. About my preference regarding tarot decks, I love ancient and traditional cards, so I would say I’m the Fool of the Marseille deck or better the Visconti-Sforza one, the two decks that inspired my works.

When, how and why did you start using the tarot?

Tarot has been present in my life from my childhood. My mother used to read tarot surrounding us with a peculiar sense of magic and mystery. Every little aspect of our every day life was special and unique, like a mysterious symbol it was hiding a deeper meaning. Tarot was intertwining with  every moment: “I see in the tarot that’s is time for you to go to bed”, “This morning the cards told me your ancient greek translation test will be really great!”… It was our game, our way of making everything magic… It was my childhood. Years passed and the tarot went in the background, it was not forgotten, but it became less present. I came back to tarot late in my life, after university and the exhibitions. It was five years ago, I was missing the sense of magic I experienced in my childhood. I wanted to convey that very special “quid” with my art. I felt the urge to spread sparkles of magic with my style, helping people to dream again, recontacting their inner child… I wanted to give it a try! So I went to my mother and we started to speak about tarot in a way we never did before. I always loved the immediate and intuitive way she read the cards. She became my teacher. I started to study Tarot plunging deeply in its world. In this way the multimedia art project The Book of Shadows came to life. I connected all my studies and the different aspects of my life in a sort of unity: philosophy and art, the research for a deeper point of view to life, a better understanding of myself and the world. I found and hugged my inner child and I’ve never let it go away. My life changed 🙂

Please give a short bio of yourself. You could include family, hobbies, work, achievements, favourite food/movie/music, tarot… whatever you think is good to know about you!

“…an eternal explorer sailing back and forth across an ocean of creativity to new lands of discovery” is how Andrea Aste, the artist philosopher, describes himself. A navigator from painting to poetry, animation to lm, or novels to theatre; A true Renaissance man. His projects include collaborations with photographers, stage directors, graphic designers, architects and art directors on an international level. His multimedia artworks have been exposed in important museums, presented at prestigious lm festivals and at Biennale of Venice.

To the Tarot community, Andrea Aste is known to be the author and creator of The Book of Shadows: The Lost Code of Tarot, a multimedia artistic project; an adventure in a land of dangers, mysteries and untold truths, where alchemy, magic and science are intertwined in secret ciphers and cunning plots, all on a background of ancient struggles between occult powers. e project recreates a visionary ‘Renaissance Steampunk World’ revolving around a mysterious manuscript and a deck of Tarot cards, obscure works of a ctional Alchemist.

The Book of Shadows is:

the Alchemist’s manuscript (with fantasy short stories) & deck of tarot

the mockumentary

the tour of exhibitions

the tarot set box published by Lo Scarabeo

Please give a short summary of what you are going to speak about at TABI’s Conference in Birmingham!

Intuitive and Creative Reading

Is there something like a true or absolute meaning of a Tarot card? Over time the Tarot has evolved and changed its patterns, imagery and symbols and in turn so has the interpretation of the cards. Every card is like a pirate’s treasure chest; buried with unknown riches of infinite meaning and interpretation.

The purpose of this workshop is to give you the keys to open this treasure chest and discover the tools needed to develop an intuitive way to read tarot. We will analyse the Tarot symbols and their medieval and renaissance allegoric origins and correlated elements of the cards via a brief history. At the end, every participant should be able to develop their own possibility to open the doors to a more personal and intuitive reading of Tarot by understanding their history.

In the Workshop we will:

● Review and discuss the Trionfi or Triumph Cards, the first appearances of tarot, the Marseille and Visconti-Sforza decks and a quick analysis of their symbols and patterns. It is important to know and understand the original ancient decks in order to have a basis for creating a new deck.

● Each card is a universe of symbols, images, colors and each containing their own meanings steeped in historical and cultural references. Let’s enter and understand the allegoric mind of the Middle Ages and Renaissance period that produced the oldest Tarots.

● Look at the cross references amongst the cards and their intertwined relationship and meaning.

● Discover an individual path from the traditional meanings to a more personal, emotional and intuitive reading.

● Techniques to free the imagination: creative exercises and free association techniques, to learn how to give symbols and images new ideas and meanings, in order to learn to see the tarot with new eyes.

● Playing with different spreads, finding our own way to read tarot