I have been reading tarot for decades. I began playing around with my first tarot deck and learning the meanings of the cards while I was still in college, and I have been returning to the cards ever since. In the meantime, I went on to earn a Ph.D. in History and became a professor at UC San Diego. My specialization is Medieval Europe ~ the period that, coincidentally, gave rise to the first tarot playing cards in fifteenth-century Italy. After earning tenure, publishing widely, and teaching thousands of students, I retired in 2023.
Over the years, I worked to develop my tarot practice as well. I read the cards for myself, for a wide range of friends, and sometimes for strangers at parties. I meditated on the cards and the ways they showed up for me, and journaled about interesting readings. I collected a variety of tarot decks in order to compare them, studying the ways that different artistic imaginings cast new light upon each card’s meanings. I exchanged thoughts with other tarot readers in online forums, and attended workshops led by readers whom I particularly trusted and admired. All the while, I slowly built a library of tarot books, read up on the history of the cards, and correlated this book learning with my deepest intuitions about how to arrange and read tarot. Thus over time, I nurtured a deep understanding of each card and its range of significances.
Since retiring I have had the opportunity to begin offering professional card readings, starting when friends who knew of my skill began hiring me for events. Though I am committed to offering modern readings of the cards with full contemporary relevance, my professional grounding in medieval culture grants me a unique perspective on the cards and their attributes. Likewise, my years of mentoring students from diverse backgrounds nourished my natural empathetic abilities, and gave me the skill of connecting quickly and openly with others. These “soft” skills are as essential to a good tarot reading as knowledge of the card meanings.
If you are curious about my academic publications, click here.
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