Some retreats come together because I have an idea I can’t stop thinking about. Others come back because people keep asking us to do them again. This one is the second kind.
Our Tarot Retreat: Awaken Your Magic, A Retreat of Tarot, Yoga & Art is returning to Big Raven Farm November 19–22, 2026, and I’m really happy to have this one back on the calendar.
I think tarot is one of those things people are often curious about long before they actually try it. Maybe you’ve had a reading somewhere along the way. Maybe you bought a beautiful deck because you loved the artwork, looked through it a few times, and then put it on a shelf because you had absolutely no idea what you were supposed to do with 78 cards. Or maybe your entire experience with tarot comes from movies where somebody turns over an ominous card and everyone gasps.
If that’s you, you’re still invited.
You don’t need to know how to read tarot cards before you come. You don’t need to consider yourself particularly intuitive or spiritual. You don’t need to memorize what all 78 cards mean, and you certainly don’t need to arrive knowing the difference between the Major and Minor Arcana.
You really just need to be curious.
My First Tarot Reading Was With Bekah
My first tarot reading was with Bekah, and I remember being surprised by how much it stayed with me afterward. Not because the cards predicted something that was going to happen, but because the reading gave me a different way to think about a few things.
I found myself coming back to it later, turning parts of the conversation over in my head and seeing things from an angle I hadn’t considered before.
That experience changed the way I thought about tarot.
I realized it didn’t have to be about asking a deck of cards to tell me what was going to happen next. It could simply be another way of paying attention. A card might bring up a question you hadn’t thought to ask yourself. An image might make you look at something differently. You might realize you already know how you feel about something, even though you’ve been doing a pretty good job of avoiding it.
That’s part of why I wanted to offer this retreat again.
Tarot doesn’t have to give you answers to be useful. Sometimes it gives you a new question, a different perspective or simply a reason to stop and pay attention to something that has been rolling around in your head for a while.
And I like the idea of giving people an entire weekend to explore that.
Learning Tarot Without Turning It Into Homework
If you’ve ever picked up a tarot deck and immediately felt overwhelmed, I understand. There are 78 cards, Major and Minor Arcana, four suits, court cards, numbers, symbols and all sorts of traditional meanings attached to them.
You could very easily turn learning tarot into a fairly serious study project.
We are not going to do that.
Bekah will guide you through conducting your own tarot readings and help you begin developing a personal tarot practice that makes sense for you. You’ll learn about the cards, of course, but more importantly, you’ll actually use them.
That hands-on part matters. It’s one thing to read about tarot at home or watch someone explain a spread online. It’s another thing to have a few days to practice, ask questions, try different things and discover how you personally connect with the cards.
You’ll also receive your own personal tarot reading from Bekah. Having had my first reading with her, I’m especially happy this is part of the retreat. There’s something different about experiencing a reading yourself and then having the opportunity to learn more about what is happening within it.
And somewhere in all of this, I expect there will be plenty of laughing.
Tarot does not have to be serious all the time. In fact, one of the things we specifically want you to learn during this weekend is how to have fun with it.
Then We Add Art
Because this is Big Raven Farm, we obviously weren’t going to spend the entire weekend sitting around a table studying cards.
We have to make something.
During the retreat, you’ll create your own personal tarot journal. I love this part because it gives you a place to bring together what you’re discovering over the weekend without giving you a prescribed way it has to look.
You might use yours to record readings or cards that keep showing up. You might write questions, add artwork, jot down thoughts, make lists or fill pages with things that only make sense to you. Over time, it can become a record of your own relationship with tarot rather than another book telling you what tarot is supposed to mean.
There’s something especially interesting about combining tarot and art because both ask you to pay attention. You notice colors, symbols, images, patterns and little details you might otherwise pass right over. One idea leads somewhere unexpected, and suddenly you’re looking at something differently than you were an hour ago.
That is exactly the kind of creativity I love.
And Yes, There Is Yoga Too
Tarot and art can both get you thinking, which is wonderful, but eventually we need to get out of our heads.
That’s where yoga comes in.
There will be time during the retreat to move, breathe and reconnect with your body. This isn’t about performing or being “good” at yoga. It’s simply another part of the weekend and another opportunity to slow things down a little.
That balance is a big part of what I want retreats at the Farm to feel like. You can spend part of your day learning something new, make art for a while, move your body, go outside, have a really good meal and end up sitting around the table talking with people you didn’t know a day earlier.
It doesn’t all have to accomplish something.
Sometimes it’s nice to spend a few days following your curiosity without needing to turn it into anything more than that.
What Happens After the Retreat?
By the time Sunday comes around, the goal isn’t for you to have memorized 78 tarot cards. I’d much rather you leave feeling comfortable picking up your deck at home and actually using it.
Maybe that means pulling a card in the morning. Maybe you use tarot when you’re journaling or working through something. You might discover a favorite spread or find yourself reaching for your cards when you want to look at a question from another angle.
Or maybe you simply understand tarot better than you did when you arrived.
There’s no test at the end.
What I hope is that something from the weekend stays with you, the way my first reading with Bekah stayed with me. Maybe it’s a card, a question, something you put in your journal or a conversation you have over dinner. You probably won’t know which part it is while it’s happening.
I kind of like that.
Meet Bekah Rieke
Bekah Rieke is a teacher, coach, tarot practitioner and yoga instructor, which makes her a pretty perfect person to lead a weekend like this.
Bekah works with clients on their overall health and wellness goals by helping them connect with their own mind and body intelligence. She brings together her experience teaching, making food and art, practicing yoga, and working with intuitive mindfulness practices like tarot.
My own first reading with Bekah is one of the reasons I feel so comfortable inviting people who are completely new to tarot to this retreat. She doesn’t make you feel like there’s something you’re supposed to know before you begin.
You can ask questions. You can be skeptical about something. You can pull a card and have absolutely no idea what to make of it.
There is room for all of that here.
Bekah’s work is really about helping people discover more of their own creativity, intuition and inner intelligence, which fits beautifully with what we try to create at the Farm.
You can learn more about Bekah and her work at Sage Spoon Living.
What Kind of Tarot Deck Should You Bring?
You’ll want to bring your own tarot deck so you can practice with it throughout the retreat.
If you already have a classic tarot deck that you enjoy using, fantastic. Ideally, your deck should include all 78 cards, both the Major and Minor Arcana, along with the traditional suits of Cups, Swords, Pentacles or Coins, and Wands.
If you don’t have a deck yet, don’t let that become the reason you decide you can’t come. We recommend the classic Rider-Waite Tarot deck for the retreat. It’s a great deck for learning and will work beautifully for the weekend.
If you already own a deck but aren’t sure whether it will be a good fit, just ask us.
Coming to a Tarot Retreat Alone
This is probably a good place to talk about something that comes up with nearly every retreat we offer.
You do not need someone to come with you.
So many people arrive at Big Raven Farm without knowing anyone else that I wrote an entire blog about it, “Come Alone: Why So Many Guests Arrive Without Knowing Anyone.”
I understand why people hesitate. From home, signing up for a weekend with a group of strangers can sound intimidating. You picture walking into a room where everyone else already knows each other and wondering what on earth you’ve gotten yourself into.
Then Thursday afternoon actually happens.
Cars start coming down the driveway. Bags pile up by the door. Everyone finds their room. Somebody asks how long somebody else’s drive was. People wander into the kitchen to see what smells so good. By dinner, conversations have started and the weekend is underway.
I love that first evening because you can almost feel everyone settle in.
And with this retreat, you already have something interesting in common. You all chose to spend a November weekend learning tarot, making art and trying something a little outside the ordinary.
That takes care of quite a lot of awkward small talk.
By November, the Farm Has Changed
The gardens have gone quiet. Most of the leaves are down, the days are noticeably shorter, and everything outside seems to be settling in for winter. The rush of summer and early fall is behind us, but we haven’t quite been swallowed up by the holidays yet.
It feels like a natural time to turn inward a little.
Maybe you look back at the year and think about what changed. Maybe there are things you want more of and things you’re very ready to leave behind. Maybe you’re wondering what comes next.
Or maybe you aren’t thinking about any of those things.
You don’t need to arrive at the Farm with a giant life question waiting to be solved. You can come because tarot sounds interesting. You can come because you want to make something. You can come because you need a weekend away. You can come because the combination of tarot, yoga, art, good food and a few November days in the country sounds really good right now.
Those are all perfectly good reasons.
Come Spend the Weekend With Us
Tarot Retreat: Awaken Your Magic, A Retreat of Tarot, Yoga & Art takes place November 19–22, 2026, at Big Raven Farm in Spring Grove, Minnesota.
If you’ve been curious about tarot but haven’t known where to begin, this is a very easy place to begin. If you already have a deck and want to develop a more personal practice, there’s room for you too. And if what you really need is a few November days away from your regular life to learn something interesting, make things and spend time with good people, that might be reason enough.
I went into my first reading with Bekah simply curious about what the experience would be like. What I didn’t expect was to still be thinking about it afterward.
Maybe that’s really the best way I can explain this retreat.
You don’t have to come looking for answers.
Come see what makes you think.
Join Bekah and me November 19–22, 2026, for Tarot Retreat: Awaken Your Magic at Big Raven Farm.