NWTS in 2023 was so good that I went back again this year. This year, it was early September over the weekend from the 6th to the 8th, but again in Portland, Oregon.

There was some pre-event drama. My flight was delayed, as the pilot and air traffic control didn’t want to put the plane in the middle of a lightning storm. It didn’t take long to blow over. Also, a real last-minute hitch resulted in a change to the venue, which moved us back to the same conference hotel as last year. Honestly, I can’t praise TEAM NWTS enough for moving the heavens to ensure it went ahead rather than cancelling it outright.

The event was a little quieter than last year, but whoever said that it’s quality over quantity was right. All the speakers brought some great ideas and insights. My tablemates were funny, insightful, and generous. Off-panel, ‘Bar-Con’ chats increased the event’s rating from special to stellar.

There were also some changes to the schedule during the event, and I was slightly worried I’d miss Siddharth Ramakrishnan‘s Sunday presentation. However, the hotel is next to the TriMet, which now runs directly from the city to the airport, so I had plenty of time. I say that as if I didn’t have a rushed goodbye with Charles Harrington in the airport, mostly because Portland International’s restaurants are mixed in with the various gates. When I realised the time, I had a long walk to my gate from the eatery (it was McDonald’s, and I was eating a burger). Great company does that. I arrived just as pre-boarding started, so it was all good.

The format was that each morning, we’d kick off with a Master Teacher (90 minutes), then a panel, and then talks/workshops (60 minutes) in the afternoon. On Friday and Saturday, there were social events to ensure that everyone got to meet each other outside of the formal sessions.

Additionally, a marketplace was open to attendees and the public, with various dealers offering spiritual products and services. I must praise Tarot Garden for bringing so many newly stocked rare decks; I picked up a mini Camion Tarot De Marseille, and if I had more luggage space, I’d have picked up more. I did, however, grab a copy of The Chromatic Fates Tarot from Color Tarot Project directly from the creators.

As an event to learn new techniques, practice what you’ve learnt, and meet other readers, I can’t recommend attending this or similar ones highly enough. However, Roger Welch (one of the directors and co-owner of Soultopia) brings charm and groundedness to the proceedings. He sets out to ensure everyone is having a good time and that energy comes across during the weekend.

FRIDAY

Meeting Your Shadow with Tarot – Ethony

I’m starting with one of my all-time favourite people—she’s inspirational, passionate, & professional (she gave all those who followed her permission to also cuss), and a pusher of tarot.

When the session started, crayons were on the table, and sealed envelopes with polite warning stickers telling us not to open them until we were told we could.

Ethony explained shadow work as, and I’m paraphrasing, light is what we’re happy to show to the world, and shadow is what we’re less happy to show off—the aspects of ourselves that bring out uncomfortable feelings.

The session examined four big emotions (Fear, Anger, Envy and Shame) through a Tarot lens and by using shadow monsters. In the envelopes were blank sheets of art paper, and Ethony then led us through an exercise where we met, and then drew, the monster that represents that emotion within us.

My keyword, the monster I met, and the spread to explore our shadow monster’s appearance were personally powerful. Because we’re spread across several circular tables, you can discuss things and share your experiences with each other. On my table, it was really interesting to see how those of us with the same word had a very similar mental image of our monster.

Tarot and Business Ethics Panel *

* As I forgot to write them all down, I’ll try to remember to add names when I see the recording

It’s always good to get a range of perspectives, as no personal service company is the same. The various topics prompted a variety of answers, and the main takeaway for me was that it’s your business, and you should set rules and boundaries that make it work for you and your client.

Some of the topics and comments were:

Vibes

• You have permission to say, ‘I might not be the right reader for you.’

Refunds

• Having a sign-up process so you know what the client expects (e.g., asking what they would like to gain from the reading) and then making refunds can be part of that.

Silent Clients

• You don’t need validation – just read the cards 🙂

There were plenty more hints, tips and advice, but you had to be there to hear them.

What Are You Meant To Do in Life? by Callie French (artist of the Rana George Lenormand & La Santa Muerte Lenormand)

This is my second time learning from Callie, and I can’t tell you how in awe I am. Last time, she showed us extra layers of the Lenormand, and this time, she showed off her method using Astrology, Numerology and Divination. Combining those with maths based on your Sun, Ascendent, and Moon sign, you end up with a statement about your life challenge and how to go forward and achieve meaning.

Mine super called me out.

I hope we get to see a book of her methods one day. She is a genius at devising, testing, and then presenting her methods.

Gesture Spell Casing with James Divine

Another person who needs to release a book, James, took us through a modern look at using our hands to create spells. I learnt more about my hands than I knew before I took the session: How our fingers relate to planets and different energies and how that energy can be used in conjunction with our handshape to create magic.

I am looking fowards to trying it out.

Tarot Tableau: A method for depth and detailed forecasting – Thomas Witholt, aka Hermit’s Mirror.

I am a Thomas fanboy. I rate him highly as a teacher for his skill and knowledge and for offering a wide range of well-thought-out products and services. He’s also so very generous (you only have to check out his blog and Instagram to see how much). And I don’t think he actually sleeps.

For the class, until he ran out, he supplied attendees with a mini-arcana special edition deck of a newly coloured Life Line Tarot (not yet available) and a handout of techniques.

The great thing about attending these kinds of workshops is that even though a topic might be familiar to you, it might not be familiar to others. I love Tableau spreads and enjoy the more cartomantic reading style, and I have studied his Tarot Tableau method before. But this was new to so many there.

His tableau uses six cards for the first and last rows and five for the second and third rows. If this was laid out with the Majors in number order, the Fool and the World would stick out on the left and right of their respective rows.

One of his techniques centred around using the ‘Houses’ that the Death and Moon make in this method.

Once laid out, the spread is explored to see the various interactions using the placement of the cards and the different houses they fall into.

For more information on this similar methods, check out Thomas’s INTRODUCING TAROT TABLEAU: THE FOOL’S JOURNEY blog post.

Saturday

Journey to Delphi: Six Lessons from the Oracle’s Chamber – Charles Harrington (creator of the Tarot of the Vampires)

Charles’s Master Teacher presentation was a mix of history, call-out (teachable moment?) and an excellent activity.

“Every reading is a sacrifice, and what we sacrifice on the altar of the oracle is doubt for the moment. If you take back your sacrifice, you have to give back what you got. What you got was meaning”
-T. Susan Chang

Have you noticed a learning theme from the presenters so far? That trend is going to continue throughout this post.

This session’s subtitle is Six Prechy Sermons Squeezed into a Historical Framework. And boy, did the man preach (I mean teach). I’m going to paraphrase and repeat some of them;

1. Align with the Divine
2. The Question if Sacred
3. How to be Un-Delphic

I’ve heard of the Oracle of Delphi; I vaguely knew what it did and how it might have worked, but this history lesson mixed in with the exercises was fascinating. I didn’t realise a separate scribe was writing down the prophecy; I didn’t know it had ‘seasons’ and limited opening times when it did. And I really didn’t know the context of its function within (I’ve ordered the recommended reading The Ancient Oracles: Making the Gods Speak to learn more)

Like Chris-Anne last year, we were reminded that, in some way, we are entering sacred (liminal) space when conducting a reading, and we were encouraged to set this intention through some sort of gesture, small or large.

The lessons came thick and fast, including how to handle the client’s question (don’t change it), a technique for saying the answer without describing the cards, a fabulous method for exploring choices, and a poignant moment of sharing a pilgrimage featuring Santo Briano.

And it would be remiss of me not to mention that Charles has just started a YouTube channel with Barbara Moore (!!!) called Wild Mystics.

Manifesting With The Tarot – various

This was a very hands-on and interactive session, and I learned a lot from being helped and giving help to those at my table.

In essence, were given stages with spreads to explore with our cards to get us from Manifestation (Self-Selected) to Outcome

This included an affirmation and mine was given to me as:

I have a firm grip and I’m not going too fast.

I also got some great advice, not from the cards, but from my table mates. This is 100% why I try to attend in-person events – they are magical moments.

Tarot’s Secret History: How Tarot’s Radical Past Can Change the Way You Read Today by Charlie Claire Burgess

Charlie Claire Burgess reminded us that tarot is fluid. How we see the cards today has changed from their origins, and bringing back some historical context can give us insight into the ‘here and now’.

They led us through a bit of history as it relates to four of the majors before delving into tarot’s connection with Francesco Pesellino, “The Triumphs of Fame, Time, and Eternity,”

The parade was insightful because each Triumph conquers the next and that’s something to consider in readings – how the majors are placed in the parade.

This was a well-researched and insightful lecture. It was a reminder that Tarot’s origin was born because it came from a particular time and place, and studying that more can help us see the cards differently.

Playing the Fool: A Tarot Workshop through Adages, Idioms, and Proverbs – Reese Marren and Catiara Marie

One of the presenters (the very talented Jennifer Steidley Tarot Dissembled/Reassembled) couldn’t make it at the last minute, so Reese and Catiara almost spontaneously presented a workshop linking Tarot with popular phrases (you could also use lines of poetry or lyrics).

This was sooo much fun to attend. Each table was given a selection of Majors and, as a table, asked to come up with an adage, proverb, etc., that fitted that card. When we’d agreed on an alignment, we shared the statement with the room for everyone to guess. This prompted some hysterical disagreements on what went with what card.

It also linked back to Charle’s presentation. Because we couldn’t say what card it was, we had to rely on only the meaning described by our choice and not rely on the association to the card chosen card. This is a lesson for readers everywhere. If you didn’t directly tell what the card is, would your reading still make sense?

WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, AND WILL….. THE QUESTIONS OUR CLIENTS ACTUALLY ASK
AND HOW TO ANSWER THEM by Catiara Marie (third time is such a charm)

Our third and final, Master Teacher, was a culmination of themes from the weekend up to this point.

It linked to Charle’s Master Teacher Presentation’s point on ‘How to be Un-Delphic’ and encouraged using tarot with meanings and methods that aren’t directly related to our ‘defaults.’

The technique was relatively simple. We were given the same set of questions, a specific card each time, but the question had to be answered using a focus that Catiara specified in each exercise.

For example, if the question was, “What is Holding Me Back?” and the card was the 8 of Coins, and you were asked to look at ‘posture/position’, how would you answer?

The wrong answer would be, ‘You are almost at the end of your work, so you don’t want to stop what you’re doing’.

Now, in the Waite-Smith, he’s looking down and concentrating. So a better answer linking it to posture might be, ‘You’re focusing on what’s right in front of you, which is great, but you need to lift your head up and look to the future as well.’

See the difference?

It was a really fun challenge, but Catiara went further; she showed us how the different focuses could help us answer the various question types that client’s ask inking each to one or more ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘will’ etc

Catiara provided keywords, timings and examples that mixed them all so it was easier to apply and learn the technqiue.

It was most excellent.

Mapping the Major Arcana to the Brain – Siddharth Ramakrishnan

If you’ve made it this far, I salute you, and hope you’re found it interesting.

This was the most mind-blowing session, as it literally placed the Major Arcana on the brain.

Siddharth is a Professor of Biology and Director of Neuroscience, so when it comes to the brain, he knows what he’s talking about. He’s also written a book, The Neuroscience of Tarot: From Imagery to Intuition to Prediction, that will be out soon. In it, you will see the connections described below.

The presentation described various brain elements and the Majors they are linked to. After that, we put those into practice using just the majors.

It felt like using the Houses in the Tarot Tableau above; what card is in what part of the brain? How does that impact querent and the question? Are they in alignment? Are you doing something that is causing disharmony, and can you do anything to change it so everything is a bit smoother?

I swooped on a copy of his deck NeuroTarot cards, and I’m looking forward to using them and then reading the book when it comes out later in the year.

I have pages of notes and thoughts that I want to explore over the coming weeks and months, but those are for me, future sitters, and fellow attendees. Though some might filter through to future posts as ‘Bar-Con,’ and the table chats, brought up many additional things to mull over.

I would like to thank everyone, especially the organisers and everyone who presented, for being so generous with their time and insights.