New Tarot Network - TAROT PROFESSIONALS

September 2008 will see the launch of Tarot Professionals; a new international network offering the highest level of tarot development and teaching.

As a global network of students and professionals, Tarot Professionals will support everyone's tarot study and work; newcomers will find quick methods to learn to read the cards and experienced professionals, will find new ways to deepen and develop their knowledge.

Everyone who joins Tarot Professionals will gain immediate access to a massive forum of tarot-related issues; everything from learning the cards to tarot and psychology; on-line chat sessions; a free tarot course for all students, and unique intermediate and advanced courses. A professional certificate and logo is available for all students and readers.

Members will also gain access to a buddy system and reader-exchange system, so that they can swap readings with other students and professionals for free, gaining helpful and supportive feedback. The social network aspect of Tarot Professionals extends to Facebook and beyond, so members will be sure to make new friends who share their interest and passion for tarot.

The first 78 members who join through the Tarot Channel will receive a unique text on using Tarot for dynamic change that has never been published!

To find out more about Tarot Professionals please visit their website - http://www.tarotprofessionals.com

Special Pre-Launch Subscription rates are available now until 29th September 2008

Comments

[Mimers]

Hmm, I can't help feeling that for that kind of money, I would at least want a free trial period. Also, who are they??? They say they are the fastest growing tarot organization out there yet I have never heard of them. They mention discounts with vendors. Who?? What vendors? I just want more specifics and less obscurity.

[Marcus Katz]

Hi Mimers

You make good & Valid points, as we are in the pre-launch phase at present. We are new, so that's why you've never heard of us! I've been reading tarot for 30 years professionally, and am a PhD student of the western esoteric tradition, but haven't really been that "public" until now. It's a learning curve!

We have had over 40+ members in the first month of interest, with no publicity, so that is fairly fast-growing. As previous Chair of TABI and with connections to other amateur/volunteer groups in Europe, US and Australia, I can compare our growth-rate accordingly. We're obviously not yet the biggest organisation, we'll need 400+ members to claim that. We're now starting to advertise with my contacts in the esoteric world and large mailing lists, etc as well as now in tarot community globally - look for our handouts at the Bay Area Tarot Symposium in October!

The vendor/partner details have not yet been finalised nor made public, as they may be commercially sensitive, so perhaps you'd wish to wait until after launch for this to be specific! That's fine and understandable! It's not going to be a major feature of our offerings, but a nice-to-have where we can offer it.

You'll notice some of our contacts now starting to use our logo, for example, the Maroon Deck in Poland.

There are no trial periods on offer, but a discount for pre-launch membership. Perhaps this is something we can look at further as we develop. Thank you for the suggestion.

I have invested commercially in this venture, of course, and it is a professional offering with rates reflecting that status. In pricing, I compared our offerings to similar groups and costed accordingly. As more details and systems come on-stream, members will increasingly benefit. That's always the case with boot-strapping a new group!

Marcus.

[Mimers]

Thank you for the quick response Marcus.

I have a few more questions for you. I hope you don't mind.

Is your aim to be more of a school or educational establishment which would offer some kind of recognition or certification? Or are you aiming to be a more formalized tarot community with emphases on courses?

One other thing which came to my mind is that a lot of what you describe is available in other forums. Aeclectic Tarot is the largest one, but there are others as well. Aeclectic has a fee for the professional section which is in the member's forums, but other Tarot forums are free there. Others like Tarot for Life and Classical Tarot are free as well and provide exercises for learning. Could you comment on how Tarot Professionals is different than what is already out there?

[Marcus Katz]

Mimers

Thanks for the e-mail response and the points above, I'll consider your useful questions as I work on our marketing!

Briefly, though, the main question is what's new? Why do we need yet "another" tarot group? That's the question I answered for myself when I came to found Tarot Professionals, which intends not be "another" tarot group. In brief:

1. We're neither just a school not just a community. We are a learning network for students who look for experience and experienced practitioners who look for development and promotion.

One manifestation of this approach will be our two-tiered "Tarot Exchange" system automated for the practical exchange of readings and mutual feedback. That's one example where learning/community will come together.

Another is in the "special interest projects" which will produce "TP Papers" for a growing archive of work.

2. As a full-time & unabashed commercial endeavour, TP will be able to offer fast response and be flexible to readers requirements. So if we need a new forum, site-page or advice on new legislation, that'll be days not months to appear.

3. We're global. Although other groups have a smattering of members from "all around the world" they tend to be localised. We're starting as a global community, taking advantage of Skype, Facebook and so on from the start-up, not "catching up".

4. Our courses are unique. They take advantage of my own background as a professional trainer and academic researcher, adjusted for variant learning styles, etc. They also feature esoteric components not commonly published and - as you've seen from our trial newsletter - material from across the last century as well as innovative uses of tarot. The courses are intended to complement other courses "out there" yet offer a deeper, richer, experience to both new students and old-hands.

This material has come from my own courses over the years, and you can get some feedback on those materials at http://www.farawaycentre.com which hopefully reflects the quality, freshness and depth we're going for here!

5. We're not partisan in terms of academic study nor practice. We aim to encourage mutual respect in all fields and new opportunities for multi-disciplinary study; a study group on numerology might have 2 taroists, 1 astrologer and a historian specialising in the dyads of Pythagoras, for example!
My contacts in academia will be as encouraged to join as the ardent occultists.

6. We're built on request and demand; this project has arisen from various questionnaires I designed or engaged with through other organisations. We aim to continue that flexibility and response to requirement.

7. We have good people! I've been encouraged by the support of people who are already known or about to launch extremely innovative tarot applications. We're going to embrace the new and keep developing tarot!

I guess that's some of the stuff that's been behind TP. Our forum is even now, pre-launch, getting lively, with people discovering new things like "The Inner Guide Meditation", or news about Tarot in India ... so I'm pleased to continue to get feedback and we'll see how we develop!

Thanks again & look forward to further contact, until then,

May a full deck of possibilities be yours!

Marcus

[Joyce Pfaffle]

Hi, I came by your site by going through janetboyer.com -- and had one heck of a time accessing anything other than the launch page -- nothing (except tiny text within the animated images) was clickable! Also, are your prices always going to be in British money? And I agree, I'd like to see more before I commit any money (US or other) to this.

[Marcus Katz]

Hello Joyce

Thank you for the feedback. The original site was a "holding site" for the domain, but now the "live" site is available, although much of the content will not be posted until launch on September 29th 2008. I think you'll find the live site more clickable!

I am presently implementing an automated and integrated paypal/login system which will allow any currency payment, although the present subscription rates will remain the same. There will be a protected "Free Reader Exchange" and other subscription benefits, of course - some of these are still being finalised with other groups.

Much of the actual course/journal material is quite innovative and unique to the site and I'm thus uneasy about providing it even as a 'trailer'. For example, I sent out the first self-study module to 40+ of my 'ACE' pre-launch members, and the general comment was that they had never seen some of these exercises or approaches to tarot before! That's because some of that comes from original material I've written over the last 30 years, some from scarce archive material, like an article from a magazine in 1955. These cost a fortune (in time/money) to research and purchase!

I'll take on board your comments, though, and see if I can provide a 'free sample pack' from the journal, forum, and courses.

Thanks again for these prompts - very useful!

Marcus
http://www.tarotprofessionals.com

[Wolfy James]

Sorry Marcus Katz but the Aeclectic Tarot Forum ( http://www.tarotforum.net/ ) has everything you offer and more and for free on top of that. There is nothing new you offer. Nothing.

[Marcus Katz]

Wolfy James

Thank you for the comment - I am obviously aware of what Aeclectic offers, and am myself a fan of Solandia and the forum.

I am happy to say that Tarot Professionals offers a number of courses that cannot be found anywhere else, an automated Readers Exchange that is not on Aeclectic, a collaborative area that is not forum-based, as is Aeclectic, Insurance offer (UK) which is not offered by Aecletic, partner discounts (10% off Orphalese, for example) which is not something Aeclectic would provide, a legal guidance area with materials provided by a solictor, not present on Aeclectic ... and so on.

A full legal review state-by-state is presently being carried out in liaison with an astrololgical society in the US, to provide a definitive guide. Tarot Professionals also offers a public "Find A Reader" interactive map, not something that Aeclectic focuses upon.

I did a full review of all current European, US, and Australian offerings, both forum-based and courses, whilst I was designing Tarot Professionals.

"Nothing new" is hence not what I have worked to provide :-)

Marcus

[Marcus Katz]

Hello Again!

Just to say also, to advertise on Aeclectic costs $32 AUD, as a "subscriber" to the forum, so it is not "free" if you are wishing to promote your services, which is something Tarot Professionals includes!

I really see T.P. as a different thing altogether than Aeclectic or the Tarot Channel, etc., although we may all overlap in places. Do let me know by e-mail any other thoughts on this matter.

Thanks for the prompt and the observation, anyways!

Marcus

[Disa]

While the site looks wonderful and I can see how helpful it will be, it appears the fee for membership does not include the classes you offer. I'm afraid an additional $150-$350 per tarot course in addition to the membership fee is not in my budget. One could easily spend close to $1,000 if they were to try to take every course on offer in order to obtain your student logo and certificate. The pricces may be reasonable for those who are already tarot professionals and make a living at it, but for people just getting started, that's a huge investment.

[Marcus Katz]

Hi there Disa

The student membership fee does actually include the "Courtyard Course" (5 lessons, weekly delivered, self-study, forum supported, about 50 pages of material on the whole never before published with unique learning ideas and exercises) which permits the student to then use the trademarked Tarosophy(TM) Student logo.

If you'd like to e-mail me off-list (and that goes for anyone reading here on the Tarot Channel) I can offer you a big discount on a year's membership so you can appraise our offerings, into which thirty years experience and a year's preparation has been invested!

enquiries@tarotprofessionals.com

Marcus