2020 Year in Review

CARTA 2020 Nominations

Hey there, beautiful creatures,

Holy heck, what a year! I had grand goals for a tarot tour around the United States and Canada. I planned to visit local stores and do readings, workshops, and book signings once a month. The beginning of 2020 started well with events in California and my home town in Portland. Then the pandemic hit, and I canceled three of the big trips. I had even been chatting with a store in Fresno, CA, to arrange a trip down for a whole weekend of celebrating tarot and my book. We also canceled it.

The amazing news for 2020 was that Tarot Inspired Life got nominated for Best Book of the Year by CARTA International. It was such an honor to be recognized for my work on TIL. I’m smiling at the thought still.

The Best Tarot Book nominations for CARTA 2020.
The Best Tarot Book nominations for CARTA 2020. I’m in great company!

Pivoting was the name of 2020, and I did my best. I switched from writing and wanting to do classes to taking a stab at doing videos and being on shows. I now have two podcasts, Tarot Visions and Cardslingers Coast to Coast. You can listen to both of them from your favorite podcatcher.

Videos and doing live shows was an exciting transition to learn. I learned a lot. Here’s a list of videos I participated in:

  • YouTube Pivot Post — written at the beginning of the U.S. lockdown, I outlined my ideas for staying sane. I achieved some of the work and failed hard at others. Life became a delicate balance between survival and creative desires.
  • Tarot Off the Cuff — a new YouTube show where various tarot readers globally draw a single card, then give a short, up to 15-minute reading with the card. Each episode is not an ordinary recap of what cards mean. We teach techniques, share info on the card’s creation, and give homework for gaining more insight into the cards. I used my Triple Goddess deck, so there’s a lot of useful info on how we made each card and ways you can integrate it into your life.
  • Jenna Matlin, Instagram Live — It was fun. We talked about our connections to animals, and we did a few animal-based deck readings for members of the chat. I loved the interaction with the chat. This cooperation inspired me, and I may be doing some live tarot things of my own.
  • Live From Maui with Johnathan Dailey — My friend Jonathan Dailey invited me onto his show. We talk about the Heaven and Earth Tarot I wrote the book for and did some readings for others. One of the rare times I do free readings for the public.

STAARCon Podcast — both a podcast and a live video session, I chat with Christiana Gaudet about fire spinning, tarot, my work, and the Mix and Match class I’ll be teaching for this online conference on January 22-24. I’ve linked this to the youtube video. However, you can hear the podcast from most of your favorite podcatchers. You can still purchase tickets for the conference. Get a 10% off discount using promo code Staar2021. 

I’ll be at STAARCon 2021 online, will you?
And I walk away…

The world was such a dumpster fire. The news, especially here in the states, made it hard to focus.  Living and surviving was at the forefront of my mind, and I found it hard to maintain creativity. Which means I neglected this site. I still have plans for more posts on using the material from TIL. I hope to be more responsive here, with a new post once a month. I’ll also do a better job at promoting the events I’m being featured in. Most of those are online only. My reading practice is also 100% online for the foreseeable future.

May 2021 be a fantastic year filled with hope, sunshine, and magical moments. Until next time, take care and keep on experimenting with your cards.