Tarot Talk

0:00I do prosperity spells a lot for myself. So there's one called a money bowl. So you put things associated with money. So they have pyrite, which is that gold crystal, and jade is associated with money, and maybe just coins or dollar bills or cinnamon, bay leaves. And then you kind of add stuff to it over time, and it's this bowl that symbolizes bringing in more prosperity. That's so cool. Yeah.

0:25Shelley:And is it working? I think so. Yeah, it might be. I mean, you're getting really great press and stuff. Yeah, yeah.

0:36Shelley:Welcome to Lunch with Shelly, the podcast featuring conversations with colleagues, friends, family, business leaders. At lunch, here's Shelly. Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelly with today's special guest, Skye Mirinda. Skye is a tarot reader, life coach, and event curator here in D.C. She views tarot as a fun and creative tool for self-reflection and guidance, and her talents have been featured in the Washington Post, Axios, WTOP, and the Washingtonian. I'm so very excited about having her on and have loads of questions to start off with, but here's a bit of background on Skye before we delve into it all during lunch.

1:20Shelley:In 2016, Skye was planning to have a great Halloween by going to Salem, Massachusetts, which, as you likely know, is a small town known for the witch trials of 1692. But two months before her trip, her mental health wasn't doing well, and as she wrote, she wasn't sleeping at all and was living off coffee and alcohol. I get it. and because she had already been researching tarot for her trip to Salem, inspiration struck and she set up a little self-love altar in her bedroom. Each night, as she writes, she lit a candle and pulled tarot cards for herself and soon found the peace of mind she was looking for and ended up having an amazing trip to Salem.

2:02Shelley:Fast forward, and since 2020, Sky has given over 2 ,000 tarot readings and led workshops to hundreds of people from all over the world. She also curates witchy art markets, parties, and events all year long. Skye, it is my pleasure to meet you in person. I am so excited for this lunch. So without further ado, welcome to the Lunch with Shelley podcast, Skye, and let's have lunch. Thanks for having me. Yes, it's really great. We are on sort of a gloomy, witchy, good vibes afternoon. And we are at the fabulous Peacock Cafe, which we love. Have you ever been here? No, I haven't. Oh, it's a Georgetown institution.

2:48Shelley:Okay. You are going to love your meal. Actually, I changed my order to mimic skies. We're going to have a perfect meal, including the tomato soup, which is awesome here. So anyway, where are you from originally? I'm from Alexandria, Virginia. Are you kidding? Yeah. Okay. I thought you were from Pennsylvania for some reason. My dad lives there now. Oh, okay. Where does he live? He lives near Johnstown. Which is on the east or west? West. Okay. Like near Pittsburgh. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So then obviously you've been here forever. Yeah, basically. Okay. And from an early age, thank you, did you know that you had powers?

3:32Shelley:Like, what were you like as a kid? I was always into, like, fantasy things, and, you know, like, Nightmare Before Christmas was my favorite movie, and, like, I was really into Harry Potter back in the day. I love Harry Potter, yeah. But, no, I wasn't really involved in anything that was, like, actually, like, you know, tarot or magic or anything like that. Until when? Until, like, how old was I in 2016? Around 2016. And what was the reason for that? I mean, I can think there was an election, but what else happened in 2016? Well, yeah, it was when I went to Salem. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Because I grew up in a very conservative Christian denomination.

4:23So, yeah. It wasn't really allowed.

4:26Shelley:Right, until 2016. And that's what I was wondering. So you always loved Halloween. Yeah. But what were you hoping to get out of being in Salem? Like, were you wanting to be scared? Initially, it was just for Halloween because it's always been my favorite holiday. And I hadn't, like, the year before, I was in a really bad car accident where I flipped over three times on the highway, avoiding. Oh, my God. Yeah, I was avoiding a tractor trailer, like, changing lanes on top of me, and I, like, lost control trying to get out of the way. And so I was just like, I'm going to go have the best Halloween ever.

5:06It's my favorite holiday, and it'll probably be cool. So I brought my best friend, and we went up for a week. But is that why your mental health wasn't good beforehand?

5:15Shelley:Probably. Yeah, I was afraid to leave the house, because I did try to go out to a concert a month or so after the accident, and, like, the noise was too much for my brain because of the concussion and I had to leave and, yeah, things like that. I mean, with all due respect, like, a concussion is terrible, but after flipping three times, is that the only thing that happened? Mostly, mostly, yeah. Wow, did you feel lucky or just generally freaked out or both? I was, I don't know, I was kind of just like, oh, great, something else. Right. Because, you know, it's like your early 20s and already don't know what I'm doing.

5:58Shelley:Well, I was with a girlfriend the other day and we watched an almost accident happen. Oh, yeah. And we both were like, oh, God, the noise, the noise of an accident. Yeah. Just the worst sound. So, I mean, that's traumatizing. So what gave you the idea to do a self-love altar and what does that look like? Yeah. Yeah, well, I think I was just, like, researching things to do in Salem, and I was surprised that, like, I thought it was just going to be, like, historical things and, like, Halloween. But then it was, like, oh, you can, like, sign up to do a ritual, and you can, like, do all these classes.

6:35And I was, like, oh, that's interesting. So then I was, like, looking more into them and, like, just, like, witchy things in general. And I don't really remember where I got the idea exactly, but, yeah, it was just, like, a little coffee. no it was like a side table in my room and I like put candles and flowers and just things I had

6:55Shelley:yeah it's sort of like your Pinterest but yeah active or three-dimensional yeah there you go yeah yeah but it helped yeah yeah I used to like light a candle meditate with it pull a card you know yeah right okay so um we'll have some soup so you get to Salem and you know you're in a better mindset and then what did you see and was there like a moment when you were like oh my god like I'm really good at this or do you just do it more often like what did you tap into your intuition what was it yeah I was doing it for myself and my friends and I actually did them at my brother's college Halloween party but for like all of his friends um and then I was trying to figure out how to raise money for like art supplies because I was trying to start a program with Smile, which is like a nonprofit in D.C.

7:54to run like free art classes for like the youth they serve there.

7:58Shelley:Is Smile, isn't Smile fixing your teeth? No, it's for, it's S-M-Y-A-L. But it's for like, you know, like queer gay youth in D.C. And like programs for them. And so I was trying to figure out how to raise money for art supplies because I was like, okay, art supplies add up really fast. So my friend was like, oh, just go to a bar and do tarot readings for donations and then use that money to buy the art supplies. And at first I was like, no, no, no, because I was too afraid to do it. But then I was like, well, it's for a good cause, so maybe people will be nice even if the readings are bad. Right, right.

8:40But then people really liked it. I really liked doing them. I was like, oh, maybe I should keep doing this.

8:45Shelley:But do you feel like you're accurate? Yeah, I would say so. I mean, I guess it's more like, I guess the part comes in of more of thinking about, like, the cards about the present and, like, what people are going through. Like, that kind of starts off the reading where it's like, if they do relate to that, if they feel like that is an accurate reflection of where they are, what's going on with them. And then a lot of it is more just like what can help you get you to where you want to go. Guidance kind of things. There's like some prediction. It depends on kind of like what you're looking for. Well, I was going to ask you.

9:25Shelley:So do you think tarot? What do you think is the best part of tarot? Why does tarot speak to you versus anything else? Yeah. Well, it's because it's like all visual. Yeah. And I went to art school. for illustration. So it was the one that really clicked because it's like each card is just telling a story. Yeah. And what deck do you use? Because there are so many. I mostly use the Modern Witch, which is a deck that's very much based off of the Smith Rider Waite. If you Google Tarot, that's the one that comes up. It's the very traditional deck, I would say. And then the Modern which is just more like bright.

10:08It has more like modern outfits and like gadgets. So it's very relatable in that way.

10:14Shelley:Oh, so Salem just was like a lark. And then it ended up becoming like your career. Yeah, yeah. That's so crazy. So you come back from Salem. You have an awesome time. And you have a tarot reading. And did the tarot reading tell you that this was sort of your future? I don't know if it was that, but she was like, oh, you're, because at the time, like, I had, like, black hair and, like, dressed a lot more like goth. And she was like, this is not really your actual vibe. You're much more, like, bubbly and outgoing, and you're going to be growing into that more. Oh. Well, you seem bubbly and outgoing.

10:55Shelley:You know. Yeah. On any given day. Well, okay. Okay, one sort of aside, and then we'll forget about Salem, but did you, do you believe in ghosts? Oh yeah, I love ghosts. You do? Yeah. So did you see any in Salem? Like, what did you want to get out of it? Just to be scared, or just, is it like a big party for Halloween? Yeah, it's a huge, they have like a street festival. It's like, it's like almost, probably now it's like overwhelming because like millions of people go to this like small town for like Halloween. But yeah, they have like street festivals, all these things going on. And was there like anything where you got scared or saw a ghost or anything?

11:40I didn't see a ghost, unfortunately. Have you ever seen a ghost? Not really in like a over there kind of thing. What do you mean? Well, like, this year I've gotten into, like, mediumship. Yeah. But it's a little different than, like, a ghost feels more like. Right. Yeah. And energy. Yeah. Yeah.

12:00Shelley:Okay. But have you ever seen a ghost? Not really, no. Okay. Yeah. And what do you think about D.C.? Like, this is kind of a good ghost town. I mean, there are a lot of good. And, you know, from Alexandria, there are a lot of places in Old Town that have those ghost tours. Yeah, yeah. Have you ever been on one? I did ghost tours in Salem, actually, but I haven't done one in Alexandria. I did one once. I mean, obviously I didn't see anything. Have you ever done a ghost tour? Absolutely not. Alright, so did you take a course to become a tarot reader, or did you just sort of get yourself ensconced?

12:38Shelley:Do tarot readers have to have certificates or anything? There's no formalized body where it's like you're certified or not. You know, you should start a tarot association. It would be so DC, you know? Yeah, yeah. You get your certificate. Exactly. I'm the vice president of communications for the Tarot Association. But yeah, I just kind of was self-taught. And then, well, I had a friend get me started. And then it was a lot of like, you know, learning on my own and like adding other like information about like astrology. and mythology that I was learning.

13:21Shelley:And you've obviously had a bunch of readings, right? Mm-hmm. What was the most accurate reading that you've ever had? Well, I got a mediumship reading this year. I know it's different than tarot, but she was like, oh, you've been going through a hard time since December 12th. And I was like, that is when I've sent, because that was when me and the person I was with decided to split. Oh. So I was like, and this was like June. Right. So I was like, that's kind of crazy that she got the exact date. That's interesting. Yeah. And did she say after that, like, you'll be meeting someone, or that was just the point that you were like, oh, my God.

14:05Yeah, yeah, that was like getting the day I thought was really cool.

14:09Shelley:Yeah. Yeah. And what's the most accurate you've ever been? I've had people come up to me at events and be like, oh, like, last year you gave me a reading that I would meet someone this summer. And I did. And, like, things are going great. So it's always, like, it's cool when people come up to me and give me those little, like, tidbits. And do you feel like you don't have to be the medium because the cards speak through you? Like, what do you feel your role is and what's the role of the cards? Yeah, I feel like the cards are a good jumping off point because they're like telling a story. And then from there, it can be a little bit more like getting extra information that like comes through.

14:55If that makes sense. Well, no, I actually I do say it again. I think it's like a nice beginning point, the cards, because then it's like it's like you can jump off from there. And, like, if you kind of get more information, like, if I get more information myself, that doesn't necessarily one-to-one. This is, like, a traditional meaning of the card. But it kind of, like, starts the conversation, if that makes sense.

15:22Shelley:Well, it kind of does. So then you are interpretive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And does any of this, do you think, involve an innate skill or just you're so into it that you're learning how to interpret better? but do you feel like, I don't know, that this is your path? You know, like this is innate in some way? I think that anybody can learn it. So it's just like if you want to develop a skill. And maybe there's some people who have a little bit more initial talent, but it's always like who develops things and works hard at it can sometimes get you farther than just initial talent. Yeah. All right. So, no, but do you feel like you're on your path?

16:10Yeah, I think it's been, I mean, I definitely would not have guessed I would be here doing this kind of thing back in, like, even just, like, 2014. Right. But I think it's been a really cool way to, like, talk to people. Yeah, yeah. And how did, like, The Post and Washingtonian find you? I think through Instagram and the events I run. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

16:38Shelley:So in one of your interviews, you said that people in D.C. care more, or their questions are more directed towards career rather than love life, which is just so D.C. But is that true, and has it changed over the years, or is it still the way? I think that, I mean, love and career are definitely the top two, But I do feel like people in D.C. are more shy to ask about love. Like, they feel like they should ask about career because it's more important or more serious. Right, right. And love feels kind of, like, silly. Yeah, secondary. Yeah, yeah. It's such a sad comment on D.C., but I think you're right.

17:19Shelley:What about, like, I mean, where else have you given readings? And what's the difference? I gave readings in a town in the U.K. Wow. Yeah. That must have been super cool. Yeah, my stepsister was getting married, so I went to England for two weeks for that. But, yeah, it was interesting because I felt like I was getting a lot of questions there about family and, like, extended family and, like, you know, people wanting to be reassured that their grandmothers were, like, proud of them. I know. And I was like, wow, I never get questions like this in D.C. Right. Right. That's so interesting. Yeah, yeah.

18:02Shelley:And do you think that your answers through the tarot satisfy them? Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to remember exactly. It's people, my friends sometimes joke that I give them everybody in the friend group readings, but I never tell everybody what I told them or what they told me. But also part of it is because I feel like it's in one ear, out the other. I don't hold on to people's readings too much. Oh, that's so smart. I guess that's really sort of heavy. Like if someone comes and they're really in a bad way, do you feel like you take that in? Not necessarily. Yeah, and that's the thing. It's like I'll give readings sometimes for like five hours straight at events.

18:45But I don't really, I feel like maybe physically tired at the end. Like, oh, I'm hungry now. Okay. But not mentally. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's good. And not emotionally. No, I don't feel emotionally tired from it. That's so lucky. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think it's just, I mean, because also like the readings are trying to like help them and like be encouraging and be like, well, this is maybe what you can do if you're dealing with something. So it's kind of like a nice conversation generally.

19:11Shelley:Yeah. Have you ever had a bad conversation? I've had people not like the advice from the cards. Like recently I pulled the Fool reverse for someone's advice card or guidance card. Does that mean it was upside down? Yes, yes. And I was like, oh, this card means it's not a good time for making big risks, or taking big risks, making big moves. And she was not happy. I didn't know this, but she was like, well, I'm about to quit my job. And I was like, well. Right. Maybe that's not a big move. Yeah, so. Oh, wow, that's interesting. And what do you think the luckiest card is? A card that's always really reassuring to get is the World card because it's a card where it's this woman and there's a wreath around her.

20:07And it's the last card of the Major Arcana. So it's this card around wholeness and completeness and wisdom and expansion. So I feel like that card can be very much like, okay, I'm on the right path at least. Wow.

20:20Shelley:And obviously the death card, not obviously, but the death card is not a bad thing. Talk about that. Yeah, the death card, it's always, I've learned now to, at the beginning of a reading, say that, rather than maybe waiting if it's like the third, if it's the third card. One time someone was like sweating the whole time and I didn't notice and I was like, sorry. But yeah, the death card is just about endings, you know, like that letting something go so that there's space for something new, transformation, that kind of thing. Right. So it can still sometimes be hard to let something go or go through transformation, but it's not like a doom card.

20:57Right.

20:58Shelley:Transformation is a good card. It's not a bummer card, but it feels always like an exhausting card. It's like, oh, my God, I have to transform again. You know, like, because it's really, I guess, the journey or the ending. And you have to really like the journey or the cards sometimes tell you you're on the journey. You're not there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I say that when I get the world upside down. Oh, gosh. What happens then? Well, then I'm just kind of, that's my patience card, because I'm like, you're still in that cycle. Oh, you get it to yourself sometimes. Yeah, yeah. Oh, because you do your own readings, obviously.