I was given my first tarot deck in 1982 when I was 14 by a woman who would become my spiritual mentor for many years. It happened that she watched from behind me, to my surprise, as I played with a deck in her son's possession. Having no knowledge of the tarot, I did what would be expected - I referenced the little white book that was included with it to read each cards meaning after I had followed its instructions on shuffling and laying them down in a pattern called "a spread." I read each one one at a time then went over the entire thing again and put it together in a coherent way that made the reading perfectly clear to me (the question I put to the cards was "Do you actually work and will you work for me?"). The results of that reading began my earnest learning of the tarot because the answer was a sort of "yes" along with "and you will find your wealth in it." My friend (whose cards they were) said, "That's what I can't do with those cards. I can't get them to make sense to me." His mother, behind me, then asked him if it would be okay if they chose to give me that deck and he said yes.

I spent several years practicing with her. The more that I did, the more I grew to know the cards individually from the heart. The clearer the readings became. The easier the answers came to me, and the more rapidly they would enlighten any situation I put them too.

Tarot lead me to many further studies and continued research into the occult sciences. I seemed to have a natural predisposition to the esoteric and occult theories and practices. These interests even drove me to University studies in philosophy, anthropology, and psychology (not to mention computers, English, and business courses). I come from the traditions of the Golden Dawn, the scientific research of tarot definitions, and the life philosophy of Aleister Crowley's Thelema.