Diving into the World of Tarot

I bought my first tarot deck in 1996 at a Barnes and Noble. At that time, the metaphysical section was hidden in the corner, way in the back of the bookstore, where no man or woman dared to go! It seemed that any subject that concerned the spiritual realm was associated with black magic or satanism. I certainly wasn’t into that. Never the less, the subject of divination fascinated me so I snuck to the back of the bookstore to find my first tarot cards.

The first set that I bought was called “Fortune Telling: Tarot Nova and Book of Palm Reading” by Dennis Fairchild and Julie Paschkis. It was the only tarot deck on the shelf. Plus it included a book on Palmistry! Bonus! I remember going up to the cashier hoping that she wouldn’t think I was a weirdo because of my purchase. I was somewhat embarrassed to be interested in this kind of sorcery! I had no idea where it would lead me to today.

I went home and attempted readings for myself. I never really understood how to read the cards, and they honestly never spoke to me like they do now. For the next 23 years, I would dabble here and there with the cards, but only for myself, never for anyone else, and I absolutely did not tell anyone what I was doing.

I guess everyone has that moment in their spiritual journey when everything just comes together. Mine was in 2019, when one of my besties, Jennifer James (of Common Mystics podcast- commonmystics.net) posted a request on social media that really put my spiritual journey into motion. She said that she was practicing tarot and asked if anyone would like a free tarot reading. Of course, I replied with a resounding yes, and said that I, too, had tarot cards. She asked if we could practice together, and the rest is history…