Life & Work with Annie Aboulian of South Pasadena

Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Aboulian.

Hi Annie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a literature professor and tarot writer, and my former life as an overworked and unfulfilled attorney is what brought me here.

I was your typical over-achieving, involved-in-everything, college bound teen. I was even voted Most Likely to Succeed my senior year of high school. So off to UCLA and then USC Law I went! I hated law school immediately, but being a first-generation college student from an immigrant family, I couldn’t bring myself to quit to pursue the more creative work I secretly craved. I did everything I could to make myself fall in love with the path I had chosen, and I eventually landed a job at a fantastic boutique law firm that seemed perfect for me on paper. But I just wasn’t happy, and after a few years, it really started to take a toll on me emotionally and physically.

On a desperate whim, I opened a tarot deck I had received as a gift and started pulling tarot cards for myself to try to figure out what I really wanted in life. Something just clicked and I was hooked. Over the last decade, tarot has helped me clarify my values and my definition of success, among other things. Now, I’m a tenured professor of English at College of the Canyons in Valencia, and I write a best-selling Substack column called The Tarot Professor, where I approach tarot as a rich symbolic text that can help us reconnect with our intuition and better understand ourselves and the world around us.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting over is never smooth. But I am delighted to be on the other side and able to tell others that it wasn’t as huge of a setback as I thought it would be. While I don’t want to negate the financial struggle of quitting a well-paying job to go back to school, as I look back on the trajectory of my life, the toughest challenge for me personally has always been to own and fully step into the life I want, regardless of what others will think.

Back in high school, for instance, I loved to perform and wanted to major in theater in college. But the adults in my life urged me to pick a “more legitimate” major at a more prestigious university so I wouldn’t throw away everything I had worked so hard for thus far. Similarly, when I finally decided to quit my law career, everyone thought I had lost my mind. Interventions were held! Medication was recommended! My parents had given up everything to bring our family here from Iran for a chance at a better life, so the expectation and pressure to make their immense sacrifice worth it has always weighed heavily on me. But I had already done it their way once and it had left me unfulfilled, so I wasn’t going to do that again. Tarot helps you spot these patterns and recurring lessons in your life.

Even now, I feel like I’m experiencing a much less charged version of that same internal struggle. Although I love being an English professor and am great at it, I think the truest path for me is probably to be a writer or artist or some type of creative full-time. But that same internal struggle and desire for legitimacy and social acceptance as defined by my upbringing is once again posing that same internal tension. How dare I give up the luxurious security of a tenured teaching gig to pursue the tumultuous uncertainty of a creative life?

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I write a best-selling Substack column called The Tarot Professor, where I approach tarot as a tool for self-discovery, intuitive guidance, and personal growth. Because I’m also a literature and mythology professor, my unique brand of tarot combines intellect and intuition. I believe it’s at that intersection where the magic of tarot reading really happens. I specialize in that delicate dance between traditional tarot study (What can I say? I’ve always loved homework.) and trusting our inner wisdom and intuition – something that was wholly foreign to me for most of my life.

Because I’m an academic, I’m still a bit of a skeptic. I’m not psychic, I’m not a fortune-teller, and I don’t read tarot to try to predict the future. I read tarot for myself and I teach others to do the same. In addition to writing my column, I host workshops, tarot challenges, and tarot book clubs. My latest workshop was about how the tarot knights can help us harness the productive energy of the Year of the Horse, and I’m getting ready to announce my tarot book club pick for the summer.

Nothing makes me prouder or more filled with joy than when somebody is able to have an a-ha moment because I taught or inspired them to take a moment for self-reflection with their tarot cards and they were able to shake loose an exciting new idea, recognize a story or belief that no longer serves them, or make an important decision with more confidence and self-trust.

How do you think about happiness?
My favorite thing to do is hang out with my nephews. I love being silly and playful with them and seeing the world through their eyes. It’s so easy to stay in the present moment when I’m around them and just enjoy our time together.

Because life is all about balance, I am also happiest quietly perusing a bookstore or art museum. Two of my local happy places are Vroman’s Bookstore and the Norton Simon Museum.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://thetarotprofessor.substack.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/thetarotprofessor