The Magic of Tarot

I wrote this piece back in 2023 but thought I'd share it here with my Substack readers

A Tower Moment

In early 2020 I found myself facing what those familiar with tarot would call, a 'Tower' moment. At the time I was on a fast track to rock bottom and essentially was about to go into what I will forever refer to as "My Dark Night of the Soul" . It's not all doom and gloom though, because even though I didn't realise it back then, this was the period of time where I was going to transform and my whole world was going to change for the better! Now I'm through to the other side, I can hand on heart tell you that I would go through it all again, because it has led me to where I am now. I am living a completely different life, now in full-technicolour and in the way I had always dreamed about (but at the time never imagined could possibly come true) A huge part of this journey involves discovering the tarot and finding out that I have a natural gift when it comes to intuitively reading the cards.

Discovering The Tarot

During that early part of 2020, I was feeling so lost and alone that I decided that I needed to find a way to connect into something or someone who might be able to give me some sort of guidance, or hope as it were! I had often thought about going to see a Clairvoyant but I'd always been a little scared to, however all of a sudden, it was all I could think about doing! I organised to visit a lovely lady who I went to see with a mix of excitement and nerves. I needn't have been nervous, the experience completely changed my perspective...on everything! I was quite literally high on life for a few days afterwards! Anyway, that is a whole different story! Back to the tarot.... During the session, the clairvoyant had got out a deck of beautiful cards, I'd seen the traditional tarot cards (which I later discovered were the Rider-Waite) before but I had never known that there were others. I was so attracted to the artwork on them as she turned each one and told me what it meant. After that visit, I was completely hooked! I watched every YouTube video I could find of tarot readers in action and started following a lot of readers on Instagram. I decided I would buy my own deck shortly after that: The Wild Unknown Tarot. It wasn't long after that before I had quite a collection, in fact by the June of 2020, I owned 3 tarot decks and 6 oracle decks! I even began designing my own oracle deck (see this blog post for more on that)

My Readings

I realised quite quickly that I had a gift for reading the cards. I started by giving free readings to friends and family and then I joined Biddy Tarot which allowed me to learn even more and give free readings to the public as part of my learning. I kept getting really good reviews and feedback and so my confidence started to grow. At the time I had started an Instagram account dedicated to sharing a daily affirmation doodle drawn by me. I soon realised that I could add in a tarot reading and compliment it with a fitting affirmation. I started to do collective readings and they were really resonating with people. Eventually I decided to be brave and start to offer my readings as a service, I haven't looked back!

My New Tarot Reading Offerings for 2025

I have recently had a break from offering tarot readings while I focused on the ‘mindful doodling’ side of my business, however I am delighted to announce that going forward (time of writing February 2025) I am offering a 30 minute voice recorded reading (with photos of all the cards) for €33. If you would like to book a reading with me, just send me an email to: laura@thebarleymoon.ie and let me know what area of your life you would like me to focus on (love, career etc) or if you would just like to see what message comes up for you, I can do what I refer to as a ‘general reading’. Tarot readings are a fabulous way to gain clarity and guidance and can be really useful, especially during periods of transition. If you would like to know more just send me an email or a DM.