LIVE Lori Dyan: Big Deck Energy

Sarah Burke

Hi everyone, thank you so much for coming to our second Women in Media taping of the day. How are we feeling? Are kind of awake, almost in an evening mood? Okay, all right, we can work on that. My name's Sarah Burke, if we've never met, I'm the founder of Women in Media Network and we're doing live podcast tapings all day.

And without further ado, celebrating International Women's Day with the second show of the day, please welcome Megan Hamilton of the Embracing Enchantment Podcast, and you probably know her as Tarot Lori, Lori Dyan.

Megan (01:45.326)
Everybody, yes, yes, I'm going to take a minute to put down all my stuff, but I wanted to start off with a little bit. We have an incredibly special guest here today, as you well know. And I wanted to let you know that I'm so happy to be here today celebrating the achievements and perseverance of women and non-binary folks. Let's give it up.

So you are in for an incredible, incredible treat with today's guest, but before we get to her, I need to acknowledge the talent, the grit, the tenacity and the beautiful heart of Sarah Burke.

Little did I know how much goddamn inner growth I'd be signing up for when I pitched this podcast concept art back in the fall of 2024. I was adamant that I create the artwork behind this podcast. Have you all seen it?

Megan (02:50.86)
It's really good, isn't it?

had nothing to do with it. This is all Bree Ron, who is also in the audience today, and can we give it up for them, please?

Megan (03:04.834)
don't even know how many things I submitted to you, but I think it was like 50, and you were like, I think it could be just a little bit better, and I'm like, my, I hand painted something, and I was like, this is the one. She's like, I think maybe we could get a designer to work on this with you, and I'm like, my gosh. But obviously we made the right choice, and I'm so glad that everybody is here, and so.

Once again, can we please give it up for somebody who is not afraid to keep pushing me and all of us toward doing better and being better and who has become a dear friend, Sarah Burke.

Megan (03:40.902)
I love ya. Okay. So as my guest is want to say, I manifested today. Back when I was pitching this pod, I had a vision of doing a live taping in this exact room. And my guest was part of that vision. I was first introduced to her from her agency's Instagram page, mentioning her book deal for burn your shit. I believe I wrote the comment, fuck yes. And then followed her immediately.

And as it goes sometimes, she just so happened to be coming to Kingston, synchronicity, where I live on her book tour to do a reading and a Q &A and an in-person Instagram Live. How many of us have done a Burn Your Shit Live on Instagram with Lori? Yes. Right? Okay. I am such a fan of this hilarious, beautiful.

funny and very smart woman that I hired her to create a workshop for the small business program that I run. Please welcome Lori Deann, also known as Tarot Lori.

How's it going, Lori?

Lori 
|Yeah, hi, this is fun. I want to do this every day.

Megan (04:53.688)
Okay, can we make that happen, Sarah? So as some of you might know, one of the first things I like to do is shuffle and pull a card just to set the tone, get us in the mood. And Lori, okay, can I, I gotta tell them this. Lori's first book, Burn Your Shit, which I have a copy of up here, did so well that it sold out almost immediately and had to have a second run.

How flippin' bananas is that? Yes.

Megan (05:30.399)
And we have another one coming. Yep, in June. And I'm wondering if, while I shuffle, do you want to talk little bit about it?

It's true.

Lori (05:39.404)
Yeah, yeah. So my second book is called Big Deck Energy, The Life-Changing Wisdom of Tarot. And it is also coming out with HarperCollins. It's on June 24th. Pre-order is available now. And it is honestly everything I've learned since day one with Tarot, which I've been doing for over 30 years. This deck that I have with me today is almost 35 years old. Every reading I've ever done is in that deck.

And everything I've learned from readings, which I'm still learning. I mean, I did a reading this morning with a lady, and I don't know where she was, but not that kind of psychic. I'm still learning, just interacting with the cards in different ways, every single reading I do. So this book, Big Deck Energy, is that it's more than just Tarot 101, because you all can get that online for free. It is my interpretation of tarot. It tells you how to choose a deck.

how to cleanse a deck, do you need to cleanse a deck? It talks about different astrological signs, how they can fit in with tarot, how to create a spread, how to ask questions. It is everything you ever needed to know or didn't even think you needed to know about tarot and what's really cool, which one Ms. Jan Arden figured out, because she's now my chief marketing officer. When I was on her podcast with Sarah and Caitlin is she had the book with her.

in Springbank and we were, you know, I was in Burlington and she just flipped open to a page in the back where there are the definitions of the cards and then that was the card for her. So you don't even need a tarot deck to use this book, which I thought was genius of Jan.

So, so genius and so smart and have a passage from that book that I want to read in a second because I think it really speaks to, you know, the spirit with which you bring everything which is super funny but very badass and also like

Megan (07:35.21)
You're going to fucking need to tell us what we need to know. Like we're not getting away with anything. Laurie's like, actually, right? Like as you do with your, when you do your burn your shits, when people send you a question, you often reframe it. Do you want to talk about why?

When I do my reframes, now I understand honestly it's channeling. I'm a writer as well. That is my background. So.

At first I thought, I'm compiling and condensing because people send me shit to burn and I, you know, we'd be there for a week if we were reading every single one. So I'll sometimes condense them. And then I started sort of rewriting them, kind of refining them. And then it was like going down, drilling down even deeper and deeper. So for instance, someone might send in, know, I now choose to release 10 pounds from my ass. And you're like, nah, that's not it, babe. And so a reframe of that might be, I now choose to release being at war with my body.

Mmm.

How about them apples, guys, right? So it's, you know, with burn your shit, with tarot, with everything I do, my intention is to inspire, empower, and enlighten. I don't want you abdicating responsibility of your lives to some random lady with tarot cards, right? It's more about empowering yourself to make the best decisions for yourself moving forward, to heal yourself, to expand and ascend into the greatest version of yourself. And...

Lori (08:59.182)
That's what I love covered in goosebumps guys. Um, that's what often happens with the burn your shit is that I just, like, just tune into an energy that just, don't know. I write stuff. It's like when I wrote burn your shit and big deck energy, I write stuff and I think where'd that come from?

So divine divine yeah. I love it. Okay, so I'm pull a card now. I'm gonna tell my interpretation of the card and then Lori is gonna tell her and the card. Okay. So what's the card for the audience today?

Only a non-answer answer.

Megan (09:39.714)
The hermit, which is the card of the year, right? The hermit is the numerological card for 2025. And I like to think of the hermit in two parts. I think of the hermit as going up, bringing your books with you, gathering all the things that you want to have with you, being alone, studying, researching that sort of fun period where you're

really immersed in what you're doing and there's nobody around to bug you and you're just sort of happy doing your own thing. But then there's a second part. There's the alchemizing the knowledge into wisdom and that can only happen when we interact with other people, when we calm down, when we shine our light of wisdom to share it with other people. And so I think that is what we will be focusing on for this year certainly. And I think actually that's probably why this card came up is

so that we have the opportunities to tell you that this is the year of the hermit, but also to think about what you can share, what your lantern is, and what you want to be spreading out around. What about you, Laurie?

I love that interpretation, That's beautiful. My interpretation is y'all gotta meditate more.

Because the guidance you're seeking is within you. And it's very difficult to access those parts of you that have the answers to the questions when we're stuck up in that superficial layer of life. Feed the dog, get the gizz, do the thing, so it wants you to just step away from all the busyness, disengage on plug and go within, whether that's meditating, yoga, fishing, gardening, go for a walk, leave the phone at home, whatever it is to just take that time to give yourself the space to access those parts of you that have the answers to the questions. And if you don't have a thing, you need to get a thing. And if you put the thing down, just pick it back up. It's fine.

Lori (11:26.604)
So that's my thing. But they're both, yours is much more eloquent, is more bossy.

I love it. We need the bossy. and it reminds me actually of Glennon Doyle's book, where she talks about, have you read, what's the book I'm talking about? Yes. Going in the, going in the closet, being dark and just like letting that, wisdom come to you, right. Tapping into your intuition. okay. Can I read a passage from Burn Your Shet? Okay.

I've lived untamed.

Megan (12:00.558)
When Lori came to Kingston, actually I'll show you all, when Lori came to Kingston, I had pre-ordered the book, but I hadn't got it yet, so I brought my book plate.

Remember that.

And they had her sign it. So, so that's what that was. Okay. Here's a passage from Lori's book. And so this one is about rituals. And I just love this passage so much and it's real short. And then I'm to move to another one, but, Lori is also going to be selling this book after the Ponca. So make sure you go and grab one. Rituals are woven throughout our days and nights like a gossamer thread. They're crucial.

not just for making magic, but for living life. Which I think is one of, you know, my favorite things about how you read tarot is it's not just like, okay, well, you better be careful of this or coming in the future is money and all that. It's like, we're gonna talk about, we're gonna get into the shit. We're gonna talk about what's important. You might need a little kick in the ass and I'm not really afraid to tell you about it.

But I'm going to do it in an uplifting and a supportive way because we use tarot as a tool.

Lori (13:21.802)
Absolutely and that's a ritual is a tool tea leaves are a tool crystals are a tool and with tarot it's it's very much tarot tells the story of you.

You know, in every challenge, every opportunity can be guided or informed with tarot. And then what you choose to do with this message or information is up to you because you have free will. So I always tell people in readings, anyone ever claiming to be psychic who says, you know, if you don't do this, this will happen. Say goodbye to the dog. That's ridiculous. It's not, it's not meant to be fortune telling. It's not meant to be, you know, prophecies. It is the, the, cards are not magic, but they can be very magical.

Megan (14:02.71)
Yes, I love it. love it. Okay, and then the second passage I want to do is from the new moon. It's from manifesting. So new moons are a chance to claim what you're ready to manifest and commit to the desires, ideas, and actions required to get you there. Although you can manifest on any day of the month, doing this ritual on or around a new moon delivers an extra infusion of lunar energy to your intentions.

Do you want to speak a bit to that?

Sure, I mean, I always say in my readings that you have to pull the weeds so you can plant the seeds. And pulling weeds, you you can't clean a house in the dark. So we can't just be like, I am wealthy, I have a wonderful relationship, but that's lovely, but that's just, that's not gonna do anything. So you have to, you know, look at what needs to be unclogged to allow that abundance in whatever form to flow into your life. And so...

When you pull the weeds, that's releasing what no longer serves you. And when you do that around a full moon, because the full moon reaches the peak of its energy and then lets go, we're harnessing that lunar vibe to give it all a little extra juice. And then with the new moon, new moons are all about planting seeds. It's new cycles, new beginnings, fresh starts. So to do that manifesting the really thinking about not just what you would desire, what you're ready to bring into your life, but also...

you know, considering the work that needs to be done to help get you there or to the new habits or rituals that you can start implementing in your life to support yourself for success. And if you do it again around a new moon, it just gives it that little extra juice. Having said that, you can also do it on a random Tuesday. It's not going to make things worse. You know, it's always going to, no one feels bad after burning their shit or sitting in manifesting.

Lori (15:54.158)
And you know, you can't manifest when you're dysregulated. You can't be intuitive when you're dysregulated and doing something like a burn your shit a release ritual is something that can help you regulate yourself because you are acknowledging what is holding you back or what is just not sitting right with you and and bring it to the light not being ashamed of it or scared of it. It's like the the

weight loss thing I said earlier, it's not just like I want to fit those jeans. It's like I want to love my body in the moment I'm in right now because it is this beautiful vessel for my soul. You know? And that's a different way of thinking and it's a very empowering thing. So these rituals, do them whenever you want. know, burning your shit under a full moon is pretty sexy. It's pretty fun.

It is and I think you know when I started doing manifesting on the new moon and releasing on the full moon one of the things that I loved about it was it kept me intentional because there's something out there in nature that's reminding you of yeah I need to check in with myself I need to figure out what the fuck do I want because I remember when I first started doing this work you know years ago I remember thinking to myself okay I'm gonna I'm gonna manifest something and then thinking

I don't...

know what I want. I haven't allowed myself to sit down and really think about what I might want. And so the new moon and the full moon, those cycles that are there in nature, let you be intentional and remind you to check in with yourself.

Lori (17:31.246)
It's a beautiful monthly reminder and you don't have to if you miss a month, that's great miss six months fine There's always going to be you know, God willing a new moon and a full moon Coming next month for you

Yes, love it. tell me what your favorite card is.

Well, I have three. And I always tell people this. My top three cards, the first one is the death card. And that is because it is transformational change. And it is just this, what makes it so scary and yucky for people is their relationship with change. But whenever I see the death card, I get excited because it's change that's coming. The band-aid's coming off. So whether it comes off like hair by hair or really quick is sort of up to me.

Love that card. also, okay, now you're quizzing. Here's something y'all need to know about me is I've had my deck, like I said, 35 years. If you ask me what the seven of swords is, I don't know. Like I could not describe what the seven of swords looks like, but when I see the seven of swords, I'm to talk about the seven of swords. So I think it's the nine of cups, Mr. Fat and happy. Like the guy sitting there. Yeah. All the cups. It's either nine or 10 of cups.

They're all lined up behind him, you know, and it's all about dreams coming true, wishes granted, needs met, desires fulfilled, getting to a place of being perfectly content, yummy, delicious, right? And then my third favorite card is the sun, which is just about right. It's loving, nourishing energy. It's a lucky card for me. That's the thing too with tarot that's really fun is that you develop a dialogue with your deck over time. the cards that all of the,

Megan (18:53.929)
love the song.

Lori (19:07.63)
original sort of interpretations of the card are there and I often will bring them up in readings if I feel it applies, but you're meant to develop your own dialogue with your deck and they can go in these different directions. That's just fine. Like when someone's learning tarot, they should take the tarot 101 interpretation. Let's say they're reading big deck energy. Sure, look at my interpretation, see if that resonates, but like how do you feel with that card? How are you connecting with that card? That is just as important, if not more so.

100%. My answer is three cards.

I love it. three cards. That's abundance right there. And so do you pull cards for yourself?

I mean with Card of the Day every day I do, well every weekday because I need my weekends but Card of the Day started I would do it for myself and then I started putting it on you know Instagram just in stories because I was nervous to put it on a something that would last and reels weren't even a thing when I started doing it and so I don't pull it like I didn't pull a card today which is a Saturday.

But every so often I'll just be like, what's that? interesting. And if I'm at an event and people are sort of giving me a side eye because they're sort of looking at me leery, you know, I need that one butt in the seat and then there's a lineup, but the first brave person has to sit down. I'll sometimes just, you know, to show people what I'm doing, I'll pull a card for myself and be like, damn, all right, Tara, I get it. So it's not anything I'm really like adamant about doing every day. It doesn't have to be done every day.

Lori (20:40.408)
But half the time when I post card of the day, think, why am I even posting this? It's obviously just for me, this message only applies.

to me. Well, it's funny because I actually often feel like that card is exactly for me when I see your cards that are coming up. And as you know, often I pull cards for myself every day. One of my cards will be the card that you pulled.

I love when that happens. Every day I get a message, at least one message if not multiple from people saying, my God, I pulled that card too. Right? There you So cool.

Speaking of, should we take a Tarot question from the audience? Hey, Sarah? Sarah with the floating mic? Anybody got a question? okay. you're wearing an Only Jans shirt. Aw, so fun.

Alright.

Guest (21:24.76)
So it's not necessarily a thorough question, but I have a conflict every time I see something. I'm like channeling, reading something, and all of that, because my mind is very scientific. So I have that struggle, like, ooh, energy and stuff going out of nowhere. Good beep. You know, that fight between heart and brain.

Let me just say, know, science and like the jujus or whatever is in the air that I don't really believe. So whatever you could talk about it. Yeah. Do you want to pull a card for that question?

Lori
I mean, I don't even need to pull a card for it. I'll pull a card for you. But I have thoughts. And my tagline is woo without the cuckoo. Because I get it. I am like that. I can be very cynical about things. I take what I do very seriously. It is my profession. But I'm not precious about it. And I'm not goofy about it. Like we already talked about the fortune telling.

There are certain things that even now I'll say, all right, how is that possible? Like really? And then something will happen. You think, wow, but you know, there is so much in the world that we cannot see yet we cannot deny. And I think it's just about opening up to that. know, it's opening up to like when you get the gooseys about something, right? Yeah. Or you feel just called and compelled to do this instead of that. Or you have a feeling about a person you pay attention to it.

And then you look back after in retrospect and go, damn, okay, that, wow. You know, that's tapping into that sort of cosmic flow, that collective unconscious, that energy that is beyond what we can tangibly touch or measure. So I think it's just looking at proof in the past to help you have faith about the stuff that you can't see. Does that answer your question? I feel like it's a bit of a word salad, but.

Lori (23:21.378)
Yeah. do you, sorry. No, you go. Do you meditate? Do you feel really off when you don't?

Yeah.

Guest (23:35.256)
So I do meditate. I love it. If I don't do it, I might, because it's my moment, right? To kind of like calm down, see how I'm feeling. I did Vipassana meditation. If I don't do it, I know it's gonna help me calm down, because I'm like very hype sometimes.

Lori
Yeah. So when you meditate, you know, and you're activating your parasympathetic nervous system, right? Your vagus nerve is getting nice and toned and you're, and you're moving from that fight flight freeze to rest, digest, create, strategize and manifest. Like you can't manifest when you're in that fight flight freeze state and it's, there's science behind it. That's why burn your shit is full of scientific stuff. It's not all just gobbledygook woo woo, but there's a bit of that too. but the, the idea that

there are neuroscientists who talk about it, that when you're in, again, a regulated state and you are writing down your intention or speaking your intention, you're putting physical action behind just like, I really want this. You are then training your brain. You're creating new neural pathways. And then you start, it's like when you're in a crowd and someone says your name and you're like, and you just look and right. It's kind of like that. You go through the world more aware and open.

to those opportunities or those breadcrumbs that get you towards what you're manifesting because you have initiated that practice from the right sort of head space. So that's an example of sort of like the magic of manifesting with like the full on science that backs up. They may call it something different, but it's the same outcome. So however you get there, like whatever floats your boat, you know? But know that there is absolute science backing the stuff that.

that seems pretty out there.

Megan (25:24.194)
Yeah, thanks so much for that. I also, for me, as I've developed my practice and figured out what works for me, and it's always evolving. I'm changing my practice, how I think about things, how I look at things, what I'm bringing into what I'm doing all the time. But there was a long period of time where I would just say to myself, I don't know what this is.

But I know that when I sit down and I pull cards and I pull out my journal and I start to write things down, I feel better. It makes me think about myself. It makes me be intentional, sort of what we were talking about with the new moon and the full moon. And that for me, I was like, if that's all this is, that's okay. That's enough. Because the cards give me something to focus on. And then I filter that through what's going on in my life. And it helps me be closer to myself. And then later, you know, I got into the weird shit. But.

At the beginning, was just like, okay, these might just be paper cards and they're giving me a symbolic hit and it's allowing me to access my creative brain and think about my life. And that's great. And then, you know, over time it became something different.

Lori
And she started dancing naked under the full moon.

Megan
We said we weren't going to talk about that.

Lori (26:40.888)
Can I pull a card for you? I forgot to say, said, okay, I'm gonna stare at you kinda awkwardly while I shuffle the deck here, okay? And I'm just gonna ask what you need to know right now. I'm not gonna ask about your questions so much because there's definitely something else you need to know.

nodes like just

Freestyle? Let's do it. Taro's going to tell you what you need to know anyway, not necessarily what you want to know. Okay, what's your first name? Ellen? Okay. What does Ellen need to know right now? Okay. So you got the Seven of Wands and it's this guy standing on on a, like a cliff and he's got all of these wands coming up to whack him and he's above it all. He's fending him, fending them off. And it's about basically long story short, you need to rise above everyone else's bullshit.

Ellen.

Lori (27:26.838)
Okay, because all of these sticks are coming up to whack him. He's above it literally. He can handle it. This card is asking you to rise above figuratively and be the Zen Buddha mama and just let that garbage roll off your back. I'm covered in goosebumps. Don't let people push your buttons to get you to engage. Don't let them drag you down in the drama when the low vibe energy that's not even your business because then you're outnumbered and the targets on you, right? So it's asking you to be the grown up, be the mature one, which can be difficult if you're surrounded by a bunch of ding dongs. But there is always a moment between when we...

receive something and we respond to it or react to it. And you can draw that moment out and diffuse it by just thinking to yourself, well, that's an interesting point of view. All well, that's your opinion. You know, it just kind of breaks the connection. It reminds you just because someone's saying something doesn't mean it's true. It's an opinion and our opinions can be like, and that's fine. That's life. You know, we don't have to be on the same page, but you can never say it out loud because it always comes out like interesting point of view, you dumb ass. So you have to be like inside voice, right?

So it's like if someone were to say, what did you do to your hair? You you might be like, to instead just like, all right, well, those are words. That's an interesting point of view. So that's what you want to know right now. Does that track?

Guest
Have you been living with me in the past month?

Lori
That's tarot baby. Hashtag tarot now.

Guest (28:43.886)
like all of this fake news, everything that is going around the stability and just people taking advantage of other people and I'm the person that speaks up. kind of like yeah. Yes, you're up here.

Lori
And it doesn't mean that you don't stick up for yourself, that you don't have boundaries, right? It's just not letting people activate you. Not letting people get their hooks in and drag you down to the bullshit drama that's not your business.

Megan
Love it. Yeah, round of applause for sure. Okay, I think we have a question. okay.

for being great.

Guest
Hi, I'm Al. Hey. I have a question about tarot and astrology and zodiac signs. I see a lot of tarot readings online and it's like the collective Taurus or the collective Virgo. Like, what does that all mean and can it really resonate for every single zodiac sign that's watching it? Well, I think first of all, does it resonate for you?

Lori (29:48.406)
all the time. So I think one thing that's interesting, I love astrology. I'm not an astrologer, but I love astrology. And I love astrologers. I don't really mess with tarot readers because they're a bunch of goofballs out there. But with astrology, it's all about patterns, right? And it's all about this fixed system and something about when this planet is in this position in the sky. And it just sort of tells your story within that pattern. And also look for your rising sign, which is a

often resonates a lot more than your sun sign. Sun, moon and rising are like the big three. And tarot's the same kind of thing. These pictures on these cards represent archetypes that have been woven throughout humanity forever and they're stories that we've been living out forever. And so that's why when I pull a card and I'm like, damn, this is just for me. And then Megan pulling the same card going, holy crap. And then you're watching on Instagram live. my God, it's my card.

That's why it resonates with all of us in a deeply personal way. I always say tarot is, it's, what the hell do I say? I can't remember now. It's specifically random and randomly specific. And I think it's sort of the same for astrology. Thoughts?

Megan
Yeah, I'm the same. I'm not an astrologer, but another guest on the podcast, Colin Bedell, who is an astrologer and who's fabulous. He's queercosmos on Instagram. I had a reading with him and he said to me, you're born your moon sign and you use your rising sign to embrace and move into your sun sign.

And I found that to be so incredibly helpful because my sunshine is Aries. And a lot of the time I'd be like, why am I not feeling fully like everything I'm reading about Aries? so that explanation of sort of, so not only that, and this is what I love about the work that we do and about sort of any of this kind of work is it gives you action items, right? And all of the action items are moving towards.

Megan (31:56.834)
basically having a better life, towards loving your life more, towards being the fullest version of yourself, the sun card. And I love the idea of, okay, here's how you're born. So here's what the challenge might be. Here's what you do with your rising sign. And then you get right up to embracing your full sun sign. And I found that to be incredibly helpful. And not only that, it allows for, you know, more movement within the sort of universal readings that you might see.

Is that helpful?

Thank you. Yay!

You're welcome. Yeah, another one? Okay. All right, we're in the Q &A. I love it. Sarah's the best. I'm Daryl and I'm loving spending Women's Day with all of you. So thank you so much. much. Thank you for coming. vibes. It's a coming. So I'm a Capricorn sun, Libra rising, Pluto, or Pisces moon, Pluto.

Sarah's getting a sweat going out there.

Guest (32:55.712)
My, so the last nine, 10 months I've spent on a mental health leave from working and I'm at a place now where I'm fulfilling my manifestation of life and where that's taking me and there's lots of positives but the work sort of, next steps of work is a big sort of scary anxiety inducing unknown and I have two industries that I'm debating leaning into. Both are familiar to me.

and including whether I be my own boss or I work for someone else and just the next steps are feeling very like unknown and I truly am like looking for the signs. I don't know and that's scary. So any sort of insight that you can.

Lori
I feel like you maybe want a card. I want to. Super polite about it. like you could just ask. I did bring the deck. It would be weird if I didn't use it. I would say though.

You know I wanna

Lori (33:47.694)
What is the card?

Before we even get into this, and it'll be so funny, if we pull the chariot card then I'm a god damn wizard, okay? But I would love you to just take some time to sit, and this is something that's in burn your shit, this is an exercise I give people, is to sit and ground yourself in breath and close your eyes where no one will bug you and just visualize taking each path and really make it a visceral daydream and you what am I wearing? And the dog is barking and then you take a minute while you're in each path to just check in with your body.

How does this one make me feel? How does that one make me feel? Because one will always feel better or less yucky than the other. So that's a really nice way to sort of get head, heart, and gut all involved in your decision making. But also, let's pull a card. the hell? What's your first name? it L? Daryl. Daryl. It's OK. OK.

Lori (34:38.734)
Does Daryl need to know? So, here, little Tarot tip. So when we're asking this question, you want to know what you, because we don't ask yes or no questions, because there isn't a yes or a no or a Tuesday card, right? So instead of saying like, is Bob the one? You say, what do need to know about Bob? Or will I get that job? What do I need to know about that job? So do you want me to just, and there's no card that's gonna be like, you're gonna be a librarian, right? So why don't we ask?

Whatever you're feeling in terms of what do I need to know for next steps?

Yeah, next steps in your career. Yeah, let's just say that. Okay, what does Darlene need know about next steps in

Lori (35:15.886)
Okay, I mean, I want to pull that one. Oh, okay, well, interesting. I mean, I pulled three because, I don't know. But, because the one was nice, but it wasn't really answering your question, but it is absolutely gonna apply. You got the judgment card, which is some bullshit, because this card showing up is saying you need to be nicer to yourself. As kind, you know, as judgmental as we can be of other people, we're so much harsher to ourselves. So you need to tell your inner critic to zip it, because there's too much yippity-yap going on.

She's going for the chariot.

Lori (35:44.662)
And just remember that we are not here to be perfect, we're here to be whole. And that can be a stinky, snotty, sweaty gong show, and that's okay because that's life, and sometimes it's a messy mess. But make sure that you are talking to yourself, treating yourself with the care, compassion, patience, kindness, forgiveness, tenderness that you would extend to a child or a sibling or a best friend. So like regardless of which position you're going with, you just stop shit talking yourself, right? And then I'm gonna give you two cards.

Megan
I think this might be resonating.

And then the second card which is kind of cute because you got like a bit of a like mmm like a little kick in the ass from terror with this one right and then the next card is the nine of wands and that's where this guy is sitting there he's like rocky at the end of the fight ready to go another round and it's telling you Reminding you when things get tough you can do tough stuff Yeah, and you have had to in the past and you will have to in the future and you can do it now it is a card of tenacity perseverance sticking with it not giving up on you you know and

That is what this card is doing. It's kind of like when you see people run a marathon and they get towards the finish line and their body breaks down and they're like, crap, and they start to fall apart. But then the cheering crowd is what gets them over the line. That's what this card is doing for you. It's like, Darryl, you can do it. You're going there. Keep going. You're so close. So you're getting like a rah rah from yourself to yourself and also a bit of a kick in the ass to stop shit talking yourself. So I think personally that the reason those cards were pulled is because I already told you the chariot thing about doing that grounding exercise and then the visualizing.

and then just don't get out of your own way.

Guest (37:12.598)
Okay, I appreciate you.

Lori
Appreciate you asking. Thanks for everyone being brave to ask.

Megan
Okay. I'm gonna take it over to asking another question. So this is actually something Sarah mentioned because there are some fabulous prizes that we will be giving out momentarily. But one of the things that Sarah noticed, and she talked with both of us about this backstage, is she went into...

Winner's Home Sense and like everything was moon manifesting journals and tarot this and you know magic that and crystal here and there. What do you think is going on? Because I've definitely noticed it and we see it all over if you're on social media. Certainly, you know, you get in the algorithm and you're like, there's a lot of witches out in the world. What's happening right now? But I think there also are. Yeah, for sure. What do you think is going on and why do you think? yeah, here we go.

There's our good old Sarah with the actual baskets. But what do you think is happening? do you think, and I think this is an appropriate day to talk about this, why do you think so many people are gravitating now towards these old practices in the modern 2025?

Lori (38:31.682)
Yeah, people are super horny for terror right now. I don't know if you've noticed. they have during COVID astrology really just took off. And terror is sort of like a little bit, you know, behind, it tends astrology is a little bit more accepted, but everything in the metaphysical metaphysical space, I think is becoming a lot more mainstream. And I think it's because although we are more connected than ever before, we have never felt more isolated.

and alone and disconnected. And so we are desperate for ways to figure out who we are in this world, how we fit in this world. And tarot rituals, astrology, they help you understand who you are and how you fit into the world. They help you connect to yourself, your community, the divine. And it's something that you don't need to belong to an organization. You know, it can be a solitary thing, but it's a way because we've

You know, we've lost a lot of trust in our institutions and organizations as well. So I think that's why.

I want to very quickly just show you how bananas as Megan would say, create your own tarot deck cards in home sense. So fun. And there's like a witch. Well, Laurie, I gave you a witchcraft coloring book in your little bag back there. But in here, you're going to get one of those as well. If you win, there's a journal for some manifesting. There is the cherry it card on the side of this.

Yay!

Sarah (40:04.942)
It says the chariot card symbolizes determination, sorry, determination and victory. Tiger's eye stones inside. It's like a reed diffuser. And there's a little candle in there with a card on it. Everything's tarot theme. It's crazy.

Megan
It's bananas. You're right. And I love that. And if I can add to that, Lori, I think that part of what's happening is that we're really tired of the patriarchy. Yo.

on this here International Women's Day. And I think that as you're saying, you know, some of the institutions aren't really supportive of everybody within the institutions. And certainly for me with my practices, and maybe you feel the same, is it allows me to move in on the stuff that really speaks to me that I really enjoy. And I'm talking about open practices, not closed practices, because there are practices that are not.

for everybody, Within certain groups. But I appreciate the fact that I can take what works for me within different practices and leave what isn't working for me and sort of build my own practice that really makes me feel like myself and doesn't need any kind of prescripted way of living or somebody else saying, you're doing this right or you're doing this wrong.

I find it very empowering and I think that's what's gonna fuck with the patriarchy.

Lori
Yes, and I think also, you know, what we're seeing is a real rise of the divine feminine and we and that's not gender specific. Everyone has the divine feminine and the divine masculine within them. We need the strong back to have the open heart. And what I feel I'm doing with my work and I think with you, Megan, and a lot of people, what we're doing, whether it's on a larger platform or within our communities or even our families is I feel with my work, I'm like bringing people online.

Lori (42:00.712)
I'm like sparking a moment of awareness or the nudge, you know, that is really just being channeled through me because for me, Taro, you're having a conversation with your soul. I am the interpreter. And what is happening is for so long, the divine feminine has been pursued in an effort to like snuff it out or suppress it. And now, you know,

Well, I don't know how far I need to get into This is going to be in book three too, but like I get into it. But, you know, for so long, this sort of toxic masculinity has been pursuing the divine feminine. And now the divine feminine is like rising up and saying, I see you and I'm not scared of you. And that's a big part of why everything's going down the pooper right now is because a lot of people, particularly women, are saying, yeah, no, that's not, that's not for me. That's not the vibe.

Yeah, no thank you. Yeah, moving along. Right? Yeah.

Yeah, so love it. And I think tarot and astrology and things can can help to support that awareness. It feels kind of like the Matrix where we're like, I'm going to take the whatever. I don't want the red pill or the blue pill. I'm going to have that that green pill over there.

Megan
Yeah, I want to go dance naked in the woods. Thank you very much. And speaking to that, actually, I want to read to you all from a passage from Laurie's upcoming book. You want to tell us the title again?

Lori (43:26.488)
Big Deck Energy.

Megan
By the way, you can pre-order that book right now and I can say it, that it is the most helpful thing you can do for an author is to pre-order their book. It really helps it get out there. helps it give lots of legs before it gets going. go and pre-order that. When we're done here, go on whatever your favorite book ordering tool is and go for it. Okay, so, and I just, I love this so much.

Tarot tells you there's a place for you in this world by reflecting your world back to you. It's a tool for uncovering your natural gifts and talents, as well as challenges and limitations. Tarot readings are a jumping off point to understanding what's currently happening as well as what's waiting for you. Tarot doesn't carry the same judgment that the rest of the world does. Each card offers positives or negatives, sometimes both. There's no assigning of blame.

only observations and considerations that are offered in a matter of fact, impartial manner, as you observed with Lori giving the readings here. And what I love about this is it's a tool. It's a tool. mean, it's fun. sit down like who doesn't love getting a little witchy and like making things fun. And as you say, it's kind of sexy to do it on the full moon, those kinds of things, anything you can do to make this practice more fun for you.

Mm-hmm.

Megan (44:52.172)
But really all we're doing is getting better acquainted with ourselves and owning who we are and what we want.

Lori
It holds up a mirror. gives you a little peek behind the curtain to sort of see what's going on energetically in my readings from like now to six to nine months out. But it's giving you a peek at the energetic landscape. And again, what you choose to do with it is up to you because you have free will. And it can be a writing prompt. It can be a tool of self-discovery, a tool of self-help. Love it. What?

I love it.

Megan (45:25.528)
Pleasure and pleasure. Yes, we cannot forget pleasure. In fact, we should put it as number one. Okay. So speaking of International Women's Day.

Megan (45:39.714)
Who is a woman in your life that inspires you?

Lori
I owe my career to Erica Von Kat, the witch who mentored me on Tarot over 35 years ago. She is a legit broom toting, spell casting, crystal ball gazing witch. And I think she's living like in a van in interior BC somewhere now just doing her thing. she was the psychic in Calgary, Alberta in the late 80s who everyone saw because she was the psychic in town.

she had all the stuff, but when she pulled out her tarot cards, I was just, it was love at first sight. And she mentored me. She helped me when I was writing a paper about witches for this women's studies class. And she really, she taught me the spread that I use as hers. So, and what I really loved is her approach to tarot was always very fun and lighthearted and joyful.

And I aspire to bring that into the work that I do. I don't want this to be scary or intimidating. I don't want rituals or tarot. I want there to be zero barrier to entry because I know how incredibly powerful and profound these are as tools. And I want people to be able to have access to them. And I mean, the rituals and bring your shit, most of them you can do on your own for free. It's nothing that requires special equipment or special powers. And same goes for tarot. You just need to

practice or you could just like flip open the book and read about the card but anyway Erica is the one who who gave I owe everything to her.

Megan (47:12.898)
I love it, I love it. And what about an historical person? Historical witches, big contributions to your work today?

A historical, a, I have an answer for Will you tell me yours?

Megan
I have an answer. Yeah. I'm going to call out Pamela Colman-Smith, is the illustrator of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, which by the way is probably the one that most of us, least if you think of, know, tarot, these illustrations are going to come into mind. And these came out in 1909. And not only that, nobody actually

Lori
Good one. Yes, cosine.

Megan (47:52.77)
really knew who Pamela Coleman Smith was because it was called the Rider-Waite deck until like 10 years ago when people were like, wait a minute though, who did the illustrations? Turns out it was a woman.

Lori
It was a woman who had both her mother and father's name. She was a woman of color. She was queer. She was all the things. And guess what? They didn't talk jack shit about her. So yes, please.

Megan
Pamela Colman-Smith, we love you. Thank you so much. We probably owe both of our careers to a certain degree to her. OK, I had a couple of questions. How are we doing, Sarah? Are we OK?

Megan (48:32.226)
Okay, okay, and by the way, if you really wanted to ask Lori a question, Lori's gonna set up back here after we're done and you can come up and she's gonna be, you can buy a question to ask.

Lori
Yeah, I'm gonna do like I've got a couple of books if someone wants my burn your shit And then we'll do like get it $20 and pull some cards

Megan
Yes. Love it. If you want. Okay. So Instagram, put a couple of, by the way, if you're not following Lori, who everybody's following Lori, I'm sure of it, but Lori will give you a tarot reading every single day and they're phenomenal. There's such a great, it's like, have my little practice and I'm like, okay, I'm going to see if Lori has posted yet today because that's going to become part of like what I'm doing in the morning. and sometimes it's not in the morning.

just going to say it must be from the day before. Getting later and later.

Well, always find like whenever it finds me is when it's supposed to find me. I asked Instagram if they had any questions for Lori and here's one that I love. What circumstances led you to the path that you're on? And I guess we sort of talked about that.

Lori (49:27.145)
Absolutely.

Lori (49:38.21)
We sort of did. mean, I have a communications degree. I was a writer for many years. I've worked in... I don't know. Yeah, I worked in big businesses and I always tell people the only reason I didn't get fired from at least two jobs is because I would take my clients for tarot readings at lunch. And so I got laid. They love me for that because I wasn't so hot at the business stuff. But yeah, the I always did tarot. It was on the side.

Megan
don't think I knew that.

Lori (50:02.86)
which is why I would always say, it's Lori, know, Tarot Lori, like the Lori that does Tarot, and that's how sort of Tarot Lori stuck. And it's something that I just always did because I couldn't not do it. That's how know, I'm very lucky that my career is also my calling. And I'm, you know, my profile is raising in the last few years with the books and everything. And it's, like a, I'm an overnight sensation that's like three decades in the making.

Megan
Just like every actual overnight sensation. Yeah. There's like a whole backstory. I love it. Should we move to giveaways? Do one more. Okay. All right. We do have one more question from Instagram and you and I talked about this backstage too. And I'm so excited for your answer. Where do you think your deck's voice comes from? If it has one, it's not a good question. Great question thank you to Carrie-Ann for that question.

Lori
I always talk, I don't know if y'all watch Schitt's Creek, but you know how Moira talks about her wigs? That's how I talk about my cards. And it's like, my cards take on a different persona depending on the circumstances or the person I'm reading. And I just said this in the reading I did before I came here today is, you know, sometimes it's really bossy or prescriptive. Sometimes it's very ethereal and metaphors. And sometimes it's, you know, like a big sister encouraging you. And more often than not, it's like the cards are like-

girl, we're gonna make this as unambiguous as possible so you can't talk yourself out of this. Like pay the fuck attention. And it's really interesting because the cards deliver a message in a way that the way I'm throwing is the way you're catching. If it's very like metaphors and blah, blah, blah, it's because that's what that person needs in the moment. So my cards do have a voice, but it's different for every single reading I do, which makes it every reading I do.

fascinating, even if it's just a one card, know, Darryl in the audience. I'm just like, my God, isn't this amazing? So, yeah, but it's, often more often than not, it's like sassy.

Megan (52:02.67)
Very sassy. I think, you know, I have ADHD and I think that's, yeah, shout out to those of us with ADHD. wow. Okay. That's interesting. I think that, you know, part of what keeps me interested in tarot is that it really is different every time. And not only that, I'm often finding something new in the car that I'm like, wait a minute, what is this broach that I've never actually like.

Email.

Megan (52:28.814)
put a magnifying glass up to and taking a look at what is this? the magician's belt. It's a snake. That's interesting. I didn't notice that before. And it keeps me interested for the brain that needs new stimulus constantly. Okay, so we're going to move to the giveaway section and we have two incredible prizes to give away. Which one did you put the tarot reading in?

So fun.

Megan (52:56.864)
Okay, that's the women in media one? Got it, okay.

Sarah (53:03.264)
You also get to create your own tarot

Lori
I think, Sarah, you need one of those because you've mentioned it a couple of times.

Megan
Yeah, we're to go to winners and stock up for Sarah. I've witchy friends. I'm good. You do. You really do. Okay. So, so this, we'll do this one first. This is the women in media network, merch. And again, if you love the stuff that you're seeing for the merch, you can support the London abused women's center and grab some of this merch for yourself after we're done here. So,

Megan (53:41.038)
I'm trying to think of what the question's gonna be now. Do you have a good question, Sarah?

Sarah
Name one of Lori's favorite three cards. Your hand was up first. I'm coming to you. Tell us your name too. My name's Laura and the sun and the death card and the nine or 10 of cups, right?

Who knows? Who knows the number? Bonus point.

Megan
All the prizes for Laura. put a reading in there, correct? yes. And so I also have a 30 minute reading in there and we can connect on Zoom. Okay. So the next giveaway is, you know, what we were referring to with Sarah. And if you were listening, what is the card that is on the diffuser in this prize pack?

So fun.

Megan (54:41.838)
Yeah

Lori
You know what's crazy? What? When I was telling Daryl about that exercise to sit, ground yourself, visualize each path, that's the chariot.

Megan
I know. And I was thinking to myself, know what's coming. Okay. So, you know, I love you. Thank you so much for coming out today and making the drive. It's always fun to talk to you and your generosity and your like beautiful, empowering spirit is, it's, it's a delight to be around.

So fun.

Lori (55:15.694)
Thanks Megan, thanks for having me. Thank you all for coming.

My pleasure. Thank you all for coming. Thank you for celebrating International Women's Day. Thank you to the Women in Media Network. Thank you to you and your beautiful, beautiful brain and everything that you're making in this world. And when I said you, I meant Sarah, if you're listening to the podcast after the fact. And I think that's a wrap. Here's to building an enchanted life.