Welcome to Easy Stories in English, the podcast that will take your English from OK to
Good and from Good to Great. I am Ariel Goodbody, your host for this show. Today's episode is a
tarot reading. The transcript for this episode is available to members of Easy Stories in English
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for this episode. So today is something quite different. First of all, it's a conversational episode.
This is something new I'm trying out. I'm going to try and move to three episodes a month instead of two
episodes a month. And the new episodes I'm doing are going to be conversational episodes. I decided to
do this because basically I kind of stopped doing the conversational element in the podcast. I stopped
having the conversational section in the podcast episodes in the stories. But I really like talking to you all.
And I don't know. I thought it just made sense to do it as a separate thing. And then I can record it
when I want to. I don't have to worry about recording something really far in advance. And then it's
not relevant anymore. So yeah, it just lets me be more flexible and also gives you more great
language learning content. I'm also improvising these a bit more. I'm not writing such a detailed
script. I used to do improvised conversational segments all the time. And I do think it's useful
because I obviously talk in a different way when I'm improvising. I guess I talk in a more
natural way, more of a conversational style. And that's probably quite useful to you as learners.
So today we're going to do a tarot reading. And if you've never heard of tarot, don't worry.
I'm sure you're not the only one. So tarot, T-A-R-O-T, is a set of cards from Europe, a set of
playing cards. Originally, it was just a 52-card pack of cards that people used to play games.
But in the late 18th century, people started to kind of make up this history about the tarot.
And basically say that these cards with their beautiful pictures could be used to tell the future.
And this fortune telling is called tarot reading. Or you can also say card-domaincy,
which is just a fancy way of saying card magic, right? And within the tarot, there are two sets of
cards. There's the major arcane and the minor arcane. Some tarot decks only have the major arcane,
which I think is 21 cards. And then some tarot decks are a 52-card set with the minor arcane as well.
So basically, you know normally in a card pack, you have one of hearts, two of hearts,
three of hearts, one of clubs, two of clubs, three of clubs, spades and diamonds. Those are the
four card suits. Basically, in a tarot deck, each card has a meaning associated with it. So each
card in the minor arcane has a meaning. And then the major arcane specifically have characters.
Some examples are the fool, the empress, the lovers, strength, the world and so on. And they often
have very beautiful illustrations, which you use to help you interpret the cards. So usually the way
tarot reading works is you shuffle the deck, you mix the cards, you put out some cards, and then
you use the cards and their meanings to talk about your future to see your future. Traditionally,
I think tarot readings are given, right? Like someone reads the tarot for you. Usually, I guess it
would be a fortune teller. But you can also do solo tarot readings. You can also do your own tarot
readings. I started doing tarot readings a few years ago because I had wanted to do it for ages,
and I wasn't really sure how to do it. And then I realized it's just kind of like a form of
meditation. So I do journaling every day. I write in a diary every day about my thoughts,
how things are going in my life, coming up with ideas, exploring ideas. And I think tarot
readings are kind of similar. You're basically using the arcane with their meanings to interpret
your life. And yeah, I find if I don't take it too seriously, it can be a really useful way
to reflect on my life. It's kind of like a conversation with the universe. So the card reading
I like to do, because there are different ways of reading tarot, I like doing a three card reading,
and one card represents the past, one card represents the present, and one card represents the
future. I also shuffle the deck in a way where the cards can be upside down. If they're upside down,
or inverted, it can mean the opposite of the usual meaning, or maybe it's the usual meaning,
but it's stronger or weaker, or it's the usual meaning, but there's something different. There's
some kind of twist in the meaning. For example, you might have a card that represents strength,
and then if it's upside down, it could represent weakness, or it could represent a certain kind
of strength, like maybe a spiritual strength instead of a physical strength. Obviously, I can't show
you my tarot cards, but the name of the deck I'm using is the illuminated tarot by Caitlin Keegan,
and I will try to explain the pictures for you. I do recommend you look it up if you want to.
The great thing about this deck is it's very beginner friendly. It comes with a little booklet
that explains the meanings of all of the different major and minor arcane. So I've really found
this a great deck to start with. I definitely want to experiment with other tarot decks. I think
sometimes the meanings in the booklet of this one aren't... there may be too specific, or they don't
look so much into the metaphorical meanings, but yeah, we'll just see how it goes today.
As I'm recording this, it's the 29th of November 2023. So by the time you listen to this,
some of the stuff might not be relevant anymore. I also might not talk about some details that I
would normally do in a tarot reading, because obviously this is much more public than I would normally
do it. But we'll see what happens. So first of all, I'm going to open my box, take out my deck,
and shuffle the cards. I'm going to mix the cards. I'm very bad at shuffling, to be honest,
but I haven't used this deck in a long time, so it doesn't need to be shuffled really well, to be
honest. So that's fine. Hopefully you won't hear any embarrassing sounds of me dropping the cards
all over the floor. So I'm just going to put out the three cards, past, present, and future.
Ooh, interesting. Okay, all three cards are inverted. I have the... oh my god, I'm really bad with
card suits. Clubs, I've got all clubs. I have the two of clubs, the three of clubs, and the six of clubs.
There are two red card suits and two black card suits. The red card suits are diamonds and hearts,
and the black card suits are spades and clubs. Spades are the smooth round ones that look a bit like
a heart, and then clubs look a bit like a flower. They have like three leaves. So all of my cards
today are clubs. Now in this deck, it gives the meanings of the suits. Clubs represent passion
and creativity, the element of fire. So that's interesting. I do love thinking about creativity and
passion, so I'm doing well. And as I said before, all three of my cards are upside down that all
inverted, which hopefully doesn't mean bad things. So the first card is the two of clubs,
and this is representing the past. In the picture, there are two people talking. Their faces are
facing each other. They're very close, and between them there is a campfire. There is a burning
fire. And the meaning of the two of clubs is a passionate conversation or debate. So a debate is
when you're discussing a particular topic and giving your opinions on it. So something in my past,
some kind of passionate conversation or debate in my past, but the meaning is inverted. So maybe
there's some kind of conflict there, some kind of argument going on. Maybe the conversation actually
wasn't very productive. Let me think. Honestly, and I'm not going to go into too much detail,
but I think this is talking about my last relationship. Basically, I was in a relationship
a few months ago, and it lasted for a few months. And at the beginning, I feel like I had a lot of
great conversations with this person. We really connected. We had so many communal interests,
so many shared interests in art, and our outlook on life. And we had really similar life experiences
in some ways. And they felt like we really connected in the conversation, in the conversations we had.
But as the relationship went on, I think it got more... I don't know, we broke up and we had a
difficult period. And I felt a lot of anger towards the person. And when I talked to them afterwards,
you know, we were having quite similar conversations, but I really felt very differently about the
answers they were giving. I saw a side of them that I hadn't seen before, and it made me appreciate
them much less. They were saying similar things, but I interpreted them very differently, and I
thought they were maybe more selfish than I realized before. I guess the message of this card
is to be really careful when you're in that feeling of passion, love, and new relationship.
To be really careful about the words you're hearing and the conversations you're having,
and to really to go deep and really figure out what the message is, right? Because it's really
easy if you like someone to just agree with everything they say and think about everything they say
in a positive way. But of course, I probably should have listened more closely and thought more
about it. Okay, the second card is the three of clubs. So this card is representing my present.
It is a tent or a teepee, which is a kind of Native American tent. So the tent has been set up
in a field, and there are some tools outside the tent. There's a saw, there's a hammer,
and there's a, oh, some rope. Okay, so a hammer is what you use to hit things, a saw, you use to cut
things like wood, and rope you use to tie things up. And in the distance, the sun is setting. So I
guess the implication of this card is you have just spent the day building this tent by yourself,
and now you've made this home for yourself, and the sun is setting. So the meaning of this card,
according to the booklet, is efforts rewarded success in business. So efforts rewarded success
in business. So I could interpret this to mean that right now I'm not succeeding in my business,
and my efforts are not being rewarded, because remember the card is inverted. I hope that's not
the case. But actually, you know what, it's funny this came up because I have been thinking a lot
about my business recently. I've been thinking a lot about the podcast recently. As you know, I had
to take a break last year, and since coming back, I've been doing fewer episodes. I've been
really looking after my health and not working too hard. But recently, with the whole process of moving,
I felt something change. I've grown a lot stronger. It's been very difficult moving to London,
and it's given me a lot of strength, even though it's been very hard. Also, I've had two breakups
this year. So I've gone through a lot, but I think I've grown stronger. I've grown more resilient
through these difficulties, through these hardships. So I've really been thinking recently,
you know what? In 2024, I want to put more work into the podcast, which is why I'm doing episodes
like this. I want to do more on the podcast. I want to bring more. I want to give more. And I want
to honestly make more money. I want to be more successful. I don't think it's shameful to say you
want to make more money, especially because it's a difficult world to live in right now. Huh? Yeah,
things are expensive. So I do want to succeed more in my business. So I interpret this card to
mean that, okay, up to now, I've maybe been working hard and then looking after my health and like my
business has definitely grown a lot this year, but I think we're getting ready to really
enter a new stage. I don't know. I feel like there's a lot of potential. I feel a strong sense of
growth. I feel like I'm ready to enter this new stage. Whether that's the case, I don't know.
It may be that I do more work and I don't see the results straight away. And that's okay,
because I know that you will all find it useful. And that's in itself. Is it reward? So yes.
And finally, the third card is the six of clubs. And this is my favorite card. It is one of the
major arcaneer. It is the tower. So the tower, it's a scary card. So here there is a picture of a
tower. The tower is being struck by lightning. There is lightning hitting the tower. And there
are strong winds blowing. Okay, so in this card, there's just lightning and wind. And traditionally
in the tower, in the depictions of this card, in the images of this card, the tower might also be
hit by waves. Like there's water hitting the tower. And often there's someone jumping out of
the window of the tower. So the tower is like a really powerful card. Like I said, it's a scary
card because the tower means like a deep fundamental change in your life, like a powerful change.
The message of the tower is sometimes you're in your tower and you're all safe. But actually,
you're not safe because lightning is hitting it and water is hitting it. And it's falling apart.
And the safest thing to do is to jump out of the window into the sea. Right? Sometimes in order
to move on in life, we have to take a huge risk. And although it seems terrifying to jump out of
the window, it's much safer than staying in a tower that is being destroyed. That's my interpretation
of the card anyway. The booklet says, a revelation or drastic shift in perspective. So a revelation
is when you realize something very important. A drastic shift is a very big, a very dramatic shift
in perspective. So how you see the world. So I said, I love the tower and the tower is my favorite card.
I feel like this is one of the underlying stories of my life. This is one of the messages that
comes up again and again in my life. I shift perspective a lot. I've gone through a lot of like
quite dramatic changes, right? Like my gender journey, transitioning and then detransitioning,
my disability journey, burning out so badly last year that I lost the ability to speak,
you know, developing catatonia. These are all hugely dramatic shifts that have
made me reevaluate my whole life. You know, these changes have made me rethink my entire life.
It's been a very difficult process. So this is in the future position, which is great because it means
probably I've got to look forward to this. Yay! Another dramatic shift, just what I needed.
I don't know though because this is inverted, right? So maybe it means that
hey Ariel, for once in your life, you're not going to have a horrible crazy year where your entire
life is turned upside down. Maybe what this is saying is in 2024, rather than changing my perspective,
I'm just going to settle that I'm just going to kind of grow what I already have and deepen
the thoughts deep in my perspective. I certainly hope that's the case. I do feel like in some ways
I'm returning to an energy that I haven't had for years, like I'm feeling like a passion
for my art for the podcast that I haven't felt for a really long time. I'm feeling so glad that
I'm moving to London and I'm feeding all of the opportunities that's giving me,
I've already experienced it staying here a few months and I feel like seeing friends going to events.
It's really feeding me artistically, it's giving me a lot of energy. So I really hope what this
card means is that 2024 is going to be more a year of settling, more a year of putting my roots
into the ground, getting water, getting sunlight and just letting my branches grow a bit,
you know, being a lovely beautiful tree growing big and strong.
And if this card does mean that I'm going to have a new revelation and a new drastic shift in
perspective, okay, I'm ready for it. I'm always ready for these things because life has taught me
that you have to be ready, you can't fight it. So yeah, it's funny actually, recently I've had a
lot of ups and downs while searching for a place to live. I've had so many moments where I felt
hopeless, I felt like I can't do this, I've cried, I've broken down, but I found that when I let
myself go, I just cry, I let out my anger and my sadness. Afterwards, I feel so much better,
I wake up the next day feeding so much stronger and each time, even though it's kind of been doing
the same thing again and again, I feel like each time has been a small shift in perspective,
the kind of small tower or maybe each time I've been going up one floor of the tower.
And now I'm about to jump off the top. No, I hope not, I hope not.
Yeah, okay, that's funny. The first two cards, I was very happy to analyse, but this third one
has kind of scared me. I do have to say that's the thing with tarot readings. Sometimes it's not
always the message you want to hear. Sometimes it's a bit scary. Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed
today's episode. It's something quite different, as I said, and I would love to hear your feedback.
You can send me a message at aerial at easystoriesinenglish.com if you want to let me know what you thought.
Also, if you do tarot readings, tell me about that. I'd love to hear it.
If you enjoyed the episode and want to say thank you, you can buy me a coffee. Just go to easy
stories in English.com and click the orange button that says buy me a coffee. Or you can write me
a nice review and Apple podcasts or follow me on Instagram at aerialgoodbody. Thanks for listening
and see you soon.
