Getting Off to a Good Start

Greetings! I hope everyone had a great holiday season and is ready to embrace 2005 with enthusiasm and creativity. This month, we've got three ways to help you get off on the right foot: enhancing your love life, adding to your tarot deck collection, and improving your tarot skills.

How's your love life?
Looking for love? Want to spice up your current relationship? Need help solving an ongoing problem between you and your partner? Whatever your relationship needs, I think Mark McElroy's new book Taking the Tarot to Heart can help. Delving into relationship issues can be unsettling or even scary. Mark's friendly tone helps you face whatever you need with confidence and hope. See tarottools.com for a preview.

If you are more interested in advice for your career than your love life, Mark's got that covered to in Putting the Tarot to Work. Bonus: it's on sale now! See the Sale Books below.

How many decks do YOU have?
I'm a great proponent of having more than one tarot deck for lots of reasons. An obvious one is that I work for a tarot deck publisher. However, before I ever worked for Llewellyn I was a tarot junkie. One reason I collect decks is because of their beauty or novelty. Another reason is that I use different decks for different activities-meditation, reading, brainstorming. I use different decks for different types of readings. Sometimes I use more than one deck at a time for readings.

If you want to add to your tarot deck collection, today is your lucky day! We are offering a collection of museum quality decks by Lo Scarabeo for the unbelievably low price of $5 each. Five bucks! That's amazing. To see the selection, click here.

There are quite a few to pick from. My personal favorites are: Tarot of the III Millenium (I could study these for hours), Tarot of the Gnomes (one of my first decks and surprisingly useful despite the cute images), and Tarots of the Renaissance (simply beautiful). I know a lot of people who swear by the Tarots of the Master. Of course, everyone should have a Marseilles style deck, so pick up the Ancient Tarot of Marseilles. I have to admit that just for fun, I really like the Sibilla Oracle Cards.

Sharpen your skills
What are you doing May 6 - 8, 2005? Nothing special? Good. Then go here now and sign up for an event that can change your life (or at least make you a far better Tarot reader, provide lots of fun, and maybe even some new friends)

The third annual Readers Studio promises to be just as exciting as its predecessors. Maybe even more so, as we'll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Tarot School. This year's teachers are Corrine Kenner, James Ricklef, and Teresa Michelson. They've got some amazing things planned. Join us. You'll be glad you did.


For a related article, check out An Interview with Mark McElroy by Steven Pomije


Tarot Events

The Quest Tarot author:
Joseph Martin
San Jose Psychic Fair
Readings and signing
January 22-23,
10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Wyndon Hotel,
San Jose, CA
For more info call:
1-800-722-7330


Maria Shaw's Tarot Kit for Teens author:
Maria Shaw
Psychic Fair
January 29-30, 2005
Holiday Inn,
Midland, MI
For more info visit:
www.mariashaw.com


Taking the Tarot to Heart author:
Mark McElroy
Readings for Couples, Lovers, and Singles
February 11, 2005,
7 p.m.
Phoenix and Dragon Bookstore,
Atlanta, GA
For more info call:
404-255-5207


Everyday Tarot Magic author:
Dorothy Morrison
Booksigning
February 18, 2005
2 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Scent of Sage,
Kokomo, IN
For more info call:
765-459-8511


Join the Llewellyn Affiliate Program

Llewellyn has created a simple, user-friendly system for partnering with interested website owners, booksellers, authors, and web developers. Simply link to Llewellyn on your website, and you can start making up to 25% in referral fees.
Click to find out more.




For more Tarot and book-related events, check our
Events Schedule.

An excerpt from Professional Tarot
by Christine Jette

No tarot book can equal the experience of doing actual readings. Reading free for friends is a great way to practice and fine-tune your skills. Friends are patient with the learning process and tolerant of shortcomings. Reading for relatives and friends who want you to succeed creates a positive atmosphere. You have an added edge during a reading because you already know something about them. Without charging money, a reading has no strings attached and can be all in fun. But at some point, you may feel you are skilled enough to charge something. For paid readings, you may be starting with people you know, friends, or coworkers. The old saying goes that friends and money dont mix, especially if you have been doing free readings for them.Asking for money from a friend can be awkward.

Charging a fee encourages you to fine-tune your skills to increase competency. Slapdash methods of mediocrity are okay when your readings are free. You work harder at a reading when people are paying you for it. As a Loreal commercial might phrase it, you charge money for your readings because youre worth it.

Only you can decide if you will charge money when reading for friends.Money has destroyed more than one relationship, and just like oil and water, friends and money mix with difficulty.My advice is once you do start charging for tarot readings, its not a good idea to revert back to free sessions; it may feel like charity to your friends and it comes across as condescension on your part.

You will also have friends who expect freebies because you are buddies. If you find yourself in this situation, please fast-forward to the section called Are You Funny About Money? later in this chapter. It explores beliefs and attitudes that get in the way of prosperity. You will find most people do not like to be rescued because it does not honor their ability to help themselves. If youre starting out and doing a reading for a friend, suggest that your friend do something for you in return, even if its just buying you a cappuccino. I have found that people get less out of a free reading because they value the advice less. The old adage stands true - you get what you pay for.



Cool links

Tarot Moon
(Website of author Teresa Michelson, great faq page and selection of articles)

Llewellyn CEO Carl Weschcke's NEW BLOG!

www.ee0r.com
(Directions and templates for making custom boxes for your tarot decks)

FREE online web Tarot readings

Llewellyn's NEW Teens & 'Tweens website!
(Be sure to check the Tarot channel - Barbara is hosting a Q & A feature.)

Definitions of Tarot terms from the Llewellyn Encyclopedia


Great books on sale!
Now through January 28


Putting the Tarot to Work
ISBN: 0-7387-0444-X
Price: $16.95 $13.56


What Tarot Can Do for You
ISBN: 0-7387-0173-4
Price: $7.95 $6.36

Tarot: Get the Whole Story
ISBN: 0-73887-0345-1
Price: $15.95 $12.76

Professional Tarot
ISBN: 0-7387-0217-X
Price: $14.95 $11.96


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