1 | Who's talking? My story with the Tarot

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Hello magical beings and creatures of the forest.

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Welcome to the Tarot and More podcast.

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A place for inquisitive, artistic and questioning minds.

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First of all,

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I would like to welcome you to this little corner of the podcasting world.

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Thank you for stopping by.

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I hope you will stay for the journey.

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Maybe I should start with saying something about myself to set the expectations who I am and who I am not,

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what you can expect to find in this podcast and what you probably won't. My name is Gosia.

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I'm a multi-passionate writer, poet, language teacher, translator, dog lover and a spiritually curious bookworm.

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I'm a little bit woo.

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I have religious and spiritual beliefs that are eclectic and don't fit neatly into a labelled box.

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But I can tell you that I certainly don't take guidance from people and spaces that don't invite women to have an equal footing in spreading the divine message.

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That's for sure.

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And I strongly believe that the spirits of our loved ones who have passed away remain with us and can look after us if we invite them to.

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At least that's what I've been experiencing with my dad after his death.

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But I'm also firmly grounded in evidence-based science and generally keep close to the earth,

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which is, by the way, my favourite element and the one that corresponds to my sign, which is Taurus.

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I don't see a problem in holding space for this duality in my life.

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I think it's important to know where they belong and where they don't.

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So what about the tarot?

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It usually sits in the realm of wool, right?

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Well, not necessarily. I think it depends on what we use it for.

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To me, tarot is a tool for self reflection, an inspiration and an invitation to look deeper into what's going on in our lives now,

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where we should direct our attention,

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what we should look after and what we should embrace.

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I have a friend with whom I've been friends since we were 15,

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so a really long time.

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When we were teenagers she told me something that stayed with me,

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that we already hold the answers to our own questions deep inside us.

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Mind you, she completely doesn't remember saying this,

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but I do remember.

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And also she is an experienced psychotherapist now,

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so that is very much something that she could have said even as a teenager.

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And this is the best explanation of what tarot is to me. A tool to uncover and put a spotlight on these answers that I already have in me in terms of the Tarot school of thought, so to speak, that I follow,

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my teacher of choice and someone whose approach to Tarot resonates with me very much is Lindsay Mack,

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the host of the podcast Tarot for the Wild Soul and the author of an upcoming book with the same title and the Soul Tarot Deck. I am with Lindsay on that.

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Tarot can be a tool for our personal healing and internal evolution, and not something that can predict the future.

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I am not a Tarot reader. I mean, I do read for myself, but not for other people, and I don't think I ever will.

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What I'm interested in and what will be the focus of my conversations in future episodes is what Tarot, this centuries-old system,

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inspires in us in our current times.

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How do artists choose to interpret classic symbols now?

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What does Tarot symbolism mean to people who have been traditionally excluded from its imagery?

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What kind of community building does it inspire?

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How have the meaning and message of each card been evolving and changing over time and space?

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These are the types of questions I like to address in conversations with creators of independent decks, Tarot teachers, readers, authors, booksellers, and community organisers,

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and also in my own solo episodes.

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I know I just said a moment ago that I don't believe in divination and Tarot's ability to predict the future.

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I don't because I generally don't believe that the future can be predicted.

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That would assume that it is somehow fixed, predestined,

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which is very much against what I subscribe to.

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Having said so, however, I am interested in divination and fortune-telling as a cultural practice which has existed for hundreds of years in some cultures.

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I very much hope that at some point I'll be able to talk on the podcast to Romani fortune tellers because I find this aspect of their culture fascinating and also very much misunderstood.

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What else about me in 2020 I bought my first Tarot deck, which is still one of my favourites,

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Lisa McLoughlin's textured tarot, which I picked up from Lisa's front porch after driving across completely empty London.

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That was eerie because if you've ever been to London,

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the London in England, UK,

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you know it's never empty except for these initial couple of weeks of the first lockdown in 2020.

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Anyway, my intention was to stay with it forever, being faithful to one deck, which I chose with a lot of consideration and reflection.

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Fast forward to 2025, and I not only own several beautiful indie decks, but I also have my own online shop with Tarot and Oracle cards because I just wanted so much to bring all these beautiful decks to Tarot enthusiasts in Britain.

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I live in London, but I'm originally from Poland, and my particular desire is to gather in my shop artistic, creative,

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beautiful decks from Eastern Europe and Eastern European creators and those representing Slavic folklore and design.

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But overall, my shop is quite eclectic, just as everything in my life.

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And last but not least, I'd like to highlight one more thing that I feel very passionate about,

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and I'm saying it with much love and admiration for all Tarot readers, fortune tellers, healers and practitioners of woo.

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They can bring a lot of value, help and support to any curious seeker, but they can never replace a professional, certified, licensed therapist.

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So if you somehow ended up here while looking for actual help with your psychological or mental state,

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please search for an accredited counsellor or therapist in your country first.

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Well, I hope that I set the expectations for this podcast right and that you will join me for the next episode on Halloween 2025 for a conversation with my very first guest, my fellow Slav, and someone who I can only define as my eight of Wands for this whole Tarot shop and podcast adventure.

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And for now,

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stay magical.