Talkin’ Tarot With is a monthly feature designed to introduce my readers to different tarot readers from our wonderfully diverse community! Each month, I’ll be asking various tarot readers 3 questions about their tarot philosophy and style, plus pointing you to their websites and blogs so that you can learn more about them! I like to hand pick tarot readers that I feel are talented and interesting.
If you ever want to capture my attention and respect, there is one way that is guaranteed to work every time: be a workaholic. I’m dead serious about that. For me, work is the Holy Grail and I am one who prefers work over leisure, any day of the week. The people in my life that I admire the most are the ones who are earnest and ambitious. I don’t like lazy nor a lack of passion.There are a lot of hard workers in the tarot industry but none as industrious as Marcus Katz. He is the epitome of a true tarot workaholic.
With various ventures such as Tarot Professionals Ltd. (an organization for tarot readers), Tarot Town (a social networking site for tarot peeps) and Tarosophist International magazine, you’d think this man would slow down. On the contrary, he is constantly cranking out new things to delight, educate and challenge your tarot loving soul.
His first book, Tarosophy (due out in January of 2011) is already being hailed by tarot luminaries such as Rachel Pollack, who deemed it “an important contribution”. He also has a Tarot workbook coming down the pike with co-author Tali Goodwin (who is also a founder and director of Tarot Professionals Ltd.) which will be published in 2012 by Llewellyn Books. Other offerings from Marcus include the books Tarot Flip and Tarot Twist, which you can purchase right from the Tarot Town site or from the Faraway Centre bookstore.
His passion for tarot education goes beyond writing. Marcus also organizes the Tarosophy conference in the UK and will be teaching at the prestigious Omega Tarot Conference along side other tarot greats such as Mary Greer and James Wells amongst others (Rhinebeck, NY, Dates are July 29th-31st 2011).
And if all this isn’t enough for one man to do, he has a Tarot Book Club and a Tarot Review site under way as well as a full academic tarot degree course, Hekademia. My question is this: when does he sleep? It is obvious by his prolific body of work that Marcus Katz is one creative and busy cat. And that, my friends, makes him worth talking about – and listening to. This is one tarot person that I know will be here for the long haul and will no doubt continue to produce some of the most intense, innovative and best tools for tarot students and fanatics everywhere.
Marcus is a man with many other talents and interests. When he’s not reading tarot you’ll find him engaging in and teaching: philosophy, magick, Witchcraft and Kabbalah. He also works as a hypnotherapist and trains therapists and counselors in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).
A lesser-known snippet about Marcus is that as a result of bullying (sometimes about Tarot) at school, he joined an after-school Judo club. After two years, he moved on to learn Lau Gar Kung Fu for several years, then after a brief break, Aikido. He then went onto Ju-Jitsu briefly, but soon returned to Kung Fu and Thai Kickboxing – competing in several tournaments and sparring events. After a dalliance with Iaido, he then learnt Shotokan Karate. He has knife and sword training, and can use Nunchuku without poking himself in the eye – sometimes. He no longer worries about bullying.
Learn more about Marcus at his various sites:
Check out his answers to my questions below:
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1. What is your philosophy about tarot reading?
My philosophy in regards Tarot reading is that it serves as an important signpost in spiritual understanding – not only that, but is also the map and the compass in that same journey. It provides us with a mechanism by which the profound complexity of the Universe can be experienced as it arises in our own awareness. There are 6.2 quintillion variations of a 78-card deck in 10 positions. And You, I, and any decent Tarot reader can make sense of whichever of 6.2 quintillion patterns are created in front of us during a simple reading. I think this is a miracle of remembrance that we are called to recognise. I also see in Tarot reading a liminal experience for the Querent where they are brought safely into contact with what Kircher called the “invisible knots which bind the world”. It is important in a well-balanced society and life – I believe – that we have such a placeholder for the spiritual realms.
I also see personally in Tarot an incredibly direct and useful map of the initiatory journey in the Western Esoteric Initiatory System (WEIS) which is the subject of my forthcoming book – following Tarosophy. Whilst one may argue about correspondences and validity, I have found a perfectly relevant and appropriate depiction of the trials, rewards, challenges and stages of the initiatory journey within the Tarot, particularly arrayed on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. I will be writing more about this during the next six months in advance of the book, “The Western Esoteric Initiatory System (WEIS) Book I” which I plan to be the first part of a comprehensive series.
2. How do you feel a client might get the most out of a reading with you?
I believe that if the client’s life is not entirely changed by the reading, it has been a wasted opportunity. I believe that whilst it remains to the cards that fall and my own state to divine from those cards – the client should be fully present (whether in person or elsewhere) and experience the reading as a powerful moment in their life. It is a moment when something divine is touched, and should be respected as such – no matter what the presenting question.
I sometimes ask clients to prepare for a reading by taking a day off, going for a walk, bathing in a particularly appropriate fragrance, or other preparatory devices. This ensures a ritualised event in which that encounter may be better deepened. Whilst I do “readings for fun” or “off the cuff” these are only parts of the vision to normalise Tarot in society, rather than the main event.
3. What is your best piece of advice for an aspiring tarot reader?
In the three decades I have read, learnt and taught Tarot – and continue to read, learn and teach Tarot – the most astonishing thing I continue to hear from students, and which I seek to release them from – is the concern they will not get the reading “right”. They often refer to a book-meaning or as if there is a Tarot authority for each cards meaning. However, the cards are multivalent – their symbols are read and are mutable in context, even when considering a single card. That means that a blindfold on a “2 of Swords” may mean in one reading “failing to see the obvious” and in another “blinded by guilt”. Thus, it is a failure of teaching when students seek a single answer – the teaching must be informed by this flexibility.
So my advice for the aspiring Tarot reader is to find good teachers, good mentors, and those with experience and knowledge – rather than single book or website. Tarot is a lifetime journey, and it has many voices – the cards call you to find your own.
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A big fist bump to a true tarot thug, Marcus, for taking the time to answer my questions and give people a chance to learn more about him. Marcus will be a guest on my Tarot Lady Blog Talk Radio show in February 2011. Date and time coming soon! In the meantime if you’d like to explore more of what he has to offer, get to his site Tarosophy.
Blessings!
Theresa
I’m Theresa Reed (aka, The Tarot Lady). I’ve been a full-time tarot reader for 30+ years — which, in my industry, makes me pretty badass.
I’m definitely not your average Tarot expert — I drop the F-bomb, I quote rappers, and I’m obsessed with pop culture + reality TV. Folks come to me for straight-talk + tough-love — without the woo-woo fluff. 
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