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A tarot podcast spanning the North American continent from New York to St. Louis to Portland, OR. Support the podcast by shopping our recommendations at https://bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc
Episodes
Friday Oct 10, 2025
Friday Oct 10, 2025
We gather today to “celebrate” the Five of Cups, aka the grief card. The traditional card depicts a darkened figure staring at cups that are spilled, while other full cups are visible on the other side. At the time of recording, the Cardslingers had to deal with personal grief, as well as the country's collective grief. Jaymi discusses the power of emotional grief. Melissa expands on the need for memory and meaning. Hilary reminds us that this card contains a bit of the “what if” game and how nothing good comes from playing that game. The past is not our home.
Honor the things we’ve lost and remember what we still have. Feel your feelings fully. We've still got a long way to go!
Homework: Create an ancestor altar. A bowl, a container, a box, a shelf, and add the names of your beloved dead to it. You can also add items to ease the soreness.
Melissa now has a Patreon! Check it out at https://www.patreon.com/cw/Melissacynova. She's teaching classes and checks in regularly through Patreon live streams. It's going to be a hoot!
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Shoutouts
Dylan for being a special being. We honor you.
Shoutout to Hilary and Jaymi’s dads.
Shoutout to Melissa’s grandma.
Decks Mentioned
Jaymi: Triple Goddess Tarot by Franco Rivolli and Jaymi Elford
Melissa: The Black Violet Tarot by Heidi Phelps
Hilary: Wild Messengers Alchemical Tarot by Lola Pickett, Tanya Casteel, and the graphical talents of Tigre Pickett (Sadly, this deck is out of print.)
Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.
Friday Sep 26, 2025
Friday Sep 26, 2025
Cranky, McCranky pants here, talking about the Five of Wands. Get your ass outta my face. In the RWS, it’s five people with five sticks attempting to build a tent in five different ways. It’s a lot of fire combined with the action and passion of the wand suit—what is your will behind doing something? This card brings the chaos and confusion of any situation.
Homework: What fires did you start, and which ones are you getting burned by?
FYI, Melissa has adjusted her rates to help those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Decks Mentioned
Jaymi: Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and Barbara Moore
Melissa: The Visionary Woman Tarot by Kristine Gorman
Hilary: Meraki Tarot by Kerri Snook of Bouchette Design
Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.
Friday Sep 12, 2025
Friday Sep 12, 2025
We’re swimming in gratitude today. To battle the dystopian hellscape, we want to take the time to uplift each other. Thank you all for listening and being at our tables. Thank you for being clients, and for sharing your stories with us. We’re delighted you’re here and proud to see how much you’ve all grown.
FYI, Melissa has changed her rates to help those who are not baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Shoutouts
To Robin for being a long-time client and listener.
To Erin for being a fantastic friend.
Resources Mentioned
Episode 57: “Bunch of Queerdos”
Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.
Friday Aug 22, 2025
Friday Aug 22, 2025
Don’t you have a ban button? Today’s topic is about those folks who come at us and have an expectation of familiarity. Listen as we discuss how we deal with this “best friend” energy, love bombing, and overfamiliarity. Tarot is a service industry, akin to hairdressing, and we do our best to provide objective information on your issues. Boundaries are essential, and we want to give you a service first.
FYI, Melissa has adjusted her rates to support those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Shoutouts
Shout out to Dr. Erin Baker for the memories in Detroit.
Thanks to Theresa Reed, the Tarot Lady.
Resources Mentioned
Episode 23, “Fire that Freaker”
Episode 64, “Love, Light, and Toxic Happiness”
Single White Female, the movie
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker
Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.
Friday Aug 08, 2025
Friday Aug 08, 2025
This week, your Cardslingers get the opportunity to chat with author and friend Charles Harrington. Charles Harrington has been reading, teaching, and loving tarot for more than 25 years. He has written several deck guidebooks and given keynotes and workshops at conferences, hosted podcasts, and led meetups in the San Francisco Bay Area. He loves to find new and strange ways to use the cards in pursuit of wisdom, fun, and the occasional free cocktail. He is the author of Tarot and Oracle Card Readings for Dummies, Tarot of the Vampires, the Murder of Crows Tarot, the Odyssey Oracle, as well as the forthcoming Llewellyn Tarot Calendar for 2026.
Charles popped on the YouTube channel to chat with us about his new book, Tarot and Oracle Card Reading for Dummies, which was released this year by the Wiley brand. We gush over his book, the process of writing, card reading in general, and get a glimpse of the desk he purchased from Elvira.
Melissa adjusted her rates to support those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Shoutouts
Charles shouts out to Nicole and Nina, the Wiley editing team.
Melissa shouts out to Taylor in Chicago.
Catiara Marie and NWTS
Elvira and all the excellent books she wrote on the desk that Charles now owns.
Resources Mentioned
From The Book of Tarot by Fred Gettings, “Tarot is a machine, you put a question in and an answer pops out.”
Episode 13: Reversals: Flip That Shit (our reversals episode)
The Odyssey Oracle by Charles Harrington with art by Paolo Barbieri
Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.
Friday Jul 25, 2025
Friday Jul 25, 2025
Welcome to Episode CXXX! And thanks to Eighteen Wheels on a Big Rig, we’ve got all the Roman numbers covered. Melissa reads Jaymi and Hilary to filth with her The Ink Witch deck. Jaymi receives some valuable advice on her upcoming trip (now complete by two months) to Michigan and her experience at the Great Lake Area Diviners Experience (GLADE). Hilary gets some personal advice. We also discuss the notion of doing readings without knowing the topic. Hilary forces Melissa to read for herself, and it’s rather poignant.
Homework: Try doing a reading with your deck up to the fours. What did you come up with?
FYI, Melissa has adjusted her rates to help those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Shoutouts
"Eighteen Wheels On A Big Rig"
Shout out to Heatherleigh and The Boston Tea Room.
Shout out to Dr. Erin Baker for the lovely time!
Decks Mentioned
The Ink Witch by Eric Maille (link takes you to where you can buy the 2nd edition)
Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.
Friday Jul 11, 2025
Friday Jul 11, 2025
Melissa and Jaymi chose the same deck, so what do the Cardslingers do… we make a whole thing of it! Today, we’re all using a different Jamie Sawyer deck. And we’re examining the Four of Pentacles. The good, the ugly, and how we have healthy saving tendencies. What will you do with your one precious life?
We delved into our Jamie Sawyer tarot decks to share how one creative mind can interpret a card in various ways. Visit Jamie’s site and see all the cool decks, journals, tarot tiles, and other products she has to share with us all.
Homework: Take stock of what you have, including all the resources, and assess your current situation.
FYI, Melissa has adjusted her rates to help those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Shoutouts
Thank you, Jamie! We love you and your decks. Seriously!
Shout-out to Claire!
Kahla Givehand and the Soul Collage method
Decks Mentioned
Jaymi: The Felt Tarot by Jamie Sawyer (the deck is still in production, having been funded by Kickstarter a month or so ago). This link goes to the Felted Tarot tiles set.
Melissa: The Out of Hands Tarot by Jamie Sawyer
Hilary: The Pocket of Peers Tarot by Jamie Sawyer (sadly, out of print)
Resources Mentioned
Virginia Woolf’s Room of One’s Own
Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.
Friday Jun 27, 2025
Friday Jun 27, 2025
“Be still and listen to your soul.” Henry David Thoreau
The calmest sword out of the entire suit, the four embodies calm, peace, and a long rest before the action. The figure, typically depicted as a knight, lies over a tomb. Melissa suggests that this is Mercutio from William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. Jaymi ties the card back to being silent and gathering your resources. And Hilary reminds us about the meditative quality of the card.
Homework: Engage in a self-care activity.
FYI, Melissa has changed her rates to help those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Shoutouts
Happy birthday, Rocco!
Decks Mentioned
Melissa: The Ink Witch by Eric Maille (first and second editions sold out) and The Lorenzi Tarot by Irene Lorenzi
Jaymi: Triple Goddess Tarot by Franco Rivolli and Jaymi Elford
Hilary: Tarot of the Unexplained by Davezilla and Super Attractor by Gabrielle Bernstein
Resources
Finch app, we swear they do not sponsor us. We love them for their mental health activities and corralling to-do lists while getting to hug and support each other through a digital bubble.
The Cartomancer Magazine (Winter 2022 features the Triple Goddess Tarot Four of Swords on the cover.
Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.
Friday Jun 13, 2025
Friday Jun 13, 2025
Happy Pride Month, listeners. In honor of the quiltwork of beliefs, creeds, and queerness, we created a new logo for the cast. Enjoy!
Do you take what is offered? This is the question that the Four of Cups reminds us of. It reminds us to be discerning and establish boundaries. Melissa, Hilary, and Jaymi examine life, the universe, and menopause through the lens of this card. In the Smith Waite deck, this card’s vibe is a total meh. Seeing the figure with their arms crossed is a boundary — a passive form of activism against the norm. Sometimes, it’s better to stand still and hold your ground.
Homework: What is poison and what is medicine for you? Change the world with your voice and boundaries.
FYI, Melissa has adjusted her rates to help those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Shoutouts
Decks Mentioned
Melissa: The Mystic Garbage Tarot by Junkyard Prints Co. (link goes to an online reseller with images)
Jaymi: The Animystic Tarot by Willow Fay
Hilary: Fountain Tarot by Jonathan Saiz, Jason Gruhl, and Andi Todaro
Resources Mentioned
#12 The Emperor: Put Your Stink All Over That Throne (and the bookshop page)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail turns 50 this year
Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.
Friday May 23, 2025
Friday May 23, 2025
We’re feeling silly today, and the Four of Wands is a perfectly entertaining card for us today. Celebration, getting your groove on, and finding the flow are the meanings for this card. A stable, creative force and drive all here in the Four of Wands. Why do you have a passion for what you do and how you create? Celebrate the milestone in your life. Celebrate your community.
Homework: When was the last time you celebrated or acknowledged a triumph in your life? Especially when you get out of bed or take a shower.
FYI, Melissa has changed her rates to help those who are not baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now.
Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.
Decks Mentioned
Melissa: The Mystic Garbage Tarot by Junkyard Prints Co. (link goes to an online reseller with images)
Hilary: The Marvel Tarot by Author Syndee Barwick and illustrated by Lily McDonnell (link takes you to a NY local reseller)
Jaymi: The Felt Tarot by Jamie Sawyer just completed a two-week, successful Kickstarter. Check out this sample video on how the cards were made on Jamie’s YouTube page.
Resources Mentioned
“Pop Goes the Tarot” series from Melissa’s Website
Finch app. All of us are addicted.
“How to Entertain an Idiot Card”. While this link directs you to Zazzle, you can create your own.
Do you like what you hear? Please send feedback to us at cardslingerscc@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content.
Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.
Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.