TABI is celebrating our 25th anniversary this year, and we wanted our annual summer conference to reflect the vibrant and diverse community that we are. Whether you are interested in reading the cards, learning about their history and production, or lean more toward the esoteric side of things, there is a group of friends waiting for you at TABI! And you can dip your toe in the water by joining us for our conference this year in York – for both days, one day, or streaming online with your very own host, Luna guidedbyluna.com All sessions include fifteen minutes at the end for questions, or to allow for a quick break before the next one starts. Read the bios for all our amazing speakers: https://tabi.org.uk/tabi-conference-speakers/
We start off Saturday morning with Rebecca Birrell and the Petit Eteilla. I don’t know about you, but this is a deck I have heard of, but know very little about. Time for a renaissance! Rebecca will introduce us to the 18th-century Petit Eteilla created by Jean-Baptiste Alliette (see what he did there?) and explain why it’s the perfect deck for today.
Next up is Juliet Sharman-Burke, who will take a psycho-analytical approach to the mythology inherent in Tarot: Myths work on so many levels, and can be looked at from many different perspectives, so that something extremely deep and complex can be understood quite simply when told in story form. The archetypal nature of myth speaks to us all, which makes it accessible.
After lunch and a chance to walk around the grounds of Bedern Hall or perhaps browse the books and decks for sale, Emily Carding will lead us in a workshop with her transformative Transparent Oracle. We’ll learn how to use these beautiful overlays along with our Tarot decks to explore how the seven directions and their elemental forces affect us wherever we are in the world and within ourselves.
And then, something new for TABI conferences! A panel discussion among our speakers on AI and how it is affecting and will affect artists, readers, and writers in the divination community. What are your thoughts? Do you like AI decks? Refuse to have anything to do with them? Why? Contributions from the audience are welcome! Our online host Luna will be sure and carry any comments and questions from our streaming participants into the conversation.
Once we’ve enjoyed a tea and coffee break, we’ll reconvene for John Matthews and a discussion of John Dee, the genius mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, and alchemist who served as the court Magician to Queen Elizabeth I. At a time when magic was mundane, what did it mean to be a ‘magician’? We’ll look at the recently revised John Dee Oracle, and how it can bring us into contact with old magic.
Maddy Elruna roots us in the earth with ‘The World Tree: An Embodied Way to Read Tarot and Runes’, as we discuss how this ancient system of Old Norse writing aligns with the structure of Tarot. Maddy applies her shamanistic approach as she teaches us to blend intuition with wisdom to get to the heart of the messages that are waiting for us in both forms of divination.
We’ll continue our discussions at dinner on Saturday evening. This is an optional event that needs to be booked separately, but you won’t want to miss this – we are meeting at The Botanist, whose menu includes vegan and vegetarian options.
Then we’re back! Sunday is framed by two famous tarot decks – the Sola-Busca, one of the oldest, and the Thoth Tarot, one of the most recent – and in between we look at the very heart of Tarot creation, interpretation, and publishing.
Peter Mark Adams kicks us off with a discussion of the Sola-Busca Tarot – and there’s a lot more here than appears on the surface. You may have noticed that Pamela Colman Smith’s illustrations of the 3 of Swords and 10 of Wands were inspired by their counterparts in the Sola-Busca, but the rest of the deck is mysterious. For most of us. Join us as we learn about the magickal secrets encoded in the deck and who it was really designed for.
After coffee and tea, Tudorbeth introduces us to the world of publishing and specifically, Tarot’s role within it. Author of several books on Hedgewitchery and magic, she is the perfect person to explain the terrain. Undoubtedly the question of AI will arise!
Another delicious lunch on the grounds of the beautiful Bedern Hall, and then Safa Mirror looks at the borders and boundaries that are inherent in the Tarot decks that we use. Or … are they? Perhaps there is a collective wisdom underneath the structure that we can free from restrictions and allow for more truthful, diverse interpretations.
For our grande session finale, we present Marco Visconti, practitioner of the Western Esoteric Tradition and expert on all things Thoth and Thelema. A core question for everyone who starts along this path is, Who or What is the HGA? How do we meet them? Using the Thoth Tarot as context and path, we will explore what it really means to have Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
And there’s more! After a refreshing tea and coffee break, we will offer our second panel discussion, ‘The Magician’s Toolkit: Tarot as a Tool for Ritual and Magic’. Here, we’re talking about using the physical cards in physical ritual. This panel discussion will have echoes with Peter Mark Adams’ session in the morning, and you can also listen to what Rebecca Birrell has to say about Tarot and Magick on the TABI Tarot World podcast published in March.
Want to know more?
Details and tickets are on Eventbrite.
You can join us in person for both days or for one day, or online.
For two-day or single-day in-person tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tabi-tarot-association-summer-conference-tickets-1981131341172
For streaming tickets (both days only): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tabi-tarot-association-online-summer-conference-tickets-1981479843552
In-person tickets include lunch and teas and coffees, and you’ll be able to browse tables of books and decks for sale.
Streaming tickets allow you to join us for the entire weekend of talks and panels, and you will have your own host, Luna www.guidedbyluna.com who will bring you right into the middle of things – you will have your own ‘digital lounge’ during breaks for chats and speaker interviews, and Luna will pass on your questions to the speakers during the sessions.
Bedern Hall is located in the heart of medieval York, only three minutes’ walk from the Minster and the Shambles (be sure to stop by Monk Bar chocolates!). If you fancy a walk along the walls for views inside and outside the city centre, you can start at Bootham Bar, five minutes from Bedern Hall.
Thank you very much to our generous conference sponsors! The Discombobulator esoteric magazine, Inner Traditions, Hay House, Occult Projects, and RedFeather MBS.
Need help with accommodation? Email me, Gwen, at chairman@tabi.org.uk and I’ll send you a list of places we’ve found close by.
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