Well, now. Having railed a few times here, here, and here about the unethical and money-grubbing behavior of the head of Tarot Professionals, a while back I wrote a post disengaging myself from this Katz who seems bent on making the whole tarot world his personal litter tray; his latest attempt is to trademark ''World Tarot Week''.
Recently, I find that the scales have fallen from the eyes of quite a few others in the tarot community, and I am no longer a lone voice crying in the wilderness:
Lisa at Tarotize
Michael at Tarot by Michael
Paul Nagy also seems to have withdrawn his support, along with a few other previous fans who I see in the list of contributors to that thread.
my old sparring partner, Major Tom, that stalwart of indie tarot, has been kicked out without a reason being given, as has
Robin Dalton; I wonder if she received a refund ?
Of course, there still remain those established tarotists who, for whatever motives (I hesitate to suggest they benefit financially) continue to laud Katz and his spin, not to say obfuscation; usually they are American (bless them, are they born gullible ?) - Den Elder, Mary Greer, Enrique Enriquez - or novices to tarot, noobs in the tarot community who seem desperate to give this Magician money in their quest for knowledge, in spite of the somewhat dubious practices of his organization - handing out awards to fakes, listing people as honorary members without their knowledge, trademarking ''World Tarot Week''.
allegorical painting of Nemesis by Georghe Tattanescu
We can only hope..... :-D
ReplyDeleteAli x
It seems a few more eyes beyond those you have listed, have opened. :)
ReplyDeleteWas I refunded? Well, yes and no. At the time I joined Tarot Professionals ($35) and became a Patron member of Tarot Town ($12), I was already a member of TABI and naively thought joining all the Tarot Groups was a good thing... a way to connect with a lot of different yet like-minded souls.
ReplyDeleteIt is true. I was tossed out of TP. I was given not notice and still have not even a clue as to what perceived wrong I might have committed.
I discovered my being thrown out was not a glitch when I receive a notice from Paypal saying that my annual payment to TP for Tarot Town had been cancelled. Upon checking, I discovered I could no longer log into Tarot Town.
I emailed Mr. Katz to enquire as to why... The only response I received was an email from Paypal telling me the $12 I had paid to become a patron of Tarot Town had been refunded.
My $35 has not been refunded. However, I can still log in to Tarot Professionals, read magazines, etc. But, and this important, I can't actually talk to any other members of Tarot Professionals through a TP site and, indeed, a few of them have blocked me, as well.
I love that so many people came out in support of Major Tom. I love that he can laugh at the experience. I am unable to do that.
Earlier someone asked me why I was given the boot. I was obviously unable to answer that question because I still don't know.
This is something I said at the end of my answer:
"To be quite honest, I'm feeling quite disillusioned with the Tarot Community at present, and am considering leaving it all together.
The fact that the majority of the Tarot Community tends to look the other way when it comes to Marcus Katz, I find quite nauseating.
As far as I am concerned, Mr. Katz is L. Ron Hubbard with a pack of Tarot Cards.
As for spiritual dignity and the Tarot, we all know that that is just a catch phrase that Mr. Katz thinks he can market successfully."
Blessings,
Robin
Robin, don't give up yet - not all of us have swallowed the bait :-) xx
DeleteThat's pretty shoddy treatment to be sure. I have to say though that when I was requested to leave TP (because I had become Chair of TABI again) they did offer me a refund of my membership.
DeleteRobin - don't let that experience put you off. Generally speaking it IS a good idea to be members of different organisations. Spread the love, is what I say :-D
AX
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ReplyDeleteI've been trying to say this for two YEARS, but I kept getting called a "bully" for it...until it stuck, and some drank the Kool-Aid against me. Anyway, just made my own post. http://janetboyer.typepad.com/blog/2012/02/tarot-monopoly-tarot-tyrant-and-restoring-spiritual-dignity.html
ReplyDeleteThis sitting back and watching approach is clearly doing you good, Viv, as your sense of humour is in fine form. Clear, to the point piece, with loads of laughs for those who've given up crying or screaming at the insanity of it :D
ReplyDeleteNothing (re. my Tweet) of great importance. Just noting that no interest or discipline - From the Esoteric to the Scientific, seems without these... "Distinguished Supporters" (BHA) or somesuch? :P
ReplyDeleteEven casual investigation may reveal questionable (money-making) relationships between "celebrities" and their various "clubs"? The BHA does seem to be an Umbrella for the virulently anti-New Age too. :-/
As ever, still trying to straddle the Esoteric and Exoteric here... Oooer, Missus? :-D
Macavity/Chris
People join with Marcus because there is no opposing group who is strong enough to oppose him. That and TAABI Are too busy brown nosing American deck creators to show any loyalty to their own nation, so marcus is the only other alternative. Marcus is where he is because of tabi. deny it all you want but it's true
ReplyDeleteOh how we love those who aren't brave enough to attach their name to their views :D It was TABI that stood up to Marcus several times, in spite of all the personal RL harassment of it's Chair. You might want to look at Marcus' list of American brown-nosers, so-called 'spiritual' people in it for what they can get, ethics & principles be damned.
ReplyDelete