Marita Liulia, Finnish artist, has taken the Tarot and made it into a vehicle for contemporary art through the use of digital technology. Now the Finnish artist will stage an exhibition featuring her work at the National Gallery, Bangkok February 9 - March 5, 2006.

Marita Liulia Tarot is apparently "a combination of high quality art and design multimedia, entertainment and on-line game. A land of high living and technological standards, Finland is a nation where media art enjoys wide popularity; where new works ranging from film to video to computer graphics are constantly being produced. The theme of this exhibition by Marita Liulia, a leading figure in Finnish media art, is the tarot. Using a combination of photography and computer graphics, she transforms the familiar images of the tarot cards into ingenious color prints to create a tarot world of the 21st century. The exhibition will also feature multimedia, interactive components consisting of films and an interactive tarot card site on the Internet."

Tarot itself is "a playful communication system based on 78 symbolic cards and their interpretations. The cards present the main events of human life from birth to death. The cards are organized into Tables, each dealing with a specific issue. Tarot is a gentle and humorous tool to understand oneself and others. And Marita Liulia has clearly "brought the 600-year-old Tarot game to the present, to our styles, our visual world and naturally to our communication systems." Before packing your bags and heading for Bangkok perhaps you might want to learn more ...

Avalon Moon: An "enchanted emporium" on Main Street in Delhi NY ... the "northeast's favorite witch shop". Hmmmm ... maybe it is ... and could they have picked a better name? Nope ... I don't think so. I will have to ask my daughter if she's visited here during any of her summers in upstate NY. And even if she hasn't I'll have to make sure I do "stop in for a spell" next time I'm in the area ... maybe as soon as next week. In the mean time you might want to read recent article ... or visit web site ... yes, it looks that good that I am even providing a link.

Tarot as a tool for self-examination and spiritual development is a basic premise of classes being offered by Cindy McMullin at Spiritual Freedom in Memphis TN that just got underway this week. In the class, students will learn the origins of the tarot, the various suits of cards, the meaning of common symbols, a few tarot spreads or layouts, and how to mentally prepare for a reading. Learn more ...

Beverly Lawrence - a teacher, reader, healer and process coach - says her primary goal in developing her psychic abilities is to heal herself. Beverly reads at the Dragon's Lair in Ukiah CA. Learn more ...

Just for fun I did a quick search for the most expensive tarot item listed at the AddAll antiquarian book search service. Hey ... it's The Tarot of the Orishas/Boxed Set of Tarot Card Deck With Book in English and Spanish by Zolrak & Durkon ... a Santeria card based divination system from 1995 at $598.50. This is followed by The Symbolism of the Tarot Philosophy : Philosophy of Occultism in Pictures and Numbers with pen-pictures of the Twenty-Two Tarot Cards translated by A.L. Pogossky from P. D. Ouspensky from 1913 at $550. Must remember to put these on next year's Christmas list.

"Eight of Swords" by David Skibbins from St. Martin’s Press should be on your list of books to read this winter. Apparently there's a tarot card reader on the streets of Berkeley, California hiding his real identity as a former student activist on the run for more than 30 years. And that's just the beginning of the guy's problems. Very promising debut ... I'm hoping there's more to follow when the activist resurfaces with a new identify ... oops ... did I give too much away there?

Et In Arcadia Ego, Rennes-le-Chateau, The Da Vinci Code and Tees Valley. Huh? What's this all about? Two bold entrepreneurs, Les and Harald, have opened what they believe is the first tarot cafe bar in Skinnergate in the town centre of Darlington in the north east of England. Worth the trip? Don't know if I'll be in the area any time soon but maybe you will and should read more ...

A Psychic Fair is held monthly inside the Maxon Fellowship Center at Camp Chesterfield. The camp is a 115-year-old campus dedicated to spiritual activities and home of the Indiana Association of Spiritualists. Read more ...

Higher property taxes, big hurricane in the fall and the smell of incense in the air ... oh my. Glenda Kennedy reads the cards for Broward County. Want to know more about Kennedy's insights for next year ... including something about that western that's going to be filmed in Fort Lauderdale? Read more ...