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| Our Lady Of Divination: Barbara Moore |
Welcome to The Divination Nation blog!
We are Pleasant Gehman and Crystal Ravenwolf, a duo of
divination divas, “spiritual sisters from another mister”. We’re life-long
Tarotistas, obsessed with all things esoteric and paranormal.
Look for our
forthcoming book, “Walking The Tarot Path” in April 2016.
We’ve created this blog to share our knowledge and to connect with the
vibrant worldwide metaphysical and paranormal community. We hope it’s as fun
for you to read as it is for us to write…Enjoy!
Barbara Moore is a divination
rock star. She’s a Tarot expert, a shaman, and an
extremely magickal woman…but that’s just the very tip of her personal iceberg. She
teaches workshops and lectures all over the globe, she is a consultant for
metaphysical publishing houses Llewellyn and Lo Scarabeo, and she’s an extremely
prolific writer. Just some of her books include Tarot Spreads, Tarot For Beginners, What Tarot
Can Do for You, Tarot Spreads:
Layouts and Techniques to Empower Your Readings, and many more. Barbara has also had a hand in so many decks that in
the worldwide divination community, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who
doesn’t practically worship her on a David Bowie or Mick Jagger level. On the
off-chance that you think you aren’t
familiar with her work, just go through your card collection; here’s just a few
decks she’s had a hand in, by writing the companion books: The Gilded Tarot, Llewellyn’s Classic Tarot, The Pagan Cats
Tarot, The Mystic Faerie Tarot, The Steampunk Tarot, Cats Inspirational Oracle
Cards, and
several others. She’s also had some kits
published, such as Witch Crystals:
Casting Stones For Divination And Magic an all-inclusive package for
divination, and the forthcoming kit for beginners, Tarot Made Easy: Your Tarot, Your Way.
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| Barbara and her body of work at the North Star Tarot Conference |
As
Barbara’s story famously goes, in the
early 1990’s, somebody at a party handed her a Tarot deck…and the rest is
history! Her marvelous life has been a crazy quilt of wildly divergent –and
quite amazing- experiences. Barbara and her wife Lisa reside in St. Paul, Minnesota
with their two dogs, Whiskey and Norman. When she’s not reading for clients,
teaching or slaving over a hot computer keyboard, Barbara loves travel,
theater, making and viewing art, and a
couple of her current obsessions are the Harry
Dresden fiction books by Jim Butcher and the television series Orange Is The New Black.
We are literally over the moon to bring you
this interview with Barbara!
Divination Nation: Your first
Tarot experience was at a party: tell us
how you began your journey, and how you learned. What or who were your
influences, mentors or teachers?
Barbara
Moore:
The first deck I ever handled – at a party when I was in college-only had a
little booklet with it. Nevertheless, I knew that I was holding something
special, something more than a novelty to tell fortune at a party. At the time,
interdisciplinary studies were all the rage, so I was steeped in mythology,
literature, history, art history, psychology, astronomy, chaos theory and
fractals, Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. It seemed to me that the cards I held
contained the sum of human knowledge, everything I was studying…it was all
there in 78 pieces of cardstock.
After
that, my first deck was the Haindl Tarot and the book I used with it was not
its companion book(s) by Rachel Pollack but Jung
and Tarot by Sallie Nichols, which formed my general understanding of the
cards and how to use and understand them. After I moved on from that deck, I
read Pollack’s 78 Degrees of Wisdom
and that laid the foundation for the more general RWS card interpretations.
The
Internet wasn’t what it is today, so I relied on books. That is my preferred
method of learning anyhow, so it worked well for me. I read everything I could
get my hand on which honestly wasn’t that much back then.
Later,
I joined the ATA (American Tarot Association) which was giving certifications
at the time. I went through the program and it really helped me to unify all
that I had learned, to weed out what didn’t fit my belief system and expand and
deepen what did.
Divination
Nation:
Did you know divination was going to take over your life right away? Did you know this was your “calling”, or did
it take a while for you to realize? What were you doing previously?
Barbara Moore: I
did not know that it would become my life’s work/career but I did know that it was important and full
of wisdom that I would study all my life. I was in college and on track for
becoming a history professor. I completed my MA and had a lovely full ride-funding
package to participate in a joint doctoral program with Central Michigan
University and the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. During my MA, I
became friends with some professors and learned the realities of life as a
history professor…if you could even get work in that field, so I declined the
doctorate offer and went into academic publishing, working for the Michigan
Historical Review. Then I moved and worked for Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield
Village…not academic but still history-focused. I came to Minnesota and began
work for Llewellyn, neither academic nor history, but it was the place where I
was able to craft a career that focused solely on Tarot. I began as a
production assistant and worked my way up to Acquisitions Editor and had the
honor of helping the company reinvent its acquiring process, creating my own
specialized position.
DN: Just for
fun, tell us about your first “official” Tarot gig… and also, what deck or
decks are your favorite, aside from the ones you’ve helped create?
BM:I actually
am not one hundred percent sure on this, but I believe it was at the reception
for my first wedding. It was a medieval theme; everyone came in costume. I had
a table set up where I did readings with the Old English Tarot for a dollar,
instead of doing the Dollar Dance, which may be a Michigan wedding tradition.
It was pretty amazing, both in how inexperienced I was and how powerful those
readings were. I remember reading for a man who denied everything I said but
whose wife sat next to him nodding and gesturing.
DN: Aside from
your own, what decks do you like to use?
I
like lots of decks and am kind of a serial monogamist when it comes to them. Particularly
favorites at the moment include: Tarot
Mucha, The Wild Unknown, The Raven’s Prophecy, The Tarot of the Sidhe, and Emily
Carding’s Transparent Tarot.
DN: You are crazy prolific writer, with several
books, eBooks and decks published…plus many articles, a casting kit, and more… How
do you prepare for your work?
BM: How I
prepare depends on whether the project is a job. In other words, whether a
publisher asks me to do something specific or whether it’s a creation of my
own. For a job, I get all the
requirements from the publisher in my head; sometimes they are very, very
specific. I start thinking about the parts, how they fit together, how they can
be combined to achieve the stated goal. Then I start brainstorming on paper or
a white boards, sometimes making sketches or prototypes and just playing with
them until they start making magic. All of that, for me, is the hard part. Once
the vision is complete, writing it all up is more of a joy, much easier for me.
If something is my own project, the idea
kind of surfaces (or is given to me somehow, like in an offhand comment from a
friend) and says, “I want to exist; do you want to manifest me?” If I do, I let
it make itself comfortable in my head, invite it to stay, start feeding it and
discovering what is pleasing to it. After it feels good and fat …kind of like
Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, which is a very sick kind of metaphor… the paper
and whiteboard come out and planning begins.
For
both, part of the preliminary work (before paper and whiteboard) includes
meditation and journeying as well as bouncing around ideas with a few trusted
friends.
DN: What
metaphysical disciplines do you practice aside from Tarot, Oracle and casting
divination?
BM: Meditation.
Shamanism, if you call that a metaphysical discipline. I think it is. I
sometimes incorporate chakras in my meditation work.
I
don’t really study a ton of different systems, although there are many and they
are all so fascinating. I’m more apt to use Tarot (the structure of the deck)
as a template for organizing ideas and practices I learn from other, completely
non-metaphysical stuff, like art, business, fiction, etc. So instead of doing
different things, I am always seeing Tarot differently.
DN: Do you
consider yourself more an academic reader, or an intuitive reader?
BM: I was more
of a symbolic reader (which is probably the same as your “academic”) but I’ve
worked very, very hard over the past three years or so to become more of a
balanced reader, incorporating both sides of my brain. I find that when I do
that, these powerful oracular moments occur and are much more powerful than any
purely academic or purely intuitive reading of mine could ever be.
DN: What keeps
you inspired?
BM: Everything!
Podcasts play a big role in providing inspiration and new ideas. I listen to
them when I walk Whiskey each morning, if I take walks later in the day, when I
drive, when I do housework. And I listen to lots of different ones covering a
wide range of subjects. Almost everything I listen to (or read) seems to have
some piece, large or small, that it contributes to this ever-changing
kaleidoscope of experience that is my life.
My
friends, family, and colleagues inspire me. Through the wonderfulness of
Facebook, it is easy for me to stay connected and see all the wonderful things
that they are doing!
My
students inspire me.
Travel…by
travel I pretty much mean going to any place new or rarely visited. This
includes things like trips to England or trips to the local ethnic grocery
store; we have lots of different
kinds of grocery stores in the Twin Cities…it is so fascinating to go and see
strange food and have nothing be in English; it’s like a very cheap trip to a
foreign land.
Learning
new things seems to keep everything in my life feeling fresh and exciting.
Currently, I’m obsessed with reconnecting with my creative self in form of art:
drawing, watercolor, oil pastels, charcoal. I just finished a drawing class and
begin a watercolor class in February. The drawing class was based on the book
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. That was really fascinating and
paralleled the way I teach tarot reading (blending the academic/symbolic with
the intuitive).
Taking
classes, both in areas that apply directly to my work and in broader areas of
interest, is essential for my overall happiness and are always inspiring. Going
to art galleries and museums. A lot. Luckily Minneapolis and St. Paul have tons
of galleries and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is one of the best in the
world.
Attending
conferences, both as a presenter and an attendee. Preparing a presentation
forces me to get very clear on what I’m teaching.
Fiction,
movies, good TV. Humans are built for story. I love stories in all forms.
DN: You teach
workshops internationally and also read regularly for clients all over the
globe. Have you noticed any cultural
differences in the way people approach divination in various countries?
BM: Very
interesting question. I seem to have this gift for being able to “translate”
information so that people can understand it. This applies to cultural or
language differences or just understanding in general. As long as the person
speaks English, I seem to be able to understand (intuitively?) what they are
trying to say even if they don’t have the vocabulary and I seem to be able to
select just the right English words within their vocabulary to help communicate
my ideas to them.
Recently,
one of my students, who is Turkish, was having trouble with the traditional
concept that Swords equal Air. She said that to her Swords meant truth,
clarity, and communication, so it was impossible for her to connect that suit
with Air. I explained how in Western culture, Air works for those things. She
realized her trouble was in Turkey, where Air is associated with a person who
is never to be trusted and since she sees Swords as “truth”, it didn’t make
sense.
DN: Our
readers include everyone from divination professionals to absolute newbies, as
well as aspiring writers and deck creators. What are some of your favorite
tips?
BM: For Tarot people: Tarot is a tool.
It can only be used in service to your own beliefs, so before you even begin,
get clear on what your beliefs are. You can’t ask, “Can Tarot predict the
future” because it depends on whether or not you believe the future can be predicted. “Where do the answers in
tarot come from?” That depends what you believe…are you a channel? Is it
synchronicity? Is it random chance and self-fulfilling prophecies? Figure out
what you believe first, then reading and understanding the cards will come a
lot easier.
For
aspiring writers and deck creators: If you are interested in traditional
publishing, learn about the industry. Understand your market, the audiences of
the various publishers you are thinking of submitting to, and follow the
publisher’s submission guidelines. Know that you will likely give up a good
amount of creative control.
Traditional
publishing is a gamble. No matter how well a publisher knows their stuff and
their audience, there is no equation to guarantee success. Things that should,
by all accounts, be wildly successful sometimes fail. Things that seem pretty
standard can take off in crazy ways. Publishing is risky. You could put in a
lot of work for little results.
Independent
publishing is now easier than ever and it allows you to retain creative
control. And, for those who are good at marketing, it offers great
opportunities for success.
For
everyone: stay as active as possible, stay as involved as possible. Always
grow, always learn. This world is filled with so much that there is little
reason to ever be bored.
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| Barbara at The Readers Studio, New York |
Barbara has several
events coming up for 2016; here are a few you’ll enjoy:
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| Crystal And Pleasant by Maharet Hughes/ Graphic Vibe |
We’d
LOVE to connect with you!
Visit our website to book metaphysical and
occult workshops, Tarot readings and healings, or to have us come out for a
paranormal investigation: www.thedivinationnation.com
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Connect with us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TarotAlimah
To find out more about Pleasant or request
a reading or healing session, click here: http://www.pleasantgehman.com/
For more on Crystal’s background, or
request a reading or healing session, click here: http://crystalravenwolf.com
