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Three is sometimes called the number of expression; Cups are frequently considered the suit of emotion, spirituality, and insight. For us, membership in the ATA is one more way to express our interest in forming a community of individuals, united in their passionate interest in Tarot.

The Three of Cups. Image from the Universal Waite Tarot, copyright U.S. Games. Used by permission.

 

Our Mission

• The American Tarot Association is a professional and social organization for Tarot enthusiasts, students, scholars, and readers. We promote the study and appreciation of Tarot by supporting a variety of educational programs. We require a high level of ethics in Tarot readings by asking our members to agree to our published code of ethics.

  Please feel free to contact any of our Board members with any comments, questions or concerns.
  

  You can review your Board's workings here by reading the minutes and motions.

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Our Board
Our Board of Directors includes a wide variety of Tarot readers, authors, and professionals from all over the American Tarot community. To contact any of them, simply click their names in the bio entries below:
 

Stephanie Lynch (Arwen Nightstar),President. Stephanie Arwen Lynch has been been reading the Tarot since 1979 and began reading professionally in 1982. She has taught workshops on Tarot for the Professional Fiction Writer as well as How To Create Your Own Spread.

She has run her online Tarot business since 2005 and reads online as well as in person and over the phone. She has read on the Free Reading Network as well. She is the past editor of the ATA Quarterly journal. Tarot By Arwen is Arwen's professional site.

President Duties

• Is a member of the Board of Directors
• Preside over board meetings as Chair of the Board of Directors
• Ensure that the Board and other ATA staff and volunteers perform their duties
• Be the public face of the American Tarot Association
• Respond to letters and emails that the ATA receives from the public
• Interact with the press in conjunction with the Board
• Responsible for periodic audits and reviewing said audits with Board
• Responsible for ensuring there is a grievance mechanism in place
• Has direct oversight of the Membership Coordinator and any other paid staff, in conjunction with the Board
• Stays current on activities, conferences, organizations and other doings in the broader tarot community
• Is knowledgeable about tarot history, professional tarot reading and tarot ethics

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Allan Ritchie, VP Of Communications Allan Ritchie was looking for help with writer’s block when tarot become a love affair of learning and a passion for new decks. With a firm belief that the tarot is an empowering tool, Allan continues to find unending insight from the cards and those who honestly and ethically use them. Allan’s tarot practice springs from the analytical desire to see all the pieces of information become a single coherent statement or story.

Allan uses tarot as an aid in brainstorming, personal meditation and insight. He currently enjoys reading on the internet using a Waite-Smith deck and introducing new people to tarot by assisting in teaching tarot in his local area.

Vice President of Communication Duties

The VP of Communications is responsible for the ATA’s written communications and media relations.

Specifically the VP of Communications:
• Supervises the editors of the ATA Quarterly and Tarot Reflections. The VP may have to serve as editor if that position is vacant.
• Writes press releases
• Keeps informed about tarot-related topics in the media and drafts responses for the ATA in the form of letters to the editor, press releases, or articles.
• Writes flyers, advertisements, and other written communications at the direction of the board.

Errol McLendon, VP of Education. Errol picked up his first deck and Tarot books seven years ago on a trip to New Orleans at a small shop in the Quarter called Esoterica; however, Errol's teaching experience goes back twenty-five years, having been involved with teaching and directing theatre-related classes and workshops throughout the United States.

Errol has had over twenty-five articles published on the educational aspects of Tarot. He currently resides in the Chicago area, where he teaches a 15-week Tarot Master Class. In his spare time he is an actor, director and interactive theatre performer.

Errol primarily reads with The Nigel Jackson Tarot, but uses the Rider-Waite deck as his personal meditation deck and the Tarot of the Sephiroth for working on his study of the Tree of Life. Errol believes that Tarot provides practical guidance to allow us to create our own future and that the strongest power in the universe is the power of laughter.

You are invited to visit Errol at The TarotGuy website.

VP of Education Duties

• Is a member of the Board of Directors
• Is responsible for writing curriculum
• Is responsible for overseeing the teaching lists
• Is responsible for recruiting mentors and teachers
• Is responsible for assigning mentors to members who request them

Sheri Harshberger, VP of Outreach Sheri was introduced to Tarot many years ago after working with the I-Ching and runes. The discovery of Tarot changed her life. She has more than 50 Tarot decks and oracles in her collection. She joined the ATA after reading the ATA code of ethics and finding it was the same as her own internal one. Although she has been reading cards for herself and others for many years, she has only recently embarked on reading professionally, and can be found at reading fairs in the Seattle, Washington area. In her mundane life, Sheri is a software systems engineer and holds degrees in engineering and information technology.

Sheri's first Tarot deck was a Universal Waite, but she uses Kate Black's Golden Tarot for client readings. She prefers the Jacques Vieville Tarot and the Mystical Lenormand decks for her own personal use. In her spare time, Sheri enjoys exposing herself to new and unconventional ideas in Tarot and "pimping" her decks by trimming the borders off and/or gilding the cards or the edges of the cards.
Sheri is thrilled to be able to give back and share with the Tarot community through the ATA and has been serving as the Editor of the ATA's online monthly magazine, Tarot Reflections, since October 2007.

VP of Outreach Duties

The VP of Outreach is responsible for general ATA public relations and coordinating volunteers. This requires that the VP of Outreach work collaboratively with the VP of Communications to maintain a consistent overall message of the ATA as a whole: Board, members, and the public served by ATA readers. Specifically, the VP of Outreach:
• Is a member of the Board of Directors;
• Is responsible for public relations;
• Is responsible for membership outreach;
• Is responsible for marketing;
• Is responsible for Volunteer Coordinating;
• assists the President and other Board members as needed; and
• will abide by the ATA bylaws and code of ethics.

Tracy Hite, Treasurer. Tracy began her own Tarot journey while recovering from her first son's birth on New Year's Eve, 1996. She tried to study on her own for nearly a year, picking up what she could from books and websites, but she had a lot of trouble piecing everything together. Through membership in the American Tarot Association, she met the contacts and gained the expertise needed to gain her certification as a Certified Tarot Master.

Tracy uses a variety of decks to gain a fresh perspective on problems, or to point out ideas or issues she might not have considered otherwise. She admits that she can't predict the future, but does believe that working with the cards can help "move life forward."

In addition to keeping track of our financial and legal records, Tracy also manages our two free reading networks and works closely with our incarcerated members through the Prison Service Project. She also serves as webmaster for our twice-monthly online publication, Tarot Reflections.

Treasurer Duties

• Is a member of the Board of Directors
• Prepares a financial statement yearly
• Reports to the Board

Member At Large..

Rickey Hite, Membership Coordinator and Webmaster. Rickey is a rank beginner in Tarot, but has a wide variety of decks he uses. He is known to always have a deck handy.

While not a Board member, Rickey does our record keeping, database maintenance, programming our free reading networks, packing and shipping course material, and maintaining our website. In fact, he's the fellow you talk to when you call our toll-free number: 800-372-1524.

Membership Coordinator Duties

Duties of Membership Coordinator
• Process new and renewed memberships
• Send renewal notices to current members whose membership is about to expire
• Send educational booklets and CDs to members when purchased
• Maintain a supply of educational material by burning CDs and printing booklets
• Maintain the membership database and post it regularly to the board’s webpage
• Answer the ATA’s phone. Respond to phone queries or forward them to the appropriate board member or committee.
• Maintain regular office hours as determined by the Board
  • Current office hours are 12-2pm EST
• Collect the US Mail and answer it
• Verify membership of people asking for members’ services
• Sign members up for the 800 number or an email forwarder
• Monitor ATA’s email and respond or forward to the appropriate board member or committee
• Print and mail the quarterly newsletter (added task, not integral to the position)

Elizabeth Hazell, ATA Quarterly Editor. Elizabeth Hazel (aka Lady Vala Runesinger) is a tarotist, astrologer, and author of “Tarot Decoded,” the first handbook of tarot dignities. She writes horoscope and astrology columns for newspapers and magazines, and has been a regular contributor to ATA publications since 2002. Her articles also appear in a variety of Llewellyn annuals. Liz is an accomplished musician and an awarded composer, an artist, and an ancient studies scholar. She has given lectures and workshops on a variety of topics including astrology, tarot, paganism, and spellcasting techniques; and is completing a book about the pagan year. She can be contacted at: ehazel@bex.net

Jessica Fisher Willson, Web Administrator. Jessica bought her first tarot deck, the Aquarian Tarot, at fifteen. She’s been reading tarot for herself and friends ever since. Her interest in symbolism, languages, art and the internet collided in real life when for her master’s thesis project she used the tarot to create an online Java based relational database and tarot card reader. Becoming a reiki master-teacher around the same time as getting her master’s degree, she found there was a corollary between tarot and reiki energy and added that to her thesis research. Furthering her discovery by painting the White Light Tarot ~ Light From Within deck while in a reiki state, she published the deck in 2006. It has been dubbed one of, if not the first tarot that offers reiki, as well as keywords, chakras and tarot concepts for each card by Aeclectic Tarot.

Her book of interpretation to go with the White Light Tarot ~ Light From Within deck is due out in 2008. Jessica can be reached through the ATA or the White Light Tarot website which offers information about reiki, chakras, tarot symbolism and free online readings. She is also available for website design consultation.

Jessica is delighted to contribute to the Tarot community through the ATA and has been serving as a Webmaster for the ATA's website since October of 2007.