S.E. Reid is a freelance writer, editor, and poet living on a patch of wooded wetland in the Pacific Northwest with her craftsman husband and her two big goofball dogs, Finn and Huck. She loves to hear and tell stories about nature, history, ghosts, and God, and when not writing she loves to cook nourishing food, read widely, and tend to her vegetable garden. Learn more about her work at sereid.com
[2025-10-11 17:01:40] Finbarre: Good morning S.E. Reid! How the devil are you today?
[2025-10-11 17:02:10] S.E. Reid: Hello hello, I’m doing very well! How are you?
[2025-10-11 17:04:03] Finbarre: Currently I’m listening to Dodie in the background, have just fed the neighbourhood crows and when I was doing the weekend’s laundry I discovered this waiting for me. One of my cheeky tinies thought it would be funny.
[2025-10-11 17:05:23] S.E. Reid: Ahahaha, what a perfectly suspicious little surprise! 😂 I’ve got my coffee and I’m all wrapped up warm. It’s getting chillier and chillier these mornings and we haven’t swept our chimney yet (oops). But it’s a great excuse to break out the thick sweaters and be cozy!
[2025-10-11 17:07:55] Finbarre: To reflect the bright and burnished light of Autumn, I have picked The Gilded Tarot for our chat today, created by Barbara Moore and Ciro Marchetti. Do you have any decks yourself there?
[2025-10-11 17:09:11] Finbarre: A rather grand introduction this deck is here - https://www.ciromarchetti.com/tarot
[2025-10-11 17:09:51] S.E. Reid: I do! I decided to play with the Ethereal Visions tarot by Matt Hughes while we chat.
It was the first deck I bought for myself when I decided to get serious about learning tarot imagery, and while I’ve since acquired plenty of others it’s still my “comfort deck” and just feels good in the hand, you know?
(- Finbarre: ❤️ -)
[2025-10-11 17:10:40] S.E. Reid: Oh, the Gilded Tarot looks beautiful!
[2025-10-11 17:11:27] Finbarre: OH YOUR CHOICE IS GORGEOUS (and now I must get it). Damn weakness for Art Noveau....
(- S.E. Reid: ❤️ -)
[2025-10-11 17:11:49] Finbarre: Looks like it fell out of an elf’s beltpouch!
[2025-10-11 17:12:31] S.E. Reid: It really does! I love Hughes’ art style. And it’s got enough Rider-Waite-Smith parallels to feel recognizable while still leaning into such a lovely fantasy feel. I love it.
[2025-10-11 17:13:40] Finbarre: Touches of Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, and Aubrey Beardsley in there. Plus a hefty dollop of laudanum and absinthe!
[2025-10-11 17:13:48] S.E. Reid: Ha, exactly!
[2025-10-11 17:14:21] Finbarre: Right, as you might know it is Devil Season until Halloween so no guesses to what your first card will be. Are you set up for the spookiest day of the year yet?
[2025-10-11 17:14:31] Finbarre: Decorations up? Skeletons assembled?
[2025-10-11 17:15:38] S.E. Reid: Slowly but surely! I’ve been giving myself lots of time to ease into the season this year. We just pulled our winter squash out of the garden so it’s all curing and looking so delightfully autumnal. And of course I have Paul and Annie on my desk. Let’s see if I can find their picture, hold on...
[2025-10-11 17:16:03] S.E. Reid:
[2025-10-11 17:16:25] Finbarre: Which is which now?
[2025-10-11 17:16:49] S.E. Reid: Paul the Pumpkin and Annie the Cat. They’re named for the characters in Misery. 😂
(- Finbarre: 😮 -)
[2025-10-11 17:17:02] S.E. Reid: Plus a lil yoga skeleton back there, but she’s on my desk year-round.
[2025-10-11 17:17:43] S.E. Reid: I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen. October is the month of the kitchen, for me.
[2025-10-11 17:17:58] S.E. Reid: Cooking, baking...it’s how I feel closest to my ancestry.
[2025-10-11 17:19:10] Finbarre: These are my two. A demon that one of my children made riding a golden slug. If anyone reads this and has any name suggestions I’d love to hear!
[2025-10-11 17:19:22] S.E. Reid: Oh they’re perfect!!
[2025-10-11 17:19:35] S.E. Reid: Kind of reminds me of Neverending Story, with the “racing snail.”
[2025-10-11 17:21:21] Finbarre: I had... completely forgotten about that thing - most of the film to be honest. I saw it on a rainy day in Wales when the skies opened and the only building to shelter in was the local cinema. I loved it until that panther thing scared me witless (it was a while ago to be fair)
[2025-10-11 17:21:42] Finbarre: Speaking of all things dark and spooksome. Card time!
[2025-10-11 17:21:55] Finbarre:
[2025-10-11 17:22:18] Finbarre: In this deck, oddly buff
(- S.E. Reid: 😂 -)
[2025-10-11 17:22:40] S.E. Reid: “the devil works hard” they say 😂
[2025-10-11 17:22:46] S.E. Reid: Not sure this is what they meant.
[2025-10-11 17:24:11] Finbarre: It’s a card of uncomfortable questions so we’ll start with this:
[2025-10-11 17:24:30] Finbarre: What shadows, attachments or fears might be limiting your creative process?
[2025-10-11 17:26:38] S.E. Reid: That’s such a great question! I’m always fascinated by the way the Devil card in the RWS echoes the Lovers card in look and structure. And the Lovers card is all about commitment and self-sacrifice. So, for me, the Devil is often about the temptation to cut and run when things get difficult or painful. And I have always felt that push and pull really keenly in my creative life.
[2025-10-11 17:27:29] S.E. Reid: For a long time I was convinced that I didn’t have any discipline, because I would start projects and never finish them. Over time I’ve learned to stick things out until they’re done, but it takes a lot of mental and spiritual and emotional work for me to stay put and not run when the project inevitably gets difficult.
[2025-10-11 17:28:58] Finbarre: That core message of “recognise the illusion”, that liberation is *just there* if you choose it. How does SE Reid stick things out and chase those pesky demons away?
[2025-10-11 17:29:26] Finbarre: (I’m after tips to be completely honest!)
[2025-10-11 17:31:41] S.E. Reid: My creative process changed a lot when I started thinking of projects like relationships, actually, and recognizing that the challenge is a natural part of the making. Relationships are challenging, because when we love someone we start to see ourselves mirrored in them, and that’s uncomfortable. The same is true in creative projects. So the trick is to know that that’s coming and take it as an exciting opportunity to get to know yourself better every time you start something new.
When I start to get the heebie-jeebies with a particular project, it’s usually because there’s something in it I need to learn about myself. Embracing that is the key to sticking it out.
[2025-10-11 17:32:06] S.E. Reid: Infatuation is the easy part, and ideas are a dime a dozen.
[2025-10-11 17:32:20] S.E. Reid: But a finished project is cathartic in a way that shiny new ideas can never be.
[2025-10-11 17:35:06] Finbarre: Pictured: my ideas on any given weekend. That is astonishingly wise and you’ve got me being all reflective even thought it’s only the first card. The next one will be wild and could be anything at all. Let me know when to stop shuffling the deck and I’ll pull one out. Make it a good one.
[2025-10-11 17:35:23] S.E. Reid: Stop
[2025-10-11 17:36:11] Finbarre:
[2025-10-11 17:36:26] Finbarre: The Page of Swords!
[2025-10-11 17:36:48] S.E. Reid: Ah, hello friend! Haha
[2025-10-11 17:37:10] Finbarre: The card of sharp minds, inquisitive natures. Sound like you?
[2025-10-11 17:37:23] S.E. Reid: After caffeine, yes 😂
[2025-10-11 17:37:36] Finbarre: (Also *ahem* nosiness and bluntness too)
(- S.E. Reid: ❤️ -)
[2025-10-11 17:39:26] S.E. Reid: It’s taken me a while to warm up to suit of Swords in general. I always found them quite cold, especially the court cards. But I’ve started to warm up to them. Some days I need them to help me cut through the BS.
[2025-10-11 17:40:05] S.E. Reid: And while the Page might be a bit graceless in his intellect, I find that I can be, too. It’s only appropriate.
[2025-10-11 17:41:48] Finbarre: Your question. If you were to prune away whimsy, cut back the dopamine chase - what would be there at the centre of your curiosity?
[2025-10-11 17:46:35] S.E. Reid: Wow, I love that question. That’s really insightful. I suppose now is as good a time as any to admit that I come at tarot from what might be an odd angle, since I am a Christian, and all of my belief and mysticism tends to orbit around a core of seeking the deepest possible connection to the divine. So if all else was stripped away--the aesthetics, the whimsy, the dopamine--I think what “powers” my seeking is always going to be that sense of communing on an intimate scale with something greater than myself. It’s what leads me to create, to cultivate, to surround myself with hope...yes, I think that’s where I’ll land with that. It’s about connection, always. It’s about tapping into something ineffable.
(- Finbarre: ❤️ -)
[2025-10-11 17:46:59] S.E. Reid: I am a student of wonder.
[2025-10-11 17:47:15] S.E. Reid: And maybe even an addict to it, if I’m honest.
[2025-10-11 17:48:24] Finbarre: Did you mirror that deep fascination with mystery with your character Ivy, from Ivy & Ixos?
[2025-10-11 17:49:58] S.E. Reid: Oh yes. While I based Ivy on a lot of kids I’ve known (I used to be a teacher), the thing I recognize about myself in her is her desire to understand. She takes certain strange things at face value purely because she wants to understand deeply. I feel that.
[2025-10-11 17:50:46] S.E. Reid: Kids get that better than adults do, often. But we can learn so much from that.
[2025-10-11 17:51:02] S.E. Reid: They are happy holding two truths at the same tiFinbarre: answers, and more questions.
[2025-10-11 17:53:56] Finbarre: I never know what my youngest is going to talk to me about on the school run: it could anything from The Dark Forest Hypothesis to pointing out clouds that look like butts!
(- S.E. Reid: 😂 -)
[2025-10-11 17:55:13] Finbarre: The time has flown by and we’re approaching the last card. Ready?
[2025-10-11 17:55:18] S.E. Reid: Go for it!
[2025-10-11 17:56:08] Finbarre: This one was picked for you by the artist Veronica Ciancarini, also known as Vespertiliu
[2025-10-11 17:56:28] Finbarre:
[2025-10-11 17:56:44] S.E. Reid: Oh lovely! ♥
[2025-10-11 17:57:02] S.E. Reid: Funny, before we started talking I kept pulling that card from my own deck when I was just playing around.
[2025-10-11 17:57:10] S.E. Reid: Not a coincidence, I’d wager.
[2025-10-11 17:58:21] Finbarre: Literally finishing on a high with...
[2025-10-11 17:58:37] Finbarre: How do you celebrate success?
[2025-10-11 17:59:44] S.E. Reid: You know what? I need to be better at that! I can be very pragmatic when I finish a project or reach a milestone. “Okay, that’s done...on to the next thing!” and I need to learn to sit with the success MUCH better than I do. So this is a very good reminder.
[2025-10-11 18:00:23] S.E. Reid: For me, something doesn’t exist unless it’s written down, so I find that the best way for me to celebrate success is to keep a record of it. That way I can look back and see how far I’ve come.
[2025-10-11 18:02:23] Finbarre:
> But a finished project is cathartic in a way that shiny new ideas can never be.
From what you wrote here, it sounds like rewards of completion are far more fundamental than seeking approval or toasting yourself.
[2025-10-11 18:02:50] S.E. Reid: Very true! Success is more about a deeper sense of self than it is about attaining anything material.
(- Finbarre: ❤️ -)
[2025-10-11 18:03:11] S.E. Reid: Which is why I think we can fail to recognize it, even when it’s right in front of us.
[2025-10-11 18:05:16] Finbarre: Do you happen to have that Ethereal Visions (or another equally lovely) tarot deck within reach there, I would love for you to pull a card for the next person I speak to. If you have had one on your mind, you could always hand that one to the next person too. Could you take a picture of the one you pick?
[2025-10-11 18:06:35] S.E. Reid: To the next person, I bequeath one of my personal favorites...
[2025-10-11 18:06:44] S.E. Reid:
[2025-10-11 18:06:53] S.E. Reid: The Nine of Pentacles!
[2025-10-11 18:07:52] Finbarre: Those gilded corners! That luscious purple! You are a generous soul
[2025-10-11 18:08:09] S.E. Reid: Gotta share the wealth where we can, right?
(- Finbarre: 💰 -)
[2025-10-11 18:09:39] Finbarre: Left me with a craving to have a decent red with my dinner tonight too. S E Reid, before you enjoy the rest of your day, what is the best way for folks to follow your writing?
[2025-10-11 18:11:51] S.E. Reid: This has been a delight, Finbarre! If folks are interested, they can check out my speculative fiction at my newsletter Talebones, or my spiritual writings and original poetry at The Wildroot Parables. I also just launched a new newsletter called Scatterbones where I put more random little nonfiction thoughts, like reviews and niche opinions and other tidbits. I’ve also published two fiction books and I’m hoping to publish a third, an uncanny short story collection, before the end of October! Those are available as a paperback through Amazon and an ebook through most other places where ebooks are sold.
(- Finbarre: ❤️ -)