Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Shea Walker.
Hi Michelle Shea, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up in a small Indiana town during the 90’s, television was most of my social life. They say you become the average of the five influences you spend the most time with so I guess I’ve morphed into Cher from Clueless, the witches from The Craft, a dash of Dharma, a pinch of Carrie Bradshaw, and an overall dusting of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The first step in my current career journey started about seven years ago when I became a certified holistic health coach. Though my advice stemmed far beyond “Dee, when your allergies act up, take out your nose ring,” it still fulfilled my childhood yearning to dole out helpful advice. Shortly after that, Dharmic influences led me to spend six years working as a yoga instructor. Though I enjoyed teaching, it ultimately served more as the catalyst to bring Tarot and Reiki into my life through a series of events that can only be described as The Craft-worthy magic. These days, I primarily use intuitive practices to help my clients, but it’s nice to be able to call upon my past resources in health and wellness as well. It’s quite common for a reading to involve not just predictions for the future, but personalized remedies for the physical body through yoga, food, and mediation. I like to think of the mystical tools I use less as fortune telling devices and more as insights into a client’s current state of mind. Divination at its core is just another way of understanding our own behavior like a Myers Briggs test or traditional therapy. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I’m all for anything that helps with the process of self-definition.
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?
At the start of 2020, I dove into my most challenging project to date. As someone who works with tarot and oracle cards as my profession, I’m an avid collector, but I’m also super selective about the decks I choose to purchase. I believe every deck of cards is like adding a friend to your social circle. They all speak in a slightly different tone and give advice in different ways. You wouldn’t go to your tough love friend when you need to be handled with kid gloves, just like you wouldn’t go to your friend who’s always sugar coating things when you need a straight answer. Tarot and oracle decks are the same way, you’ve gotta feel out their personality to figure out if they’re going to work for you.
That’s why, when I decided it was time to add a goddess deck to my collection, I was frustrated that I couldn’t find one that suited my personal style. It’s not that there was anything wrong with the decks on the market, they just weren’t “best friend” material for me…so I decided to create one of my own. The resulting project, called the Total Betty Goddess Deck, combines my love of 90’s entertainment with divine feminine archetypes. Each goddess represented in the 44-card collection is played by one of my favorite 90’s icons like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Carrie Bradshaw. The cards are complemented by a 100-page guidebook (that you can color!) in which short, cheeky descriptions merge the energy of each goddess with her 90’s counterpart.
I’m super proud of this project not only because I now have the type of deck I’ve always wanted for my collection, but because I overcame my own limiting beliefs to create it. Growing up, my sister was always the talented artist so I had distanced myself from painting and drawing to carve out my own separate identity. When I first got the idea for the Total Betty Deck, I doubted I possessed the artistic talent needed to do the idea justice. I had to redefine the image I’d created for myself in my head to even get things started. In the end, I’m happy to say that I not only drew each one of the Total Betty cards by hand, but designed every aspect of the packaging and guidebook, as well as a series of astrology icon designs available in my Teespring shop.
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?
The short answer is I’m an intuitive coach who works with individuals ready to level up the way they function in the world. I do most of my one on one coaching within my 6-Week Spiritual Makeover Program because I’ve found multiple sessions create more sustainable shifts than a single Reiki session or a one-off Tarot reading. That being said, I’m constantly expanding the ways in which I express divine knowledge to the masses. As an empath, I get a feel for the emotional struggles from the collective and translate that into digestible lessons. Sometimes the lesson calls to be delivered in a straightforward, no-nonsense way like the tarot card readings I do for clients, on YouTube, or on Patreon. Other times, the lesson is more subjective and needs to be expressed in a way that the audience can interpret for themselves, like with the Total Betty Goddess Deck or The Dame Who Dated, a film noir comedy series I wrote that’s available on Amazon Prime. My mission is to walk the line between providing answers and inspiring others to discover the answers for themselves.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Because I like to have my hand in so many different projects at once, I feel lucky on a personal level to be surrounded with loved ones who support me no matter what I’m working on. When it comes to business, showing up and doing the work has always been what creates my luck. Astrologically my natal Jupiter (the planet of luck) resides in Capricorn (a sign known for its work ethic), which means that I attract luck best by simply working hard. And while I realize astrology isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I believe anything that helps build self-awareness allows us each to create our own luck in a uniquely personal way.
Pricing:
- Total Betty Goddess Deck – $48
- Total Betty Coloring Goddess Guidebook – $20
- Patreon membership – $3-$22/month
- Astrology Icons Die Cut Stickers – $7.99
- 6-Week Spiritual Makeover Program – ON SALE $999
Contact Info:
- Email: michelle@michellesheawalker.com
- Website: www.michellesheawalker.com
- Instagram: @michelleshea
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/MichelleSheaWalkerTarot
- Twitter: @michelleshea
- Youtube: www.YouTube.com/MichelleSheaWalker
- Other: www.Patreon.com/michelleshea
Image Credits
All photos and art by Michelle Shea Walker
