What brings you to Koh Phangan?
I have never been here before and was travelling around Asia and the south of Thailand was meant to be my last point. I went to Koh Tao then came here and liked the island so decided to stay and ground myself a little, it has been five months.
What is it that you felt was special here?
I felt that I was in the right place, being glad and being somewhere, so I decided to stay and the nature and the ocean and the island itself, it is more a feeling than it’s qualities.
Tell us about Tarot Cards…
The tarot is amazing and the practice and activity of reading cards started in many points of the world, in China, gypsies, in Europe and the practice of reading oracles.
The Marseille Tarot the school that I follow which is very traditional in Europe in the middle ages, It’s not clear the way it started, but it seems it was developed in Italy with the normal playing cards and improved de drawings in the France in cities like Belfort, Paris and Avignon.
In a nut shell the tarot works as a group of symbols that represent the archetypes concentrated each the card, the Marseille is a gathering of ancient and apparently simple symbols that brings us to the imaginary in the Middle Age and many occult symbols.
The representations in the tarot cards are called ‘arcanas’. Each arcana comprises a symbolic synthesis of the human psyche. In a superficial overview, many people study the tarot symbols as the possibility of expression of the collective conscious, for instance the empress which is one card is the synthesis symbol of femininity that every human can identify with, so in practice when you read a card for someone this card allows you to discover and read a little of their ins unconscious mind.
I always compare a tarot reading as an art activity because you identify yourself with the dance of the arcana in each card spread. You identify yourself as a piece of art, my job is to read and connect all the symbols together so you can have another regard to some situation in your life.
How did you get into this?
As almost all card readers, the pain made me look for responses, I made questions and I didn’t get enough answers and since I didn’t get enough answers I started to look for other ways to get answers and tarot was one of them.
I started to read when I worked in a book shop and felt this attraction. You cannot decide, it’s inside of you already and you feel this attraction, I felt I have to have it and need to learn.
The beginning is very difficult as there are seventy eight arcana’s in total, so you have to twenty two major arcana and fifty six minor arcana.
I had to understand deeply all the aspects of each one of the major arcanas. The more information one has, the better it is to understand it, major arcana have a very dense meaning connected to many myths and symbols throughout many ancient civilizations, if you go very deep you can reach very personal and painful questions in your own life as a reader, and also in other people life. Some people don’t want to explore them so as a reader I have to be careful when you dive into the layers of my own understanding, I respect the consultants’ limits and questions.
Then with minor arcana you have to memorise intensively the meanings as they are connected to major arcana, connected to the court arcanas and among themselves. The meaning of major arcana can change depending on the minor and major meaning can change next to minor arcana, it takes time to absorb all this knowledge. I also listened and shared with a lot of people who know more and are more experienced than me and I made a lot of friends doing so.
So it took me five years just to understand and memorise the arcanas then to learn how to give readings to people and how to treat a reading and interpret and talk about their lives and personal issues.
Also my grandmother was an amazing card reader, so I grew up seeing her reading cards to people so card reading is not a disconnected experience, I saw it in my own family, she was the best.
How does this benefit people?
The benefit is bringing to light another point of view regarding a situation and guide people to the responses they already have inside. Tarot is like art as it opens doors to identifying yourself more clearly. Tarot helps people in the path of the self-knowledge.
How have you been using your skill on Koh Phangan?
Normally people come to me and ask for a reading, I announce on facebook once a month and no more than that, I don’t insist. I do some readings and people tell one another so they connect me to get a reading.
I don’t tell the future I just make things clear and the possibility of consequences, if you keep doing what you’re doing then probably this will happen and show them they have the choice to change.
Do you have clients who come to you for a few sessions?
I do not consider that I have clients, because my intention is to liberate and get people free from their negative approach towards situations. So the less they come the better as it means it works but some people come back. If they have a session one week on a Monday then next Monday they ask for another, I say no, not within another a week.
So unless it’s another subject this is very rare, after one or two months people come back but my intention is to release them.
What sorts of issues have you been able to help with?
Mostly relationships and love but also work.
Overall it’s about human relationships. Each person is special, they feel in a special way, each person is a new feeling and inner world.
I’ve read for people with very serious problems, serious violence and physical abuse and have to deal with many situations, so you have to follow ethical behaviour, how to tell people they’re in an abusive situation or that they’re being abusive.
I interviewed a woman who was abusive to her step daughter and I saw that in the cards but I couldn’t tell her, but I knew this child was in danger, I had to find a situation to yank her out against this child.
What do you like to do on Koh Phangan?
I like to do yoga, go to the beach to lay down in the sun and I like to go to saunas and waterfalls.
I like Koh Ma, Sri Thanu and Chaloklum area and the restaurants I like are all the vegetarian ones, Eat.co, Orion, I don’t know many outside Sri Thanu.
What is your life philosophy?
Be good, do the good.
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