75. Art Meets Astrology: The Mystic Story of the Energy Almanac

Hi, we're Cinthia Varkevisser and Michelle Walters, co-hosts of Mind Power Meets Mystic.

Our weekly show is here to expand your mind to what's possible, to uplift your spirits, to move forward with confidence and joy, and to create a space for your collaboration with the invisible.

Welcome to Mind Power Meets Mystic!

Hey, hey, hey, everyone.

Thank you so much to joining us at MindPower Meets Mystic with Michelle Walters, MindPower and me, Cinthia Varkevisser, Mystic.

Today we have the beautiful opportunity to speak with Tam V.

Tam is a teacher, a healer, an artist, leading clients of all ages through personal and professional change using wit, wisdom, art, astrology, Energy Psychology Adventures.

Her superpower is in simplifying change.

She is the artist and lead writer of the collaborative internationally read publication Energy Almanac, 52-week astrological insights and holistic resources now in its fifth year.

Tam has written a children's book, multiple e-books, two self-help printed publications, as well as articles from Farmer's Almanac, Retail Insights, and Spirit of Change magazines.

For more about Tam and her creations, we'll have her have you visit ChooseTheBigChange.

com.

But before we go any further, welcome Tam.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

I'm so happy to be here on Mind Power Meets Mystic.

Yes, we have lots of fun on Mind Power Meets Mystic.

Well, I was very curious to meet you because we share a common book publisher.

And Carolyn, my book publisher has been saying, damn is so cool.

She has the coolest books.

And what I think is really, I mean, there are a lot of things that are cool about you.

But I think it's particularly cool how you have woven your art in with astrology.

How did you how did you come to do that?

Well, I don't know.

First of all, I want to start by saying I'm going to have Carolyn talk to my kids about how cool I am.

I think they should know, you know, when you have kids, right?

Art and astrology.

Well, they came together probably accidentally, or maybe like God would say synchronistically.

I mean, I've been an artist my whole life.

My parents would tell you that I've been able to draw since I was a little, little, little girl.

And I've always maintained a very, very creative side.

tapped me on the shoulder in: 2018

And I thought she was gonna have me illustrate her children's book.

But when I got there, she literally was saying to me, "Your business wants to talk to you.

" And I was like, what?

My, huh?

First of all, I didn't know she was psychic.

I didn't know she could channel.

She had never told me, and we'd known each other for eight or 10 years.

(laughs) So she proceeded to download all this information about how you're gonna write a book about astrology, and you're gonna bring your art into this book.

And here's me.

No, I'm not.

No, no, that's not for me.

(laughs) I was a transformational coach.

I was, you know, working with people's emotions and changing trauma.

I should like, nope, this is what you're gonna do.

You're gonna write a book.

Anyway, I cried like a baby, denied the whole thing.

And maybe like, I would say five months later, the book was ready for publication under my own publishing umbrella at the time.

was gonna happen in the year: 2019

And that's how the whole journey of what became the energy Ominac all these years later began.

So every year is art married to astrology wisdom.

Oh, I can't hear you.

- You're muted.

n doing astrology like before: 2018

- No, which is why I cried.

No, I kept saying, no, that's not what I do.

I can do art, I can do the coaching, but I had been interested in astrology like everybody else.

You read your horoscope and then, oh, I'm a Virgo.

And what does that mean?

And everybody identifies with their sun sign, but I wasn't deep, deep into astrology.

So it was such a departure for her to say, "You're gonna actually write the book.

" I'm like, "No, I'm not.

" I mean, I was white knuckling the whole thing.

And then just God literally kept, I would say the rowing snowballs at me like, you know, here take this, this will prove to you that you're gonna do this.

Here take this and throwing things at me.

And next thing you know, like I couldn't deny it.

And I put together the first book in something like eight weeks, had it ready to go.

After sitting on my hands for 12 weeks, I got it ready and got it into publication.

- Okay, well, that's an excellent story in terms of telling somebody like something can't be done in a short period of time, apparently it can.

- I don't buy anybody who tells me, well, I can.

I don't have the time.

I'm like, oh, you don't even have a clue.

Yeah.

- As a fellow Virgo, I actually don't, I don't really identify completely with the sun sign.

I'm a slob.

And I, I mean, I do like to sort socks.

So that's the Virgo in me.

But there are certain things that I just don't identify with.

So astrology was beautiful to see all the other things that make me me because I felt, wow, I'm an outcast in my family.

Now I'm even an outcast in my sign.

So thank you for that.

The thing that I find really interesting is, so you get this reading and then you get all these synchronistic things and you decide to follow it.

Sure, you sat on your hands for 12 weeks, but in those eight weeks, can you remember how was your life energetically, synchronistically in other aspects of your life?

How did that, you know, how did all that shake out?

- Well, so at the time that I ended up having this accidental psychic reading, I have been literally praying to God, literally hands and knees in prayer, like, I love my coaching thing, thank you, God.

And I'm an artist, I'm a creative, like, please help me figure out how do I weave creativity into my every day, right?

So that's where I was coming from.

And then I landed in this accidental reading.

And here's the big idea that you're gonna bring to the world.

And then when the process came, it came down to do it and I had to sit on my hands.

I remember the, I went to an astrologer as soon as I had the reading, I'm like, what's going on?

I didn't realize it at the time because I knew so little about astrology.

She was, we were in a retrograde.

We were in a long retrograde, which means you have to internalize, you have to think about, you have to assimilate information.

She didn't even say those words to me.

We are in a retrograde, now's not the time.

What she said to me would be, it'd be really good if you do a lot of powerful thinking about this.

And so that's all I did.

I literally wrote, I kept it.

I have a file folder, it's at least a half an inch thick of every idea it came up with after this idea was given to me.

So I followed the actual astrology as the astrologer gave it to me and then implemented it when the planets started stationing direct and the energy came forward, it kind of propelled the whole project and it gained momentum and bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, next thing you know, I'm in print.

And that's how it happened.

I followed the astrology and really quickly, Cinthia, just to talk about not identifying with your sun sign.

That happens a lot.

I have a lot of family members who I go, "Oh, you are not that sun sign.

" But it's their rising sign that they identify with and it makes more sense.

I'm the same way.

I have a lot of Virgoism and I mean a lot, but most people would never say, "Oh, you're a Virgo.

" They'd say, "Oh, you're a Sagittarian.

"You're kind of high energy.

"You're vivacious.

"You're fun.

"You're optimistic.

"You're adventuresome.

" Like the mask you wear is your rising sign.

It's how other people see you.

So whatever your rising sign is, Cinthia, that's probably what you're more identifying with.

- Scorpio.

- Oh, mystical, no wonder.

- Love it.

As soon as I found out about that, I was very, very happy.

- Perfect.

- So tell our listeners a little bit about the almanac you've created, about what's in this great book.

- Oh, everything.

I love it.

I love every chance that I can to talk about the energy almanac.

ing like first came around in: 2018

Because you know, it's just astrology.

And somebody, I don't even remember who it was said, well, what are the shoulder industries for astrology?

if the head of the beast is astrology, what's the shoulder?

So like, oh, gemstones, essential oils.

Oh, that could be yoga or tea drinkers.

It's people who love nature.

It's all these holistic other things, alternative other things that would also be interested in astrology.

So I started reaching out to people who do aromatherapy or essential oil, gemstones and crystals.

I've had yoga people write for me This year I have laughter articles, we've done herbs and plants, you name it.

If it's a holistic resource, each year I kind of change out what are the resources.

The staples though are gemstones and essential oils because people love them.

And numerology, that's the other one because numerology really resonates very well with astrology so we also put that in there.

ns to be all of the months of: 2024

So you get an illustrated page that is basic, basic astrology.

This week, do watch for financial opportunities.

Do not jump too quickly.

on astrology, everybody can work with astrology, right?

When you put it that simple.

A good Virgo knows how to simplify information.

Cinthia, are you listening?

Yeah.

So we give a simplified version of the month in the illustrated page and then a literal paragraph, maybe between 200 and 400 words every week that actually tell you sort of how to zig and how to zag.

It's what's in the air for the week.

I'm not telling you 29 degree Pluto, sextile, four degrees in the third house.

No, we're just telling you what's in the air and what you might notice and what to pay attention to.

I love it.

Yeah, it's what's not to love.

I mean, an article at the end of January that says, carry a moonstone this month.

n is on high alert in January: 2024

Carrie Moonstone and the scent for January is clary sage.

So have some sage whether it's a candle or an essential oil, go find it and use it this month and we tell you why all the articles relate to the energy of the month.

That's really cool.

And that makes it simple enough that people could actually achieve it because I feel like on a lot of there's plenty of resources out there where it's like, oh, and then you need a spell and then you need an affirmation and you need a this and you need a that and there's like too much stuff, you're gonna lose me.

Right.

And that's how I felt.

That's why when this project came to me, I was like, no, like astrology is confusing straight up.

It's confusing.

Master astrologers can talk way over your head if you let them.

And I didn't want to do that to people.

I really didn't.

So my goal is to speak in a way that's really friendly, really attainable, and really applicable.

Take this and apply it to your life, meaning, hey, there's going to be a lot of anger in the air.

Watch for road rage.

Drive defensively this week.

That's the way that I write inside the book, so that if you're just beginning to learn astrology, this is the way you learn it.

Mars is highly active.

Watch for road rage.

Right?

It's like, it's like astrology in 10 words or less.

Oh, I think I should use that in my marketing.

But that's good because people can't remember more than about five or seven words anyway.

So totally.

Exactly.

And and I'm my whole goal is to simplify, simplify, simplify.

So do you think your your signs, your Virgo, your Sagittarius, your whatever else, play into your your success with this project?

wn this six years ago when in: 2018

This is not fair.

So I had an astrology reading and she Started telling me well, I mean your son is in the ninth house of publishing My Virgo Ness is in the house of publishing.

I'm supposed to Put my information out for public consumption.

She says oh you have Oh, what is it?

I think it's Mars in my in my third house of communication You have a hunger to communicate Information that's this is how you're wired It might have been yeah Mars.

I think down in my third house community Everything in my natal birth chart Makes me exactly perfect to run the energy almanac.

It's it was kind of mind-blowing My moon is in my moon is in the sign of torus, which is very earthy and very very creative in my sixth house of work creative work in publishing and communicating.

It all comes together.

It makes up who I am in the outlines how to be successful.

That's what astrology can do for you.

You can find out your opportunities and you can find out your hurdles and knowledge is power.

You apply that knowledge.

Oh, my hurdle I'm gonna bump up against is this.

You see it coming, you jump the hurdle, right?

That's how I see it.

I have found that fascinating.

It was.

- I actually think it's fun.

Michelle and I are also huge BOTC astrology fans.

And so we get our calendar from BOTC.

And it says, you know, just like you're saying, this is a week to be reserved.

This is a week to not sign contracts.

This is a week to really work on relationships.

So in my mind, going woo to woo is that you have also bridged the gap between Western astrology and Bazzi astrology, which is super exciting to me and mind blowing.

Ooh, because I haven't seen anybody else work that way.

Have you, Michelle?

- Well, I haven't seen anybody who does stuff like Tam V.

That's for sure.

(laughing) - That is true as well.

That is true as well.

- I also have that uniqueness written into my chart.

Bazzi astrology, I've never heard that term before.

I don't even know what that is.

I'm to be real honest with you.

I don't know what that is.

- That's Chinese astrology.

So, BTS stands for, I think it stands for eight characters 'cause there's eight characters in Chinese astrology.

- Okay.

- And it goes beyond the year and the animals.

It goes into the elements month, day, hour.

- Okay, interesting.

I'll have to look at that.

Well, it's nice.

I'm kind of bridging the gap.

That's amazing.

- And I love that you're bridging the gap without knowing that you've reached the gap.

- I know, right?

Yay.

- That's fantastic.

- Kicking all the boxes.

- It's probably a good time to remind our listeners that they are listening to "Mind Power Meets Mystic" with me, Michelle Walters, and my co-host, Cinthia Varkovister.

We are speaking to Tam V, a.

k.

a.

Tam Villeux.

Very nice French name there.

Tam is many, many things, but we are mostly talking about her astrology, her graphic design and her book today.

So Tam, I wanna ask you a little bit more about this.

You walked into a conversation with your friend that turned out to be a psychic reading.

Tell us a little bit more about how you've known this person for years and years and you didn't see this coming and kind of what that shift was all about, that was like.

That was hilarious.

I had known her in a professional manner for a long time.

She was my chiropractor.

And I should have known a person who puts her hands, her hands on your body and adjust things.

They're intuitive.

I don't know why I didn't, she had never ever like came out and said, Hey, I channel.

I said I went to her office literally, she had talked to me a few months earlier, she had a children's book and I would, I would illustrate it.

So when she invited me to the office, you know it could be that her intention was, "I really am going to talk to you.

" We never got to her book ever.

I took nine pages of notes in 90 minutes and I cried.

I cried for the full 90 minutes literally denying it and asking questions and more information was coming.

And she just kept saying, "It's all going to come together.

It's all gonna come together just hanging there and and I really am an optimist and I really am a believer So I guess some piece of me ran with what she was telling my some piece of me believed it because I Ended up You know getting an astrology reading.

I ended up sitting on it and crying about it for 12 weeks and then literally God was connecting all the dots in the most Miraculous ways telling me this is your baby.

This baby is your it was and those miracles were crazy And my husband was active in identifying like oh You know those moments Psychic shock moments like there's no way that could have happened if it wasn't just for you Tam those moments happened a lot and so I really believe in following the energy.

I really believe in listening to the whispers of God and And I did.

writing book number seven for: 2025

I do get a little, I do get really lost in time.

know if I'm referring to the: 2024

I just I time travel is a thing.

I totally agree.

I love how you have all these different aspects of you coming into one place.

So in this beautiful confluence, there was a flip switch in which you said, "This is it.

I'm here and I'm doing it.

" Can you talk a little bit more about that?

And can you give us some beautiful stories about the people that you've served that also had these amazing flip switches?

Oh boy.

Um, so my switch, you know, really happened.

So I'm going to, I'm just going to tell you the three like big ones that were like, okay, I can't deny this.

The first one happened on the way home from that, uh, important, uh, meeting with the psychic.

I was driving home and it was, it's about a 30 minute ride and I was getting close to home and I was still wiping tears from my face, all the drama, you know.

And I was pulling up, I had this big intersection, I live in a rural area, there's a great big intersection that's all farm fields.

So it's wide open and I'd only been living in this area for maybe six or seven months and this time I pulled up and I had the shocked face and I pulled my car over and started falling because I remember how many times since I'd lived at this place that I had looked at the sky at the night, driving at night, all these stars at night and say, "Wow, that big sky.

" And she had said to me, "It's called like big sky or something.

" She had told me big sky and big sky was in my consciousness.

So okay, like there's one, but I kind of ignored that.

I'm like, "Okay, that was just like a little thing.

" So it was getting to be summertime.

It was like late June.

Hubby and I decided to go to Cape Cod for a vacation.

And I'm still crying.

We're going for a walk in Cape Cod along the boardwalk.

And there's all these beautiful little quaint houses in Cape Cod.

And I'm crying, telling him, I don't know how I'm gonna do this thing.

And he taps my shoulder and he says, look over there.

And I turn my head and we're walking past a garage with a gigantic sign on the outside of it and it literally said, "Big Sky.

" Well, that's just, that's not, I don't know what that's about.

I just like, how am I gonna do this thing?

And we keep on walking and he taps my shoulder again and he goes, "Look.

" And this woman comes out of thin air.

I don't know where she came from, walked right in front of me and she was wearing like a tank top with spaghetti straps, the back of her shoulder, a moon, a star, and big sky.

Well, that was it.

That was the final one that I said, I can't even say no to God anymore on this topic.

Like now I have to just cry about how to do it, how to figure it out.

- The signs were there.

- The signs were there and there was just no denying them anymore.

And I'm always, God knows, I'm wide open to these kinds of revelations and messages.

And it kind of sometimes has to be super obvious for a person to get it.

And those were that.

But as far as like my readers, this has been the reason I still write the book.

That first year I sold 420 books, big whoop.

Who needs to sell 420 books for all the effort I had put into it and all the money I had put into it and all that stuff.

But after that first year, when I was thinking about, do I do this again or not?

Because it was a lot of effort.

The very first client that I made a difference to, she was a woman who came up to me, clutching my book from the previous year to her chest like this, her arms.

She was probably 70 or 75 years old, and she was clutching it and she was crying.

Not a little, she was crying.

And she said to me, "This book brings me hope.

This book I read every week.

I feel hopeful.

I don't feel alone in the world anymore.

Everybody is feeling what I'm feeling.

" That was the first time that I went, "Oh, I am making a difference.

The book is felt by people, right?

" So that was great.

And then what happened was I started getting emails, regularly, text message, private text messages with, how did you know?

Or you said exactly what I needed to hear.

I have one young lady, I think she's in her late 30s at this point.

She came up to me in the second year and she said, your book saved my life.

Huh, what?

How?

She's like, I was going through a divorce, but every time I was taking a dip, your book would tell me, it's not just that I'm taking a dip, it's everybody's taking a dip, you know?

And then, and you would tell me, hang in there for two more weeks and then it's gonna get better and it would always get better.

And so I was able to somehow help her journey through divorce and now she's remarried and she still loves the almanac.

And it's stories like that where people tell me, I zigged instead of zagged because you suggested it or not, I wrote it, the energy suggested it.

And so Cinthia, to answer your question, that's why I keep doing the book because people keep having these changes.

And the writers who contribute and collaborate inside of my book, they're having private conversations with their, so inside the book, I probably should say this, there's a bonus link.

When you read the book, we have a QR code, you go to that code and you get to a private webpage where you can get freebies, discount codes, readings, you name it, there's a whole bunch.

There's like 10 or 12 different things for free.

Now they're forming relationships and they're healing.

We have one woman who does AI health diagnostics.

Go get a reading for a discount.

And people do and now their health are changing, right?

It's crazy, the relationships that have been formed and made and the changes that people are going through, it's hard to walk away from a project that you know is rippling out into the universe as such.

It's absolutely fantastic.

You have such a fascinating story to me.

I showed up for an appointment that was supposed to be something else, and it turned into this.

And then I kept seeing the signs, and then I made the book.

And then people started getting back to me, and new relationships were formed, and all of this-- it's definitely a great example of you throw the pebble in the still pond, and how many waves ripple out as a result, right?

- Exactly, and I will say maybe it's the sadgerizing in me.

I don't know, I really do.

I've always had what I felt is a big mission on the planet.

I've always thought I could touch a lot of people.

I don't know why some of us think that, but I felt that way.

And I always say, I have a small goal of a million people.

If I could just reach a million people in my lifetime, right?

And then we start to think about the number of readers we have now compared to the 400 that I first had and how many people they tell about the astrology.

It's not that I have to communicate with a million people but that my products, 'cause I have a lot of different products out there, but my products reach people, my art reaches people.

Everybody who sees this, they get to enjoy the vibes that I put into it, right?

Yeah, I've always felt like I've had a big purpose and if I'm fulfilling it, I'm very, very pleased.

And that doesn't come from a place of ego.

It's not that.

God and I are having conversations regularly and I just have to show up and do my part.

- Absolutely beautiful.

So Tam, just before we got on our recording, you showed us this really cool chart.

Why don't you tell us about your chart?

- I will.

Oh my gosh, this is an art chart.

Astro chart, sorry, Astro chart.

So this is my astrology in a visual form.

So I do these charts for people and what it is is what does it mean to be a 29 degree Virgo in the ninth house?

Bang!

What does it mean to have my Chiron in Aries in my fourth house?

Bang!

A visual that reminds me who I am and how to show up.

Sometimes I forget that I'm a spiritual warrior.

Sometimes I forget this.

I'm a hidden master of practical spirituality, the Virgo in me, the practical spirituality.

There are days like let's be real, business being an entrepreneur is not a simple thing and it's easy to get down and if you know, if your checkbook this week isn't you know in the six figures what have I done wrong?

I must be awful, I must not be good enough.

And I'll sometimes stand in front of this chart and I'll remind myself, ah, that's the way out.

That's the way for oh yeah, that was the hurdle I was going to bump up against.

Oh, I have permission to be unique.

Right?

This is my visual reminder.

It's in my office.

I keep it very close by to give myself permission to be me.

my natal birth chart says this is who I am.

So I do these for people.

I sell astrology charts that are visual.

That is so cool.

I've never seen anything like it.

And it I yeah, as a visual person easier to understand.

It is so digging it.

So did.

Thank you.

I think everybody should have their art chart done because you we need to be reminded we have unique qualities.

And it's your It's your sun, your moon, your Mars, it's your Uranus, it's all of those things.

And it's easy to forget.

We're not broken.

We're just having our human experience and that seeing it, seeing it and leaning in, it's everything.

It has saved my bacon more than once.

I think you have pretty much answered every question I could ask until I've digested, which means that tomorrow I would probably call you up and ask for, you know, ask another five hours worth of questions.

It's just so fascinating and how you put everything together.

I'm always about the mishmash, right?

Mishmash turning into something extraordinary.

I'm also really great at making soup, so I get the whole a little of that.

I love cooking.

The tourist in me loves cooking.

Yeah bringing bringing a little of this art alchemy and astrology is really what I do and and a lot of the Energy almanac has a lot of coaching inside of it because it's it's part of how I'm wired.

I am going to offer you solid practical advice In the spiritual world practical spirituality, that's my gift, right?

Bringing all of the pieces together into one product called the energy almanac really has been a great gift in my life and I'm happy to have been able to share it here on Mind Power Meets Mystic.

Can you tell us how we can get that?

Yes, well, it's really difficult.

Theenergyalmanac.

com.

That's pretty basic.

Theenergyalmanac.

com.

Tam, thank you so much for appearing on our show today.

We were just delighted to have you.

Thank you.

It's been fun telling my story.

I appreciate you.

you've been listening to, My Power Meets Mystic.

you