Learn Tarot Online
Through Decolonial Divination
I teach for those who know that at the core of divination is the ethic of being in good relations as an embodied practice.
For you if you read for others, or aspire to. For the queers (off-center, oblique, opaque), feminists, astrologers, diviners, seers, conjurers, who are serious about reading tarot in a way that speaks to the conditions we are living in now.
The readers in this room want a practice with fleshy depth. They want a practice that holds up for the person across the table, a practice that addresses the world that each walks back into.
Maybe you're one of these:
The reader with clients: You read for others, and realize that little book of meanings stops helping when a real person is sitting in front of you.
The reader going pro: You want your practice to become your work, and you're not sure how to hold a client with care and clarity.
The queer reader: Your readings are unruly, recalcitrant and tangential. You find yourself bending the “standard” meanings of the cards so that your practice speaks to the way you move through the world.
The feminist diviner: You want readings that undercut and resist patriarchy. You want to call on the cards to recognize the women and femmes that counter the victim-blaming that is inherent to the larger culture.
A total beginner: You’ve perhaps a reading from a friend, or a professional and felt its impact resonate ever since. Or you have just bought your own deck but still feel like you’re not fully getting “it.” You are ready for trusted guidance and a unique approach.
CLASSES
Try it out for Free! Sign up for a mini-version of this Lunar Tarot, a class exclusive to the Vault sent straight to your inbox each week, below:
Questions?
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Simply, though it is never simple, decolonization about undoing colonization. It is both doing the work of ruination-of divesting, deconstructing and dismantling empire and imperial order with its incumbent ways of knowing and being. It is also about re-Indigenization. Indigenization moves beyond tokenistic gestures of recognition or inclusion to meaningfully change practices and structures. Sovereignty, power and balance is restored to Indigenous peoples, and Indigenous ways of knowing and doing are perceived, practiced and uplifted.
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Truly, so honored to be here with you <3
In terms of places to start, here are my recommendations in order of cost / commitment:
My Podcast Guest Appearances—completely free, completely accessible. Hear me talk with other practitioners about the red read and get familiar with my voice. No pressure needed to spend money.
My Book: Red Tarot: A Decolonial Guide to Divinatory Literacy, with a Penguin Random House imprint you can get it worldwide in print, digital or hear me narrate the audio version :)
The Newsletter—my beehiiv newsletter, all about the Tarot! There are some paid posts and some free ones. A paid subscription is only $6/month :)
The Vault Membership —you will learn a ridiculous amount about the Tarot as I frame it, be able to dive into 1-2 live monthly Zoom workshops with me, you’ll get access to a classes sent to you on a set schedule, a private library, and be able to connect with your fellow students and readers, for only $33 per month.
Thresholds - The comprehensive decolonial divination course. This is an 11 week course, paired with my book, that completely covers every single card in the tarot. Stay tuned for the next round!
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Yes —The Vault, Thresholds and Tenz are my most comprehensive courses for beginner and intermediate readers, particularly geared toward reading professionally.
If you are interested in private mentorship, please reach out!
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Yes! Check out more about my first tarot book here <3
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A methodology and epistemology. A red read applies a decolonial interpretation and application to the tarot and divination. It is a way of reading that is embodied, critical, and spiritually nourishing. This practice seeks to repair our relationship with all of our relations: the cosmos, the roots, the oceans, the elements and on. It is trauma-informed, empowering, inclusive and feminist. It is honest, caring and compassionate and courage in its witness.
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I am a very open, humorous and welcoming teacher. I am deeply committed to nurturing my students growth and offering bespoke feedback that ensures no one gets left behind. I try to mix the “high” with the “low” so that more theoretical or critical concepts are made more example through popular culture references.
Beyond that I am deeply musical, an old-soul, trans (very femme) and very tangential and very loving of my people. All of these qualities will definitely through when we work together.
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You will need to download and install Zoom to participate in our classes. I highly recommend purchasing Red Tarot: A Decolonial Guide to Divinatory Literacy to accompany your learning experience. The only other thing needed is your own tarot deck of course! Let me know if you need any recommendations, or feel free to check out my blog to see the variety of decks I work with regularly. No other material or experience is required for any course!
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Well first, any one that calls to you! But here’s a list of some of my favorites:
The Lineages of Change Tarot
Mahogany Tarot
Smith-Waite Deck, Centennial Edition
Afro-Avatar Tarot
Tarot Yohualli Ehécatl
Pagan Otherworlds Tarot
Botan Tarot
Star Spinner Tarot
Terra Volatile Tarot
The Next World Tarot
The Fyodor Pavlov Tarot
The Camena Tarot (Majors only)
Learn from Christopher Marmolejo, the author of Red Tarot: A Decolonial Guide To Divinatory Literacy, published by North Atlantic Books.
Red Tarot has been featured in the University of Denver’s graduate creative program. Christopher has been a key partner with the University of British Columbia’s Tarot For Decolonization initiative, facilitating several workshops at the University on the intersections of tarot, indigeneity, gender and sexuality, and decolonial storytelling. Christopher has lectured and taught taromancy and decolonial divination for institutions and conferences such as New York University, Arizona State University, the California Institute of Integral Studies, the Invisible College, the Philosophical Research Society, the Occult Humanities Conference, the Los Angeles Festival of Tarot and New Orleans Poetry Festival.
Christopher is currently serving as guest-editor for the Rebis, a literary anthology celebrating tarot, art & creative writing, focusing on arcanum XVIII: the Moon, out later this year.
Their practice of red reading shows how a decolonial approach to divination, rooted in queer indigeneity, can unsettle dominant narratives of futurity and enact alternatives grounded in relation, collectivity and the still-possible. They have students around the world tarot and the art of divination since 2020.
I frame Tarot as a political praxis of liberatory literacy.
Red light makes each card a prism of poetic, political praxis. Tarot makes us literate in the imagery offered in augury, but a red read enacts a divinatory consciousness that is critical, transformative & transgressive.
What my students have to say