Marilyn Shannon: Psychic Medium, Tarot Reader

Megan Hamilton (00:02.204)
I'm Megan Hamilton and this is the Embracing Enchantment podcast. I first heard about our guest through a friend who raved about our local psychic with a TV show. She's Kingston's Jojo Savard. I started to follow her on social media and when she announced a Tarot and Lenorman conference, I think I bought my ticket in about three minutes. I am so excited today to welcome my friend,

Marilyn Shannon. Marilyn, welcome and thank you for being here today.

Marilyn Shannon (00:36.366)
Thank Megan. I'm happy to be here. It's always fun to talk to a fellow tarot person and other things, you know, but thank you.

Megan Hamilton (00:43.271)
I know.

I'm so excited. I felt that way when I walked into the room at the conference in October. I walked in and I thought, this is so cool. I'm going to get to talk to everybody here about the same things that we're all interested in.

Marilyn Shannon (01:02.67)
It is amazing when you walk in that room at the conference. Yeah, yeah, you're home.

Megan Hamilton (01:07.634)
It really it. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And and that, you know, and I have a question about that that will certainly be coming up, but. It it all is from you and you know who you are and the people that are drawn to you, I think is that's the central central point. And so you really walk in and you just go, whoa, this is this is quite a quite a positive energy.

Okay, so I'm going to pull a tarot card for us to sort of set a tone and set the theme. And I'm wondering, as I'm doing that, you all will hear me shuffling in the background. And if you're watching on YouTube, you can watch me shuffle. But Marilyn, I'm wondering if you can, I was reading about, you know, your childhood and about,

you know how you sort of discovered that you had these psychic gifts and I'm wondering if you could speak a little bit to that as I'm shuffling cards here.

Marilyn Shannon (02:13.112)
It started when I was very young, but of course you don't know because you're just doing what you do. But I used to, if something was bothering me, I grew up on Treasure Island and the St. Lawrence River is right there. we lived on these, it's all granite stone, so you know, it's all vibrating. But there's a little, was probably still there, a little spot on the rocks down in front of the house, out of sight.

Megan Hamilton (02:26.186)
So neat.

Marilyn Shannon (02:42.946)
and there was a little shelf that I could sit on. And when things were bothering me, I would go and I would sit on that little spot and look out over the river. Or if it were very calm, I could see down into the rocks on the floor of the river. And I would sit there and I would just, I wouldn't thrash things out. I would just sit there and I'd watch the river, I'd watch those rocks, and eventually I'd have an answer.

and I'd come up out of there and I'd know what the answer was, what to do, how to proceed. And it wasn't that I was, as I said, I didn't bang things around in my head or over and over and mullet and mullet and stuff. I just let it all flow in front of me and the answer would come. So I would know what to do.

Megan Hamilton (03:35.712)
love that and like you were 12. And did anyone teach you that or did that just come to you?

Marilyn Shannon (03:38.626)
Yeah. Yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (03:43.727)
It just came to me. Excuse me, my voice just takes a hike every once in a while. It just came to me. But, you know, my mom was very forward thinking. We had a Ouija board in the house. I didn't know Ouija boards were evil. They were just fun, you know. And when I was ready to get a tarot deck off, we went to town because, you know, you weren't walking over to the Kingston Centre. You had to get a ride into town. you know, and

My mom and I would know things together, know, so, mom, what's going on at home? I can't sleep, I was in Florida, my brother was sick. Well, I didn't want to tell you, I didn't want to upset you. Well, you know, I haven't slept for three nights, so something's going on. So we had that connection that we never spoke of, but it was there, so.

Megan Hamilton (04:38.016)
That's so neat. A previous guest on the podcast, Amy Miranda talked about growing up in a house full of, you know, mediums and witches and, and, know, that's not necessarily what they would have called themselves, but they would have the gifts and then sort of once she came of age, that would be, they would, they would share as well. And I love that you were

supported in this instead of you know what can often happen which is the opposite and then you might lose what has been coming to you. Okay so I'm gonna pull a card here and because Marilyn is a very gifted tarot reader I'll give my interpretation of the card or whatever the message is that I feel

would be helpful for the collective and then we'll let Marilyn speak as well.

Megan Hamilton (05:50.762)
So what do need to know?

Megan Hamilton (05:59.488)
Okay, the star reversed. So if you want to head over to YouTube, you can take a look at what the star reversed looks like. Marilyn, do you read reversals?

Marilyn Shannon (06:12.354)
Yes and no. I don't get all excited about them. If they seem pertinent, okay. I often read the upright card is what you're doing out there and the reverse card is what you're doing internally.

Megan Hamilton (06:28.254)
Yes, that's how I like to read it too. I took that I borrowed that from Biddy Tarot. But but I like that as a as a concept. OK. So with the star reversed. Yeah, I it the star is about hopefulness and Marilyn and I off camera were talking about that a little bit. And as you know, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that that's one of the.

reasons I wanted to create the podcast was to build hopefulness because I think that that's how things can change. And one of the ways that hopefulness can be helpful is if we also have the courage to move forward and to remain hopeful even when it might seem like an impossible task, you know, we're hopeful.

to be able to make change that the things that we would like to see in this world are possible. And with the card reversed, I'm wondering if this is asking us what's getting in the way right now of of your hopefulness. If you're not feeling hopeful and God who could blame you, but if you're not. What could change for you in order to start to invite?

little trickles of hope back in, you know, what mindset shifts might you do? And I hate to only ever focus on mindset shifts, because they're only good if we take action. What action can you take to rebuild your connection to hopefulness to build the trust that might come from small actions towards a bigger impact?

Marilyn, what might you say?

Marilyn Shannon (08:30.542)
So the star card comes after the devil in the tower. All right? And so the devil in the tower, well, they're chaos and mayhem. And then we hit the star. And the star is a card of stop. Stop focusing on chaos and mayhem. Stop focusing on all of that external energy. If I look at this card as being reversed as the work that I'm going to do within,

Megan Hamilton (08:36.0)
Heavy hitters.

Marilyn Shannon (09:00.63)
I need to focus on what it is that I am able to shift or change or do without feeling I have to do everything. So if this is for the collective, and we're all in chaos and mayhem in one way or another these days, how do I shift the focus to where I can make a difference? First within me, as you say, finding that open.

reaching out to my community and keeping it really simple. And that will shift the energy. It always does.

Megan Hamilton (09:39.776)
I love that. Thank you. I love that the idea of keeping it simple, right? Because we can get so hung up on these grand plans or what happens if this and what's that phrase? Basically, like not Jesus take the wheel, but like let go and let God or something like that, right? Yep. I love it. Yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (09:58.008)
Yes, yep, yep. And this figure in that card is not doing anything but pouring the energy back in or back out. It's just not a time to do a whole lot. Not at all, yep.

Megan Hamilton (10:10.822)
I love it. And you know what's funny? I'll tell you what. I literally just sent an email to my group called be a vessel that pours. And I was thinking of the star card the whole time. So there you go. There you go, everybody. Maryland's influence has already begun. So what is the difference between intuition and psychic information?

Marilyn Shannon (10:21.293)
Yes. Yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (10:39.486)
I'm not sure I know. You know, I don't know that I have a strong definition that they're different. Intuition, to me, because so much of my information comes from knowing. All right? How do I know is that intuitive? Some things are intuitive. Other things, I have a little voice that talks in my right ear. Is that the psychic side of me talking? Perhaps. But, you know, I haven't.

Megan Hamilton (10:41.499)
Fair.

Marilyn Shannon (11:08.974)
really decided I need to separate the two. To me, either one is sort of outside myself, but being offered to me to pick up or not, listen to it or not. Some of the psychic hits maybe are in a reading when I'm reading for someone I have no idea who or what they're about.

Is that a psychic hit where the intuitive hit is get groceries because they're going to break down the bridge and we're not going to be able to move out of here? You know, so there's, it's to me it's very subtle, very subtle. why do we have to get worried about terms too much?

Megan Hamilton (11:56.392)
I absolutely agree with you. You know, I had an episode a few back about whether or not magic is real. And the answer is it doesn't matter. Right? It's whatever, whatever floats your boat. Essentially, whatever is working for you, whatever you feel, whatever you're trusting. That's that's what we go with. And you're right. We don't the words don't matter. It's it is the

the feeling or the the gift essentially of of the knowing and you know, I love that you talked about here and also on your website and I watched I watched a little bit of a video that you had created a while back about just knowing things and not realizing that other people didn't know things and I think it's really interesting that you've got

the little voice coming into your ear. One of the Claire's obviously is that was that voice always there? What does the voice sound like? And is the voice always accurate?

Marilyn Shannon (13:15.054)
The voice is a prankster in many ways. It's been there as long as I can remember, all right? And I tended to ignore it. I worked many years in the psychiatric hospital and you weren't talking about voices in your head back then. You know, it sounds like a cliche, but you just didn't. And so then when people started talking about channeling, I thought, well, what is this channeling? Well, it's hearing voices.

Megan Hamilton (13:36.608)
Yeah

Marilyn Shannon (13:45.09)
I think maybe I could talk about it now because I'm not working there anymore. But it was a big, huge thing to overcome that people think you're strange or weird or possessed. So to overcome all of those things and come out and say, yes, I have a voice here in my head, sometimes in a reading it'll tell me what I need to know.

Megan Hamilton (13:49.525)
Right.

Megan Hamilton (13:57.12)
Mm-hmm.

Marilyn Shannon (14:11.946)
Sometimes it'll just sort of laugh and it's a male voice. I don't know a name for it. I've never been given a voice, but it's a male voice. And it'll say, you know, there's more there. You better keep looking. Could you not just tell me? You know, we're in the middle of a, just gonna speed this up. But they don't, it doesn't always do that, which is fine because then it's easy to give a pat answer with a card.

Megan Hamilton (14:26.674)
Yeah, right.

Marilyn Shannon (14:41.57)
You know, this card means, this is what it means, but when you've got a little voice saying, there's more there to this. So you start to look into that card and you think, what is there? And my star in this deck I have at my elbow, there's a phoenix in the background. It's the only deck I have that will have a phoenix in the star card. So what does it mean? Okay, so why have we got this deck? Why have we got this card?

what else is there that I wouldn't see in any other card in all the decks that I have. So that's when that little voice is saying, take another look.

Megan Hamilton (15:20.16)
And is it always the voice whenever you have unknowing? Is it always the voice telling you or is it more just a sense of I know this to be true?

Marilyn Shannon (15:32.088)
Well, now this is an interesting maybe difference between intuition and psychic, all right? The voice will more be a voice downloading information or teasing me that there's more. The other side, the knowing is just a knowing. There's no voice. You just, it's like, yeah, I got it. It's sort of a nod of the head and on we go. So there's a subtle difference in how that comes.

Megan Hamilton (15:38.206)
Hmm.

Marilyn Shannon (16:00.462)
And sometimes when I'm doing readings, it's like, yeah, this is the direction this wants to go in. And so as I'm looking at a spread before I start a reading, it's like, and then it's like, got it. And then the voice will kick in if it's in the mood. Doesn't always. If I'm doing okay, it might leave me alone, but you know, yeah. So there's, there's those two, two, two or three things.

Megan Hamilton (16:26.772)
The two. So I'm so curious about this voice. Does the voice ever come at really inopportune moments?

Like when you just really want the voice to be quiet.

Marilyn Shannon (16:44.91)
Well, yes, yes, you know, yes. There are times, there was a time here a while back that I was dating and the voice was not a very helpful thing to the dating world in my life. Why are you doing this? You know better. You know, yeah, well, you know, here we are sort of thing. So yes, it's not always, or it's not always helpful.

It's helpful, but it's not always welcome, as you say.

Megan Hamilton (17:17.95)
And can you summon the voice or does it just come whenever it wants to?

Marilyn Shannon (17:25.078)
I don't know that I've ever summoned the voice. I've probably summoned knowing more. Because knowing is like that star card. Funny you would choose that. That sitting and being still and listening to where hope is. Where is the way forward? That's a knowing. And that's how I do my readings. So the voice is... I don't think I've ever summoned the voice.

Summon knowing, but not the voice.

Megan Hamilton (17:58.132)
And has the voice always been there too?

Marilyn Shannon (18:00.534)
I think so, yeah, as long as I can remember. Yeah.

Megan Hamilton (18:05.3)
That's so neat. So are you, I guess, I guess this is maybe what we're asking as well. Can you also practice mediumship?

Marilyn Shannon (18:17.688)
Yes. Yes.

Megan Hamilton (18:19.104)
And is the mediumship always with the voice or as the mediumship with the spiritual world?

Marilyn Shannon (18:28.494)
So the first thing is that when I'm home with these babies, a spirit will often show up in this crystal ball, all right, as rainbows. So I'll know that a spirit is available and wants to speak to someone. The other aspect is a knowing. There's someone here. Now I worked in a psychiatric hospital and a jail for over 30 years.

Megan Hamilton (18:35.082)
Yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (18:55.03)
I am not letting every spirit out there in. So when I do mediumship, is that I ask, who would you like to speak to? All right? And when did they die and so on? I go and I find their energy wherever they may be. I like to know when they passed, how long ago,

I had someone, their mother passed on a holiday in England many years ago. And so I know when, I'm so sorry, that thing. The spirit arrives, sorry, the spirit arrives and, it takes, it's a knowing. That spirit just kinda floats in and I can feel the shift in the room and that this spirit has arrived. And that spirit took forever.

to come because she'd been gone a long

And sometimes spirits won't, they'll come, but I can't quite get to them yet because they have to decide if it's safe for them to speak to me. So I'll often know that that spirit was very wary of people, new people, you know, because they're wary of me and stuff. So it's more a knowing than the voice. I will hear messages, but it's more knowing than the voice in my ear.

Megan Hamilton (20:29.024)
Right, right, right. is right. Okay. So on the one hand, you are getting very specific about who your client would like to speak to. And on the other hand, there's the voice that just pops in willy-nilly and says stuff. this so fascinating. Okay. I want to ask you a million questions about this now. So have you ever had the experience

Marilyn Shannon (20:41.645)
Yes.

Yes.

Megan Hamilton (20:57.724)
So if you if a if a spirit comes to you and is tentative, have you had the experience where they're not able to where you know they're there, but they're not able to connect?

Marilyn Shannon (21:13.038)
Only once. Only once. And what came was...

Someone had died.

in an accident, okay?

things maybe they shouldn't have been doing if we put it that way. And the mother, that person's mother, wanted to connect. But he did not want to connect with his mother because he was ashamed.

And so I could get a lot of information that was accurate, but he was not willing to really speak to his mother because he was ashamed. And she validated that, we got that information. And I let it go at that because you have to respect spirits as well.

Megan Hamilton (22:09.906)
Is there reparation that can happen in the spirit world? if the mom would the mom, you know, then take it upon herself to sort of let her past son know it's okay, you know, I'll accept.

Marilyn Shannon (22:24.14)
Yes, yes, yeah, she can, she can. And that's happened, know, people say, often a mother, you know, often a mother, sometimes a father, but often a mother passed and I haven't heard from her and da-da-da-da-da. Do you feel guilty? Are you upset? You know, you're upset, of course, but do you feel guilty? Do you feel you should have done something more? Da-da-da-da-da. If the answers to those questions are yes.

That's usually the block because as long as you're in negative energy, that spirit can't come through to you very easily.

Megan Hamilton (22:59.648)
Right.

Megan Hamilton (23:04.244)
So interesting. Okay. Do you have to do anything to yourself in order to connect to the spirit that the person is calling?

Marilyn Shannon (23:21.582)
No, no. Well, one time in a reading, okay, so this is a, I used to tell people stuff, know, willy-nilly like whatever name is that used to go and talk to people on the street, but I came to learn not everybody wants to hear your messages, whether they're from the living or the dead or they're greater good or whatever. I finally decided it's an invasion of privacy. But once I sit down,

Megan Hamilton (23:22.921)
No?

Megan Hamilton (23:39.102)
Right.

Marilyn Shannon (23:48.168)
or even if I'm standing to do a reading, to do a session, however it's going to happen, there's a switch in me that takes me where I need to go. And all I need to do is be, okay, I'm doing a session now and that's all I need to do. Yeah, that's all. Okay, yeah.

Megan Hamilton (24:08.0)
Yeah, okay. Yes, I get that. Yeah, okay. So, you know, whatever that is, and it's a decision and then it's it's it opens up that way. So cool. Okay. So,

Marilyn Shannon (24:23.17)
Yeah. Yeah.

And the flip side of that is I can turn that off because I don't need to be in everybody's business all the time. That's exhausting.

Megan Hamilton (24:35.296)
Well, I mean, you one of the things I was thinking about when we, you know, when we showed up to the conference was there's a lot of sensitive people in this room, right? How are we all going to, you know, be able to stay focused and not feel because, you know, I remember one of my first experiences with the psychic fair was 18. My best friend and I, Veronica, went to a psychic fair, right? And I mean, like I almost fainted on the spot.

I walked in and I just thought, this is so intense. Like, you know, I felt so many feelings and the the the next time I can remember feeling that if you can believe it is that the the Royal Winter Fair. We went to look at the animals and I just I got overwhelmed. I didn't want to be there anymore. I felt like I could feel, you know, what the animals in the cages were feeling and

And I didn't know how to shut it off. And I also didn't want to to be there around that. It was sort of overwhelming. And would you say that that is a the ability to turn it on and off? Is that something you had to cultivate or have you always known that you could do that?

Marilyn Shannon (25:56.334)
I grew up on Treasure Island. There were hardly any houses on that island then. I was a free spirit, you know? And then I went to work at a psychiatric hospital. I didn't know how to use a key. Like, key, because we never locked doors. So when I went to work in the psychiatric hospital and was assaulted with all that energy, all of that energy, just the energy of a workplace, really.

Megan Hamilton (25:58.175)
Yeah, I know.

Megan Hamilton (26:02.9)
Yeah.

Megan Hamilton (26:21.453)
yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (26:25.87)
And then all the rest of it, I had to learn how to shut that off. And that's why I can turn it on and off now. Okay? It was a survival skill. yeah, I had to learn that fast. It was like, la la la la.

Megan Hamilton (26:35.402)
Yeah.

Megan Hamilton (26:44.53)
Right, right, yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (26:47.822)
How do I use these 15, 20 keys to get into wherever I need to be, you know? How embarrassing. But I'd never used keys, really. And that was that whole business of locking down. When I retired and handed in the wad of keys, I thought, I've been locked up too all these years. Yeah, yeah, so.

Megan Hamilton (27:15.744)
Wow.

And how long have you been retired?

Marilyn Shannon (27:21.966)
Woo, so 2006, 19 years. Yes, yes.

Megan Hamilton (27:25.76)
19 years. And I know from your Instagram that you enjoy camping throughout the summer. Is that right?

Did you just lose me? Yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (27:38.904)
Yes, yes. You left me, so I don't know what happened there. So yes, yes, I love camping because it's just like being at home on the island for me. Yeah, and that outdoor and in nature. And I like to walk the rest of the year, but just to get up and hear those birds singing and being in touch with nature and grounded and on water.

Megan Hamilton (27:43.686)
sorry.

Megan Hamilton (28:03.306)
Mm-hmm.

Marilyn Shannon (28:08.512)
It's, yeah, I think it's a healing thing that I need to do once a year.

Megan Hamilton (28:14.218)
Yeah. Yeah, I must admit I follow your Instagram stories and I think to myself, this is kind of the life. Right? You know, because we tend to I've been rethinking, rethinking a lot and last year gave me lots of opportunities to rethink what's important to me and what isn't. And this year I sort of have chosen

Marilyn Shannon (28:21.867)
You

Megan Hamilton (28:44.914)
the suit of pentacles as a something to explore my relationship with and, you know, taking a page from Rachel Pollock's book about the pentacles, not just being about career and money, which, you know, like surface level, certainly. But the magic of being the magic of aliveness, right? The magic in everyday.

adventures and and you know, even physics and gravity and a candle. I've got a candle lit over here and just watching that and thinking like this is magic. It doesn't have to be talking to spirits. It doesn't have to be, you know, casting a spell like this. This in and of itself is is absolutely engaging and magical and raises my vibration, right? In the sense that I feel that

excitement and joyfulness. And I love to just hang out, you know, on the grass and as you say, watch the birds or watch the water. And I could do that for a really long time. I didn't used to be able to certainly when I was little I did. But you know, I'd get bored so easily. But now I just think to myself that's actually

That is the value in living is is yeah, that peacefulness.

Marilyn Shannon (30:17.88)
I love, well I'm an earth sign. And I always think of pentacles, that's the suit where we physically do things. The other ones we feel them, we hear them, we think about them, we're passionate about them, but if we want to do something, we need to sit there on the earth and say, okay, what direction am I going? How do I manifest this? How do I physically get something to happen? So it's a great suit to physically get things to happen.

Megan Hamilton (30:25.877)
Right.

Megan Hamilton (30:40.254)
Mm-hmm.

Megan Hamilton (30:44.928)
Mm hmm. Yes. Yes, absolutely. How can somebody learn how to now I know you offer you offer courses with this as well, but how does somebody learn how to scry with a crystal ball?

Marilyn Shannon (30:53.902)
Yes.

Marilyn Shannon (30:58.814)
Yeah, well, so you sit and do nothing.

Marilyn Shannon (31:08.014)
Crazy answer. But you know, the best way is that we're so lucky with all the water around here is to go and sit and look out over the river or the lake and just look at the top of the waves and let it roll by and let it see, get your focus and just let it be and see what comes to you. All right? The other way, of course, is to get a crystal ball.

Megan Hamilton (31:15.231)
Yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (31:35.83)
I'm amazed at how expensive they've become. So you don't have to start with a really big one. I started. Let me just reach around here. I think my first one was about, let me get this around, was about this size. So that's not that big. All right. And it worked wonders. I've done scrying with like a large tumbled stone. I need to put this someplace so it doesn't roll away on me. They don't sound great when they hit the ground.

But the other thing to do once you get your crystal or sit in front of the river is to just find a spot inside that crystal. I like them that have inclusions in them. I find it really hard to read a perfectly clear one, probably because I don't get my mind still enough. And this is sort of like a 3D puzzle. You know, you just kind of sit there and look and nothing changes in the crystal ball. But every time I look at it,

It's different in there, all right? I've got some kind, I've got two images. This could be the hermit, all right? And you pick images, like what could this be and what does it mean to me, all right? This feels like a hermit to me and this is 2025 is the year of the hermit. So we're all going within and we're all listening to what we need to do, much like that star card.

But behind this is this exalting figure of sort of bigger than life, expanding, I think, out of the river, out of the water. And so it's like know yourself and then be yourself, exalt. All right? Most of us don't know how to exalt. But really, this is a time for us to know what we can do and then do it.

in as big a way, even if it's a tiny thing. So that's what this, that's, so how do you learn? You say, okay, what does this look like? What does it make me think of? How does it apply to me or to my client or to the world at large right now? I had one time a person wondering about love. Of course, that's the major topic for most people. And there was like,

Marilyn Shannon (34:04.406)
a mask, like it could have been a fireman or somebody like that, but it was way back in the ball. So that tells me it's not here right yet, it's coming, but it's back here. And you know, maybe it'll get to you, maybe it won't. Turned out the person was a welder. Okay, so when she heard that this, when the fellows told her he was a welder and you know, when it was involved, she...

Megan Hamilton (34:23.572)
Huh?

Marilyn Shannon (34:33.686)
She knew he was on his way and here he was. you know, so that's, it's, it's, you let your mind cast and say, what does this look like to me? You can buy books that tell you if you see this, it means this. I haven't, I don't see what they tell me to see. Okay. Which is why I haven't really got into teacup reading because I get,

Megan Hamilton (34:53.248)
Mm-hmm, yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (35:02.146)
hung up on, well, I've got to see a seahorse because it means family. You know, I've got to see this because it means that. I don't memorize those things. So, yeah.

Megan Hamilton (35:06.9)
You

Megan Hamilton (35:13.408)
Yes, I love that. It really speaks to, think, you know, part of the goal of the podcast in general, but my own experience of just finding my own way with whatever I happen to be practicing. so, you know, I, Tarot is my first, well, I guess, you know, sort of.

telepathy, say that became an interest in high school and then sort of psychic abilities. What do they mean? And then I was given a tarot deck by my best friend when I was 23 and then that's been part of my life ever since but not really seriously and I say seriously with you know tongue-in-cheek because what's really serious anyway for the last however long but

I find that I rebel against the stiff structures. I mean, I like to know, you know, like I like to know the structure of tarot, but I really do find that sometimes a card is not speaking to me in the same way that the books say. And you know, as well as I know that the books are going to give you hundreds of different ways to look at the card anyway, but the most

profound knowings are from just the knowing.

Marilyn Shannon (36:45.942)
And I think the other thing I learned with tarot and with crystal ball reading is I was afraid to open my mouth because I didn't want to look weird, weird, you know, out of my mind, all of those things. And I was afraid to open my mouth. But with both learning to read tarot and for me, especially scrying, once I start to speak out loud, it flows.

Okay? I've learned to just let it speak out loud and just let it flow and see where it takes you because you'll get a really good reading. You will give a really good reading doing that where if you're critiquing yourself in your head, that's not what that card means. What's this thing of being exalted mean? You know? You're done.

You're not going to go anywhere. You can't. I can remember being downtown and one of my first gigs downtown and a hockey mom came for a reading. Okay, a hockey mom. And some of the hockey moms were friendly and some of them weren't. And I froze. I had an anxiety attack. They were all ready to send me to the hospital. No, no, just go away and leave me alone. Get me a ginger ale and I'll be okay. But it was, it was...

Megan Hamilton (38:10.272)
Right.

Marilyn Shannon (38:12.34)
I had to trust myself finally and just go with it and if I had stopped that day, I would never have done readings again. you know, and that hockey mom was the sweetest hockey mom on earth. You know, she wasn't one who was going to do me in. So it's very interesting that being able to trust yourself to just speak out loud and say it is a huge...

hurdle for a lot of people who want to do readings. I will do a little, I've learned to be more tactful because when I started I was a little too blunt and you know people, you've got to give the information in a way that people can process it. I've learned that, you know, yeah this guy's a loser you better just take a hike. yeah done done done. you have five kids with him? well maybe it'll work out.

Megan Hamilton (38:45.332)
bright. What were you going to say?

Megan Hamilton (38:53.376)
you

Megan Hamilton (38:59.23)
You

Marilyn Shannon (39:12.526)
A little tactful can help a person hear because when a reader taps into the deepest part of a person's soul, it's scary and wonderful at the same time. And so you've got to respect that this is something very large for that person receiving the information.

Megan Hamilton (39:18.432)
Hmm

Megan Hamilton (39:40.136)
Yeah, yeah, and that and that is part of communication, right? Is the understanding of how this person needs to hear this information. And we know well enough, you know, and I know that when you get a card, you know, it might be a bit crispy, right? But it's they need to hear it.

Marilyn Shannon (40:02.604)
yet.

Yes, yes.

Megan Hamilton (40:07.642)
So how can we deliver it so that they can actually hear it?

Marilyn Shannon (40:11.982)
and proceed. Because let's face it, most people come to us because they need help problem solving. Most people don't come to us when life is wonderful. They don't. They don't need us, you know? So where are they at in the story sometimes is the trick. I might ask questions to get to know where they are, what they're able to reveal and tell me so that I can then take it from there.

Megan Hamilton (40:13.844)
Mm-hmm.

Megan Hamilton (40:22.624)
Yeah, exactly.

Marilyn Shannon (40:41.066)
this is where you are. Have you thought of this sort of? This seems to be where these cards are taking us. You know? Yeah.

Megan Hamilton (40:48.232)
Yep, yep, I love that. Yep, it's participatory in a way or yeah, working. Yeah. Okay, so when I finally met you in person at the conference in October, I was struck immediately by your calm and generous energy. And I spoke to that a little bit earlier as well.

And one of the sentences that shows up repeatedly in your materials is that it shows you how to love your future and find peace for your soul. And I love that so much. I wonder, can you speak to why that's so important to you?

Marilyn Shannon (41:28.546)
There was a time in my life when my life was the devil in the tower, chaos and mayhem. My husband was sick, my sons were nuts, I used that word flippantly, but they were very sick, actually, and not doing well, and neither was I. And what I wanted most was peace.

and eventually happiness. And I didn't think at that stage of my life that I would ever have peace in my soul ever, ever again. So what I searched for, and the tarot helped me find it, was how to find peace for my soul, how to be at peace with where I was at and find that hope that you spoke of early.

earlier and how to move forward. And I think because the tarot helped me so much and helped me get to where I am today that I can help other people. The whole process of what went on in my life at that stage.

brings you an understanding of life when it's bad, that you understand that weird, awful, terrible things happen to people when they had no idea that it was even possible for things to get so bad. And so maybe there's some humility there, you know, if this happened to me, it can happen to anybody, because I thought I had everything under control.

Megan Hamilton (43:17.216)
Hmm.

Marilyn Shannon (43:17.346)
and certainly did not. so life gives you all kinds of lessons so that you can become a more tactful, kinder, loving reader, and that you can understand that this stuff just happens to people and it's not their fault. But the tarot and the crystals and the belief in themselves will help them move forward.

Megan Hamilton (43:44.788)
Mm-hmm.

Marilyn Shannon (43:45.026)
And that's why I do what I do. when you, I had no community when I started doing, of tarot people and readers when I started doing this full time. And creating that through, I used to do a psychic round table here in my home and all kinds of things, creating that community and being with like-minded people, which shows up in the conferences.

biggest part of that was also part of it because to realize you're not alone, you're not the only one going through awful things and to be witnessed, not told what to do, not told you have to change or anything else but people like you right now nodding your head saying yeah, you know bad stuff happens. To get through it you have to have support and it might not be

Megan Hamilton (44:16.81)
Mm-hmm.

Marilyn Shannon (44:44.546)
where you think it's going to come from. that's why creating that vessel of community at the conference is so important to me. And I laugh when I see people connected on Facebook because they met in Kingston at the conference from sea to sea, know? Alaska, we've had people from Alaska, so yeah, we've grown.

Megan Hamilton (45:02.92)
Mm-hmm. yeah.

Yep.

Megan Hamilton (45:14.112)
I'm still in a group chat with the women at my table. We felt very much and said it over and over again, like it was definitely not a coincidence that we all ended up at that table together. It was like we'd known each other for years. It was wild. And I mean, I experienced that with people sometimes where you meet somebody and you think, I've definitely met you before in some other realm or whatever.

Marilyn Shannon (45:18.53)
Yeah, great.

Megan Hamilton (45:44.0)
But to have everybody at that table just be so instantly connected and on the same page was it was just very validating and it felt so positive and joyful and like, all right, know, Amy. Well, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (46:06.242)
Why not? Why not joyful? You know, there's easy to be unjoyful. You're disconnected. Yeah, why not joy? We don't allow it in our life.

Megan Hamilton (46:15.432)
Yeah. Yep.

Megan Hamilton (46:21.192)
No, we really don't or we don't think we deserve it. Yeah, you were gonna say.

Marilyn Shannon (46:26.542)
Yeah, exactly. You mentioned earlier that, you know, that room, that full room of energy, how do, can it be overwhelming? I think it's that connection at the tables, that people, that there's only six or eight people at a table, and how do we come together? And we're in this together for the weekend. And I think that's how the energy gets

dispersed from here to, okay, we're together. What are we doing? I think that's how it happens.

Megan Hamilton (47:03.132)
Yeah. yeah, I like that a lot. Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right, too. It makes it seem I know that at certain points, one of us would feel overwhelmed over something because we'd be learning a new a new vehicle, right? We'd be learning Lenerman for the first time or what's the one pendulums, you know, and I remember you sort of go, my goodness. And everybody

helps you come back to come back to come back to the center. Okay, I just have to check this candle that is making noises over here, but that's okay. The candles the candles in this room tend to light spark and bubble and do all the spit when things are happening. things are happening. So as we as we wrap up today, I'm wondering if you feel

like you would like to share any

Megan Hamilton (48:08.992)
predictions, thoughts, anything helpful about the next little while, any sort of message that you might, that might come through for you that you want to share with folks.

Marilyn Shannon (48:27.736)
I think we've already said it. It started with the star card. Yes, there's chaos and mayhem, but work really hard at keeping yourself calm and connecting with the people who get you and your community, whoever they might be, and do the little things. And when called, we'll do the large things, but we can do the little things to keep ourselves whole.

Megan Hamilton (48:31.562)
Yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (48:56.402)
able to manage the day-to-day things and then the bigger things. I think that star was, card was the perfect vehicle for what we need to know right now.

Megan Hamilton (49:06.952)
Yeah, yep. I, yeah, thank you for that. I think you're right.

Marilyn Shannon (49:19.896)
voice to say.

Megan Hamilton (49:21.088)
Yeah, yeah. Is the voice talking right now? What's he saying? He's like, tell her the truth. Okay. So Marilyn, there's lots of different ways to work with you and we'll certainly be posting that in the show notes. Do you have anything coming up? Well, we've got the we've certainly got the conference coming up not in 2025, but in 2026, right? Yep.

Marilyn Shannon (49:45.666)
Yes, yes, we do. And the website for that will be live very soon. I'm talking today, tomorrow with the speakers, so it's exciting, yes. I've just wrapped up a class online and I'll be doing a winter women's group. Taking something from the ancestors workshop at the last conference and how do we connect with our ancestors, tarot and

Megan Hamilton (49:56.085)
good, okay.

Marilyn Shannon (50:14.762)
and community, Winter Women, and that starts March 11th. I don't think there's anything on my website about it. It just happens. But why women? Because sometimes we need to be in women's groups to support each other. So that's the only one that's coming up next. I am helping organize a psychic fair at the Legion in Millhaven.

Megan Hamilton (50:31.432)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Marilyn Shannon (50:44.43)
April 12th with all local readers, people that you probably won't have met at any of the big shows, but they do great readings. All my community will be there. So April 12th at the Legion on County Road 4. yeah, so yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But the Winter Women's Workshop is on Tuesday nights on Zoom.

Megan Hamilton (51:02.248)
Okay, for Kingston local. Yeah.

Marilyn Shannon (51:14.666)
So, and it's about five or maybe seven weeks and we'll just be looking at how do how do our ancestors and our community support each other.

Megan Hamilton (51:25.854)
I love it. Thank you, Marilyn. Thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure to talk to you. I really appreciate your time and sharing all of this with us. I learned a lot. I loved hearing about how things show up for you and I'm really interested now to go and do some scrying. Yeah, keep it simple. Exactly. I've got

Marilyn Shannon (51:49.186)
Yeah, keep it simple. Keep it simple.

Megan Hamilton (51:53.256)
Lots of things around here. You know what? I will say this. I love that you said it was rainbows because that's come to me a few times and it's just nice to have it confirmed.

Marilyn Shannon (52:08.162)
Yeah, it could be many things, but for me, it's a spirit wants to speak. They're right there, ready to talk. We don't have to go looking for them. So yes, yes. Thank you for having me. I love talking about all this stuff. What wonderfulness is it? Yes.

Megan Hamilton (52:24.316)
I know. Yeah. And I know we'll have to talk again lots more time.

Marilyn Shannon (52:29.716)
All right, we'll talk a little closer once we know more about the conference because, you know, it's a shame that more people from Kingston and locally don't come because it's, that would be lovely. That would be lovely. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Yes.

Megan Hamilton (52:34.261)
Yes.

Megan Hamilton (52:42.15)
We'll change that for next time. Yeah, let's do it. Okay, we'll talk more. Okay, okay. So, yep, you can find out all the information and takeaways from today's episode in the show notes or at embracing enchantment.com. Please subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts and we'd love for you to leave a review. You can also leave a voice note at embracing enchantment.com and we might feature it in a future episode.

Find out more about Marilyn and where to follow her in the show notes. And you're going to want to make sure you're subscribed because we have some exciting episodes coming up and make sure you catch up on previous episodes where we talk about Tarot. Probably every episode we talk about Tarot a little bit. Human design, the question of whether magic is real, ancestors and so much more. Until then, here's to building an enchanted life.

Thank you so much, Marilyn.