Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Meyer.
Barbara, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I fell in love with Tarot back in College–in the early 70’s. Everyone was into tarot then, it was the heyday of New Age and tarot was part of it. I loved the cards but eventually I scared myself so badly I gave it up. A person I knew asked about her love relationship. I saw trouble. Instead of finding way OUT of a bad situation (I was too inexperienced to think of doing that.) I just said I didn’t know if it would work out for them. When it broke up two weeks later, I thought it was my fault and stop reading cards. And stopped getting hunches. And stopped thinking about anything to do with psychic stuff. I went on to have a mundane career as a librarian.
About 12 years later, at a party, a friend showed up and pulled out a tarot deck. “Look what I just learned how to do!” she said. She explained she had taken a class in tarot and several of us gathered around to play with the cards. I remembered how much FUN tarot was. Having re-encountered the cards, I took a class on reading tarot and started reading for friends and doing readings for money at Science Fiction Conventions. My friends all told me I was so good, I should go pro. Finally, someone spotted an ad in a local New Age newsletter that a Psychic Fair was looking for readers. And the rest, they say, is history.
I started reading at the fairs and honed my skills. A friend who was doing her own private study of psychic talent took me under her wing and taught me a lot about how to read. How to keep your own opinion to yourself. How to open your mind to see what information was out there to read. I was very unhappy in my job and I started looking for an alternative career, but I just could not see that reading Tarot Cards would make me enough to live on. Then a friend mentioned me to party planner looking for a reader.
I got a call to do a party. I called a friend to create a “gypsy fortuneteller” outfit for me and I read at my first party. At the party was a Mentalist who was doing walk around magic. (He was an AMAZING sleight of hand card magician.) He took me under his wing and explained how to make my publicity package to send to agents to get more parties. He recommended me to some good talent agents and soon I was on my way.
Within two years, I quit my full-time job. I worked part time for a while, but soon I gave that up also and dedicated myself to being the best Psychic Entertainer I could be. It has been 28 years since I started at Psychic Fairs and every single day has been a FUN.
Has it been a smooth road?
Mostly for me, a smooth road. I started very slowly, making cheap flyers and mailing them out in mass mailing from my own computer. I networked with other entertainers where I could and juggled a tough schedule of working full-time for the first 5 years and part time for a few more until I was SURE I could make tarot cards pay. Even now, there are times that business is slow and that is scary, but I just keep going and do what works, while living as quietly as possible.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am a Psychic Entertainer. I read tarot cards and palms in a way that is insightful, positive and FUN. I am known for my professionalism. The quality of my performance. That I can do FUN, insightful readings and do them QUICKLY. I have known other readers who see what I do and want to do it. But being a good tarot reader and being a good Tarot Reader at a PARTY are two very different things. Only a few of us can work FAST, and still be FUN. All. The. Time. I can come to the point quickly. Give people a satisfying reading and then move on to the next person reading as many as 12 people in one hour. I have worked local rock concerts so I know how to deal with a lot of noise and drunken crowds. I am flexible. And always fun.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
YES! I would definitely recommend Chicago as the place to begin. With the expressways, we can travel easily almost everywhere. There is a large population of higher income people who want and can afford quality talent at their events. People here are very accepting of Psychic Talent and think it is FUN to have a Reader to their party. And there is a large portion of restaurant and venues to hold fun parties that, again, call for unique and FUN entertainment.
I imagine other large cities are good too, but few have the mix of higher incomes, liberal and accepting ideas and a large entertainment industry that can support my kind of entertainment.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bgmeyer.com
- Phone: 773-282-6556
- Email: barb@bgmeyer.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PsychicEntertainmentByBarbaraGMeyer/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BG_Meyer
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/barbara-g-meyer-psychic-entertainer-chicago-4
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
