Tarot and Speeches

Last night we had Tarot, hosted by the ever lovely Jo, and Speeches presented by the dynamic Max. Tarot was first, and we learnt how tarot can be practical and accessible to everyone! Fun fact: Did you know that there are heaps of different tarot decks? Zombie tarot, Vampire tarot, Erotic tarot, Cat tarot, Disney tarot, Gummi Bear Tarot, Elvis tarot, Australiana tarot.. the favourite was probably the Hello Kitty tarot – especially the Hello Kitty death card. No-one really likes the Death card but it helps if you have bunnies on it!

We learnt about the Rider-Waight deck, and focused on the 22 major arcana cards (there are usually 78 cards in a deck), and followed the ‘Fools journey’. The Fool begins in life with a fresh slate, full of innocence and openness; this is the first card. Then comes the Magician who has all the tools in life to succeed – a wand for primal energy, a cup for emotions, a pentacle for abundance and a sword for intellect and thought. Along his journey the Fool also meets an Empress (think of her as a modern day Nigella Lawson), the Lovers, Strength, Justice and Death. But we learnt Death doesn’t mean what we think it means – it’s not about actual death but more about endings… and beginnings.
But then! the real danger comes along – in The Devil and the Tower. The Tower represents downfall, explosive change, a crumbling of foundations.. think of Tiger Woods. But never fear! All is not lost; the Moon (creativity) and Sun (happy happy joy joy) and the WORLD are the end to his journey. We were taught that the Fool’s journey can be a lot like our life journey, and each card is able to help us reflect where we are in our lives at that present stage. If any of you are interested, Tom is the sun, and Kim is Nigella Lawson (she wishes!)

Then Max came to teach us about Speeches, and we had to learn to become talkative, and quickly! The art of speeches is apparently a primitive act – you need to be genuine, simple, and keep it short. We learnt from Marlon Brando (genuine), and strangely enough, Bill Clinton when he gave his Lewinski speech – it was a good lesson on how some speeches are focused on the informative!

There can be a number of purposes to a speech – to inform (yep, Clinton), to persuade, to entertain and to motivate. I bet you’ve all seen a football movie with the half-time ‘we can do it!” speech.

It’s important to tell a story and to have three ideas (and three sub-ideas) ONLY! Let’s face it, we all do have a limited amount of attention we can give, even as ‘mature adults’. Remember to make jokes, repeat your message, start early, and practice and practice and practice.

One more great lesson is about body language – it can be more expressive, communicative and empathetic and more funny to your audience than words.

Here is a good example of how body language can just be straight out hilarious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPzLBSBzPI

Thanks again if you came along! If you haven’t been here before to learn, the main lesson we try and teach at Laneway Learning is that you can have FUN with us.

On that note… see you next time!