Tarot/Astrology: become immersed in symbolism and self-discovery!

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During this exciting week you will be immersed in the symbolism of Tarot, Astrology, Art and self-discovery. Most people know a just little bit about these subjects, but this workshop will reveal on which planes Art, Tarot, Astrology and self-discovery are connected and will give you interesting visual information for your personal art practice. It will give you insights in the symbolism and archetypes they use, and you will have the opportunity to visualize specific energies that play out in your life right now.

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New ideas and inspiration for your art

The links between Tarot and Astrology are based on a shared symbolism of themes that are present in the life of each one of us. The astrological signs and the planets symbolize realities, feelings, thoughts and ideas around the human experience, that are also present in the cards of the Tarot. During the workshop we will show you the symbolic similarities between the two. On day one we will compare the card spread for the workshop with the astrological chart of the start of the workshop, and we will also work with personal card spreads and charts of the participants. Apart from giving you new ideas and inspiration for your art, this workshop will be very healing for you on a personal level as it will be very synthetic, packed with moments of finding personal meaning and answers about your life. You will discover how to visualize the magic of Tarot and Astrology, and use this for your art and for your life, as these archetypal images are translatable into your own experience. Through the active imagination practice in the guided imagery exercises we will practice each day you will find your own associations. You will research how certain universal themes and symbols are present in your work, and how you can enrich them through getting to know the narratives that are intrinsic in the archetypes of the Tarot and astrology.

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Tarot is a rich world of symbols and archetypes that assist in the unfolding of universal lessons. The tarot part of the workshop will cover the meanings behind the cards, the Major and Minor Arcana, the lessons of the Fool’s journey and the elemental forces at play in each of the suits. The astrology part will focus on the importance of the elements as an ordering principle of the signs. We will look at the meaning of the signs, the archetypal energies of the planets and at how the aspects can support or challenge your life’s journey.

 

Discover your own personal archetypal images

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You’ll learn how to find your intuitive voice in reading the cards and develop your personal artistic symbols of Tarot. We will explore how symbols can serve as a personal visual language in your own creative expression. The five day program of three hours of teaching per day consists of two days of Tarot, two days of Astrology and one day of finding where the two connect. Every day there will be a talk with some slides, and a guided imagery exercise, to teach you the practice of “active imagination” which will help you connect to the personal images that appear in front of your inner eye: your imagination; your personal archetypes and narratives, inspired by the Tarot and astrology, that will inform your art in mystical ways!

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This workshop will help you to discover your own personal archetypal images that will inspire your art. It will help you to mine new inspiration from the depths of your soul. This workshop has a theoretical part in the morning and a practical part in the afternoon. The bridge between the two is the practice of “active imagination” at the end of the morning. Active imagination is a technique Carl Jung invented, which will help you to visualize and create or paint your personal archetypal images, feelings and ideas. Guided imagery exercises come from the world of meditation and they work really well to connect to the imagination and discover artistic ideas, personal metaphors and images for your art. Every afternoon you will have plenty of time to sketch, paint or collage the personal images and scenes that welled up from your unconscious in your active imagination practice. And before dinner we will evaluate and share our experience.

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The workshop will be taught by Clarissa Shanahan (visual artist and Tarot practitioner) and Annette Luycx (visual artist and astrologer). Clarissa Shanahan is an American visual artist who has studied and practiced Tarot for over 20 years, studying with a number of practitioners, and finding her own unique relationship to the meanings and symbols of the cards. "The Tarot addresses all of life's major lessons, as well as our everyday choices and can be a powerful tool to both clarify our chosen direction in life, and tune us into our creative spirits." Her preferred deck is the Mythic deck, which encompassed the lessons embodied in the Greek myths. She has used the symbols, archetypes and the world of universal lessons to inform the direction of her artwork. With a background in film, she also looks to cinema to find bold representations of these archetypes and lessons, representing them with narrative and cinematic imagery in her work. (https://www.clarissashanahan.com/). Annette researches the space between Art (the imagination), Psychology (the soul) and Spirituality (the search for meaning) for many years now. She is fascinated by the amalgamation of these three, and especially interested in the role the imagination plays as a key human capacity and also in how art-making can foster self-awareness and personal growth. She has obtained a MISPA Certificate in Psychological Astrology and a Certificate in Jungian Mysticism from The Centre for Applied Jungian Studies.

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