The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery Class
Featuring the Seven Soul Centers Reading
A Zoom class with the deck’s creator Robert M. Place
Saturdays, April 6, 13, 20 and May 4, from 11am to 1pm EST
$149.00. per student
https://crafty-painter-7397.ck.page/86a45dcbe6
This is a four-part class in which we will delve into the symbolism and use of The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery. This is a deck that I worked on for over ten years, and it is one of the most beautiful decks that I have created. I started on this deck because of my love of the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Burne-Jones, with their otherworldly, melancholy settings peopled by tall, pale, stunningly beautiful women and equally memorable lean heroic men. Burne-Jones was inspired by the beauty and symbolism of 15th century Renaissance art. This is the period that gave us the Tarot, and it is not surprising that Burne-Jones painted many of the same themes that we find in the Tarot trumps, such as Temperance, the Wheel of Fortune, and the Fool. It seems that he was starting to create a Tarot deck without knowing it and I wanted to finish that deck for him. As I progressed, I realized that this deck would express the mystical allegory that I believe was expressed in the original 15th century Italian decks. Additionally, the deck would harmonize with those aspects of the occult interpretations that are in accord with this allegory.
The title of the deck came from my belief that the common list of seven virtues stems from a Western form of yoga, in which the virtues are meant to purify and heal the seven soul centers that ascend the human spine. The World card, in particular, is a representation of the Tarot’s seemingly missing virtue, Prudence. She is the culmination of the four Cardinal Virtues, the mother of the three Christian Virtues, and the personification of the sevenfold mystery. This deck is best suited for my soul center reading, which we will cover at the end of the class.
In this class, we will briefly cover the history of the Tarot and discuss the meaning of each of the cards in the deck. Then we will learn my reading technique, based on using three cards as one message. The class will end with a lesson on my principal layout, The Seven Soul Centers Spread.
The theory of the seven soul centers in the body, commonly called the Chakras, is thought to have originated in India. However, the oldest writing in India that describes it dates from the 2nd century. In the West, in the 6th century BCE, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras used the seven notes of his music scale to bring the soul centers of his patients into harmony and health and realized that these seven centers also figured in their spiritual development. In the 4th century BCE, Plato ordered these centers into a hierarchy and described how the cardinal virtues brought each of these soul levels into balance and allowed the purified soul to ascend to greater and greater wisdom. After the fall of the Roman Empire, this Platonic system was Christianized by the founding fathers of the Church and became the bases for the lists of seven virtues and seven vices. When this system is reexamined in light of its history, it is apparent that it is a Western system of yoga and a path to enlightenment, in which each virtue becomes a remedy for the seven imbalances represented by the seven vices.
In my Seven Soul Center Reading, the cards are used to illustrate the condition of the querent’s soul centers and to make improvements in the flow of energy in each center. When this is accomplished, improvements in health, prosperity, and well-being follow. This is a psychoactive experience in which the cards express thoughts and emotions that are held in the querent’s psyche.
The class will consist of four two-hour classes held on Saturday mornings: April 6, 13, and 20. And after a break for the Readers Studio in New York, we will finish on May 4th. The time will be from 11am to 1pm Eastern Standard Time, and therefore an hour earlier for each time zone as we travel west to the west coast where it will be 8am to 10am. The fee is $149.00 per student.
The classes will be recorded and available to each student for a year, and diagrams of the readings will be provided. Each student will also need a copy of The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery. If you do not already own the deck, you can order it here:
The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery: 2nd Edition
To sign up for the class, follow this link:
https://crafty-painter-7397.ck.page/86a45dcbe6
Tarot at the Met is Back
I will be bringing 10 people to the print room
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
on Thursday May 16, 2024
from 2PM to 4PM
This class is filled,
but I will schedule more classes.
Email me if you are interested in being on the mailing list.
I will once again take a small group of people into the back rooms of the Metropolitan Museum to look at the museum’s collection of historic Tarot and divination cards, ranging from the earliest woodcut Tarocchi, printed in 15th century Italy, to rare 19th century Le Normand divination decks. All accompanied by my talk on the history and symbolism of the cards. This year we will also see one of the oldest and richly illustrated books on divination with cards, Le Sorti, published in Venice in 1540.
The afternoon at the Met is $100 per person, prepaid. Each participant is also responsible for obtaining a ticket for entrance into the museum for the day. There is only room for 10 people at this event so don’t delay; it will fill up quickly. I will be handling this event myself; so all arrangement must be made through me.
To register contact me at:
alchemicaltarot@aol.com
Payments can be made by PayPal, check, Visa, or Master Card,
or by requesting a PayPal invoice.
The Tarot: An Alchemical Trip
a workshop
conducted last year
at
the International Deck and Tarot Congress
in Toledo, Spain
on October 20 and 21, 2023
From the Tarot Conference:
Practically in less than a month we will have the pleasure of knowing and enjoying the internationally recognized teacher and special guest Robert Place. Who will e travel from New York to give a conference and workshop in Toledo on October 21. It will be translated by our dear Ana Prescott.
Robert M. Place is an international visionary artist, whose works have been exhibited in galleries and museums and on the covers and pages of numerous books and magazines. He is known as the designer and author of more than twenty tarot and oracles decks, including the internationally acclaimed Alchemical Tarot, and two decks and books in which he collaborated with Rachel Pollack. His facsimile of a historic Italian tarot is included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he regularly lectures on their collection of cards. He was the guest of honor at the inauguration in 2007 of the Tarot Museum in Riola, Italy. He healed the Tarot exhibition in 2010 at the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum, and Booklist has said that his book, the Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, may be the best book ever written on the subject.
Workshop title: “The Tarot: an alchemical trip”
This year the Congress has an Olympic Medal 🥇 Do not tell you, vault it! All together, united by the Tarot! You can register at Congress ♥ ️ ♣ ️ ♠ ️ ♦ ️
Through: ☎️ Telephone (0034) 600796447 📮
Electronic Correo: laordendeayala@hotmail.com
💻web:
Price:
face -to -face and online will be 149 Eur. Online more face -to -face recorded to be able to see them in deferred, 45 euros. In all versions of Congress, the 2023 Tarology Diploma will be granted. We wait for you!
Beijing, China
My Chinese workshops are now being conducted through Zoom.
You can contact Giselle Gao for details:
giselleg@foxmail.com
These photos are from my 2021 class in Hangzhou, China
To receive The Restored Temple of Hermes, my free newsletter e-mailed every three months or so, with links to my latest articles and news about up-coming lectures, workshops, and publications, send an e-mail to me with The Restored Temple of Hermes in the subject line. Also, please let me know what state or country you live in.
The 66th Restored Temple of Hermes newsletter was sent on February 7, 2024. If you did not receive yours, you may need to update your email address.
Hi Robert,
I took a workshop with you just after the first printing of the first deck and book, both of which I still have, it must have been 1995 or 1996. The workshop was in Northern California, maybe Berkeley or Sonoma County? Your class was important to me and I continue working with the Tarot. My name was Sidra then; I have been living in Berkeley, CA since 1984.
I plan to buy your “Alchemy and Tarot” book, the Renewed 4th Edition deck and the new Marziano deck through Indiegogo. Just wanted to check in with you after all these years. I am very glad to see your work has developed so deeply and that you remain a productive artist and writer. Cudos to you!
My new name came through mystical channels, using the Kabalarians of Canada’s system of analysis and resonance. I legally changed it on December 19, 2003. It was part of my alchemical transformation, helping me move gradually from lead into gold, or more balanced, so to speak.
Thank you for what you have contributed to world knowledge, healing and beauty.
Sincerely,
Arden Kamille Varnel
The class was August 11, 1996, and my name was Sidara, as you inscribed the book to me on that date.
Will you ever come to Saint Louis?
If I am invited and someone pays for my time.
GOOD ANSWER Robert! This is always my response when people ask “When are you going to come here and do a workshop, etc.”
Do you teach classes at The Open Center New York often? Just curious because I am interested in the class but can’t make it in this May.
Yes, I teach there there or four times a year.
Hi please do u know the next class /september or so 2019!! I too will miss mayb& very much look toward the possibility of a class.. Thank u!!!
I updated the dates
Do you teach online
I have in the past. Do have any suggestion on how to set it up?
Well, if I got your reply right (English is not my first language) Skype might work, It also depends if you are able to teach individually or groups.
It is better to email me at alchemicaltarot@aol.com
Hi Robert. Do you ever come to Philadelphia?
I have in the past, but I don’t have anything planed for now.
I wish I could attend, unfortunately I can’t. But I wanted to take an opportunity to thank you. As well as Rachel Pollack- I truly believe had it not been for my “mistakenly” ordering Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom- I may not be where I am today. (& I don’t believe in accidents… so my “mistake” was meant to be).
Reading that book, saved my life. It may sound extreme… but it absolutely did.
I was raised Jewish, and I always from the time I was extremely young, was extremely drawn to things such as crystals and tarot, this book was the first of its kind, that helped me explain to my family who didn’t understand the spiritual path that led me to where I am today… and help them understand many of my connections- andddd the fact that it involved the Kabbalah of course didn’t hurt!!!! When I saw the deck that you created with Rachel Pollack, I knew it was a must have in my collection. But I am a single mom, putting one son thru college, and another son who just got braces (which is like a car payment!!!) I had to prioritize, and I knew when the time was right I would get these gorgeous, amazing, magickal cards. I truly hope that you both decide to continue further with the Raziel Tarot, adding your spin on the minor Arcana. That would be absolutely perfect. I’m unsure as of now which cards are kind of connecting with just the Major Arcana, it’s almost like my connection with this deck is extremely different then my others. And I fully believe this is my soul deck. I just wanted to Thank you (& Rachel as well) for all the insight, knowledge, skill, and education you have continued to bless us with. I for one do not take it for granted and I am completely grateful, and feel unbelievably blessed to be on this new journey (once again! BUT- this time, older, wiser & much more opened to the many things that tarot can help us with in our personal lives, struggles, triumphs, hardships etc. tarot is a wonderful tool for self help, and finding ourselves within, learning about ourselves, (even the things we don’t often want to face. But must in order to work on them). I believe tarot is excellent is an excellent way of us connecting with our higher power, and learning self awareness, self acceptance, and most of all self love. From the purest place of my heart. I thank you for all you do for the tarot community. But especially for me. With deepest gratitude of course- TO LIFE! L’Chaim! לחיים (I am not far from the Philadelphia area. I reside just a couple of minutes from Atlantic City NJ. I’d love to be able to catch one of your events)
Hi! Is there a way to buy the recorded course : A Visual History of Hermetic Philosophy from Ancient Egypt to 19th Century Symbolists ? Thank you very much
Robert, I am very interested in your contact info or for info to contact your booking agent? I was listening to you on Gordon Whites show, and I think you would have a blast being a guest speaker on our show?
You can privately email if you’d like. Thank you for your time, and most importantly- your work.
Hello Robert. I am also born in 1947 – May 11. I live in Rhinebeck NY and I am wondering if by any chance you do tarot readings for people or if you are doing any workshops or presentations in the Hudson Valley area.