At the Intersection of Tarot and Food
The Four Elements in Bread, for the Pocono Tarot Picnic
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The Fall Equinox, or Mabon, is also called “The Second Harvest”. To celebrate that theme, the Tarot Blog Hop is writing about food and tarot.
That’s not as much of a stretch as you might think. There are actually lots of ways that tarot and food intersect, and many, many tarotists are foodies.
There are even a few notable tarot food publications, such as Theresa Reed’s “Tarot by the Mouthful”, and Corrine Kenner’s Epicurean Tarot Recipe Cards, now sadly out of print.
I’m only truly a foodie to the extent that I love foods from different cultures, and I love to shop at Whole Foods, although my bank account doesn’t. I review restaurants on UrbanSpoon, and my favorite thing to make for dinner is reservations.
Since I haven’t a recipe to share, and you probably don’t want to hear about the three great restaurants I enjoyed when I was doing readings in New York City last month, I will instead share some thoughts about the ways I have seen food weave in and out of tarot over the years. I may have shared some of these stories before; I guess some of my favorite memories involve food and tarot.
One crossing of food and tarot is simply operational. I’m a Waite-Smith reader, and I’m programmed to think about the smallest details in the cards, including the food that appears. Sometimes that food becomes part of the reading.
What happens, for instance, when a person dealing with a gluten issue is presented with the wheat-surrounded Empress?
Might the pumpkins in the Three of Cups suggest that one eat more root vegetables?
Sometimes, the pomegranates of the High Priestess could advise a diet higher in superfoods and anti-oxidants, perhaps.
While we certainly can’t prescribe diets, the issues of food, diets and weight loss come up so often in tarot readings that I often jokingly call my tarot deck the Weight-Smith instead of the Waite-Smith.
I’ve done many readings for people about their complex relationships with food, body weight, health and body image. So often, these things are rooted in painful early trauma.
Frankly, I’m trying to use tarot to help me through my own journey toward weight loss and a better relationship with food and exercise. Results, so far, vary.
The connection between food and tarot isn’t always deep and painful, though. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to organize a few food-related local tarot events. In fact, it seems that every tarot event ends up being food-related in some way.
The first event was so long ago that it was in the days before digital cameras were common, so, no pictures (but it DID happen).
I rented the banquet room at the Plainfield Yankee Motor Inn in Plainfield, CT, for $75. I think the year was 2001 or so.
The event was a tarot potluck, where everyone had to dress as a tarot character, and everyone had to bring a tarot-themed food.
The tarot-themed foods were amazing. People were really creative. There was Death Chili, Eight of Wands Chicken Skewers, Hermit Cookies, Devil’s Food Cake, Pentacle Pie, and more.
The event was fun, and well-attended.
Belly dancing at the Pocono Tarot Picnic
My next attempts at fun local tarot events were the Tarot Picnics, held three times in the Poconos, and once in Connecticut, at Devil’s Hopyard.
The Tarot Picnic was a day-long event with workshops, music, dancing, drumming, tarot readings, and, of course, food.
In the Poconos, we had a great venue with a full kitchen, and one of our Tarot Circle members was a fabulous cook. As well as making a great meal for us, Regina made the Tools of the Four Element in bread. At the end of the event, which was held in September, we threw the bread to the fire.
When I first started holding tarot fellowship meetings, in the days before Meetup, having good food at the meeting was really important.
Now I hold monthly meetings online, using WebEx and, most recently, Facebook Live. The thing I miss most about meeting with my tarot friends in person is the ability to share food as we share tarot and friendship.
I guess this food-themed blog hop is the closest we’ll get to sharing food with tarot friends online!
Holiday Open House 2015, Beef O'Brady's, Land O Lakes, FL
As much as we tarotists enjoy sharing food with each other, we also enjoy working together to share food with those in need. For most of the past sixteen years, I have hosted a “Holiday Open House” near the Winter Solstice. What this event has evolved into is basically a psychic fair where the currency is non-perishable food items.
Readers and healers volunteer their services, the public enjoys readings and healing sessions, and holiday snacks, at no cost, in exchange for their donation of food for the local food bank.
Holiday Open House 2012, at the Harvey Building in West Palm Beach. We raised a lot of food!
The event always raises as much fun as it does food, and brings visibility to a lot of great local tarot talent!
There is only one way in which we don’t want food to intersect with tarot, and this is physically. There is nothing worse than wine or tomato sauce splashed on your cards!
Now let’s see what’s cooking at Meniscus Tarot as you continue along the hop, or at TarotWitchery if you ate dessert first.
