Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Semaj Zion. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Semaj , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?
I started officially learning to read cards the summer of 2020— yes, that summer. I have a close friend, Venus Ayalani who had been practicing cartomancy for some time before that which is how I got interested in developing the skill of storytelling and making meaning of my life through this medium. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic absolutely created the container for me to radically question myself and experiences as a black non-binary and queer educator from the Southside of Chicago. My personal relationship with divination using Tarot and Astrology started to take shape in the latter half of 2020 after almost daily FaceTime calls with Venus Ayalani about cards, planets, their meaning and their implications in our real life and ancestry.
Late 2022 would find me integrating these conversations with my own studies about Astrology and Tarot as a means of knowing what time or season I find myself in. I have amazing friends such as Wynter Taylor, Hakim Pitts, Jeida K Storey, Love Marie and Jessalyn Brown that continue to teach me and were models for how I wanted to engage with my clients. Learning from people that model a certain version of myself in my head was instrumental in becoming confident enough to trust my body. Along with the years reading family and friends the years leading up to me opening my books. Becoming trust worthy in my close relationships as a reader created a solid foundation for my future practice to stand on.
One of the most challenging things that I worked through oddly enough was my identity as a reader. More specifically my age. At 24, it would make me question what I could and couldn’t answer, if I personally have never experienced something a client is inquiring about, is my proficiency of these tools and the way they function in our lives enough to stand in the gap for my ignorance? Working in the non-profit and education space, the amount of ageism me and my friends have experienced has mangled a part our ability to trust our experiences have meaning. But we are far more expansive than we’ve been made to believe. I ask myself, who benefits from my shrinking… Ultimately, internalized ageism impeded on my trust my skills as a reader and medium, but again being affirmed by my support system is one the best things I would advise anyone looking to create anything for themselves. People who will critique you honestly, and support you earnestly.
Semaj , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am semaj (sem-mah-jay) zion, I am a black non-binary poet, educator, medium, cartomancer, sidereal astrologer, guitarist and overall diva. I center poetry and the ancestors in all the work I do, My Grandad Tommy Lee Riley, My Great Grandma, Edna Burks, My Uncle, Chris Burks, Gwendolyn Brooks, Prince, Toni Morrison and so many more. It’s their survival, self possession and skill that I owe my life and craft to.
Before starting to read cards or charts, I started to write. Poetry for me as a foundation sets me apart from other people who engage tools that has been institutionalized as much as Astrology and Tarot have. I come from churchfolk who accepted Jesus as the beginning and end of the divine, yet had a deep reverence for their dead and talked more fondly of them than they did Jesus himself. I find that I mirror them in this way with Tarot and Astrology, much like black Christianity these mediums were my gateway to centering myself in my own ancestral technology.
Writing before this gave me the tools to be able to trust the voice in my head, and distinguish it from another. Which is the work I do for my clients. As a medium, and proficient Tarot Reader and Sidereal Astrologer, I offer general services and specific ones for your year, month or specific questions you’d have. I find that folks come to me when they are needing clarity on their own voice and mind to make a decision, or remedy some emotional harm that’s been done to them interpersonally. I get a lot of “I knew I was thinking/feeling this, but I needed someone else to validate it.” Helping to shape and empower their perspective to trust their body, and take their feelings at face value. To me, what Tarot and Astrology does, is that it gives language to what one can’t really pin down in the midst of tragedy. As a poet, i’m armed with listening and articulating.
One of the things I’m most proud of is my client base. I’m from the Southside of Chicago and from the beginning I knew I wanted to be in service to my community. “Who is responsible for me and who am I responsible to?” “Who fulfills my needs and how can I fulfill theirs?”
In this age of spiritual education being co-opted by corporations and online spaces I never wanted my practice to keep the people that have kept me at the margins. I gained my self assurance from my friends and family who hold me accountable while doing this very serious work. Gaining their trust was instrumental for me to feel like I want had what it takes to officially start reading for people I didn’t know in that personal capacity. This is what i’d want people who aren’t familiar with my work and reading style should know — I center people who are like me (black, queer etc) and our experiences of institutional neglect. Folks don’t always have to match my price point because my clients are critically underpaid and it would be a disservice to ignore that reality. We move mountains with grains, so I feel proud to be able to share my studies, knowledge and experience that has been gate kept from us.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
One of my favorite books that has shaped my sense of self is Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Even though this book is not overtly about entrepreneurship, its narrative absolutely shapes my thinking as it relates to my practice. It follows Milkman who is emotionally mangled by his father’s abuse, and grossly disgusted with his mother’s complacency. It’s a book that mirrors my own life and relationship with my father. Milkman is initially awkward, quiet and a product of his father’s privilege. Envying his family and what he comes from, the book takes him on a journey back to his great grandfathers hometown, in search of gold. Milkman discovered who his ancestors were, Macon Dead who did the greatest work on land anyone had every seen, the great Solomon who flew back to Africa to escape.. He met with people who knew the people he came from intimately and it completely transforms him. Instilling an insurmountable amount of self regard and internal respect.
This is what really made me feel like I had what it took to offer my services. My life and practice started to take shape the moment I took my ancestors as the serious arbitors of my life. It was continuing to talk and work with them that helped me unravel some of the inner turmoil that was a consequence of my father and his expectations of me. Much like Milkman, his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and own his business. While my father doesn’t own a business he absolutely tried to manipulate me into finishing what he knew he failed to do when he was younger. Such as get a college degree. Ultimately, I find that we are imbued with the tools of the people that came before us, as Milkman flew in the final scene of Song of Solomon, I find myself in education, with dealings of language and helping people. All things my people did. It’s important for me to express that being an entrepreneur for me is about knowing what skill sets you have and which ones you don’t. Knowing myself through my ancestors was a powerful way to be sure of which tools I have. Milkman was a fabulous example of what it means to come into your own personhood while still embodying and uplifting your lineage
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Compassion and listening to understand. As a cartomancer and Sidereal Astrologer, clients often to me seeking guidance or clarity on a specific issue in their life. This inherently means there’s been some kind of internal or external disruption to their body/mind has occurred and they’re finding it difficult to synthesize the two. It’s important to me to make sure my clients feel heard and that their questions are answered.
One of the biggest things I try to mitigate is the person not feeling clear on the root of the issue, the remedies and next actions. I also find it important to have a place where folks can critique you. Not having yes-people are you that always tell you you’re right is basically stabbing yourself in the back. Because of the nature of people’s perception of Tarot and Astrology as divination, folks fear getting told news of illness, death and other tragedies. While I believe these tools absolutely have the range to cover these topics, I stay away from letting folks make it the center of their inquiry. If you feel sick don’t get a reading, go to the doctor! Knowing if your service is right for the client is just as important as the client deciding you’re the right practitioner for them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://calendly.com/semajzion
- Instagram: semajzion
- Twitter: semajzion
- Other: https://substack.com/@semajzion
