The Fold Out
A Red Spread Reading Series
Asynchronous enrollment
Tuesdays, August 11 - Sept 15’ 26, 3:45 pm PST,
Live on Zoom, &/or watch asynchronously
Sliding scale from $420
A New Mapping of the World
In the spread is a divinatory form in which we hurl words into the world. It is a compositional art. Images, words, cards, all a gorgeous juxtaposition. A spread is a story we tell ourselves, a way we listen to the stories of our ancestors, a way the oracle whispers, sings, recites us a sonnet. Divination decidedly pronounces a politics of the future perfect. What-will merges into the has-happened. Its a paradox enlivening the ontological dead. Decolonization is versed in this vernacular.
What the telos of laying a spread? It’s lonely hands laying, looking for the card, the cards, that hold an otherwise way of living; a way to cope, a way to survive the present without resorting to violence.
A spread is a mapping of the underbelly of our social reality. These readers are rogue. We puncture the paradox prophecy presents as portal to a future that is feral, in that it’s unruly in its pursuit of possibility.
Map other ways of being, knowing, loving
All laid out, the spread is a politic that disavows any future constituted by the uneven forms of our collective suffering. It’s a militant, dedicated questioning. We are historians of the future tracking a geography beside the everyday.
The spread is thus a precarious space to theorize. To look for love, freedom, a future with fresh air and clean water, a lingering in lawlessness becomes a necessary enterprise. As readers we must be recalcitrant against the borders of settler state’s space-time.
In the fold is a communion with what could be, a container for beauty protected from terror. We present questions to the cards that frustrate answerability. Power lies where we throw questions and interrogate. To turn all our cards over would be to wander astray.
What we unfold in our spreads is a map like any other, laden with subjective views of the world. As a people we’ve always made maps, first making schematics of the night sky. Maps change with time. They must. Borders and boundaries are constantly in flux. Where politicians wage wars to expand the bounds of empire, artists can read in these maps wide-ranging stories of migration, cultural networks, social identity. You have to be willing to ask a stranger for directions.
What you’ll learn
A dynamic, generative approach to spread construction, and interpretation. A divinatory poetics that uses the oracular to direct the word. Over 6 weeks we will connect the oracular practice of laying cards with migratory movements, fundamentally difficult as well politically charged.
Who this class is for
Beginners and seasoned readers. Writers. Mental Health Practitioners. Artists. Counselors. Mentors. Creators working across disciplines. We will read and write together, toward practice transformation.
The Fold Out is for the rogue readers who want to trace the past-present-future paths beyond the colonized psychic space-time of imperial domination. This series will present clusters of spreads and writing exercises that, through thematic and aesthetic kinship, will map other ways of being, knowing, loving.
How this course works
“These classes not only taught me how to embrace intersectional approaches to tarot, but also was a great example in how to approach teaching and holding space as an educator.”
—Feven E.
A Red Spread Reading Series
The Red Read is committed to equitable access and honoring a diversity of lived experiences. A tiered tuition model invites each participant to reflect on their access to resources and choose a price point that feels appropriate — with integrity and without shame.
Honesty is the expectation here, regarding awareness and responsibility of your class status. No Misers! Abundance mindsets only!
The Red Read is against mastery and exploitation; nothing is required, but the more work you put in, the more you get out of the course. This is meant to be a transformative learning experience, not simply a skill-building or theory-refinement space, and requires your active participation, whether in discussions or on your own. Please be ready to step outside of western rationalism, extractive and scarcity mindsets, and linear time. Please be open to abundance, possibility, and intractability.
This model relies on community trust and mutual care. When those with greater financial flexibility choose higher tiers, it helps subsidize access for others. This is one way we practice solidarity and redistribution within our shared learning space. The aim is to welcome and be accessible to folks of all classes, and to foster an inter-class space of inquiry where all respect all.
Abundant Care Rate
$600 suggested rate
Choose this rate if you have abundant financial resources, access to wealth, or are able to give generously without financial strain. You help keep the work sustainable while honoring your own value! Once you purchase The Fold Out, please make an additional suggested donation of $150 to The Red Read.
Student Care
If needed, for accessibility, reach out by email for special alumni pricing rates.
Alternatively, If you’re experiencing financial hardship, are systematically marginalized, or otherwise please reach out.
If you’d like to access this rate, please use the coupon code COMMUNITY at check out.
-
WorldMap 3
-
An Introduction - What is the Spread?
Divination is a culture of questions - inherently anti-fascist.
-
WorldMap 3 pt. - Where in the World ?
Divination is a culture of questions - inherently anti-fascist.
-
WorldMap 3 pt. - Approaching the Question
Divination is a culture of questions - inherently anti-fascist.
-
-
A Subway Ride from Past to Present
-
System Map Set Up
Each stop on the brightly colored lines is indicated by a simple dot, with pale, neutral colors and white showing waterways and landmasses…
-
Color Coding our Symbolic Commuter Journey into An Emotional Underground.
Each stop on the brightly colored lines is indicated by a simple dot, with pale, neutral colors and white showing waterways and landmasses…
-
-
A Psychic's Weather Map
-
Lets Walk into the Weather
A Practice in mood. What if we could summon the wind and the rain? What words would we recite?
-
Poetic Expression to the Ethereal
A Practice in mood. What if we could summon the wind and the rain? What words would we recite?
-
Lightning Testimonies
A Practice in mood. What if we could summon the wind and the rain? What words would we recite?
-
Desagüe
A Practice in mood. What if we could summon the wind and the rain? What words would we recite?
-
Student Questions
A Practice in mood. What if we could summon the wind and the rain? What words would we recite?
-
Writing the Weather
A Practice in mood. What if we could summon the wind and the rain? What words would we recite?
-
Final Comments
A Practice in mood. What if we could summon the wind and the rain? What words would we recite?
-
Questions?
-
All classes will be live on Tuesdays at 3:45pm PST.
Class 1 - August 11
Class 2 - August 18
Class 3 - August 25
Class 4 - Sept. 1
Class 5 - Sept. 8
Class 6 - Sept. 15
Classes will be recorded in case you ever can’t make a class!
-
Forever! You’ll have 24/7 access to all course content as it’s released and a copy of your live cohort!
PLUS you get immediate access to the ongoing recorded classes, including lecture, prompts and exercises for each ongoing iteration.
-
Payment plans are available!
(scroll below to sign up)
Feel free to email with any other questions you may have about this course.
-
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. (students will get a discount code for the book after enrolling) 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 the course!
-
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)
-
This is my explicit foray into leading a creative writing container and so it will be very gentle, but great for emerging writers and poets. The writing will fold into the spread design to prime you all as prose architects.
-
I’ll be overviewing some thematic concepts in each session especially and then giving various prompts / time for to write and then we will continue in the following class turning to our cards more directly and explicitly. Its an A/B format of sorts.
Meet your instructor,
Christopher Marmolejo
I came to tarot as a queer, brown, de-tribalized native from an under-resourced community, already transgressing the status quo. Tarot sharpened that power, and in my work I teach you to do the same.
My background blends training in critical race theory, a Masters in Education, years of classroom teaching, and professional practice as both astrologer and diviner. I do not aim to reform colonial institutions but to cultivate thriving communities outside them.
In this work, education becomes liberation. I build safe, inclusive spaces where the spirit is welcomed. The Red Read expands our reading of tarot and our imagining of freedom, guiding you toward radical self-expression and the practice of liberation.
What my students have to say
A Red Spread Reading Series
The Red Read is committed to equitable access and honoring a diversity of lived experiences. A tiered tuition model invites each participant to reflect on their access to resources and choose a price point that feels appropriate — with integrity and without shame.
Honesty is the expectation here, regarding awareness and responsibility of your class status. No Misers! Abundance mindsets only!
The Red Read is against mastery and exploitation; nothing is required, but the more work you put in, the more you get out of the course. This is meant to be a transformative learning experience, not simply a skill-building or theory-refinement space, and requires your active participation, whether in discussions or on your own. Please be ready to step outside of western rationalism, extractive and scarcity mindsets, and linear time. Please be open to abundance, possibility, and intractability.
This model relies on community trust and mutual care. When those with greater financial flexibility choose higher tiers, it helps subsidize access for others. This is one way we practice solidarity and redistribution within our shared learning space. The aim is to welcome and be accessible to folks of all classes, and to foster an inter-class space of inquiry where all respect all.
Abundant Care Rate
$500 suggested rate
Choose this rate if you have abundant financial resources, access to wealth, or are able to give generously without financial strain. You help keep the work sustainable while honoring your own value! Once you purchase The Fold Out, please make an additional suggested donation of $150 to The Red Read.
Community Care Rate
40% OFF
Select this tier if you’re experiencing financial hardship, are systematically marginalized, or would not be able to access this offering otherwise. No explanation is needed. This is an invitation to receive with dignity and grace.
If you’d like to access this rate, please use the coupon code COMMUNITY at check out.