TALKTALKTALK with James Jude Tarot: Finding Your People in LA
From Detroit Astrology to the 2nd Los Angeles Festival of Tarot: Why Local Connection Matters.
Before Los Angeles, I was an astrologer in Detroit—a city not exactly known for its astrology scene.
For years, my most meaningful conversations happened over screens or when I left the state for a conference. As a result, I don’t take for granted the opportunity to connect with my people in person. I also recognize this is a real privilege many cannot afford due to geography, health restrictions, or other reasons.
Perhaps this is why, soon after moving to Los Angeles, I started the first LA Astro Fest in 2025—the same year James Jude Tarot launched the Los Angeles Festival of Tarot.
As someone who’s in the middle of organizing my second Astro Fest, I know how much time, energy, and resources go into making these gatherings happen—especially in a trash economy!
Cutting to the chase: I’m incredibly proud of my friend for once again bringing some of the most celebrated tarot readers and thinkers to Los Angeles for the 2nd Los Angeles Festival of Tarot. I’m also thrilled to be reading this Saturday, June 6th, alongside an incredible roster, including the absurdly brilliant Christopher Marmolejo, author of Red Tarot: A Decolonial Guide to Divinatory Literacy.
Thanks to James’ hard work, we in Los Angeles get to study with occult icon and author, Laetitia Barbier, without having to travel to New York or Paris—among a wildly expansive and exciting lineup of speakers, readers, and panelists.
If you’re in Los Angeles and even vaguely into tarot, don’t sleep on this chance to find your people.
Vivi Henriette: Why do people love tarot? What is it about looking at tiny images on paper that people find so compelling? Is it comfort? Curiosity?
James Jude: People really connect with Tarot because it is a multiverse. You can carry the totality of human experience in your back pocket. It is both a lens through which we can see the scope of possibility and a mirror that reflects back to us the shadow of truth. I think when we consider possibility, we more often embrace hope, and when we encounter shadows, it can be frightening - but multiversal possibility holds despair as well as hope, just as the shadow can give us relief from too much exposure. The Tarot paths are limitless, for all practical purposes, and we all walk some version of these paths throughout our lives. Who doesn’t want to have the ability to lay out a path with purpose, reflection and consideration ... this is one of the most powerful things we can do with the cards.
Vh: Were you one of those kids who grew up around tarot? Do you remember when you encountered your first deck?
JJ: I love hearing people talk about going into a bookshop at 12 or 14 years old and discovering their first yellow box of RWS Tarot cards! That wasn’t me, though. I knew about Tarot at that age and saw advertisements for cards and Tarot books in the backs of comic books - next to ads for sea monkeys and x-ray vision glasses! For me, candle magic is the earliest thing I can remember exploring. I checked a children’s book on candle magic out from my elementary school library when I was in first or second grade. I spent years practicing spellcasting. It wasn’t until I was just out of college that I got my first Tarot deck: the William Blake Tarot.
Vh: You and I both created festivals in Los Angeles in 2025—you, the Festival of Tarot and me, the LA Astro Fest. What do you make of that? Do you think there’s a growing desire for in-person gatherings?
JJ: What do I make of that? We’re both crazy, LOL. I often think if I had pulled cards about it first, I would never have done this. But like The Fool, it was a path embarked on a whim and with a great deal of ignorance about what is involved to pull something like this off. It was Laetitia Barbier who suggested it to me, like a mischievous gothic imp whispering in my ear, “James, you should get some Tarot people together to have a talk at PRS one night and throw a party afterward - Tarot people like to have a good time!” And I was like, “Ok, why not?” I love that you and I both started these dual festival suns, rotating around each other and gathering momentum. You are my festival Gemini twin!
Vh: In addition to hosting the Los Angeles Festival of Tarot, you teach and give readings at TarotArts in South Pasadena. For the initiated, Tarot Arts is a tarot shop with offerings so vast and well curated it feels like an art gallery.
JJ: TarotArts in South Pasadena is a queer-owned, independent, family business. The proprietors, Phillip Gibson and William Toro, are passionate about Tarot and the divinatory arts. They love art and artists, and seekers and writers and creators ... they don’t just stock decks from the big publishers, they support independent deck makers as part of their core mission. They were an online business for 8 years before opening the brick and mortar location 3 years ago ... they’re committed to the cards, for sure. One of the things they wanted to do with a physical shop is to have open display copies of all the decks and big tables on the shop floor so you can browse, surround yourself with stacks of decks and take your time to explore them sincerely before committing to a deck without ever seeing all the cards, touching them, feeling into them. I owe a great deal to both Phillip and William for believing in me and bringing me in house as a reader, teacher and event programmer.
Vh: Additionally, you personally have a massive tarot collection.
JJ: I do have a massive Tarot collection. I didn’t intend it to be that way at first, I was just making up for lost Tarot time, I think - consuming all the information and perspectives I could get my hands on. These days, I’m much more discerning in my acquisitions and I’m far more engaged with exploring and collecting historical decks. But there are also so many incredible artists making decks today, with a constantly refreshed perspective, it’s hard to hold back. But I also just don’t have the space.
Vh: All of that is a set-up to ask, what is your favorite deck right now and why?
JJ: Oh, that was. set up?! LOL. I have a really hard time with favorites, because there’s never just one. But right now, I’d have to say it’s the Thomson-Leng Tarot. I have an affinity for promotional and advertising decks, and it’s a 1935 promotional deck from the UK. Full 78-card RWS clone with many very odd twists. My friend Krys Swordstone wrote about it in the first issue of The Discombobulator last year. It’s a very difficult deck to find an original in good condition. Mine was gifted to me by a very sweet, dear friend just last night!
Vh: From a historical perspective, is there an obscure piece of tarot history you’d like to share?
JJ: Obscure Tarot history ... hm, maybe that T: The New Tarot for the Aquarian Age by John Cooke and Rosalind Sharpe (Sausalito, CA. 1969.) is an entirely channeled deck, delivered through a Ouija board and automatic writing by an entity known as The One. It’s a whole system, perhaps the first Tarot with a twist! Is that obscure?
Vh: Getting back to the Los Angeles Festival of Tarot, what was the initial inspiration for the festival and has that vision evolved between years?
JJ: Yea, the inspiration was that gothic French imp whispering “Tarot party” in my ear, LOL. And yes, it has evolved greatly since last year, expanding to include rituals, tea ceremonies, Tarot games, a Tarot shadow puppet performance that will blow your mind, live music.
We’ve partnered with The Rebis to publish a Festival zine.
We have a greatly expanded esoteric market with Witchy Ways, all in addition to the signature panel conversation, talks, workshops and original Tarot art and rare cards exhibition which is now happening not only at PRS but at TarotArts, too.
Oh yea, and parties!
Vh: What can people expect from the festival? What part are you most excited about?
JJ: I am excited by everything! I can’t pick one thing. It’s all very cool. So, just like when reading the cards, expect the unexpected ... be open to surprises and embrace the unknown ... go to everything you can, there are offerings for everyone. If you just want to have a good time, you can do that - have fun. If you want to be a student and embrace learning, you can do that. If you’re like me and knowledge-seeking IS having fun, then I’d call you an adept, and you’re in the right place.
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LATER THIS MONTH….
LEARN ASTROLOGY! MAKE FRIENDS!
If you’re looking for a group of likeminded astro seekers, Club Astro is your place!
We meet weekly to explore the sky in real time and make sense of what is unfolding in our lives and in the collective. This is your chance to ask me questions about your chart, share stories, and connect with a cohort of fellow astrologers.
Club Astro members also get exclusive perks:
Discounted astrological readings & mentorship
Secret invites
Discounted tickets to the Los Angeles Astro Salon and the LA Astro Fest.
Our next gathering is Thursday, June 18th, at 7pm EDT / 4pm PDT.