Not-So-D.C. Jobs: Meet a local tarot card coach
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Tarot card coach Skye Marinda has a "Not-So-D.C. job," a daily gig that isn't your standard, inside-the-Beltway 9-to-5.
How it started: Marinda got into tarot during a Halloween trip to Salem, Mass., and discovered it was a great tool for self-reflection and boosting mental health.
- She did her first tarot reading at a D.C. bar to raise money for a D.C. SMYAL art program and it stuck. "I really loved doing it and talking to people and seeing people think about their lives," she tells Axios.
🧙♀️ A typical day: Marinda hosts readings at local bars like the Dew Drop Inn and Red Derby, as well as virtually.
- Plus she hosts "witchy" gatherings like a New Year's Eve tarot event and sake tasting or a Halloween get-together with Ouija boards and intention-setting.
🔮 Reality check: Pulling tarot cards is a way to be meditative and consider what you want from life, says Marinda, not a means of fortune telling.
- "I want people to be more inspired to go out and do something they really want to do."
- While Marinda calls herself a "witch," she means that in the sense she carves out time to light candles, work with herbs, and manifest — not the broomstick and black cat caricature.
💗 D.C. love: Despite the buttoned-up rep Washingtonians often get, they're into tarot reading, says Marinda — part of an overall interest bump driven in part by TikTok.
- "They always laugh and say they know it's stereotypical to ask about careers, but they do," she says.
😊 Coolest perk: Helping others gain clarity and realize their potential via tarot. "I gave someone a reading and at the end of it, they were like, 'Oh, you just gave me permission to do something I've always wanted to do.'"
🚀 Advice for strivers: "Everything comes from asking for it — asking if you can get involved or asking people to work with you," she says. "Even if you have to cringe internally the whole time while you're hitting send on the email."
❗Up next: An appearance on a Netflix reality dating show recently filmed in D.C. that Marinda can't yet publicly name (but you definitely know).
- And readings at a Spring Equinox Market on March 24 at Wunder Garten and a Witchy Spring Equinox Party on March 27 at the Dew Drop Inn.
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