ARCHE/ARCANUM: An Embodied Journey Through the Tarot's Major Arcana

Taking inspiration from Jung, Hillman, Costa and Jodorowsky the 22 cards of the tarot’s major arcana can be seen as an archetypal map – a menu of ancestral image-meanings, patterned across human cultures with incredibly deep holdings on our souls. To embody a card of the tarot is to consciously enact the archetype and allow oneself to connect with the enlivening energies that it represents. Our journey will begin with the fool (boundless energy, chaos and total freedom) and end with the world (realization, totality, unification).
Our journey will be enacted as participants interpret songs and verbal instructions given by facilitator. It will take us 2 hours. During this time no participant may talk. Expression will be non-worded and will include: breath, body, song, movement, grunts, laughter, crying, gibberish, objects, etc. There will be introductions and conclusions to this journey where talking will be allowed.
This event is modeled off a short-form LARP (live action role play) called SUPERREALISM by Lauri Lukka. The structure of the LARP is retained, but the content is highly modified to fit the content of the tarot. This experience requires participants to arrive at the beginning all together and commit to the entirety of the 4 hours. You will have options to opt-out of anything once you begin, but participants must begin together. Doors will close 10 minutes after the hour and late participants will not be allowed entry.
The structure of the event is as follows:
• Arrivals (10 minutes). Stretching, journaling, conversing as we wait for everyone to arrive
• Overview (20minutes). Opening agreements, and general information about the journey will be given
• Workshop (45 minutes). The aim is to warm up and gain a sense of the key mechanics of the journey.
• The Journey (2 hours). The journey consists of 22 scenes. Each scene is 1 of the elements of the major arcana (which corresponds to 1 song from a playlist).
• Debrief (20 minutes). It is important to leave sufficient time for debriefing. However, more comprehensive debriefing is warmly welcomed.
–🌾— PRACTICALS DETAILS —🌾–
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Price: Price is tiered based on an sliding scales of income/subsistence and ranges from $20-40
Covid Policy: We will follow CDC protocol regarding covid isolation and engagement. If any participant has symptoms of covid (i.e. cold symptoms), we ask you to please take a home-test and if you test positive you cannot attend the program. If you test negative, and you are sick, we ask you to still wear a mask (as tests can deliver false negatives). For everyone else, masks are optional.
Cancellation Policy: Refunds are available up to 30 days before the event - minus a $20 processing fee. After this time we are unable to provide a refund for the event. Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors.
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About the Deep Play Institute The Deep Play Institute is a nonprofit organization committed to exploring life’s deepest questions through transformative play. DPI’s facilitators – therapists, artists, coaches, and philosophers – aim to use play to bring people into an experiential questioning of what it means to exist. Each program that DPI runs is a unique container, creatively constructed and inspired by practices that include: Gestalt therapy, Process Work, Psychodrama, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Tavistock Group Relations, Relational Psychoanalysis, Authentic Relating, Nonviolent Communication, Circling, coaching, performance art, contact improvisation, experimental theater, LARPs, surrealism, existential games, and various schools of meditation.

Aaron Finbloom is a philosopher, artist and pedagogue. He is the co-founder of The School of Making Thinking (SMT) and the founder & director of The Deep Play Institute (DPI). His practice involves expanding transformative inquiry through games, performance art and structured play. With training in Circling, Authentic Relating, and Psychodrama, he also facilitates experimental individual and group sessions inspired by these practices. Finbloom has presented works internationally at venues which include: The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Gallery 151 (New York), Maschinenhaus Kulturbrauerei (Berlin), UNAM (Mexico City), and MainLine Theatre (Montreal). He holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities & Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, and is currently teaching Philosophy at the City College of New York and The University of Portland. finblooming.com

Host or Publisher The Deep Play Institute