A Big Announcement
It’s time for me to share an important change:
As of January 2020, Incandescent Tarot will no longer be operating as a full-time tarot business.
What does this mean? No more tarot readings, in-person or online, as well as some other changes I’ll outline below.
Hello Dear Readers,
It’s time for me to share an important change:
As of January 2020, Incandescent Tarot will no longer be operating as a full-time tarot business.
What does this mean? No more tarot readings, in-person or online, as well as some other shifts I’ll outline below.
So why this big change?
I’ve been running this business for 3 years and it’s been quite the magical journey, yet about six months ago I found the magic waning significantly. Blog posts were coming as slow as molasses, and my drive to market, promote, and be active on social media was almost nonexistent.
I’ve always loved reading for other people - to this day, it remains one of the few things that consistently energizes and inspires me - but, as any entrepreneur knows, running a business means you end up doing what you love about 10% of the time.
Although I love tarot, I found that making it my sole source of income was sapping it of its vitality and magic. Truth be told, I’m eager and excited to stretch my wings in a new direction and relieve tarot and spirituality of the pressures of being my professional identity.
I can always tell when I’m making a good decision by the feeling I get immediately after sharing it with someone close. When I first told my husband, I experienced a state of elation. Finally! This was what was weighing on my conscience and spirit.
And, with almost comical intensity, I found my inspiration rushing back. I had ideas for new podcast episodes! Blog posts! Newsletter topics! Tarot, spirituality, and intuition seemed exciting again.
In all honesty, this is the best part of my decision. I was feeling so disconnected from tarot and I can’t express how happy I am to find that my block was around creating a living out of it, not the act of sharing it with others.
Nothing has filled me with as much joy as seeing how tarot has lit up the lives of the people I’ve worked with. Sharing it as a practice, teaching it to others, and being invited into the process of so many special people in one-on-one readings has been a priceless gift.
You can still find me posting here on my website, sharing my card meanings and resources, and speaking about these topics on my podcast.
And now for the goodbyes
I’ll be phasing out services as follows:
In-Person readings, excluding pre-booked appointments, will stop on October 15th, 2019
Remote readings will stop on December 31st, 2019
Mentorships will stop meeting on December 31st, 2019
Events will stop on October 31st, 2019
Classes will stop December 2019
Weekly Forecasts will stop December 31, 2019
Needless to say, this is the last call for readings if you’ve been meaning to get one. I’m leaving space to offer occasional readings in the future if my inspiration/schedule allows, but that won’t be for quite some time.
Join the Newsletter to stay in the loop and book one of my last appointments here.
What’s going to stay?
This website: I’ll continue to run incandescenttarot.com and keep up my card meaning dictionary, tarot spreads, and resources.
The blog: I’ll post occasional tarot reflections and more. If my newfound energy is any indication, I’ll be more active here than I’ve been recently!
The Newsletter: My more personal tarot musings and announcements will still go out here.
The Podcast: Open Magic will continue to be a space where I share about tarot, spirituality, and intuition.
A Parting Offering
My last offering as a professional reader will be my annual Year Ahead readings for 2020. These are my favorite thing that I create, and this year’s format will be the best yet: A full tarot reading with a card for each month and extras for the big themes in your life, I put my all into these beauties and will be opening orders up on November 1st - December 3rd.
Stay tuned for more announcements
I’ll be posting more here about the ins-and-outs of this change and sharing my experience throughout. For now, thank you so much for reading along and for all your support: Whether you’re a casual reader of this site, a podcast fan, client, or general well-wisher, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the energy you’ve brought to Incandescent Tarot. I can feel it, and I’m so grateful and honored to have been a part of your tarot experience.
If you have any questions, thoughts, or more please share them in the comments below or drop me a line here
Autumn Leaves Tarot Spread
Fall is here and I couldn't be more excited. One of my favorite things to do it wander around outside exploring. There's nothing like seeing all the nuances and hidden secrets in nature: the crisp antique blue of the fall sky, strange mushrooms growing under a log, an odd flower you've never seen before.
This weekend I spent three hours walking along the trails of a park near my house. I found myself fascinated by the rustling autumn leaves, how they dry to a crisp that makes that evocative rattling sound, and the magic of witnessing leaves falling to the ground. (Seriously, they hang on for so long, it's miraculous to me that I can see the exact moment they leave their home and cascade to the ground. What a privilege!)
This inspired me to make a tarot spread reflecting the changes we all undergo in Autumn. I think the process of shedding old growth applies to all creatures, including us, so I made this spread to look into what we're leaving behind and how we can care for ourselves as we "shed our leaves."
Not just a spread for fall, these cards are wonderful for any transitions and moments where we need to commemorate a change, especially one where we need some breathing room afterwards before we start of running again. Click here or on the image above for a full rundown.
I hope you find it helpful :) Happy fall!
Notes from a Tarot Reader: The Eight of Cups, Pigeons, and Change
As many of you know I have a pet pigeon named Pearl. She's a fascinating creature. When I first met her she was a ridiculous ball of puff, confused and suspicious about her new surroundings. Since then, I've had the treat and privilege of learning other shapes she takes: the elongated posture of curiosity, her contented scrunch, and a splay-winged flop when she sunbathes. As we spend more and more time together she reveals new facets of herself.
The latest has been in turns messy, hilarious, and fascinating. It's molting season!
One thing I love about animals is that they're unapologetically themselves. In late summer I noticed Pearl getting grumpier and grumpier. Although she's no shrinking daisy (this pigeon has good boundaries!) she was being particularly salty. Wing-slaps, angry cooing, and hissing pecks came my way whenever I approached. And then the next day when I looked into her cage I saw what looked like a whole bird's worth of feathers.
Since then Pearl has gone through three bouts of moulting. Each has the same pattern: grumpiness, an insatiable appetite for birdseed, and a cascade of feathers. Next, tender new feathers start emerging and Pearl gets sleepy, conserving her energy as she grows.
The whole process has been beautiful to observe and it has had me thinking a lot about the painful, prickly, and transformative nature of change. I think sometimes we look at the proces as levelling-up, complete with its video-game simplicity. Looking at Pearl, however, I saw how change is gradual and comes in phases. Most importantly, it's a challenging process. Our new feathers feel prickly and itchy, we feel vulnerable, and as we shed what's old there's a time in between when we're left exposed and unsure. We have to trust the process.
Because I'm a tarot reader, I just had to ask myself which tarot cards represent this type of change. Not the cataclysmic type, brought on by outside forces, as shown in The Tarot. As I shuffled through my deck, it dawned on me - the Eight of Cups.
Oh, how I love this card. It's poetic, mysterious, and a bit unnerving, a cloaked figure moving away from eight upturned cups heading along the start of a rocky mountain pass. Why are they undertaking this journey? The cups behind them are upright and plentiful, surely enough to satisfy their needs, and the road ahead looks bumpy and uncertain. Yet there's a sense of peace there as well, an idea that the natural time has come to move on and that the journey will be worth it.
Here the idea of moulting, of change, shows up as a natural impulse - an inner call we must heed as we shed what once worked and now is not enough. Who wants to be burdened with old, ratty feathers that are good enough, sure, but far from ideal. Should we abandon change simply because it will be difficult and, at times, painful?
I see this as the moments we all know so well, times when we're called to move on and we're not sure why, only that it feels deeply necessary. Like moulting, it's a primal and natural process. It's part of who we are.
Looking over at my grumpy pigeon I realize that not questioning these impulses frees us to experience them for what they are and to care for ourselves the best we know how. Pearl certainly doesn't apologize for the fact that she needs extra alone time and much more birdseed when she's shedding her feathers. She certainly doesn't apologize for needing her space as I've learned from several decisive pecks.
While we don't have to go around wing slapping our friends and family when we're in the process of shedding old ideas, beliefs, or relationships, I think it's important to make room for our own moulting process. Getting to know our needs a we embark on the brave process of change is tender and beautiful. We can give ourself the gift of what we need, making room for time to heal, reflect, and grow. Our reward? A majestic new set of feathers and a greater understanding of who we truly are.
It’s so easy to get serious when reading tarot. With cards like The Tower, The Hermit, and the Ten of Swords, who could blame you for painting sweeping pictures, waxing poetic about existential dilemmas, and focusing on the mythic in the mundane? I’ve noticed, however, that sticking to these areas when reading can lead to burnout, not to mention a limited understanding of the cards. If everything is epic, how can you go to the cards to understand smaller issues like daily decisions, exciting and low-stakes choices, or even open-ended explorations of themes?