BTP146: What’s Next for the Biddy Tarot Podcast?

In this episode of the Biddy Tarot Podcast, Brigit opens up about her creative process and journey with the podcast so far. You'll get real insight into why it's time for a pivot, and hear Brigit's thoughts and plans for the Biddy Tarot Podcast.

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Transcript

Intro: You're listening to the Biddy Tarot podcast, and this is episode 146, What's Next for the Biddy Tarot podcast? 

Welcome to the Biddy Tarot podcast where you'll learn to connect more deeply with your intuition, and lead an empowered and enlightened life with the Tarot cards as your guide. Listen as Brigit and her guests share their very best tips and strategies to help you read Tarot with confidence. And now here's your host, Brigit Esselmont. 

Brigit: Hello, and welcome back to the Biddy Tarot podcast. Today is a special episode where I want to give you an important update about what is next for the Biddy Tarot podcast. Now the short answer is, I don't know. Now, you might be thinking, “What? Why is she recording an episode about I don't know what's next for the Biddy Tarot podcast?”  

Well, I want to explain things a little bit to you. So let's go right back to the very beginning of the Biddy Tarot podcast. It started in January 2016, and when I hit record on that very first episode, my intention was to start a podcast really to start a new conversation about Tarot and intuition, and a conversation that was grounded in practicality, reality in our daily lives, and giving a sense of how we can integrate Tarot and intuition into our everyday lives, how we can make it more normal, how we can make it just part of how we do things. 

I also wanted to talk to some of the leading voices in Tarot and intuition so that we could start these engaging conversations about where Tarot is taking us as a collective and individually. So I absolutely feel like over these last, well, two and a half years, the podcast has certainly helped to open up this new conversation around Tarot and that is super, super exciting. And in fact we've had over a million downloads over those two and half years, and over 200 five star reviews. That is crazy good and I’m super appreciative. 

We've also recorded 146 episodes. That's crazy because apparently only 2% of all podcasts make it to their 100th episode, and I think it's a real huge achievement to make it this far to 146 episodes. Crazy pants, right? So, I want you to know I'm incredible grateful for all of your support and also for the impact that this podcast has had on so many people. I know that each time you're listening to this, you're allowing me into your little earbuds and into your brain so that we can talk about Tarot, and we can have a more open conversation about what it means to live in tune with your intuition. So again, I thank you so much for being a supporter of the Biddy Tarot podcast. 

Now, this is where things get a little bit real, because whilst I have thoroughly enjoyed creating this for you, I have also reached a kind of plateau point, and I've started to feel my energy around the podcast starting to shift and change. So, here's the thing. Whenever I, like in my business, whenever I'd had a moment, it's not really a moment, a period of time where I feel like my energy has changed, I know that I've got to pay attention. I could try and think, okay, no I've just got to push through, I've just got to get it done, but I know that when I do that, I end up in a place that's completely out of alignment. So for me this state in alignment, it's really important for me to honor and listen to those feelings, and I'm sure you can relate as well. 

So let me just talk a little bit about what's been going on for me, and this is not meant to be like a big whingefest. I don't want this to leave you feeling bad or me feeling bad. It's certainly not about that. However, I do think it is important to be open and honest, and vulnerable about what goes on when you create something like a podcast that goes out to so many people. 

So, if you know anything about me, you'll know that I am very efficient, very productive, very driven and I just get the job done. So when it came to the podcast, the way we worked it as a team was we would batch produce the podcasts. In fact, we would do 13 episodes in one go, not in one day, thank God, but it might end up 13 episodes, you know, over the course of a couple of days in terms of recording it. 

And so for example, the episodes that we've just recently wrapped up, I recorded those right back in, I don't know, probably late May, early June, and whilst this whole process is incredibly productive and efficient, and it means that we always get our podcasts out on time in a really steady reliable way, like you know that you can depend on us to have the podcast there and ready to go, it actually does stifle creativity and it stifles being in flow. So let me talk a bit about that. 

I remember like in the very first days of blogging, you just kind of like wake up and you think, oh should I blog, should I not, what shall I blog about? Something really interesting happened today, and it's as if you're pouring your little heart out in the blog, but what starts to happen over time is you set schedules, you have people that are relying and depending on you to show up, and it starts to become more about getting the job done. Which is fine. That's how you run, like, in my opinion that's how you run a business. You get the job done, but you also need to be able to balance that with maintaining a bit of play, a bit of fun, and creativity. 

So I found that over time this batch production schedule has left me feeling a little bit stifled when it comes to creativity. I feel like I've got to think of the topics that I'm going to talk about months in advance, and it's got to be all strategically aligned to what we do and what's being launched at the time, and all of this good stuff, right? It's all important for business, but again, I'm getting to that point where I think, oh, I just, this isn't quite feeling right. In fact, I'd look at my calendar and it would say, okay, you've got six podcasts to record today and I think, oh, what a drain.  

Of course, now don't get me wrong, I jump onto the mic and every time on the mic I am giving it my absolute all and I'm giving you everything that I've got, so much goodness and so much value. But it's the kind of the lead-up to that and thinking oh, I've got to do this, I've got to do this, and feeling exhausted after I've recorded all of those episodes. So I think certainly this batch production has been challenging the last few months, and I've really noticed the impact it's had on my own levels of creativity. And it's led me to start feeling like this is becoming a bit of a chore for me, and it's something that you know I might be putting off or not really looking forward to.  

And like I said at the start, I've got to honor these feelings. It's okay to feel a little bit exhausted and burnt out, and it's okay to start changing for your energy to change around things, where maybe it's just no longer as inspiring as it used to be. That's all okay. The important thing that is, that you actually listen to it and you honor those feelings, and you do something with it. 

I know that if I just push through it, I would just, I'd probably be in a very different state of mind, really resentful, and you know, as I said, out of alignment and that's certainly not how I like to live my life, and it's certainly not how I like to run my business, because I want to make sure that I do feel in alignment with everything that I'm doing.  

Now, the other piece that's sort of come up for me as I'm reflecting on what's feeling different around the podcast is I don't know, it's hard to explain this, I just feel like a sense of completion. I feel like this is now complete, and if only like when I started in January of 2016, we could have had seasons. I'm thinking back in time that's the one thing I'd change is have seasons, because I think it's very normal and natural for something like a podcast to have a shelf life or to have an endpoint. 

And what we often do like when we're starting podcasts, and I know this because I have quite a few friends who have podcasts, we started thinking yeah, let's do it, and we don't really think about what's our exit strategy. How do we kind of wrap this up with a little bow at the end, because we think oh, there'll never be an end. We'll just keep going forever, but nothing goes forever, right? 

So I'm kind of getting to that point where I feel like you know what? This feels complete, this feels done. It feels like I've poured my energy into this, and now I feel good about it. And I also think what happens is when you write a book, and for me, like I've just written a traditional book, traditionally published book, and I've got two other books that I've self-published, so that's three books on Tarot. And I kind of feel like you pour your heart into these books, and then it's done, it feels complete.  

And I want to be clear here. I'm not saying here like I'm incomplete, like I'm leaving Tarot for good. That's certainly not my intention. Tarot will be with me forever, and Biddy Tarot will be with me forever. It's more about just thinking what's this next evolution? What comes next, because I feel like this expression through the podcast, it feels complete in its current form.  

So, you might be wondering, well, what's next, and to be honest I've been asking this for many months. In fact, I was probably meant to record this podcast episode many months ago, and I have just continually put it off. In fact, I actually just recorded this episode about half an hour ago, and even that, it didn't for whatever reason, thanks universe, it decided not to record that full episode. The recording didn't work. 

So it's kind have been something I've been putting on or off, and it just hasn't been something that I've really wanted to do to say like this is complete, but it is important that I honor it. Now, where am I going with this? Okay, that's right. 

So, what, like, what happens next? This is what I know. I know that I've got to sit in a void. I've got to sit in that place where I am in the nothingness, and I am in the silence so that I can hear the voice of my inner wisdom and my inner guidance, and then I will start to understand what will come next. Now, if I get into busy mode and start doing stuff, and thinking well, how can I change things up, or trying to enforce or implement things when I'm clearly not ready, then I know that I'm going to be out of alignment. 

So, that's why I want to just sit in this space of the void, and really tap into what is coming next for the podcast or whatever it might be. I just don't know. And here's the thing with the void. Think about the lunar cycle. You have the full moon where you are fully expressing yourself. You're out there, you're radiating, you're illuminating, you're shining your light and putting yourself out there, and that's certainly been these last two years with the podcast. 

And now I feel like I'm starting to enter the phase of the dark moon where you withdraw and retreat a little, and you're going to your beautiful dark restful space until something else begins to emerge. Or it's even like the winter cycle where those seeds might be in the ground. They're just starting to germinate and start like little shoots are forming but it hasn't come through the earth just yet. That's how I feel about this podcast, and what's coming next. I know I can feel like there's something changing, but I just don't have that shape and form around it just yet. 

So, I know that I'm sharing a lot with you, and I almost feel like you deserve, you deserve an explanation. You deserve to hear what my thought process has been. And also I wanted to share this with you in such an open way because no doubt you're going through a similar experience or you've been through a similar experience, where you've had something that's a creative project, and maybe you've kind of run out of juice, or just feel like things are starting to shift and change in a whole new direction. 

So, I want this to be opportunity for you too to step into that void if you need it, and don't be afraid like, not to like turn off something even though it might be something that has a huge impact. It's okay to turn these off so that something new can emerge from that space. 

So, what does this mean for you? Well, here's the thing. The Biddy Tarot podcast has 146 episodes including this one. So if you haven't listened to all 146 episodes, I strongly recommend going back to the start or back to wherever you haven't listened to, and go and listen to these podcasts. This is the thing, like even though in real time this is kind of a closing out episode, it's like you have this big general reason of Biddy Tarot episode that you can listen to, so please make the most of all of the podcast episodes that have been recorded. I think you will absolutely love them. 

Now, I'd also love to stay connected with you through the Biddy Tarot website and our social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Just look out for Biddy Tarot on those platforms, and if you want to continue the conversation about Tarot or connect with our Tarot lovers, or even jump on live calls with me and learn Tarot with me, then I highly recommend our Biddy Tarot community. Now you'll find that over at biddytarot.com/community. It's likely it will be on the wait list, so please sign up for the wait list. You'll also get access to a special free training, and of course you'll be the first to know as soon as we open up the doors again.  

You know, if it's not the community, then I highly recommend our Tarot classes as well. There's Master the Tarot Card Meanings, and Read Tarot with Confidence. You'll find that all over at biddytarot.com. 

 Now, please stay tuned because who knows what might come next. It might be a new kind of podcast. It might be, I don't know. You know what? I should stop forcing myself to try and think of what it is because really that is the essence of sitting in the void, right? It's sitting in that, in the nothingness and the not knowingness, so, okay. I'll just give myself a tap on the nose to remind myself to stay true to that, but yes, stay tuned because whatever emerges, I will let you know.  

But for now I want to say a huge, huge thank you for all of your love and support. Thank you for being a loyal listener of the Biddy Tarot podcast, and I hope that you can continue to make the most of these podcast episodes. And also continue to bring Tarot and intuition into your everyday life in a really powerful magical way. So for now, I will say goodbye, and I hope to connect with you again very, very soon. Okay, bye for now.

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