Tarot

Tarot of the Unconscious: How I Teach Tarot

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(This blog post is a work in progress. Edits to come!)

Freud wrote that dreams were the royal road to the unconscious. Well, so is the Tarot.

Here’s the deal.

Maybe you want to be a Tarot reader (for self or others) or want to create a Tarot deck or want to get to know the cards, or none of the above. Or all of the above. Maybe you’re an expert reader already. Maybe you want to meet yourself (for the first time? For the first time in a long time?) and are drawn to the Tarot and aren’t sure why. You don’t have to know why. But you want a guide, a helper.

Here is my original How I Teach Tarot blog post (to give you some idea of what I was thinking when I started teaching Tarot again) but I’m starting to codify how I like to do things.

Some nuts and bolts: 

Three month contract/12 sessions. Option to continue.

We talk once a week, 60 minutes, by phone. One-on-one, private sessions.

Payment is required before beginning, one installment. (If we already know each other, it may be possible to arrange two installments, with the second payment halfway through.) Sometimes we have to reschedule (I had to reschedule Rosh Hashana for example) but I’m only interested in students who can commit to a fixed day/time.

Our sessions are conversations not lectures. You talk. I talk. We talk.

Homework is a VERY important part of the process. You have to want to do homework, have to have the time. An hour a week? Not sure how long it takes folks. Sometimes it’s reading/research. Sometimes it’s creating a Tarot spread.

I teach using the Rider Waite Smith but also refer to the Marseilles deck. You have to have or purchase a RWS.

You will be asked to keep a Tarot Journal. There will be writing/journaling homework.

We will do in class exercises. You are not required to read cards for me but some students enjoy it.

You can bring me your dreams. We may create tarot spreads around them. We may create tarot spreads around… anything, including astrological transits, your day, your wishes, your tarot life, your work. And more. Don’t worry. I’ll help you.

What you need to explore, personally, comes out, reveals itself, when we explore the cards. I’m a tour guide through your unconscious.

At this time, during the initial three months, the focus is *only* on the Major Arcana cards. Students have the option to continue their studies with me and explore the other cards.

How will working with me and the cards change you? 
Getting to know the cards better and/or in new ways
Getting to know yourself better and/or in new ways
The answer to this question is different for everyone. I’m working on getting some testimonials.

Are these Tarot sessions only introspection and self-reflection?
No. And Tarot Sessions are not the same as getting a reading. You’ll get familiar with the cards. Very familiar. And you’ll discover your intuition and maybe even start to trust it. You can be a Tarot expert or novice or somewhere in between for us to work together. 

From the original How I Teach Tarot blog post: 

Our sessions are a combination of:

-going over the weekly assigned homework
-discussion/conversation about each individual tarot card (focus on the Majors at this time)
-experimentation with tarot spreads
-creation of your own tarot spreads
-topics as they arise (tarot topics, intuition, magic, other adjacent topics)

*How I decide when and what to cover in our sessions: I’m guided by my intuition and your feedback.

*There is a flow to each session and to each relationship I have with each student so… it is hard to say exactly what will happen in a session and where you will wind up with your studies/practices in general. It depends on your goals and our shared consciousness during the sessions. I mean, we could talk about ONE CARD for a full month. If you want to do that, we can do that.

*I construct a plan overall for you and session by session. It is an intuitive idiosyncratic process. Tarot is a practice and process. Learn by doing. I take your natal chart into account. Some folks like to skip and be wild. Some folks want more order. Some want a combination.

The Fine Print

I am *not* a therapist, but I am training to be a psychoanalyst (pre-clinical at this time and as I often say who knows if I’ll finish! The road is long ). It is, to say the least, changing me. And my astrology/tarot career has been with individuals, talking one on one, as opposed to being a YouTuber making videos for the masses (although I do have a Patreon). What we do together is *NOT* therapy. It is not psychoanalysis. But my entire life now, including my work, is influenced/informed by my schooling. And I am seeing so clearly now this interesting potential collaboration between tarot and analysis. So. Here we are.

Email me if you have questions
moonpluto@gmail.com
xo

*
Testimonial from current Tarot student/Sept 2023

I’ve known Aliza (been part of her old groups and followed her) for over a decade now and this year I finally took the plunge into tarot lessons, one-on-one.

Aliza is so much more than a teacher of the tarot (though she is indeed such, and does it superbly). Listening with her heart, her intuition to all that I say and do not say, she guides and gently nudges me in the direction I need to go, with a great deal of encouragement, wisdom and empathy. There is no fakery here, folks. She’s as real as they come; intelligent, comprehensive, creative and interesting, she tailors each assignment, each meeting, to my own unique journey.

I look forward to these sessions immensely and I can’t say enough about what this process means—not only to my reading of the tarot but to my self awareness and spiritual/emotional growth (all of which is connected of course).

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