The Most Important Rule I’ve Broken
Dear Kindred Spirit,
Last week I told you I'm working on something that’s taking shape as the autumnal light shifts here in Portugal. Before I say more, I want to tell you how I actually got here with tarot.
Imagine being 7 years old, sitting in church, while the preacher, who is supposed to be the messenger of God, tells you that tarot cards are evil. That if you touch them, you'll be possessed by a demon, and you'll go to hell.
Now imagine you're a highly sensitive and highly anxious kid who just wants to follow the rules.
What would that do to you?
For me, it planted a fear. Not a light anxiety, but a true, sweaty, shaky fear of tarot, meditation, yoga, and anything my church called "occult."
The first time I ever came close to breaking those rules, I was in college taking Psych 101. One day I was in a small group with our T.A., and she was going to teach us how to meditate.
And there I was, stuck between my two greatest fears: 1. Getting in trouble. 2. Potentially getting possessed by a demon.
Here's something revealing about me. I was more afraid of not following instructions than I was of going to hell. So I sat there. And I meditated.
It was literally just a couple minutes of noticing our breath, but I was terrified.
And then…nothing happened.
I wasn't possessed. Nothing bad happened. In fact, nothing dramatic happened at all. It was just...not a big deal.
That was one of the biggest moments of my life. Two minutes that hit like lightning. Oh, I thought, They were wrong about meditation. Huh. What else were they wrong about?
Unbeknownst to me at the time, that one moment opened doors I couldn’t have imagined—into practices that calmed my mind, opened my intuition, and healed my heart.
Tarot, though, that practice stayed off-limits for me for another thirty years. I worked with oracle cards. I practiced Reiki. I led rituals where women learned to listen to their own intuition. And honestly, Tarot called to me, too, but I refused to answer that call. Even a couple of years ago, my anxiety still spiked just looking at a deck.
Then one day, mid-meditation, for no reason I could name, I just knew: it was time. One step after another, I had come to a place in my personal journey where I was ready to face my fear.
I got the Wild Unknown Tarot deck and started pulling one card a day for the next six months.
And something opened for me. The cards weren't just pretty images. They were doors into a deeper part of my own intuition. Messages flowed. I understood intuitive answers at a different depth and with a new clarity. The cards were speaking, and I could hear them clearly.
Then, one day in a client session, I thought: what she actually needs right now is a tarot card. I asked if she wanted me to pull one, and I did. And there was her answer, clear as day.
We kept working with tarot together. Then friends asked. Then family. The practice grew from my personal practice into something I was doing for other people too.
At first, tarot folded naturally into the work I had built as a life coach. And then it became the focus of my work. It was like all this time I'd been heading right here, to the tarot.
When I look back, I'm so grateful my fear of breaking the rules was bigger than my fear of hell. It was the only reason I sat down and meditated that day. And it was the first step on the road that took me right here.
Now, thirty years later, I'm creating something special for you this Halloween. It's for the unconventional folks who long for a little more magic, clarity, and fulfillment in their lives. And it will definitely be all about the tarot.
More soon,
Emma
Hi, I’m Emma Basu.
I’m a writer, tarot card reader, and book lover. My soul’s work is to help you find clarity amongst the chaos, meaning in the mundane, and purpose in your life’s winding journey.
Disclaimer: This blog is a resource guide for educational and informational purposes only and should not take the place of hiring a life coach, a therapist, or of seeking medical attention. No information on this blog creates a coach-client relationship between us. You are fully responsible for the decisions and actions you take in regard to your life and affairs.