Behind the Cards
(Written for Aura Magazine)
From high-profile entertainment publicist to tarot card reader to the stars, Angie Banicki opens up on what it’s like living in the mystic lane.
Tell me a bit about yourself and how you began on your journey as a tarot reader? I was working in entertainment marketing when a friend of mine gave me tarot cards. I never really believed in tarot before. Or didn’t give it much thought. I started using the cards for fun with friends and then I kept calling things much to the amazement of everyone and mostly myself. For a few years, the cards were my new party trick and how I would make new friends at dinners and conferences. I started losing all interest in my consulting marketing work and people kept asking to pay me to read their cards.
Can you explain how tarot cards work? I don’t think anyone can give you a specific answer to that question. They are a channel. It’s like when a trader looks at the spreadsheets and numbers and stocks and can quickly almost instinctually know where and how to artfully manipulate the money and trades. I pull the cards and see a story and tell and pull it apart and help see what the person is supposed to hear. I am the channel for them to help understand their story.
In your opinion, how can people benefit from readings? For everyone in different ways, a lot of people tell me it’s less about what I tell them about the future and more about the advice of how to handle where they are right now. For others, they feel my assessments help them make decisions in business and personal life that are guided by how the cards see the future playing out. Some tell me they feel like I’ve connected them to their higher self so as to remember the best possible outcomes and how they can create and live their best life!
If people don’t have a natural talent in tarot reading, are they able to learn it? If so, how would they go about this? YES. Just start. Pull a card a day. Practice. Connect with the cards and work on connecting more to yourself! When we are clear and at our best, we can be most open to receive guidance.
What’s the typical day in the life like for you? I wake up, have breakfast with my baby and family, dive into readings – usually 2, 3 or 4 a day. I write – I do horoscopes, a column and a weekly for Goop and Icbrker. I schedule, invoice, and sometimes work events. I try to leave LA at least once a month for a few days or a week since my office can be anywhere. Today I am filming a segment for Well and Good. Nothing is typical. But usually a mix of things like the above!
Who or what inspires you in life? I am constantly inspired by clients I read and so many relationships I’ve been so lucky to make in my life. I really love to be surrounded by people smarter than me. I seek to learn and be curious of others.
With clients all over the world, you have to do many readings over Skype. How are you able to connect with them and give them a personal, accurate reading when you’re not face to face? Yes. It just works. It’s an energy. It’s a feeling. I would NEVER be able to do it if it didn’t work. I remember at first when people asked me, I would freak out questioning it but then I would say things and they’d be amazed at what the cards already saw happening.
Can you let us in on some of the big names that you’ve read cards for? Some people I have read for the in past include Usher, Alison Janney, Sophia Bush, Kat Graham, Nikki Reed and Brittany Snow.
How does a reading session usually go? It’s one hour and a combination of reading cards, numerology, discussion and deep dives on the person’s life. It’s fun breaking apart all these pieces to see how they fit for what’s to come.
I noticed that you give your clients the playlist that was playing during their reading, are the songs that play an important part of the readings? YES - they give messages. Sometimes, the person even knows what the song means before I do, i.e. once when I was talking about someone’s ex-boyfriend and the song changed to one that HE WAS SINGING!
Do you ever read your own cards? YES, more for little things or when I need a reminder. A lot of times I use them to book flights. What dates we should travel. Where we should go. It’s so fun!
Which places that you visit do you personally find the most spiritual? Everywhere has different energies but I had some truly magical moments in Spain on the Camino, in Ireland and in Mexico.
What would you say your most memorable experience and biggest challenge have been in regard to your abilities/since becoming a tarot card reader? Recently I had someone’s son-in-law die the day we did her reading. And I had referenced the year before it would be an extremely hard year for her daughter, but I didn’t see that the son in law would pass. I was devastated feeling I wasn’t helpful in warning my client, but she said so much of what I said was so helpful in understanding the situation. The man then came to me in my dreams that night and I woke up hysterically crying. He was trying to explain the pain, through me, to his wife – why he had committed suicide. It was pretty intense. I learned a lot about my practice, abilities and some big lessons that week.
How do you react to cynics who don’t believe in your abilities? I laugh or read them. Or both. My brother was my biggest cynic - until I kept calling all these things in his life. And yet he still would barely give me credit, except to my mom!
Do you have a mantra that you follow in day to day life? I would say my mantra changes but a lot of times it’s really trying to be present and allow what’s meant to be.