Honey Wyatt is the shopping writer at HuffPost UK and the founder of Sextras podcast and magazine.
After reading this interview, be startled and delighted by this podcast and magazine about sex and relationships, with a queer focus at its core: sextrasworld.com
13/09/2026, 12:01 - Finbarre:
Welcome to Tarot DMs with Finbarre.
My guest today is Honey Wyatt, journalist, editor-in-chief and founder of Sextras, the sex-positive magazine and podcast exploring relationships in their faceted multitudes, as well as sexuality and culture.
Honey has built a career writing candidly about everything from dating and desire to boundaries, shame and sexual health. She’s also written for publications including Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Women’s Health and HuffPost UK.
As always, three tarot cards will decide where the conversation goes.
13/09/2026, 12:02 - Honey Wyatt:
Hey Finbarre, thank you for having me. I am excited to see where this goes. I’ve never done a tarot reading before, so yeah, look forward to talking to you.
13/09/2026, 12:04 - Finbarre:
Thank you so much for participating.
I was looking through the various tarot cards that have come through my letterbox this month, and I couldn’t resist using Bad Witch for this interview by Michelle Lodge. These Rider-Waite-Smith-alike cards are quite tongue-in-cheek, and I think have a suitable vibe for discussing Sextras.
I need to ask, Honey, when did you, or have you ever, experienced tarot symbolism, mythology or meaning? How much do you know about the cards?
13/09/2026, 12:07 - Finbarre:
13/09/2026, 12:07 - Honey Wyatt:
I actually don’t know that much about tarot. What I do know is through a friend who is very much into tarot readings and kind of anything in the spiritual world.
And, as with other people in my generation, I learned about it through social media and videos on TikTok and that kind of thing, obviously with a pinch of salt and knowing that that’s not the most accurate way of learning about them, or probably not the most accurate readings, because it’s so algorithmic.
So yeah, I don’t know too much about the symbolism.
13/09/2026, 12:11 - Finbarre: To start the ball rolling then we’re going to enter your interview with a card of misfortune, instant calamity. This card sails in like a wrecking ball and demolishes what we consider is normal. The Anchor card for September is THE TOWER
13/09/2026, 12:11 - Finbarre:
13/09/2026, 12:11 - Finbarre: Although from here, things can only get better. Is this a card you’ve seen previously?
13/09/2026, 12:11 - Honey Wyatt: It’s not one I’ve seen before!
13/09/2026, 12:13 - Finbarre:
If I was to sum this card up in a single word, it would be “rupture”.
It is a card of upheaval and revelation, collapse and shock and other words that sound like boom.
It’s also a card of a fear of change or a crisis that can be delayed.
I think if it was a song, it would be something like Cities In Dust by Siouxsie and the Banshees.
So yes, it’s a big shock.
My question to you will be...
13/09/2026, 12:14 - Honey Wyatt: Ooh I love that, that definitely rings true to my life at the moment!
13/09/2026, 12:14 - Finbarre:
That is a swing and a hit for Michelle Lodge’s deck!
Well done, her. Right. Let’s get back to your question.
Was there a particular setback or upheaval that destroyed an assumption you had about yourself… but left you better off?
13/09/2026, 12:18 - Honey Wyatt:
The one thing that comes to mind, the last setback or upheaval I had, was when I got made redundant from my job in December last year.
And even though I wouldn’t say it necessarily turned out for the best, it did force me to really think about what I wanted to do next and to try a few different things out.
I had to try being freelance for a bit. That was really tricky, and I was worried about money the whole time.
And then I ended up getting offered a job. Even though that was a great job, and I still have that job now, maybe I should have tried being freelance for a bit longer and living in the uncertain for a while.
Because I realised that I just don’t deal with uncertainty very well, even though it could have probably worked out in the long run.
13/09/2026, 12:20 - Finbarre:
Are there enough hours in the day or spoons in the pot to allow you to explore both options simultaneously?
13/09/2026, 12:21 - Honey Wyatt: I do run Sextras and freelance alongside my full time job but it’s really hard to maintain any kind of social life when I’m doing that and often I find myself getting burnt out
13/09/2026, 12:22 - Finbarre: ... and then you find yourself talking to a strange man who is holding a deck of cards at the weekend! Hopefully the next one takes us into a greener field and away from the construction site of the last one. I’m going to shuffle the cards for your Wild Card. Tell me when to stop and I’ll draw a new one for you.
13/09/2026, 12:23 - Honey Wyatt: Stop
13/09/2026, 12:24 - Finbarre:
Here’s the back...
13/09/2026, 12:24 - Finbarre:
Now the front.
13/09/2026, 12:24 - Honey Wyatt: Gorgeous!
13/09/2026, 12:25 - Finbarre:
Honey, I would love to know from your enviable position of looking upon these cards with almost an open mind, what does this one say to you?
13/09/2026, 12:27 - Honey Wyatt:
Oh, I love the illustrations on this card. On the back, well, I talk about this a lot in my podcast and my work, but obviously I’m gay and I’m in a relationship with a woman.
So that feels very sapphic to me, the illustration on the back of the card.
And then the front of the card being Temperance, I guess, is something to do with control and balance.
And like I was just saying, I think a lot of what I struggle with in life is balancing everything, including my job, my freelance work, my relationship, my friendships, and then also just time with myself.
I think recently I’ve been feeling very overwhelmed by all of my kind of duties in life and things that I feel like I should be doing.
And I haven’t had enough time for myself, so maybe it could be something to do with that.
13/09/2026, 12:30 - Finbarre:
Absolutely right, 100%.
In fact, in the words of A.E. Waite, the architect of the Rider-Waite-Smith cards, he said: “It is called Temperance fantastically, because when the rule of it obtains in our consciousness, it tempers, combines and harmonises the psychic and material natures.”
Balance, exactly as you put it.
13/09/2026, 12:31 - Finbarre:
In what sounds like the vast parts of your day involved with work, which bring the ingredients of personal storytelling and journalism and humour and getting through the day. How do you mix all of those elements together?
13/09/2026, 12:32 - Finbarre: Into a (non-alcoholic) cocktail!
13/09/2026, 12:33 - Honey Wyatt:
I have to take a lot of breaks, really take my time with things. I think journalism today is really focused on creating as fast as you can. And I really struggle to do that because I find that it’s such a creative, personal thing.
Often my job is a lot more personal and storytelling based than other roles, I guess. So it’s not as formulaic. Every story and every day kind of looks different. But yeah, it’s a lot of reflection and reading and absorbing a lot of articles and art and content from elsewhere and then trying to get that into my own work.
13/09/2026, 12:35 - Finbarre: Can you tell me about a recent piece of art or creative work that you had seen and how it has energised you?
13/09/2026, 12:36 - Finbarre: When you get that “This is why I do what I do” moment
13/09/2026, 12:39 - Honey Wyatt: A few things come to mind! I did a panel this week with Sitre, a sexual wellness brand that has just launched its first vibrator based on the shape of an oyster.
It’s so creative and different to anything else out there that it was really inspiring to see companies trying to do something different and positive in a space I love but can sometimes be quite jaded by. I also saw Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma, which was so campy and self deprecating and funny, and Tony. The cinema always makes me feel reborn and inspired to create something and it allows me to switch off
13/09/2026, 12:40 - Finbarre: I am hearing a LOT about Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma, apparently the music is 🤌💯
13/09/2026, 12:41 - Honey Wyatt: It’s so great, you should definitely see it if you can!
13/09/2026, 12:44 - Finbarre:
Thank you so much for the recommendation. I was tickled that this film was something that lifted your day. So this is something I’m going to have to see.
Your third card, this is the gift card, was given to you by Jill Dawson. And she recently wrote a book about Pamela Colman Smith, otherwise known as Pixie. She was the original illustrator of the tarot cards that we so often use, the Rider-Waite-Smith. And in the story, this person finds herself in the complex political world of fin de siècle media trying to get her work seen and forge a name and path for herself in life.
Jill has given you this card, and it’s the Page of Cups.
13/09/2026, 12:44 - Finbarre:
13/09/2026, 12:45 - Finbarre: Who seems rather too happy about spilling her drink. Almost the opposite of Temperance back there!
13/09/2026, 12:46 - Finbarre: While I’m thinking of this one, what is your tipple of choice if you have one?
13/09/2026, 12:47 - Honey Wyatt: Thanks for asking! I take my drinks very seriously haha. I switch between a couple, either a Negroni or a Campari Soda (not spritz, I’m not a huge fan). But if there’s an option for a seasonal drink or a special, I love trying that out too
13/09/2026, 12:48 - Finbarre:
The Page of Cups is very much a fun card. And of course, as cups represent the element of water and matters of the heart, it’s a question with a sense of wonder. What is it about love or desire still that surprises you?
13/09/2026, 12:51 - Honey Wyatt:
I think love and desire are just inherently surprising. Every person experiences them in a different way, and it’s not the same from one day to the next or throughout your lifetime.
You experience love differently with one partner from another, and the same with desire. Even with desire, that might change throughout your partnership with someone. From the first day of your relationship to the second year, it will have changed completely.
And it’s such a personal and creative force that it’s something you’re constantly having to learn about yourself, learn about your partner, and you can’t ever just rely on it staying the same. It’s ever-changing.
So yeah, I’m always being surprised by love and desire, and that’s what makes it interesting. Writing about sex and relationships today is not the same as when I started my podcast, Sextras, six years ago. It’s not the same as when my mum was the age that I am now, or my grandma.
So yeah, it’s always fluctuating, which makes it a perfect thing to dissect. I love writing about it.
13/09/2026, 12:54 - Finbarre:
I heard that smiling voice towards the end there that contained a cheekiness, but also a contentment as well. Right. I mean, this is your chance to pass on a card to the next guest. Could you shuffle the cards that you have in your hand, pull one out and take a picture of it for me?
13/09/2026, 12:55 - Honey Wyatt:
13/09/2026, 12:55 - Honey Wyatt: Thanks Finbarre!
13/09/2026, 12:56 - Honey Wyatt: This is the deck I’m using:
13/09/2026, 12:57 - Finbarre: I know it well, I picked up a deck of these from the Museo del Tarot in Barcelona and bought it for someone dear to me in San Diego. It is stop-you-in-your-tracks-lovely and a great looking set
13/09/2026, 12:58 - Honey Wyatt: It’s gorgeous, my friend I mentioned earlier bought it for me!
13/09/2026, 12:58 - Finbarre: YOUR FRIEND HAS MAGNIFICENT TASTE
13/09/2026, 12:59 - Finbarre:
I say without a trace of bias.
When that first picture appeared, I thought, hang on, I’ve not seen that for about a year.
Honey, it has been a wonderful hour. Thank you for spending it with me on Tarot DMs.
And I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend, with your feet up, doing very little, I hope!
13/09/2026, 13:00 - Honey Wyatt:
Thank you so much. It’s been such a pleasure to talk to you and I’m glad you appreciate my friend’s taste.
I think it’s a great deck. So yeah, have a lovely weekend and speak soon!