The History of Tarot In The City

Dynasty

Born in a London borough, to much older parents, I was raised in a ‘psychic’ family. My Nan (Nanny) and my Mum were both ‘in-tune’ with their sixth sense.

Including:

-Talking to one another in their sleep

-Thought skipping (one person thinking of one thing and the other knowing what they’re thinking)

-Mum knowing when family members had passed away & connecting with the spirit world

-Nanny making predictions from images she saw in the clouds

There are so many family stories, that I usually share at my events.

The elder women in the family used several mediums of connection…cards, fire, sage and sound.

For me it was normal. I had never known anything else. It’s a natural affinity I was born and raised with that has spanned 40 years.

Intuition

I think the ‘weirdest’ experience for me was having the men in the family be shocked by these gifts.

Not the gift itself. I found it funny that they claimed to not understand it.

My Grandad’s recollection of how extraordinary it was in years past, to witness my Mum and Nan talking to one another in their sleep was hilarious.

Then later, in Mum’s adult life, seeing my Dad’s reaction to it all and his eyes widening when ever I got tarot cards out at home.

The funniest of all of this is that: the person with the strongest energy and one of many in the family with the sharpest intuition is my Dad himself. He just won’t claim it.

When people ask me about ‘the gift’ and say: “How do you explain it, Emily?”

I say: “It’s an instinct. It’s a sixth sense.”

It’s what medium you work with that’s important. Meaning: The curiosity should not be the ‘how’ but rather: ‘with what’ …

Dark Arts

There are ‘dark arts’ as some refer to them as. ‘Dark’ perhaps for some and not necessarily so for others. A controversial topic then: the Ouija board. Did your eyes just widen? Fear not, I don’t practice any of these…

As mentioned, many times, this is not my lane at all.

I don’t judge those who:

-connect to the spirit world (clairvoyancy)

-afterlife work

-other forms of connection

…I just choose not to myself.

It’s never been on my radar but I remember the first time I heard about Ouija. I was in high school, so I would have been about 14 years old. Some kids got in trouble for trying it out at lunchtime.

I went home and told my Mum and she openly discussed in front of my Dad, how she used to frequently use the Ouija board with friends. I just remember my Mum saying: “Don’t you ever do it Emily. It’s not for you.” I knew in that moment it wasn’t.

For the more judgemental among us, one may be thinking at this point: what a family of weirdos. However, all of these women in my family worked in finance in corporate roles and some were the higher earners in the family.

Many have the view that being ‘spiritual’ means to be in the woods stooped over a cauldron. There’s time for that on weekends. During the week, we work normal jobs.

Jokes aside…

Beyond The Grave

After my Nan (Nanny) passed away, as a child, I would relay messages to my Mum. I’d say: “Nanny is here.”

I met a medium years later as a young adult and she said upon meeting me: “You brought someone in with you. She announced herself very much to be here.”

That made me chuckle because I always knew she was by my side. Even now. She’s my guardian angel, her name is Ivy.

The accuracy of that was, she would have ‘announced herself to be there’…

An Eastend woman, strong and direct, she used to get home, walk in and put her bag on the table and say: “I’m here, what’s going on?”

The medium had no way of knowing that. It wasn’t a shock for me. Events like this have been a concurrent thread throughout my life.

You’ve Got The Gift

During my life I’ve felt drawn to women like my Mum or Nan. I’ve seen psychics/mediums and clairvoyants over the years, especially when I was younger. Now I count many as friends.

In the early days, they all said similar things. One being: “I can see your Nan, you’ve got the gift and so did she.”

Another said: “I can see that your Nan saw a psychic and she was told then that she had the gift.”

This was interesting because she did. This happened years before I was born. The clairvoyant got that from my energy, which was insightful…

I have the same experience myself. I’m not a clairvoyant. I don’t work with the spirit world but before during or after readings, I’ll know aspects about a person. When I tell them, I can see the shock on their faces.

Light Energy

I choose not to work with the spirit world. I also don’t read health or death in my readings and I don’t read reverse cards. Sometimes people ask me why this is.

Choosing not to work with the spirit world is a preference.

I don’t read health or death because I don’t work with heavy or dark energies. And it is for this reason that I also don’t read reverse cards.

As an example – in the tarot deck, we do have pregnancy cards. A pregnancy card reversed could mean a miscarriage. I don’t believe it’s my job to tell a woman such news. I am not a doctor.

It’s paramount to let anyone know prior to a reading: if there’s anything they do not want to know, to tell me and I wont relay those messages.

Knowing

I think the biggest misconception of someone who works with: their sixth sense/tarot cards/another medium, is that they are omniscient.

Working with your sixth sense does heighten your awareness. However, I am not ‘tuning-in’ to other people’s energies all the time. I don’t read the tarot cards before I leave the house. I live my life as most people do.

If I want to ask the cards something or tune-in to a situation, I can. But it’s a bit like meeting a friend in a café. You’re not listening to all of the chatter in the establishment. You’re likely listening to your friend, or if alone, quietly enjoying a cup of coffee.

Most days you’ll find me in one corner of the world, doing just that. Quietly enjoying a café crème.

xxx Emily.