The inaugural session of the Reader’s Studio belonged to Robert Place, who explained and elaborated on his personal three-card reading style. With said technique, Bob has managed to do the impossible: provide a fresh, intelligent take on this useful but ultimately well-worn Tarot practice.

Three card readings are a classic, if you will. Everyone and their mom does three card readings, and with good reason: they’re easy, you can make them up on the spot, they’re succinct, and, when done right, can give you a boatload of information (in fact, if you’re Wald, you’ll argue that they can give you more, and more pertinent, info than, say, a ten card reading). The problem is, three card readings are blase, and can easily cross the line into “cop out”, if you’re not careful. But just when you think you’ve got them covered, along comes Bob to switch them up, bringing his artistic chops into the mix. With Bob’s technique, you will learn to read the structure of the images, before the symbolism. What do the pictures look like, compositionally? What are the figures doing? What does that tell you? Take your “meanings”, such as they are, and plop them on top of that. Don’t just read the cards, read the pictures on the cards. The dude on the card in the middle is looking at that thing on the card on the left; or maybe the dude in the middle gazes out at you, holding you accountable for everything, while the shapes flanking it fly off in opposite directions… what does it all mean?

That kind of thing.

Yeah, I love Bob.

More Bob goodness: I have here four prints, all of which will have to go in the writing room. They are:

1. A Bob-ified Rhiannon, complete with her three birds from the Underworld and her burning heart

2. Bob’s take on the Gwragedd Annwn, Welsh fair folk whose doors swung open to welcome (you know, in that fae sense, which is to say, quite sinisterly) humans once a year (on New Year’s morning)

3. and 4. The Wheel of Fortune (”Fate”, in this case) and Temperance from the vampire deck I mentioned in my last post. Bob tells me that one of the women featured on the latter card was modeled on Jane Morris.

Speaking of which, here’s a little something about said vampire deck:

The primary theme for the trumps in this deck is Bram Stoker’s DRACULA. Stoker’s biographer, Barbara Belford, points out that Stoker was aware of the Tarot and seems to have based many of the characters in DRACULA on Tarot trumps. Therefore it is a natural fit. However, Place also draws from the rich history of vampire lore and contemporary contributions added by modern cinema. Place sees the modern Vampire of pop culture as an ancient mythological figure who has covertly entered a culture that is consciously attempting to cut itself off from Myth.

Now, I ask you: how frickin’ cool is Bob?