In Search of Tarot

Today's minisode is a live recording of Nick's Opening Remarks from the opening night of the Meet Me at The Margin virtual queer conference, which took place on Sunday, June 4, 2023. If you're feeling the FOMO, registration will remain open through June 12. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! Nick is also currently hosting the #PrideInTheTarot2023 card-a-day challenge on Instagram, and there's still time to join in the fun! Click here to view the prompts. We also invite you to support this podcast by making a monthly contribution on Patreon. You can also leave a rating and review wherever you're listening right now. Music by AJ Ackleson. Thanks, AJ!

Britten LaRue and the host delve into the complexities of queerness, identity, and coming out. They discuss workshops on healing, spiritual awakening, and self-discovery. The conversation explores queerness, inclusion challenges, and the importance of creating safe environments. They also touch on queering traditional astrology and tarot narratives, finding comfort in confusion, and the dynamics of Venus in the chart.

The work of Stephanie Adams-Santos spans poetry, prose, screenwriting, and visual art. She/They are the author of the full-length poetry collections Dream of Xibalba and Swarm Queen's Crown (a Lambda Literary Award finalist). Their chapbooks include Total Memory and The Sundering (New York Chapbook Fellowship, Poetry Society of America). Stephanie’s short story "Night Flowers" appeared in the Latinx anthology Speculative Fiction for Dreamers. Stephanie was a Staff Writer and Story Editor on the television anthology horror series Two Sentence Horror Stories (CW/Netflix); their episode "Elliot" won a 2022 Gold Telly Award in Writing. As an inaugural fellow of The 2022 Ojalá Ignition Fellowship, they developed an original fantasy pilot based on the world and characters of the Tarot. In addition to her literary work, Adams-Santos is a professional Tarot reader and is making headway on an original Major Arcana tarot deck inspired by occult animism. In all her work, she is drawn to queerness, the uncanny, and whatever draws us closer to the primal source. Charlie Claire Burgess is a queer and trans-nonbinary tarot reader, deck creator, writer, and artist. They are the creator of Fifth Spirit Tarot, a queer and inclusive deck for a world beyond binaries, and the author of Radical Tarot, a guide to reading tarot radically for personal and collective liberation. Charlie is currently at work on a second tarot deck, The Gay Marseille Tarot, and a book on queer devotion. They teach classes on tarot and queer magical topics online and in Portland, Oregon, and sometimes they record episodes for their podcast, The Word Witch. REGISTER FOR MEET ME AT THE MARGIN SUPPORT THIS PODCAST ON PATREON --- VISIT STEPHANIE'S WEBSITE FOLLOW STEPHANIE ON INSTAGRAM --- VISIT CHARLIE'S WEBSITE FOLLOW CHARLIE ON INSTAGRAM --- Music by AJ Ackleson. Thanks, AJ!

Nick's going solo today to explore the themes and concepts that will inspire Meet Me at The Margin - a month-long virtual conference for queer people who want to reclaim and re-story their innate capacity for ambiguity, paradox, and liminality, which will take place June 4-28, 2023. Through a series of eight workshops facilitated by some of today’s most Marginal thinkers, participants explore queerness through the lenses of tarot, astrology, narrative therapy, eco-mythology, archetype, art, and more. Facilitators include Charlie Claire Burgess, Amy DiGennaro, Edgar Fabian Frías, Nick Kepley, Jonathan Koe, Elias Lawliet, Sophie Strand, Jaison Perez, Chanti Tacoronte-Perez. Workshops will be held every Sunday (from 6-8pm ET) and Wednesday (from 7-9pm ET) in June, for a total of 16 hours of instruction. Captions will be enabled for all sessions, and recordings will be available through 7/31. REGISTER FOR MEET ME AT THE MARGIN Save on registration by joining the In Search of Tarot Patreon Music by AJ Ackleson. Thanks AJ!

Eli Lawliet, PhD, is The Gender Doula - offering full-spectrum support to folks who are transitioning, questioning, or exploring their gender. Due to the unique nature of every gender journey, Eli pulls from his many experiences--a working-class background in retail, ten years of academic research on trans healthcare in the U.S., five years of tarot reading for others, and much more--to support clients holistically. He also uses his broad training to create workshops, classes, and resources to help gender expansive folks thrive. He lives in Los Angeles with his partner, three cats, a dog, and four snakes. Register for Meet Me at The Margin Support this Podcast on Patreon -- Work with Eli Follow @thegenderdoula --- Order a Recorded Reading from Nick Follow Nick on Instagram --- Music by AJ Ackleson. Thanks AJ!

We're back for another shuffle of the history books — today exploring the traditions and legends of Runes and Ogham. At first glance, these two symbolic systems (which are actually alphabets) appear quite similar. But it turns out that their stories branch apart in many directions. Join us as we discover more about these popular methods of divination, and question just how old they actually are. For links to all of our sources for today's episode, visit the transcript page for this episode and scroll to the bottom. REGISTER for MEET ME AT THE MARGIN SUPPORT this podcast on Patreon FOLLOW ANGIE on IG FOLLOW NICK on IG Music by AJ Ackleson. Thanks AJ!

Jordan Rayne of @sincerely_the_tarot is a queer trans-masc tarot lover. He believes that tarot is a juicy tool for self-empowerment and meaning-making. He has a deep relationship with magic, ritual, beetles and worms. Jordan creates tarot-inspired prose, collage, affirmations, and oracle cards. Subscribers of his monthly snail mail offering receive these treasures and a tarot card from a different, featured deck. Sam Valentine of @valentine.tarot doesn’t like to self-identify, but when she does, it’s as an aesthete, tarot reader, & curator of vibes. Reading tarot primarily for fun and enjoyment, their work leaves space for not-knowing, and they hold no set expectations about what the cards might “mean.” A tarot hobbyist, creative, and magical practitioner on the side, Sam spends most of her time on her work in her professional capacity as a community Archivist. Register for MEET ME AT THE MARGIN Support this podcast on Patreon Sign up for the FREE Mystic Missive monthly newsletter --- Follow Jordan @sincerely_the_tarot Follow Sam @valentine.tarot --- Order a Recorded Tarot Reading from Nick Follow Nick on Instagram Visit Nick's website --- Music by AJ Ackleson. Thanks Aj!

Michael J. Morris is a consulting astrologer and tarot reader, artist, writer, teacher, facilitator, and witch committed to personal and collective healing and liberation. They began their consulting practice, Co Witchcraft Offerings, in 2019 through which they share astrology, tarot, and movement ritual practices. Michael holds a PhD in Dance Studies and brings decades of experience in dance, yoga, reiki, and other somatic practices to their work. They are a queer feminist, and their practices are inspired and informed by years of study and teaching in feminism, queer studies, gender and sexuality studies, environmental studies, and other branches of critical theory. Michael has presented at the Queer Astrology Conference 2020, the 2020 Fresh Voices in Astrology Summit, the Astrology and Climate Change Conference, NORWAC 2022, and the 54th Annual Conference of the Astrological Association. They are a teaching assistant with Kelly Surtees of Kelly’s Astrology, a contributing writer to the CHANI App, and a guest teacher in the Foundations in Embodied Ancestral Inquiry course presented by wildbody somatics. They reside in Columbus, Ohio—the ancestral and contemporary territory of the Shawnee, Potawatomi, Delaware, Miami, Peoria, Seneca, Wyandotte, Ojibwe, and Cherokee peoples. SUPPORT THIS PODCAST ON PATREON --- Visit Michael's Website Follow Michael on Instagram --- Book a Recorded Reading with Nick Follow Nick on Instagram Visit Nick's Website --- Music by AJ Ackleson. Thanks AJ!

Meg Jones Wall (she/they) is a queer, chronically-ill tarot reader, writer, photographer, and the creator of 3am.tarot. A columnist and editor for Autostraddle and a regular contributor to Astrology Answers, Meg's work has also appeared in WIRED, Catapult Magazine, Witchology, and more. Finding the Fool is her first book.  SUPPORT THIS PODCAST ON PATREON Purchase Finding the Fool on Bookshop.org Visit Meg's Website Sign Up for Meg's Newsletter Follow Meg on Instagram --- Book a Recorded Reading with Nick Visit Nick's Website Follow Nick on Instagram --- Music by AJ Ackleson. Thanks AJ!

Cameron Steele is a writer, editor, and tarot reader based in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She teaches online creative writing, composition, and literature courses at the University of Nebraska, where she graduated with her PhD in August 2021. Her recent essays are forthcoming or have been published in Gulf Coast, Barrelhouse, Split Lip Magazine, Brevity, and SFWP Quarterly.  She also writes "interruptions," which was featured as a Top 100 in Literature newsletter on Substack in 2022. Interruptions explores themes of tarot, astrology, literature, and illness in twice-weekly essays. CW: This episodes contains references to alcoholism and eating disorders. SUPPORT THIS PODCAST ON PATREON --- Subscribe to "interruptions" on Substack Visit Cameron's website Follow Cameron on Instagram --- Book a Tarot Reading with Nick Visit Nick's website Follow Nick on Instagram Follow Angie on Instagram Music by AJ Ackleson. Thanks AJ!