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January 2004
Welcome to
This newsletter is sent out to subscribers only. If you have received this in error, please send a blank e-mail to: Gateway To Tarot with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. If you were forwarded this newsletter, and would like to subscribe, please send a blank e-mail to: Gateway To Tarot with "subscribe" in the subject line. As of September, 2003, Gateway To Tarot will be sent from my personal e-mail address, and archived on my site, TheCrystalGate.com. These changes were necessary due to a horrendous problem sending the newsletter out through Yahoo Groups. I want to thank all of you for bearing with me the past few months.
My thanks to each of you for continuing to be part of this process.
Mitakuye Oyasin - For All Of Our Relations.
Bonnie Cehovet, TM
Part I:
Editorial: Tarot Ramblings
Tarot Tidbits
Part II:
Interview: Raymond Buckland
I would like to wish each and every one of you a most Joyous New Year - filled with Peace, Prosperity and Abundance! What does the new year hold for the Tarot World? The year 2004 is a number six year - a year in which the over-riding energy is that of benevolence, of having a consciounce, of caring about what happens in the world. Is that not what we need after the difficult year that the world expereinced in 2003 - a year filled with a tremendous warrior energy on many different levels? (Note: to find your personal year for 2004, add your month and day of birth to the year 2004, then add the numbers until you come to a single digit number.)
The year 2004, represented by the number six, brings us the energy of balance. Family will be important, as will finding stability in our lives in general. The year 2004 will be a year of trying to understand one another, and a year of healing at some very core levels for the entire planet. Passion, harmony and trust are the keywords for our New Year.
We each need to ask ourselves how we can place these qualities in our lives. How can we balance and nurture our family life? What actions can we take to succeed in business, while at the same time staying true to ourselves? How can we be better friends? How can we be better partners? Take your favorite deck, and draw a card for each of these questions. The energy of the card is the energy that is available for you to work with in that area of your life.
The "gateway" to 2004 is represented by the Lovers and the Devil. These cards carry the energy of the number six, and it is between them that we will walk in the next year. (You can do the same with your own personal year number. Take the single digit card from the major arcana, as well as the card that reduces to that number, and you have your personal gateway for any given year.)
To start the New Year off right, I gathered together the links to some sites that I feel are interesting and informative. I hope that you enjoy them too!
www.theenchantedworld.com The amazing world of Amy Zerner and Monte Farber - including an interactive Tarot oracle based on the Enchanted Tarot deck. Kudo's to Monte and Amy for their wonderful work!
Robert V. O'Neil's work on Neoplatonism can be found here "Tarot.com :: Tarot, Astrology, Numerology & I-Ching" (http://att.tarot.com/about-tarot/library/boneil/neoplatonism)
www.loverspath.com Kris Waldherr - All of the cards are up on site for this lovely deck (to be printed by US Games in 2004), and the oracle section has been updated.
Sacred Animals 2004 Calendar - $11.66 (discounted from $12.95):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/156937161X/ artandwords-20/103-3939412-8939826
Llewellyn's Astrological 2004 Calendar - $7.77 (discounted from
$12.95):http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738701238/ artandwords-20/103-4245678-8774231
Send an electronic postcard, featuring original Tarot images from the first Aeclectic Community Tarot deck. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/postcards/
http://trionfi.com/01/j/i An absolutely fantastic listing of decks - including older decks.
http://trionfi.com/01/j Links to playing card FAQ and history, and a marvelous section of links to old playing decks.
www.inner.org Qabalah oriented site
My monthly horoscope may be seen at: http://www.horoscope.thecrystalgate.com . I use
Tarot for mundane guidance and the Sacred Path cards by Jami Sams for spiritual guidance. I am always looking for feedback here. :)
On-line Divination sites:
In cruising the internet this past month I have found several on-line divination sites - both Tarot and non-Tarot, that are both fun and worth spending time with. Some of these sites are for specific Tarot decks - and I have to say the the art is stupendous! It makes me feel glad to be alive, and more than happy to be part of the Tarot world. I hope that you enjoy these as much as I am:
Tarot Happenings: classes, seminars
Bio: Geraldine Amaral
Geraldine Amaral is the co-author of Tarot Celebrations: Honoring the Inner Voice and publisher of Celebrating the Tarot Journal. She recently created a Tarot instructional video, Tarot 1-2-3. She conducts a series of unique and creative tarot classes in the Washington DC area, utilizing Jungian and archetypal psychology. In her classes, she teaches people how to apply the
tarot's esoteric principles in pragmatic ways and as a tool for personal transformation. Because her book, journal, video and classes provide a unique blend of spirituality, psychology, philosophy, literature and personal empowerment methods, she is a well-respected
and popular writer and speaker. She resides in Arlington, VA with her two cats Sweet Baby and Minnie. You can contact her at tarotcelebrations@erols.comor visit her website at www.tarotcelebrations.com.
Bio: Paul Hughs-Barlow
Paul is a writer, public speaker, magician and expert on the Tarot and magical systems.
Advance information on Paul's new book, "Tarot and the Magus", (due to be on Amazon.com in January of 2004) can be found at www.supertarot.co.uk/resource/tarotbk.htm.
The link to purchase the book is: www.aeonbooks.co.uk
Bio: James Wells
James Wells is a Toronto-based Tarot consultant with an international clientele. Since age 12, he has lived, worked and played with the Tarot and its rich symbolism. James is also a Reiki Master, publisher of The Six-Rayed Star, musician, explorer of divination systems, weaver of rituals, and workshop facilitator. His job as a Worker of Oracles is to create sacred space for constructive feedback and soul work - a place where dreams, goals, imagination, intuition and magick, have full sway so that you can enjoy insight, support and healing.James is a member of the International Tarot Society and the Daughters of Divination. In person as well as in the media, he is a sought-after presenter on Tarot, ritual, and personal growth.James is fond of good books, singing, writing, his Tarot collection, close friends, delicious foods, travel, well-made martinis, and long walks.
James may be contacted at: workeroforacles@yahoo.ca, or through his site, www.workeroforacles.com.
I'm offering some special weekend events related to healing and tarot. Dates, topics, and fees for 2004 are listed below. Out-of-town people please contact me for good nearby accomodations. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you!
Blessings,
March 27 & 28, 2004
(***You must already be a certified Reiki practitioner to attend this event. Please send a copy of your certificate when you register).
$145 Canadian / $135 US, due Friday, March 12, 2004.
October 1 - 3, 2004
$200 Canadian / $190 US, due Friday, September 17, 2004.
Note: 25% of all fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. If cancellation occurs less than 48 hours before an event, there is no refund.
Tarot Site Review: www.theenchantedworld.com
Many thanks to Deni Richter (www.worldtarotnetwork) for the heads up on this site! The culmination of many years work is represented here for husband and wife team Amy Zerner and Monte Farber. In Monte's own words:
"In ancient times, when a person felt blessed by good fortune, they would show their gratitude by building a temple so that others could restore their soul in a place of peace and beauty. The Enchanted World website is our harmonious temple of gratitude for the success of our best-selling series of books & tools for self-discovery, and Amy's art, fashion, and jewelry."
What an outstanding site! Be aware that, because of the graphics, the dowlload time is a little long - but it is well worth the wait! There is a wonderful pastel picture border on all four sides, surrounding the center, where the information is presented. It is well worth your time to look closely at this border, done in pastels and representing empowerment at its finest.
Under Tarot - Your Questions Answered Monte and Amy present us with interactive software for one card readings. The first thing that impressed me here was the ability to choose either high speed or dial-up connections. This means thought was given to this site, and to the fact that not all of us have computers that work well with high speed graphics. There are also text sections that go into not only how to do the interactive readings, but "why" interactive (as opposed to in person) readings do work. When I got to the card shuffling I loved the way in which the cards fanned themselves across the screen! (OK -- So I am easily amused!)
The readings are presented exactly as they are in the companion book to the Enchanted Tarot deck: (1) The Message gives you a concise answer to your question; (2) The Dream talks about the imagery in the card, and what it means (you high speed people get to see animation here!); (3) The Awakening gives the traditional meaning for the card and (4) The Enchantment presents us with a gentle ritual that allows us to place the energy in our lives.
Alchemy - Your Past Revealed is a software program that pulls from over 20,000 different answers to give you the right answer to your question - whether it be in the area of relationship, career, finances - or any other issue. It is meant to act as a tool of self-discovery. (This section is under developement.)
Astrology - Your Future Predicted is based on Monte's Karma Card oracle - a system that he drew up that allowed non-astrologers to work with astrology, as well as having a quick and easy method of gettingin touch with their Higher selves. (This section is under development.)
Enchantments - Your Sorrows Healed is based on using positive affirmations as an empowering response to the everyday challanges that we all experience. (This section is under development.)
Books & Tools is a presentation of the work that Amy and Monte have done over the years - including the Enchanted Tarot; the Gifts of the Goddess Affirmation Cards; and The Enchanted Astrologer - a book and deck astrology set.
Enchanted Candlespresents two sets of candles: one representing the full 78 cards of the nchanted Tarot,and one representing the Reflections of the Goddess Affirmation Cards
Jewelry is an inspiring section to wander through at your leisure: Tarot based earrings; Tarot, Astrology and Enchantment based pendants; Tarot and Astrology based pendants done with stones.
Posters is awesome, with over 180 of Amy's fantasy based creations, including all 78 cards from the Enchanted Tarot.
Horoscope Reports is a section that is completely under construction. However, with Monte's many years of experience in the field of astrology, I know that we can expect great tings to be happening here!
Free e-cards features Amy's work using Tarot, Alchemy, Astrology and Enchantments as a background. I love e-cards, and there are several gorgeous cards in each category to choose from. If you want to send something outstanding - come here!
Art & Fashion is yet another "must see" section! Here we see examples of Amy's tapestry collection; samples from her clothing and jewelry collection; and the newest additions to Amy's wearable art collection. There is also a wonderful peak into the process that Amy uses as a collage artist - fascinating work! BTW - the clothing line is trademarked Spiritual Couture - because it us meant to help us recognize the Goddess within. You have to see the clothing to understand - but I feel that she has hit her mark here!
Think we're about done here? Not! There are two free movies that Amy and Monte worked on together: a Grounding Ritual I could have used that before meetings when I was in the biz world!); and Your vision Quest: Entering Sacred Space. Grounding Ritual is based on the four elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth), and grounding through mother earth. Your vision Quest: Entering Sacred Space talks about the incredible power that we all have within us, and how divination helps us to access it. (Real One Player is needed to view these movies - and a link is provided that leads to a free download. The download time is tremendous on these movies - they won't be for everyone, but I do recommend seeing them at least once.)
There is an option for the movies for Mac and PC, which I felt was a very considerate thing to do - opening up the ability to view the movies to more people.
Are we done yet? Nope - there is a newsletter that will keep us updated at happenings on this site (I sigend up, and will bring the news to you as I receive it).
More? Yup! There is a great deal of free content on this site, but you can get more benefits with a paid membership. Take your hands away from your ears! The membership fee in minimal - $8.95 for six months, and $12.95 for twelve months. You get: expanded free readings (three card Past/Present/Future and Body/Mind/Spirit spreads; and an eleven card Celtic Cross Spread); three eight minute Tarot movies (What is Tarot?; The Major Arcana; The Minor Arcana); and access to the Mystery School, which contains all of the information that Amy and Monte have written - including essays not published elsewhere. (Right now the information up on the site pertains to the Enchanted Tarot, and to doing Tarot readings. There will be more to come.) There are free members only contests, with real time prizes - books and tools that Amy and Monte have produced, as well as a free personal psychic Tarot reading from Monte. One more freebie - a Goddess screensaver download - which will be on my computer as of MN Dec 31st! Great way to start a new year!
OK We're done - until they get some of the new stuff on line! I certainly do not expect this to be a static site - it has content, movement and action that fully supports the empowerment that Amy and Monte would like their work to facilitate. This is definitely a "must experience" site!
January Interview: Monte Farber
I feel very blessed that I was gifted with a "heads up" from Deni Richter (www.worldtarotnetwork.com) about the new Enchanted World site (www.theenchantedworld.com). This absolutely stunning site showcases the life long efforts of husband and wife team Monte Farber and Amy Zerner - both their individual and their combined efforts. The work reflected on this site is extremely diverse - but it has one common goal: reflecting the sacred in life, and offering avenues to personal empowerment. I was extremely pleased when Monte agreed to do an interview for Gateway To Tarot - I feel that this couple still has a great deal more to say, so the podium now goes to Monte!
BC: Monte, "Enchanted World "is stunning in many ways - presentation, content and intent immediately come to mind. The "intent" part is what grabs my intention. Everything - literally everything! - that is offered on this site comes from the heart - from the sacred within you and Amy. How did it happen that your lives took this route?
MF: We are so glad that you understand our intention and our website so well. Like everything else we have created together, Amy and I have tried to make our Enchanted World website an expression and an extension of the enchanted world we’ve made together since 1975 and that we are lucky enough to live in every day. Of course, we have challenges and sorrows just like everyone else, but we also have the best relationship that we know or know of and that is the foundation and source of everything we do. The reason that you felt the heart connection with all the things that we offer on our website is that you felt the love that we share with each other; we try our best to put it into everything we do. Sharing Amy’s incredibly gorgeous fabric collage tapestry fantasy art which is really the heart and soul of all of our work ¾ and sharing our love and the techniques that have helped us attain and maintain our enchanted relationship, mixed with a large helping of compassion for others, for we’re all in the same boat, is what all of our books and tools, and now our Enchanted World website, are all about.
When I met Amy in 1974, she was an accomplished artist who was studying tarot and astrology and I was a studio musician who was studying Amy, so I learned about the tarot and astrology, too. I had no previous knowledge or understanding of what they were about, though I was very interested in the nature of personal reality I was reading the “Seth” book with that very title, “The Nature of Personal Reality” by Jane Roberts at the time and trying to get over the pain of my difficult childhood and the confusion of that difficult time by trying to understand reality in a logical way. Amy had had her own brand of difficult childhood, but her mother, the master illustrator Jessie Spicer Zerner, was an amazing and truly spiritual person and I was deeply moved by both she and Amy, despite her New York City edge, because my saving grace is that I can recognize the truth when I hear it and it was easy to hear and see that Jessie and Amy were real people, the kind of people I had never met before.
Before we met, we had each been using our art to make a living and as an expression of our beliefs and our search for meaning. As we learned more about astrology and the tarot, we began to explore and blend the magic and mystery we were coming to know with our unique takes on the times we were living in and our hopes for the future, too. We are both very practical people and if something is not useful in a pure and meaningful way, we will not have very much to do with it for long. Astrology and the tarot were eminently practical and also the language of our love affair. Learning and growing in our understanding of both of these beautiful wisdom teachings fit perfectly with our desire to learn and grow as people and as a couple. We met in October and by the following May we were living together and on the road to working together.
BC: The work presented here is extremely diverse. How did it come about that you and Amy chose to present your work on one combined site?
MF:We never thought of doing it any other way until we read your question! It certainly would have been a lot less work and expense if we had decided to “just” put up our interactive Enchanted Tarot, which in itself represents several years of work in terms of the seventy-eight fabric collage tapestry tarot cards Amy created, the two books worth of text I wrote that is presented and spoken by the seven actors hired to give our tarot cards voices and the incredible animations that bring the cards to life (for those with high-speed internet access) that have just been rendered in Flash by the Workers of Electronic Miracles at Yikes, Inc., our incredible website designers.
However, as you said in your introduction to this article, our website showcases our life long efforts; we have made a lot of efforts during our life! Each of our creations is like a child to us and we don’t want to leave any of our children out of the light. We want everyone to know everything we’ve done because we are proud of it and especially because the main reason we have created our divination systems is to help people. We use them everyday and we want other people to benefit from using them every day like we do. We feel that we have a unique take on things and we want to continue adding our voice to the collective discussion about tarot, astrology, alchemy, The Goddess, affirmations, shamanism, and especially the development of everyone’s intuition and psychic powers ¾ that is where my work is headed now.
I couldn’t write the way I do without Amy because without her I wouldn’t feel the way I do about life. She couldn’t make the beautiful, positive work she does without my support. We are a self-contained support system and that is what we are working to make our Enchanted World website into. To do otherwise would be like putting together a family album and leaving out pictures of those you love. Of course, like all life long efforts, our website is not complete, even though it already contains several times more content than the websites of some major corporations. But that gives our members and us a lot to look forward to!
BC: What part does working with oracles play in your lives?
MF: We use oracles every single day. In fact, we have used our oracles to help us create other oracles. It is a rare decision that is made around here without checking in with one of our “kids” for advice and guidance. And now that The Enchanted Tarot is online at our website, we can use it anywhere in the world with Internet access, though we always have our deck with us.
My first published oracle was “Karma Cards: A New Age Guide to Your Future Through Astrology,” which Penguin published in 1988. Since then we’ve created ten more and in each of them we have stressed that the purpose of an oracle, the purpose of divination, is to help you develop your creativity and intuition and especially to put you in touch with the divine within you. I’ve often stated that the ultimate goal of using an oracle is to develop your intuition to the point where you don’t need an oracle anymore, but it turns out that I was wrong on that count. After writing all of these books and doing all of these readings over the years, I have become quite an accurate psychic medium, but we still like to get readings from professional readers and we like to use our oracles to trigger further insights. When you’re asking about something that is very important to you, it is a good idea to get a second opinion and sometimes a third.
BC: I worked with the interactive Tarot oracle on your site, and got an absolutely stunning answer - one that really hit home. And yes - it was with the one card, free version of the oracle! Can you give us a little background on how the Enchanted Tarot (the deck used with this oracle) came about? (The interpretations are done in sections, which at first may seem non-traditional. When they are actually worked with, they work as they are meant to - they allow the Seeker to put the wisdom of the cards into their lives.)
MF:Amy had always wanted to create her own tarot deck, it is a great way for an artist to express her or his self. She is a National Endowment for the Arts award winning fine artist who is always working on a multitude of projects. She is the hardest working person I know and she is also the most positive person I know. She wanted to create a tarot deck that would express the benefits of maintaining a positive attitude in order to successfully deal with all of the challenges of life. She also knew that my brand of street-smart spirituality would help to bring our tarot system into balance and make it accessible to everyone, whether they came from the unspoiled endless mountains region of Pennsylvania like she originally did or the streets of Brooklyn, NY, like me.
We called our version “The Enchanted Tarot” for several reasons. We wanted the title to convey the magical quality that comes into one’s life when they become aware of the powerful synchronicity operating at all levels. The word “enchanted,” which literally translates as “to sing into,” has a very strong resonance with our childhood. Children’s books have always been an important thing to Amy since she was a child being read to and before. Her mother got her start at a very young age by writing a children’s book called “String” that got successfully published.
The three of us lived together and always helped each other with our various individual projects. Jessie and Amy got to collaborate on three children’s books towards the end of Jessie’s life, a real blessing for us all. Our home does have a sort of enchanted cottage feel to it, something noticed by everyone who visits.
Amy and I have a dear friend, Lori Solensten, who had a small publishing company that was going to publish my Karma Cards. She invited us to the 1986 American Booksellers Association convention (now called the BEA) in New Orleans so that we could learn about the book business. I had mocked up two sets of my Karma Cards and I had given her a set with my book proposal, and both of those sets kept giving us the worst answers about Lori’s company publishing them, but neither of us told that to the other until we got down to New Orleans. When we confided in each other, Lori told us to walk the show and see if we could find a bigger publisher.
While walking the aisles of the convention I spied a booth run by two very intriguing British gentlemen and displayed above their booth was The Book of Runes by Ralph Blum, which they had packaged to great success. I walked right up to them and said “I have an astrology card game that tells the future,” and rather then say “That’s very nice” and send me on my way, they said “Let’s play it!” They both did, got great answers, and it turned out that what they had asked was about the outcome of their packaging my Karma Cards, so we shook hands and that was that!
Tarot Tidbits:
DancingWorld, launched in January 2001, brings a monthly offering of high-quality articles, reviews, guest essays, readers' letters, and resources of interest to the international Tarot, psychic, spiritual, and creative communities. The periodic "Inquiring Minds" feature solicits querent questions for a special reading by DW'seditor/writer Eva Yaa Asantewaa--sort of a Tarot-based Dear Abby column! DW's StarWeb networking section includes free listings of special events, workshops, services, products, and Web sites.Sign up now for your free
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Thank all of you who are joining me on this wonderful journey. Please contact me at: Crystalgate@aol.com with any comments, criticisms or suggestions for future articles.
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