
The Fold Out
A Red Spread Reading Series
6-week intensive
November 5 - December 10, Wednesdays at 2pm PT
Live on Zoom, or watch asynchronously
Limited to 10 participants
Sliding scale: $210 - $500
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. Via 3 pairs of classes 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
“Your work on the tarot is truly revolutionary, unlike anything else out there. So blessed to learn from you💫”
—NAJI T.
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.
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.
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.
Questions?
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All classes will be live on Wednesdays at 2 pm PST.
Class 1 - Nov. 5
Class 2 - Nov. 12
Class 3 - Nov 19
Class 4 - Nov 26
Class 5 - Dec 3
Class 6 - Dec 10
Classes will be recorded in case you ever can’t make a class!
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Forever! You’ll have 24/7 access to all course content as it’s released and a copy of your live cohort!
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Payment plans are available!
(scroll below to sign up)
Feel free to email with any other questions you may have about this course.
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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. (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!
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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)

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 Thresholds 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. Thresholds 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.
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.
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.