Time We Discuss: Intuitive Energy/Card Reader (India Leigh)

Transcription

(Music)

Dan: what was their reaction like, were they thrown off guard, did they think, oh, she's a crazy, say away from this mom, she's a crazy one, how did they react to that?

India Leigh: All of the above, fortunately, I was already…

Dan: Before we get started, I wanna thank astrology reader, Susan Reynolds, for introducing me to our next guest. Today on Time We Discuss, I wanna welcome India Leigh, and it's time we discuss what it's like being an intuitive energy reader. India, thank you for joining me today.

India Leigh: Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Dan: Absolutely, like I said before we started recording, I love occupations that are a little different. Anything that different people get into, you probably don't need any real formal training. Anything that I love, it gives people plenty of flexibility in the opportunities. So, that being said, let's start with my obligatory question. What is a typical day like for you as an intuitive energy reader?

India Leigh: when you are reading energy for a living, or reading cards for a living, and doing psychic stuff, all the stuff that I do, your boss is the universe, your boss's spirit. So, when I first open my eyes, I'm checking in, because if you notice, you know, we first become conscious in the morning, our mind likes to get going already. It likes to tell us what the day's gonna be like, it likes to tell us about the challenges we're gonna have, it really likes to focus on the negative, because it likes to get us ahead of whatever challenges there might be that we think we know about. And so in order to sort of align myself with the most positive professional outcome for the day as well as personal, I just start by saying, okay, universe, or I like to connect with my spirit guide team, or my higher self, and I just sort of use a word to hold all that, which is just spirit. And I say, okay, spirit, just show me what you want me to see today, show me what you want me to do. Thank you for using me today as a vessel of that energy, and thank you for using me to deliver the messages to who you want the messages to get to, which is my job, like a cosmic post person. (Laughs) And I do have a plan, because I have readings that have already been scheduled, sessions that have been scheduled, podcasts appearances that have been scheduled, and I also am a mom. So in the summertime, I am momming all morning, and then I'm right now doing all my sessions in the evening or afternoon, and that works really well, but during the school year, I'm definitely doing it all while he's at school.

Dan: you said something very interesting. You talked about like the psychic component. How did you actually get started with this? Was it some kind of like awakening moment? Were there skills that you're able to develop? How did you get started going down this road?

India Leigh: well, before this, I was a journalist. I was an editor and a reporter and writer, and did that for about 20 years, and then became a later in life mom, had my child at 41, and when I had him, it really changed me, not just biologically, but mentally and emotionally and energetically, and of course, we say that and it's like, ooh, ah, change, like, fairy godmother, it is grueling to go through that kind of change. It's like being a human Rubik's cube, and you're like, what's happening to me? And so that took the form of anxiety, and a lot of intense physical stuff, and I coped with that through meditation and using specifically self-hypnosis recordings. I really, really benefited from those. It's similar to meditation, but a lot more focused on you're doing this to reduce your anxiety, or, you know, and so I used those while my child was napping, very short naps, and eventually, I just started feeling tingles and energy in the top of my head, and it would sort of trickle down through my body, and then I noticed, as I was taking my child to play dates, and dealing with other moms, there were messages that I felt compelled to share with them. I just felt compelled to tell them something, or, you know, ask them something about a certain experience they were having, and as those things were coming through in our conversation, I was feeling those tingles. I was feeling that electricity, and I was like, something's happening, and then I started playing with cards, oracle cards, tarot cards, really just as a means to try to understand what I was getting, what was happening, and then it just came through more and more strong. That was 10 years ago now, so I've been doing this professionally for 10 years, almost, and I realized recently, it's not unlike, being a journalist, it's just that these messages are coming from our spirit realm, rather than happening around in the world, so it's kind of an interesting segue.

Dan: That's really cool, so I was speaking with, no, I wasn't speaking with, I was exchanging emails with a person, and they said they had psychic abilities, and I invited them to be on the show, so I thought this would be fantastic, you know, have you come on, talk about it and everything, and the guy replied saying that, while he would love to do that, he felt that his skills are not something that could be taught, so for him, it was like, I don't wanna waste your time, and I respected that, I really did, but it's interesting what you're saying, where it's like, you previously had no seemingly ability, you weren't, as a kid, these instances happened, or anything like that, you didn't seek it out, it seems like it just kinda happened, which is very, very interesting, and that happened around the time you said you were doing the self-hypnosis and that sort of thing, correct?

India Leigh: Yes, and that happened because, now, I really disagree with the person you were emailing with who may have a completely different life experience than me, I'm sure if you are psychic from birth, and you have these experiences when you're a child, and then you probably are like, I wouldn't know how to teach this to someone, I've always just been it, sure, but I do believe, very strongly, and I've seen evidence, that we all are, in our heart, and in our core, psychic and spiritually connected beings, we all have this ability, it's literally another sense, that has just become covered up over time, over the evolution of our planet, by our minds, which have developed to be so strong, and so overactive now, and the reason that the self-hypnosis worked in my case, it cleared that mind clutter out of the way, just to reveal what's already there, and I really do believe strongly, that's the case for everyone. Now, the person you were emailing with might have been speaking very specifically about his gifts, we all have such different gifts, so for some of us, it's feeling things physically, for some of us, we actually hear it, for some of us, we just know it, for some of us, we see it, and all have something there, that if we're clearing away those limiting beliefs, those thoughts, we're gonna find it, we may not call it psychic, we may not use it for our profession, but it's there, yeah, for sure.

Dan: That is fantastic.

India Leigh: And we see that with our kids, right, with our kids, they're born that way now, you know, they see that. (Laughs)

Dan: Yes, yes, absolutely, I was speaking with Holly Faust, she is an occult researcher, and she was talking about seeing things with her kids, if I remember, I hope I'm not, otherwise she's getting credit for something, free plug, free plug, but very interesting, that point that you made as well. So you talked about encountering other parents, what was that like, what was their reaction like, when you had a message to give to them, were they completely thrown off guard, did they think, oh, she's a crazy, say away from this mom, she's a crazy one, how did they react to that?

India Leigh: All of the above, fortunately, I was already an older mom, so that already makes you a little bit of an outlier, so I was kind of used to that, and yeah, I think they were just kind of like, we're having a play date, we got nothing else to do, we're all sort of trapped here in this house, sure, why not, you know, but then there were a couple where I learned about energetic boundaries, because you, and this is great for anybody who is coming into their intuition at this time, which a lot of us are, because the energies that we're going through as a planet are really bringing these gifts to the surface, so a lot of people listening to this may be like, oh wow, that's actually what's happening to me, but I didn't know it was that. You do have to learn that, you should ask first, I really had to learn that, you know, definitely be like, is this something you would like to receive, don't just start telling somebody, and sometimes I did get a couple moms being like, okay, and that's the end of our talking, but mostly they were very supportive and encouraging, and my best mom friend always talks about how interesting it was to watch that happen at play dates and how she was very skeptical at first, but over time was like, this is really happening, I believe this now.

Dan: jumping back, you said that you've been doing this professionally for about 10 years now. Talk to me about that very first client you had, how did you get that person, and I suspect it was probably a friend or family member, I suspect I could be wrong, but how did you get that first person?

India Leigh: Actually, it went really backwards from how a typical business would be with that first family member friend client thing. It was the opposite because I was trying to be, you know, a normal person, a normal human, and 10 years ago, card reading and all that really wasn't what it is now, or you just can't get away from it. You know, 10 years ago, it was like, you would be doing this in a Starbucks and somebody, and people would look at you like, what is going on? So I was actually sort of being, obfuscating it, you know, as far as the people who knew me best went. I was kind of like, you know, other moms aside, I wasn't really advertising that I was doing this, but I started a YouTube channel with readings on there that were aimed at, you know, if you're an Aries, this reading will resonate for you. If you're a Sagittarius, this reading will resonate for you. And just did that on YouTube like other card readers do. And the feedback that I got there was so wonderful and supportive, and this is resonating with me, and this really helped me. And that was like, okay, I'm on to something here that I need to follow, that I need to do. And it was something I was just doing for free. But then people would start asking for personal readings, which I would give for free. And then over time, I started learning, oh, this is something people do and they do charge for it. So I started doing that. It's when you're doing any kind of spiritual work or any kind of energetic work, it can be challenging to get over that hump because it's like, oh, is it okay for me to charge for this if it's coming from spirit? And the answer from spirit is yes, because I know you have to live and have food, and I know you're a parent and all this stuff. So doing that in a way that is respectful of everyone is something I had to kind of grow into. But yeah, it was a stranger who saw me on YouTube was my first reading, yeah.

Dan: That is awesome. Okay, so let's stick with this online component. So in a post-COVID world, how much are you doing online or virtually versus in-person? What's that mix like for you?

India Leigh: Oh yeah, it is 98% online. Once in a while, I'll have an in-person reading. I am doing more in-person events lately. And again, that's becoming more socially accepted to have a big corporate event and in the corner is a card reader. And the greatest one I did recently was for a convention of traditional therapists. And that was so cool, because it was this whole big ballroom of traditional therapists, and I got to do card readings for all of them. And I think a few of them were probably like, "I'm gonna start using cards in my sessions," because it was really just very similar, a lot of overlap. Because, you know, tarot reading can be very therapeutic, where you're really homing in on the feelings underneath the thoughts. And feelings are just energy that needs to be released. And so they have a lot in common. But I'd say it is mostly online because people will connect with me through social media and then book a session through Zoom, just like what we're doing, yeah.

Dan: That's really cool, okay. So kind of related to that, from your experience, how saturated is this market? How difficult is it for someone to break into this market?

India Leigh: Right now, it's just on the cusp of getting more challenging. I would not really, I was gonna say I wouldn't wanna be starting out right now, but that's discouraging. I wouldn't because, you know, I've built this business, I've built the practice that I do. But if you are, there's certainly a lot with technology that you have an edge with that I might not, just because I'm from another era. So YouTube and basic social media is really the extent of things. But if you are just starting out, I would say go straight to your TikToks and your social media stuff that's gonna really be, especially if you know how to do all that, do it. The thing I would say most about this type of work is that, again, you're working for the universe, you're working for spirit. It benefits you greatly because you're in alignment with that. So you receive a lot of rewards. But just remember it's not something that you're gonna drive with your mind. I would say start that practice of in the morning, you know, just please show me. Please show me what my next steps are. Please show me how to do this in alignment with abundance. That's a fine line too, to keep in mind. You're not going into something like this saying, I wanna do this and I wanna make a lot of money from it because the universe doesn't work in those one for ones. What the universe works in is energy, you're embodying the energy that you wanna see reflected to you. So for instance, you could say, I'm being called into doing this and I wanna do it professionally and I also wanna live abundantly. And when you do that, you're opening up possibilities for other ways for that abundance to come in. So maybe you're practicing this, but you also, you know, get a big windfall from something and then, you know, that enables you to do this. So just don't get too much in your head, but aligning with, I wanna serve my sole purpose here. I also want to be abundant as the universe gets that loud and clear and is like, okay, let me show you. Having an open mind is really important.

Dan: if someone wants to get started doing this and they wanna develop their intuition, okay, what is the best way that, in your opinion, that they can do that? Can they work with someone like you that can kind of help guide them down that road to increase that intuition? How can someone actually get started that has no real foundation?

India Leigh: That's a wonderful first step.That's what I did. I worked with a psychic who was offering an intuitive development course, and that allowed me to see someone doing this as a profession and then learn some basics. I do offer an intuitive development course as well, and most intuitives do have some form of that. I would encourage that because what that does is gives you sort of an overview of what all the different types of gifts could be, gives you some tools for being able to access your own, and it also lets you gravitate toward what you find the best fit for you. I've always loved cards. I've always loved reading deeply into things, but someone else might be like, "Ooh, I wanna learn how to talk with those "on the other side," or, "I wanna learn how to use a pendulum," and definitely an intuitive development course is gonna touch on all those things.

Dan: I realize this is a bit of a loaded question, and it's going to be different for everyone, but if someone is going down that road, how long is going to take them to develop to a point where they can actually start to use their skills professionally? If they're planning ahead, they're thinking they wanna leave their job, and this speaks to them, this is what they wanna try to do. Is this like a five-year plan they should start to work on? Is it like six months, is it two weeks? What's a reasonable expectation for them?

India Leigh: is gonna be maddening in some ways and great in other ways. When you're working with spirit in the universe, when you ask that question, especially about time, because universal energy doesn't really care about time, that's something we care about on the planet here, so when you ask that question of, let's say, your spirit guides, they're gonna look at you and say, "You tell us," because that is completely within our free will to determine. So if we say, so if you say, "Okay, I wanna do that, and I wanna do it within a year," then you say, "Okay, guides within a year, I would like to be practicing this." Now, the key again is to keep your mind open into how that happens, because again, they may say, "Okay, well, you're doing this, you're receiving, you're still doing your job and receiving money, but you're doing this and it's thriving, and it all feels good to you, that could be the way, or you could feel strongly guided to, no, I'm gonna quit what I'm doing, I'm gonna throw myself into this," and then if you do that, and you say, "Please support me in doing this, please show me how it works," you will be shown the way. I mean, it's really, you decide, be open to how the universe brings it in, and you will get it.

Dan: Going to the cards themselves. So when I was a kid, my brother had a tarot deck, and he was into that for a period of time, and we went through it a little bit, very interesting, but to be honest, there are a lot of cards, and it's a lot to remember. So from that perspective, what resources are out there, and I'm sure there's gotta be some, to help someone actually learn those and commit those to memory? It was as simple as looking at the cards, and it's all literally right there in the cards.

India Leigh: That's part of it, because there are so many different, and to be exact, there are 78 cards in a tarot deck, and there are so many different variations of tarot, of course, every artist has put out one, and there's one for every genre and theme. The one to start with is the Rider Waite deck, which is the original classic, when you see tarot cards, it's like, that's what you see. And do read that book that comes with it. There are some great, oh, I love the simple tarot journal, it's available on Amazon, it's on my bookshelf right now, and it walks through every card and helps you to learn each one in a really basic way. Now there are tarot coloring books, there are all these cool things to use as companions, but I will say my number one favorite way to learn tarot is by watching tarot readings on YouTube. And so I would just advise you to just go to YouTube, enter in your sun sign, which is your, when someone says what's your sign, that's the one you think of, and tarot, and just start watching them. First of all, see how they resonate, because you'll find different readers that resonate with you or don't, and then pay attention to those meanings on the cards, they'll all show you the cards, and they'll all say what the cards are, and then tell you what they mean. You'll notice also that readers add layers of their own intuitive meanings, and like you said, you look at the cards from each type of deck, and you get different types of meanings. I mean, I'm showing you one right now from an animal themed deck, and it's got this crane that's all tied up in reeds, and this is actually the eight of swords, and in the traditional deck it would show a person surrounded by eight swords blindfolded and they're feeling trapped. This bird is feeling trapped, tied up in the reeds, but you can read a lot of meaning into there. Isn't very tightly bound, he could probably get out of it. It's something that's not going to hurt him, it's just sort of an illusion. These are all things that will bring deeper meaning into your reading once you start practicing, and so I encourage you, once you learn with Rider Waite, check out other decks that just are themed as you like, and there will be a deck for anything you like. (Both Laughing)

Dan: So how about this? I've never asked anyone this before. What is one of the unexpected perks of doing what you do? So I remember growing up working retail, you'd get like the 10% off if you shop there or something like that, or if you work in IT, you might be able to get clients through the job that you work, because people always need IT help. So what are some of the unexpected perks that you have doing what you do?

India Leigh: endlessly curious about other people, so in getting to read energies and getting to feel into their messages, I get to just explore other people, other ways of being, other ways of thinking in a way that takes me as a person out of the equation. So that's my favorite part, is that it's just sort of a way to connect that doesn't have to be personal, it also doesn't have to be guarded and removed. So it's a beautiful way to dive into the human experience from lots of different angles and get to see that, yeah.

Dan: Here's another question I typically like to ask. Can you identify a barrier that if this barrier exists for someone and they don't like this particular thing, this is not for them? And the classic example I like to use is, if you're a web developer and you don't wanna be staring at a computer for eight hours a day, web development is not for you. So what is the barrier like that? That it's, maybe if you're not outgoing or something like that, maybe if a bad memory, what is something that's like, this is a deal breaker, this is not for you?

India Leigh: I would say it's that thing of, if you are not able or willing to turn over control, a sense of control. If you are someone who really needs to have that direct input and that equals this output, stay far away from this because you need to be very, very open about where it takes you, what it brings you, what's required of you, you know. Cause spirit's kind of like, oh, you've signed up for it to work for me? You're gonna work great. We're gonna take you everywhere, meet every challenge, you know, bring in amazing miracles, but it will not be predictable. So yeah, if you need that control and predictability, uh-uh.

Dan: India, I feel like I could speak with you for such a long time about this. Anything that is remotely different, I just absolutely love. Like when I spoke to Joshua Chaires from the Paranormal Investigators, I mean, that was awesome. I spoke to a magician, that was awesome. Anything that's a little bit out there, I absolutely just love. But I am running short on time, so unfortunately we will have to cut this short. But one thing I like to do whenever I'm speaking with someone, I like to give them the opportunity to talk about a project they're working on, a cause they believe in. If you wanna talk about your business, the floor is yours.

India Leigh: Wow, okay. Well, the thing I'm most passionate about is other people connecting with their own intuition. So I would say, just start talking to your guides, start talking to them as if they're in the room, or the universe or the higher wisdom, however you wanna connect, start talking out loud to them and tell them everything. Don't hold anything back. You can say, "I feel frustrated about this. "I feel mad about that. "Please help me with this." Start doing that and then start asking for signs that they're hearing you, that they're there, and just allow those signs in. As far as personal projects go, I do have my own Oracle deck that I have created and published. It's called the Oracle of the Mystic, and that's on my website, and everything I do is on my website. So you can check that out there at indialeigh.com. Yeah, it takes you to everything else that I do, and I would love that. I'd love to connect with you.

Dan: That is awesome. I'll make sure I get all those links from you. I'll put them in the show notes, in the description. They'll be on the website. They'll be all over the place. So when people are trying to find you, they can easily find you. India, it's been absolutely awesome having you on Time We Discuss and learning what it's like to be an intuitive energy reader.

India Leigh: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm so grateful.