The Tarot Podcast with T. Susan Chang

Animal decks are commonplace in the world of tarot, but to my mind the very finest of them is the Animal Totem Tarot, published in 2016 by author Leeza Robertson and artist Eugene Smith. In our conversation, the creators share the story behind Leeza’s meticulously-conceived animal correspondences and Eugene’s exquisite inkwork, which came together in an unforgettable 78-piece work of art..

As always, there’s a patron reading using the deck, at the end of the episode. If you'd like to see more of the Animal Totem Tarot in action, we have a few more readings in this week's Patreon bonus content. 

(If you’d like to submit a question for a reading on the Tarot Podcast, sign up as a paid member! at https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast. You’ll find out when readings are happening on Patreon or Discord and be able to share your question then!)

 

Leeza Robertson is an international bestselling author with Llewellyn Worldwide. She is a girl from the Aussie bush living her best life in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her wife. When she is not writing books or creating decks, she is helping other writers bring their dream of publishing into reality.

Eugene Smith is an illustrator born and raised in California now residing in Chicago, IL.  He decided all that time spent doodling in notebooks and scribbling on walls should be put to good use and so he pursued a BFA in painting and drawing from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His work has appeared in books, editorials, tarot card decks, and educational graphic novels. He lives with his lovely wife, two children, and an odd dog.

Links for this show:

Animal Totem Tarot
(Amazon listing)

Leeza’s website

All of Leeza’s decks and books for Llewellyn 

Eugene’s website

All of Eugene’s decks for Llewellyn

Celestial Unicorn Tarot
(Amazon listing)

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Become a Tarot Podcast member! patreon.com/thetarotpodcast

Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! etsy.com/shop/tarotista

Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
thetarotpodcast.com

Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Neurobiologist and tarot reader Siddharth Ramakrishnan returns to the Tarot Podcast to talk about interoception—your awareness of what’s going on inside your own body. When we’re doing a tarot reading, what’s happening in this internal sensor system? How do the things we’re hearing from our body affect what we see in the cards and say to our querents?

For more Siddharth, and more on the intersection of brain biology and divination, check out this week’s bonus content, where Siddharth and I speculate about what’s going on neurologically when you’re trying to detect whether your tarot reader is a fraud!

Siddharth Ramakrishnan, PhD, is a neuroscientist, artist, and educator. He is the Chair of Neuroscience and Professor of Biology at the University of Puget Sound and a recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award. His research spans developmental biology, neuroendocrinology and neuroethics. A Fellow of the UCLA Art|Sci center, his collaborations with artists have led to exhibitions and documentaries that blend the worlds of art and science highlighting topics like Hox genes, animal umwelts and biomimicry.  An avid Tarot reader, he has designed and created the NeuroTarot deck based on the major arcana of Tarot and infused with neuroscience. He was the keynote speaker at NWTS 2023, StaarCon 2025, the UCLA Art Sci Center, and a panelist at the Masters of Tarot workshop (2023) with Mary K. Greer at Omega, Rhinebeck NY. In addition he has been featured at various scientific conferences, art museums and tarot workshops. His book "The Neuroscience of Tarot", is out with Llewellyn Worldwide. "The Neuroscience of Magic" will be out in 2026!

Instagram/BlueSky/Threads: @siddbits
Youtube: @brainmystic
Email: neurotarot@gmail.com
website: www.brainmystic.com

 

Links for this show:

Bonus post: The Neurobiology of BS Detection

Episode 55: Tarot and the Predictive Brain, with Siddharth Ramakrishnan: 

Chekhov’s affect grid  

Emotional contagion quiz

Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (Take the MAIA assessment!)

Freeing the Genie Within, by Debra Lynne Katz

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Become a Tarot Podcast member! patreon.com/thetarotpodcast

Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! etsy.com/shop/tarotista

Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
thetarotpodcast.com

Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

It is commonly said that court cards are the hardest cards to interpret. Today, we take on these Royal Pains in the A** and try to make some sense of them. When you’re done listening, you’ll have a toolbox full of ways to interpret courts. But remember, above all, court cards are just people!

For this week’s bonus post, I’m asking folks to tell me a story about a court card using its associated minor cards! Send yours before 7/31/26 and I’ll thank you with a little surprise gift!

Links for this episode:

BONUS POST: Tell me a Court Card Story!

4 Stories: An Elemental Approach to the Tarot
(Amazon link if you must)

Tarot Correspondences: Ancient Secrets for Everyday Readers

The Living Tarot: Connecting the Cards to Everyday Life for Better Readings

Pick up the Tarot Podcast official Decan Notebook

Court Card reference books

Understanding the Tarot Court, by Mary Greer

Your Tarot Court, by Ethony Dawn

Tarot Court Cards for Beginners, by Leeza Robertson 

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Become a Tarot Podcast member! 

Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!

Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!

Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Tarot on the Road is back! This week, the Tarot Podcast heads out to the Morgan Library in New York City for their “Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions” show. The exhibit is dazzling to look at, but it also gives you a sense of how tarot morphed and shifted in form over the centuries.

In my conversation with the three organizers responsible for the exhibit, you’ll see how the rich, thoughtful narrative they organized around tarot captures the imagination and closely follows the trajectory of tarot from a luxury object made an artisanal workshop in 15th century Italy to becoming a contemporary global phenomenon.

If you just can’t possibly make it New York, you can see many of the featured images both in the video version of this podcast and in the Morgan’s own incredible exhibit catalogue, which is lavishly illustrated and full of fascinating essays on the cultural history of tarot (yes! you do need one more book!).

Links for this episode:

Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions exhibit at the Morgan Library

Exhibit catalogue 

Patreon bonus content: Morgan Library conservator Frank Trujillo takes us through some of the intricacies of what conservation experts have been able to learn about the composition of the 500-year-old cards at the heart of the show.

More tarot history episodes:

Episode 56: Tarot Museum Belgium with Guido Gillabel

Episode 48: What is the Tarot de Marseille? with Sherryl Smith 

_______________________________

Become a Tarot Podcast member!

Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!

Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!

Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

If you’re tarot-curious, you’ve probably heard some of the myths around tarot – how you’re supposed to get your first deck, what kind of abilities you have to have, what kind of power the cards have, even how to handle or not handle your cards.

But what do REAL tarot readers think about some of these myths? Cardfluencer Ethony Dawn and I pull back the curtain on what tarot actually looks like! in contemporary practice.

Ethony is an author, tarot reader, tarot teacher, and High Priestess. She’s the author of Become an Exceptional Tarot Reader, Tarot Grimoire, and Your Tarot Court (Llewellyn) and created several decks, including Luminous Flow Tarot, Cosmic Wisdom Tarot, Modern Love Tarot, and Awakened Soul Oracle. As Headmistress of the Tarot Readers Academy, she teaches Tarot worldwide. Ethony is an ’80s child who loves Halloween, Care Bears, and the ocean. 

Links for this show:

Ethony’s website

Ethony’s YouTube channel

Ethony on Instagram

Ethony on Facebook

Aidan Wachter’s Glymmering podcast

___________________

Become a Tarot Podcast member!

Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!

Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!

Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊