'People felt lost after the pandemic, so they came to me to find out their futures'

During the Covid lockdowns, many people took up new pastimes to keep themselves occupied. Baking, I'm sure you'll agree, was a popular one, with some even going on to launch businesses and side hustles as a result of their new found passion.

But there was another hobby that spiked among younger people during this time - learning about alternative spiritual practices such as crystals, studying birth charts and tarot readings.

From scrolling through TikTok alone, you can see the rise in popularity, with new skills instilling hope during a dark period in time.

READ MORE: Primark shopper blown away by £7 dupe for £3,140 designer Bottega Veneta handbag loved by celebrities

One young woman who began to explore the world of tarot during lockdown in 2020 ended up turning her new hobby into a business.

Emily Thornton, more commonly known online as Solar Sister Tarot, is a Manchester-based card reader from Bradford in West Yorkshire.

The 34-year-old acquired a deck of tarot cards while training as an actor at drama school. At the time she was playing a role in Blithe Spirit - and soon realised it was her destiny to be a tarot reader.

“I was kind of drawn to it from that to begin with - and a few of my friends would ask me to do readings just for fun, and I found that I kind of had a knack for it, but I didn't properly start to learn how to read the tarot until lockdown of 2020," Emily said.

“I was doing a course and it was yoga Tai Chi. There were lots of different things on this course, and one of the things was tarot and a lady who was doing readings every week said, ‘has anybody got a deck?' and I said, yes, and I wasn't sure what to do with it, or how to learn how to read it properly.

“She gave me a little technique and it