12/15/2024
✨ Behind the Scenes of Tarotorial: A Story of Strength, Resilience, and Transformation ✨
In 2019, at just 36 years old, my life changed forever. I suffered a stroke that completely ended my 15-year career as a creative and marketing director. In an instant, I went from leading projects and teams to struggling with the basics of caring for myself.
At the same time, my wife, Courtney, had just come out as trans and was beginning her transition. What should have been a joyous time in our lives was now dominated by the stress and uncertainty that my stroke had caused. She was working as an auto mechanic—a role in a very male-dominated industry—while also suddenly taking on the role of my caretaker. It was a lot. For both of us.
I was desperate to find a way to support my family, and in that search, I remembered something small but meaningful: my daughter had wanted to learn to read tarot cards. I decided to start there, and I began working on a set of flashcards to make learning tarot easier, even for beginners.
Those flashcards evolved into the Tarotorial Tarot Training Deck (Classic Edition)—a text-based tool designed to simplify tarot for anyone, at any level. What started as an idea became my lifeline. A focus. A purpose.
This photo was taken on a road trip to visit family. Courtney—always my rock—set up a mobile charging station in the car so I could keep working. We were on the road, I was still healing, and life felt anything but steady. But those small, consistent steps were carrying me forward.
It took many long and difficult months, but eventually, I finished the deck. And along the way, I slowly regained my health.
Creating Tarotorial has always been about so much more than tarot. It was about reclaiming my creativity, finding a way to keep going when everything felt impossible, and showing my family (and myself) that I could build something new, even in the darkest times. And it's been about all of you, too—bringing easier methods for those with neurodivergence to learn and understand tarot.
✨ If you’re facing your own journey of recovery, challenge, or transformation, know this: progress doesn’t happen all at once. It’s built moment by moment, step by step, even when the road feels uncertain. Keep going. Trust yourself. The small wins matter. ✨
What small victories are you celebrating today? Drop them in the comments—I’d love to hear about them. 💬