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Fifty-eight years with the tarot, and a StaarCon 6 session that asks you to stop looking at the cards and start standing in them.

Vicki Santell has been part of StaarCon since the very beginning. She has presented at all but one of them, which makes her something close to a founding fixture of this community. When she sat down with Christiana Gaudet to talk about her StaarCon 6 session, the conversation started with a deck of cards she was handed in 1968 and ended somewhere none of us expected, with a paper plate and an invitation to play.

Walking Into the Cards

Vicki’s tarot story starts in 1968. Someone handed her a deck, she found the images immediately profound, and she has stayed with them ever since. Fifty-eight years later the cards are still teaching her. She describes tarot as an adaptable tool, one that met her wherever her interests happened to take her. Today she works as a shamanic practitioner with a focus on divination, and she does ancestral work as well.

That first encounter set the pattern for everything after it. Vicki did not study the cards so much as enter them. She saw each one as a doorway and put her consciousness through it, absorbing the image rather than reading it. That instinct, refined over decades, is exactly what she is bringing to the Mindful Room in October.

The Minor Arcana …Live!

The Mindful Room is not set up as a classroom. It is open space with chairs and not much else, and that suits Vicki’s plan perfectly. Participants will physically enact Minor Arcana cards, recreating the postures, gestures, and facial expressions in the artwork, then paying attention to what those positions actually feel like in the body.

She is bringing the four tools of the Minor Arcana with her, so people can hold a wand, a cup, a sword, or a pentacle in their hands while they work. She has pre-selected cards from all four suits, focusing on the aces and twos, with some threes if the clock allows. For a 45 minute session, that is a full plate.

The premise is simple, and once you hear it, hard to argue with. Tarot is not only a visual tool. It is a full body tool.

Something to Try Before October

For anyone who cannot be in the Mindful Room, Vicki’s homework is refreshingly low tech. Pick out a few cards. Look closely at the physical expression, the body language, how the body is positioned, the colors, the clothing. Then improvise your props. A stick from the yard becomes a wand. A paper plate with a pentacle drawn on it works fine. Grab a cup from the kitchen. Then start playing.

She is emphatic that this should be fun. It is a game, she says, a little toy. Tarot did start as a game, after all. The results just happen to be profound.

About Vicki

Vicki Santell is a tarot reader, shamanic practitioner, and spiritual counselor who has worked with the tarot since 1968. She blends tarot with extensive shamanic experience and ongoing study of metaphysical, psychological, and spiritual teachings, including Family Constellation, ancestral healing, and inner child work. She is available for private sessions and offers classes occasionally. Find her at VickiSantell.com.

StaarCon 6 runs October 2 through 4, 2026, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Vicki presents The Minor Arcana …Live! in the Mindful Room on Sunday, October 4th at 2:00 pm, with her recorded conversation released to StaarCast Virtual attendees at the same time. Tickets are available at staarcon.com/tickets.

Palmistry, Symbolism, and the Stories Hidden in Your Hands

Today we’re turning the spotlight on Kooch Daniels, one of the Live Track presenters for StaarCon 6 and StaarCon 6 Virtual. Kooch N. Daniels, MA, is a professional intuitive, author, and palmistry expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the kind of teacher who has spent decades following her curiosity wherever it leads, and that curiosity has carried her a long way, including all the way to India.

Her fascination with esoteric traditions and what lies hidden behind the veil sent her traveling to study palmistry, and that trip turned out to be a turning point. It set her on the path to becoming a professional hand reader and, eventually, the author of The Art and Magic of Palmistry. Along the way she studied eastern mysticism with a number of teachers, most significantly the Tantric scholar Harish Johari and the beloved hugging saint Sri Mata Amritanandamayi. That blend of scholarship, devotion, and hands-on practice runs through everything she does.

A Lifetime of Books and Divination Tools

Kooch is remarkably prolific. Working often with her husband and frequent co-author Victor Daniels, PhD, she has written and created a long shelf of books and divination decks, including Stars, Cards, and Stones, Tarot at a Crossroads, Matrix Meditations, Tarot D’Amour, Awakening the Chakras, and Sacred Mysteries: The Chakra Oracle. Her newest project is The Zodiac Light Oracle, a 48-card deck built on the nakshatras, the 27 lunar mansions of Vedic astrology, illustrated by Pieter Weltevrede.

Tarot is only part of the picture. Through her practice at Mystic Secrets, Kooch offers readings across tarot, astrology, palmistry, runes, and chakra work, and she teaches all of it too. If there is a thread connecting these systems, it is her belief that they speak to one another, and that learning to read one deepens your ability to read the rest.

What is she bringing to StaarCon 6?

On Sunday, October 4th at 9:00 am on the Live Track, Kooch is presenting Divination Skill Building: Unveiling the Secrets in Your Palm. It is, by her own description, informative and fun, a relaxed look at how to actually read a hand.

Rather than a lecture, this one is a show-and-tell class. Kooch will share the essential techniques she uses to read palms, then put them to work on the hands of willing volunteers, exploring the symbols there and talking through what they might mean. The goal is to help you build real confidence with palmistry and, in true tarot-community fashion, to give you a new tool you can fold right into your existing readings. Bring your questions, and maybe your own hands.

This will not be Kooch’s first time at StaarCon. She previously presented Using Your Birth Chart to Create Astrological Tarot Spreads at StaarCon 5 and Finding Tarot Secrets in Your Birthdate at StaarCon 2023, so longtime attendees already know she has a gift for making complex systems feel approachable.

The presentation will also be streamed live on StaarCon 6 Virtual through StaarCast.com, so if you cannot make it to Palm Beach Gardens in person, you can still pull up a chair and read along.

About Kooch Daniels

Kooch N. Daniels, MA, is a professional intuitive, author, and palmistry expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of The Art and Magic of Palmistry and co-author, with Victor Daniels, of many books and decks including The Zodiac Light Oracle and Stars, Cards, and Stones. You can find her readings, books, and classes at mysticsecrets.net and follow her on Instagram at @kooch_daniels.

Confessions, Community, and What Tarot Readers Really Think

Today we’re turning the spotlight on Bex, one of the Live Track presenters for StaarCon 6 and StaarCon 6 Virtual. Bex, whose full name is Rebecca Jones, is a tarot reader, psychic, and evidential medium based in London, UK. Her path to making her practice public is not the most conventional one, which is perhaps exactly why it resonates with so many people. She was raised as a Mormon, earned an MBA, and had built a life that looked nothing like a tarot reader’s. Then her brother passed away unexpectedly, and everything shifted. She turned toward the spiritual gifts she had set aside, returned to the spirit communications that had visited her since childhood, and decided it was time to stop keeping her tarot work a secret.

Bex has been reading tarot for over twenty years, though she only began reading publicly in recent years. Her approach is warm, conversational, and firmly grounded. She describes tarot as a universal language and an interactive conversation, one that does not happen to us but with us and for us. On her website she is cheerfully clear that she cannot read minds, predict lottery numbers, or locate missing earrings, though she does suggest checking behind the sofa. This kind of candor is characteristic of how she moves through the tarot world: seriously engaged with the craft, and refreshingly honest about what it is and is not.

Confessions of a Tarot Reader

In 2024, Bex launched her podcast, Confessions of a Tarot Reader, described as a love letter to the tarot community and the tarot-curious. Her goal was to create a friendly, behind-the-scenes space where tarot readers could compare notes and where people new to tarot could understand what the experience is actually like. Topics she covers include how to prepare for a first reading, how often is too often to come back for another one, what readers are really thinking when a client returns with questions about an ex, toxic clients and toxic readers, and how to tap into your own intuition to read for yourself.

By the time she arrives at StaarCon 6, Bex will have spoken with more than seventy fellow tarot readers for the podcast. That body of conversation is the foundation of her presentation, and it gives her something genuinely useful to bring to the room: not theory, but the actual, lived experience of a community talking honestly about its own practice. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and most other major platforms. You can also find it at buzzsprout.com/2383306.

What is she bringing to StaarCon 6?

On Saturday, October 3rd at 3:15 pm on the Live Track, Bex is presenting Confessions of a Tarot Reader. The session is built on everything she has gathered through those seventy-plus conversations, and it promises to be one of the more candid and community-oriented presentations of the weekend.

She will share what she has learned about the quiet assumptions readers often make about how others practice, the ways those assumptions can create distance or misunderstanding within the community, and what happens when they are surfaced and examined. She will also explore the potential and the real pain points of social media and artificial intelligence for tarot readers, and where our tarot ecosystem might be headed next.

Beyond the community landscape, Bex plans to look at insights emerging from the intersection of tarot and clinical therapeutic practice, where readers are finding creative inspiration these days, and the perhaps surprising question of how often tarot readers actually get readings for themselves. It is the kind of session that invites the whole room into a conversation rather than simply delivering information, and that spirit of open dialogue is exactly what the podcast has always been about.

The presentation will also be streamed live on StaarCon 6 Virtual through StaarCast.com, so if you cannot be in Palm Beach Gardens in person, you can still be part of the conversation.

About Bex

Bex is a tarot reader, psychic, and evidential medium based in London, UK, with more than twenty years of experience with the cards. She is the host of the podcast Confessions of a Tarot Reader and offers readings for clients around the world through bextarot.com. You can follow her on Instagram at @bex_tarot.

From the Right Question to the Right Answer

Today we’re shining the spotlight on Ben Tomlin, one of the Live Track presenters for StaarCon 6 and StaarCon 6 Virtual. Known online as Libradoestarot, Ben is a tarot reader, cartomancer, and astrologer whose journey into divination began where so many meaningful things do: around the kitchen table with family. His Nan introduced him to tarot as a teenager, handed him his first deck and book, and set something in motion that has only grown from there.

For a long time, Ben read tarot privately, working with the cards for personal insight and reflection. In 2021 he began reading for others, and the experience was immediately meaningful. He found that he could help people find the guidance, clarity, and growth they were looking for, and that sense of purpose has shaped everything that followed. More recently, his focus has expanded to include mentoring newer readers as they find their footing on their own tarot journeys.

Over the past few years, Ben has broadened his practice considerably, weaving in Lenormand, Kipper, astrology, and charms alongside tarot. He is currently exploring the Oracle Belline and runes, and he brings genuine curiosity to the process of learning how different systems speak to each other. His approach is one of deepening understanding: studying each tradition on its own terms while discovering how their insights can complement and enrich one another.

What is he bringing to StaarCon 6?

On Saturday, October 3rd at 9:00 am on the Live Track, Ben is presenting From Questions to Clarity: Turning Curiosity into Meaningful Tarot Dialogue, an interactive workshop centered on one of the most practical skills a tarot reader can develop: the art of asking a better question.

Many readings stall not because the cards are unclear, but because the question itself is too vague, too closed, or too narrow to invite a real conversation. Ben’s workshop addresses that directly. Attendees will learn ways to reframe undefined or overly open questions and structure them with clear boundaries, getting to the heart of what the querent actually needs to explore. The session moves deliberately away from closed yes/no questions and toward the kind of open-ended dialogue that allows the cards to go deeper.

Whether you read for clients, for yourself, or are still building your practice, the techniques in this workshop translate directly into stronger, more meaningful readings. It is the kind of foundational skill that quietly improves everything else.

A returning presence at StaarCon

Ben is no stranger to the StaarCon community. He presented at StaarCon 5 in January 2025, where he led Navigating the Lenormand Grand Tableau. That session offered attendees practical pathfinding techniques for working with all 36 Lenormand cards in the Grand Tableau format, a method that can feel overwhelming without a clear structure. Ben gave readers a roadmap for locating their client within the spread, planning a reading route, and navigating the complexity with confidence.

His return to the Live Track for StaarCon 6 reflects the kind of practitioner he is: someone who loves working with multiple systems, who is continually learning, and who finds genuine satisfaction in helping others do the same.

Where to find Ben between now and October

You can follow Ben on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads under the handle @libradoestarot. His Instagram at instagram.com/libradoestarot is a good place to see his work and stay connected between now and October.

About Ben

Ben Tomlin is a tarot reader, cartomancer, and astrologer who came to the cards as a teenager, introduced by his Nan, who gave him his first deck and book. He began reading for others in 2021 and has since expanded his practice to include Lenormand, Kipper, astrology, and charms, with ongoing explorations of the Oracle Belline and runes. Ben is passionate about understanding each divination system on its own terms and finding ways to combine their insights. He also supports new readers in developing their own practice through mentoring and guidance.

Forty Years with the Cards, and the Shadow Still Has Things to Say

Today we’re turning the spotlight on one of our presenters for StaarCon 6 and StaarCon 6 Virtual: Beth Conklin. If you’ve spent any time in the South Florida tarot scene, you almost certainly know her, and if you don’t yet, you’re in for a treat. Beth has been reading and studying tarot for more than 40 years, which means she was sitting with the cards long before most of the current wave of tarot creators were born. She teaches across Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast, and North Carolina, and her classes range from tarot to meditation to past life regression to witchcraft and a whole lot in between.

Beth is of Native American and Eastern European descent, and she’s a member of B.O.T.A. (Builders of the Adytum), the western mystery school founded on the Hermetic Qabalah and the Tarot Keys. That lineage matters, because it shows up in how she teaches: she’s the kind of reader who can hold a card, walk you through forty years of personal practice with it, and then quietly point you toward the deeper symbolic current running underneath. She’s a tarotist, a teacher, and an artist, and she’s a returning friend of StaarCon, having presented at StaarCon 2024 and StaarCon 5 before stepping back onto the Live Track this year. We’re especially excited about this one: Beth’s session is the very first session of StaarCon 6 to be streamed live, kicking off the weekend’s live programming on Friday afternoon.

What is she bringing to StaarCon 6?

On Friday, October 2nd at 2:00 pm on the Live Track, Beth is presenting Tarot Shadow Work, a session that uses the cards as a stepping stone into one of the most rewarding (and uncomfortable) corners of inner work.

What is the Shadow Self? Different traditions answer that question very differently. Jungian psychology, esoteric tarot, indigenous wisdom, and witchcraft all have something to say about it. Beth will walk you through several of those theories, and then turn the conversation toward what to actually do about it: how to recognize your shadow, how to begin healing the parts of yourself you’ve kept in the dark, and how to integrate them rather than exile them. The tarot does the work it’s always done best in Beth’s hands: it gives the conversation images and language, so the shadow has somewhere to show up.

Bring paper, a pen, and a tarot deck you trust. This is a hands-on session, and you’ll want a deck that’s willing to be honest with you.

Where to find Beth between now and October

Beth keeps a quieter footprint online than some of our presenters, which feels exactly right for a teacher whose work is rooted in classrooms, circles, and direct relationships. The best way to follow along is on Facebook, where she posts as Shamoness. You can find her at facebook.com/shamoness. If you’re in Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast, or western North Carolina, keep an eye on her page for upcoming classes; her workshops on tarot, meditation, divination, and past life regression fill up through word of mouth more than anything else.

About Beth

Beth Conklin has been reading and studying tarot for over 40 years. She is a member of B.O.T.A. Of Native American and Eastern European descent, she teaches classes in Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast, and North Carolina on a wide range of topics, including tarot, meditation, various other forms of divination, past life regression, witchcraft, and more.

Cards, Charms, and the Quiet Power of Intuition

Today we’re turning the spotlight on one of our Virtual Track presenters for StaarCon 6 and StaarCon 6 Virtual: Brenda Elizabeth, the reader, teacher, and deck creator behind Lady Lenormand.

Brenda Elizabeth is a Tarot and Lenormand reader and teacher, a Lenormand deck creator, a Yoga Nidra meditation instructor, a certified Hypnotist, and a CPA. She teaches a wide variety of spiritual subjects, and she believes we are all blessed with intuitive ability. Her mission is simple: help others develop the gifts they already carry.

Brenda’s path into divination is woven through her family. Her mother was a doctor and a medical intuitive who could diagnose patients within minutes, often without touching them, after other specialists had run round after round of tests with no answers. Watching that work shaped Brenda’s understanding of how knowledge and intuition can come together in service of healing.

She had been studying, reading, and teaching Tarot for many years when she discovered Lenormand at the NWTS conference in 2019, and she has been obsessed ever since. During the pandemic she created her first Lenormand deck, and she has since published four more decks along with two divination charm sets. Her decks are designed to be simple and easy to read, so the images and words can speak directly to the reader’s subconscious.

Beyond StaarCon, Brenda has been a featured Tarot and Lenormand presenter at the Witch City Tarot Gathering in Salem, Massachusetts. She also hosts free and low-cost intuitive development classes and free Yoga Nidra third eye meditation classes virtually throughout the year.

What She’s Bringing to StaarCon 6 and StaarCon 6 Virtual

At StaarCon 6, Brenda is presenting on the Live Track on Saturday – livestreamed on staarcast.com for virtual attendees. Her session:

A Tarot Journey into Oz

Go beyond the rainbow and explore this classic fairy tale using Tarot. This immersive workshop is perfect for those looking to blend creative storytelling with traditional tarot wisdom. Bring your favorite deck and your imagination for a truly enchanting experience.

Whether you are joining in person in South Florida or tuning in virtually through staarcast.com, expect a session that blends storytelling, intuition, and Tarot wisdom into one enchanting experience.

Where to find Brenda between now and October

Brenda hosts free and low-cost intuitive development classes, along with free Yoga Nidra meditation classes, virtually throughout the year. To keep up with her decks, charms, workshops, and class schedule, visit ladylenormand.com or find every link in one place at linktr.ee/ladylenormand.

About Brenda

Brenda Elizabeth is a Tarot and Lenormand reader, teacher, and deck creator with a practice that bridges the analytical and the intuitive. A CPA, Yoga Nidra meditation instructor, and certified Hypnotist, she has taught Tarot for many years and has been devoted to Lenormand since discovering it at the NWTS conference in 2019. She is the creator of five Lenormand decks and two divination charm sets through Lady Lenormand, a proud sponsor of StaarCon 6, each designed to be simple and visually direct so the cards can speak straight to the reader’s subconscious. Shaped early by her mother, a doctor and medical intuitive, Brenda’s work centers on the conviction that intuition is a gift we all carry. Her style is warm, grounded, and practical, creating space where students at any level leave with skills they can use right away and a renewed trust in their own inner knowing. Her intention is straightforward: help others develop the intuitive abilities they already have, and put them to work in everyday life.