At FIERCE, we want all of our readers to be living their best lives. To assist in that journey, we are bringing on Tatianna Tarot, our resident bruja who will help you become more self-aware and effective at obtaining the life of your sueños.
Born Tatianna Morales, this Afro-Puerto Rican intuitive tarot therapist, ritual practitioner and medium uses her gifts to guide others to develop inner peace, self-awareness, heightened intuition and an expanded consciousness on life. A life-long bruja, the 30-year-old Brooklyn, New York-born and New Orleans-living Morales is the witch behind My Urban Illumination, a website she started three years ago to offer one-on-one tarot reading sessions as well as weekly spiritual advice to readers.
Before Morales kicks off her monthly tarotscopes for FIERCE in February, we chatted with her to help you get to know and love her as much as we do.
1. You are an intuitive tarot therapist as well as a medium and ritual practitioner. Break that down for us. What does this all mean?
I call myself an intuitive tarot therapist rather than a tarot reader because I utilize the cards to help people clarify any questions they have about their lives to better understand the power they yield over their lives. So rather than just shooting out generic information from the cards, I tap into them on a deeper spiritual level so they can resonate with that energy as well. It’s like having an intimate conversation with a close friend, rather than something that maybe is discomforting with a stranger.
As a ritual practitioner, I utilize different practices from African traditions that are conducive to a client’s healing. It’s like going to a doctor: We look into the cards to see where the problem stems from — a habit, a belief system — and I will prescribe a ritual they can do to help alleviate or treat it. The ritual themselves are not as important, but it gets people into the headspace of healing and makes them mindful of what they are trying to rectify.
A medium is someone who connects to spirits and can communicate to spirits. You can see famous mediums, usually white, on TV who pick up information through sensing vibrations or writing on a piece of paper. I connect, or pick up on spiritual energy or deities that have messages, through my cards. Doing this for more than 20 years, I can notice subtle differences between reading cards and the other energy coming through. For the most part, the cards are just a tool for me to access that.
2. Was it difficult for you to start identifying as a bruja?
No. I’ve always been this way. I’ve always worked in witchy shops and, aside from dancing professionally and teaching dance, my side gigs have always been doing tarot readings, helping people with crystals and spells or recommending books. Since I was 11, I was taking home books on brujería. My family knew, so as long as they were aware of my intention and where my heart lied, they weren’t very concerned. It’s always been embraced and always been known among my family and peers. There’s nothing new about this practice for me.
3. When did you begin to notice your gifts?
Since I was a kid. I started when I was 6 years old, pretending to read my classmates in kindergarten. I was doing palms hardcore before I started reading tarot. It’s a gift I never questioned and was always passionate about.
4. Do these gifts run in your family?
Yes. It runs in my blood. Relatives on my mother’s side, which is African-American, Native-American, Indonesian — a bit of everything, reads. And my Boricua father is a medium, though it’s not something he wants. His power came after his father passed away, and it’s been really discomforting for him because he can see spirits in real life and in his dreams.
5. Tell us about tarotscopes, which we’re SO excited to have you start doing on FIERCE?
I’ve always gravitated to horoscopes, but I’m not too savvy with astrology, so I wondered what I could do with my tarot as a writer and creative. The answer: use tarotscopes like horoscopes. I start by mediating with the cards per sign, and then I ask the spirit what is the message this sign needs to hear for this month — what are the messages, blockages and themes? I pull out those cards and begin tying the story together. Whatever I receive, I put in a digestible message that offers some practical and sound advice. I do this monthly, and it gives me a lot joy.
6. How can tarotscopes help or guide our readers?
Tarotscopes are going to first and foremost highlight the energy you may encounter externally — something that may be happening to you in the outside world — or internally — your emotions or spiritual journey. I will clarify what these energies are and what may happen based on spiritual guides, and I will offer some sort of solution to that. It will help readers avoid doing things blindly and help them think and consider their lives. There’s some homework on self-reflection, things to help us become more aware of our actions and help us have more control of ourselves and our destiny. I want to help you create the life you always envisioned.
7. Are there any limitations to tarotscopes?
Tarot doesn’t predict things. People have this misconception that it’s going to be black and white, that the cards said this so this is what is going to happen. No, you have free will. The cards only reflect the energy you are projecting your way based on your past actions. You can change your vibrations in a second. You can drop your career or partner in a second. Also, regardless of what the reading is about, we all have very different interpretations of what it is. For some it’s about romance, while for others it’s about someone who passed away. Go in with an open mind. If it resonates with you, then take it and use it. Take what you need and leave the rest. There are no rules. Take it with a grain of salt and see where it leads you.
8. This language might be new to some of our readers, can you give us a rundown on vocab?
Yes! What a great idea. Here are three of the words you’ll hear from me a lot:
Manifestation: the art of creating with your body, soul and mind.
Conjuring: a mystical word to bring up or to create. It is also a term in African-American folk magic. To conjure something is essentially to call upon, to create something in terms of a magic ritual, to make something appear.
Divination: the power of using a tool that gives you a power to read energy, like tarot cards or Cascarilla (Santería). To divine is to get information, and divination tools help you get energy.
9. Finally, what is one thing you want our readers to know about your work as an intuitive tarot therapist?
I think the most important thing is that I hope it’s a mirror for people to validate their own intuition and wisdom and also that it shows that people have this capability and power in their lives to access this universal intelligence. They can receive guidance and answers on their own. It’s not limited to certain people, and it doesn’t go against faith. It’s a deeper connection to the divine, whatever that means to you. I encourage people to explore it, this gift they have within them and develop and facilitate that within their lifetime.
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