Today, Mystic Mag interviewed Julia Gordon-Bramer, a prominent Tarot Reader who kindly agreed to share some information about her career, spirituality, and what she loves most about her profession.
When did you first know that being a Tarot Reader was your calling and how did it come about?
I never set out to be a professional tarot card reader. I got my first deck of cards when I was sixteen years old, and back then it was just for fun. But I knew I was good at it—and others knew it too. I became the person everyone wanted at their parties, as long as I brought my cards! Ha ha. So, it became, and still is, both a blessing and a curse. When people invite me to parties today, I have to very clearly ask: Do you want me just to attend or to work it?
Few sixteen-year-olds are on a serious spiritual path, and I was no exception. However, I was probably more spiritual than the average teenager, having been active in my charismatic Episcopal church growing up and regularly reading and studying the Bible. I also meditated even as a young child. It came naturally to me with no instruction. Around that same age of sixteen, I also began to have some of my first premonitions. I have written in detail about this time in my forthcoming book, Tarot Life Lessons, which will be out in 2023 through Destiny Books.
As I grew older, I began studying spiritual teachers like Wayne Dyer and Shakti Gawain. I read a lot of books on tarot, my first and most important one being Understanding the Tarot by Jane Lyle. I also explored Joseph Campbell’s Heroic Journey, and studied Carl Jung and his ideas of synchronicities and the subconscious. I read up on astrology and numerology, and I began to study Buddhism and A Course in Miracles. But I was busy raising my kids in my 20s and 30s, working a day job and going to school, so the tarot was just a fun thing I did on the side.
I read A LOT. In graduate school, I discovered the work of Sylvia Plath and noticed a lot of tarot correspondences and symbolism within her work. This opened me up to Qabalah and Alchemy, as well as a more serious study of mythology and how these all feed into the tarot. My Plath work made me a much better tarot card reader. I have three books on Sylvia Plath and her tarot correspondences currently out and one forthcoming, The Magician’s Girl: The History and Mysticism of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, with Inner Traditions (release date TBA).
In graduate school, back in 2007, I often brought my cards in and read for classmates. One of my professors liked to bring me into his classes to read and I was invited to do a lot of parties. Eventually, I had to start charging for it because it was just taking up too much of my time. I have never had to advertise. I have clients all over the world and many regulars who I work with as much as several times a week. For a few years, after graduate school, I taught at St. Louis Community College and Lindenwood University, but I ultimately had to give up teaching as I was too busy with tarot and making a much better living with the cards. Today, I have been reading tarot for over 43 years.
What services do you offer?
I read for clients over the phone, various video platforms, by email, and in person. I also do events in the St. Louis area or elsewhere with travel compensation. You can read more about me at www.juliagordonbramer.com or @jgordonbramer on Twitter or Instagram.
How do you manage to bring spirituality to science?
“Spirituality to Science.” That’s an interesting question. I think Science can be very spiritual. Science is about exploring the unknown and finding answers. It’s about learning and asking the hard questions to improve self and civilization. It is asking the origin of things—what is the Source and how does this Source energy expand out to affect our lives?
Tarot is all of these things too. Tarot is not done in a laboratory, but it is very interesting that answers can be repeated and expanded upon. In some of the events I do, I am often told that guests will ask the same question to several tarot card readers and see if they get the same answer. They nearly always do, or at least something close. Many times, often with the same cards. Mathematically, the probability of this is far less likely than winning the Powerball.
But I’ve seen it again and again. I believe that tarot is a mirror of what our higher self already knows. It brings it to our consciousness. If we see something we don’t like, it’s an opportunity to change our energies to do it differently. It is very psychological, and I compare it to dream analysis in the way that these symbols are a code to break in order to understand ourselves and others.
What can a person expect from your sessions?
Usually, I begin with an overview reading: some past, present and future. I do this usually with the Celtic Cross spread. I encourage questions and have no problem expanding and adding cards to clarify or explain something better. I encourage open-ended questions, such as “Tell me about my love life” or “Tell me about money.”
Career is also a popular one, and since Covid, more people than ever are interested in the health of themselves and loved ones. But I can also ask yes or no questions. I can look at relationships and help people understand problems or how someone is feeling about them. I can look at people who are close and who are estranged.
I have never billed myself as a medium, but I can also see people who have passed on and I can get messages for my clients from the other side. I found this out by my clients continually asking for it, and then when I gave them their messages, they often confirmed that I had said something no one would have known.
What is the most important detail in maintaining a relationship of mutual trust with clients?
I keep my clients’ confidentialities—not even sharing names unless the client announces our connection first. Sometimes, clients like to talk about me or tag me online but this happens only with their permission. I have some clients who are actors and rock stars, some who are multi-millionaire businessman, lots of moms, and hardworking people of all stripes. My regular clients keep coming back because they know they can trust me. Many have called me their counselor or life coach, which is flattering but I should say here that I am giving them wisdom from the Source, not my own.
What do you love most about your profession?
I feel like I can make a difference during an especially dark time in our history. I encourage others to realize and own their true God-selves and find their path and their power. It is a joy to connect so closely and to know without a doubt that I am helping people find peace with who they were and are, and to shift into much more positive, powerful versions of themselves going forward.
