Southern Spells' Sophia Somerville : from advertising to modern mystic
Imagery Fury Glanville // @furyglanville
Words Emma Vidgen // @emma_vee
Even as a little girl, Sophia Somerville always craved adventure. “I went through many phases of what I wanted to be when I grew up: checkout chick, vet, actress… but one thing was a constant. From the age of five I used to say to my mum, ‘I just want to have an interesting life,’” says Sophia. “I guess I’ve always been a Sagittarius through and through, and I continue to stay true to this intention.”
We were big fans of Sophia though her Instagram long before we serendipitously met in person, so when the stars aligned and we connected IRL, it wasn’t long before we began talking about working together. We’re so excited to welcome Sophia to The Wayward family as our newest contributor and resident tarot reader.
Sophia will be bringing us regular energy updates and tarot readings on our instagram (@thewayward.co) to help you make the most of the energy each week.
But first, she shares her very own Wayward tale of how she walked away from the corporate world to live a more magical life.
what were you like as a little girl?
I was a witchy kid. I went to a Steiner primary school, so being a weirdo was encouraged, and it tended to attract a lot of woo-woo-adjacent families. At home I would make houses for fairies, ‘potions’ in the back yard, and I was drawn to fictional worlds that involved magic – Harry Potter, The Worst Witch, Matilda, Lord of the Rings, Charmed…
How did you find tarot …or tarot find you?
When I was about 20 my stepsister gifted me the Motherpeace Tarot deck. Until that point my awareness of Tarot was confined to pop culture references, and was largely fear-based. Like many people, the idea of seeing something in my future that I didn’t want to see spooked me. It was this sense of trepidation that prevented me from unboxing the deck for three years. It stayed under my bed, this ominous, looming ornament that kept calling to me, quietly. That calling became louder when I went through a particularly spiky breakup. My grief was the thing that broke the spell, and tarot suddenly felt meant for me and safe to explore. I began pulling cards daily, devouring the contents of the accompanying guidebook and journaling about my findings. Through this exploration I realised that Tarot wasn’t about the future, it was about the present – and how, as Simone Weil writes, ‘the future is made of the same stuff as the present.’
Eventually I started talking about my newfound love of Tarot to a few friends and online. People would ask me for readings, and I started saying yes. I did free readings for about a year, then creative swaps (eg. a dinner/bunch of flowers/nutritional consult exchanged for a reading). Once I was reading for people, my understanding of the cards expanded tenfold. I learned so much from other people, from the whole co-creation of a reading, from stumbling on cards and having to listen to my intuition rather than memory. What struck me most was how the same card could speak differently to each individual
What is it about tarot that spoke to you?
Tarot was a friend to me at the time of that breakup, something nobody else in my life knew about. Having the deck to turn to, to give some of my worry and control to, helped me find hope in the dark. It also opened me up to some significant friendships and chance encounters. I don’t really understand how, but it led me to finding an incredible psychologist, who helped me work through some of the issues I had been avoiding in that relationship. Strangely, magically enough, that partner and I ended up getting back together, and we are now engaged. I can’t exactly attribute that to the Tarot, but I do tip my hat to it as the thing that took me by the hand and led me to do some necessary work that helped us rebuild.
It made a time that felt like hell still feel like progress, with moments of real sweetness and hope. That time felt like an initiation, an opening, where I built a real intimacy with myself through the language of the tarot. As a tool it helped me befriend my broken-ness, my wholeness and my human-ness. In time this has helped me befriend that in others in a larger way too, and has played a huge part in learning to live with another human being – something this Sagittarius never thought she would ever want to do. Tarot has been the thing that has helped me most with forgiveness, and patience, and a growing sense of trust in the timing of things. I’m impatient and flighty as fuck, and Tarot grounds me a whole lot.
Tarot also appeals to my love of art and the occult. I like the way it makes aesthetics spiritual – it doesn’t separate beauty from depth, or style from divinity. I like that there are so many decks to choose from, each with their own distinct flavour infusing the same 78 archetypes. It takes the dullness out of life, and brings colour and shape to my days. And I absolutely love reading for other people.
How did you make the jump from corporate career to tarot reader?
I’ve always been a bit of a multi-hyphenate, so I wouldn’t call myself a full time anything. I currently read tarot and freelance as an events producer. I’m also writing a book. Sometimes I like to call myself a word witch.
I have only recently embraced my nature as someone with several irons in the fire, and for many years I forced myself to be a 9-5er. After graduating with an Arts degree (creative writing) I launched myself into a string of full time office and retail positions. The one that stuck was at an advertising and creative collective, where I fell into producing and met a range of interesting folk doing different creative work. Being there opened me up to the real possibility of inventing your own ‘thing’, your own job, and even though I knew I wasn’t destined for advertising, I knew the structure of being there had something to teach me.
Soon enough, Southern Spells was born. I was reading tarot on the side and using every spare moment to study card interpretations, listen to podcasts by established readers (shoutout to Lindsay Mack), and write my newsletter or blog. I had started charging for readings by then, holding them in person in my tiny apartment and online. It was a very intentional thing, being at that job while I established myself as a reader, and I wanted to make it count. I knew there would come a time for me to leave it; I wasn’t fixed on when it would be, but I tried to stay present and open to the process unfolding on its own. It was uncomfortable though. I kept a postcard of a Georgia O’Keeffe painting at my desk to remind me of my intention. On the back of it I wrote a message that had come out in one of my readings for myself: ‘hone the skills that lead to freedom’.
In December 2018 I left the role and took the leap into full time working witch mode. I read at Orchard St Clinic, Luna Beauty and Apothecary, WeWork and the Golden Age, and continue to collaborate with these businesses. I hold readings and mentorship sessions from my studio space at home, in person and online, and I run monthly moon circles and tarot workshops.
I want to be transparent about the fact that I have a ‘muggle job’ alongside my business, which at the moment oscillates between retail and production work. Southern Spells is growing, and is taking up more and more of my time, but it’s a process. I like to ease the pressure where I can, and enjoy each step of the journey even when I feel impatient to reach the next phase. It’s exciting to be where I am now, I get to lay out a lot of important foundations and experience the effects of them. A lot is opening up, and I’m lucky enough to have the time and space to process and embody it on my own terms. I have to pinch myself sometimes and remember that the freedom I have now was once just something scrawled on the back of a postcard. I created that, and now it’s my job to nurture it.
“Tarot made a time that felt like hell still feel like progress, with moments of real sweetness and hope…”
How do you use tarot in your client work?
I work with people in two ways: tarot readings and mentorship.
A tarot reading is a one-hour 1:1 session that takes place at my studio or online via Zoom video. We chat, clarify your question or intention for the reading, shuffle and pull cards. What follows is a reflection and interpretation of what I see and feel from the cards, which tells a kind of story. It is far from one-sided – it unfolds like a conversation, something the client, the cards and I create together. The purpose of a reading is to connect you with your intuition, humanity and agency. Depending on your particular needs, a reading may provide clarity around a really specific issue, or offer insight into your path more generally. Essentially, the cards are there to help you back yourself, and work with your circumstances and not against them. The experience of a reading allows you to make sense of the twists and turns of your journey thus far, and empowers you with the choices that are available to you presently. The combination of the cards, their messages and the space I hold for you creates a kind of safety container in which to feel seen and affirmed. All readings include a grounding meditation, option to record the session, and photos of the cards.
A mentorship is a package of 6-sessions over 6 weeks, tailored to the individual needs of a client, intended to support them in building their intuitive muscle. It incorporates Tarot with journaling exercises, energy work, human design and meditation. The first session is an in-depth Tarot Reading where we pull 6 cards, providing the focus and structure for each session: there are bespoke guided meditations and journaling exercises that centre on each card’s theme and lesson.
This offering is for people who want more ongoing guidance in their lives, who want to (re)connect to their intuition, awaken their natural curiosity or desire, and trust their gut-feelings - perhaps after a period of feeling ruled by their own scepticism. It is particularly suited to artists, designers, writers, makers, and entrepreneurs-at-heart who want to unearth a vision for their creative work and/or life.
It is a healing process that has some structure to it, and I leave a lot of space for the unknown, which is where our intuition thrives – both elements are important. The structure comes from the tarot reading and the journaling, meditation and grounding exercises that I teach you. Through that structured work, you will inevitably come up against blocks, which will reveal your core wounds. This is where the healing comes in, and it is unstructured. Here I hold space for you to safely feel into what is blocking you, and we move through it together, drawing upon the lessons of the Tarot as a guide.
What is your favourite card?
This changes – but at the moment I am loving the Queen of Pentacles. She reminds me to take care of my body and enjoy my physical life. I also have a real soft spot for the Fool, which I have been pulling quite frequently of late. It’s presence gives me this wise sense of hope; a childlike willingness to get up and keep going.
AND YOUR favourite deck?
For client readings I adore Neo Tarot, by Jerico Mandybur & Dai Ruiz. For personal use I love She Wolfe, by Devany Wolfe.
What is your favourite spread?
I love Sarah Faith Gottesdiener’s spreads. There is one designed to use at New Moons, which I abbreviate to five cards: