his lecture will look at Tarot as a microcosm of our world, where we can reimaging the shape of the stories we tell about it, and effect structural change. The linear "Fool's Journey" narrative, with its emphasis on the extremities of the Major Arcana (the hero-protagonist and the end goal), lends itself to asking divination questions and casting spells based on the concepts of "progress" and "improvement." When we change the shape of our Tarot story so that it is three-dimensional and spherical, the focus shifts instead to the central core of the Major Arcana: the Wheel, Justice, and the Hanged One. With no end goal and no heroes, how does such a structural change impact our divination questions and spells? 
 
We've seen lots of wonderfully diverse representation in Tarot art in recent years, but we also know that in our lives, diversity in the seats of power doesn't translate into liberation without structural change. How might a change in the shape of our Tarot narratives create a ripple through our divination and spell work and into political changemaking? Lane Smith presents their theory of Tarot as a Justice-centered sphere, from their upcoming book "Seventy-Eight Acts of Liberation: Tarot to Transform Our World," to be released August 2024 from Sounds True.
 
About the Presenter:
Lane Smith is a transmasculine nonbinary writer with over 20 years of experience as an activist, organizer, and Tarot reader. They have been involved in struggles against war, the death penalty, attacks on LGBT rights and body autonomy for marginalized genders and birthing people, police violence, and apartheid. They have worked as a social worker in prisons, and in the field of harm reduction with people who are at risk for HIV/AIDS. With a professional Master’s degree in Social Work and an academic Master’s degree in Humanities and Social Thought, Lane expresses their ideas in clear, nonacademic language in the interest of putting social justice values into practice. Lane is the editor of the Tarot & Politics zine, author of "Seventy-Eight Acts of Liberation: Tarot to Transform Our World," and a member of Solidarity Tarot where they live in Baltimore City, Maryland.
 
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