Meet Krista Schwimmer and Michael Wamback

Today we’d like to introduce you to Krista Schwimmer and Michael Wamback.

Hi Krista and Michael, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Michael and I first met at a Meet-and-Greet, hosted by Vanessa Smith of Little Mysteries Books, a lovely Pagan store (no longer open) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. We both shared a love of magic, metaphysics, and witchcraft, particularly the Irish Battle Goddess, the Morrigan. Michael had just started doing Tarot readings for the public. Although I had studied numerology, astrology, and more, I was not doing any kind of readings at the time. I was actually in school again, studying marine biology at Dalhousie University.

I soon joined Michael in doing readings, initially using my Medicine Cards, an oracle deck connected to animals, birds, reptiles, and even a few insects. We first read in a mall; then at Little Mysteries Bookstore. Along the way, Michael taught me everything he knew about Tarot. On January 3, 1997, we officially launched our business, Mystic Raven, a name inspired by the Morrigan who sometimes appears as a raven.

Later that same year, we were handfasted and soon left Nova Scotia for California where both of my parents lived. We drove cross country, with only $600, (no credit card and no cell phone), landing at my mother’s place in Sonoma with less than $20 left. We ended up moving, however, to Venice, initially because my father lived in West LA. It was here we first came across Qabalah, something that would change our view of Tarot entirely.

When we first landed in Venice, California, the only place we could find to do Tarot readings was Ocean Front Walk, famous for its vendors. I also managed to get a job as a book clerk at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood. We immediately wanted to do Tarot readings there; initially, however, the owners did not want to have psychic readings in their store. This soon changed. We were not only invited to be readers there; but we organized the whole system. Eventually, I even became the manager of the psychic readers. Because of the Bodhi Tree’s notoriety, we immediately found ourselves reading at celebrity parties, something amusing to us as we are not starstruck kind of folks.

Sadly, the Bodhi Tree closed its doors at the end of 2011. Luckily, we had already found another lovely bookstore to work at, located in our neighborhood: Mystic Journey Bookstore, owned by Jeffrey Segal, where we still work part-time. The majority of our business, however, is through our private clients, some of whom we have known for decades.

More recently, in 2018, we also created a YouTube channel and podcast called Sixth Sense Society. We like to call it a metaphysical variety show. Again, we created it all from scratch, with Michael teaching himself the technical side of filming and podcasting. On the show, I interview all kinds of fascinating people involved in spirituality, metaphysics, magick, divination, and more. It was really a natural extension of our interests and our involvement with Tarot. Part of the mission of our show is to create tolerance and understanding of people with different ways of seeing and being in the world.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Is anything meaningful ever smooth? Starting from day one, we had obstacles. We made very little money in the beginning, just managing to squeeze out an existence. Tarot readings in the 1990s were not as popular (or profitable) as they are today. As a result of our meagre finances, our first residence in Venice was one room in an apartment at Lincoln Place, shared with two other men – one who turned out to be a con artist and criminal.

We had our first real break when we started working at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore, as it had a great reputation in general. Still, the first year there, no one really knew us. We often found ourselves sitting in the cold, waiting for readings. (We worked in an outdoor area located between Bodhi Tree’s New Bookstore and the Events building.) Most of our early success was by word of mouth, as the owners did not have a website, and it was before social media.

Anyone who works in entertainment knows how the economy can play havoc with them. So, the next big obstacle was the Great Recession from 2007 – 2008. By then, we had established a solid business, particularly doing large parties. Overnight, we lost 25 % of our business. Still, we managed to come back from that. Our next big blow was when the Bodhi Tree Bookstore closed in 2011. Although we could see it coming about a year before, and had already started working at Mystic Journey Bookstore, whenever you move your business, it has a negative impact. Doesn’t even matter if it is only five minutes away. In our case, we were moving from West Hollywood to Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, where the Mystic Journey Bookstore was located at the time.

One thing we never really struggled with, however, was doing readings. From the very beginning, we earned the respect and trust from the public for the kind of readings we give. It is because of them that we made it through the hard times.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Both my husband, Michael, and I are largely known for our Qabalistic Tarot card readings. I also do palmistry, animal totem readings, and write. Recently, my metaphysical and tarot related essays have been published in a fantastic paranormal style journal, The Feminine Macabre, which seeks to promote women and non-binary writers. I have two books of poetry out as well.

Michael also works as the Secretary at his Masonic Lodge, Sunset Lodge #369. He became a Mason over twenty years ago and served as the Master of his Lodge on its 100th anniversary. Besides being a Past Master, he currently is the Officer’s Coach at Sunset Lodge, a role where he helps any brother learn the long and difficult rituals required if you want to someday be the Master of a Masonic Lodge.

Our specialty centers around a unique system we have developed that combines Qabalah with Tarot. Now, Qabalah and Tarot have had a relationship for some time; but what we practice comes from our own thinking and experience doing thousands of readings. In fact, we are currently writing our first book explaining our system. I think this system is what sets us apart from others, along with our ability to tell people when we don’t actually know something! Even after doing readings for a quarter of a century, we both still work very hard, showing up fully for every reading we give. Let’s just say we have a strong work ethic. We have watched many psychics through the years sabotage their success simply because they do not have a work ethic.

People also enjoy that we are a husband/wife team doing readings together. As business partners, we get along extremely well, something we are grateful for.

Another thing we both are quite proud of is our YouTube show and podcast, Sixth Sense Society, which I mentioned earlier.

What’s next?
Currently, we are working towards building up our YouTube show/podcast as we immensely enjoy doing it. Of course, we want to continue doing our readings. Michael, in particular, is doing more teaching, something he is very good at and really enjoys.

Besides the Qabalistic Tarot book we are co-writing, I have numerous other writing projects I have lined up, ranging from a second Tarot book to poetry to novellas. I am an accidental Tarot card and palm reader. My original intention was to be a writer.

We are also very much looking forward to retirement in the next four to five years, as it will give us the means to move out of the city to a more rural area. Who knows – we may even return to magical Nova Scotia, where we first met and where Michael was born.

Lastly, we adore birds and live with four – two rescued. So, birdwatching and even bird rescue could be ahead for us!

Pricing:

• Our individual sessions range from $65 to $125, depending on the length of the reading. The minimum length of a reading is 30 minutes.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mysticraven.net www.sixthsensesociety.com
• Instagram: @kristaschwimmer @6thsensesoc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mysticraventarot https://www.facebook.com/6thSenseSoc/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SixthSenseSociety
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Krista%20Ann%20Schwimmer/author/B084FL188K/allbooks

Image Credits
The photo of Krista in the garden was by @mysticjourneyla. The rest are ours.