The Tarot Guild of Australia is celebrating its 25 year Anniversary of Incorporation!
We are happy to announce that The Tarot Guild of Australia is celebrating its 25 year Anniversary of Incorporation which was granted to us on 27th September, 1994.
The Tarot Guild of Australia was in fact formed some two years earlier than this in 1992 but was not an Incorporated body until 1994
Research shows that the Tarot Guild of Australia was the first incorporated Tarot organisation to be formed followed by The Tarot Association of The British Isles in 2001 and the American Tarot Association in July 2008. We were also the venue for the world’s first ever Tarot Conference. I am sure you will all be proud of this history.
We are also proud that in the last year we have expanded our national footprint as we have welcomed our two new Groups created in Perth and Brisbane. Our special thanks go to Jo Watkins and Delma Brunello for taking on the role of Co-ordinator in their respective States.
Jennifer Houston, our Co-ordinator in Sydney over the last 10 years has recently resigned due to personal reasons and we are extremely grateful to Jen for creating a thriving and united Group in Sydney and to maintain interest and growth over such a long period of time is truly an amazing effort.
Fortunately, Molly Talbot, Jen’s number two for years has agreed to step up into the role as Sydney Group Co-ordinator. I very recently travelled to Brisbane and Sydney to present to these Groups and it was wonderful to see their growing numbers, passion, knowledge, and love of Tarot.
We have been able to breathe new life into our monthly events and workshops with some outstanding speakers presenting to our Groups in all States. Famous Tarot people like Liz Dean, Jessica Adams and Brigit Esselmont have been very well supported with speakers from our Tarot Guild of Australian Group Professional Members whom I wish to now sincerely thank for their valuable contributions. Our aim is to invite people to share their knowledge on varied subjects, primarily with a Tarot basis and to vary our presentations to appeal to people on different stages of their own Tarot journey.
The Guild also held a Tarot Education Day at the Abbotsford Convent which was open to the public. Thank you to all our Professional Members who volunteered to give lectures and to read on the day. The response was most encouraging and based on this we are planning to repeat the Day, with a revised program in 2020 and hopefully hold it here at the South Melbourne Community Centre.
During the year, we heavily invested in and have achieved the major goal of launching of our completely new interactive website. This was certainly not without many challenges and minor modifications are still taking place.
It would be very remiss of me to not sincerely thank Cheryl Ford, our very hardworking Web Mistress for her diligence and commitment, well beyond a volunteering role, in pulling this all together and making it happen.
We have also invested in new video and recording equipment to ensure that our monthly meetings can be recorded professionally, as our aim is to have these recordings broadcast online for Members all around Australia who are not able to attend meetings. Our longterm aim is to introduce live video broadcasts that will reach Members anywhere in the country, and even maybe overseas, in real time and then afterwards in catch up!
Our Membership decline, from two years ago has been well and truly reversed and has grown significantly by over 17% with a membership now of over 200 and trending much higher. This has had a most positive influence on our finances enabling us to keep our membership fees at the same level for three years.
On behalf of all our members, I would like to thank the Tarot Guild Committee for all their time and endeavour on your behalf. I am sure you have all noticed their friendliness and support. I am pleased that most of them are renominating for 2020 so the future is looking bright.
To those Committee members who are retiring or who have retired during the year, we thank you most sincerely for your time and effort on our behalf and wish you well.
During the next month you will receive your next copy of The Magician. Finding articles for each issue of The Magician has always been very challenging. Thank you to Matthew Farmer for editing the last three copies which I am sure you will agree have maintained a high level of quality content and presentation. For the next and subsequent issues, we have a new editor, Monique Fowler who recently joined the Committee and has volunteered to accept this important role.
However, you the members are the ones who know about Tarot and it is you we wish to write articles for us. I urge you to have a go. Everyone has a story that fits a Tarot card and Tarot is about stories. Monique is available to help you, just send her an email with your idea to editor@tarotguild.org.au
On the administrative and governance side of the Guild we have invested a considerable amount of time developing Position Descriptions together with operating procedures to ensure that anyone who joins the Committee, particularly as an Officer Bearer, has a very clear idea of what their responsibilities are and how to actually do the job.
This is a vital part of the smooth transitioning of continuity, with new people taking on Committee roles, without the need to “reinvent the wheels” from scratch.
Our Treasurer Naomi Towers, who is also Vice President, has continued to do a sterling job with our finances and has introduced a much improved detailed monthly reporting format, which makes the financial operations of the Guild so much clearer to understand and make good decisions with. We are healthy financial and certainly in very good hands.
As President, I must concern myself about a viable succession plan being in place for all positions and roles.
In this regard I ask that all of you consider the idea of becoming a Committee member, if not now, perhaps sometime in the future. Please feel free to ring me or any other Committee member to discuss, if you are interested.
If that is not a plausible request, then perhaps you may assist in other ways such as at your monthly meetings, helping with, setting up tables and chairs, catering etc. Please let your State Co-ordinator know you are willing to help.
In closing, I would just like to thank you, our members for showing your support of The Tarot Guild of Australia Inc. and for responding in such a positive manner to our rejuvenating initiatives and placing the Guild back on an onward and upward trend.
Warm regards
Anne Shotter
President & Founding Member
Tarot Guild of Australia Inc.
