A Magical Way of Life
Poppy Jamie with Jill Dawson
As a self-proclaimed Seeker of Everyday Magic, Sue Pritchard was delighted to hear Poppy Jamie discuss all things magical with Jill Dawson, at a recent event hosted by Sevenoaks Bookshop.
Wanting to beat the current heatwave sweeping across the UK, with the added bonus of catching the sunrise, I was up at 5am to walk my dog, Sophie, earlier this week.
Taking one of our familiar routes into the cooler countryside, which was initially far more awake than I was, I could feel my magic-seeking senses heighten, almost becoming fine-tuned.
The dawn chorus of birdsong was so loudly inspiring it reminded me of the Last Night of the Proms, and Merlin, my trusty bird app, flew into action. Almost punching the air in jubilation when it detected a Greater Whitethroat and Common Reed Warbler - species I’ve never heard of before - I marvelled at how much of a glory-seeking bird spotter I’ve become at this app’s prompting.
Although Merlin wasn’t able to verify it, a large bird of prey, maybe a buzzard, then swooped so daringly low over our heads, with three squawking crows following in hot pursuit, it made me jump out of my skin. And with my nerves now in tatters, I rather pathetically screamed out loud when a tiny vole-like creature scurried across the path in front of me, perilously close to my open-toed sandals.
Turning homeward bound and catching a whiff of Sophie downwind, I instantly regretted encouraging her to take a cooling dip in her favourite pond, because she now had a rather swampy aroma about her.
And as I stopped to snap a photo of my stinky, water-loving Labrador on my phone, I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous number of photos I’d also taken to capture the sun’s version of morning glory.
Mulling over the little gems Mother Nature had shared with me that morning, I realised how therapeutic it has become to notice these glimmers of everyday magic.
It was something Poppy Jamie discussed with Jill Dawson at a recent magical evening hosted by Sevenoaks Bookshop.
Former Muggle
I wasn’t a huge fan of magic when growing up. I was more of a horse loving, Famous Five kind of girl who'd occasionally watch Paul Daniels’ Magic Show on the television. Magical fantasy was never my preferred genre of reading material either.
So when my mum became more spiritually curious after my dad died in 2009, I just tagged along to keep her company. Keen to keep an open mind for the both of us, I didn’t want anyone to take advantage of her recently widowed status, and called myself a muggle. It was a term I’d coined from Harry Potter and is someone who lacks any magical ability.
To be honest, I only read the Harry Potter series of books after sorting through my dad’s possessions not long after he died. Unlike me, he wasn’t a huge bookworm but had loved Harry’s adventures. I was intrigued to find out why. Maybe by reading the books he had, I hoped to magically bridge the gap between us after his sudden death at only 63 years of age.
But thanks to Harry Potter, along with Tracy Sharman from Talking Spirit (whose initial card reading set me off on this journey of becoming an author), I now proudly call myself A Seeker of Everyday Magic.
Over the moon to discover Poppy Jamie’s new book called The Book of Magical Living, I couldn’t wait to start reading it. And it was such a pleasure to hear her discuss all things magical with Jill Dawson in Sevenoaks.
Grounded In Science
With a background in science, Poppy says her life began to change when she found her way back to noticing magic – something her mum, a healer, had always encouraged from a young age.
Although often pitted against one another, Poppy believes the boundaries between magic and science are blurry because, “magic is in fact tomorrow’s science”.
With 95% of the universe still a mystery, she also struggles to understand why we’re so disconnected from the more mysterious parts of life. In today’s modern world, it’s only when scientific evidence and data prove something, do we then finally accept it as truth. Magic asks the questions science cannot yet answer, she adds.
“We’re constantly looking for external validation from the scientific world and it’s eroding our own sense of intuition” Poppy continued. And this resonated with me.
For years I tried to resolve life’s problems by reading my way through a huge pile of self-help books. But after embarking on a midlife spiritual journey, I now realise I was never in tune with, or trusted, my own intuition.
The Art of Noticing
Fully immersing herself in magic when writing her book, with science peppered throughout, Poppy says she scratched away at the surface to show magic is less fluffy than people think, and more grounded in science.
As Poppy believes, intuition is our ability to notice more detail. However, with our modern brains inundated with information 24/7, and numerous apps such as Merlin infiltrating all areas of our lives, we're almost full to capacity, often overlooking the finer details.
She gives the example of how we can be more inspired when on holiday. When not on autopilot and constantly overwhelmed, we get to view the world around us with a new pair of eyes, able to see and appreciate the more intricate layers of life.
And if more open like this, Poppy says the universe will “start winking at you”, offering various signs and synchronicities along the way. The universe is like your business partner, she adds.
When Things Fall Apart
Quite often during the traumatic times of our lives, human understanding “goes fuzzy” and almost fails us. And this, Poppy believes, is when magic steps in.
“When life falls apart,” she says, “magic reminds us how fortune can change.”
Bravely speaking about her own baby loss, Poppy said it was her mum’s crystal pendulum prophecy, along with other tarot card readings, which were at the back of her mind throughout such a devastating time. In a way they helped reassure her that although we often cannot see it, the universe always has a wider plan at work.
And now, Poppy told a delighted audience in Sevenoaks Bookshop, as predicted by the tarot cards, she is pregnant with a baby girl due in 2026.
Wisdom of the Cards
Speaking alongside Poppy, Jill Dawson gave more information about her recent novel called Pixie. It’s based on the real life of Pamela Coleman Smith. She was the illustrator of the original Rider-Waite-Smith deck of tarot cards in 1909, which have since sold over ten million copies.
Reflecting on our patriarchal world and often belittled achievements of women, Jill says it’s shocking many people don’t know Pamela’s name, with her contribution to tarot often overlooked.
A life-long lover of tarot, Jill even runs a tarot inspired creative writing course and says the cards are also a powerful tool for self-reflection, often with a sense of humour.
Recalling the first time she took her much-loved circular deck of tarot cards with her when travelling to the US, Jill was stopped at airport security after they caused alarm on the x-ray screen.
Retrieving them from her case, she showed the security guard what they were and urged him to choose a random card. So he did. Selecting one that was about safety and security.
“I love my job,” he laughed with Jill afterwards.
Sue Pritchard with Jill Dawson. Jill’s recent book Pixie is a novel about Pamela Coleman Smith who illustrated the iconic Rider-Waite-Smith deck of tarot cards.
Retrospectively
Tarot card timelines are never clear-cut either. Messages sometimes only become apparent when looking at readings retrospectively. Jill was once told she would have three children – when she had two and was adamant there weren’t plans for anymore. But then she said, quite unexpectedly, she adopted another when she was in her 50s.
A similar thing happened to me when I was quite certain the card reader had got her prediction wrong.
Ten years ago, a friend and I were told by a psychic we would both write books. Back then we laughed at what we thought was merely a lazy script on the psychic’s behalf, simply telling everyone they’d go on to become an author.
However, I must apologise to this psychic if I ever see her again.
About five years ago, my friend went on to co-author a book while I'm now on the journey to publish my first one. In fact, I have since been told in several other readings, I will go on to write two more quite successful books. I can’t wait!
Believe In Magic
“Everyone has the capacity to be deeply intuitive and psychic,” Poppy told a captive audience in Sevenoaks. “And everyone has the potential to activate magic.”
It’s something Tracy Sharman from Talking Spirit agrees with.
“You can bring magic into your adult life,” Tracy believes. “Magic is there if you look hard enough and beautiful things will happen when you start to believe.”
I recently thanked Tracy again for her initial card reading with me back in October 2022. It had been prompted by a rather turbulent time of my life. I was plagued by a worrying spate of bad luck, in the grips of a midlife crisis, and probably still struggling with grief over the loss of my dad.
That day, Tracy not only gave me the courage and inspiration to start chasing my childhood dream of becoming an author, she also reminded me to keep looking out for life’s more magical moments along the way.
“Oh, my lovely,” she'd said, smiling at me kindly. “That magic was already beaming out of you. You just didn’t realise it.”
The Book of Magical Living by Poppy Jamie unveils eight secrets to help you connect with your inner power.
Poppy delves into fine-tuning your intuition, signs from the universe, nature, energy and what she calls the most magical transition of all – making peace with death.
Writing about the magic of death was Poppy’s favourite chapter in the book. She says we spend so little time talking about the only thing that is inevitable in our lives, but there is such great capacity for human knowing the closer we are to it.
Poppy also admits she is fascinated by witches. She calls their historic persecution as the most ingenious marketing campaign ever, when wise women were labelled as dangerous simply because they were viewed as being a threat to men.
Being called a witch, Poppy believes, is a great compliment because a witch is simply a wise woman standing in her own power.
“My mum is a real witch,” Poppy says, giving her mum the credit for sparking her own magical interest in life. “She doesn’t really like the term though,” Poppy laughs, “but she’s getting more comfortable with it as I’ve told her it is a compliment.”
Jill Dawson had spoken about the more humorous side of tarot cards, and the cards had the last laugh that night at Sevenoaks Bookshop.
One of the raffle winners to have a personal tarot card reading with Poppy and Jill, had been the only member of the audience to ask questions about tarot. Everyone gasped in surprise when her name was called, prompting laughter at the almost unbelievable magical result.