Where Intuition Meets the In-Between: Using Tarot As a Tool For Self-Discovery
Episode 02: Where Intuition Meets the In-Between
This episode explores how tarot can be a meaningful and useful tool for self-discovery and a simple way to connect to your intuition. Listen to this episode if you’re looking for ways to connect deeper to yourself and your life or to help you navigate your own seasons of transformation.
Episode Details
Summary
In this episode, I’m sharing the story of how tarot became a meaningful part of my life and why I’ve recently felt myself reconnecting with it in a deeper way. I talk about my first experience with the cards in 2017 and how seen I felt when a simple spread reflected back everything I had been carrying. It became the beginning of a practice that helped me slow down, listen inward, and trust what I was feeling.
I also revisit the early days of learning the cards through journaling and small daily pulls, and how reading for friends and strangers slowly opened a new sense of purpose for me. Over time, I began to notice how often people came to me during seasons of transition and uncertainty, and how tarot created a gentle starting point for connection.
In this episode, I reflect on the joy of recent readings, the trust I’m building with myself, and the way tarot continues to support my intuition and my work. My hope is that this conversation encourages you to explore the tools that help you feel grounded and guided, especially when you are moving through an in-between season.
This episode is for you if…
You’re in a season of building self-trust and are curious how tarot can support you
You’re looking for inspiration for your personal tarot practice and curious about reading for others
You’re going through a big life transition and want tools to feel grounded
You want to connect with your intuition on a deeper level
You’re moving through an in-between season of life and looking for clarity about what’s next for you
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Welcome to The Shoreline, where we explore the tender in-between seasons of the human experience. My name is Kim, and I'm here to support you as you navigate your next becoming. Here, we don't fix, we listen. We don't rush, we allow. Hello, and welcome to today's episode. Today, I want to talk about my journey with Tarot. So, lately, I've been kind of falling back in love with my Tarot practice, with my cards, and I thought it would be a really great time to just kind of share my journey and where I've been and kind of what's unfolded with the cards. So, in order to kind of start my Tarot journey, we'll go all the way back to 2017. I remember a friend at the time, I was over at her house and she had a set of Tarot cards, and I was vaguely familiar with Tarot, but I had never done a reading, I'd never had a reading done, and she was really excited about kind of sharing this particular deck and doing a reading for me and one of our other friends. And so she did a spread, and we were kind of going through the journey of that spread and going through the cards. And I just remember feeling just so seen, and like my, what I was going through at the time had just been so well summarized and articulated. And it just was really comforting to kind of see the cards reflect back to me what I had been feeling and what I had been going through. So after that experience, I bought a set of those cards, and I started to just play around and get to know the deck. And traditionally with tarot cards, you're not supposed to buy cards for yourself. They're supposed to be a gift from someone else. But I'm not really a super traditional person. And so I just really felt strongly that I wanted to buy the cards for myself and kind of get to know this medium and this practice. And so I really just dove in. I was so excited about it that I spent a lot of time at home just like shuffling through the cards, picking them, not necessarily doing like a proper reading or a spread, but just seeing what card would come out and reading about it in the guidebook and I just really wanted to like dive in to getting to know this deck. And one of the best things that I did in order to kind of learn all the cards was to create kind of like a journaling practice with it. So every day, I would pick a card and I would read about it. I would kind of write down the highlights of what it meant. And then I would just journal about like, did I feel like it was accurate? How is this applying in my life? And over time, picking cards day after day, I started to notice some patterns of like, I would pick sometimes I would pick the same card like two or three days in a row because that's really what I was going through. And I noticed like there were cards I would never see. And so it was really fun to kind of see the different themes and patterns that popped up. While I was kind of getting to know the deck, I also really was just excited to like share it because it really had a profound impact on my life. So I started to just bring my cards everywhere with me. And I would try to do readings for anyone who wanted them. It started with, you know, close friends to then like friends of friends. I remember even just like going and sitting at the bar by where my jewelry store was. And like I would even just do cards for, do readings for strangers or like let them pick a card. And it was just like really fun. And it was a really like easy way to connect with people. And it wasn't anything that I ever saw myself doing professionally or getting paid for. And I didn't even really seek out reading for others. It always just was a practice that I allowed people to come to me. I allowed it to be really flowy and it has been really flowy always. And yeah, it's just something that has always just brought me such joy and excitement to share with others. So a few months into, you know, me getting my first deck back in 2017, one of my friends invited me to go to an event with her. And it was, I thought it was just like a brunch gathering at one of her friend's homes, but I think it turned out to be like a beauty counter, like, sell makeup party, which isn't really important. But so I went there and she was like, oh, you should bring her tarot cards because, you know, some people there might want to reading. And I was like, sure. And in my mind, I was just kind of doing what I was always doing, or just bringing the cards with me. If friends or someone wanted to reading, or we wanted to bring the cards out, we would. But at this event, it was really interesting because it ended up kind of being my first foray into public readings. I got my cards out and the host of the event kind of announced that if anyone was interested in tarot, I would do readings. And then I kind of found a little corner space and set myself up. And then all of a sudden, everyone at the party just lined up for readings. And it was pretty wild. It turned into this very formal thing where I was sitting down and really getting practice and doing these formal readings for others. And at the end of the event, everyone kind of like pooled together and gave me some money for my time. And they were just because they were really grateful for the experience, not because I asked. And that was my kind of first ever paid tarot event. And it was completely unexpected. I was still so new to doing readings. But now as I kind of reflect back, I'm like, oh, wow, that really was kind of a seed planted into kind of where I'm at now. So fast forward a few years, you know, I've been doing tarot. I've gone on kind of like a pretty significant spiritual journey. Tarot is really integrated into my life. Like I do an annual spread for myself. I like go to the cards when I need guidance. I have friends who come to me. And then a couple of years ago, it was actually my sister's hairstylist. She was hosting an event at her salon, and she asked me if I wanted to do readings at the event. So I, you know, I thought it would be fun. I love doing tarot. I was a little bit nervous because this was kind of my first really paid event. And I had done tarot readings here and there for people where I charged them, but I had never really done like a big formal event where I'm like showing up as a tarot reader. And you know, that's like part of the main event. So this was a couple of years ago, and it was just such an interesting experience. So I didn't have anyone sign up in advance. I just kind of like set up a table, very similar to that event I went to back in like 2017. And you know, I offered 15 minute readings, and it was just kind of like whoever wanted one would just kind of show up and flow to me. And I was booked pretty much the whole evening. There were no like lulls, and it was really interesting to see who was kind of curious and who showed up. And there were some really amazing readings, and I just felt so excited and so full at the end of the experience, being able to kind of help people who were going through something or who weren't sure what was next. And I think that was like the first seed of like, oh, maybe there's something to this. Like I started to notice that like everyone who kind of came to me for guidance was in kind of like this, I don't know, I've let go of something and I'm not sure what's next. And that's kind of where the seeds of like the in-between season, the shoreline, all of this kind of came to be. But I didn't know it yet. And so then recently, through this hairstylist, she referred me to the owner of a jewelry store and kind of out of the blue, I got this text of like, hey, do you want to read Tarot at this event at a jewelry shop? And so I connected with the store owner. She was hosting kind of a witchy magical event where people could make little wish bottles. I was reading Tarot. She has a lot of like antique jewelry at her shop. So she was offering jewelry cleansings for anyone who wanted to take these vintage pieces and kind of like, you know, re-give them a reset and cleanse them. So it felt really aligned. I went to the event and I just had such an amazing experience again. I felt like the readings were really impactful. And for the first time, I felt really unattached to the outcomes, which I would say out of like all of the work that I do, Tarot is where I am the most attached. I feel like I'm really just channeling the messages of what people need to hear. And I'm just kind of like a vessel and I'm just reading the cards. And I don't read the cards in a very traditional way. I kind of, I use my intuition a lot. And the cards are really just kind of like the jumping off point and like the point of connection. But it's more of like an energy reading or an intuition reading and kind of more of like an untraditional blend, if you will. And this event was really special because I left just feeling very, not only very fulfilled, but just like I felt very trusting and like whatever happened happened, I'm not going to overanalyze and wonder if someone had a good experience, a bad experience. Did I say too much? Did I say too little? Was it what they wanted it to be? I was just like, this was a perfect moment in time. It happened and I'm happy about it and I'm moving on. And I think like that was such a powerful moment for me because as a chronic over thinker and someone who is kind of a people pleaser, I just felt like such progress to be like, I just have such a deep sense of trust in the other person, in the cards, in myself, and that was exactly what it needed to be, and nothing more, nothing less, and that's great. I also kind of left that event really being able to see the potential of how Tarot and coaching can work together. I think that especially doing the kind of shorter readings I was doing, where I often was just doing a past-present future spread, it's really helpful to be able to see like someone's story so quickly and see like, okay, this is where they've been, this is where they are now, and this is kind of where they're going. And I think like it creates this beautiful conversation point between me and the other person, and then we can kind of dive deeper into like, okay, like what kind of support are you looking for on your journey? And as an intuitive guide, I can kind of see like, okay, this is where they're going, and this is how I could potentially support them and relay that information. So I left also just feeling really reassured in my private coaching program and what I've kind of laid out and kind of starting with that clarity reading, that tarot reading. And I just feel like tarot and coaching just work so well together because you can just so quickly tap into not only your higher self, but like your journey and get that higher level perspective. So I really want to incorporate more of the tarot, I think, into my coaching beyond just the initial clarity reading. I think it is a super helpful way to kind of get yourself out of whatever it is you're going through. One of my friends always calls it, her mom says, you have to get out of your own soup sometimes. And it's just like, get out of your own stuff and get a new perspective. And I feel like tarot is a great way to kind of like, get out of your own soup, if you will, or kind of like, see your soup from a different perspective that maybe you hadn't seen it like that before. I also think it's a really great way to really connect with and strengthen your intuition. On my tarot journey, I think that is kind of when my intuition really started to speak to me more, or I was just like more open to it, and I started to build that pathway. And so I think it is like being able to draw the cards and like infuse your energy into the cards. It's a really great tactile, tangible way to see your intuition working. Yeah, I just think in general, it's a really lovely tool. There are so many beautiful tarot and oracle decks out there. I've collected many throughout the years. Even though I always come back to the same two decks, the primary deck I use is the Wild Unknown Tarot deck. So it's that creator's play or take on the traditional tarot cards. And then I also use that same creator's Animal Spirit deck. And I like to kind of blend the two in my readings. I think that can be really fun. But they're the only cards that I really allow other people to kind of handle and touch. I think it's important to have, to kind of set those boundaries for yourself, because any person who comes into contact with your cards is going to kind of infuse their energy into it. And so those two decks are the two that I use for public readings. And they've seen a lot of people, and I just feel like they have that energy of being public-facing, whereas some of my other decks are really just for me. I also have some that I will do readings for, like, close friends. But I think, like, each deck kind of has its own personality and its own desires, and I just feel very strongly that it's important to honor that. And that's not to say that, like, every deck is going to feel the same. I think it's, like, the relationship that you create with your cards, right? Like, there's nothing to say that, like, maybe if you got the Wild Unknown Tarot deck, like, that would be your deck that you kept just for yourself. But I think because mine was the first deck that I bought and I was so open with it from the beginning, that it has allowed me to be really open with it. And it's also just such a great kind of neutral deck. I love all of the messaging in it. I love the illustrations. I feel like it's a very approachable deck. But yeah, I think it's important to kind of just find what works for you, find a deck that speaks to you, and it can be just a really wonderful tool to build your intuition and to create that space to reflect on your journey, to dive deeper into yourself, and to learn more about who you are and where you might be going. It's such a great tool for self-growth, self-reflection. And I think pairing it with a journaling practice can be really beneficial as well. I just learned so much, not only about the cards, but about myself through drawing a card every day and then writing about it. So yeah, I think they go really well together, that tarot and kind of being on a growth path, whether it be coaching or journaling or connecting to your intuition. I think for me personally as well, I am such a curious person, and I love to get to know people on a deeper level and like what makes them tick, what they're going through. That kind of mindset really lends itself well to tarot, or tarot really lends itself well to me because it's a space where I can do that, and I feel really honored and really privileged that people show up and open up to me. I think that it's so special. Every reading is so unique and so special, and I feel really grateful every time I get to do one, whether it's for a friend or for a potential client or for a stranger, I just, it's so special and so sacred. So yeah, I hope to do more Tarot readings in the future. If you are curious about the Shoreline coaching program, I would invite you to book a clarity reading, and we can see what unfolds through the cards, and we can also talk about how the Shoreline can kind of support you as you navigate that journey. Even if you're not interested in coaching and you're curious about Tarot, book a reading anyway. There's no obligation. You don't have to move forward with coaching. It's just really, those clarity readings are really a way for me to be able to connect with you and see where you're at and maybe help you along your journey. So truly, if you're feeling called at all, if talking about Tarot really excited you in any way, I would encourage you to book a clarity reading with me. It's super fun. It's low stakes. And you just never know what might happen. So I will put the link in the show notes for where you can book, but you can always go to my website as well, www.kimkogani.com, and you'll find the information there as well. So that's everything I have for you today. Wherever you are, I hope that you take good care while the waves carry you closer. Your next version is already waiting on the shore.
If you’d like support as you navigate your own tarot practice, you can…
Connect to your north star using my FREE Intention Setting Worksheet
Book a tarot reading to clarify where you’re heading next
Explore my favorite tarot decks and why I love them
Discover how you best connect to your inner wisdom by taking this quiz
Use the prompts from this course to jumpstart your tarot journey
Kim Kogane is a writer and intuitive guide helping you navigate the tender in-between seasons. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her dog, Cauchy, and three cats. Learn more about Kim.
