LETTIE LAUGHTER:  ACADEMIC INTUITIVE

Lettie Laughter has spent many years within academia, trying to etch out a degree, "carving doorways in walls," as Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes says, with their soft brown queer body & softer femme heart.  They tried different majors, everything from Social Work to English, & eventually femmeifested the Ethnic Studies Program.  Unfortunately, due to rampant institutionalized violence & minimal support, they left the academy without finishing their program or obtaining a degree.

While they were making magic within the hall of the ivory tower, they worked for three years at the university writing center.  During Lettie's rewarding time working there, they co-created outreach programs for student populations who were less likely (& often not likely at all) to access writing center services due to institutionalized barriers, like needing writing support outside business hours, or in their homes if they had (a) child(ren) to care for but no childcare, or they didn't feel comfortable entering the very white space of the writing center itself--the list of reasons why goes on.  Their work was instrumental in finally getting the university to financially support the writing center, which felt like such a win!

Lettie was also groomed for two summers in a program that was preparing them to go the post baccalaureate route--PhD was the name of the game!  During those summers, Lettie went to school full time (it was required to keep their housing) while participating in the rigorous academic training program, which included: writing & research classes, GRE prep, researching graduate programs, proposing a research project that could come to some kind of completion by the end of the summer, work with an advisor, write an abstract that was then submitted to a larger conference to take place at the end of the summer, & put together a presentation based on the research findings at said conference.  

Along with all of the academic hoop jumping, Lettie also dealt with sever depression, anxiety, getting sober, healing from trauma, exhaustion, experiencing violence in the classroom, & was raising baby Panda (who is 2 years-old when this all began).  They went through it all.

That said, Lettie was there for a reason, & although they didn't "finish" in that traditional / patriarchal / linear kinda way, they now have an intimate understanding of how the academy works,  what it costs, & what some of the rewards are.  

Tarot readings with an academic intuitive emphasis can
  • help remind you why you are there 
  • help you reconnect with your heart 
  • help you establish rituals or offerings for your ancestors & spirit guides so their support is more strongly felt
  • help you address & further understand any trauma that is brought up because it's so closely related to your research, or is part of your research topic or methodologies
  • as well as many other gifts--if you can feel it, we can probably figure out a way to go there! 
Picture
Photo by Wit López 2016.
What one queer femme babe genius working shit out /fucking shit up in the academy in the name of their precious self & their ancestors had to say about their tarot reading with an academic intuitive emphasis:
"I truly cannot say enough about how helpful it was to not only receive spiritual guidance, but to be able to talk about academia and what a fucked up place it can be for queers/bipoc/femmes/etc and how to navigate/heal/survive it. 

The way you connected the cards to what was going on for me in academia and my life, and how you called upon my ancestors/guides to help with my healing was really just incredible and beautiful.  [I] think your specific experience of academia--being in McNair and working on material that was of/from/for your community and had all the pain and magic and healing and trauma of doing that work--was super validating for me.  You weren't just like, 'yeah, fuck academia, good luck,' you were totally empathetic to why some of us decide to go into it, the fucked up challenges we face, and, importantly, you supported me by using your spiritual gifts to help me not only get in closer touch with my own spiritual self to better survive this, but to also help me find strategies and tools and rituals to navigate, survive, and start healing right now as I'm in it.

​[Y]ou offered me really important and beautiful insights and suggestions that have absolutely helped me be in academia right now.  I'm honestly so grateful."