00:00 Episode Preview

00:17 Opening

00:52 Introduction

02:14 Interview Begins with Kate Van Horn

02:41 The Journey to Find Yourself

04:32 Confronting Your Shadow

06:03 Healing from PTSD is Like a Full Time Job

07:57 Practices and Tool to Help You Get Through Traumatic Moments

09:24 Bridging the Gap Between Your Current and Future Self

12:33 Using Tarot to Help in Deprogramming

13:34 Defining the Major and Minor Arcanas

14:58 Somatic Experience with Tarot

16:28 Innerwork and Intimacy

19:30 Blockages in Manifesting

20:49 AD – Download the Mystic Mondays App https://www.mysticmondays.com/pages/app

21:14 Inner Source of Light

26:49 Cards That Redefined Themselves

28:49 Awakening to Your Spiritual Gifts

34:02 Working With Your Guides

38:11 Defining Self-Compassion

39:51 What’s Your Sun, Moon, and Rising Signs?

40:18 What Advice Would You Give to Your Younger Self?

40:35 What Are Your Favorite Rituals?

41:22 One Card Collective Reading

42:39 Closing Statements

43:17 End of Episode – Make Sure to Leave a Podcast Review!

44:08 End Screen

Welcome to the GRACED Podcast! A space for everyday magic for your everyday life. We do this through rituals, aligning yourself to your soul’s purpose, and creating Alchemy to heal our mind, body, and spirits so that you can bring in more love and joy, manifest your desires, and believe in your dreams. Listen and watch over at grace.com/podcast and on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Instagram, TikTok and all the places you can find me on social media. Now let’s dive into today’s episode.

💖 Introduction

Grace: Welcome to The GRACED Podcast, a space where we talk about everyday magic for your everyday life.

Today’s guest is Kate Van Horn, a Tarot reader, psychic, and spiritual mentor. She is also the author of The Inner Tarot, a modern approach to self compassion and empowered healing using the Tarot, which we talk about more in this episode. And why I decided to ask Kate to be on this podcast to discuss themes of the Hermit Tarot card. Because if you know the Hermit, you’ll know it’s all about that inner journey. To awaken our soul light by truly understanding and awakening to ourselves.

And if you’d like to dive deeper in getting to know yourself, discover your Tarot birth cards as a way to understand the central themes of your life. We have a free This is a calculator that you can use on mysticmondays.com to calculate your Tarot birth cards, along with extensive and in depth reports on your Tarot birth cards that you can order on our website.

And we’re doing a giveaway of Kate’s book, The Inner Tarot, on Instagram. So check out the details on how you can enter the giveaway on @grace.duong and @mysticmondays over on Instagram.

Now let’s dive into this episode.

✨ Interview Begins with Kate Van Horn

Grace: Hi, Kate. Welcome to the GRACED Podcast.

Kate: Hi, Grace. Thanks for having me.

Grace: Yeah, for sure.

So today we’re here to talk about the Hermit Tarot card. And I have your book here, The Inner Tarot.

Kate: Yay!

Grace: Yay! Yes, it’s amazing. I feel like it has so much depth. And it suits well with the Hermit card because I feel like the Hermit card is all about going within and finding your inner truth.

✨ The Journey to Find Yourself

Grace: And so I would love to hear about your journey to finding yourself through healing, through inner work, and what that was like for you.

Kate: Yeah, so I really started on my healing journey fairly young, honestly. I mean, I was moving through treatment and healing around an eating disorder, and later, PTSD and women’s trauma so I was going through some pretty heavy lifting in the shadow work arena and this was at the age it started at 19 years old so I was like familiarizing myself with this idea of rewriting my narrative and giving myself a chance to move forward and forgive the past traumas of childhood and really set myself up for a future that felt more aligned and more full of pride and hope.

And I was in a pretty low point at that point in my journey and my story, but I found the Tarot cards to be incredibly relieving because I felt like they validated what I was going through. I appreciated that they were giving a voice to the feelings that I was having trouble articulating and they were giving me something to lean on as a form of not only self reflection, but storytelling and truth.

And there’s something about the Tarot deck and the Fool’s Journey that I think is so beautifully intricate. It shows both good and bad, uncomfortable and beautiful. And that really resonated with me at the time. So it’s one of many practices in my toolbox over the years that I’ve been able to lean on when I was healing and accepting who I am, and I think each time I pulled a card, or journaled, or did any of the practices that are in my book, I got an inch closer to like my core and my being, which is why I called my book The Inner Tarot. I want it to be an opportunity for people to look internally for not only the answers, but yeah, just who they are.

Grace: Yeah, that’s beautiful.

✨ Confronting Your Shadow

Grace: I feel like the journey of the Hermit card, there’s a lot of solitude and alone time that you would need to have to have this reflection period. Which can sometimes be very confronting when you’re looking at your shadow and you’re dealing with things that perhaps are difficult to really look at and perhaps an easier way is to just avoid something like that.

So I’m wondering, how can someone get comfortable with their shadow side to then confront it?

Kate: I think finding an outlet that makes it feel a little softer. So for my example, the Tarot cards felt like a fun, creative, playful, almost like magical way to access something that was a little harder to sit with.

So I think whether it’s through art or writing or dance or movement, like there’s a way to combine something that feels inviting and welcoming to those spaces that feel a little dark and uncomfortable. And I think just marrying the two and joining and bridging the gap and not like giving yourself the opportunity to feel grounded by something that’s comforting.

For instance, Inner Child work, when I started that, that was incredibly intimidating to me at the time. And I needed to go very softly and steadily and find ways that made me not feel like I was just ripping this band aid off of a wound and leaving myself in this place to feel too dysregulated.

So I think just finding a practice that’s going to soothe the transition into the shadow. is important as well.

✨ Healing from PTSD is Like a Full Time Job

Grace: Yeah, so in your book you mentioned your PTSD diagnosis and that quote:

“For the next few years, it felt like my full time job was healing and deconditioning the old and traumatized parts of me while reconnecting with a version of myself that felt somewhat familiar and somewhat like a stranger.”

Can you tell us more about that?

Kate: Yeah, so I felt like I was getting a chance to meet myself again. Made a different version of myself, a wiser version of myself, dare I say, and I was able to look at, yes, like the past memories and experiences that were really difficult and realize how much they had shaped me.

And I felt like I got a chance to reset and with that label, although daunting in its own way. To live with that, it was just this confirmation and this chance for me to realize that my natural tendencies that I had developed, I experienced sexual abuse as a child at a pretty young age, and when all of this came through and came out and I released that truth, I was able to then say, that was then, and now let me write the story forward, and I think that’s what I meant by that quote of like, I was revisiting myself my true core, my essence before that trauma occurred, and I was also claiming who I wanted to be moving forward, because I have no doubt I’d be in a very different position, probably would never have written this book, if it wasn’t for that label as well, and that diagnosis as well, so it was just a very interesting fork in the road.

Where it was like, I’m choosing the path toward the future, but I’m very much aware of how this impacts it.

Grace: Absolutely. I think that’s really beautiful because I think that labels can really define somebody, and where they might feel stuck, and like, oh, I was diagnosed with PTSD, or like, personally, I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD, so I totally understand. And I think the past can also make people feel stuck. They can’t get beyond it.

✨ Practices and Tool to Help You Get Through Traumatic Moments

Grace: So, what were some practices and tools that you used to help you get through those moments?

Kate: Yeah, it’s interesting because I was in therapy at a very young age because of the symptoms I was displaying like the panic attacks and the anxieties that were pretty strong even as like a young child.

So I was definitely very comfortable with those conversations. The more like I call them the more clinical settings, the expected environments that you’re going to unpack and work through this. So I always like to give a nod to that. I started there. I definitely went through pretty traditional therapy.

But then, what made it feel more holistic and better for me was combining that with a spiritual practice. So that began as just learning what mindfulness was, honestly. What it even meant to be mindful and to be in the present moment. So that was through meditation and yoga at first. I’ve always enjoyed movement.

I spoke a little bit about it in the book. The somatic piece is really interesting to me. I think that’s even why I enjoyed Tarot cards, because I could shuffle them and move them. I needed something more tactile to work through. So movement became a really big piece of my healing and it remains a medicine today, but eventually as I got more grounded and felt more safe in my physical body, I transitioned into more of the psychic connection and feeling more in touch with my spirit guides and something greater, feeling more faith, honestly.

And that translated to Tarot and channeled writing and some of the practices I talk about in the book.

✨ Bridging the Gap Between Your Current and Future Self

Grace: Yeah, I feel like there were so many memories imprinted on our physical vessel. That we may be acting out patterns subconsciously that feel familiar, but might not be totally healthy. And so, I feel like, something in that quote that I really picked up on is sometimes that future self does feel like a stranger. Even though you truly desire to be that person, and you might see that person down the road, but the gaps between who you currently are and your future self, there just might be some distance.

So, what would you say are some good ways to bridge the gap between your current self and your future self?

Kate: I think not. Letting it take shape. I think for me, I used to always be very specific about what my future self was doing and how she was responding and her timeline and everything else. And I think that one of the things that continuously checks me is actually the Tarot deck. When I think I’m going to be the Queen of Pentacles, turns out I need to be the Queen of Swords, you know?

Like, I have this moment where I get to shapeshift a little bit. And I think just trying to be as neutral and present as possible. There’s so much that I work with my clients through readings and stuff where I explain the timeline is the timeline, and we can expedite it by just being really aligned and present with ourselves in the moment.

So much can unfold, and we can, on the same hands really slow things down for ourselves and make it more complicated and make it harder than it needs to be. So I know that’s a very oversimplified answer, but not rushing to become her every single stage of the process is a little bit an inch at a time.

And it’s important because you can’t get to one without the other, I guess is what I’m trying to say.

Grace: Yeah, and sometimes the universe just likes to throw curveballs, right? So sometimes you’re like, oh, I really want that! And then you might actually manifest it, and then once you receive it, you’re like…

Kate: You change your mind!

Grace: Yeah, I’m like, oh, I actually don’t want this.

Kate: Yeah, it’s like, I don’t know, a little less attachment. And just going based off what’s feeling good, what’s continuing to make you feel safe, embodied, comfortable, confident, follow the feelings rather than the specifics.

Grace: Right, and so, I also feel like it’s also like about letting go of expectations and where those expectations even come from.

So, what I also love about Tarot is the storytelling aspect, so like you were saying, maybe instead of the Queen of Pentacles, I’m the Queen of Swords today, or whatnot, and I feel like the human experience, we embody all of these different parts of ourselves, and they come out in different moments whenever we need them, and I think there’s an acceptance in that journey, a really big just finding that we do have all these little parts of ourselves, and I think part of that discovery process, especially when you’re in Hermit mode, when you’re going deep within yourself and finding that inner light, sometimes we’re so clouded by what we thought we knew, that we have to decondition ourselves to whatever it is the programming that we grew up with, or even the programming that our body took on that keeps repeating these patterns.

✨ Using Tarot to Help in Deprogramming

Grace: What would you say to somebody who is trying to deprogram from something that is not necessarily helping them and how you use Tarot as a tool to help them get there?

Kate: Yeah, I like to say work backwards. Really find the root of it, because I think for me, in understanding that’s why the PTSD diagnosis was so freeing, I was like, this is the reason why.

This is the reason behind a lot of what has manifested for me in what I’m feeling and what i’m going through. So I’d say work backwards, and I think the Tarot deck is such a great complement to that. Because the Fool’s Journey and the cycle of the 78 cards has this clear sequence to it, working with and seeing the steps that it took to get to this point that you’re in currently, and dismantling it.

Before you rebuild it, using the cards as a very linear process as well, and seeing like, where was I, past, present, and future, and where can I now go as a result of this unpacking, unpack what was built up.

✨ Defining the Major and Minor Arcanas

Grace: Yeah, would you be able to walk us through how you defined the Major Arcana and the different suits, because I know that You channeled a lot of what’s in your book and have specific ways of how you like to view the cards.

So tell us more.

Kate: So I consider the majors really like the heavy hitters, the pillars that we move through throughout the entire life cycle. I would say it’s these types of lessons and these archetypes and themes, they’re not going to come in one day and then be gone the next. I think it’s a chapter that we move through and that we integrate in our experience.

But I’d say the minor arcana is a little bit more of the day to day human experience, a lot more of the day to day human experience. It’s our chance to see how our personality is being expressed. The to do list, what next step we need to take in order to fulfill some sort of goal or intention, it’s a little bit more of the instruction manual is how I consider the, minors.

And it’s our chance to receive from the universal energy of the majors and then channel it through our actions and our practices. And the suggestions from the Four Suits. And what I love about the Four Suits is like, they give us this very practical element to work with. So depending on if we’re receiving fire, water, air, or earth, we get a chance to like, let that inspire the way we respond, and the way that we show up for ourselves, and what we do about it, and the energy we channel through it.

✨ Somatic Experience with Tarot

Grace: Yeah. So I know you mentioned that you really enjoy having a somatic experience with healing, and so how do you integrate having a somatic experience with Tarot?

Kate: I think that with a somatic experience, it’s really about being in the body.

It’s of the body. So with Tarot cards, it is a physical ritual. We are holding cards. There’s a physical object, and as far as like psychic channeling or any form of divination, a lot of that is like what we consider just all energetic and, in the ether. So I enjoy the fact that it feels very earthy and grounded to connect with the cards.

And one of my favorite suggestions for readers of any level, whether they’re super new to the practice or have done it for years, is to slow down and to hear the response of your body. So seeing what if you hover your hand over the deck, which card really stands out, what starts to create that tingle in your palm or that reaction from your body.

Because I think that we’re being naturally drawn to a lot of it. Our body’s leaning towards certain messages and certain cues from the deck and it’s kind of this beautiful like co-creation and this rhythm that starts to happen. Like it’s like a dance, like I really enjoy watching other readers pull cards because everyone does it with their own little flair and their system and all of that is grounding.

All of those rituals and those little routines, those things we do, whether it’s like knocking on the deck beforehand or something, it’s to ground ourselves and to prepare our intuition to receive. So I think that’s a neat way that it shows up.

Grace: Absolutely.

✨ Innerwork and Intimacy

Grace: So what does inner work and intimacy mean to you and how do they relate to each other, especially with the themes of the Hermit card?

Kate: Inner work is something that we choose. Like, I think there’s a lot of labor in our lives, showing up and doing a ton. And the inner work is the continued dedication, at least by my definition, the dedication to really look at ourselves and our experience with a non judgmental lens, but a critical lens, right?

Like, I feel like the Hermit helps us see a part of our experience that we’re not totally fully expressing, or it’s time to unpack a bit further or get more comfortable with. Not as a result of anyone else’s desires, but only our own. And the inner work, in my opinion, goes that way too. It’s like, it’s the spiritual and personal experience that we don’t necessarily have to do, but we choose to do.

And it just allows us to feel more satisfaction, more complete, more fulfilled, and it’s like this beautiful chance to really get more intimate with who we are. And the intimacy of it is I think intimacy, we always place it on our connection with other people and how deep and vast those connections can be.

But that depth is just as possible within ourselves. Like the well is very deep in our experience too, our subconscious. So just like exploring that and knowing that that’s worth our time too, that it’s something that’s just as important as all the other sort of connections we have.

Grace: Yeah. Yeah, especially because I feel like when someone is in Hermit mode, it’s a lot of time to yourself, but there’s a whole vast inner landscape that one can explore within oneself.

There’s your inner child, your inner teenager, your adult self, your present self, your higher self, your intergalactic selves, you know? So there’s just like…

Kate: An onion. We have many layers.

Grace: Yeah, there’s just all parts of ourselves to explore and how they intermingle with each other. So yeah, I feel like that intimacy part can actually be a bit more complex than like just getting to know yourself, right?

Because like, what does that even mean?

Kate: What does that even mean? And like, can it look different in different seasons of our lives? Like, here I am at my age, I don’t know myself completely, and I’m not going to pretend to. There’s more to discover, and I think that’s part of it as well, and why I said continued and dedicated practice, it’s like, as soon as I notice I’m not in sync with myself, that’s when things start to kind of feel like, they loosen, as far as like, my boundaries, my intentions, like everything starts to get more blurry.

So then I’m like, okay, it’s time to go back inward, take that time to really receive from my higher self, my spirit team, whatever resonates, and then proceed with more clarity.

Grace: Yeah, and I also find when one does do more inner work that the external world starts to shift too. So you might find changes in like the types of opportunities that you’re attracting or the types of people that you’re hanging out with.

✨ Blockages in Manifesting

Grace: So I feel like in society, we’re trained to look outside of ourselves. We’re trained to achieve. We’re trained to do more or obtain more. Perhaps the work is really going within ourselves. Because there might be blockages to why certain things aren’t manifesting.

Kate: Yeah, we could be on a bit of a hamster wheel, right?

Like treading water, trying to get certain things to come to fruition or whatever else, and a little bit slower pace and a little bit more solitude or understanding of like, here I am in my being could be the ticket to get there and we just don’t realize. So I’d say the beauty of the Hermit too, what I like about this card is in my opinion, he feels like he’s just kind of a wise figure passing through as inspiration.

He’s doing his own thing. He’s on his own journey, but he’s saying, Hey, here’s a way that I go about this. You might want to try it. I think that’s an interesting part Of the card as well. It’s this, this sense of like, No one’s telling me I have to, but I think this might be the right direction.

Grace: Yeah, it’s not like a patronizing way of giving information. It’s just the role model, Hermit, if you’re into human design, that actually is my human design.

Kate: Wait, are you a 6/2?

Grace: I am a 6/2!

Kate: I am as well!

Grace: Yeah, whoa, so perfect!

Kate: That’s so funny. We love Hermit energy.

Grace: Yeah!

✨ Inner Source of Light

Grace: It’s very much that role model energy, right? Where you’re just living by your design and showing people but not necessarily telling people how to do things, or just letting people live, right?

And part of that is learning the lessons yourself, because a lot of the times you might see someone else doing something that you might achieve or want to do, but perhaps that’s not your road. And that’s like everybody’s own internal reflection or a journey that they have to go on to really find their true selves.

And I feel like with the Hermit card, it’s like you’re going towards your light, but maybe that light is at a distance. Or maybe it’s not super close right now, and I think part of going within, too, is feeding yourself this inner source of light, too.

Kate: Discovering it, and even if it’s small, believing that it can keep growing, and it can reach pretty far in all directions, like the Hermit, he has that little lantern, right?

And, but who knows how much he’s really able to see, and, and also, I think there’s something beautiful about the metaphor of I really only need to see what’s right in front of me, I only need to tackle this next step. And this next right thing to do. I don’t need to understand the full scope or the full picture.

But I’m here and I’m quite literally walking through each phase and each step at a time. I also love, I would love to hear what you think of just like the simplicity of this card, like the art, how little there is besides this little bit of light. I’ve always enjoyed that, especially because so many of the cards are like, especially in the majors, are so rich in symbolism that the Hermit feels like this like, Brain Break, a chance to not overcomplicate it and really keep it simple.

So, I enjoyed that when I was first learning about the cards. I was like, Oh, this is an archetype I can understand. This is something that I don’t have to get too deeply into the symbolism of, and I think that’s the beauty of it as well.

Grace: Yeah, I can definitely say that I go in modes where I can be very introverted.

Like, ambivert, you need time to recharge, and you need time for yourself, and I think You know, I tend to get downloads during that time when I have my solitude in order to think clearly and how to move forward, what’s best for me. I think with the Hermit card, and I have my Hermit card behind me if you’re watching the video, that’s like the one I remember.

I do remember the Rider-Waite Hermit card as well and something I think I gather from that card is that you can’t really seek anyone else’s light but your own and sometimes you have to go through time. And time is such a deep construct because I think, especially nowadays people really want things in terms of instant gratification to happen now, and you might not have that wisdom at first because you just haven’t had that lived experience.

So, sometimes finding that light means going through shadow moments, going through challenging moments, really understanding what you’re made of because you’ve been through the toughness of it. But also, through those moments, you also find yourself, you find your strengths, you find your characteristics, you find what you like, you find what you don’t like.

And that all forms a narrative to who you are. But sometimes we don’t know who we are until we go through these experiences, and so with the Hermit figure in the Rider-Waite Tarot, and he’s like an old man with a hooded, he’s a hooded figure wearing a cloak. To me, I feel like there’s so many layers, because he’s wearing this cloak, he’s not necessarily revealing everything.

He’s just revealing what you need to know in the moment, and there’s that quote, something about if you’re like driving cross country, and you have your headlights on, you can only see from what’s in front of you and what the light is revealing. But you’re gonna trust that you’re gonna get from, let’s say, California to New York, right?

Because your GPS is set to get there, and so you’re following the directions, and sometimes you might go off road somewhere else or have to get gas or something, but that to me reminds me of the Hermit because You’re not necessarily seeing anything beyond that light, so there’s a certain trust and faith that everything is working out in your favor, even if you can’t see what’s in the darkness.

Kate: Yeah, and made even more beautiful by the fact that the Wheel of Fortune’s next. It’s like, the unexpected can come through, and that’s what I love about Tarot, too, is just the opportunity to keep learning so many new things, and to keep Kind of like, adding new layers of context to it as well, so I love that analogy of like the cross country drive, you can’t see point A to point B, and we’re only like halfway ish in the cycle of the majors at this point, and there’s a lot ahead of us.

Grace: Yeah, and I feel like the Fool’s Journey is not always linear as well. Like, if you’re on that Hermit card journey, maybe during that Hermit period you have a magician moment, and you get this sudden hit of like, oh my god this is my next idea, or you know, whatever it is. And then that takes you to the World card.

I don’t know, I’m skipping a lot of the steps.

Kate: No, totally. It’s But it’s true. It’s not linear. But knowing yourself during those peaks and valleys makes it all much better and much easier to navigate as the energy changes and shifts. So I think that’s what the Hermit really brings us, is that self awareness piece.

✨ Cards That Redefined Themselves

Grace: Yeah. So you mentioned that some cards have redefined themselves, and for you, what cards have you formed a relationship with, and like, have come across again, and maybe have redefined what were some of those cards for you?

Kate: I’d say the Strength card was a really big part of my journey, for many reasons, and I think it’s one that’s always redefining currently right now I’m working with what does Strength need to look like for me?

I know what it used to look like in the past, as far as resilience, and kind of the courage to to lean into certain things, but that’s one card I really love the complexity of. Others from the court cards, I do love my Queen of Pentacles. She has a place in my heart, but beyond that, I’d say all of them are just really inspiring to me.

It just depends on the day, the moment, and the hour that I pull them, but I think that’s again one of my favorite things is the gift is like, they’re always changing a little bit for me. But I’d say the Strength card is the most prominent figure. The High Priestess, we have an interesting relationship.

I feel like she and I are always kind of, not butting heads, but we have interesting moments where she, she gets me out of my comfort zone. So, I think that’s a cool one to explore, too. Yeah, and it happens to be the Strength year! It is! It is the Strength year. I found that so interesting. Obviously, I didn’t totally piece it all together until we were closer to the book, but I was like, the fact that it’s coming out on the year of the Strength card is really beautiful to me. It’s kind of full circle.

Grace: Yeah, I feel like Strength is Not that we’re here to talk about Strength, but Strength, I feel like, really requires also knowing yourself, right? But like, finding yourself through that process of challenges and I think it also calls for you to be authentic for anyone just, I think that’s part of the strength card too, is the courage to be yourself.

Kate: Yeah, the courage to be yourself bravely, unapologetically, and really just sit in that and be like, I’m imperfect, but I’m strong. And I’m willing to help and serve others, too, and not keep all that strength to myself.

✨ Awakening to Your Spiritual Gifts

Grace: Yeah. So, tell us about your journey to awakening to your spiritual gifts. What was that like for you?

Kate: Yeah, so it was definitely after I’d gotten more comfortable with some of my personal healing. I think that’s an important piece first, to just Kind of heal through my own stuff before I was really ready to like take that on and open myself to that type of connection. In my early 20s I started noticing like other psychics and I was living in Philadelphia at the time and you know people who I was familiar with because I was like in the yoga community or whatever else would come up to me and be like, do you realize you’re psychic?

And I was like, I don’t think so. I don’t know. This is all kind of a lot right now. So it started to just sort of ping me that way. These like odd moments of synchronicities or confirmation, and then finally I just was like, okay, what is this that I clearly need to tap into? And I was already pulling Tarot cards, but I was using them more as like a journaling practice, and I was considering them just as this like self care tool.

I wasn’t really believing or trusting that I could be channeling through them. And I think that that shifted over when I started to remove so much of the personal connection and started holding space for other people and just seeing like what could come from that vulnerability, both as a reader and as someone who sits across from a reader.

It’s a super open space that definitely takes a lot of trust. And that felt like it validated a little bit for me receiving that sort of confirmation from someone else. And I don’t mean to sound like from my ego, but like, that was very helpful to understand that perhaps I am starting to awaken some sort of gift, so to speak.

So yeah, I’d say that was when it started shifting, was when I started transferring what I loved about the practice personally and offered it to other people. And then I was pretty hooked and I was like, Oh, this is something I actually do want to bring a lot of integrity to. So I worked backwards and I found some mentors and some people to work with so that it wasn’t just this overwhelming state of receiving or, or too, um, ungrounding or dysregulating, because I think that when we start to open ourselves a little bit, when we start to feel those clairs getting stronger, it’s It can be very overwhelming to our bodies, to our nervous system.

And I recognized that that wasn’t something I could go back into that space. It gave me anxiety. So I was grateful to find some teachers who were really great about teaching me the right sort of grounding in rituals so that it could be something more sustainable for me.

Grace: Yeah, absolutely. I feel like for anyone that has intuitive gifts, you might just subconsciously like, or just not realize you’re taking on a lot of energy.

And I feel like there’s also like a lot of like cleansing and releasing that needs to happen in your practice. So what would you recommend for anyone who’s getting more intimate with their intuition or intuitive gifts. And you know, what are some protective things that they could do for themselves when working with other people?

Kate: Yeah. So I would actually say as a nod to the Tarot deck, work with the elements. So one of the things I do, like my meditation that I do before connecting with clients or honestly just going about my day as an empath involves earth, fire, water, air. And I see myself grounding my feet against the earth. I envision kind of roots kind of growing from my body and connecting me there as an anchor. I watch water cleanse and release me of any energy that needs to go. I refill with light or fire, something purposeful and passionate. I surround my entire aura and energy field. It’s kind of like the air around me.

with like a golden ring of protection and and different things and this has all been you know to anyone listening who’s like that sounds like a lot I’ve never done that what I’m trying to say is find like organic and natural visuals or cues or intentions affirmations you can say even It just really set the declaration of I’m clear, I’m protected, I’m cleansed, I release.

I think the power of just even intention, of saying like, I want to be protected here, that does wonders. You know, that does a lot for our energy, just simply honoring it and knowing that we deserve that feeling of safety.

Grace: Absolutely. And I feel like there’s something about saying it. It’s like claiming it so it’s like, I want protection, or I want flow, and you might notice that more flow comes to you, or that you might have a situation where you’re in line to buy groceries, and you’re protected, or just something like that, you just might notice those things.

I think it also calls upon a our awareness when we’re calling upon these things, because sometimes we might have these things, but not necessarily be aware that we might already have protection if we’re not noticing it.

Kate: Yeah, we do. I mean, we are all divinely protected, but I think those who are highly sensitive, just being aware, like we just said, stating it as a clear statement of, Here I am, I am in my own energy, and despite anything that’s happening around me, it doesn’t really affect me, it doesn’t have to, I don’t have to absorb it, I don’t have to take it on, I can simply be the observer.

Sometimes I tell myself that too, I’m like, I don’t have to connect with this, I can simply observe it. It’s happening around me, it’s not something that’s necessarily for me.

✨ Working With Your Guides

Grace: Yeah, so you mentioned working with your guides or getting to know your guides through this process, so what was that like for you?

Kate: It was really fun. I think that one of the things that surprised me, and I think surprises other people that I’ve spoken to about this topic, is how playful they can be. How kind of silly and like, it’s not so serious all the time. In fact, I think they really humble us that way. I, for me, found the most success in connecting with them through channeled writing, automatic writing.

That feels very beautiful and intimate. It’s a way to kind of hear from them. But in addition to that, I do love to practice a dialogue where I pull cards like, here’s my question or here’s my thought, and then asking for their specific response. So that’s an easy way to, if you’re new to Tarot, see it as this back and forth, almost as if you’re sitting across from someone for coffee, but it’s your guides.

And it’s a way to familiarize yourself and become more friendly with them. They’re not here to give us orders. They’re here to co create with us and work with us.

Grace: Absolutely. And we all have free will, so even if they’re watching you do something that they may not recommend

Kate: That too. We’re gonna end up finding the lesson anyway, you know? They’re gonna guide us again and again, even if we don’t listen necessarily to their recommendation.

Grace: Yeah. And then something about calling in your higher self or your guide to be there with you during a Tarot reading, for example, claiming it is part of the ritual too, where you could just be like, I invite my higher self to be here with me during this reading, or I invite my ancestors, I invite My guides, something that I tend to do also if I’m reading for someone else is I also invite their guides, ancestors, higher self to be present, so that is something you can implement if you’d like, see how it goes, see how you feel.

I kind of feel like it puts less pressure on yourself as a reader.

Kate: It does. You don’t have to be the one with the answers, exactly. You’re here as like the translator for spiritual information. You’re here to just convey the message that’s really not coming from you, and I agree, it takes time. It takes the pressure off of us as readers.

We’re really just like facilitators of energy. And I like to remind people too, all of this information was accessible for them as well. Just having a third party, having someone to give you that perspective is helpful sometimes.

Grace: Yeah, it’s also like supportive for you, right, as the reader, to have the support of your spiritual team.

And I think, again, when you say, I would like the support, You’re going to receive it because you’re asking for it, and you can’t necessarily have that support if you’re not calling it in. I mean, you can, but…

Kate: Yeah, no, yeah, I understand what you mean. It’s a symbiotic relationship, but it’s always changing, too.

Like, I think that’s what I’ve noticed with my guides, is like If things start to get stale if I feel less connected or more distant from them, I’m like, let’s try this a different way. Let’s approach this a different way. Let me hear from you. Maybe there’s new guides to come forward. I think not being attached to it, having to look a certain way each time is important too.

Like that was one thing I feel like in the beginning of my spiritual journey, it was so, everything was so profound and big and powerful. And now it’s a lot more subtle. And I think that’s because I’ve exercised trust at this point in my guides that they don’t come through so loudly. It’s a little bit softer and more subtle. It’s like whispers rather than this big epiphany each time. So, that’s an interesting part of the evolution, too.

Grace: Yeah, I like that you said that, because it’s very similar to pulling a Tarot card that you really need to see in the moment and with Tarot, sometimes you might pull the same card over and over again as like, obviously a sign, and when you go along your journey you might be working with a specific guide for a time when you really need them during that moment, But as you change and progress into the next version of yourself, perhaps you need another guide, aka another Tarot card.

Kate: Yeah, no, totally. You can absolutely see there’s many guides. I mean, within our Tarot deck, I feel like there’s so many figures that I think I can feel them as guides themselves.

✨ Defining Self-Compassion

Grace: Yeah. So what would you like people to take away from The Inner Tarot? And what is your definition of self compassion?

Kate: I think it’s like radical forgiveness and just being like, so many of us translate our compassion and our love and our empathy towards others again, it’s that willingness to give it to yourself, which usually begins in forgiving and accepting ourselves for the flaws, for the imperfections, for the past, whatever.

And that self compassion to me is loving yourself as unconditionally as we’re able to love other people. And I think self love as a word is just a little, we’ve heard it a million times, I think compassion is like, you don’t have to be in love with every part of yourself, like you don’t have to love every facet of you, but I think having compassion for the parts of you that are imperfect is a good place to start and a really loving practice.

So as far as taking away from the book, it’s just like being more unapologetic on your journey, being more open to the fact that, yes, things are always shifting and changing, we’re always trying to transform and grow and be better, but there’s something so calming and beautiful and grounding about just like, kind of throwing your hands up and saying, this is beautiful right now, too.

Until I get there. So being really unapologetic in the processing.

Grace: Yeah, there’s a certain divine surrender in that as well of just like letting go and just, Hey, you’ve got me, right?

Kate: Yeah. Yeah. And believe that you have yourself. Believe that you’re holding yourself starting to actually trust fall into your own experience.

Enjoy it. Enjoy the ride a little bit. The Fool’s journey, the leap.

Grace: Yeah, I love that.

✨ What’s Your Sun, Moon, and Rising Signs?

Grace: So we’re gonna wrap up with some rapid fire questions. What’s your sun, moon, and rising?

Kate: I am a Capricorn Sun. I have a Capricorn Stellium in the 5th House. And my Moon is Gemini and my Rising’s Virgo.

Grace: Cool! I have a Capricorn Stellium too. It’s more like 8th/9th House.

Kate: It helps us get things done.

Grace: It for sure does.

Grace & Kate: Yeah!

✨ What Advice Would You Give to Your Younger Self?

Grace: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Kate: Speak up.

Speak up more. I think I was always pretty shy as a young child, and I still would say that I’m like introverted and shy, but I think don’t be afraid to fill space with your truth and speak up.

Grace: I love that.

✨ What Are Your Favorite Rituals?

Grace: And what are your favorite rituals?

Kate: Ooh, lately it’s been I’m very fortunate that I live near the ocean, so I’d say one of my most grounding rituals is to place my feet in the water, or take a salt bath. I’d say salt water really does serve us very well, and as someone with pretty much no water in her chart, or any prominent water placements, it’s incredibly helpful to me.

In addition to that, I’d say lately it’s been writing to music. I mean, I always have enjoyed that, but music inspires me a lot. I feel like I can tap in so much clearer when I’m channeling or meditating or doing anything creative with that. So I’ve been trying to carve out just like five minutes in the morning, one song, one sheet of paper in my journal and whatever comes through, comes through.

✨ One Card Collective Reading

Grace: And let’s wrap up with a collective card reading.

Kate: Yeah, let’s do it. Let me grab my cards. Let’s just see. Let’s keep it simple. Like the one card, one message. Sometimes I want to keep pulling and pulling, and less is more.

Oh, the Ten of Swords.

Grace: Ooh!

Kate: Oh, boy!

The Ten of Swords, to me when I see it, I really emphasize the finality of it.

I think it does give us a little bit of a nod to that opportunity to release the old, shed the old. Stop overthinking the choices, the actions you’ve taken thus far, and really understand that a dawn is coming, a new opportunity to shift perspective is here, and the Ten of Swords, I always say, is like a permission slip.

What you want to let go of and that you’ve been clinging to because you feel like you have to. You can really finally make peace with it.

Grace: Yeah, it’s almost like the ending of a painful chapter, but it’s over now.

Kate: Yeah, it’s more over than you realize I think that was the coolest part about this card, learning it about it more, was just understanding like, It’s already kind of done.

I’m just ruminating on it a little bit, and it’s the chance to really surrender your thoughts. Don’t give it the headspace anymore.

Grace: Yeah, I love that.

✨ Closing Statements

Grace: Well, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your light today reminiscing about the Hermit. Tarot card and also sharing your book with us, The Inner Tarot, and for being a part of the Mystic Mondays community.

Kate: Yes, thank you. Thank you for being someone who inspires me in the early in my Tarot journey when I found your deck. So thank you for bringing such a playful and fun perspective to Tarot too.

Grace: Aw, my pleasure.

Kate: Yeah, thanks for having me as well.

Grace: Yeah, absolutely. Alrighty, until next time, bye!

✨ End of Episode – Remember to Leave a Podcast Review on Apple Podcasts!

Grace: Thanks for tuning in to this episode with Kate Van Horn.

I’m so glad we were able to talk about the Hermit Tarot card with Kate today, and to talk about the transformative power of Tarot. If you’re interested, you can also shop the Hermit Tarot card collection on mysticmondays.com.

Everybody has their own unique journey with Tarot, and I’m curious. What is yours? How did your Tarot journey start? And how has your Tarot journey expanded? Let me know in the comments, on YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, anywhere that you’re listening to this podcast. And as a reminder, we are doing a giveaway of Kate’s book, The Inner Tarot on Instagram.

Until next time, my dear mystics, take all the time you need to explore all facets of yourself. You have your entire lifetime to do so. Sending you grace today and every day.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode. Remember to subscribe and check out more GRACED Podcast episodes where I how to apply everyday magic to your everyday life.

See you next time!

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