About | The Word Witch Tarot

About The Word Witch

Charlie Claire Burgess

Hi! I'm Charlie Claire (they/them), and I'm a queer and non-binary tarot reader, teacher, illustrator, writer, and witch. I'm the creator of Fifth Spirit Tarot, a queer and inclusive deck for a world beyond binaries, the author of the Fifth Spirit Tarot Guide, and the host of The Word Witch podcast, a spiritual and queer broadcast about tarot, astrology, and magic from the margins. I teach affordable tarot classes at Portland Community College and at other locations in Portland, Oregon, and I offer accessible tarot consultations with sliding-scale options for BIPOC and transgender folks (readings are currently closed). I'm also the author of an ongoing zine series The Word Witch Tarot Guides, which you can find in my shop, and I'm known for my tarot spreads for the moon cycles, which I offer on Instagram @the.word.witch and here on my blog.

My passion is evolving the tarot archetypes for a modern world beyond binaries, work I began in my zines and on my podcast, that took form in the Fifth Spirit Tarot deck and The Fifth Spirit Tarot Guide, and that I'm continuing in new projects currently in creation. I believe in making the transformative tool of tarot accessible to as many people as possible, and my work specifically centers queer, trans, non-binary, and other LGBTQIA+ folks. In all of my offerings, I seek to provide trauma-informed spiritual tools and resources for the modern age that foster personal empowerment and healing for the individual and the collective.

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, I've made my home on Cowlitz and Clackamas traditional lands in Portland, Oregon, with my Pisces partner and a jungle of houseplants. I'm an Aquarius sun, Gemini moon, and Scorpio rising, which should tell you everything else you need to know.