TL;DR: You can find me in the Purple Ocean / Purple Garden app.

I occasionally do in-person readings at geek/pagan festivals.

How I Got Into Tarot Readings

Gaming ended up being my gateway into the metaphysical - just not in the "Satanic Panic" sort of way.

Back in the late 90's, I got into Live Action Role-playing (aka LARP), where instead of sitting around a table saying what your character does, you act it out. I wanted to play a character that read Tarot, so I picked up a copy of the World Spirit Tarot deck and a copy of Tarot for a New Generation from Half-Priced Books.

I had a process: my character would sit down to do readings, and I'd use the book as an out-of-character tool to represent her knowledge of divination.

And then I forgot the book.

At that point, I had memorized some of what the book said, so I was going based on that intellectual muscle memory with a bit of intuition.

I got accused of cheating and knowing things I didn't. Which then raised the question: how did I "learn" it? Was I just really good at guessing, or was something else going on?

Did I then integrate Tarot into a regular, spiritual practice? Nope. Life happened, the cards went into storage, and I only used them once every few years when something big came up.

The Shift to “Professional” Readings

In late 2017-early 2018, life happened, big time. What I call the "Trifecta of Trash Fires"

My dad, who had been struggling with health issues, died one week after my birthday. I got the "you need to come here to say goodbye" call the day before my birthday.

The person I was dating at the time mentally/emotionally checked out, and then finally dumped me.

On top of that, I was working with said person on a creative project: a LARP setting that mixed modern urban fantasy with social justice themes. The idea was to find a way to teach these concepts through play so they would be more approachable to the average person. My ex thought that I - a neurodivergent person with Mexican ancestry - was "too privileged" to touch the topic.

I learned the hard way what happens when you don't set up legal guidelines on a co-created work, and the other person is hell-bent on destroying it.

Amidst all this, I decided to turn to the cards. However, I knew that I wasn't in the right mindset to do divination on myself, so I went to a fellow reader for clarity on that creative project. One of the few cards I remembered in that reading represented the outcome: The Aeon from the Thoth Tarot. What I wanted to create would still happen; it would just take a completely different form than my original plan.

I then did what other unhealed girlboss types did in the late 2010's. I reflected on what it was like to be on the client's side of the table, buried my own need to heal, and went, "I know the Tarot. I can help a lot of people."

The truth is, I did help a lot of people. Thousands of people through online platforms, readings at occult stores, and pop-up events at conventions ranging from craft fairs to geek expos. I've done bachelorette and birthday party readings. I've freaked myself out on my own abilities more times than I can count.

All while believing that I had to earn my healing. That I couldn't take a fucking breather and slow down.

Thankfully, that changed a couple of years ago through a series of personal epiphanies. I learned when to say "no" to taking on more, and instead choose stillness. I also figured out when to say "yes", to accept and receive kindness without condition. The biggest thing was telling myself, "Yes, you can do divination, but you are more than just a diviner." I had to be okay with sharing my whole self to my community, rather than an algorithm-optimized persona.

I'm still open to doing the occasional reading, BTW.

Epilogue: Remember that creative project that is meant to take a new form. Due to the work over the last 8 years, I'm now getting ready to release The Glitched Chronicles as an online series.

My Approach

In life, we need to make decisions based on imperfect information. We don't have all the facts, and the ones we do have aren't always "facts" but either misinformation or biases that shape our perceived reality.

What I've found, though, is that the universe runs on patterns. What exists in the macro can be seen in the micro - or, as The Emerald Tablet has been paraphrased, "As above, so below. As within, so without." What is and what could be. When working with someone, I want to provide them with information and guidance so they can decide how to act.

We humans are contradictory, so focusing on how another person thinks or feels (aka the "third-party reading") doesn't really matter when those sentiments don't align with their behavior. So telling a client that their person of interest has feelings for them doesn't matter if that individual won't (or can't) act on those emotions. While I might occasionally delve into third-party readings, I do so in a way that redirects the conversation back to my client's need to take agency and make decisions in their own lives.

Want to Book a Reading?

You can find me in the Purple Ocean / Purple Garden app.