Hi friends, my name is Alysha and I’m the owner of Tales of the Tarot
My journey with the tarot started sometime in late 2017/early 2018 on a website called Tumblr (IYKYK). Social media algorithms are designed to pick up on things that interest you regardless of how much or how little, and feed those things back to you. One post with #witchtip quickly turned into hundreds coming through on my Dashboard. In the muddled mix of herbal facts, grimoire ideas, and spell jars, were bits of info about the tarot and how to read the cards.
I spent about a year casually mentioning to my friends my new found interest but trying to play it cool because I didn’t want to come off as “weird”, or at least no more so than I usually do.
In October of 2018 I traveled to Arlington, Texas with one of my best friends, Shane, to see the one and only Taylor Alison Swift in concert, and yes, it was magical. Over the course of the 10 days we booked, Shane and I traveled to almost every major city and saw as much as we could of the state. We put about 1300 miles on our rental car and had some of the best moments in our friendship on that trip. It was our final day and we were driving to the airport when I noticed a Goodwill further up the road we were on. We had about three hours until we were set to board our plane so I suggested we stop and take a quick gander at the potential treasures hidden inside.
We parked the car and as we walked across the parking lot I wondered out loud if they’d have any tarot decks. To no one's surprise, the store did not have anything remotely “metaphysical”. Walking out of the shop I was not only disappointed to have not found a tarot deck, I was disappointed because I didn’t find anything I wanted to throw in my suitcase at the last minute.
We unlocked the car, climbed into our seats and buckled up to make our way home. I sat in the passenger seat, pulled out my phone, and googled “metaphysical stores near me”. There about 15 ft away in a strip mall across from the Goodwill was Botanica de la Luz, a small store mainly full of herbs and incense and a few other wares. Inside of a glass cabinet were the tarot decks. I asked the woman working to open the case so I could look more closely; the options were limited and I think, honestly, if we hadn’t been on a time restraint, we might have spent the day driving around looking for similar stores and the “perfect” deck. I ultimately chose a deck that wasn’t really “me” but it was the funkiest one they had available and I wanted something different. This deck I chose was the Deviant Moon by Patrick Valenza and is still to this day one of my favorites.
I now own close to 60 decks.
Notably the most interesting thing about this store, in my opinion, is that it has the same numerical address as my home here in Alaska, 1335.
We made our purchases, headed back to the car, and committed to the airport. Once we are situated in our seats I take out my new deck, examine the art, flip through the book, and begin shuffling. It didn’t occur to me at that moment that there were so many things I didn’t yet know about the tarot and so many questions myself and others would have that I didn’t have the answers to. Questions like: “How do you shuffle?” and “How many cards should I pull?” The whole process just felt natural, like I had done it before.
I shuffled until I stopped and I took the top card. Four of Wands (reversed). The guidebook says: “insecure home life, unstable partnership, divorce.” and those couldn’t be more true to my life at that moment. My partner and I (who I am still with) had gotten into our first real argument; one birthed from insecurity and instability, mostly on my end. I was shocked! So, naturally, I drew a card for my friend. He nodded in quiet acceptance of what the card had to say and then I asked the 3rd person in our row, a stranger, if they’d like a card too. It’s only neighborly, right? For them I pulled the Nine of Pentacles (r) and I flipped through the guidebook and read to myself: “Financial hardship, loss of possessions, theft of one’s belongings”. I turn to the stranger who shares our row and say to them: “your property will be lost or stolen”. They laughed out loud and said to me “Yes! The airline unfortunately lost my luggage and we’ve been trying to locate it my whole trip.” I was shocked yet again. I couldn’t believe that such a strange little deck of cards could hold such knowledge.
I went back to work the day after I got home from Texas. I was working at a bar at the time and decided that it would be a fun place to bring my cards and practice my skills. It became a ritual activity for myself and the regulars who wanted to participate. I’d pull out my cloth depicting birds, greenery, and a faint crescent moon and of course my deck. I would shuffle and have the person sitting across the bartop cut the deck, I’d put the deck back together, where they cut sitting on top. I’d flip the top card, read the guidebook’s description, and then we’d just talk about it. It was fun for me and for them.
One night, after a couple of months being back and pulling cards for the patrons, I was working downstairs. A group of three approached my bar top, I greeted them and asked what I could get for them. They kind of, looked at each other, shrugged a little, I could tell they had a question or were feeling a bit lost. I asked what I could help them with and one of them said to me “we heard there is a psychic here”.
If when we die we get to watch playbacks of our lives, that moment will be one I watch without a doubt - I can only imagine the look I had on my face. I halfheartedly laughed, more intimidated by the rumor of my abilities and my reputation being something far beyond me, and said that I was sorry to disappoint but that it was just me and my cards.
From that night on my relationship with the tarot expanded in ways I never could have considered. I was hired for private parties, booked mall shows, and read for friends, family, and strangers. I was invited into people’s homes for family gatherings. It was incredible. It still is incredible. My entire life changed that day at Botanica de la Luz and I hadn’t even known it. But isn’t that how it always goes? Something about hindsight…
Today my wildest dreams are my reality. I am fully self employed, owning Tales of the Tarot and co-owning another metaphysical based businesses with some incredible friends of mine: Stag & Moon. Our focus and dedication as of now is to provide magical supplies, share educational resources, and create a safe space for our community to explore their magical potential and power.
Thank you for being here, thank you for being you.
With Love,
Alysha McGuire (she/her)
Tales of the Tarot