StaarCon 5 Recap

You’ve heard me talk about StaarCon a lot these past couple of months. I did spotlight articles with some of the headliners and presenters. But now that it’s over, it’s time to talk about the experience itself.

Pixie Arcana… StaarCon’s mascot

Selene and I had the privilege to attend last month, plus I got to present a couple of workshops… so I’m going to tell you all about it!

Pick Your Presence

StaarCon is a multi-track hybrid tarot, divination, and metaphysics conference. That’s a fancy way of saying a few things:

• There are multiple workshops going on simultaneously
• There are a bunch of people talking about woo-woo or adjacent topics
• You can attend virtually or in-person

In 2025 the conference was held from January 24 – 26 at the Delta by Marriott near Palm Beach International Airport.

So the first thing you should know, I suppose, is that you don’t have to miss out if you live far away or can’t travel. Since StaarCon is a hybrid conference, you can attend virtually!

I honestly cannot believe the amount of A/V equipment that got hauled into these hotel conference rooms, but it definitely took an entire moving truck to transport. There were giant TV screens for presentations, microphones, cameras… and volunteers manning all the stations for every workshop.

Friday Experience

The conference officially started at 9:00am on Friday. Enter the hotel, take a slight left, and you’ll be greeted by this informative pop-up sign, delightfully informing you that you have walked into the correct establishment.

You’re in the right place!

Of course, you do have to take the elevator up to the Mezzanine floor. Once the doors open, you see the large registration table where you can pick up your badge.

With that in mind, I’m not going to tell you my opinions on every workshop I attended… lest this turn from a short post into a book.

Tarot art installation by Teri Salomoni

But one thing that you definitely couldn’t fully experience virtually was Teri Salomoni’s artwork. She made a headpiece for each of the Major Arcana cards. They were amazing!

And we got to wear them for opening ritual!

The first thirteen trump cards, rather candidly

Opening ritual was delightful. Erich Landstrom, dressed as The Fool, played a fantastically hilarious role and lead us all in some physical movements while he verbalized quarter calls to each of the four cardinal directions (which were actually poems written by Christiana Gaudet, on theme with her class “The Universe Speaks in Verse”).

Actually, I think “great sex” was said at least a dozen times. Who knew the tarot deck was so frisky?

There were also announcements, lots of clapping, and good vibes to be had all around.

Did I mention we got to wear really cool headpieces?

Following the conclusion of opening ritual (and the flurry of pictures that ensued), some folks went to the bar for drinks, dinner, and possibly a game, but Selene and I slipped off to home.

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Saturday Experience

After a good night’s sleep, we returned. And at this point, I decided to take a picture of some of the activity stations.

First, there was an area dedicated to the dearly departed. You could write a message for them and leave it in the cauldron. What a lovely way to keep the memory of folks alive! Hail the travelers.

If you ever wanted to see the programs for previous years at StaarCon… this was your chance.

The coolest thing? The “Object Adoption Center” … where people put a bunch of cool free stuff. I may have walked away with a strange new Tarot deck. I can’t resist free decks. Can I please have more Tarot decks? Do not offer me any free decks (unless it’s really cool).

There was also a friendship bracelet station. I didn’t actually make one, but there were tons of beads, letters, charms, and stretchy string. I’m sure folks could have beaded to their heart’s content.

During the entire weekend, there was a scavenger hunt going on of sorts. Apparently, a number of charms had been hidden all around the hotel. Your mission was to find some of these charms, then arrange them into a divinatory reading and post a picture. And one of those postings won a prize! My point here, I suppose, is that even if you somehow felt that the incredibly high number of presentations wasn’t enough to keep you occupied, there were still plenty of other things to do to keep you busy!

In honor of my Saturday presentation, I decided to dress appropriately with a shirt that Selene gave me a couple of years ago — it has “WITCHY AF” written out on the front in runes. This shirt sparked many conversations, one of which gave me the opportunity to meet Peter Coe, who then proceeded to hand me a small, hand-written book he had made on the runes. Pretty cool stuff, Peter!

Me… explaining the overview of my lecture

And then it was time for my presentation on Runes, entitled “Stepping Out of the Spread with Runes.” I think it went pretty well! So I have to give a very big thank you to everyone who attended and allowed the class to be participatory rather than me just talking straight for 45 minutes. I love it when I can throw questions and have people call out answers.

After my workshop, we ran out to grab some dinner… and then we came back for the bardic circle.

The Bardic Circle

Alright… let me think here. Christiana has been telling me about the bardic circles at StaarCon since at least… 2023. Although I didn’t feel like performing anything myself, I did have to go watch! There was music, comedy, improv, poetry, and more. I think everyone had a great time. Mitchell Osborn organized a “dinner party” game where people had to act like they were a certain Tarot card showing up for dinner. And the host had to guess who they were. Honestly, if you can find some friends to play with, I think that could be a great tool for learning the deck.

And after that, it was time to call it an evening!

Sunday Experience

Again we returned… for the final day of StaarCon!

This time, however, we had an entire cart of items with us. I brought a small arsenal of drums, instruments, or other such noise-makers to use in my next workshop, which focused on how you might incorporate different sounds into a magickal practice. It was fun — I always enjoy banging on things… or watching other people bang on things — especially when they’re experiencing a particular instrument for the first time.

Cookies!

I should point out that there was a room dedicated to refreshments — ample access to coffees, teas, and even boxes of cookies.

At Closing Ritual, it was finally time to let go of all the energy we had raised over the weekend. I played a tongue drum while people came up to the front to draw an oracle card, which they were instructed to interpret for themselves as a message to take home with them. People took turns sharing their experiences out loud.

And then… everyone picked up an egg shaker. We banished the quarters with a cacophony of sound while Christiana read more of her poetry. After a great shout and a short song, it was finished! And sadly, StaarCon was over.

But don’t worry, you don’t go home empty handed. You get this mighty fine swag bag.

How cool is this Tarot Charm set? There’s something for every card… like an Eiffel Tower for The Tower, little tiny horses for Knights, numbers 1 – 10, and representations of each of the suits.

Marketplace and Sponsors

You can view all of the StaarCon 5 sponsors by taking a look at the 2025 program here, but there were definitely some big names, such as U.S. Games Systems, Weiser Books, and Llewellyn.

The Marketplace, which was open to the general public, was also a lot of fun. There were a ton of vendors and a huge variety of goods… Tarot decks, artwork, books, crystals, even musical instruments! Selene picked up a nice oracle deck. I had my eye on a shaker made from a turtle shell, but I guess it didn’t choose me because I didn’t leave with it. Maybe next year!

The Epic List of Presenters

So here’s everybody that presented at StaarCon. It’s a long list. I’m going to put it in alphabetical order (by last name) and I’m also going to link to their official StaarCon bio and whatever website or contact I can quickly find for them. Why? Because if we link to each other, it makes the internet a better place. If I’ve incorrectly linked or neglected something, do let me know, but this list has taken quite a bit of gathering and assembly.

Okay, at this point, you’re probably like “damn Aerik, that’s a really long list.” I know, right? I even had to split it up into two columns and everything. Let me explain in brief: every time you link to a website, you increase its reputation with search engines and make it slightly more likely that it will appear in search results. There’s more than 50 of us, so if we all linked to each other, we can make definitely gather some momentum in terms of SEO. Like I said, it makes the internet a more friendly place.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed StaarCon. I was a bit nervous for my presentations, but I’m glad everything turned out alright. I think my favorite part is being able to rewatch all of the workshops, plus we can all connect throughout the year for the StaarCon Afterglow.

If you’re looking for a place to go where you can immerse yourself in a variety of divination topics for an entire weekend, this conference should definitely be at the top of your list. And there’s a great community! It was nice to officially meet some of the folks I had only exchanged emails with before. And I hope to see some of those faces more in the future!

Oh, hi guys. You made it all the way to the end of my post. Thanks for reading. There’s literally no reason for any sort of disclaimer here. I just like writing in small text. Have a nice day.