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ONE week
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last update:
27th June

Welcome & opening address (Friday 6–7pm)

Jean-Michel David - Tarot: its interfaith and cross-cultural artistic expression

Since the 15th century, tarot has developed in cultural contexts that is often at the edge of local orthodoxy, drawing from a range of secular and religious expression. This has continued to be case in the centuries that immediately followed, reaching a climax in the closing of the 20th century. Entering the 21st century, we now have access to tarot images that have found their expression in cross-cultural contexts and have permitted various spiritualities to stream into decks that continue to be variously designed. Increasingly these draw in ways in which the imagery enables access to ways of viewing the world through reflections that cut across local cultural and religious boundaries. Through this, each deck, on reflection, not only deepens our understanding of our fellow human beings who may otherwise remain at arm's length, as well as deepening our own personal and individual spiritual striving through the opportunity the images provide to work ever more deeply in our chosen personal path.

About Jean-Michel David [Melbourne]
www.fourhares.com

Jean-Michel has taught Tarot courses over varying duration since the late 1980s. His current courses include a year-long course in Melbourne and an online pdf-based 30 week course.

He was an organiser and a presenter at the 2005 International Tarot Conference. Jean-Michel has also featured on ABC’s Radio National with Rachel Kohn.

Keynote speaker (Saturday)

Alex Ukolov - The Art of Tarot

synopsis forthcoming...

About Alex Ukolov [Prague]
www.magic-realist.com

With Karen Mahony, Alex's Magic Realism Press and Studio has produced a number of already now famous tarot decks, including the Tarot of Prague, Bohemian Gothic Tarot, Baroque Bohemian Cats' Tarot, Victorian Romantic Tarot, Fairytale Tarot, and the Fantastic Menagerie Tarot (as well as other tarot projects!)

Fern Mercier & Lyn Olds - Tarot Art Pacific Style

Fern Mercier and Lyn Olds from Auckland, Aotearoa, tell the tarot tales of arcana 2006 and Literatarot 2008.

arcana was a world-first art extravaganza that took place in Auckland in September 2006, featuring tarot art. It showcased over 60 contributors exhibiting a wide variety of artworks including paintings, photography, fashion and costume design, mosaic, tattoo, graffiti and textiles. Alongside the art displays there were performance artists, poets, educational seminars and workshops, a trade fair, tarot readers and the 600 years of tarot art history displayed on the big screen. By invitation, a visual presentation of arcana premiered in Italy in 2007 at the opening of the Museo dei Tarocchi in Riola. We are delighted to now bring it to Australian shores.

Literatarot is a Tarot project that was initiated and published by the Italian Museo dei Tarocchi. 22 artists from Australia and Aotearoa were invited to create an original and collectible tarot deck whose theme was the great classics of literature. Co-ordinators Fern and Lyn proudly present the Oceanic Literatarot deck (the 5 world continents are represented in this ongoing project).

About Fern Mercier & Lyn Olds
www.tarot.net.nz

Fern Mercier is an astrologer and tarot reader who works as a consultant, teacher, writer, columnist and educator, from Auckland NZ. She has been working with her twin passions for well over 30 years, and has been involved in many tarot projects, presentations and journeys all over Aotearoa and throughout the world.

Lyn Olds has been involved in tarot for many years now and has enjoyed roles as a reader, teacher, mentor and tarot event organiser! Her focus at present is to unite her love of tarot with a growing interest in artistic ventures that celebrates the art of tarot in its many guises. More information can be found at www.tarot-ART.com (coming May 09)

Ma Deva Padma - Alternative approaches to traditional imagery

Alternative approaches to traditional imagery is an exploration into the infinite possibilities for artistic expression in the dimension of tarot and tarot related decks. It is no wonder that the Fools Journey has taken on thousands of guises over hundreds of years. The journey is as unique in character and tone as each and every human being. Whether we look through the lens back in time or into the far future, that journey and it's archetypes, will continue to fascinate and provide guidance and fuel for self reflection as well as self expression.

My Osho Zen Tarot art has been acclaimed and controversial...and The Sacred She (the newbie under development) now promises to bring a fresh perspective to the more traditional pantheon of tarot imagery.

There will be plenty of time for Q & A as well as sharing stories and some history regarding the gestation of my alternative decks: The Osho Zen Tarot, the TAO Oracle and The Sacred She.

I am so looking forward to meeting you all at the Tarot Conference in July!

About Ma Deva Padma
Ma Deva Padma is the creator and illustrator of the Osho Zen Tarot, The TAO Oracle and The Sacred She (in production). She shares a studio near Mt Macedon, Victoria, Australia with her artist husband Ashika, a stone sculptor.

After becoming a meditator in the 1970's , a disciple of a spiritual master and living for years in India, her art has become infused with a clarity and depth that comes from that very personal inner journey. Her decks continue to speak volumes to tarot practitioners the world over and have become a bridge toward meditation and self awareness.

Visit Padma's gallery online at www.embraceart.com and preview the TAO Oracle at www.thetaooracle.com

Anne Foletta and Nicholas Romas - Painting your personal Tarot with symbols of colour

This will be a practical class.  A number of decks are available in outline form only for each participant to complete by colouring them in.
 
The main themes that will be explored during this session include:  (1) Energising, and hence personalising, your Tarot with your hands and your own colours, (2) Working with colours as symbols, (3) Using colour symbolism consistently throughout your deck, and (4) the Tarot’s meditative qualities.
 
Anne and Nicholas will also conduct a short meditation on colours and Tarot.

About Anne Foletta
Anne has been teaching meditation for twenty years and currently runs three regular groups.  She studied with the College of Inner Knowledge under William Cook-Edwards.  She brought the Queensland school to Melbourne in 1989 and thereafter ran it independently for a number of years.  Anne then continued to study with various Western tradition study groups based in Europe and following the Hermetic tradition (This is when Anne and Nicholas met).  She is also a qualified Gemologist and for the past 15 years has been teaching Computer Sciences at TAFE.

About Nicholas Romas
Nicholas studies the Kabbalah, Tarot and Meditation practices with two UK-based Western Mystery Schools.  He enjoys developing and teaching pathworkings and meditations on the tarot using correspondences to a variety of western systems, especially the Tree of Life.  Formally trained in Psychology, Research and Training.  He sits on the La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee and runs his own business in change management and is currently working on introducing spiritual paradigms into the corporate world.

Zach Wong - Revelations Tarot: Realising an Upside-down World

Over 3 years in the making, this session is a sharing of my personal journey in the creation and publication of the Revelations (Adflatus) Tarot.

Included will be strugglings with the initial conception of the idea - including themes, reasons, and influences; the process of creating each drawing - the influences and symbology gathered along the journey; the transition from pen and paper to technical medium - photoshop is my best friend; the final lap - the transformation from black and white to colour and the deck's evolution during the process; and the aftermath - post production, submission, and feedback since 2005.

I'll invite each to bring their questions, queries and insights for a fabulous sharing of the creative artistic process!

About Zach
Zach Wong is an Artist who was born under the sign of fire, has had a life full of movement by the forces of water. After growing up in the cultural melting pot of Malaysia, migrated to Australia and now resides in cosmopolitan Melbourne. The infusion of Eastern and Western styles are evident in his deck, Revelations Tarot, where styles and elements seep through the line work form his subconscious. When not fused to the internet at the hip, he works on various digital paintings and artistic projects to keep his idle hands out of trouble.

Lyn Olds - Make your own Italian styled Tarot Card Box

The gorgeous illustrations of early tarot decks give these tarot card boxes a lovely Italian look and feel and offer an alternative to the ever present cloth pouches.

Armed with little more than a craft knife and glue stick you will take home a beautiful tarot card box to house that extra special deck. A wonderful memento from the 2009 Tarot Convention.

All materials supplied - please feel free to bring your own paper and images if you would prefer to custom make a box to hold/compliment a particular deck.

About Lyn Olds [New Zealand]
Lyn Olds has been involved in tarot for many years now and has enjoyed roles as a reader, teacher, mentor and tarot event organiser! Her focus at present is to unite her love of tarot with a growing interest in artistic ventures that celebrates the art of tarot in its many guises. More information can be found at www.tarot-ART.com (coming May 09)

Shane Kendal - A Poetry of the Tarot

In this workshop, we will explore the ways in which we can appreciate and come to  personal and shared understandings of the tarot images through the wonderful process of creating poetry.

The English Romantics in the early 19th century first expressed the idea that poetry, and the process of its making, was in some ways a sacred art. Shelley gave poets the status of 'unacknowledged legislators of the world‘. For me, that sums up the mysterious, esoteric nature of creating poetry, an alchemical combination of language, rhythm, and rhyme, that, if successful, transforms both the poet’s and reader‘s view of some essential aspect of life. It is both a liberating and revelatory art – even so-called light verse, or comic poetry can achieve this. Any attempt to make poetry is a task analogous with finding and giving meaning to the world.

In the same century as the English Romantics, the Tarot was first seen as a vehicle of  perennial esoteric wisdom and truth. The images of the Tarot are now also understood by many to be not merely divinatory aids, nor merely symbols of ancient and universal wisdom, but active agents of spiritual realities. In particular, the major arcana or trumps are thought of in this way.

The above ideas on poetry and the Tarot were the inspiration for a series of poems I have composed on the 22 major arcana. I found the process an intriguing and rewarding one, especially the way the Tarot images gave rise to not only the language of the poems, but their voice, form and rhythm.  In the workshop, I would like to talk about this process, allow us to create our own poems and share these with each other.

About Shane Kendal
Shane was involved in the organisation of the 2005 International Tarot Conference, and has at various times had occasion to present his tarot poetry. Some of his other poems have been included in various publications.

He completed his MA in Blake, and one of his poem drafts is included in issue #70 of the ATS Newsletter: 'A Poetry of the Tarot'

Keynote speaker (Sunday)

Name tba - The Art of Reading

synopsis.

About Presenter
to be announced

Kat Black - Deconstructing a Deck (or two)

Kat will be talking about her new deck Touchstone Tarot, and the process she undertook in making the deck. She will be contrasting this with her previous deck, Golden Tarot, showing individual layers of the compositions in particular cards, and the full source artworks from which those components came.

This session may be of interest to those thinking of making their own deck, or those who would like to find out more about the portraits used in Touchstone - who they are, why she used them and what stories they have to tell.

Kat will also be happy to answer your questions about publishing, and also other issues of interest to tarot creatives.

About Kat Black
Kat Black has been an artist and performer for over twenty years using a wide variety of media. She exhibited as a painter before moving into digital art forms. Her main art forms are currently video performance and digital collage. Her first commercial tarot deck, Golden Tarot, was released in 2004. As a collagist, Kat’s style is to integrate the original elements as seamlessly as possible to make the works look whole. With Touchstone, only those familiar with the original art are likely to realize that the card designs are composites.

Nicholas Romas and Anne Foletta - The Devil’s teachings:  From Intellect to Intuition.

This will be an experiential meditation class.
 
Anne and Nicholas will open with a discussion on the way they approach meditating on the Tarot.  They will use the Devil Card as the focus of this discussion and meditation.
 
Next, they will begin the meditation work.  Anne will take the class through a deep relaxation exercise she has been using for over 20 years.  If time and logistics permit, they would like to begin teaching the deep relaxation exercise the night before.  Relaxation and breathing are critical in preparing the participants for meditation.
 
Nicholas will then take the group through a guided pathworking (meditation) on the Devil.  He will be using Kabbalistic, Tarot, Western symbolic sign posts and also those from the surrounding landscape while walking through and exploring the Devil Card.  He will focus on transforming our mental processes from intellect to intuition.
 
Finally, there will be group discussion about the practical relaxation and meditation exercises.

About Nicholas Romas
Nicholas studies the Kabbalah, Tarot and Meditation practices with two UK-based Western Mystery Schools.  He enjoys developing and teaching pathworkings and meditations on the tarot using correspondences to a variety of western systems, especially the Tree of Life.  Formally trained in Psychology, Research and Training.  He sits on the La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee and runs his own business in change management and is currently working on introducing spiritual paradigms into the corporate world.

About Anne Foletta
Anne has been teaching meditation for twenty years and currently runs three regular groups.  She studied with the College of Inner Knowledge under William Cook-Edwards.  She brought the Queensland school to Melbourne in 1989 and thereafter ran it independently for a number of years.  Anne then continued to study with various Western tradition study groups based in Europe and following the Hermetic tradition (This is when Anne and Nicholas met).  She is also a qualified Gemologist and for the past 15 years has been teaching Computer Sciences at TAFE.