We’re slowly coming to the end of the StaarCon 5 spotlight series, but today we’ve got another exciting guest! If you’re just tuning in, I’ve been covering headliners and presenters.
Who’s headlining, you might ask?
- Siddharth Ramakrishnan
- Cardsy B
I’ll grab some other folks along the way, too, like Mitchell Osborn and Katrina Wynne! And we’ll be sure to check in with the conference’s host, Christiana Gaudet.
If you haven’t heard about StaarCon yet, then let me just tell you that it’s a divination-themed conference. You can attend in-person or online. Either way, it’ll be filled with tons of awesome workshops from great presenters.
Speaking of those presenters, let me tell you a little bit about Lisa Papez.
Lisa Papez
Lisa Papez is an author, tarot educator, tarot deck creator, and YouTube content creator whose work has always been founded on her passion for self-worth and personal empowerment: the common threads that connect everything she does.
For over twenty-five years, Lisa has been working with the tarot for herself and others. She is intensely passionate about making tarot accessible for everyone as she believes it is one of the most powerful tools available for accessing greater self-awareness and leveraging personal growth. Because learning such a comprehensive system can be overwhelming, Lisa’s work is focused on providing innovative methods that both new and existing tarot enthusiasts can use to deepen their relationship with this empowering tool.
Alright, you know how these spotlight articles work, right? I ask some questions, people answer, we all read and get to know them a little better and the world becomes a slightly more magickal place. Let’s get to it.
Q&A
What’s the quick story of who you are, what divination methods you specialize in, and how you got started on your spiritual path?
I always find it intimidating to summarize who I am. I'm a woman of many passions and an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I like to call myself a hobby squirrel. I take an interest in something and sometimes—okay, maybe often—obsessively deep-dive into it, but then the next sparkly hobby comes along, and I bounce off in a new direction. At 47, you'd think I'd have settled down some in this regard, but not so much. Somehow, though, tarot is different. Once it grabbed hold of me, I grabbed hold of it right back and I've never let it go.
When I was nineteen, a friend offered to give me a tarot reading, and I leapt at the opportunity. I can still vividly remember the reading itself, the deck she used, and the magical experience of having someone peer into my soul the way that she did. I had to know EVERYTHING. I bought a deck for myself and carried it with me everywhere. I practiced… a lot. I offered to read for anyone and everyone I knew. I threw cards down on dirty dining room tables at twenty-four-hour diners, on the floor at friends' homes, and during the dessert course of fancy dinners. I used it for my personal life and I shared it with anyone in my proximity. I was hooked.
Deck designed by Lisa
I discovered YouTube sometime in 2016 and found that people were making videos about tarot, and was delighted to find folks sharing their love of it with one another. I lurked for a long time, watching videos, learning about new decks on the market and how people were using tarot in their practice. Sometime in 2017, I started participating in live-stream discussions, and by the summer of 2018, I'd created my own YouTube channel all about tarot. That little corner of the internet, which many of us affectionately call TarotTube, became an absolute utopia for me. I finally had a space where I could nerd out about tarot with other people, and it was (and still is) the best thing ever. I called my channel Supportive Tarot because of the ways that Tarot has always been a supportive influence in my life, and I eventually renamed the channel to my own name - mostly so I felt like I could have the flexibility to talk about whatever I wanted. Spoiler alert: I'm still talking about tarot.
I'm definitely a tarot girl through and through, although I do love working with oracles and the Lenormand system, as well as runes, coins, pendulums and more. Honestly, nothing excites me more than trying out a new spin on an old system or creating my own. Earlier this year, one of my best friends and I created a comprehensive dice-casting divination system using a seven-piece set of gaming dice (like the kind you use to play D&D) and that's become a staple in my practice as well!
Can you give me a teaser of what you’ll be teaching at StaarCon 5?
My path has always involved balancing my nerdy desire to understand HOW tarot works and how to apply it practically with my belief in the magic of divination. I've had too many unexplainable experiences, as both a tarot reader and a querent, to think we can button it up with just a single neat explanation… although, goodness knows, I've tried! In truth, many of us have felt as though reading intuitively is something reserved for a special subset of people. But, I have learned that anyone - even the most grounded and practical of us - can learn to move expertly through the vast open sandbox playground of our intuition. My talk, Suspending Disbelief, is about leveraging what you know about yourself to explore what lies at the edges - or just beyond - your comfort zone so that you can tap into the magic of tarot.
Are there any resources (including your own works) you would recommend so that people can be more prepared for your workshop(s)?
Nope! I love meeting people precisely where they are.
You don't have to be at any particular level in your divination practice to get something out of my workshop. The point is that anyone, at any point in their journey, can learn to work with cards intuitively. It helps if you are familiar with the tarot, but that's about it. With that said, I am quite proud of my recently published book Unlocking the Tarot: Create Your Own Keys, and I am always happy to recommend it to people who want to build a strong personal association with every card in the tarot.
What’s your most memorable experience at a festival?
When I think of tarot conferences, I have to say that my most memorable experiences were getting to meet my tarot heroes or hear them present: people like Rachel Pollack, Barbara Moore, Mary K. Greer, Benebell Wen, and so many more than I could name. I spent the entirety of the first conference I attended being absolutely spellbound. But I'm also terribly shy. People find that hard to believe because I'm such a chatterbox on YouTube, but it's true! So, if you spot me wandering the conference and want to say hi - please do! I'd love to connect with folks.
Who has been highly influential in your own spiritual growth?
Lisa and her wife, Peggy.
Honestly, the person who has been the most influential with regard to my personal and spiritual growth is my wife, Peggy. Not only does she support everything I do (she's my biggest cheerleader), but she has always been the person who can see right into my soul. She's taught me to see my own goodness and potential and is constantly showing me who I truly am, even—perhaps especially—when I doubt myself. She shows me what confidence and looking the world in the face looks like and is a huge inspiration.
Aside from your own, what workshop are you most looking forward to attending at StaarCon 5?
Gosh, there are so many wonderful presenters this year! I'm so grateful that the talks will be available online as well because these conferences always go by so fast. If I get a chance, I'd love to catch any of the talks by Marion C. Kirk - she is a powerhouse of personality and so knowledgeable about astrology, so her Decan series is sure to be incredible! I'm also stoked to see Siddharth Ramakrishnan's talk. I've had the opportunity to hear him present before. I am currently reading his new book, The Neuroscience of Tarot, and know he'll be offering brilliant insights into the role our brain plays in reader/querent interactions. I also am really looking forward to Christiana Gaudet's Divination and Poetry and Kristine Gorman's 5th Element Tarot Spread talks!
What’s the best place for people to find out more about you?
The best place to get to know me is my YouTube channel, youtube.com/@Lisa_Papez where I usually post a couple of videos every week. I also run a Facebook group called Supportive Tarot, which is jam-packed with awesome people having incredible discussions about tarot and divination and, outside of YouTube, is where I spend most of my social media time. I have an Instagram account @lisapapez, but I have to admit that Instagram is not a platform I have ever been able to fully wrap my head around, so I post a bit there, but always feel a little out of step.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I love the way that working with different tarot decks with different perspectives expands my understanding of the cards. I have a personal collection of over 250 tarot and 100 oracle decks, and there are many more that have moved in or out of my collection over the years! I actually hang my collection on the wall in bags to save storage space.
And then… earlier this year, I fulfilled a long-held dream and created and published my first tarot deck, Unicorn's Journey Tarot. Designing my own tarot deck was an exercise in diving deep into my understanding of tarot and designing every card so that the artist I commissioned could bring each one to life the way I envisioned it.
She’s not kidding! Here are some of her decks on the wall.
But, creating this deck was mostly about a deck out into the world that focused on self-worth and self-discovery. It's available now on my Etsy shop at https://supportivetarot.etsy.com and I'm so proud of it!
The NSFW version…
My wife and I also just recently successfully funded the Kickstarter campaign for our collaborative tarot deck, Sassy Dragons Tarot. Sassy Dragons Tarot is a deck that has the interpretations printed right on the cards along with adorable watercolor RWS-themed artwork with adorable dragons. This deck really captures my Peggy's sassy-but-empowering voice, which is why it had to come in both a clean language and a much more Peggy-like NSFW (Not Safe For Work) edition! Sassy Dragons Tarot is in production now and due to hit my shop in the spring. Honestly, creating tarot decks has been such a rewarding experience and was the highlight of my year.
But wait, there’s more!
Want to see what Lisa will be presenting this year at StaarCon? Click on the banner below…
More about StaarCon 5
StaarCon 5 is a multi-track hybrid tarot, divination, and metaphysics conference that will take place on January 24, 25, and 26, 2025.
The conference will be held in person at Palm Beach County’s newest hotel, Delta by Marriott at Palm Beach International Airport, and online on the Accelevents Events Management Platform.
This upcoming StaarCon will be my first. I’m thrilled to not only attend, but also to be able to give a couple of workshops myself!
If you’re interested in learning more about the event, be sure to check it out on the Facebook group, StaarCon Community, as well.
Aerik Arkadian 
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