Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   Today’s post is a reflection on my experiences performing Tarot Readings at an Oktoberfest event this past weekend!   So, I will begin by pulling off the band-aid straight away.   The event definitely did not go as well as I would have liked, and the bad far outweighed the good.   However, I want to give an honest and nuanced reflection, so I will begin with the positives of this experience.

Firstly, the Lacawac Sanctuary, where the event was held, is an absolutely gorgeous place that I would like to return to for hiking down the line at some point, and the weather was mostly a very lovely Autumnal day.   I also loved getting to see all of the children in costumes and handing out candy, especially since kids sadly do not really trick or treat in my neighborhood.   Finally, for the good, the new clients that I performed Readings for were all truly lovely people, so I am beyond grateful to have met them!   

Now, onto the negatives.   My husband, Andrew, and I drove out a distance to get to the event, and we were not clear on exactly where within the Sanctuary the event was taking place, as the Sanctuary is a very large place.   The directions on where to set up were very unclear, but with the help of some other vendors, we found our way, so I am very grateful to the vendors who helped us out.   The setup process this time around was a bit easier, as we had done one event before, and the vendors next to my space kindly helped us get the canopy up.   I even had a beautiful new Tarot Reading Mat that was made for me by my amazing best friend, Daisy (which was an ideal addition to my setup, so thank you, Daisy).   That being said, I have mentioned these positive things in the negatives section because it was during setup that we really began to feel ill at ease.   Andrew and I felt ill at ease because it was then that we noticed that all of the vendors performing various types of Readings were being told to set up in the same area.   Now, I was a bit uncertain about this, as I was under the impression that the Readers would be placed throughout the event space, so that we were not actively competing with one another.   When this was not the case, I felt a sense of dread overtake me.

Of course, I attempted to keep my spirits up as much as possible.   I did get to Read for some very lovely people, as I mentioned above, and I attempted to enjoy the lovely Autumn day.   That being said, I felt quite trapped in my location, as I had to be there to perform Readings when people passed by.   This is the exact opposite way I felt at Pagan Pride, as then I felt so uplifted that I did not want to leave my stall.   I also felt very bad for some of the other Readers, as I do not think they even got as many Readings as I did, and I did not have very many myself.

While I understand that sometimes the day working an event is not as good as others, and I did not expect to have the same level of success as I did at Pagan Pride, this seemed to be more than just an off day.   The energy of the event felt quite stifling, and my husband even noted after the event ended that it seemed as if the Nature Spirits and Fae were unhappy with the heavy energy that was happening in their space.   To be honest, I think that very well may have been the case.   

At the end of the day, I am glad that I had this experience of performing Readings at an event that was not my cup of tea, as this taught me a lot.   I now know what I do not want in an event, and that sometimes we simply do not energetically align with the way an event is being handled.   It is the way an event is handled that will ultimately attract people to the event, and this time, some of the people who attended were beyond rude.   I had a woman say straight to my face that my Readings were overpriced and that she doubted I could tell her anything about her life!   Now, I respect anyone who is a skeptic or who does not want to have a Reading, but this was quite the slap in the face when all I said was ‘hello’ with a smile when she walked towards my stall.   I did not even reply to her statement, as I was too shocked to speak, but I will not lie, it did hurt!  I did not know if I would even share that in this reflection post, but as it was clearly still on my mind, I felt I should mention it.

So, yes, this was a great learning experience!   While I am grateful to have had the opportunity to vend, and I want to thank my new clients whom I Read for, and some of the kind other vendors at the event, it was not a good day for me, unfortunately.   I hope you have enjoyed reading this honest reflection of a not-so-great day.   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The picture at the top of the post is a photo of my setup at the event.            

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