Creative Arcana 007. Lucy Werner

A Tarot-led interview with author, PR expert, and bestselling Substack writer, Lucy Werner

Nov 27, 2024

Hi little coven. Before we begin: Quick reminder that there will be no live tarot journaling session this Sunday BUT, full-access members will receive a pre-recorded session into your inbox, featuring a tarot spread for changing your mindset. You can find more info about weekly tarot journaling sessions here.

Creative Arcana is a semi-regular series on The Shuffle featuring interviews with writers, artists, and makers about their creative lives, projects, and processes. The line of questioning will be informed by a series of tarot card pulls.

Lucy Werner is the author of *Hype Yourself,* *Brand Yourself*, and *No-Nonsense PR*. Her bestselling Substack, Hype Yourself, is a Top 50 Business newsletter.

I can’t tell you where I first encountered Lucy Werner’s book, Hype Yourself for the first time, because it seemed to explode across my networks all at once: it was recommended reading across my various networks of writers groups, small business masterminds, and freelance support circles. I promptly invested in a copy, and her voice has served as a trusty companion whilst I’ve navigated the strange waters of going freelance, starting my own business, and launching books. (I’ve got a long way to go before I master the wisdom she’s provided, but am eternally grateful to have her voice in my ear!)

More recently, Lucy launched her now bestselling Substack,

Hype Yourself

where, alongside sharing powerful tips for self-promotion, she has also opened up about her personal experience moving to France from the UK. As it turns out, we made our jumps across the channel at similar times, and it’s truly been a balm to follow along with someone else’s journey through the complex maze of relocation.

I’m captivated by Lucy’s confident, playful, and honest approach to life, writing, and business, so I couldn’t be more honored that she trusted me to pull some cards and ask her some questions about her creative process.

I’m sure you’ll find her responses as compelling and empowering as I did…

The Hermit. This is a card about going your own way and trusting your own instincts as a guiding light - even when your gut feeling goes against the grain of what’s popular or recommended.

Can you share some advice you give to clients about going against the grain in how they show up and promote their creative work?

So many people come to meet wanting a particular piece of press coverage, maybe Forbes or a Ted Talk. The problem is, that it's often a trophy piece of promotion. It’s not because they have refined their message that needs to be shared with the world or it aligns with their business goals. When PR is ego-led I can see straight through it, and I don’t think it serves the person well in the long-term. We often need way longer than we think to percolate our thinking and create a strong message that supports our underlying mission.
I also interpret it as sometimes the opportunity that somebody might be giving us isn’t quite right. The bigger influencer who asks us to work for exposure, the people who are always present and active on every social media channel where their sole purpose is growth but with no regard to the quality of the connections, the partnerships that don’t truly align with our purpose. It is better sometimes to say no to opportunities and hyping ourselves to retreat and rebuild.

King of Cups. This card is typically read quite positively as a symbol for having the emotional resilience to keep yourself afloat in turbulent times. But a recent reading from my own personal tarot practice challenged me to consider how isolating the experience of “keeping yourself afloat” can be.

Can you share about your experience of creative community – how has support from fellow creatives buoyed you in moments when it was difficult to stay afloat on your own?

The biggest gift we can give to ourselves and to others is being prescriptive in the help that we need. The creative community loves to support one-another but we often don’t know how. On Substack, that could be something small like asking for a restack. In a real-world crisis it might be asking for someone to cook us a meal.
Sometimes, it is not always easy to keep ourselves afloat or know what to ask for.
My love language is post and actually when I was struggling the most so many fellow creatives sent me things in the mail from cards, books and food packages. These small acts of love kept me going through some dark days.

Seven of Wands. The Wands are the tarot suit of passion and creativity. Here we see a figure defending themselves against an onslaught of other wands.

How do you prioritize your creative passions in your business without overcommitting to too many ideas?

This has been a big one for me this year.
My word is slow.
I want to do so many things. It takes a really tough emotional resilience to be able to say NO to so many opportunities but I have to prioritise what I am able to do without burning out. Unfortunately, I have broken myself physically or emotionally a few times from over-committing. Now, I heed the warning signs and live for notebooks. I jot down all my ideas and trust and believe they will be there ready for fertilisation when I am ready.
I have a strict list of what I do and don’t say yes or no to. And the biggest trick, is to know that you always need more time than you think for everything. Give yourself contingency time. Always. That and I need to walk regularly. The view from my house overlooks a lake. When my brain is feeling jumbled I go and walk there to calm myself and get creative clarity for what is next.

Page of Wands. This is a card about the power of curiosity and attention. How do you harness curiosity in your creative practice, and what have you been paying close attention to lately?

My daughter was born on a full moon, so I pay much closer attention to the moon cycle and nature. Since moving to France, I feel so much more in tune with seasons both in terms of weather, plants and food produce. My lake view is something I never take for granted and every morning I do a weather watch to spot the differences. Sometimes its blue, its green, it ripples, its choppy its smooth. Taking time to look at the elements was never something I really focused on in London other than how I need to be dressing accordingly.
Music, food, magazines and art are hugely creative outlets for me in different ways. Whilst I might be looking after the children and not at my desk, we still might eat something new together whilst listening to music or making a collage cut out of pictures. I try to still flex the curiosity muscles as part of my everyday parenting.

The Sun. One of the primary divinatory meanings of The Sun concerns travel and new horizons. Like me, you’ve navigated a fairly recent move to France from the UK.

Can you share how that relocation has impacted your creative practice and process? What new inspirations and ways of working have you cultivated as a result of your move? What new creative barriers have you had to overcome?

I also turned 40 and had my first daughter and third child and that also felt like a new horizon for me. Weirdly, I had a lot more trepidation about all of those things before and when they happened it felt like I had finally come home to myself.
Working in communications I battle a lot with my self-confidence (lack-of) with speaking French and having to do new things. But the constantly falling over in public has been a gift. It has allowed me to become far more playful. I have less time to work than ever before which of course means I’ve never been more focus and efficient. I’m now 100% focused on building my paid substack and because I’m not working on 10 different revenue streams it is going far better than I could have hoped.

I asked Lucy if she had any final thoughts, and she shared this lovely manifestation-moment from her own life:

I bought an Olivetti red Valentine typewriter at a Vide Grenier the other day. I already know she is going to help me land my next book deal somehow.

Many thanks to Lucy Werner for trusting me and my cards throughout this interview, and for her depth of patience with me whilst I made my way back from the brink of burnout.

Subscribe to