By Cindy Wilson
Since I was elected the ATA's VP of Education over a year ago, my big project was to establish a Mentors and Protégées group where Tarot students could learn from Tarot elders as well as swap information about spreads, decks, how-to’s covering topics such as in reading in public, and other topics of interest with one another.
To date, we have 27 protégées and 9 volunteer mentors. This group started nearly in tandem with the ATA's Members-Only Forum project. Using the forum allows a permanent record to be maintained in the event of questions and provides a good history for mentor and protégée to reflect back upon.
Forum topics include: In The News, Ask the Board, Fun and Games, Reading Techniques & Spreads, Tarot and Numerology, and more!
Each mentor has their own private sub-forum area under their name where only they and a particular protégée can email and talk between them. There is also Mentor and Protégée Lounges for discussions. Mentors can discuss topics with other mentors as can the protégées with others. More sub-forums are planned, too.
In the few months the forum has been available to the Mentors and Protégées group, I have watched the volume of emails jump dramatically! I know both the VP of Outreach, Sheri Harshberger, and the ATA techies have worked very hard in sorting out the sub-forums, procedural issues, and establishing these areas. Kudos and a great deal of thanks!
Please consider joining the Mentors and Protégées group. For Protégées, you learn from folks who have been reading for more years than they would like to admit. They are a wealth of information. Mentors learn as much from protégées, too. They offer a fresh look and ideas. It’s a win-win situation and many long friendships are the result.
We are especially in need of more mentors. If you are an ATA member who has been reading for years and looking for an exciting way to pass along your knowledge, please consider joining us. There are fewer things so rare, precious and exciting to offer to another than your experience and you’d helping the next generation of readers. Come join us!
Contact VP of Education Cindy Wilson at vpeducation@ata-tarot.com for more information.