Cover Photo: n0cturbulous

Over here at Honeysuckle, we are in love with the esoteric. Find us a tarot reader, we’ll get a reading, see a psychic?  Sign us up. It’s one of our favorite forms of exploration and fun and we’ve always pursued it.That’s why we absolutley adore when we come across a pratcitioner who is really real. While we haven’t met many quacks, we have met a couple recently here in NYC. We tried Theresa Reed out ourselves and are excited to see the results.   It doesn’t hurt she is mentor to and highly recommeneded by one our favorite psychics and mediums Deborah Smith, who works closely with our other favorite, Lori Lipten.Read about Theresa’s practical form of tarot sorcery below.

HS: What got you into tarot?TR: Curiosity! I actually started with astrology first. When I was a teenager, my best friend’s mother offered to look at my astrology chart. I was intrigued so I began to study it. One day, I was in the local bookstore looking for astrology books in the little new age section. Lo and behold, there was a tarot deck sitting on the shelf! I had seen tarot cards in movies but had never seen a deck in the wild. I grabbed it on a whim, started reading tarot and never stopped. I’ve been reading tarot for thirty-five years and working in the industry for twenty-five years. I am still as fascinated and curious about tarot (and astrology) as I was all those years ago.HS: Does mysticism, esotericism run in your family? Are re you the only one interested in these things or were you raised in a family that promoted, talked thought about them?I come from a Catholic background and my family was religious but they were also superstitious! My mother and grandmother had “visions” and saw omens – and this was valued in our household. It was never seen as “spooky” or weird. So there was never a stigma nor any sort of pooh-poohing my interest. My family isn’t very interested in tarot or astrology but we all believe in intuition, prophetic dreams and signs from the universe.What are some of the most important elements/tools in your opinon in tarot?The most important is to trust your gut 100%. Always, always listen to that inner voice.On your site, you say tarot is not necessarily about gloomy omens, but do you ever see things you don’t want to see?Absolutely! Life is full spectrum and you can’t expect that it’s going to be rosy all the time (although I wish it was!). Everyone gets their turn at the wheel. We all experience illness, loss, sadness, and disappointment. I’m a believer that you can’t taste the sweet if you never taste the bitter.How do you handle them?My philosophy about life is this: no matter what happens in your life, your reaction is all that matters. In my own life, I’m not attached to good outcomes or bad ones. I take a pretty Zen approach to things. Tarot is a wonderful tool that gives us a glimpse of what may come – that awareness allows us to make conscious decisions.So when I see something in a reading that might be negative, I look to see what alternate routes might be available. If there aren’t any, then we look at the best way to cope with the issues.How do you deal with things such as infidelity and death?I’m very frank. I see what I see and that is that. In a reading, once again, the focus is on awareness and dealing with life’s issues with as much presence as possible. For the record, unlike in the movies, death is RARELY seen in a tarot reading. Most readings are focused on typical issues of the living: work, family, love.If you had to list three things that were most influential throughout your career, what would they be?The three things that most influenced my work? “78 Degrees of Wisdom” by Rachel Pollack, music, and my clients. Rachel’s book is the authoritative text on tarot, music is in my veins, and my clients inspire me so much! I’m lucky that I get to work with some pretty amazing people. Every day, I give thanks for the people I get the privilege to serve.Where do you think the information comes from, that you read in the cards?I have no idea. All I know is that when I lay out those cards, it’s almost like automatic writing. The info comes quickly – like a ticker tape. It almost spills out of me!How do you combine the practical with esoteric in tarot?Actually, I’m a practical gal. My readings remain squarely in that space. There are many wonderful readers who are esoteric in their approach but that’s just not me. While some people are scholarly or “reader’s readers”, I read for the people. I speak their lingo.Do you consider yourself a medium or clairvoyant also?I consider myself intuitive BUT I get visits from dead people in my dreams all the time. And sometimes, it’s from people that I have zero relationships with – but they want me to give a message to someone. Recently, I had a dream about my ex-husband’s father, who had passed away a few years ago. Although he had passed, the family was holding on to the property but just beginning to think about selling it. In my dream, he looked amazing. He was sitting on an adirondack chair in a gorgeous garden, smoking a cigarette. He looked at me and said “Tell my family that I’m very happy in my new home. They can sell the house.” I relayed this message to my daughter – two weeks later, her uncle called to let her know that they had sold the house. She had never informed him of the dream, by the way. This kind of dream visits happens all the time.How does your family (if you are married, have kids or if you date) deal with your career choice and gifts? Do you have any problems, if so, what?My husband and kids are supportive and proud of my work. We’re a creative bunch – my husband and son are musicians and my daughter is a writer so we’re all in “unusual” lines of work – so we all “get it” and love to support each other’s work.Did you ever have any struggles in ‘coming out?’ Being honest about who you were.Nope. I just did what I did. BUT when I first started my business, my parents were horrified. After all, who does this for a living? They would lie about my career for years until we had a confrontation about it. After a while, they became proud of my work – but it took a while to get them there. On occasion, I will get snarky remarks from people who don’t think it’s a “real job” but trust me – it IS real work. I work a 60 hour week, every week. Once people realize how hard I work and how dedicated I am to my clients, they usually get a very different perception of this work.

Theresa Reed (aka The Tarot Lady) is an intuitive Tarot reader, teacher, mentor and yogi on a mission to take Tarot from hippie to hip. When she’s not reading tarot, she’s busy helping fellow mystics learn how to create sustainable + profitable businesses. Her first book, The Tarot Coloring Book, is due to drop November 2016. If you are ready for straight talkin’ tarot and a side of biz whizz, get to her online hood: http://thetarotlady.com or follow her on Twitter @thetarotlady