Newsletter of The Tarot School
http://TarotSchool.com
ISSN: 1529-0565 
Vol. 2 #24 / December 15, 2010

                                                                  
 In this Issue:
- Welcome
- Tarot Tip: Astrology and Tarot
- Tarot Card Showcase: The Star
- Upcoming Events
- Best Practices: Website Navigation Strategies
- Featured Tarot Website: Goddess Flight

 
Welcome to a new issue of Tarot Tips!
 And a special welcome to our new readers.
 
We'd like to take this opportunity to wish you
much joy during the holidays! You are a gift in 
our lives and we appreciate you, whether you've
been following us for a long time or just starting 
out on your tarot adventure. Thanks for sharing
it with us!
 
The Star will be featured as the showcase card in
honor of this holiday season. As a part of the
natural world, the sun, moon, comets and stars are
important to our life and play an integral part in
esoteric and magical practices. This can be seen
in the Major and Minor Arcana of tarot and the tip
in this issue focuses on the correspondences of
the planets and Majors.
 
In addition to a newly featured tarot website, the
latest Best Practices will give you simple tips on
improving the navigational elements on your
website.
  
Wishing you the best and brightest,
Ruth Ann, Wald & Gina


Tarot Tips is here to help you with the practical side
of your Tarot journey. In order to take the greatest
advantage of this newsletter, please send us your
questions regarding any aspect of your tarot study
or practice and we'll do our best to answer them
in an upcoming issue.

Spread the experience of tarot - share this newsletter
with other Tarot Enthusiasts!



Tarot Tip
ASTROLOGY AND TAROT

Many practitioners can attest that astrology can
add depth to a reading. If you are not already a
skilled astrologer, learning the astrological
attributions of the 78 cards may be daunting.
 
Without overwhelming you and the newsletter space
with a full-blown astrology lesson, let's look at the 
attributions of the Major Arcana to the planets and 
zodiac. Twelve cards are attributed to the signs of 
the zodiac.  Seven cards are assigned to the visible
planets and three to elements.
 
In the following table are the traditional attributions 
of Key 0 - 21. (Uranus, Pluto and Neptune are 
excluded due to late discovery.) We've included 
suggested keywords for the planetary or 
astrological influence.
 
0 - The Fool - Air - Broadminded
1 - The Magician - Mercury - Communicative
2 - The High Priestess - Moon - Receptive
3 - The Empress - Venus - Affectionate
4 - The Emperor - Aries - Active
5 - The Hierophant - Taurus - Practical
6 - The Lovers - Gemini - Changeable
7 - The Chariot - Cancer - Devoted
8 - Strength - Leo - Self-Assertive
9 - The Hermit - Virgo - Perfectionistic
10 - The Wheel of Fortune - Jupiter - Expansive
11 - Justice - Libra - Egalitarian
12 - The Hanged Man - Water - Deep/Profound
13 - Death - Scorpio - Intense
14 - Temperance - Sagittarius - Reasonable
15 - The Devil - Capricorn - Cautious
16 - The Tower - Mars - Powerful
17 - The Star - Aquarius - Imaginative
18 - The Moon - Pisces - Intuitive
19 - The Sun - Sun - Energetic
20 - Judgment - Fire - Spontaneous
21 - The World - Saturn - Disciplined
 
 
 
 

Tarot Card Showcase

In this section we will feature tidbits on a
specific tarot card. While there are many
systems and decks to choose from in the world
of tarot, here we use the Universal Waite
Tarot images and symbols.
Copyright 1992 U.S Games.
 

 
THE STAR
 
Astrological Attribution: Aquarius
Hebrew Letter: Tzaddi
Intelligence: Natural
Esoteric Title: Daughter of the Firmament, 
                       Dweller Between Waters
  
The seven planetary spheres surrounded by an
eighth sphere can be said to explain The Star.
This card has been portrayed by different images
and has alternatively been known as L'Etoile, 
La Stella and The Stars.
 
Waite made a change from the traditional
seven-pointed star to a large eight-pointed star
surrounded by seven white, smaller eight pointed
stars.  In Gnostic tradition the eight-pointed
star was a symbol for Mary, the mother of Jesus.
 
The Golden Dawn considered the large star to 
be the star of the great cosmic goddess, the
'Morning Star.' As the Great Mother, she is
the 'star of stars,' gives birth to the gods, and 
gives light to all other heavenly bodies.
 
The nude figure on the card in earlier decks was
depicted as androgynous, although with long hair
and female breasts. The Star is attributed to
Aquarius, the Water Bearer who is generally
considered to be a masculine god. In the ancient
world, the water-bearing Nile god, Hapi was always
shown in the form of a man with breasts like those
of a woman. Since Egypt was divided into two parts
-north and south - the Nile river was also divided 
and resulted in a Northern and Southern Hapi. 
The two were formed into a composite that holds 
two plants, or sometimes two vases from which 
he was thought to pour out the divided Nile.
 
As the Daughter of the Firmament, the figure is
considered to be female and is related to Binah,
the Great Mother. The letter tzaddi means fishhook
and is seen in the beak of the ibis placed in the
background. The ibis was sacred to the Egyptians
and was a symbol of the god Thoth who gave man 
all worldly knowledge and was the god of the 
intellect. The ibis was known to hunt for fish using 
its beak like a hook. The tree the ibis is perched on 
is related to the World Tree or djed pillar - the 
backbone of Osiris.
 
Astrological symbols of the cross and crescent 
can be seen in the pattern formed by the stars. 
The larger star has also been related to the Star 
of Bethlehem that guided the Magi to witness the
birth of the Messiah. This star is also believed
to be a representation of Sirius, the brightest
star in the sky.
 
The scene depicted on the card is the perfection
of Nature. Feminine and masculine gods are
represented as the Divine Androgyne. In a reading
the unclothed figure may represent a need to be
brave and to face the world without fear. The Star
symbolizes the birth of hope, a new god, a savior
or "golden age."
 
 
Positive Keywords: Success, healing, good fortune,
hope, faith, love, peace, pleasure, inner light,
rejuvenation, relaxation, gift, creation and
manifestation.
 
Negative Keywords: Unfulfilled hopes, loss,
deception; something hidden, dark or blinded;
immorality, bad omen, impurity, fear, illness,
unworthiness, lack, and abandonment.
 
 
 

 
Upcoming Events:
 
 
  • December 19
  • THE TAROT SCHOOL HOLIDAY PARTY
     
    If you're in New York City this weekend,
    we invite you to join us at The Crooked
    Knife for our annual holiday party, hosted
    by Sasha Graham Tarot Events.
     
    Date: Sunday, December 19
    Time: 6pm
    Location: The Crooked Knife
    29 East 30th Street, NYC
    (between Park & Madison)
     
    RSVP: Sasha at sashag@nyc.rr.com
     
    The Crooked Knife is a cozy Irish Pub
    with delicious, affordable food. We've
    reserved the back of the restaurant for
    our soiree. All guests are responsible
    for payment of their own check.
    Bring your Tarot cards!
     
     

  • April 29 - May 1, 2011
  • The Readers Studio (RS11)
    Queens, NY
     
    Presenters include: Caitlin Matthews, Corrine
    Kenner, Barbara Moore, Mary K. Greer, Bev
    Haskins, James Wells, Carolyn Cushing and
    many more to be announced!
     
     
     
     
     

     
    Best Practices for Professional Readers
    WEBSITE NAVIGATION STRATEGIES
     
    One of the most essential aspects of a website is
    an easy navigation system. Website navigation Ð
    finding your way around a website Ð is what happens
    when you click on site menus or links to get from
    one page or pop-up menu to the next, providing you
    have more than one page.
     
    Your website should cater to the visitor or
    potential client and not you. The first area to
    consider with your site is the target audience.
    You may have a younger clientele that is internet
    savvy and prefers flashy animated menus or a more
    settled one that needs a simple text style menu.
    Regardless of preference, they will want to access
    information very quickly.
     
    The website navigation bars/menu orientation will
    most likely be a factor in whether you should use
    a vertical or horizontal page design. It is okay
    to start out with one and change it as you add
    more pages. You may find a vertical website
    navigation menu easier to update, and link titles
    should be short but comprehensible.
     
    The less often a visitor has to click to get to
    what they want the better. If you have a site with
    a lot of information and links you may benefit by
    testing the website navigation. There are several
    vendors that provide this service as well as some
    free providers that may offer you what you need.
     
    What has been your experience with navigating some
    of the sites you visited lately? Are they a pain
    to read or find what you need? Can you get in and
    out in a hurry because of great navigation? Use
    the best of what you like about other sites to
    apply to your site.
     
    It is never too late to improve your website's
    usability. The first thing the experts recommend
    is to make sure your logo, if you have one, links
    to your home page. It has become pretty standard
    for visitors to expect that clicking on the logo
    or site title will lead back to the home page.
     
    Repeating links throughout the site is also a good
    idea. Minimizing the scrolling your visitor does
    makes it easier for them to return to the top or
    bottom of a page to get to what they need.
     
    These are no-brainers in terms of running an
    e-commerce business and providing good client
    interaction and service. If you want successful
    conversion from the traffic your site gets,
    navigation should be at the forefront of improving
    or updating your site. It may make a difference in
    a visitor staying longer and making a purchase.
     
     
    Questions arise when developing or transitioning
    to professional Tarot Reading status to earn
    income. These can range from "How can I make
    money with Tarot?" and "How do I get started?"
    to more complex technical and business questions.
    You may already be up and running and have
    questions about how to enhance or ramp up your
    business. We would love to hear from you. Send any
    questions, or interest in a future class on the
    Business of Tarot, to tarot@tarotschool.com.
     

     

     
    Discover the meanings behind the interpretations
    and hidden secrets of the cards.
     
    Learn how to read with confidence and precision.
     
    Cut through confusion, conflicting viewpoints and
    tarot "information overload."
     
    Create a deep well of tarot knowledge that you can
    access at any time, without consulting a book.
     
    Find out what is behind the pictures of the world's
    most famous deck!
     
    Uncover the secrets tucked deep inside you as
    you learn and grow...
     
    Get a firm foundation in tarot that you'll build on
    for years to come.
     
    Start your tarot journey here... and go anywhere!
     
    Study at your own pace and get one-on-one coaching
    from Tarot School director, Wald Amberstone.

    For details, click
    http://tarotschool.com/Course.html

     


     
    Featured Tarot Website
    GODDESS FLIGHT
     
    VisionSeer, the sole owner and reader at Goddess
    Flight has used her almost 20 years of experience
    as a reader to create one of the most successful
    astrology and tarot websites on the Internet. This
    site is packed with quality astrology and tarot
    information. It has lots of references for
    spiritual growth. Nice!
     
     
     

     
      
     
    Join our 2,640+ fans and join the fun!
    You never know what we'll say next...
     

     

    Do you have a question or comment on anything tarot?
    Suggestions for future topics?
    Contact tarot@tarotschool.com
     
    For information on tarot classes, courses,
    events and more, go to www.TarotSchool.com

     
    © Copyright 2010 The Tarot School - All Rights Reserved
    Directors: Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone