How can Tarot help you as a workshop facilitator?
Today I'm sharing why bringing Tarot into your workshops can make the experience unforgettable -- for you and your participants.
If you’re one of my connections on LinkedIn, or on Instagram, you may already know that last week, I ran an in-person workshop in Leipzig. It wasn’t my first workshop, but it was the first Tarot-led workshop that I have ever run. The topic was: Working through Career Self-Doubt — with a Little Help from Tarot (you can read more about it here, or watch a reel here).
When discussing with others my idea of combining my experience as a workshop facilitator with my love for Tarot, the reactions have not been negative, but rather confused: what do you mean, using Tarot in a workshop? Will you be telling the future? And I understand! So let me clarify.
First things first - the role of Tarot:
The role Tarot plays in this context is not a fortune-telling role; rather, picture each card as a guide that can unlock a new perspective in you - and the participants.
And this is how I used the cards during the workshop:
Each name tag had a Tarot card glued on it: participants were encouraged to pick the one they liked best
I took the main themes (self-doubt, people pleasing, and so on) and I associated them with specific cards
I had a specific structure in mind to tackle our challenge (aka career self-doubt): at each new step, I let one of the participants volunteer to pick a new card which would then act as a guide for the next phase.
Now. What were the benefits of using Tarot? I can think of at least 5
It gave participants a clear visual
I am a big believer in not talking too abstractly during workshops: seeing cards with specific illustrations helps make the matter at hand more concrete. It’s easier to talk about a topic when it’s grounded in reality, and this is important if you need participants to open up and talk.
The element of surprise kept people engaged
As a facilitator, you take a bit of a risk by pulling cards: you don’t know how hard it’s going to be to read a specific card in a certain context; however, wouldn’t life be boring without surprises? People were excited to pull the cards themselves and to reveal them to everyone else.
Collective storytelling made everyone feel involved
A big part of looking at the cards we pulled (as well as the cards that I had selected) was interpreting them together. And I can tell you: it doesn’t matter how proficient of a Tarot reader you are! The stories that people knit up together are always so much richer and more surprising than you’d imagine.
If you’re curious about how Tarot can be integrated into virtually anything — career, creativity, job hunting, planning new projects… — then this newsletter is for you!
The cards contributed to nailing down the strategy to overcome self-doubt
Granted, I had a clear, step-by-step strategy already in place, which all participants could follow on their worksheets. However, connecting a card to each step created a story which could then easily be followed - because it’s not just a mechanical box-ticking process, but an actual story that we built together.
Tarot cards make everything more personal
It might be a secondary thing, but picking the name tag with the card you are attracted to and then hearing why that card may be relevant to you right now, plays a role in making the workshop feel personal, and not a cookie-cutter experience.
Well, that’s it! I think these are the first 5 reasons I can think of which make Tarot a valuable tool to use during a workshop. If you’re still skeptical, why not leave a comment?
See you soon!
Angelica / Maeveryn