We recently connected with Sharon Blue, Ms and have shared our conversation below.
Sharon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
I worked for 7 years as a Professional School Counselor working with students in a challenging district in North County, St. Louis. I loved my job & helping my students. I felt like I was truly giving back to the world by helping them change their trajectories & start believing in their dreams. My husband & I wanted to expand our family, though so I left my career to be a stay at home mom to our oldest two. I never planned on owning a business. I had been reading tarot off & on personally & for friends since high school. After our second was born and I was in the grips of loneliness & depression as a stay at home mom I decided to pull my cards out for some clarity. To find my purpose once more. They pulled me out of my darkness & helped me find myself again. Not just a mom. Not a former school counselor. Not even a wife. But who I am at my core. Someone who likes helping other people & wants to love life. When the pandemic hit so many people came to me for clarity & guidance. They all felt like they were drowning a bit & overwhelmed by how out of control they felt. I pulled out the cards & started hopping on Zoom calls with people from the UK to Washington state & everywhere in between. I spent so much time helping others for free I was finally talked into starting my own business & there I was able to fully embrace my true self. Someone who longs for purpose; to help others, but also enjoys doing it on my own terms. Ethically, but without having to answer to anyone else. Being a business owner & Tarot & Self-Care Coach also allows me to enjoy time with my, now three babies. What plunges you into darkness is losing your purpose. Once you find it & can fully embrace it – then you get to truly live life to the fullest.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I got my first tarot deck at the tender age of 17 the minute I got my drivers’ license and my own car & could drive to the metaphysical store near my house without my very Catholic mother finding out. I bought the biggest book to go with it & read as much as I could. I pulled the cards out & started practicing using my intuition, not just the guidebook it came with. I took the deck with me to college. As a shy girl who had never left home, I didn’t really know how to make new friends in a new state. I pulled my deck of cards out in the dorm common area & started doing readings for anyone who wanted to come sit. I basically bribed people to be my friends with free tarot readings. I am still friends with many of the people I met in college. For over 18 years I read tarot for friends & friends of friends whenever I was asked. During the pandemic when I had more strangers referred to me & asking how they can thank me for my service I finally decided to turn this “hobby” into a business. In college I double majored in English & Psychology. I then went to graduate school to get my MS in School Counseling K-12. Mental health & tarot have always worked together so seamlessly for me. I am able to see how tarot can relate to our mental & emotional processes. My readings combine my mental health background & expertise with my 23+ years of tarot experience. When clients are feeling stuck or unsure about their next steps, I can help them identify a path forward, showing them how to overcome obstacles & self-sabotage to attain their goals in a practical & tangible way. I wrote a book in 2023 called “Self-Care is NOT a Bubble Bath: The 4 F’s of Sustainable Self-Care that WORKS” to help others create their own self-care routines & systems that will work with their lifestyles & the specific areas where they struggle. It’s a framework for understanding self-care that then takes you on a journey through your personal self-care past, present & future giving you practical tips & tricks along the way. Since I have such a beautiful relationship with tarot & find such meaning & fulfillment from using it in my daily life, I also teach tarot so that others can have this useful tool to work with on their personal journeys. And since I have never stopped being an educator I also teach monthly virtual workshops through my Motivationally Minded Membership where a community of like-minded women come together to work towards the annual goals/intentions we set in January but explore them through a different lens each month. Topics we cover each year include: self-worth, abundance mindset, self-compassion, finding balance, resilience, etc. Members can join for a whole year or a single month. This group helps my clients stay committed to their annual goals/intentions with community support while growing & overcoming personal challenges & self-sabotaging behaviors. I believe that what sets me apart from others in my field is my background in mental health & working with students as a School Counselor. The strategies I have utilized for students work just as well for my clients. Clients are not only getting insight into their challenges & obstacles, but are also leaving with tools to help them overcome those challenges & perhaps start seeing themselves through a more strengths-based lens. My readings do not answer specific questions but rather delve straight into what a client is internally struggling with at that moment in time & then we discuss next steps they can take. I never want a client to feel like they just received information or that they heard about a potential future but it’s all out of their control. I believe we always have a choice. I want to empower my clients to choose their next steps based on what they want, not based out of fear or doubt. I am proud after almost 5 years in business that many of my current clients are repeat clients who come to me time & again as they notice stagnation or plateaus in their development. And even prouder that I have been able to grow my client base from referrals & positive client feedback. I love helping me so hearing about the positive effects my clients have experienced brings me great joy & makes me feel like I am truly living my purpose. I want future clients to know that I always practice reading tarot ethically & only want what is in their best interest. I will never tell a client what to do or what they want to hear. Instead I offer insight into the current situation, the options available to them & ask questions to lead a client to gain new perspective & perhaps some confidence to take next steps. I have been able to stand witness to clients who have made tremendous growth & transformation (career changes, marriages, leaving toxic relationships, births, personal growth, etc) because they listened, trusted in themselves & dared to go outside of their comfort zones. Knowing that I am a small part of that is my greatest joy.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had a very unconventional upbringing. My mother had me when she was in her 40s & I have 4 siblings who are 20+ years older than me. I was raised by a 1950s housewife quite literally even though I grew up in the 80s & 90s. My mom was born in 1941. Growing up it was really just me & her since my siblings were all adults. I was taught to value accomplishments & acts of service. You were only praised when you came home with straight A’s on your report card or you helped clear the table after dinner. Children were meant to be seen & not heard. You were asked to work hard & receive very little in return. Feelings were not discussed & only made you weak. Over the years & through my journey in the mental health world both as a mental health professional & as someone who worked with a professional counselor personally, I learned that self-worth should not be based on accolades, achievements or merely what you can do for others. That leads to burnout & overwhelm. We all have value & worth just as we are. Without needing to be what anyone else expects of us. As a business owner I had to learn that not all people will like me. I may not have as many achievements or awards as other people in my profession. But that doesn’t mean I’m not worthy. It doesn’t diminish my value or the value I bring to my clients. Unlearning what self-worth is to me personally & as a business owner has been a long & hard road. I still struggle on some days when I see others doing amazing things & I worry that if I’m not soaring as high as they are then maybe it means I’m not as good. But then I look at what my clients have said about working with me. I see how their lives are transformed & changed. The core of who I am is worthy. If I believe it & lead with authenticity than others will see it too. And those who refuse to see my value are not my people. That’s okay too. You have to learn to value yourself just as you are otherwise you are chasing an ideal you will never reach.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I decided to officially start offering tarot readings as a professional & create my LLC I started looking around at others in my field who were doing the same thing. I modeled my offerings & services based on what they had. It wasn’t really what I wanted to do or what I loved to do when working with clients but I was told the goal of owning your own business is to make money. That’s why you start charging for your services instead of giving them away for free. I took on any client who came to me. If it was an “emergency” reading, I dropped everything to accommodate them. If they signed up for a 30 minute reading & we went over by 10-20 minutes, I allowed it. I was kind & nice to a fault. No boundaries. I didn’t want to pigeon hole myself or niche myself so small that I didn’t have any clients so I offered readings for love, career, family, conflict, & everything in between. I didn’t really enjoy doing readings this way, but I thought that’s what tarot readers do – they cater to their clientele. When I started dreading “love” readings & rolling my eyes when people would book them I knew it was time to make a change. I wanted to start a business so I could do what I love & also support myself & my family while doing it. Not to be at the mercy of my clients with no time for my family, friends or things that bring me joy. So I completely overhauled my website & downsized. I now offer only one type of reading on my website. Guided Tarot Readings. I use a Celtic Cross & take no questions. There is no focus when I pull the cards. What we get is what we get – and interestingly enough – it’s usually exactly what the client needs to dive deeper into. Business owners become business owners because we want to love what we do & also get paid to do it. What was the point of me doing something I hated merely to make money? How is that any different from a job that makes you miserable? Learning to just lean into doing what I love & what I know I do best actually allowed my business to grow & expand beyond what I could comprehend. My way is unconventional for my field, but it’s what I know/love & what I know works. My clients tend to agree. I learned that when I felt resistance to something it probably meant that it wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing. I had to listen to my gut & trust it to guide me to the places & things that will help me grow while also helping me live my purpose. Now as people recommend new things for me to do or ways to grow my business, I still think back to what feels RIGHT for me. It may sound good on paper & it may work for others in my industry, but if it isn’t something that aligns with what I enjoy & what feels good for who I am & what I want to provide my clients then I’m not going to do it. I don’t say “yes” to everything. I have boundaries & don’t take last minute “emergency” readings. I maintain my office hours & stick to what I know works for ME. Each person has to define what that looks like for them. It’s easy to try & mimic what other successful business owners are doing, but I find more business owners are successful when they stay true to themselves & follow their passions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://blueempresstarot.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blueempresstarot/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueEmpressTarot
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blueempresstarot/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BlueEmpressTarot
Image Credits
Images taken by Abbie Takes Pictures (Abbie Rudolph)