Janalee Miller played The Fool at last year’s The Living Tarot Oracle. Twenty-two people will assume the personas of the tarot deck for this weekend’s fourth annual event at Durango Arts Center.
Janalee Miller played The Fool at last year’s The Living Tarot Oracle. Twenty-two people will assume the personas of the tarot deck for this weekend’s fourth annual event at Durango Arts Center.Courtesy of Julia Hesse

If you want to know how the Broncos are going to do Sunday or if true love is in your immediate future, get a Magic 8-Ball. Or flip a coin.

If you want to know more about how you’re going to do – from Sunday on – or why true love escapes you, then a visit to the Living Tarot Oracle may be in order.

“We try to not set people up with predictions. The cards are reflecting back what you already know but maybe didn’t want to hear,” said Tami Graham, who co-founded The Living Tarot four years ago in Mancos before moving the event to its current home at the Durango Arts Center.

The Living Tarot is a bit of theater with a spiritual side. The 22 cards of the Tarot deck are represented by costumed actors who station themselves throughout the DAC theater. A “gatekeeper” assists visitors with framing the right questions, then a card (or two or three) is drawn and the gatekeeper will escort the seeker of knowledge for a private reading with the appropriate “card.”

No one claims to be a licensed professional, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t real value in the readings.

“We’ve gotten together for eight weeks on Tuesdays, and we study the cards, what they stand for and we do practice readings,” said Graham, who will play The World card. “We’re not dispensing advice or counseling, but people get a lot out of this event. There’s lots to chew on that’s useful.”

The Living Tarot has drawn increasing crowds and interest since its inception, and this year, four of the leading Tarot experts in the world will make a trip up from Texas to participate: Marcus Katz is a professional tarot teacher at the Far Away Centre in the United Kingdom; Carrie Paris hosts the California Tarot Salon as well as several groups in Santa Fe; South African artist Lisa de St. Croix is painting her own Tarot deck; and Tali Goodwin is the author several books about the tarot, including Around the Tarot in 78 Days.

The four guests will conduct a symposium tonight as well as a Sunday workshop for those interested in continuing their tarot educations. They’ll also act as “integrators” during The Living Tarot Oracle, helping guests make better sense of their readings.

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If you go

The 4th annual Living Tarot Oracle will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave. For the full schedule, bios and more information, visit www.livingtarot.org.
Today: Tarot as a Living Source of Wisdom symposium with Marcus Katz, Tali Goodwin, Lisa De St. Croix and Carrie Paris, 7-8:30 p.m., Suggested donation: $5 at door, cash bar. Followed by an opportunity to hang out with the presenters and several Oracles in costume.
Saturday (4-7 p.m.) and Sunday (5-8 p.m.): 4th annual Living Tarot Oracle, readings from living cards. Advance tickets available at Maria’s Bookshop in Durango and Kaleidoscope Wellness in Mancos; $10 in advance gets you a two-card reading with the option to purchase additional cards at the door. Tickets are available at the door; $10 entrance includes a one-card reading, $5 per additional card, up to a three-card maximum.
Sunday: Workshop – Design Your Life On Purpose: Guided by the Living Soul of Tarot with Katz, Goodwin, De St. Croix and Paris, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., $25 at the door.