Fairfield offers tarot tips

It seems destiny sometimes has a weird way of working, but some say an intuitive shuffling of cards can help clear up any smoke.

Gail Fairfield, a Bloomington author, tarot reader and astrologer, gave a presentation on tarot Tuesday night at The Venue Fine Art & Gifts.

“It’s the perfect tool for getting guidance you can’t get anywhere else,” Fairfield said. “You can find out almost anything you want.”

The associate director of undergraduate studies at the Kelley School of Business, Fairfield has a professional life that’s split between two very different realms.

She makes a living advising thousands of students every year, but she said she seeks advisement for herself and others from the universe, and has since the 1970s.

“I knew I should start charging when I was always in the back room at a party giving people readings,” she joked.

She said she quickly learned to think of tarot and astrology not as a rule by which to live, but as a sort of life coach.

“There’s a matrix of meaning connecting each of the cards,” Fairfield said. “But you are in power over the spread. You have a choice to change what’s coming.”

Choice is the principal notion behind her book, “Everyday Tarot,” where she explains how to get the most out of what tarot cards have to say.

She instructed the audience, about 10 people who were all taking notes, that it helps to keep inquiries general.

“Ask open-ended questions,” Fairfield said. “It doesn’t do any good to ask if you’re going to get the job next month. Ask what you can do to get the job.”

One woman asked what she could do to improve her performance at work.
She pulled the ten of cups out of the stack of cards, fanned out in Fairfield’s
fingers.

“Cups have to do with people, personal relationships,” Fairfield explained, “It might mean you need to sit down and have a talk with someone.”

On the front of the card was a drawing of a fish in a stream.

“Go with the flow,” she said.

The pictures on tarot cards are key to understanding their message, Fairfield explained.

And although artists put a lot of work into making a cohesive story out of them, she said sometimes the fun is in figuring out what liberties they take with the symbolism.

“In art history iconography is so important, and I liked how a lot of that is found in tarot,” said Gabe Colman, manager of The Venue. “Artists are honored to get commissioned for something like a tarot deck. We want to recognize the art to be appreciated in it.”