Live Blogging From SF BATS

Yesterday’s events were almost overwhelming but all of us tarot freaks were excited to soak in as much SF BATS goodness as possible today. Once again, we started off an another welcome from Thalassa and then got down to some fun.

Dan Pelletier, Rhonda Lund and Nancy Antenucci

We were treated to a short skit starring Dan Pelletier, Rhonda Lund and Nancy Antenucci. Nancy created this just for SF BATS and it was hilarious. Best part? Watching Nancy shake her groove thang all over the place. The crowd was laughing and clapping along and just having a great time.

Unlike yesterday, we only had two sessions today. I decided to attend Courtney Weber’s presentation. Courtney is the creator of the stunning “Tarot of the Boroughs” deck and she gave a talk about the story behind the deck. The audience was fascinated with the backstories about the people in the pictures (the deck is photographed with real people – including techno artist Moby!). I was really glad I attended because it gave me the real dirt on how a deck comes together (it’s not an easy process!).

Courtney Weber

We then broke for lunch and I had two very trill companions join me for a little sushi delicacies – fab tarot author Barbara Moore and my Blog Talk homie Georgianna Boehnke! Between bites of sushi we had lots of laughs and girl talk. I love these guys!

Georgianna Boehnke and Barbara Moore

The crowd reconvened in the main room for raffles and more (I didn’t win any prizes because I lost my ticket almost immediately – bummer!). And then…..I headed to room A for my lecture: Prophet To Profit – Transitioning From Tarot Hobbyist To Tarot Pro.

I’m very passionate about helping other tarot readers make a career with this work so my goal was to inspire my fellow tarot peeps and to get the fear out of running a business. I had a bigger group than I expected and was pleasantly surprised to see that there are plenty of other tarot readers who really want to make a living doing this work. I had so much content that I really wished I had more time (presentations were limited to 50 minutes). This group was SO great, I could have sat and talked business with them all day (for those who know me well, I never get tired of talking about tarot – or business).

After I finished, we all headed into the main room. I had the huge honor of sitting on a panel with tarot legends Dan Pelletier, James Wanless, James Ricklef, Rachel Pollack and Mary Greer. To be seated next to people I respect and admire and talking tarot – it was a dream come true. This was a high point in the conference to me. We were chatting about our own tarot experiences and how we thought tarot has changed over the years. The buzz was all about the technology.

The panel - Dan Pelletier, James Wanless, James Ricklef, Rachel Pollack, me and Mary Greer

After our panel finished up, Ellen Lorenzi-Prince presented Thalassa with a hedgehog decked journal signed by all of the attendees. Thalassa teared up and a few of us were wiping away some tears too. In that moment, we all became aware of what tarot had really become over the years – a true community.

As the conference came to a close, there were lots of hugs and love going around. SF BATS was a joyful event and the attendees were almost reluctant to leave. But we had homes to go to (some of us getting home later than sooner due to Hurricane Irene) and families to tend to – so everyone started to depart.