![\"Feature](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4836861_7_articleinlinemobile_25-07.jpeg\" "\\"Feature")
Feature writer Emer Harrington leans in for her tarot reading with Stacey Walsh, aka This Irish Witch. Picture Chani Anderson<\/p>\nTarot reading was once considered something for highly superstitious people, who would cross a fortune teller\u2019s palm with silver in return for a glimpse into the future.<\/p>\n
Today, tarot is becoming a popular way for people to make sense of a chaotic world. With readings conducted by Zoom, email, or over a glass of Prosecco, it\u2019s fair to say this centuries-old craft has had a glow up.<\/p>\n
Curious to find out more, I visited tarot reader Stacey Sayers, aka @this_irish_witch on Instagram.<\/p>\n
Although she usually does readings online, she has offered to meet me at The Liberty Bar in Cork City, where she holds regular Tarot and Prosecco events.<\/p>\n
The pub\u2019s upstairs room is a fitting venue for my reading, with its dark walls, subdued lighting, and antique furniture and mirrors.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a gothic vibe to the space, and I half expect to see a witch\u2019s cauldron bubbling in the corner.<\/p>\n
Instead, I meet Stacey, who greets me warmly and shows me to a table with several decks of cards laid out.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the cards do different things,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey all have their own little purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
People often come to a tarot reading expecting to hear about their future, but Stacey believes the past can be more revealing: \u201cI think sometimes people expect, \u2018You\u2019re going to meet Mr Tall, Dark, and Handsome\u2019, and instead I\u2019m like: \u2018You\u2019ve got trauma!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
A mum of three based in West Cork, Stacey grew up in a Catholic household.<\/p>\n
She began to explore her own spirituality after struggling with secondary infertility.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just set me on this complete journey of trying to understand my body, and my energy, and working with my womb. My biggest passion is empowering women,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Witchcraft and spirituality have helped her connect with her own innate power.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething I\u2019ve learned over the last few years is that traditional religion teaches you God is outside, so you need to go to Mass, or you need to have your confession,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith spirituality, I understand that the goddess is actually inside of me, and that I have control.\u201d<\/p>\n
Feature writer Emer Harrington leans in for her tarot reading with Stacey Walsh, aka This Irish Witch. Picture Chani Anderson<\/p>\n
Stacey has been reading tarot cards for the past two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends hate to see me coming when we have a few drinks because I\u2019m like Mystic Meg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m like: \u2018Come over here, I want to talk to you,\u2019\u201d she says with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Her relaxed and friendly manner immediately puts me at ease.<\/p>\n
She begins our reading by connecting with my energy, which appears to be that of a slightly stressed woman who has just navigated city centre traffic in the rain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling a lot of jaw pain, just on the right side,\u201d says Stacey.<\/p>\n
She elaborates that this might be indicative of something I\u2019m holding back on in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, the right side can be masculine energy. Let\u2019s say there\u2019s a man in your life or there\u2019s a very strong woman \u2026 you want to say something to them, and it\u2019s like you\u2019re clenching and you\u2019re holding back.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure who this might represent \u2014 I\u2019m fairly confident that my husband never has to guess what\u2019s on my mind. However, the dentist did tell me recently that I need to stop clenching my teeth, so clearly this woman has a sixth sense.<\/p>\n
That is not the only thing Stacey picks up on as she turns over the cards. She tells me that the queen of wands card indicates my natural fiery energy, which is pretty spot on.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are somebody who likes to go places \u2026 If you get stuck in a nine-to-five Monday to Friday job, you\u2019re actually going to drive yourself bananas,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fire energy from the wand means that you\u2019re extremely passionate. You have to be very driven in what you do, and it has to really stoke that fire inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
Passionate, driven, easily bored \u2014 I can feel myself nodding along as she talks.<\/p>\n
She interprets the king of pentacles card as my husband\u2019s practical nature balancing out my fiery side.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very grounded. He needs to make sure the bills are paid, and the house is okay, and the tyres have air in them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Knowing that he has just had our car serviced and purchased new tyres for winter, I can\u2019t help but smile at the accuracy of this assessment.<\/p>\n
Throughout the reading there\u2019s a big emphasis on the need for more self love.<\/p>\n
Stacey senses that there is a past version of myself that never believed I\u2019d be where I am today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it can be a really good exercise to look at your past, and what I recommend to people is writing a letter to yourself,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can say \u2018thank you for everything you\u2019ve done,\u2019 or whatever it is, and you can release or set fire to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I personally love that idea, and might take it on board as a little Samhain ritual.<\/p>\n
![\"Emer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4836864_7_articleinlinemobile_25-05.jpeg\" "\\"Emer")
Emer Harrington holds two goddess cards from one of Stacey\u2019s more unusual decks. Picture Chani Anderson<\/p>\n
AT ONE point, she turns over a card which depicts a figure stabbing another one in the neck. This can\u2019t be good, surely?<\/p>\n
But she quickly assures me that there is an important message here about self kindness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this fear of people judging you behind your back, but when you feed yourself love, it doesn\u2019t matter what anybody says,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you begin talking nicely to yourself, then other people\u2019s judgments won\u2019t really matter as much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stacey\u2019s advice for when I find myself in a slump is to \u201clean into the love\u201d.<\/p>\n
She notes that women are often seen as caregivers, but we also need to take care of ourselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always give outwards \u2026 but our well runs dry. But if you start pouring into your well, your well overflows, and everybody benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n
Not everything hits home in an obvious way.<\/p>\n
When Stacey reveals a devil card, she warns of a potentially toxic atmosphere at work and a boss figure who \u201ctakes a lot of the credit, even though he\u2019s done none of the work\u201d.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, this doesn\u2019t sound familiar to me. While working alone as a freelancer comes with its challenges, dealing with office politics isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n
I appreciate that a tarot reading isn\u2019t necessarily meant to be literal, and Stacey doesn\u2019t claim to have all the answers. The cards offer an opportunity to reflect on certain situations in life, and perhaps gain a new perspective.<\/p>\n
I believe these things work best when we take what resonates with us, and don\u2019t get too bogged down in the rest.<\/p>\n
Occasionally, Stacey has clients who appear cynical and don\u2019t give much away \u2014 but this doesn\u2019t affect her ability to read the cards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s funny, I\u2019ve had people who sit across from me who give me nothing. They just sit there and they won\u2019t even look at me \u2026 and at the end they\u2019ll go: \u2018That was the best reading!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, I left the reading feeling calmer and with some helpful insights to take away. Whatever you believe about tarot or witchcraft, spending half an hour with someone who encourages you to be open, reflective, and kinder to yourself is balm for the soul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tarot reading was once considered something for highly superstitious people, who would cross a fortune teller\u2019s palm with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,21008,61,60],"class_list":["post-109543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-halloween","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}