Tarot Beginners
Category Archives: social media
Freebie Phoebe (Somewhat)
Free doesn’t necessarily mean bad or worthless. Sometimes it’s a great preview for paid services. In this case, I’m talking about me, but I’ve learned that sometimes free has its drawbacks.
When I was a young tarot thug, I had a geocities website. I offered free tarot readings via e-mail. I saw it as win/win. People could get a free reading, and I could hone my tarot skills with the practice.
Interestingly enough, I barely had any takers. In this deal, I was doing three, maybe four readings via e-mail A YEAR.
Why was that? I never understood it. My thoughts ran to the following: Who wouldn’t want a free tarot reading?
From my work over the past six months, I realized that the majority of people think “free” means “not worth it.” A throwaway. So now that I value that my time is worth it and I shouldn’t be giving away the farm, guess what? I read for more people via e-mail this past weekend than I had in the entire year I was offering readings for free. How cool is that?
However, I will always offer something free in my treasure trove of online presences.
Here’s the rundown:
Twitter: @hsparry—Short card of the day interpretations + links to new blog posts by me + my snark. I do post quite a bit about tarot here, but be prepared also for random Family Guy quotes, inane pop culture discussion, and A LOT of references to Star Wars.
Facebook: facebook.com/tarotbyhilary—Extended card of the day interpretations + postings about events + links to new blog posts by me. Fairly snark-free. Or as little as I can be capable of.
Blog: www.tarotbyhilary.com/blog/—New address, same great blog posts, new content every Wednesday unless otherwise noted.
Newsletter: Sign up to the right of this post. The newsletter will be sent once a month once it gets going! (and I’ll let you know here when it does)
Blogging about Readers Studio: Classes
Classes I took at Readers Studio:
The three Master Classes:
Tarot and Astrology by Corrine Kenner
Okay, I thought I knew at least a little something about Astrology. Turns out I know diddly squat, but through Corrine’s class, I’m beginning to understand it a little better and how it fits into tarot. Very beautiful handouts, too, which I keep rereading over and over again, each time absorbing a little more information. I also can kinda read a natal chart, which I couldn’t claim to do before!
Tarot Spreads: Make Your Readings Even More Fabulous by Barbara Moore
Despite threats from Courtney, Theresa, and Barbara herself to have me teach her class, Barbara ended up doing the class, and it was extremely informative. Have you ever wondered why the Celtic Cross spread is so effective and is a wonderful foundation reading for those clients new to getting their cards read for them? Layout, layout, layout and how the human brain works when seeing cards laid out above, below, to the side, and crossing the significator. Truly an informative class, and Barbara makes anyone believe that they can create useful spreads for any occasion or client request.
Hunting the Lady: Using the Significator Skillfully by Caitlín Matthews
This class would have been worth it just from hearing Caitlín sing in person (gorgeous!), which she did often to call her class to order and to bring us back after working in groups. This class made me want to do reading using significators, when I usually don’t. And by don’t, I mean I use a randomly selected significator and start my reading based on that. Which is valid, but could go deeper if I applied some of the techniques that were discussed during her class.
Night workshops:
Social Media for Tarot Readers by Theresa Reed
Taking Theresa’s class was a no-brainer. I’ve been using social media for a little while, specifically using twitter to pull cards for the day and give my interpretations of them. There is A LOT more that you can do with social media. Theresa also covered some pretty interesting ground about promoting yourself, taking the ickiness out of the word promoting. Less “used-car salesman” and more “I’m a good reader with this style, I’m here when you want a reading.” Using social media opens the entire world up to you as potential clients. The biggest lesson from this class? Just be you. The younger techno-savvy generation (am I part of that?) can spot bullshit from a mile away, and even more so if it’s bullshit on a computer screen. Don’t bullshit. Be yourself. And don’t write about yourself in the third person; that just makes you sound douchy.
The Game of Tarot by Alec Satin
More for fun than anything else! Did you know that there is a game of tarot? I sure didn’t. And no, you won’t be using your Rider-Waite Deck to play it, either. Alec was a very good teacher, and we were able to play quite a few hands with his supervision, because in my experience there’s no better way to learn something than by doing it.
Tarot Beginners