Nicola Kutler has a narrowboat on the Regent’s Canal

Reporter Frankie Lister-Fell has her Tarot cards read on a canal boat – and comes back telling us all she’s a bit burned out and not making a fortune despite the passion she has for her job

I’M presented with a card that predicts my future. It depicts a soldier lying face down on the ground, drenched in blood with 10 swords sticking out his back.

Does this mean a grisly accident will soon be my end? Perhaps death by impalement? Or maybe I’m going to be monumentally stabbed in the back by a friend. Either way, I will be avoiding chopping vegetables with the big knife for a while.

“People often freak out when they see that card,” tarot reader Nicola Kutler says.

“I guess the thing to remember is that some of the cards do look a bit scary. But what that card really means is burnout.”

“You didn’t get some of the super scary-looking ones,” she continued. “But those like the death card for example when they come up, you wouldn’t be surprised [to see it] because there would be some knowledge of [change] going on in your life. I love the death card. I think it’s a great one because it means it’s making way for something new.”

Lucky for me I have a lot of menacing swords on the cards in front of me. They symbolise challenging lessons, she said. As we sit in her wood-smoke-filled narrowboat on Regent’s Canal, she tells me about my recent past, present and future according to the hand dealt.  I’m surprisingly reassured, and a little unsettled, by the accuracy of her reading.

Alongside burnout there is the possibility of creative endeavours, new relationships – “but don’t ignore red flags!” – and lots of passion at work (but definitely no small fortunes coming my way).

Ms Kutler, 37, said there are two theories on why tarot readings feel so true.

She said: “You can be cynical and say it’s just chance and there’s generic useful information in each card. Or you could not be cynical, and you could say there is something else going on. There is an energy attraction and that you are getting a message that’s meant for you. Some of these cards are very specific.”

When Ms Kutler moved to London she undertook a 10-week training course at Treadwells Bookshop, an esoteric bookshop on Store Street “for students of the occult”.

Since 2017 she has been doing professional readings as the “Water Gypsy Tarot” on her boat moored by Regent’s Park. Demand for tarot readings has skyrocketed so much that she can’t keep up with the amount of requests.

“I get so many requests for readings and I just can’t fit them in,” she said. “If not every day, then every second day someone messages me for a reading.

“It definitely increases around this time of year. There’s always more around December and January.

“Maybe because of endings, beginnings, the New Year. Around Covid there were loads. I started doing more online readings as well.

“After the pandemic there was so much insecurity and people just didn’t know what’s going on and they just wanted reassurance and that kind of thing.”

Spirituality has become increasingly popular over the years, with the hashtag “tarot” racking up 80 billion views on TikTok.

Ms Kutler is frequently booked for parties and Oxford University’s annual balls.  Despite the spiritual boom, rising mooring fees has meant it’s harder to stay afloat.

Ms Kutler also works in marketing and is studying to become a psycho-spiritual therapist.  In the past three years, the Canal and River Trust (CRT) mooring fees have risen by 50 percent. Travelling boaters on London’s canals (those without permanent mooring) also feel they’re being priced out, as the CRT announced last month that licence fees will double over five years.

The CRT said the canals are old and need funding to keep them alive.

Ms Kutler said some people with young children have left the mooring and sold their boats as life on the water has become expensive.

She said: “When I first moved here the fees were £4,000 a year. Now it’s like £10,000 a year. On top of that we pay for power.

“The CRT chooses the provider, you don’t get a choice. We have to pay for everything. It’s becoming unaffordable, especially considering it’s a leisure mooring.”