Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs Impact Report 2025-2026

Prepared for: Tarot Interviews
Prepared by: Finbarre Snarey
Period covered: 2025 to May 2026
Prepared: 15 May 2026

Executive summary

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs are independent arts and culture interview projects created by Finbarre Snarey. Together, they use tarot cards as structured prompts for conversations with writers, artists, performers, researchers, tarot practitioners and other creative people.

Since launching in 2025, the operation has grown from a first podcast series into a broader cultural platform spanning audio interviews, messenger-based features, public web publishing, social media promotion, tarot research and archive-adjacent work.

The projects show clear impact in six areas:

Creative impact: giving guests an unusual and reflective way to discuss their work, process, identity, memory and imagination.
Cultural impact: documenting contemporary tarot practice as part of modern creative culture, especially around Rider-Waite-Smith symbolism, indie decks, queer tarot, folklore, horror, games and literary practice.
Access impact: developing a low-pressure interview model through Tarot DMs, where guests can respond by text, images, voice notes or short clips instead of needing a formal audio or video interview.
Professional and reputational impact: attracting recognised guests including Joanne Harris, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lucy Rose, Lauren Beukes, Julian Simpson, Professor Carrie Jenkins, Sacha Coward and others.
Resource and support impact: generating approximately $1,000 in physical and financial donations and support, including cash support, donated tarot decks, tickets, event access, parking and other practical resources.
Archive value impact: beginning to build longer-term collection value through carefully sourced tarot deck acquisitions, including auction purchases where the estimated collection value exceeds the purchase price.

The overall impact is that Tarot Interviews has become more than a podcast. It is now a small but distinctive independent cultural operation, producing original interview material, documenting living tarot culture and building a growing network of guests, readers, listeners and supporters.

1. Project overview

Tarot Interviews

Tarot Interviews is the original podcast project. It interviews creative people using tarot cards as prompts for conversation.

The format is simple and distinctive: guests draw cards, respond to what appears, and use the cards as a way into stories about their work, life, imagination and creative practice. The cards are not treated only as fortune-telling tools. They are used as a structure for conversation.

Season 1 established the format as an audio podcast and created a public archive of conversations with guests from art, literature, music, folklore, tarot, games, horror and wider creative practice.

The podcast is available through major listening platforms and is supported by the Tarot Interviews website, which gives the project a permanent public home.

Tarot DMs

Tarot DMs is the messenger-based development of the same core idea. Instead of recording a conventional podcast interview, Tarot DMs takes place through a messaging app.

Guests respond to three tarot prompts in a one-hour conversation. They can reply using text, images, voice notes or short clips. The result is edited and published as a digital feature.

Tarot DMs has created a more flexible and accessible version of the Tarot Interviews format. It allows guests to take part without needing to join a video call, record a long podcast episode or perform in a formal interview setting.

By May 2026, Tarot DMs had published at least 30 numbered chats, including interviews with high-profile writers and creative practitioners.

2. Mission and purpose

The purpose of Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs is to create thoughtful, accessible and original conversations with creative people.

The projects are built around three main ideas.

Tarot as a prompt system

Tarot gives each interview a structure while keeping the conversation open and unpredictable. It helps move guests away from standard publicity answers and into more personal, reflective and imaginative territory.

Interviews as cultural documentation

The projects preserve creative thinking. They capture how writers, artists, performers and researchers talk about their work at a particular moment in time.

Independent publishing as cultural practice

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs show that a small independent platform can produce valuable arts journalism, build a distinctive archive and reach recognised guests without institutional backing.

3. Output and activity

Podcast output

Tarot Interviews has produced a first series of podcast episodes and companion web pages. These conversations established the project’s central method: using tarot cards to guide interviews with creative people.

The first series includes guests from a wide range of creative fields, including:

Guest or theme

Area of impact

Lauren Beukes

International speculative fiction, literary culture and genre storytelling

Julian Simpson

Audio drama, occult fiction and creative world-building

Cassandra Snow

Queer tarot, occult publishing and tarot practice

Nova and Mali

Queer tarot, disability representation and indie deck culture

Clelia McElroy

Horror studies, women and non-binary representation in horror

Kay Purcell

Tabletop roleplaying, live-play performance and inclusive storytelling

Kit Whitfield

Folklore, fantasy literature and the English uncanny

This range shows that Tarot Interviews is not only a tarot podcast. It is an arts and culture interview archive that uses tarot as its method.

Tarot DMs output

Tarot DMs has expanded the operation into a faster, more accessible and highly shareable format.

By May 2026, the series had reached at least Chat #30. Notable guests include:

Guest

Significance

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Major British science-fiction and fantasy author

Joanne Harris

Internationally recognised novelist, including Chocolat

Lucy Rose

Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamb

Amy Twigg

Writer and creative practitioner

Emma van Straaten

Novelist and creative voice with strong access relevance

Sacha Coward

Writer, researcher and queer history communicator

The numbered structure of Tarot DMs demonstrates sustained editorial output, not one-off activity.

Reference and archive output

Tarot DMs also includes a card index based on the 78 cards of the tarot deck. This gives the project a reference function as well as an interview function.

The card index helps readers move through the archive by card, theme and meaning. This strengthens the long-term cultural value of the project because the material is not only chronological. It is also searchable through tarot symbolism.

4. Audience and reach

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs have built an audience across podcast platforms, web publishing, Substack and social media.

Creator-recorded audience data indicates that Tarot DMs reached approximately 240,000 impressions within its first six months. Individual features typically reached between 4,000 and 12,000 impressions, with the strongest-performing feature reaching around 60,000 impressions.

This level of reach is significant for an independent project, especially one operating in a niche cultural field. It suggests that the format is not only distinctive, but also shareable and discoverable.

The audience response shows that tarot-led arts interviews can travel beyond a small specialist readership. Tarot DMs in particular has shown that a messenger-based interview can become a public-facing cultural feature, rather than remaining a private exchange.

5. Financial and material support

Tarot Interviews has begun to attract practical material support for its work.

As of May 2026, the operation has received approximately $1,000 in physical and financial donations and support.

This includes direct cash support and tangible in-kind contributions such as:

Type of support

Examples

Financial support

Cash donations and direct contributions

Donated materials

Tarot decks and related creative resources

Event access

Tickets, passes or entry connected to reporting and interview work

Logistical support

Parking and practical costs covered or reduced

Other physical support

Resources that reduce the operating cost of the project

This figure does not include guest amplification, social media value or estimated advertising value from posts. It refers specifically to physical and financial support.

This support is important because it shows that Tarot Interviews is not only producing cultural output, but also attracting real-world investment from contributors, partners and supporters.

The $1,000 figure demonstrates early material confidence in the operation. It also shows that people and organisations are willing to help the project continue, whether through money, donated objects, access or practical resources.

6. Archive acquisitions and collection value

In addition to approximately $1,000 in physical and financial support, the project has begun building longer-term archive value through carefully sourced tarot deck acquisitions, including auction purchases where the estimated collection value exceeds the purchase price.

These acquisitions are distinct from donations and external support. They do not represent money raised, but they do demonstrate curatorial judgement, careful sourcing and the creation of longer-term research and cultural value.

This is especially relevant to the wider Tarot Interviews operation because the British Tarot Archive strengthens the project’s authority, supports future research, and provides material context for interviews, public writing, talks, deck documentation and cultural heritage work.

The acquisition of tarot decks and related printed matter also contributes to the preservation of contemporary tarot culture. Some decks are produced in small runs, become difficult to obtain, or gain research significance after their initial release. Careful second-hand and auction acquisition allows the archive to build cultural value beyond the original purchase price.

7. Creative impact

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs give guests a distinctive way to discuss creative work.

Rather than asking only standard publicity questions, the format uses tarot cards to open up more reflective subjects, including:

how creative work begins
how artists respond to uncertainty
how memory shapes practice
how guests understand risk, fear, desire and change
how symbols and stories influence their work
how creative people relate to chance and interpretation

This gives the projects a clear creative value. They do not simply promote books, artworks, decks, performances or projects. They create original material around how those things are made and understood.

The card-based structure creates a balance between order and chance. Each interview has a clear method, but the specific direction of the conversation remains unpredictable. This allows guests to make connections they may not have made in a conventional interview.

The result is a body of work that captures creative thinking in motion. Guests are not only explaining finished work. They are responding, interpreting and reflecting in real time.

8. Cultural impact

The projects document tarot as part of contemporary creative culture.

They show tarot being used by:

novelists
poets
artists
tarot readers
academics
game designers
performers
folklore researchers
cultural commentators
independent deck creators

This is valuable because tarot is often treated either as private spiritual practice or commercial lifestyle content. Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs instead document tarot as a living creative language.

The work captures how tarot appears in literature, art, games, queer culture, horror, folklore, personal symbolism, creative process and public imagination.

The projects also contribute to a wider understanding of Rider-Waite-Smith symbolism and its ongoing role in contemporary culture. By placing tarot in conversation with writers, performers, artists and researchers, the work shows how the cards continue to generate meaning across different creative fields.

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs therefore operate as cultural documentation as well as interview projects. They preserve how tarot is being used, discussed and reimagined in the 2020s.

9. Access impact

Tarot DMs has a particularly strong access argument.

The format allows guests to take part without needing to record a long podcast, appear on camera or join a formal call. They can respond in ways that suit them, including text, images, voice notes and short clips.

This matters because conventional interview formats often assume that every guest is comfortable with live speech, phone calls, video calls or studio-style recording. Tarot DMs removes some of those barriers.

The format is especially useful for guests who are:

anxious about phone or video interviews
hard of hearing
neurodivergent
short on time
travelling
juggling caring responsibilities
more comfortable writing than speaking
better able to respond creatively through mixed media

Tarot DMs demonstrates that access can be built into the structure of an interview format rather than added afterwards. It allows guests to take part in a way that feels conversational, flexible and low-pressure.

This makes the project especially valuable as a model for independent arts journalism. It shows that a high-quality interview does not have to depend on a studio, video call or traditional broadcast structure.

10. Literary and arts journalism impact

The guest list gives Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs a strong claim within independent arts journalism.

The projects have featured internationally recognised writers and creative figures, including Joanne Harris, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lucy Rose, Lauren Beukes and Julian Simpson.

This matters because it shows the format can attract guests beyond a small niche. It has relevance to literature, genre fiction, horror, folklore, games, arts criticism, tarot culture and creative practice more broadly.

The projects have also featured emerging and independent voices, giving the archive breadth as well as recognisable names.

The combination of high-profile guests and specialist creative voices is one of the strengths of the operation. It allows the project to move between literary culture, tarot culture, independent publishing, performance, games and research.

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs now operate credibly within independent arts and culture journalism, combining recognised guests with emerging and specialist creative voices.

11. Local and independent media impact

Tarot Interviews is rooted in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, while reaching guests and audiences far beyond the local area.

This gives the project a useful dual identity:

locally based
nationally and internationally connected

That matters for press, festivals, partnerships and cultural funding. It shows that independent cultural publishing does not have to be based in London or attached to a large institution to produce distinctive work.

The project demonstrates how a small independent platform based in Beeston can reach major writers, artists and creative practitioners while maintaining a clear local identity.

This local base also gives the work a strong regional cultural story. Tarot Interviews is not simply an online project without a place. It is a Beeston-based cultural operation with national and international reach.

12. Guest response and format validation

Guest responses indicate that the format is not only novel, but enjoyable and meaningful.

Previous guest feedback has described the format as:

dynamic
accessible
brilliant
enjoyable
fun
distinctive
low-pressure
creatively generous

This matters because guest experience is part of the project’s impact. A good interview format does not only serve the audience. It also gives the guest a worthwhile creative experience.

The strongest guest-response themes are:

Theme

Meaning

Enjoyment

Guests find the format playful and engaging

Accessibility

Guests appreciate alternatives to conventional calls or recordings

Surprise

The cards create unexpected turns in conversation

Reflection

The format encourages deeper discussion than standard publicity interviews

Shareability

Guests are more likely to share features that feel personal and visually distinctive

Guest feedback shows that the format actively changes the interview experience, making it more playful, reflective and accessible.

13. Public value

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs provide public value in several ways.

Access to creative people

The projects give audiences direct access to writers, artists and other creative figures discussing their work in an informal but thoughtful setting.

Preservation of creative thinking

The interviews preserve conversations that might otherwise disappear into private messages, publicity cycles or one-off live events.

Tarot literacy

The projects help audiences understand tarot as a symbolic and creative system, not only as fortune-telling.

Representation

The archive includes material around queer tarot, disability, indie publishing, women and non-binary horror culture, folklore, games and creative communities.

Independent cultural publishing

The work demonstrates that independent platforms can create serious cultural value through consistent output, strong editorial framing and distinctive methods.

14. Outcomes to date

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs have produced a range of cultural, editorial, material and reputational outcomes.

Confirmed outputs include:

a public Tarot Interviews website
a first podcast series released from 2025
podcast distribution through major listening platforms
public episode pages and guest pages
a Tarot DMs publication with a clear editorial identity
at least 30 numbered Tarot DMs chats by May 2026
interviews with recognised writers, artists, researchers and creative practitioners
public-facing cultural documentation of contemporary tarot practice
approximately $1,000 in physical and financial donations and support received by Tarot Interviews as an operation
early archive value created through carefully sourced tarot deck acquisitions, including auction purchases where estimated collection value exceeds the purchase price

Creator-recorded outcomes include:

approximately 240,000 Tarot DMs impressions within six months
typical individual feature reach of 4,000 to 12,000 impressions
peak feature reach of around 60,000 impressions
strong guest feedback on the accessibility, originality and creative value of the format

These outcomes show that the operation has moved beyond an experimental stage. It now has public output, audience reach, guest credibility, material support and developing archive value.

15. Strategic value

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs now have strategic value beyond their existing published output.

Press accreditation

The projects provide evidence of an established interview format, named guests, a public archive and professional presentation. This supports future requests for festival, event or cultural press access.

Funding and sponsorship

The projects evidence cultural documentation, access innovation, audience reach, recognised guests, physical or financial support already received, and early collection value through archive acquisitions.

Festival and event work

The format is portable. It can be used for short artist reactions, live card draws, mini-interviews, festival features and field recordings.

Academic and heritage work

The archive supports wider arguments about tarot as contemporary cultural practice, especially when connected to Rider-Waite-Smith research, living heritage activity and the British Tarot Archive.

Guest acquisition

The guest list makes future invitations easier. New guests can see a clear archive, strong names and an established format.

Partnerships

The projects are well suited to partnerships with festivals, bookshops, publishers, galleries, tarot creators, literary events, archives and cultural organisations.

16. Evidence base

The impact of Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs is supported by a combination of public output, creator-recorded audience figures, guest feedback, material support and archive development.

Key areas of evidence include:

Evidence type

Value

Published podcast episodes

Demonstrates production output and editorial consistency

Tarot DMs features

Demonstrates sustained publishing activity and format development

Guest list

Demonstrates reputation and cultural reach

Audience impressions

Demonstrates public engagement and discoverability

Guest feedback

Demonstrates format value and participant experience

Donations and support

Demonstrates material confidence in the project

Deck acquisitions

Demonstrates archive-building and curatorial judgement

Card index

Demonstrates reference value and long-term archive structure

Public websites

Demonstrates discoverability and professional presentation

Together, these forms of evidence show that Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs have built a credible foundation as independent arts and culture projects.

17. External impact statement

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs are independent arts and culture interview projects created by Finbarre Snarey in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Both projects use tarot cards as structured prompts for conversations with writers, artists, performers, researchers and creative practitioners.

Since launching in 2025, Tarot Interviews has produced a first podcast series and public web archive, while Tarot DMs has developed the format into a messenger-based interview series with at least 30 published chats by May 2026. Guests have included internationally recognised figures such as Joanne Harris, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lucy Rose, Lauren Beukes and Julian Simpson, alongside emerging artists, tarot practitioners, researchers and cultural workers.

The projects have created a distinctive public record of contemporary tarot culture, creative practice and independent arts journalism. They also demonstrate an accessible interview model, allowing guests to respond through text, images, voice notes and short clips rather than relying on conventional studio, phone or video formats.

As an operation, Tarot Interviews has generated approximately $1,000 in physical and financial donations and support, including cash support, donated decks, tickets, event access, parking and other practical resources. This shows early material investment in the project and its potential for future partnerships.

In addition to this support, the wider operation has begun building longer-term archive value through carefully sourced tarot deck acquisitions. This includes auction purchases where the estimated collection value exceeds the purchase price, demonstrating curatorial judgement and the development of research value through the British Tarot Archive.

Together, Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs show how a small independent platform can produce original cultural journalism, support creative reflection, document living tarot practice and build an international network of artists and readers from a local base in Beeston.

18. Headline findings

The output is now substantial.
Tarot Interviews has produced a first podcast series, while Tarot DMs has reached at least 30 published chats.
The guest list is credible.
The projects have attracted recognised literary and creative figures, including Joanne Harris, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lucy Rose, Lauren Beukes and Julian Simpson.
The format has access value.
Tarot DMs offers an alternative to conventional audio and video interviews, allowing guests to respond through text, images, voice notes and short clips.
The archive has cultural value.
The projects document tarot as a living creative language used by writers, artists, researchers, readers and performers.
The operation has attracted material support.
Tarot Interviews has generated approximately $1,000 in physical and financial donations and support, showing early confidence from its wider network.
The project is beginning to build collection value.
Carefully sourced tarot deck acquisitions, including auction purchases below estimated collection value, are creating longer-term research and archive value.
The brand has grown beyond one format.
Tarot Interviews now includes podcasting, messenger interviews, web publishing, reference material, social media promotion and archive-adjacent cultural work.
The project has future partnership potential.
The work is well placed for future press accreditation, sponsorship, funding, festival work, archive partnerships and cultural recognition.

19. Final assessment

Tarot Interviews and Tarot DMs have moved beyond the proof-of-concept stage.

The work now has:

a distinctive method
a recognisable format
a growing archive
named guests
audience reach
material support
developing collection value
cultural relevance
access value
future partnership potential

The most important development is that Tarot Interviews is no longer simply a podcast brand. It is becoming an independent cultural operation focused on tarot, creative practice, interview innovation, contemporary arts documentation and archive-building.

That gives it a strong foundation for future press accreditation, sponsorship, funding, festival work, archive partnerships and cultural recognition.