Episode 96 // Tarot in Business with Brigit Esselmont of Biddy Tarot

Emily Thompson 0:01
Hello and welcome to being boss episode number 96. This episode is brought to you by the being boss clubhouse.

Being boss and work and life is being in it.

Kathleen Shannon 0:17
It's being who we are doing the work, breaking some rules. And even though we each have to do it on our own

Emily Thompson 0:25
being boss is knowing we're in it together.

Kathleen Shannon 0:29
Alright bosses, we have a very special guest for you today. It is Bridget of Biddy Taro. And I have no words. This was a special episode to record today. Yeah,

Emily Thompson 0:43
so of course it was, of course it was Biddy Darrow. We've been a fan of beauty Darrow for a really long time. Kathleen and I are a little group of Tarot readers over in the clubhouse, so I'm super excited to have her on.

Kathleen Shannon 0:57
So let me tell you a little bit about Bridget. Bridget is a professional tarot reader and teacher, intuitive business coach and spiritual entrepreneur. She is the founder of Biddy Tarot calm and inspires over 3 million people each year to live more mindful and enlightened waves using Tarot as a guide. Bridget believes anyone can read Tarot and she doesn't own a crystal ball nor a crushed velvet dress. She's simply a Down to Earth practical Taurus like me, who loves to use the tarot cards in every day life. I cannot wait for you guys to hear this episode. Let's begin. Bridget, thank you so much for joining us, Emily and I are kind of a little bit like

Emily Thompson 1:41
a little bit. Very good into my day. Thank you for being here.

Unknown Speaker 1:45
No, it's

Brigit Esselmont 1:46
my pleasure. Thank you for inviting me.

Kathleen Shannon 1:49
So the being boss podcast we have a lot of creative entrepreneurs listening in. And what we've been surprised to find, especially since opening our clubhouse, which is kind of an exclusive private membership like online group. We created a private channel just for tarot readings, because we found that everyone is so into using it as a tool in their business. But I don't want anyone who is has never heard about Tarot before, to just say this episode is not for me. So I was wondering if very quickly, we could kind of bust the myths of Tarot and who it's for and who it isn't. And kind of some of those typical myths.

Brigit Esselmont 2:33
Yeah, absolutely. I'm so glad we're starting from this place because I don't know when I'm when I talk to people who aren't familiar with Tarot. I just to hear all sorts of like crazy, wacky beliefs about Tarot and like, no, it doesn't have to be that way. So let me think like, there's a couple of things that come to mind in terms of myths. You know, one is like, Oh, I don't want I don't want to I don't want to have a tarot reading because I'm scared. It's going to tell me I'm going to die. Oh, boy.

Kathleen Shannon 3:04
We're all going to die. For that

Brigit Esselmont 3:08
100% accuracy. Good. Begin I like the way that I see Terry working is not so much that the cards tell you what your future is. Certainly the tower has been used in that way and is sometimes used that way. But a large majority of Tarot readers will use the Tarot to understand how can you manifest your goals and your dreams and all that, you know, wonderful stuff. So from a much more empowering place, then this sort of fatalistic this thing will happen to you. And also this idea that if you lay out the tarot card, and it says, Oh, your relationships gonna break up, then then there's no other possibility except that that relationship will break up. Whereas the way I see it is that maybe yes, that might come to light, but it's just a sign that okay, well, if you don't want that to happen, what do you need to do in order to change you know that that destiny? So? Yeah, I guess that's the first myth is your future is not set in stone. The tarot cards won't like hex you and create all these like awfulness for you. They're there as like a guide and to serve you as you create your life. I think that's really important. Let me think so another one is that you need to be like psychic to read the tarot cards or you know, fifth generation psychic, you've got to be a member of like this purple hat clan, you've got to know like the secret handshake and all this crazy stuff. For me, I really believe that anyone can read Tarot. And also, it's, it's all about, you know, connecting in with the intuition. And I truly believe like, we're all intuitive beings, it's all inside of us. It's just comes down to whether we want to say yes to our intuition, or if we want to push it to the side and live life in a different way. And so I say tarot cards as a way of kind of accessing our intuitive mind or our subconscious mind as well through the pictures and the symbols in the tarot cards, so you don't have to be a fifth generation psychic to read Tarot. All you need is that openness to really experience your intuition to say yes to your intuition and bring you know, really bring intuition into your life in a, you know, everyday and practical way.

Kathleen Shannon 5:28
Can we also mention here that Tarot is not evil or satanic?

Unknown Speaker 5:33
Oh, no,

Kathleen Shannon 5:35
it's not going to.

Brigit Esselmont 5:38
It's so funny. I've often had like quite religious people, I, you know, I've connected with and I say, oh, okay, read tarot cards. And some are like, completely oh my gosh, that's terrible. You know, don't try and run away or, or what have you. The ones I had a moment and he was like, I'm really interested in tarot cards, like, are you sure that they're not going to like burn your hands? on you, these are tarot cards. It's okay. So he was very curious and you know, had a really interesting reading. But that's right. So tarot cards are not evil. They are not about worshipping Satan. In fact, I like I'm such a believer that the tarot cards are what brings you like really close to the divine. Like, for me, Tarot is part of my spiritual practice. It's what helps me connect in with my higher self. It helps me connecting with universe with God, whatever, whatever we want to call this, all the everything the oneness, all that stuff. Because the tarot cards brings, it brings your energy and your attention back to you and back to how you integrated into this world. And I can't possibly say how that is evil or, you know, a bad thing to do. I do think the thing that Terry is, it's a tool. And so we can use tools for positive things. And we can use tools for negative things. So there may have been instances where you've seen terror used in a way that's negative. And I'm not denying like, you know, I'm not saying the terror can never be used for these sort of bad things. But if we go in with really good intentions, it has that possibility of doing amazing things and connecting us with the divine in in beautiful ways.

Emily Thompson 7:25
I love what you said a minute ago about using the cards to help you create your life because I feel like especially like our crowd of creative entrepreneurs, they are here because they're trying to create their own life, like they're not gonna follow someone else's rules. They're here to play by their own rules. And so I kind of want to touch on that a little bit. And especially around like the idea of our creative entrepreneurs. I mean, like, our listeners are life coaches, or interior designers or, or stylist or graphic designers, those sorts of people and they all sort of build their, their own businesses, you know, sitting at home, usually in front of the computer by themselves. I want to hear a little bit about some, some tactics or ways that that creative entrepreneurs can use can use Tarot to better create whatever life they're here to create. Because most of them don't know what they're here to create. They just know they're creating it.

Brigit Esselmont 8:18
Yes.

Yeah, and oh my goodness, my head is like firing off in so many different ways of how you could use Tarot. So I think I just you know, for for this group, in particular, I see kind of three main uses. So one is on a personal self reflection level, and you know, what am I here to create? What is my sole mission? The terror is such a beautiful tool for like self reflection. And, you know, really comes down to the questions that you're asking the cards, you can ask the cards, when will I make my future husband and you'll get crappy answer. Or you can ask the cards, what is my life purpose? What is my true meaning here? What do I value? What's important to me and you get much you know, much stronger, beautiful answers from from that. So I think creatives can use it for that self reflection and connection to soul mission. I'm such a big advocate for aligning your work with your soul mission because when you do that, abundance is created like you just you know, vibrate in beautiful ways. Or resonate,

Kathleen Shannon 9:27
I should say.

Brigit Esselmont 9:29
But yeah, so we can use Tarot in that respect. We can use Tarot as entrepreneurs and business owners. So as some examples for my business, I use Tarot. Not so much to go and do like a tarot spread and go what's in my business, which you can do. Of course, you can have a terrorist bed spread for how do I develop my business? But I'll use it more to integrate with my strategy and business planning. So, for example, if I'm thinking of Have an upcoming launch. What I might do is draw some tarot cards around, what am I not seeing here? What are some my blind spots? What haven't I prepared for in the launch, and those cards might give me some indication there. And I can integrate that back into my strategy for that launch. I might also use the tarot cards there for goal setting. And you know, I'm guilty of this, I often set my goals at an achievable level versus like, out of this world level, right? And so often I'll use the cards to kind of test my goals and say, Alright, if I do I want 100 people to sign up for this launch. Okay, what's a card for that is it has that in alignment, 150 200, and so on, and the cards can start to give me an idea of how is this in alignment to my sole purpose and sole mission and what you know what the universe wants me to do here with my work? Okay, I

Kathleen Shannon 10:57
need some details. And for our listeners who already listened to Tarot, let's dig deep for a second on this spread, you're pulling a card for each number and kind of seeing what that card is telling you about that gold specifically.

Brigit Esselmont 11:10
That's right. Yes, yeah. And so you can kind of have that it's Yeah, it's like a bit of a temperature check. So, you know, like we can, we can do this in the rational space, and we can kind of like, write down out, you know, 100 150 200. And check in, like, first, intuitively, or rationally, how does that feel? You know, is this a stretch goal for me? Or is it comfortable, and then you can line it up with Dora card for each one, and to see what's the energy around this goal. And you start to notice that saying the cards, like you might see lots of aces. So aces are about potential new beginnings, that's where the energy is pretty high. But maybe you're starting to get too high. Or maybe you're getting a bit like, what might come up. You know, I'm even thinking saying, like, I'd say the nine of cups reverse. So the nine of cups is kind of, you've got everything that you want. But in the reverse position, sometimes it can be greed, or sometimes you chasing a goal that you think you want, but not isn't quite right for you. So you can start to get these checks to go, okay. It might sound like a really cool goal, but it might actually be out of alignment with what I truly want in my life. So it's just it's just another way of, of checking in with with goals, particularly your business or in personal life as well.

Emily Thompson 12:27
That's good stuff. Kathleen especially talks about her little tactic of setting goals and writing down the number and doing a good gut check to see how she feels about it. And this just adds a whole other level of fun.

Kathleen Shannon 12:39
And we get asked so much about pricing, like how do I price my product. And really, I say write it down start, start small, where you feel really confident and good. And then keep writing the number down and just check in with your body. But a lot of people have a really hard time checking in with their body and being able to read their body signals. So I love using Tarot as another tool to gauge your temperature on how you feel around pricing. And I love that so much. I recently I wanted to share this I recently love doing a little bit of moon magic, and really just setting intentions around the moon. And ever since we had as a sponsor on our podcast, I've just been using it as a time tracker for setting intentions and manifesting what I want to manifest and using the moon as a as an indicator of what I should be working on or not. And so I knew I needed to let something go on a particular Full Moon, but I didn't quite know what I was like, I don't know what I need to let go of. So I said I'll ask my tarot cards. So I shuffled the deck, and it was so perfect it was all about and of course in the way I interpret it, which is where I kind of get back into putting faith on myself even if I was completely agnostic, or even atheist and didn't believe in any higher forces or some divine connection to the Tarot. Really just using them as a tool to interpret or to prompt how I'm feeling about something is so good. So I even though I kind of do believe in the woo a little bit, but I pulled a card and it was really I wish I could remember which part it was specifically but it was all about and I use your website, Bridget to help me interpret always,

I totally I go to Biddy Tarot all the time. And it was all about kind of loosening my grip on my attachment to my goals, but also losing my grip around my fear of failure. So really finding that sweet spot of balance with my goals and I was like, Oh, I need to let go of all this attachment to all the things that I really, really want and have such a tight grip around.

Brigit Esselmont 14:44
So it's interesting when you said you maybe don't have as strong a connection to divine and universal whoo and everything. I often say Tarot working I mean you can explain it from many different angles. So you can Also look at it from, I guess, maybe a psychological scientific perspective in that, with each card, there's a picture and there's symbols in that card. And what can be happening is your subconscious mind is choosing out symbols and attaching a meaning to that, and representing that symbol in a certain way. So you don't have to be all connected to God and the universe. And we learned, you can actually get a lot out of just the almost the scientific process that's going on. And it's, it's like, your brain already knows how it feels. But you haven't brought that into conscious awareness. So the cards are actually helping connect back into your subconscious, which I call intuition. But I think that they're quite paralleled can be one or the other depends which angle you want to look at it and how you want to name things. But yes, you don't have to be into the divine and in the womb, to get it.

Kathleen Shannon 15:54
I love I love letting your subconscious know that you're listening, right. So I typically do this by dream interpretation. And every morning I wake up and I write down my dreams, and it's kind of a way of just letting my soul know, hey, I see you, I hear you. I will try and interpret this the best that I can. But you know, let's say you go a year without sleeping, which you might if you have a small child, or let's say you just don't you're not one to remember your dreams. I think that Taro is a great way to almost get into like a lucid dream state with symbols and kind of going into that ethereal out of this world place if you can go there with them.

Emily Thompson 16:34
Yeah, whenever I'm explaining it to a total newbie. I like just the simplest way I can think of explaining Taro is like you're just visually prompt and conversation with yourself. Period. Like it's it can be as simple as that. And I think that whenever you can make it that easy. It's a lot easier to like, I don't know to get into it for some people, I think um, yeah. That. Yeah.

Brigit Esselmont 17:01
Yeah, I think I think that's really lovely way of doing it. explaining it in terms of that internal conversation. Yeah, spot on.

Kathleen Shannon 17:09
Yeah, so I love how you touch on using Tarot to make decisions around your business. And I think that a lot of creatives have a really hard time just committing to a decision. Are there any other intuitive tools that you use aside from Tarot, or maybe even more tools or techniques within Tarot that you use to help your decision making process in your own business or in creative entrepreneurs that maybe you're doing a tarot reading for? Yeah, it's

Brigit Esselmont 17:36
interesting. Um, what I've noticed, like particularly over the last few years is like a little while ago, I would go I've got this problem, I'll do a tarot reading on it. Or, you know, I, I want to understand more about my business, I'll do a tarot reading. But these days what I'm doing is much more integrated way of going about things. So let's say if we're talking about making a decision, I'll go through a rational perspective I'll go through quite a rational process of what what information do I have what are my pros and my cons what makes sense all that kind of stuff, then I might do a bit of an intuitive check in something else so it's all a little bit fluid but I'm thinking actually before I might go into rational What am I do is even go through a more of a meditative process. So to really clear my mind Connect myself with my highest good and then that's kind of like setting or framing the space in order to make a good decision. Go through the rational stuff go through an intuitive pace which is to say okay, with my rational mind is saying, let's do this are these my options? Where do I you know, where do I sit intuitively How does that feel inside my body? If I was to close my eyes and clear my mind, you know what might come up visually I'm quite a visual person. And then you know, if there are still some gaps in there, I might draw a further tarot card just to either like affirm what I'm sensing and feeling but not feeling certain about or to highlight anything that I might have a blind spot around. I also like to use Oracle cards I don't know if you know a lot of Fairchild I just go giddy over her work.

Unknown Speaker 19:22
I need to check her Oh, yeah.

Brigit Esselmont 19:24
So she does a you guys would love this. She's got the sacred rebels Oracle deck which is all about like, breaking the mold and living your authentic life you know, and through quite a soulful, spiritual way are just it's beautiful. And the way that she's written the little books that go alongside these Oracle cards, like you read it and you feel healed just from reading this this text. It's it's amazing stuff.

Kathleen Shannon 19:52
Can we explain real quick what Oracle cards are for listeners who might not all be familiar?

Brigit Esselmont 19:57
Yeah, sorry. Everyone will have probably heard different perspective on this the way I see Oracle cards is similar to Tarot, but Oracle cards to me tap into kind of these big themes. So I wouldn't do a tarot reading with a reader. I'm sorry, I wouldn't do like a multi card reading with Oracle cards, I usually would only do one Oracle card. It's kind of like a main meal. You only have one main meal unless you're really really hungry. And then tower cards are kind of more like the ingredients that go in so Terra cards that kind of like they tell the story they give the details of what's going on on the ground. So yeah, I might use like an Oracle card in decision making to help me see what's kind of like the energy of the theme that's surrounding this. What's the pattern in my life right now that might guide my decision? And then yeah, I might draw some extra cards. I do have crystals I think crystals for me right now and more pretty to look at than to you. But ultimately, it comes down to whatever tools make sense for you. Whatever tools he connects with, you bring into your practice. There's no right or wrong. You don't have to have crystals candles to do a good tarot reading or you know, things like that. Yeah,

Kathleen Shannon 21:16
I know. I think that sometimes people who want to get into it have this expectation that or maybe whenever I wanted to get into it, I had this expectation of myself that I needed to set up an altar, and that it needed to be like perfectly beautiful. And I needed to say the right chant and light the incense. And God forbid I have my phones that I can look up like help for interpretations with tarot card like I need to have it all memorized. Like it just has to be this kind of picture perfect. Like out of a witchy movie moment. But that's not the case at all right?

No,

I started leaving my tarot cards out so I can just flip one over at any point in the day.

Brigit Esselmont 21:55
Yeah, I when I first started Yeah, I was I was the same thing. I was like, Oh my gosh, I got a call in all my directions. gotta fly. I'm gonna figure out everything right Archangel people are and how I talked to them and just gotta get your full which.

Kathleen Shannon 22:11
Okay, I have to tell you guys a freaky story really quick. So the other day also on the full moon, I had a girlfriend over and we were just kind of having fun with some tarot cards and doing readings. And she had an Oracle deck that she just bought. And she was like, let's pull one Oracle card each. And so she shuffles the deck and pulls the card and it's something around take action was the theme. So then she puts the car back in, I'm shuffling. This is a brand new like pretty stiff deck. All the cards were the same. Nothing was bent funny, I shuffle the deck, I pulled the exact same card as her. So it didn't resonate with me even as much that the card itself was around, like take action because that's like every day of my life. But it resonated with me that I pulled the exact same card as my friend out of a full deck. Yeah, Is that weird? Well, it's not weird is that divine? was God speaking to us?

Unknown Speaker 23:03
God rigid?

Unknown Speaker 23:07
Very late.

Kathleen Shannon 23:07
What does it mean?

Brigit Esselmont 23:11
You know, I mean, there's there's so many different ways of looking at that. I mean, one thing is, you know, a similar message for both of you who both experiencing a similar theme in your life right now. And that might make sense. Maybe that's why you're brought together at that point in time to do that reading. So that you can support one another with that goal. Even like you I mean, you could look at it from an energy perspective and that you both sharing the same energy if this is a good friend, like, you know, you probably really resonate and aligned with one another. Sometimes it could just be pure coincidence as well. Yeah, it ultimately it's what you want to make of it. And what's what, what's helpful for you, it's the same like again, when you're doing a tarot reading and maybe something you know, a little bit fluky happens, like, yeah, the card drops out of the deck and you think, oh, what does that mean? Or, you know, cards, keep reappearing in the readings. It's ultimately up to you how you want to use that information. You could say, well, that was interesting. That's a coincidence. Or you go, oh, my goodness, I'm gonna change my whole life because this car dropped out. And it's, and it's the subconscious talking to you, it's whatever you need at that point in time. You're making decisions around that. And that's, that's important to you. Yeah. So what else so what do you have to take out my sorry, oh,

Kathleen Shannon 24:33
Lord, what am I going to take action on? It's more like what am I not going to take action on, but I have been doing a lot of readings lately around my, I like to do a spread where I'm touching on my family and my career and my spirituality and then kind of an overall message from the universe or a divine source or whatever you want to call it. And the theme of moving keeps coming. up. So lots of chariots in my readings, lots of I've been pulling the fool a lot in my family side. So new beginnings. And this is me interpreting it as best as I can and some some playfulness. So getting more playfulness into my family. And I'm so I mean, maybe I need to take action on. And our dear listeners have heard me talk about this many times, like how I really want to move. So maybe that's something I finally need to just take action on. And that's something that I have discussed with this friend quite a bit. And she's talked about wanting to move also. So maybe I just need to move all of us together somewhere else.

Unknown Speaker 25:38
Yeah, Nate?

Emily Thompson 25:40
I think so I say do it. Um, so Bridget, I have to get like, I have to ask some like, personal, like, I don't know, stingy questions. But I want to know some of your favorite things like your favorite deck, and maybe your favorite spreads, or some of like those daily rituals you do with your tarot cards every year. I also kind of want to know, like, how many hours a day do you have tarot cards in your hands? Because I feel like if that's like your profession, you're probably holding them a whole lot. So like so like, Is

Kathleen Shannon 26:11
it like yoga teachers who lose their own yoga practice? Because they're so busy teaching that they're not really doing right. Yeah. So

Emily Thompson 26:19
little, little personal favorite card deck, though. Let's start there.

Brigit Esselmont 26:24
Okay, I am. I'm a little boring in that. I have used the right away. Like I really liked the radiant rider Waite deck. And if you're not sure about tower, that's one of the most popular decks. I like the radiant right away. It's a form of it because it's quite colorful and very bright. Up until a few years ago, that was the only deck I used. And in the last few years, I've started branching out a little bit more to the guy And Taro, if you know that. That's a really Earth based soul kind of deck and I really like it for myself. In fact, I think the reprints just been relaunched on that one. The other one I've got to hold off recently is the fountain Tarot, which is got this it's kind of like watercolors. It's a little dreamy, little dark, but also a little aspirational. And it's a nice deck to work with again, and the cards like the cards are really thick, and they've got these beautiful, like silver trim on the edge, which makes it super pretty.

Kathleen Shannon 27:28
Do you have people sending you cards or decks in the mail? Yeah, I

Brigit Esselmont 27:31
do. I do from time to time. So I'm grateful for that. But I have to really fall in love with the deck. I don't just stop using digs. Because they're they're like, I have to really like it because I'm so loyal to the right away and know that like, you know, that's that's like just part of me. So it takes a lot for me to branch out. I'm also a Taurus so I get quite fixated on just you know, the, the one thing you know, the other one I want to mention is the wild unknown deck. And I think you know, this is becoming quite popular and I think isn't in Oh, what's the store over there?

Kathleen Shannon 28:15
Cat bird.

Unknown Speaker 28:16
Oh,

Kathleen Shannon 28:17
cat bird NYC I think that's where I had bought it from Dec.

Unknown Speaker 28:22
I think maybe anthropology? Yeah, one of the big stores.

Emily Thompson 28:26
Yeah. Nice. Yes.

Good.

Brigit Esselmont 28:30
It's like it's it's total eye candy. The deck like it is so pretty to look at. However, I have really struggled to use it in tarot readings. I love looking at it. I love photographing it. But I find it a little bit challenging for readings. I'm not, I'm not sort of saying don't ever read with this deck. That's just my personal experience. But it is beautiful to look at. And I really love I think it's came what Kim's doing in terms of bringing that into the mainstream and the way that she's presenting that and marketing it I think she's doing an excellent job.

Emily Thompson 29:05
Yeah, I like Kathleen does the Walden has the wild unknown deck and she recently got me her animal spirit deck for my birthday. And I love it. I absolutely love it. Some of my favorite some of my favorite cards. Alright, so let's I want to hear like spread some of your favorite spreads and how often you have tarot cards in your hand.

Brigit Esselmont 29:27
So favorite spreads, will this one's an easy one. I just like creating my own spreads. I don't I don't really use like a definitive spread. And I love creating new spreads like custom spreads because it just it fits the questions. So if I'm working with myself or my client, I'm figuring out what are what are the questions that are going to be most helpful for that person in this point in time. And that for me is how you get a really powerful reading. And it also creates a slightly different experience where I'm having more of a conversation with somebody to elicit That what those questions might be and what's going to be helpful for them. And they're part of that process. So it's not me as a tarot reader going oh, this is your future this was what will happen. It's more about how do we create something that's going to be helpful for you and how do I support you in this journey? Yeah, more of a two way kind of experience.

Emily Thompson 30:20
I love that I feel like you just gave us all permission to make your own spreads Kathleen is Kathleen doesn't mind doing this. I have a hard time with that. I was getting like just needing to like color within the lines or something like that. Like I just I need to like do spreads in. I know that other people are just making them up. But I don't know. I have a hard time with that. And I've heard other people say the same thing. So I guess thank you for that permission. Just make our own spreads.

Kathleen Shannon 30:48
Do you know I love making up my own spread. I love it.

Unknown Speaker 30:52
Yeah, it's so much fun.

Kathleen Shannon 30:54
I think, Bridget, you did an entire episode on your podcast about like, favorite three spreads? Yeah, the three favorite three card spreads. Yeah, so definitely, you guys all need to check out the Biddy Tarot podcast if you're already a podcast fan, shameless plug for you here because I love it so much. I listened to it on my walks. I just listen to the one about numerology. And Emily actually doesn't listen to very many podcasts but I screen captured it.

Emily Thompson 31:18
I do listen to yours. I will listen to yours. Yours is about the only podcast that I listened to these days. And Kathleen's always like plugging them away. And yeah, I love that. And numerology is something that Kathleen and I have been kind of getting into behind the scenes a little bit. So I don't know hearing you speak on some of those things that like we're interested in. And just like having someone like, give us a better introduction of those things has been has been fantastic.

Kathleen Shannon 31:46
Okay, I want to go behind the scenes a little bit into your own business model, because I know that there are some listeners listening to this who are like, wait, what you can make a living doing Tarot. And I think that probably also a lot of people imagine it being like, you have to work in New Orleans to be a tarot reader. And I really have seen you dominate recently, this online space and your new branding is beautiful.

Emily Thompson 32:11
We like there we have a slack group. But we were all flipping out the day that we

Kathleen Shannon 32:15
all had our like launch celebration for you like, Oh my god, the new website is so beautiful. Like it finally, especially after hearing you on your podcast, like the energy and sweetness and you're just such a bright person and the website before was a little bit dark. And you know, maybe a little

Unknown Speaker 32:39
I'm not sure.

Kathleen Shannon 32:42
But now it totally looks like now it's beautiful. I feel like it really matches your energy and probably whatever you were trying to convey. Or like whatever is going on on the inside. I feel like it's now reflected on the outside and in your business. But what I also love about it is it seems like you've really stepped up your online business scalability games, so it's not just about reading Tarot for someone one on one, but you're trying to reach the masses. So I would love to hear just a little bit about your business model like are you doing one on one readings? Are you doing kind of a business, the business model like teaching other Tarot? tarot card readers how to have a business? Or are you just going online with the podcast and the content strategy? Like give us a little behind the scenes there?

Brigit Esselmont 33:25
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. buzzing love talking about business. So I think you know, I think what makes me quite different from many readers, like Tarot readers online is I love Tarot, but I love business. So my goal is to really build a flourishing successful soulful business around Tarot. And I think I'm motivated on that for a number of reasons. Like Personally, I just get a buzz out of creating, like a business. And to do it in a way that's connected with, like, my spirituality. And, you know, what I feel is my souls work. It's just, that's awesome. But also, I really want to kind of, I just want to show the world that you can create a business with something like Terry, because I, I've been so many situations, like I'll go to say, a business conference. And, you know, everyone's like, oh, what do you do? What's your business? Oh, I do internet marketing. Oh, I'm a life coach. I do this and like, everyone's like, Oh, that's so cool. And then they asked me, What do you do? Oh, you know, I teach people read tarot cards, like, oh, okay, what is your husband do?

Unknown Speaker 34:39
Oh,

Emily Thompson 34:43
yeah, I think so many of us can feel that. So thank you for helping us bust through that nonsense.

Brigit Esselmont 34:49
Yes. So like it's really in my blood to prove that you can. You can create a really successful business in this field of in this field of work, and I think for too long, like this is a, I would say terrorists quite a feminine, a feminine area. And I think too long we've favored masculine focused businesses. And I really want to see a feminine based business really succeed in what is I think a masculine will still

Unknown Speaker 35:24
be going off on a bit of a tangent here.

Kathleen Shannon 35:25
And when I say like, go off on that tangent, I love it. Love it. I'm like, we'll go with no hard right now. Because I think there is something to that even just podcasting and communicating for business or coaching or anything that feels more feminine. I feel like we're all getting that was but what is your husband do question?

Unknown Speaker 35:47
Yes, yeah.

Kathleen Shannon 35:48
So I'm glad that you went there.

Emily Thompson 35:50
But I also love that like, online especially gives you this arena where it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you're doing. Like if there's a bucket of people in the world interested in what it is that you're doing, and there are you just got to find them. And it's completely possible to do anything. So I love that. I love that you say that. You know you love Tarot. And that's definitely what you're doing your business or like building your business around, but you love business. Because I think that i think that that's like, that's the key to like our crowd, like our group of people is like we all have these like little passions, these like these like soulful missions, whatever it may be. But it's like it's our ability to see things through that business eye that allows us to build these businesses that can change the norm. From you know, from male centric to female centric or bows. No, I can't be both, or whatever. It may be so good. I love that you're just casual. Again, Kathleen and I are such fangirls like it not even like the Tarot and reading but like watching you grow this online business, because we've been following you for a long time. It's just it's super exciting for us to see you busting this out the way you are. Because if you can build a really awesome online business with Tarot and like not to belittle what you do at all, but you can do it with anything like anything that you're passionate about. Just like make the jump and do it.

Brigit Esselmont 37:19
Yeah, yeah. But I think I would, I would add to that though, you need to have a business head, like you need to be able to values being a business person, in addition to whatever your craft is, because I've seen I see it many times, like with Tarot readers, but I just want to read Tarot, or like, I just want to sell some ebooks and make passive income. I hate technology. I hate marketing. You like okay, good luck to you. I just think, you know, if you do want to have a really successful business in Tarot, or design, or coaching, or whatever it might be, you need to love your craft, but you got to love business at the same time. That's, that's my opinion. And that that's what will really drive you forward. If you're sitting there going, Oh, I hate business. But I really just want to practice my craft even more like email, creating a job for yourself, maybe you're your own boss, but you creating a job. versus if you really, you know, engaged in the business side of things, you then creating a business. So like my focus for the last 12 months has been, how do I get myself into the true CEO role of my company? I'm really changing my language about Benito. It's a company. So now we have 10 people working in the business in the company. Yeah. Including my husband's working with us as well, which is great.

Kathleen Shannon 38:48
So now whenever you get asked at conferences, what is your husband? Do?

You work for me? Yeah.

Emily Thompson 38:55
Yeah, yes. So start using that.

Kathleen Shannon 38:59
Yes. Yeah. Emily's husband works for her too. Yes.

Unknown Speaker 39:04
Yeah,

Emily Thompson 39:05
it creates a great dynamic.

Unknown Speaker 39:07
Yes.

Brigit Esselmont 39:08
You know, like, it's, I think just stepping into this CEO role has, it's just like, how do I how do I move all that sort of running the business to my team? And how do I focus on strategy, growth, marketing and so on? And so if I'm, if I'll come back or come back to that question previously about you know, how often do I have tarot cards in my hands? Or how often Am I doing readings? Or am I even doing readings anymore? I made the decision to stop doing you know, professional readings through my site. Gosh, probably at least six or 12 months ago, because now my focus is on building a business. I get to teach terrorism right in my my focus is also on teaching Tarot and helping people create soulful spiritual businesses as well, but I'm here to create growth. To reach, you know, big numbers, you know, really to convey a strong message to the bigger markets, I can't just work one to one. But I do have people in my space who can serve our customers on a one to one basis as well.

Emily Thompson 40:16
That is so badass. I love it.

Brigit Esselmont 40:21
Yeah, it takes it takes a lot of shifting the mindset to really seeing yourself in that position, and challenging everything that you're doing every day, like is this, you know, is this what a CEO would do? Would Richard Branson be doing what I'm doing right now? And if your answer is no, then get a team, start delegating, or stop doing it completely, you

Kathleen Shannon 40:42
know? Oh, as Richard Branson crying into a pillow right? Probably not. Get it together and do the work. Right.

Emily Thompson 40:53
Makes me rethink those emails I have on my to do list.

Kathleen Shannon 41:00
Well, and I'm curious, Bridgette, so what does your role as CEO include? Like, obviously, producing your own podcast? are you creating content for your website? Are you giving a lot of interviews? Like what's a day in the life like for you? Yeah, let's

Brigit Esselmont 41:13
say. So there's a couple of things that we're focusing on at the moment. I've just was, okay, so actually funny, you talk about the rebrand of our site, I always thought, Oh, you just get like a new website looks pretty. And it happens, you know, in three months, or whatever. No, it doesn't happen that way. So we've rebranded the website, but now we've got to go through and rebrand a lot of our materials. So our courses, our programs, our ebooks, our free opt ins, all this good stuff. That's where my husband comes in. He's the creative designer and does a lot of that work. But what we're doing right now is we're just working on one of our signature courses, which is master the tarot card meanings, and I've just refilmed all of the videos, which is really great, because I get to put like, a whole new energy into those, those video lessons, and I really enjoy it. And we're also preparing for the BT terrorist certification program, which will launch in October. And that's like, I'm so excited about this program, because it's combining all the training and development that we offer and BT Tarot, it's offering the opportunity to take that training, and then do readings for real people and get like feedback and experience. Plus, it's adding on the certification. So at the end of this six months, six months program, you can then become a certified tarot reader. And, you know, it's kind of like a little bit of this sort of self validation, but also, it's about raising the bar and the standard within the whole Tarot industry. So I'm putting a lot of time and energy into the launch for that into making sure this whole program is like the container is right. And everything that's going inside is, is on track. So yeah, that's that's kind of where I get to spend my, my days in sort of creating and I guess, how do I take my knowledge and energy and put it into these containers, so it can then be shared? You know, in a in a really big way?

Kathleen Shannon 43:19
I love it. We are such fans of everything that you do. Emily, do you have any other questions for Bridget? Before we go?

Emily Thompson 43:26
I don't think so. I think I'm just like so impressed and excited. One that we totally got to chat with you. I feel like total totally Too Cool For School now. Um, bye. But also that that you see satellite, you see the big picture of what you're doing in a way that I don't see often enough and that I sincerely admire and that you're not just creating a course. But you're changing the landscape of Taro education or you know, like, the fact that you can see it like that is definitely one of the things that makes you like a business person, an entrepreneur, on a really boss level.

Brigit Esselmont 44:05
Thank you. Thank you. And, you know, maybe just to add to that, if I may, of course, I think it's so important. It's really, it's hard because this is kind of cliche in the business world get in touch with your why, you know, you wouldn't be kept on that written down by one page, like, why she check. But I think that, like, it's so important to know, like, what, like, what is your soul's calling here? And, and, you know, the what is God or the universe? Or, you know, the higher power what, what are you here to do? And when you connect in with that on a really strong powerful level, then all the other stuff starts to flow. And it does take time like it's not like you don't just go I'm going to start a business. Oh, quick, I better figure out my why and, you know, then oh no, I think it's truly something that's evolved. Certainly through the branding, like the rebrand of military that's really pushed me into to stretch my boundaries around what do we what do we stand for what like, what I want to stand for when I talk about terror? And what when I talk about beauty Tarot. I also had some really profound like meditative experiences. I don't want to get all trippy, but I've had some great, had some great experiences. And do we have like, maybe five more minutes? Because I can tell this story? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 45:32
core.

Brigit Esselmont 45:33
I mean, I'm sorry, it was probably when was it? Maybe it's about a year, year and a half ago. I was at like a four day workshop. And what was it for it was working with the energy of ISIS, the goddess. So she's this beautiful Egyptian goddess, a lot of power in her. And we're doing like a moving meditation. And it was so easy. Like you listen to music, you close your eyes, and you dance. I hate like, I hate dancing. I get all like self conscious. I think it was awkward. But then I eventually started let letting go right. And we're starting to like move through this energy of the music. And what came up for me was, I was almost like, transported all the way back to the time of the witches. And the point at which witches were being brought out as like evil and bad. And I was one of the witches and I had this horrible feeling of total oppression. And as if all my work had been put down and completely obliterated by like the sort of more than masculine energy, not necessarily males, but the masculine energy. And I felt completely disempowered. And I thought I hate this. I hate this so much. It feels really, really horrible. And then, you know, just just having had that power taken away from me, and then then they started playing Rage Against the Machine. I can't wait, what's wrong with all the swearing in it? I won't say it because it's like, Fuck you,

Kathleen Shannon 47:07
I won't do what you tell me you gotta

do. So they start for all of you, dear listeners,

Brigit Esselmont 47:17
I stopped playing music. And I really got into this place of anger. And so this from shifting from a place of complete disempowerment, and stripping back of everything that I had believed in, and then into this place of pure anger, and then I started to feeling it through my body and releasing all of these disempowerment and stepping on getting chills. And I'm talking about this. I'm getting I'm

Kathleen Shannon 47:42
hearing Oh, I know. And I'll

Emily Thompson 47:45
just continue. It's fun.

Brigit Esselmont 47:46
Good. So yeah, moving through the anger. And then I'm coming back into the present time. And I was I was completely rattled in this, like, in this workshop, I was like, Holy moly, I did not expect that experience. It was full on, I felt it on so many very, very deep levels. And I sort of walked away from that workshop going, Oh, that was a bit weird. I need to like ground myself. And then I kept reflecting on it over the following couple of months. And then it suddenly occurred to me and like, this is what I'm here to do. I am here like now in this lifetime, to stop, stop people from being oppressed and put down for what they believe in. And to really rise up and say that this stuff is real, you know, this, this feminine work, the sacred feminine stuff that we're doing is real. And I think I feel like I'm at a unique advantage where I've got the masculine in terms of the business, but I get the spiritual stuff, and the feminine, and I'm bringing that together, and I'm helping people really step into this place.

Kathleen Shannon 48:52
Now I'm crying. You're both crying. And this might be something that we edit out based on. I'm not sure we're comfortable with Emily, but I don't care about how much do we share about how much we really believe in this and even talking to you. I noticed earlier in the episode, like I'm feeling apologetic for talking about my belief in the universe, or the whoo or the Tarot. And so hearing you say that it's really inspiring in it, and it makes me feel a little bit more brave to own it. And I feel like you own it in such a beautiful way. And your story, I know resonated with Emily because she's literally said before, I will not be burned at the stake. And I mean, we can cut this out. But you know, having those feelings that that has happened before that, and I so stirred up a whole lot in me and Emily, and that was That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that.

Brigit Esselmont 49:50
Yeah, we've got it like, seriously got to own this because if we keep pushing it back, we're allowing it to continue that way and it shouldn't be that way. You know The work that we do and in whatever form it is, is legitimate. And we're doing it in a legitimate way. And yeah, I'm done with like apologizing or feeling awkward about reading Tarot. Like, I know that I've created a really successful business. I know I'm helping a lot of people because of it. Now I'm changing lives. So what's not to be proud of in that, you know? I really encouraged other people to

Unknown Speaker 50:23
Yeah.

Kathleen Shannon 50:26
Yes.

Emily Thompson 50:27
Oh, so agree.

Kathleen Shannon 50:29
I don't think we've ever cried on a podcast before. This is the first day

Emily Thompson 50:33
for everything. Thanks. No, no, I mean, and that really resonates with, I don't know, with Kathleen and I, in a ton of ways, just like, I don't know, women and trying to teach women to live the life that they want to live and not based on anyone else's beliefs or, you know, like as to what they should be doing or what is acceptable, or how you can or can't make money, or is the online legit, or whatever it may be. And, I mean, we've both found success in this and and we find ourselves obviously, like helping other people like find their own paths, and

Kathleen Shannon 51:11
who, and I think the thing that I want to reiterate because I was asking some bosses on our Facebook group, which has a little over 13,000 members in it, where they're out with setting goals and what they think about whenever they're setting goals, and a lot of them were talking about, like I just want to help empower women. And this message kept keep coming up over and over again. And I still can't articulate what felt funny about that, except that what about empowering yourself for like, owning your own power or setting goals for yourself that are maybe even a little seem a little bit selfish? And so I, I don't know if they were just being polite, because it was in a Facebook group in front of 13,000 people, but I think that there is this aspect of unapologetic, unapologetically owning your own power, that I would like to see more women and men, well, men men have it down. They have it easy, but more women really embracing and owning whenever it comes to business and online business and spiritual business. Yeah,

Brigit Esselmont 52:08
yeah, absolutely. And you know, that's, this is stuff that's happening over generations, it's not going to happen overnight. We can continue to work on it within ourselves. But you know, if we have daughters, and even sons, like, this isn't just just male female stuff. This is about teaching and representing to people through all generations and shifting the mindset. How do you think we go here, but here we are.

Kathleen Shannon 52:37
Girl,

Emily Thompson 52:38
thank you for that shit.

Unknown Speaker 52:40
You're gonna come back. Well, you come back on the podcast.

Emily Thompson 52:47
I'll try not to cry on you next time.

Kathleen Shannon 52:50
Bridgette tell us a little bit about where our listeners can find more. And if there's anything that you're really pushing right now, let us know what that is. Your episode won't be releasing until probably October though, so if there's anything that's super timely, let us know where our listeners can find more.

Brigit Esselmont 53:06
So you can find more over at Vinnie terra.com. That's kind of the hub for everything. We launching the BD terrorist certification program. So if you are interested in taking your Tarot skills, you know that extra step further and it's just about like standing out from the crowd owning it just as we've been talking about. And, you know, just really taking tower and becoming a really trusted adviser with the tarot cards. So that's certainly in play at the moment. The other great piece that I'm really excited about is our beauty Tarot community. And again, I wanted to create a safe space where people can use Tarot practice Tarot, talk Tarot with other people who get what terror is and not going to be judging them or you know, even excluding them like oh man just breaks my heart when I hear of like, say people in certain parts of the world where they would be absolutely excluded if anyone knew that they read Tarot. So that's why I've created that community. But yeah, head on over to bt Taro and you can find everything in that space.

Emily Thompson 54:17
Awesome in so And lastly, do you have a recommendation for someone who's wanting to like buy their first tarot deck or like first steps for someone who may be interested?

Brigit Esselmont 54:28
Yes. So one really good way to start is well go buy a tarot deck. That's, that's a good place to start. But I also have a free workbook that is the five simple steps to retire with confidence. And these are like just really nice, fun exercises that you can do on a daily basis to connect with the cards intuitively, you don't need to have all that, you know, knowledge or you know, psychic skills and so on. And that's available at biddy tarot.com forward slash five s s. And you can print that out and start working with your cards straightaway. And like No, man, this is the thing that I really want people to know is you don't have to study like years and years before you can start using your cards confidently, right, you can get that first deck, you can read them straight away. I've taught my husband how to read them, like you know, in five minutes just by looking at the pictures. And that is possible for everybody. You can get something out of these cards straight away.

Emily Thompson 55:28
Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been my pleasure.

Brigit Esselmont 55:34
I appreciate you guys.

Kathleen Shannon 55:37
So what's the secret to being boss? The secret is that there is no secret. There is no single formula course or book that will teach you what you need to know in order to have anything and everything you want.

Emily Thompson 55:51
But here's what we've learned along the way. Being boss is setting up a solid foundation built on intention. It's understanding how to define success on your terms. It's committing to big ass goals. And it's breaking those big ass goals down into small actionable steps.

Kathleen Shannon 56:10
It's about making faster decisions, trusting yourself to see it through enjoying the process along the way, knowing how to measure what's working and what isn't. And surrounding yourself with smart, ambitious friends along the way. Those are the secrets to how bosses get what they want.

Emily Thompson 56:28
We know you want an online business that allows you to make money doing what you love, and boss we've got you. The bean boss clubhouse is where we teach you how to be boss of your life and work.

Kathleen Shannon 56:41
The being boss clubhouse is a two day online real time retreat, followed by 12 months of ongoing community support, monthly masterclasses and secret podcast episodes. We're only accepting 25 members for our next online retreat. Learn more and apply to join at mainboss clubs slash clubhouse. Thank you for listening to being boss. Please be sure to visit our website at being boss club where you can find Show Notes for this episode. Listen to past episodes and discover more of our content that will help you be boss in work and life. If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend and show some love by leaving a rating and review on iTunes.

Emily Thompson 57:21
Do the work. Be boss and we'll see you next week.