Tatianna Tarot
Earlier this year, my life was turned upside down and, subsequently, I wasn’t in the happiest place. I felt extremely stagnant in my love life and fed up with certain issues that kept repeating themselves. I needed a change, so I cleaned house and then asked God to guide me to what I needed to know for this upcoming year. The day after I said that prayer, a close friend tagged me in Tatianna Tarot’s YouTube’s Energy Forecast. To be honest, I was afraid to watch the video because of my Christian upbringing. But I said “eff it” and watched because I never just stick to the Bible to gain understanding, if I’m honest. Interestingly enough, Tatianna called out my entire life in her 30-minute energy forecast and I was sold, completely. I decided to have a reading with her and it was incredibly healing. I am more accountable for the choices I make and I don’t disguise them under the pretense of God’s will. After my reading, I began to trust life more and found that I like growing without the 20-something angst many millennial women find themselves burdened with.
In this interview, Tatianna Tarot, the 28-year-old Bed-Stuy bred beauty, will explain how intuitive tarot readings and healing rituals became her career and how women of color can be healed through spirituality and practices from their ancestors.
MadameNoire (MN): What made you launch My Urban Illumination?
Tatianna Tarot (TT): To be honest, I’ve been working in a variety of locations that cater to spiritualism and different denominations of worship — not necessarily religious ones but practices that were occult and spiritual: Santeria, Voodoo, Hoodoo, Paganism, etc. It was my experience, predominately at one store in upstate New York called The Magic Moon which is, for the most part, pagan oriented (European, North American ancestry), that there wasn’t a lot of information on people of color, their own rituals, history and how they can connect to the divine. Since I’m a woman of color, I thought it would be dope to provide a service to my people, of all walks of life, to understand how they can connect further to the divine and themselves and, hopefully, in the process I can help in demystifying any taboos that are associated with practices that are from Africa and the African diaspora. [Learning about these practices] helped me out in so many ways and I was inspired to help bring this to the masses. I didn’t have the means to start a store right away so I did it online and it’s gradually growing.
MN: What’s the difference between a tarot reader, astrologist and psychic?
TT: They are not too dissimilar actually. All practices have a commonality in the sense that they use the cosmos and a force to read energy to foretell where the angles of a person’s energy are going. I don’t want to say predict because predicting is susceptible to change. Tarot does that through a 78-card deck and with these cards, through a process of art history and imagery, you interpret the cards and the energy to see where a person’s life path is going.
Astrology uses the planets and stars. Every planet and cosmological energy has its own force and its own property, so depending on the angles of the planets and how they relate to each other, you can tell how the forces are going to guide you in a certain life path and how it relates to you based on your own chart, which is based on where the planets were aligned at the time of your birth and how they are currently.
A psychic is a person who is very receptive to the divine; we are all psychic, it just depends on whether or not you want to exercise those muscles and if we want to believe in our ability to be psychic and tap into something that is greater than us. So a psychic can be an astrologist or do tarot readings. I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive.
MN: Why did you decide to become a tarot reader?
TT: I didn’t decide to become a tarot reader, I was born like this. [Laughs] Literally! Long story short I grew up with my father, grandma, aunt, and uncle in Bed-Stuy. My father would take me out every weekend to get a change of scenery to really have me engaged in worldly culture. We would go to a lot of cafes and bookstores. I was always allowed to get a book as a child but during one particular outing, I saw this tarot deck in the occult section. I always gravitated to the occult section even as a child—it was inexplicable, I always wanted to read about witches and rituals. So this one time I wanted to get a deck and my dad was like “Nooooo. You’re six years old and you don’t know what that is and it’s not a game and you wouldn’t even understand it.” So when I went home my grandma had a regular deck of cards and, as kids would have it, I used my imagination and I began reading people with that. I would read in my lunch room, practice on my own. I don’t know where I got it from; I don’t have anyone in my family who talks about tarot readings or did tarot readings. It was just a really natural gift. It sounds very abnormal; it just flowed out of me. It must have been from some past life and it resonated with me strongly. I would be like “Oh hearts are love, clubs are good luck and spades are opposition.” It wasn’t until high school, a friend gifted me a deck during a business class and that’s when I began using an actual tarot deck. Up until then I was reading people from a regular playing card deck or doing palm readings.
MN: How did your family and friends react to you making tarot reading and healing rituals your career?
TT: The reaction my father gave me (as a child) wasn’t so much opposition, it was more like “Hey, I’m not going to invest $20 in a deck for a kid that doesn’t know what it is.” My father is very, very supportive—everyone is. They didin’t really understand the extent of my gift and passion until now. There are things going on with my family that are troublesome, so my talents and abilities to heal have helped them out a lot and has given them a lot of insight (especially this year). They appreciate [my gift] and can comprehend what I’m doing. My dad (is a medium, so he totally gets it) and was the one saying “You should do this as a career,” instead of just reading close friends and family.
MN: How do you decide if you will give someone a reading or not?
TT: I don’t; if they come to me, then I assume it’s a part of my responsibility and working with Spirit to provide them a reading. It’s all about the angle and approach because I’m still human and I have boundaries, like anyone else, and I need to be respected. So, if I feel like someone is coming and they feel entitled to a reading, then I will definitely tell them what’s up and tell them to come correct—either you have respect or you don’t. It’s all about discernment, too—people want readings to take out the responsibility or accountability they have in their life. They want to place it on someone else because they’re so confused and lost, they don’t know what to do. Or they’ve never taken responsibility [for their actions] so they want something external to provide them that validation that they don’t necessarily take action on. When I sense something like that, I’m completely real with people because I respect my gift [so I tell them] this isn’t a game. It’s a tool for self-transformation and healing. And if people don’t really respect that angle, then I clarify certain things [for them]. It’s seldom been the case that I turn someone down, and if I do it’s because I see them developing a co-dependency habit and it’s not healthy. Although I am not a certified therapist, tarot is a highly therapeutic tool, so I will say “Hey I don’t think this is serving you in the way that it should be serving you, perhaps you should look [into] professional services.” And I give them the resources to how they can go about doing that. But I’ve only had that experience with one person in my entire time reading people. Thankfully, I’m very cautious, deliberate and intent in attracting certain clients. I want people to reciprocate the energy that I give out, so that I don’t get drained and that they receive the best that I can offer.
MN: How has your life changed since becoming an Instagram Celebrity tarot card reader?
TT: I’m a celeb? [Laughs] A lot of people have been telling me that! My life has changed in the sense that I’m much more private and secluded. I’m more cautious about the energy I project, who I share my life with and what I do—especially in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is a little chaotic; although Brooklyn is my home and I frequent it often, I moved away. It’s so crazy, I’ve been stopped in bars in Harlem (because I used to live in Harlem), that I don’t even go [often] and people are like “Yo! Are you Tatianna Tarot?” I’ve been stopped on the train, a lot of places in Brooklyn. It’s still very awkward [to me]. I would say I’m a very personable person, I really enjoy socializing, but there are still parts of myself that are [like] a hermit. I’m a Virgo, so it’s still weird to get used to it, I don’t consider it celebrity status. I’ve met some IG celebrities and they’re not as cool as they are on their platform. So, I hope I don’t give out that vibe when I meet someone [in person] because I can get really awkward. [Laughs] It’s cool, though, I know the message that I’m trying to spread about connecting to the divine, spiritual practices and a spiritual life (especially African spirituality) is being well received and helping a lot of people.
MN: What myths would you like to dispel about tarot?
TT: There is a lot of taboo because there’s a lot of judgment in religion. [Society is] kind of straying away from the sense of needing to belong in a certain box. Religion is good, but spirituality is all about what is good for your spirit. And everyone is an individual in that aspect; spirit is all inclusive and encompassing. When it comes to certain religious aspects they say you have to do x,y and z but you cannot abide by these practices: you can’t read tarot, you can’t be a woman [laughs], you can’t have your hair loose. So I would say the biggest misconception about tarot is that it’s going to tell you your future. A lot of people are like, “I’m afraid of getting a reading because I don’t want to know.” They are already projecting the negative because they are assuming that something bad will happen. What does that say about the state of our people and society if we’re always residing in the negative and lower vibrations? It’s as though [people] don’t have any hope or power of [themselves] to say “No! This is what I choose and what I believe in. Point blank.”
The way I angle [my readings] , people have a choice in the outcome of their readings. They can go left, they can go right, diagonal or up and down. I try to stay as neutral as possible because, ultimately, it’s not my story. Who I am I to be like “this is what is going to happen to you?” That’s really disrespectful and exceeding my boundaries. I think the biggest misconception comes from the media, religion, and oppressive people who live in fear (who need a crutch and a set of rules or laws) to define their living. It’s not about telling you the future, it’s about allowing you to develop your own future and empowering you. I get a lot of scientific people who visit my page and say “Oh, this is all woo-woo,” but a lot of mysticism and spirituality can be backed up by science and quantum physics.
MN: Has your career affected your dating experience?
TT: With dating, I’m a stubborn person. I can say all kinds of things about people, I can read other people [about their love lives] but when it comes to myself, I close the blinds. [Laughs] Listen, it’s to the point that when I meet somebody I know exactly what’s involved but I believe in the benefit of doubt. I would believe in infinite possibilities, but to be honest I date a lot. I get my needs met [laughs], I respect others and they respect me, but I’m not seeking anything serious because (right now) my purpose exceeds me. And at the moment, it takes a certain kind of man to understand what my spirit is, who I am as an individual and what my gift is to the world. A lot of men reside in fear or want to have a control tactic so they have a game that’s on the DL and my focus is on my clients, spreading this information and growth and progression.
MN: Our society is very dependent on self-help books. What advice do you have for women of color who are looking to be healed?
TT: Before books and practices, I am looking into my ancestry. I’m Puerto Rican, Haitian, Polynesian, Indonesian and Native American. [So I think it’s important] to know the intimate details of your family history. There is always someone in the family, whether you know it or not, who conjured up things in the kitchen that were healing remedies with herbs or rituals. This also extends to a mother who would open up her bible and recite a couple of passages or Psalms. That’s still a sense of magic because they’re invoking something with the divine. You have to know the history of your people because our ancestors are trying to communicate with us in modern times to finish up what they weren’t able to accomplish. You can’t learn spirit and ritual through a textbook, it’s innate and you have to allow yourself to be guided to it. You have to listen to the guidance spirit is providing you and trust it. You don’t always have to seek information outside of you. Not to discredit books or anything, but a lot of people are looking to be taught without trying to teach themselves. It’s important to establish a connection with spirit and your ancestors first.
