Sitting Next to Mary Greer
You’ve heard of her before, haven’t you? One of the great lights in the tarot community, author of Tarot for Yourself, The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals, and—one of my favorites—21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card.
I’ve been really lucky. Most people “meet” Mary through her books. Some get to learn from her at conferences. She is a lovely, smart woman and an excellent teacher.
At the 2009 Readers Studio, attendees were encouraged to move to different seats and thereby get to work with and know new people throughout the weekend. At one point, I found myself sitting next Mary. Even thought I’ve known her for over ten years, I still get all star-struck and stupid when I’m near her. But that’s not the point. The point is that I got a glimpse of Mary that was revealing. It provided a kind of window into her brilliance.
Before the workshop started, Mary started dealing out cards from her deck. She wasn’t doing a reading, she was just dealing them out in columns. She would look at the cards in a column, notice some pattern, and say to herself, “hmmm, isn’t that interesting.” She move cards around, making more patterns. I’m not exactly sure what was going on in her mind, but things were clicking. She was seeing things that were triggering thoughts and ideas. She was inventing some new technique or discovering some amazing insight into the cards. I just know she was.
Recently I wrote about the Queen of Wands and The Tower and about how sometimes you have to mix things up in order to see them in a new way. While this was something of a revelation to me, apparently it is just the way Mary is wired.
She doesn’t just lay her cards out in spreads or do things in a way that she was taught or in the way that she has always done it. In that few moments of watching her just play, I knew I was seeing a fundamental part of makes her great. She continually does new and random things just to see what happens. Sometimes nothing…but sometimes something.
Take a lesson from Mary. Play with your cards. Because you never know what you might discover.
Mary is one of my heroes because she has the amazing ability to transform complicated concepts into insightful ideas that help to empower the student. As a tarot book collector, I find her texts to be among the most helpful and easy to understand. They’re packed with a comfortable wisdom that is never overwhelming or tedious, rather her thought provoking ideas demonstrate how beautiful and flexible the tarot cards can really be. Thank you, Mary! And thank you Barbara for helping to celebrate a tarot legend.
I love Mary Greer’s books and learn something new every time I open one up. Thank you, Barbara, for this peek into her card play; it is inspiring and encouraging for someone like me who struggles with the confidence factor regarding tarot. It is wonderful to know that the “stars” of tarot land are always learning, too.