In November of this year the inaugural Northwest Astrology and Tarot Salon will be held at the Breitenbush Conference Center, near Detroit, OR. (More information about the Salon can be found here – nwsalon.com. ) Founder and Hostess for this event is Toni Gilbert. I have known Toni as an Internet friend for several years. She is an artist, author, editor, transpersonal counselor with a background in holistic nursing. Her written works include many published articles, along with two books – “Messages From The Archetypes”, 2004, White Cloud Press, and “Gaining Archetypal Vision”, 2011, Schiffer Publishing. Toni was founding director of the Oregon Holistic Nurses Association, and editor for the Alternative Journal of Nursing.
Toni has owned a “summer cabin” (yes, the cabin in the photo above!) at Breitenbush (but on National Forest land) for the past twelve years. She discovered Breitenbush in the 70’s”, but became involved with the people and projects there in 1998. In “The Healing Art of Tarot”, Toni writes about the work she did at one of Breitenbush’s annual retreats (http://www.tonigilbert.com/articles/Healing-Art-of-Tarot.pdf). Some of the Salon Conversations will be taking place in Toni’s cabin!
The subject that Toni will be leading conversations on will be “Gaining Archetypal Vision”. Toni has seen patterns in our world since her twenties beginning with the poetry-music of Bob Dylan, she wondered why he spoke to her so profoundly. Later in her studies, she discovered that Carl Jung also shared this way of perceiving.
With many years of esoteric studies Toni began to explore Tarot cards at age 50. She immediately realized that the cards mirrored her own thoughts, knowing that they were drawing on her own unconscious mind’s contents. With the help of a cosmic synchronicity, she sees the cards as a nighttime dream laid out to be interpreted. She did five years of intense intellectual and experimental study before using them in her alternative nursing practice. She could see that they were the perfect healing art to use with wellness counseling and that nursing would benefit. It was such a good tool that she felt the need to write her first book (“Messages from the Archetypes”), and began to use them in a holistic nursing venue that she termed an alternative nursing practice. Toni has retired her nursing license, but continues to offer her wisdom as a transpersonal counselor using the tools mentioned on her personal web site (www.tonigilbert.com), including guided imagery, energy work, meditation, Tarot Counseling, dream interpretation, essential oils, expressive arts, and mind/body consciousness.
I am so looking forward to in depth conversations on the archetypes, with the unending little turns in the road that this can take us to. Breitenbush is a lovely area, deep in the forest that lends … itself to introspection, and a grounded connection with life. As Hostess, Toni is gifting the Tarot world with an incredible “time warp” of past/present/future. I fully expect to be leaving Breitenbush with a fresh perspective not only of astrology and Tarot, and how they can work together, but of the personal work that I am doing.
A final thought – this is the link to “Astrology, Tarot, and Maslow: Using the Esoteric Arts For Self-Development”, written by Toni, based on work done by Christine Payne-Towler – http://www.tonigilbert.com/articles/AHP-Perspective-JUNE-2011a.pdf,
© 2000 – 2014 Bonnie Cehovet
Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.
Perspectives On Tarot 