Tarot and Divination at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference 2005-2019
I started the Tarot area of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) conference in 2005 (San Diego) with the help of James Aubrey, who was then the area chair for Visual and Verbal Culture. The very first paper in the area was Carol Matthews's "At the Market Place of Identity: Tarot Choice and Value Fulfillment." A revised version of this paper appears with many others, some of which were also first presented at the PCA/ACA conference, in the two-volume multi-author Tarot in Culture anthology (July 2014).
In 2015 the title of the area was changed to Tarot and Other Methods of Divination.
Presenters in the Tarot area at the PCA/ACA Conference
(Names have been put in alphabetical order)
Please note that, although anyone with relevant material is invited to submit a proposal/abstract, presenters in the Tarot/Divination area of the PCA/ACA conference are not "invited" or "guest speakers." All potential presenters must submit a proposal/abstract that is reviewed and accepted or rejected for presentation. Presenters whose work was accepted, but who did not attend the conference are not included here.
2018 Indianapolis (March 28-31)
2017 San Diego (April 12-15)
2016 Seattle (March 22-25)
2015 New Orleans (April 1-4)
2014 Chicago (April 16-19)
2013 Washington, DC (March 27-30)
2012 Boston (April 11-14)
2011 San Antonio (April 20-23)
2010 St Louis (March 30-April 4)
2009 New Orleans (April 8-11)
2008 San Francisco (March 19-21)
2007 Boston (April 4-7)
2006 Atlanta (April 12-15)
2005 San Diego (March 23-26)
In 2015 the title of the area was changed to Tarot and Other Methods of Divination.
Presenters in the Tarot area at the PCA/ACA Conference
(Names have been put in alphabetical order)
Please note that, although anyone with relevant material is invited to submit a proposal/abstract, presenters in the Tarot/Divination area of the PCA/ACA conference are not "invited" or "guest speakers." All potential presenters must submit a proposal/abstract that is reviewed and accepted or rejected for presentation. Presenters whose work was accepted, but who did not attend the conference are not included here.
2018 Indianapolis (March 28-31)
- Berkowitz, Kathy. "A Treasure Hunt into the Artistic Sources for the Waite/Smith Tarot"
- Hogan, Cynthia. "From Scroll to Screen: Representations of the Urim and Thummin in Literature and Film"
- Hersch, Bruce. "Divination, Intuition, and the Pirate Tarot OTMB"
- Kumar, Shiva. "Lost Tarots: Exploring the Sola Busca And the Austin Spare Decks"
- Talevich, Eryn. "Telling Fortunes: Liminality, Women and Entrepreneurial Divination in Southern California"
- Williams, Jessica. "The Religion of Tarot"
- Auger, Emily E. "Tarot in Mythopoeic Novels of the 1970s and 1980s"
- Tarot and Rhetoric
- Session organized and chaired by Julie Alexander
- Nels P. Highberg. "Reading the Tarot: Time, Place, and Purpose"
- Julie Alexander. "Tarot as Hypertext, Tarot as Ally"
- Round Table: The Divination Review. Scheduled participants: Julie Alexander, Kathy Berkowitz, Nels Highberg, Cynthia Hogan, Shiva Kumar, Eryn Talevich, Jessica Williams
2017 San Diego (April 12-15)
- Berkowitz, Kathy. "The Tarot and a Medieval Code"
- Kaczynski, Richard. "Subverting Reader Expectations through a Fictional Tarot Reading in The Billionth Monkey"
- Kumar, Shiva. "The Tarot as a Map: The Tarot as a Visualization, Divination and Psychological Tool"
- Mountfort, Paul. "Reclaiming Runes: The Other Gothic Revival"
- Auger, Emily E. "Tarot Transformations in Mythopoeic Novels"
- Speaking with the Divine: Spirit Communication through Divination
- Session proposed and chaired by Cynthia Hogan
- Jessica Cory, "Seeking the Supernatural in South American Lit"
- Cory Thomas Hutcheson, "The Future and a Full Deck: Race, Class, Playing Cards, and Power"
- Katrina Wynne, "Divination as Prayer, Reading as Ritual: The Spiritual Art of Tarot"
- Cynthia A. Hogan, "Spirited Objects: Divinatory Tools and Ways of Knowing"
- Round Table: The Divination Review. Scheduled participants: Kathy Berkowitz, Katrina Wynne, Cynthia Hogan, Shiva Kumar, Richard Kaczynski
2016 Seattle (March 22-25)
- Berkowitz, Kathy, "The Tarot and the Western Philosophical Tradition"
- Byrd-Smith, Andrew. "Persona 4, Archetypal Living, and You"
- Hogan, Cynthia A. "The Tarot as Material Religion: Materiality of Tarot and Why It Matters"
- Kaivalya, Alanna. "Designing a New Tarot Deck: A Modern Interpretation of the Tarot Using Psychology, Mythology, and Popular Symbolism"
- Parkhurst, Christine. Panel chair and discussant: Contemporary Practices: Body, Mind, Spirit (Byrd-Smith, Kaivalya, and Wynne)
- Wynne, Katrina. "Palliative Care Applications for the Use of Petite Lenormand Cards with Hospice, Coma, and Deep Trance Patients"
- Auger, Emily E. "The Celestial Tarot Cards in Film"
- Round Table: The Divination Review (Scheduled participants: Andrew Byrd-Smith, Cynthia Hogan, and Alanna Kaivalya)
- Film Screening: Tarology the Poetics of Tarot with Enrique Enriquez
2015 New Orleans (April 1-4)
- Berkowitz, Kathy. "Is the Tarot a Doorway into a Secret Tradition of the Bible?"
- Hogan, Cynthia A. "What You Fear Most is Coming Near: Edward Gorey's The Fantod Pack"
- Kaivalya, Alanna, "The Tarot Journey: An Inner Quest for Outer Truth"
- Parkhurst, Christine, "Lady Luck and God's Will: Human Destiny and Prognostication"
- Auger, Emily. "The Tarot Tower as Descent Motif in the Movies"
- Tarot Special Session: Literacy, Chaos, & Meaning: Demystifying the Tarot Reading Process by Nicole Parker. Curious about what’s actually happening when someone “reads” Tarot cards? The process may seem mysterious from the outside…but reading cards actually has a lot in common with “regular” literacy practices. For the fluent Tarot reader, the cards function as a multimodal alphabet, with the Tarot spread acting as the sentence structure. The chaos of shuffling intersects with the order of the deck to generate exponential possible meanings. The adept Tarot reader acts as a translator and a storyteller, generating complex narratives based on Tarot “grammar.” And just like most native speakers aren’t cognizant of the forces at work when they arrange their words into sentences, many Tarot readers don’t realize they are engaging in a literacy practice. As a Tarot Instructor, I've helped demystify the subject of Tarot for many of my students. As a Composition Instructor, I’ve helped students understand both the writing process and the joy of communication. In both roles I assist in improving student's abilities to use and decode signs. By synthesizing Tarot, semiotics, and composition theory, this presentation explores the “grammar” of Tarot and provides a theoretical framework for understanding Tarot reading as a literacy practice.
- Special Event: One-Card Readings by Nicole Parker (with a free draw for a copy of Tarot in Culture Vols. I & II)
- Film Screening: The Leopard Man (1943)
2014 Chicago (April 16-19)
- Berkowitz, Kathy. "The Hidden Harmony of Tarot"
- Parker, Nicole. "A Softer Friendlier Beast: Alan Moore's Adaptation of Crowley's Thoth deck in Promethea"
- Auger, Emily. "Death: The Most Popular Tarot Card at the Movies"
- Tarot Special Session: The Elora Tarot Project (2013): How the Tarot Stirred a Village by Shelley Carter. The Elora Tarot Project was the collaborative creation of a Tarot deck by sixty-five artists from around Elora, a thriving arts community in Southern Ontario, population five thousand. The natural beauty of a deep gorge formed at the convergence of two rivers and the historical underpinnings of the village are an inspirational environment in which to create. Shelley Carter, a local Tarot enthusiast, invited local artists to select a Tarot card or two, to render in their own artistic style and medium. The images were photographed and used in the creation of a Tarot deck. The project garnered a surprising amount of support. Shelley was the recipient of a mini-grant for the project from the Centre Wellington Community Foundation in its inaugural year. The mayor spoke at the opening of the exhibition of original artwork at the Wellington County Museum and Archives, which drew record crowds. The project unexpectedly became a community builder. More information is available at the project website.
2013 Washington, DC (March 27-30)
- Berkowitz, Kathy. "Arthur Waite's Mystical Tradition and Bonaventure's Journey of the Soul"
- Kaczynski, Richard, "The Thoth Tarot Deck and Its Appearances across Forty Years of Popular Culture"
- Pope, Era Elizabeth. "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Animism and the Tarot"
- Reese, Joan. "The Promise of Tarot and Neuroscientific Findings"
- Van Wert, Kathryn. "Tarot and The Waste Land"
- Auger, Emily. "Cartomancy and Tarot Scenes in Film"
- Film Screening: Rakht (Blood) (2004) Co-sponsored with Indian Culture, Art, & Media (area chair Rekha Menon)
2012 Boston (April 11-14)
- Berkowitz, Kathy. "Is Flemish Art a Hidden Source for the Rider-Waite Prototypes?"
- Blanc-Hoàng, Henri-Simon. "How Alejandro Jodorowsky Became a Successful Fortune Teller through the Study of Literature, Art History, and Religion"
- Hogan, Cynthia A. "The Dark Grimoire Tarot: Dark Readings and the Cthulhu Mythos"
- Matthews, Carol S. "Telling the Future with the Past: Transmissions of Sufi Wisdom Through the Medium of Tarot"
- Place, Robert M. "The Creation of the Alchemical Tarot"
- Tarot and Health [Cross-listed with Medical Humanities]
- Panel Chair: Christine Parkhurst. Health professionals are taught to help people deal with unexpected, sad, or bad news, and with the difficulty of dealing with an uncertain prognosis. Tarot readers help questioners process the same sorts of issues. This panel will cover the intersection between Tarot readings, health, and how Tarot readers and the health care community help people deal with health issues affecting them and those around them. The presenters will discuss the topic from their perspectives in health communication and as part of the Tarot community.
- Parkhurst, Christine. "Tarot Readers on Readings about Health"
- Rosengarten, Arthur. "Tarot, Death, and Dying: Transformation, Ambiguity, and Finality in Light of Trump XIII"
- Semetsky, Inna. "The Phenomenology of Tarot: Learning from Experience"
- Tarot Special Session: Tarology 101 by Enrique Enriquez. Any person attending this talk will be able to understand the fundamentals of the Marseille tarot's visual language. TAROLOGY 101 makes the tarot available to any person with or without any previous experience with the cards. ...
- Visual and Verbal Culture Area III and IV (Area Chair James R. Aubrey)
- For other speakers, see conference program
- Auger, Emily E. "Tarot in the Screen Adaptation of John Fowles's The Magus"
- Aubrey, James R. "John Fowles's The Magus on Screen"
- Film Screening: The Magus (1968) Co-sponsored with the Visual and Verbal Culture Area
2011 San Antonio (April 20-23)
- Bottai, Maria Stella. "Marita Liulia Tarot: A Multimedia Work of Art" [paper read by area chair]
- Downing-Beaver, Ian. "The Ghost Sonata and the Thoth Tarot: An Archetypal Analysis"
- Goggin, Joyce. "Live and Let Die: Tarot as Primitive Other in the 007 Universe"
- Gray-Panesi, Sarah. "Divining Women: Tarot and Gothicism in Kate Mosse's Sepulchre"
- Hersch, Bruce. "The Pirate Tarot of the Mystic Bootye: Piracy or Fair Use?"
- Hogan, Cynthia. "Gothic Tarot: Cultural Christianity and Dark Divination"
- Parkhurst, Christine. "Jean-Marie Lhote and the Ancestors of Tarot"
- Reese, Joan. "Examining Intuitive-Creativity in Readings of Tarot Cards"
- Rosengarten, Arthur. "From Rainbows to Sandcastles: Creating the Tarot of the Nine Paths"
- Auger, Emily E. "The Tarot of Jane Austen: Reinventing the World"
- Tarot Round Table with short presentations by
- Sarah Gray-Panesi reading from Mosse's Sepulchre
- Cynthia Hogan on the Joseph Vargo Tarot
- Christine Parkhurst on her Tarot poetry
- Arthur Rosengarten reading from his book Tarot and Psychology
2010 St Louis (March 30-April 4)
- Busby, Ashley Lynn. "A Surreal Deck of Cards: Surrealist Art and the Tarot"
- Greer, Mary K. "An Analysis of Cartomancers in Western Art from the 16th to Early 20th Centuries"
- Hersch, Bruce. "The Pirate Tarot Mandala: Key to the Treasure of the Mystic Bootye: Part I. Descent to the Crossroad"
- Parkhurst, Christine. "Speculations on Cathar Tarot Imagery"
- Rudkin, Casey. "Using Tarot to Foster Visual and Written Composition: Seeing the Future of Communication"
- Auger, Emily E. "The Ghosts in the Palimpsest of Card 21 of The William Blake Tarot (1995)"
2009 New Orleans (April 8-11)
- Dial, Tabitha. "Identity and the Creative Process Inspired by Tarot with Poetry Read by the Poet"
- Ferguson, Alice. "On Myth and Meaning: The Tarot of Survivor as Modern Spectacle"
- Hersch, Bruce. "Pirate Tarot for a Pirate Culture"
- Hingston, Gala. "Reading Tarot, Reading Film"
- Johnston, Hannah. "Tarot reading, Truth-telling and the Technologies of Women's Knowledge"
- Jorgensen, Jeana. "Ancient Goddesses, Modern Cards: Changing Concepts of Female Figures in Tarot"
- Kaczynski, Richard. "Examining the Collaboration and Innovation of the Crowley-Thoth Tarot"
- Katz, Marcus. "The Spread of Tarot: 1888-2008"
- Mountfort, Paul. "Tarot Guide-Books as a Literary Genre"
- Stratyner, Leslie. "Divining the Half-Blood Prince: Harry Potter and the Tarot"
- Weinbaum, Batya Susan. "The Use of Tarot with Other Folk Arts: Cross Cultural Perspectives"
- Winslade, Jason. "The Magic Circus of the Mind": Reading the Tarot of Comics"
- Wilson, Jessi. "Getting the Faeries out of the Baptismal Font: The Faeries' Oracle by Brian Froud"
2008 San Francisco (March 19-21)
- Crocker, Ruth. "Tarot and Social Change"
- Dopko, Cynthia. "The Mythic Tarot: Self-Therapy at Your Fingertips"
- Waitinas, Catherine. "'London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down': Pamela Colman Smith, A. E. Waite, and the Rider-Waite Tarot in The Waste-Land"
- Wilson, Jessi. "Shadow of the Feminine: The Role of Pornography and Violence in Luis Royo’s Tarot"
- Auger, Emily E. "The Lord of the Rings: From Tolkien to Tarot"
2007 Boston (April 4-7)
- Aakhus, Pat. "Tarot: The 15th Century Game of Apocalypse"
- Corwin, Arthur. "The Ice Age Roots of Tarot Symbols"
- Fisher, Delia. "Queens for Today: Tarot Royalty Revised in Judy Grahn's The Queen of Wands and The Queen of Swords"
- Leavitt, June. "Yeats' Stolen Theory of Mask: The Golden Dawn and Tarot Ritual"
- Whitaker, Misty. "Tarot Symbolism as an Entrenchment of Contemporary Archetypes in King's The Gunslinger"
- Wilson, Jessi. "Rhetoric of the Tarot: the Arcane, the Unconscious, and the Bard"
- Auger, Emily E. "Whither Alice? Tenniel Transformed in the Wonderland Tarot"
2006 Atlanta (April 12-15)
- Goggin, Joyce. "The Greater Trumps: Charles Williams and the Metaphysics of Otherness"
- Grant, Julia L. "LITarotURE—Tarot as Sign and Structure"
- Leavitt, June. "Wasted Visions in Eliot's Land: The Cards the Critics Do Not See"
- Oberlin, Molly. "A Tarot Reading of William Butler Yeats' 'Phases of the Moon'"
- Swartz, Laura. "The Tarots of Carnivàle"
- Auger, Emily E. "Re-visioning the Tarot's Minor Arcana"
2005 San Diego (March 23-26)
- Butterworth-McDermott, Christine. "A Wicked Pack of Cards: A Reading of Tarot Cards in T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land"
- Guy, Kimberley. "Tracing Tarot Symbolism in the Poems of W.B. Yeats"
- Matthews, Carol S. "At the Market Place of Identity: Tarot Choice and Value Fulfillment"
- Mountfort, Paul. "Tarot: A machine for constructing stories?"
- Pun-Chuen, Lia. "Tarot Imagery in Blood Meridian"
- Staudacher, Joanne E.. "The Body of Fortunes: Writing Poetry from Trevisan's Crystal Tarot"
- Auger, Emily E. "Tarot: The Heterotopia as Genre"