April Tarot Forecast 2025

1st - April Fool’s Day

13th - Full Pink Moon in Libra

20th - Easter

22nd - Earth Day

23rd - Festival of the Greenman

25th - Floralia/Spring Festival

27th - New Moon in Taurus

30th - May Eve or Rhiannon’s Day, Walpurgisnacht

April, as the first full month of spring, offers the chance to start over. It is a gaining of consciousness. As light enters the room, soak in rich dreams, let spring seduce you with its sweet birdsong, its fertile quality. A sleight of hand prompts a shift in clouds. Rain plays with the leaves and pats emerging buds on greening trees. Step on wet grass with bare feet slick with mud. From the heavens a xylophone shower sends energizing rains with cleansing qualities of wellbeing upon us. We would do well to make the most of this energy and bring it into the home space in the form of spring cleaning. Frequent tidying is especially important this month as this will support newly desired habits and routines. 

From the first, we are asked to take things lightly - be playful, joyful, childish, and have fun. On the Full Pink Moon in Libra, named for the color of the wildflowers, think about how to send spring energy into our lives and relationships for a playful balance. On Earth Day, the Festival of Greenman, and Floralia, we can reconsider how we want to express our devotion and love to Mother Earth and the Father of the Forest. With the New Moon in Taurus, we will want to think about how we want to enhance stability, abundance, self care, and sensuality in our lives. On the 30th, witches gather in the name of the shifting of the seasons and renewal of life, of which Rhiannon, the fertile moon-like goddess is a symbol.

Below we use a general 6-card spread by PixieHowl.

How you feel about yourself right now: 5 of Cups ~Nowhere Near by Yo La Tengo~

Right now, we see ourselves through the frame of grief. We look back to opportunities, situations and relationships that didn’t work out, lives and places lost. We see past versions of the self we couldn’t hold on to, the ways we saw and engaged with life. That which is gone dominates our vision – but what about what has been gained in our lives? Who we’ve transformed into and who we have become? April offers her gentle rain –to help us grieve, process, purify, transmute our loss into fertile soil for the new, from which flowers –hopes, goals, purpose– can spring. Transformed grief offers the vitality we so long for, to infuse meaning into life. We are reminded now that life is a process–we don’t have to get it right the first try, or the second or third. We are allowed to make mistakes, to learn, to refine, to create anew. The paths that close are the paths that push us into preparation for the next chance - for there is always another chance waiting for us to grab at its thread and pull.

What you want most at this moment: 4 of Wands ~Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae~

At this moment, what we want most is that feeling that we’ve “made it.” We have the four necessary strands to weave a basket of tightly interlaced community, or the fundamental building blocks. We want to feel we have entered a period where we can establish a stable reign. If we reach this stage, we feel we’ll finally be able to relax, to feel proud of ourselves and even celebrate the win. It will feel like finally our lives are on track and we’ll be able to have it together. Not just in the big picture, but in such a way where we can finally follow a stable, repetitive routine that we know we can follow day in and day out. We crave this structure and stability, because it will also serve as a signal to us for when our work is done. We’ll know when we can kick up our feet, serve ourselves up a dessert and pour ourselves a glass of wine. It’s important to know that rest is something we need to integrate into our daily structure regardless of whether we’ve hit the longed for productivity point or stable era that we think we need to reach in order to deserve this. We can also reward ourselves out of gratitude for the small wins along the way.

Your fears: 10 of Pentacles ~Lose Your Smile by Beach House~

The fears weighing us down in April are represented by the heaviest of the minor arcana cards: the 10 of pentacles. It is hard to maintain a sense of freedom and levity when we feel concerns about future responsibilities and security – whether it’s saving for a house, preparing for retirement, questions regarding ownership, inheritance, etc. We’re taking on the big picture stressors of our lives into our day to day. Concerns about legacy and what we’ll pass on also weigh heavily on the mind. While these questions are relevant to our lives, we’ll want to consider what other forms of abundance we may be relinquishing when ruminating on these concerns: health, freedom, wellbeing, rest, creativity. It could be useful on the full moon especially to consider how we want to balance fears and concerns with more uplifting energies and goals. On the new moon, we can reintegrate these values with rest and self care, so that we are able to approach our fears in a more sustainable fashion that leads to a lasting sense of security.

What is going in your favor: 6 of Pentacles ~You’ve Got the Love cover by Florence and the Machine~

April lends a much helping hand of replenishment to help balance the scales of heavier energies and bring us the sense of stability and security that we long for. We’ll be offered resources and reprieve to balance the scales to help us better take care of ourselves. This is not limited to money – this extends to rest, food, love, creativity, inspiration, and more. Love especially becomes a strong presence we can rely on this month. It serves as a grounding force that keeps us steady. When we get our needs met, we enter a state of spring –liveliness, vitality, and thriving. We’re brought into a sense of true abundance in the present. These benefits expand beyond self and affect loved ones around us. It’s to our benefit to soak up all the good and loving nutrients spring sends our way so we can truly flourish. This is a time when we can truly bloom and enjoy our own essence, our own charm and fertile qualities. 

What is going against you: Reverse 3 of Cups ~Chiquitita by ABBA~

The grief we feel in our perception of the self flows from the reverse three of cups. This ties in with what we feel we’ve lost or given away–relationships we used to be able to rely on but can’t anymore, versions of ourselves that we can no longer be, groups we used to be a part of. Without these resources we feel uncertain of how to operate. Instead of moving forward we may find ourselves feeling stuck trying to operate in the old ways. We may also feel an imbalance in interpersonal relationships because of the way we see the self or how we’ve allowed others to make us see ourselves. Playing into old narratives may have us feeling less than, diminished, faulty, unable to get our share. We are not feeling the full benefits of community and communion. We cannot fully savor life when we can’t share it with others the way we want. This is the necessary groundwork we must lay before we can have the much desired 4 of Wands moment, of friends inspiring friends, illuminating each other’s paths, lifting each other up and replenishing drained cups.

Future/outcome: 7 of Wands ~Tenderness by Jay Som~

April will ultimately bring about the trial we must go through in order to get the longed for celebration from the 4 of wands. First we must overcome the limitations in this spread: our self concept (5 of Cups), our fears (10 of Pentacles), and what is going against us (Reverse 3 of Cups). We must move beyond what was lost in our past, what weighs heavy in our future, and old narratives that prevent us from sharing fully with our existing community. If we rise to the occasion, we will emerge an empowered initiate ready to take on the challenges of the present. The decision we choose to make will leave us satisfied in the way that we forge our path. The chance offered in the 5 of cups exists now, in the present. It is a choice we were always able to make, but had formerly ascribed to the future. The six of pentacles grants us the push we need to live abundantly present with purpose, so that we may succeed in this trial. We become through the transformative power of fire and passion.

March 2025 Tarot Forecast

1st: Matronalia

8th: International Women’s Day

13th: Full Worm (Blood) Moon in Virgo

14th: Total Lunar Eclipse

17th: St. Patrick’s Day

20th: Ostara (Spring Equinox)

25th: Lady Day

29th: New Moon in Aries/ Partial Solar Eclipse

March is named after Mars, and there are several ancient Roman festivals to reflect that. In Ancient Rome, March was also originally the beginning of the new year, aligning with Earth’s natural cycle–spring as the initiatory season that brings us back to life. In reviewing the Wheel of the Year and modern holidays, something surprising has come to the surface–divine feminine energy has as much claim to the month as Martian energy. In a time of grave imbalance in a predominantly patriarchal society, this has significance. United States policy would have us believe the female role has diminished, with the recent overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the proposed SAVE ACT which would provide an extra barrier for married women to have the right to vote, and Zuckerberg’s response to the Trump regime by embracing “macho culture.” The Department of Defense no longer recognizes Women’s History Month, and likely no longer recognizes International Women’s Day in which women’s achievements are celebrated and worldwide protests take place in the name of women’s equality. 

This divine feminine connection goes beyond modern times. It begins on the first with Matronalia, an ancient Roman festival honoring Juno (mother of Mars), representative of motherhood and childbirth. The seventh honors Juno’s role as spouse and sister of Zeus. The eighth marks International Women’s Day. On the 13th, we experience a Full Worm Moon in Virgo, in which we can experience growth and renewal through actionable steps and goals. This is a good time to get a head start on spring cleaning, planting a garden with intention, honing in on diet and exercise habits, and more. On the 14th, we’ll experience a total lunar eclipse, which will create the illusion of a Blood Moon. Here we are offered a powerful opportunity for transformation. St. Patrick’s Day comes on the 17th, and March 20th brings about Ostara, the Spring Equinox which brings about a period of fertility and growth in the Northern Hemisphere. March 25th hearkens Lady Day, which celebrates the wise Crone aspect of the Goddess. On March 29th, we experience a New Moon in Aries, in which we are encouraged to break from the mold and take on independent projects. There is also a partial solar eclipse on this day, for one final transformational push.

This month’s tarot spread is sourced by Evvin. Though it was made for Samhain, the ushering of Spring can be seen as the transition from the Upper World to the UnderWorld, making March a suitable time to use it.

LIFE: What to embrace: Reverse Empress

Right now, we are holding ourselves back from living richly as the Empress, because we feel averse to donning the burden and responsibility that comes with embracing this Juno-mother archetype. Even something as rewarding as self care feels more like a duty or a chore in this moment. There is an uncertain unwieldiness when we alone feel personally responsible for our wellbeing. We are unsure if we will be able to manage both personal rule and sovereignty, while also looking out for our protection and defense. We feel we have a loose grasp on the former, and we tightly control the latter. Our left hand pins down the eagle on our shield, thus suffocating our courage, freedom, and authority in the process. As we enter spring season, the Empress shows up in the “Life” position to remind us that working with her will allow us to live fully, in the ways we always dreamed we would once we grew up and lived on our own. She promises all the fun we anticipated, with no one to tell us “no” or “not allowed.” Eating what delights us, staying up as late as we want, traveling to forbidden places, and using our free time for creation and pleasure are all fair game. We don’t have to keep giving and giving and deferring the self. We can embrace our worthiness now, by showering ourselves with the love and enjoyment we’ve been missing out on. We can soak in the sun at the beach, snuggle with our pet, cook an amazing meal on a hump day, go out for a picnic and enjoy the presence of loved ones. Ultimately living this way will draw us to our purpose, that makes us feel good and radiate from within.

DEATH: What to let go of: Reverse Two of Cups

As we exit winter, we are encouraged to let go of all the ways we show up unlovingly for ourselves each day, of the microaggressions and the ways we keep ourselves down. Which ways are we draining our own cups, and how can we let that go? Doing so will better allow us to show up with compassion and step into an Empress era. We must be willing to face discomfort and hear how the inner critic addresses us so that we may effectively counter its ongoing monologue. Where do we feel unworthy or unloved, give our time and energy away? Where do we neglect ourselves? Where do we fail to make room for the creative spirit? What in February did we leave unpurified? Where are we brushing off our intuition, opportunity for interpersonal relationship, and where do we silence and walk away from Spirit? These harsh truths are the ones we must face and bury, for the way we habitually treat ourselves and think of ourselves in each micro-moment determines the greater course of our lives.

My courage: Six of Cups

In a predominantly patriarchal system where endless productivity reigns, it is brave, even radical, to approach life’s pains with the Six of Cups. We break away from a conquer mindset and address the inner child with simple pleasures, gentle ways to stimulate and refresh the soul. We don’t bulldoze our way through–we find ways to emotionally care for the self, seek balance, express our creativity and intuition, seek knowledge and healing in the community. We revisit old wounds that we have compartmentalized and tucked away with a fresh eye, roll up our sleeves, and revisit and process them from a mature space. We now feel empowered to resolve old patterns and move forward, not strenuously but through play. We forget what we think someone else wants us to do, and seek only to please ourselves. The reverse cards in this spread are wounded archetypes we’ll want to pay special attention to. They’ll need watering, tending and care in order for us to emerge fresh on Spring Equinox. Break away from what rules feel “bad” or “shameful” to abandon–for instance holding back on living fully or challenging punitive self-talk, and consider what feels good for the soul instead.

My fears: Reverse Queen of Swords

Our fears this month center around the control we might lose if we were to release a constant state of vigilance and defensiveness. The reverse Queen of Swords looks out for our safety by never relaxing and always being on edge–this is the ill-aspected Juno-mother archetype’s way of looking out for us. This also means she never has time to herself to tend to her own needs, to rejuvenate, ground, or explore her personal genius. She feels she must always embody a Martian warrior queen aspect which manifests as severe controlling governance. She feels that she alone has to keep it all going, think of solutions on her own, and adhere to masculine standards. This state of being is akin to being placed with an Iron Maiden–it is a torturous experience that drains the life force out of you. The six of cups above offers an alternative modality for introducing a sense of safety to the system that would allow us to move to a state of growth, expansion and restoration.

To celebrate: Nine of Pentacles

In March, we’re encouraged to celebrate enhanced access to resource–sunlight, fertile energy, life springing around us, greater access to nature, and abundance in general. This also includes all that we’ve built towards over the course of the year thus far, that brings us to our current lifestyle, the habits we’ve built, health, wellbeing, resource, and our current manifested form. The reverse Queen of Swords would have us safeguard our gift like a dragon guards its treasure, but consider how this gift might expand in potency were we to share it. In a defensive state we are in a scarcity mindset, but we have yet to think of ourselves as the powerhouse that we are. We can celebrate all that we’ve done and worked towards –the present version of ourselves that we are now. We have something amazing to offer the world – March is the time to enjoy and express that fully. What do we look like when we feel boundless and abundant, when we can take the time to luxuriate in it and soak in it? March offers all the ingredients needed for personal happiness. Per The Tarot of the Holy Light, this personal happiness offers a sense of welfare and personal fulfillment, if we allow ourselves to step into the life we know is worth living.

To contemplate: Reverse Sun

As we step into Spring and work to integrate the advice from this tarot forecast, one last thing worth contemplating is the reverse Sun, which symbolizes our internal block to bright alignment. What areas of our life might be in a reverse sun, in which we deny our inner child’s authentic radiance? What parts of us are clinging to shadows, to limiting walls, and are reluctant to step out in the sun? How can we convince the part of ourselves that acts like a grumpy child who wants to stay in all day like they did in the winter to come out and play? Is there a friend we can reach out to, or an activity we can set up to look forward to? How can we reassure the part of us that feels it needs the steadying of another, because it doesn’t feel it can shine on its own? Are we depriving ourselves of basking in the sun and soaking up vitamin D, out of fear of sunburn (the negative attention we get from shining our light)? How can we better shield ourselves, without avoiding authentic expression altogether? Finally, we may have been relying on external constant that we thought we’d always have for solar energy. Here we are reminded that we must work to provide our own constant so that we and others can enjoy the fullness of our light.

February Tarot 2025 Tarot Forecast

1st-2nd: Imbolc

12th: Full Snow Moon in Leo

14th: Valentine’s Day

15th: Lupercalia

28th: New Moon in Pisces

 Note: The spread below was found through the Tarot Guru, referred to as the “Month Ahead Spread.” We will be using the Marseilles tarot deck.

In February, we are offered a new beginning that aligns with the seasons. From the outset, we experience Imbolc, a High Winter pagan Celtiic festival honoring the triple goddess Brigid. Brigid brings the power of wisdom, poetry, and protection to fashion ourselves into higher forms. We are purified, and promised a gradual return of light. After a long sleep, our limbs begin to shift into a state of wakefulness. On the 12th, we experience a Full Snow Moon in Leo, calling to mind the energy of the snow leopard. The snow leopard is solitary and operates on a crepuscular rhythm (dawn and dusk), making these the ideal times for us to focus on making the most of our Hermit year. The snow leopard emphasizes resilience and purity in our creative and unique expression of our passions. Our courage comes from detaching ourselves from concern about the herd or the attention of others, which allows us to overcome fear of judgment and doubts. This is the base from which we move into Valentine’s Day, which connects our internal love with the interpersonal. By placing ourselves at the center, relationships are improved and enhanced. On the 15th, the Roman festival Lupercalia magnifies our original purification ritual and adds on the element of fertility, which will further boost our creativity. Finally, on the 28th, we experience a New Moon in Pisces, taking us from the solitary and interpersonal to the collective. Under this influence, we are asked to consider how our dreams, passions and aspirations act in service of the collective. 

What to Let Go: Reverse High Priestess

Before we are able to make the most of the snow leopard energy offered on the Full Moon in Leo, we must first release our wounded inner High Priestess narrative. In our current narrative, we mistake our trauma for our identity, believing ourselves to be disempowered in regards to personal and systemic circumstances that we find ourselves in this month. We get stuck in self doubt, when what is needed is to transmute the experience into a service for the collective. When we do this, we embrace our role as wounded healer or creator. The insecurity we feel results from a tendency to seek knowledge external to the self, rather than staying grounded in intuitive wisdom. There is an overwhelm from the oversaturation of information received, to the extent that our head feels detached from the body and disconnected from somatic experience. The information received is of a limited scope, and yet we are unable to see beyond it because we believe that is all there is. The solution is to embrace the solitary Hermit nature of the snow leopard, such that we can receive pure insight through silence and stillness. However, the key is not to fall for the illusion of safety in passive non-participation. Nor do we absolve ourselves when we forego personal responsibility and avoid the contributions that our own shadows have made to the current predicament. Clarity brings a mirror to painful truths, which may create resistance to our healing, but if we can face it, we can reclaim our personal power.

What to Bring Forward: Ace of Pentacles

We can make the most of the month of February when we lean into the energy of new starts, purity and fertility, of which the Ace of Pentacles is a symbol. Starting small can have a profound effect of lasting change, if we can consistently build upon the initiatory seed to create new life. This is a good time to focus on fostering security, physical wellbeing, safety, following passion, pleasure, and desire. When we pursue the pleasurable, creative and energizing, we are motivated to keep going in that direction. Per Tarot of the Holy Light, we have the full ability to create our personal Paradise. Our personal power sprouts, propagates, reaches and flowers. When we take care of ourselves, we inspire others to do the same, thus pollinating the health and wealth of humankind. The manifest occurs in our repeated commitments and actions, so we should choose our routine wisely this month, as it will set the tone for the rest of the year. Take confidence that our light is something to revel in and share with the world at large.

Main Focus of the Month: Reverse Six of Cups

The return of light is the main focus in February, which can be accomplished in addressing the reverse six of cups. As we enter the month, we find ourselves engaging in old patterns of behavior that aren’t filling our cup, that are draining us and leaving us spiritually dehydrated. According to Between the Worlds, the remedy is daily doses of play, pleasure and joy to resolve the past and heal old hurts that reside in the wounded High Priestess. It is time for forgiveness and recovery. We are encouraged to engage in simple pleasures and hobbies, and be around those who care about us. This restorative water will help our Ace of Pentacles grow. According to the Tarot of the Holy Light, play and experimentation rejuvenates our optimism and ability to trust as well. When we feel safe, we more readily explore, learn, and innovate. Enthusiasm and open mindedness allow us to access infinite possibilities. We must release old stories and conditioning, and reflexive resistance. This can be most easily accessed through the inner child, and recreating or creating a happy childhood.

Action to Take: Two of Cups

As Valentine’s Day approaches, we may feel a mounting pressure to express a year’s worth of love into a single day. The Two of Cups is a reminder to act with love in small ways each day. This can either be directed to the self, or channeled in a relationship. Rather than grand gestures, we might consider how we can express love in the appropriate languages: surprising a partner with foraged wild flowers, washing the dishes, offering a night massage, going for a walk together, or slipping a love note into their lunch bag. Or this could look like self care: preparing a hot bubble bath, journaling, tidying up your space and more. What ways can you elevate and see the best in yourself or another? What life giving waters can you offer one another? What unique talents do each bring to the table? Partnership offers the opportunity to see the best in one another, encourage each other, and enjoy the other’s presence. Boundaries can be practiced in a safe setting of mutual trust, and mutual exchange can be practiced. A grounding experience is founded in equality, aligned vision, and upliftment. Learning about the other, integrating, communicating, healing and creating are all a part of the long term commitment (even with oneself). The 14th can be seen as a chance not to take all this for granted or slide into complacency – courting other or self, expressing appreciation, nourishing and lavishing, enjoying presence and love are key ingredients for maintaining a relationship.  

Areas of Growth: Reverse Sun

As Imbolc works to bring about more light, our key area of growth is to work on letting light in, and allowing our internal light to shine bright. This looks like aligning with our passions, our sense of purpose, caring for the self and values, tending the inner child, and connecting with sensual joy. In regards to our partner, we may be groping blindly in their direction in the hopes that they can do the work for us, without even telling them that this is what we are trying to do. While we can reach to them for steadiness and groundedness, it is better if we foster our inner radiance, a balance of discipline and flow from within. From this space we inspire and manifest double fold, when we are able to share our luminosity and enjoyment, rather than attempt to borrow from or use another’s light. The wall behind the solar pair in the Marseilles version of the card symbolizes security, but also limitation and separation that keep us from our personal Eden. Any shame we may feel blocks this flow and keeps us walled away from opportunities.  Per the Tarot of the Holy Light, our ego fears our soul’s brilliance and hence responsibility. We must release systemic programmatic thinking, and free ourselves of any notion of undeserving, for this is the only way that we and the world can benefit from our sacred light.

Any Issues: Eight of Cups

In February, we have three main opportunities for purification: Imbolc, the Full Moon, and Lupercalia. Any issues we may have in this spread stem from the eight of cups, in this case a resistance to said purification. The resistance comes from an attachment to the “wall” in the reverse Sun card, which resembles security and our comfort zone. This is not an old snake skin that can passively shed–we must make the choice to release it. Fear or desire for safety keeps us holding on, but we have outgrown it, and it keeps us from stepping fully into the light of the Sun. Perhaps this something feels oppressive and bigger than the actions taken via the Two of Cups, due to systemic values, or the small seed promised with the Ace of Pentacles. But what we have to build is so much bigger, more glorious than what is already existing. The seed of love and commitment can sprout into a massive tree that far outgrows the wall that we currently think towers over it and keeps us in the shadows. Growth is a matter of trust, a collaborative process which requires sunlight, water, care and nourishment. This may feel vulnerable to depend on, but it will make us so much stronger than we were before. If we choose ourselves, we are advised to accept the healing power of rest and recovery. We will need to be in a rested state for what lies ahead in the Spring.

Shine a light,

 Angel Intentions

January 2025 Tarot Forecast

1st: New Year’s Day

6th: Triple Goddess Day

14th: Full Wolf Moon in Cancer

29th: New Moon in Aquarius

31st: Disablot

Note: In the forecast below, we revisit the Marseilles tarot deck with our usual spread. With recent readings, my understanding of money has shifted to include other types of wealth. This could look like money, time, energy, access to resources, and earth’s abundance, etc. Thus the money section is now titled “wealth.”

We begin the year at the earliest point in the hero’s journey. This is when we’ll have the greatest clarity and wisdom about what we’re leaving behind, and what we want to pursue. The loss of the old year has a sobering and celebratory effect of retrospection. The year ahead becomes an intentional road map that we have yet to draw. We may not know fully what it looks like, but the past is a helpful resource that can inform us of our values, resources, and resilience. On the 6th, Triple Goddess Day is an excellent opportunity to consider what stage of life we are in (Maiden, Mother, Crone), and how we want to embody it. On the 14th, we experience a Full Wolf Moon in Cancer. We are reminded that the journey ahead of us in 2025 is not a solitary one, but one that considers the health and wellbeing of the entire pack when making our choices. In winter, we slow down to match the pace of the eldest wolf or the injured wolf, to stay together. This is a time to tend to foundational healing, emotional wellbeing and care that will foster our connections and sense of belonging. On the 29th, we’ll have a New Moon in Aquarius. During this phase, we want to consider where we fit in on a higher, visionary scale, in service of humanity and divinity. Finally, on the 31st, Disablot, a Nordic celebration, marks a new season and reaffirms new beginnings. Practitioners seek the blessings of the female spirit for prosperity, fertility and protection in the year ahead. This brings us full circle, reaffirming our choice to close an old chapter to bring in the new. 

Energy of the Month: Ace of Wands ~Spell by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds~

January’s energy is akin to lighting a matchstick and casting it into the dark of the year ahead. It is a powerful initial spark that leads the way that allows us to move forward with confidence. It is the beginning of a vision that keeps us warm, and coming back for more. Alone it is a small perishable flame, but if we build a fire pit with logs, tinder, and paper, it can become an immense bonfire that sustains us for a season or a year. The Ace of Wands helps us reclaim the latent power that is our birthright, by providing it with a conduit, a pathway of manifestation. We are offered a blank slate so we may bring forth the dreams of our raw, unaffected, most authentic self. In our hands, the wand becomes a mighty club we can use to take down our enemies–obstacles, criticism, self doubt. Our passion burns hot and chases away old belief systems and modes of being, leaving only what is desired. With the wand in our hands, we become a music conductor, orchestrating many moving parts to create a masterpiece greater than their sum. Per Tarot of the Holy Light, spirit is recruiting us to higher purpose, and now is the time to respond. 

Love: Reverse Strength (Force) ~Flowers in December by Mazzy Star~

As we engage with Ace of Wands energy, we must take care to protect it from dominant culture. The dominant culture would have us wrangle our will or use force to fashion ourselves into an acceptable norm before we can begin to love ourselves. The punitive perfectionism we may have been taught to use to accomplish these means is not forgiving enough for sustainable change. The Force card (reverse Strength) shows us that we have been conditioned to approach the blank slate in this way, but it also offers another path. We can start with love and self care and seek out what feels pleasurable, rewarding, and good for us, instead of concerning ourselves with quantifiable metrics. In this way, we can celebrate progress, satiety, and engagement. Out of love we may want to push ourselves and fix everything right away, but we know through lived experience that it doesn’t work this way. We have to meet ourselves where we are at, and find what we are innately willing and wanting to do. The lion, our egoic force, has a say in this too. Using the whip to get it to perform circus tricks will cause it to revolt. If we can build a loving relationship with it, that’s what will make it want to stay and work with us.

Wealth: 8 of Wands ~Winter (from the Four Seasons) by Vivaldi~

The wealth we have available to us in January is quick moving and ready to act. At the slightest quiver, a string orchestra hums in support of our act. The expertise with which we orchestrate resources is capable now of yielding spontaneous beauty and manifestation that is visible to, and inspires others. We are reminded that our strengths may not be typically viewed as such, but we are equipped with unique contributions, viewpoints, strategic mindsets, and resourcefulness. When we accept what we are, we are able to harness and focus all our energy into the most efficient means of achieving our goals. Spirit has led us to the point where the orchestra of forces is now in our hands and it is up to us to lead it. This is a period in which we can affect great transformation within and around us, because we are able to see what others can’t. From the outside, we represent freedom of motion and thought, the perfect marriage between the big picture and the small steps that it takes to get there.  

Work: Reverse 3 of Swords ~Quiet, the Winter Harbor by Mazzy Star~

This month, we are encouraged to cut away the aspects of our work that feel unnatural to us. This is less about trying to fit a mold or meet a certain ideal, and more about making space for something more aligned to our interests and talents. When we do this, we change the narrative. There might be an aspect of work perfectly suited to us that we don’t even know about yet. We have to cut the old parts loose to discover what that is. This requires us to let go of old identities. It encourages us to try on radically different ones that might feel strange and foreign at first.This could lead us to fight for what we are grateful for, for what we care about the most. This may be new terrain –a role we must forge. We are not entirely alone in this–our ancestors may have something in mind they’d like to help us with. We can look to and ask for guidance if we feel lost, until we get an understanding for our talents and our part in this role.

Health: Reverse Page of Swords ~A Violent Yet Flammable World by Au Revoir Simone~

It can be helpful to reevaluate our boundaries surrounding health–whether we are enforcing them firmly in the company of others, or whether we are being too strict with ourselves. Are we compassionate with ourselves on our health journey, as we figure things out? Or do we berate ourselves out of a sense of perfectionism? It is important to allow ourselves to be a page, someone who is learning and doesn’t have all the answers. We learn through trial and error, and through practice, rather than avoidance. We can also learn when to keep our sword in a sheath and find spaces in which we can relax and be at ease. We don’t always have to be on the defensive or offensive with the sword, a state which floods our systems with cortisol and keeps us on high alert. This is not an area where we want to be forceful with ourselves (to eat the right foods, exercise the right amount, etc). Instead, we can learn to communicate with our bodies and let them teach us how to meet our needs.

Spirit: 3 of Wands ~A Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon & Garfunkel~

The spirit in January is represented by the three of wands. We have just received an invitation to a new school of magic we never encountered before. In January we find we are complete beginners, uncertain of what awaits us. Luckily, this is not a solitary journey, but one in which we encounter new friends. Each has a unique set of skills and talents that compliments the other and ensures the group’s success. Together, the group can approach the lessons ahead with an animated spirit, inspiring all to stay on track. This is just the beginning, a time to embrace the conceptual part of the journey in which we get to revel in the fun and novelty of it all. Stoking the fire of the beginner spirit allows us to remain to each other, to new people, teachings, ways of life, and reciprocal relationships. Now is a time to immerse in the surrounding community, make the most of our teachers, wonder at our surroundings, and approach the next chapter with a lively spirit. 

 Happy New Year,

Angel Intentions

December Tarot Forecast 2024

1st: New Moon in Sagittarius 

15th: Full Cold Moon in Gemini

17th: Saturnalia

21st: Yule, Winter Solstice

24th: Christmas Eve

25th: Christmas

30th: New Moon in Capricorn

31st: New Year’s Eve

This month features “Notoria: Tarot in Light,” which invites us to work alchemically to transform the soul into gold and work with the angels.

Much like the preceding month, December greets us with a New Moon in Sagittarius from the first. In it we find the temptation to leap into glistening boundless snow. With courage, spirit and a sense of understanding, we feel we can meet the winter head on. This brings us into the fold of a marvelous adventure, but as we approach the 15th with the Full Cold Moon in Gemini, we may find that our curiosity gets the better of us. We may find out more than we want to know, more than we feel we can handle. It takes a strong character, and a willingness to go through an arduous test to redeem ourselves. The sun undergoes a parallel journey through the underworld, until it can be reborn as a child of light and a new beginning. Yule ushers us into a period where the days grow longer after hitting their shortest point for the winter solstice. Festivities, family and abundance become a focal point beginning on the 24th and 25th. A New Moon is in store for us once more on the 30th in the sign of Capricorn, which is the perfect time for goal-setting for the next year. On the 31st we wish the old year farewell, and countdown until the new year is born.

The spread “Tau,” gives an outline of the ten Sephiroth affecting our experience in December. It consists of a vertical column, which is revealed below, and a horizontal row, which is personalized and can be booked here - 4 cards for $25. 

Per the Notoria deck: “The vertical column represents the macrocosm mirrored on our plane of manifestation. The horizontal row represents our microcosm or timeline which we directly experience in our consciousness.” 

1. Kether: King of Wands ~Vehuiah~

The origin or latency of the present situation, which will be reflected in your present by the Angel drawn and depicted in the sixth card.

On a macrocosmic level, the King of Wands, i.e. the angel Vehuiah, represents the origin that brings us to our current state in the month of December. It is fitting that we received this card in the position of Kether, pure potential, since this is the first card in the Tarot of Light deck. The deck states the following: “The first Angel, Vehuiah, is the beginning of the path of Ars Notoria, the first flame or  spark…” The King of Wands, as embodied by Vehuiah, represents our original will to manifest. This will is the crown from which all else emanates. Per Tarot in Light, it is the grounding center we can turn to whenever we need to begin again, find solutions, get ourselves unblocked, or find clarity. It is the vision from which we reason and create. As King of Wands, we hold a mighty staff, which imbues us with the virility, strength and life force that is needed to see our desires take root. With Vehuiah in mind, we flap our mighty wings. This king holds high ideals and holds in his right palm a dripping candle, representative of our lives. It is a potent reminder to ask ourselves: what will we do here with the precious time we have left? The answer returns us to the core of our vision. We are asked to continually meditate on this point for the duration of December, so that we can best bring the vision to light.

2. Chokmah: 3 of Cups ~Asaliah~

The masculine/active archetypal force and impulse that has acted from the beginning in an occult way in order to arrive at the present situation. 

In this tarot spread, Chokmah, also known as wisdom, stands behind our actions in service of Kether from the beginning. Asaliah, the angel that embodies the three of cups, is our occult driving force. As King of Wands is to Apollo, the Three of Cups is to Hermes. We can see this in the former’s idyllic form and the latter’s winged helmet. Thus, our impulse is founded in communication and travel as a courier and psychopomp. The means with which we fulfill our originary vision lies in the transmission of ideas of the living and the dead, in order to heal and rejuvenate. Hermes holds his left hand over his heart, exposing his rawest and most vulnerable self, while holding a written scroll in his right. It is with candour that he wins over his audience, and in this spirit that we should strive to do the same. It enlivens us to offer a spirit of youthfulness to the greater community. Wisdom makes us aware that we fulfill a communal need in this way. We have been incubating this ability for a long time, to bring us to our present situation.

3.  Binah: 7 of Swords ~Yehuiah~

The feminine/receptive archetypal energy that has acted from the beginning in an occult way, giving shape to the active impulse coming from the second card in order to arrive at the present situation.

The third sephiroth in this spread is called Binah, or intelligence. Our intelligence in this sense is represented by the 7 of Swords, which is tempered by the angel Yehuiah. In relation to communication, we have trickster-like tendencies that grant us a cleverness and craftiness that allows us to think outside of the box, see where we can take shortcuts, rebel, and break arbitrary rules meant to control. These qualities need to be ruled over by a higher purpose to serve good, since otherwise we might fall into using our communication abilities to prove our own cleverness, earn praise, or gratify ourselves. Angel Yehuiah is the one who activates our third eye and allows us to see what really matters, informing us of our true place in the world. When we contribute our actions to a higher calling, this is when life grants us a position better than what we could have imagined. Rather than provoke, our communicative powers are meant to disrupt via questioning old narratives, facilitating conciliation and negotiation, and bringing people together. We plan carefully so that we can come up with a viable way to fight the dominant hegemonic narrative, and usher in collaboration in favor of a clear humanitarian vision.

4.  Chesed: King of Swords ~Vasariah~

The loving energetic impulse at play that will work to retain and preserve the good you have done or, in the case of a negative situation, the attachment to a certain state or context that is preventing you from progressing. 

Love, or Chesed, is the fourth sephiroth we encounter on the macrocosmic path of manifestation. This force presents itself as the King of Swords, or the Angel Vasariah. Thus far we have employed our will through communication, which has been shaped by establishing right place and right vision. Vasariah preserves these honest efforts with compassionate rule, justice and “rationality and indomitable will” (Tarot in Light). He polishes our raw outreach with refined speech, good memory, and mediation abilities. This angel takes the golden spark we wish to put out into the world, and amplifies it so that it can occupy its rightful place in the world and society. Its effect can be likened to the process of kintsugi, in which we break old forms apart. Broken bits are pieced together with gold that strengthens the foundation and made even more beautiful through their lived history and resilience. Our loving impulse shows up as a desire to spread knowledge while considering multiple points of view. Like the royal figure in this card, we sit ourselves upon the ground (in all the other cards the angels stand) so we can truly listen and observe all perspectives. Under Chesed’s guidance we find ourselves gaining a greater awareness of what work and what message will ripple out into future generations, beyond what may serve us in the now. What can we create that will open the avenue to freedom and peace for those living in the future? This love transforms our abilities into something far reaching so that we can make an impact on the collective. 

5.  Geburah: 8 of Swords ~Achiah~

The severe and dynamic energetic impulse at play that will push you back to later cut, or even destroy what you have built so far in order to unblock or renew yourself. In the case of a negative situation, it may be a violence suffered or an excess of pride or instinctiveness that prevents you from consolidating and completing one of your projects.

The fifth sephiroth Geburah stands in contrast to the last, as the force of might. It stands for the severe facet of the Creator which cuts or destroys. In December, we experience might as the 8 of swords, or angel Achiah. Before we can fly forward at full force, we must first focus our energies at cutting away at our habitual patterns and entanglements that keep us stuck. We experience this as self doubt, forgotten power, getting in our own way, and getting pulled away by life circumstances. Achiah urges us to practice patience, as this is an important step we must resolve before we can gain clarity and solutions. New experiences will continue to inform us until we feel an intense impulse to share what we have learned. We should lean into this learning aspect, so that we feel that confidently empowered when a powerful choice comes about that will open new doors for us. Our frustration and varying aspects of our lives may distract us or try to pull us away from the far seeing vision of the King of Swords above. It is true that we must tend to ourselves before we can help others, but we must find ways to pull ourselves out of an “I” mentality. There is a tendency to snowball or end up in a feedback loop, but the tools that we need to free ourselves up for aligned action are there.

6. Tiferet: Death ~Poyel~

This is the main card of the reading, the Angel that is your intermediary between the High and the Low and the synthesis of all the energetic influences that have preceded it and that were latent in the first card drawn. It is the Genius that you will have to rely on to resolve your situation in the best possible way. It may inspire you and infuse you with the necessary energy–or it may punish and rebuke you to push you toward your Great Work.

Book Here for Personalized Insight on the Final Four Sephiroth 

November Tarot Forecast 2024

1st: New Moon in Scorpio

15th: Super Beaver Moon in Taurus

28th: Thanksgiving

A Note: This month, I've chosen to use Intuiti, an Italian creativity aid deck inspired by the tarot. I've chosen the "Creative Block" spread to help readers work through what stands in the way of a creative writing project or process.

In my 20s, I once participated several times in National Novel Writing Month, a challenge to write 50k words in a month. Though I no longer feel I can dedicate this tarot forecast to that experience, it still feels relevant to address the creative spirit, and that which might stand in its way. In the creative process, motivation is an elusive thing. We receive this rare and sudden burst at the outset of the month with the New Moon in Scorpio. How to make the best use of it relies not on a single great outpouring, but on building a sustainable model to keep the fire going for a long period. Distractions and excuses threaten to impede our progress, rather than a lack of will. It is our ardent passion that motivates us to shed what does not matter. Only then can we truly devote time and energy to the creative process and do the daunting work of seeing our projects through. Only through much fashioning and removal does a project reveal its most intimate form.

As we will find on the 15th with a Super Beaver Moon in Taurus, we begin with a passion, in search of a home. Home is a practice we repeatedly turn to and commit to. It is a sense of ease and comfort we nurture between ourselves and our artistic medium. At home we feel free to express ourselves vulnerably, and reveal intimate thoughts that we can then invite our listener, viewer, or reader to. Flourishes fall away, in favor of what needs to be said, from one heart to another. Gratitude reminds us what a gift this is. Gratitude keeps us generative. In the endeavor to reach another, we reach ourselves. It leads us to define what we might otherwise leave murky and unknown within. The chill of solitude has us reach a branch out to another, and trees form a comforting underground network of roots to endure the winter ahead. The community we solidify in this time is something we’ll be able to turn to for strength in the cold months ahead.

Creative Block Spread

How I Feel: Reverse Fool

This month in our creative endeavors, it can feel that for all we’ve learned thus far, we find ourselves back at square one. We reach the extent of our knowledge, only to find that we know nothing at all. It may feel as though we are so entwined in an old way of doing things that to extract ourselves means to start all over. To eschew what we thought we knew can feel vulnerable and ungrounding, as though all prior efforts were a pretense and the artistic journey only begins now. However, there is unlimited potential regained in embodying the Fool–a restoration of childlike wonder, exploration and inspiration. We have recovered the elusive Edenic state so that many seek to reestablish. Though it is natural to want what we can’t have, a state of gratitude and appreciation will allow us to make the most of this experience. To bask in the energy of the Fool is to dance, frolic, paint and play without censorship. It is a shedding of old forms, getting back in touch with our inner fire, and entering a state of receiving. It is relearning with all the foundations we wish we’d been given before, and seeing the potential in ourselves that we would see in a child. It’s a moment to take our dreams as a real possibility and encourage them, to give ourselves the opportunity to grow. 

How I’d Like to Feel: Reverse Hermit

In response to feeling like the Fool, we find ourselves wanting to feel like the Hermit. We envision the Hermit as a wisened or seasoned creator, who is able to generate and maintain a creative fire all on our own. In our eagerness to “grow up,” we want to hit the fast forward button to our success. Time in itself is not going to ground us or get us where we want to be. We can’t gain automatic wisdom, maturity or authority, though we may earn them through lived lessons. With the reverse Hermit in place, there is a risk of becoming jaded, hardened, set in our ways or locked into a single path. We are advised not to rush or hurry to get there. The inner child (ie the Fool) is a state we want to cherish throughout our creative process, even as we grow into the desired state of the Hermit. In this way, we can keep evolving as creators without reaching a standstill. In time, we find that we are the beacon we seek.

Nature of the Block: Reverse Lovers

The nature of the block is the binaristic nature of how we feel (the Fool) and how we’d like to feel (the Hermit). The two butt heads rather than working together, when we try to wrangle ourselves into an opposite path that doesn’t speak to where we truly are in the creative process. Together the Fool and Hermit could combine to make a giant flame, but when placed at odds with one another, these forces cancel each other out or at best leave a weak sputtering flame. It could also be that as the Fool, we try to embody many different paths which dilutes the choice that needs to be made in order for a creative project to flourish. When stuck in a creative block, we are called to return to self and make the choice that speaks to it, or else disengage. In time we may find there is a middle path that unites these forces, and play to each strength as creator.

What Could Help Me: 8 of Pentacles

The key to working through the creative block is consistent practice. When we are able to have our needs consistently met, we can work in a calm and steady manner. Ultimately, creation is a marathon and not a race. We want to get to a place where our creative process becomes second nature to us, so that we gain natural progress that we don’t even have to think about. The image in question is a square of circular links, which has equal light rays shining from each (as opposed to the irregular bursts of light the isolated fire in the hermit above seems to emit). Each link might be part of a multifaceted routine, with lots of entry points to lean on and shine from. The practice in itself is generative. While we are still wrestling with the nature of the creative block, it is advised not to add anything on to our plates, as we are already juggling enough and need to learn to work hard on our existing projects with familiar resources. 

Bonus: The Enchanted Map Oracle by Collette Baron-Reid offers fairytale-like themes in relation to the personal journey. Below is an additional clarification card for support.

Commitment

The commitment card shows a moment of faith in which a smaller hand reaches out to a bigger hand. Magic occurs when this happens–a rainbow of opportunity, fluttering hearts and stars appear, and a key takes flight. A creative project can be seen to fruition, and a block can be overcome–but only if we commit to consistent practice. To do that, we must first define what it is we are committing to. Rather than jump headfirst into the routine of the seasoned Hermit, it is best if we establish a sustainable practice that meets us where we are. Once this is in place, the guidance we need and the creation we seek are there. Everything we need is within, if we can meet it halfway. 

October Tarot Forecast

2nd: Solar Eclipse and New Moon in Libra

3rd: Bacchanalia (modern)

17th: Super Hunter’s Moon in Aries

31st: Samhain, Day of the Dead 

Note: In October, we’ll be using the Weaver Tarot Deck, which has black and silver shimmery cards. Its main symbol on the box is the ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. Every end is a beginning in which we redefine ourselves as our most present form. Intertwined snakes grace the back of every card and bite into two eyes–suggesting the interconnected nature of accessing internal with the external, the present with the past and the future. The spread below is called “Compass Rose,” by Iyshia Walker Altu. It walks us through our present potential via the cardinal directions and five elements, as we will see below. 

October brings us the first month of fall. In it, much like the snake, we shed old skins. No longer defining us, they fall away to reveal our truest and most present form underneath. The month begins with a dual solar eclipse and New Moon in Libra. The solar eclipse presents us with potential chaos, caused by the obscuring of conscious solar egocentric beliefs tied to our sense of identity. At the same time, the new moon presents a new possibility, a balancing of ideas that may have been previously biased in how we’ve perceived ourselves and others. We find true balance not by standing firm in place, but by strengthening our ability to pivot on a central axis. As we flow through space, we consider the bigger picture of all sides of the equation, while holding true to justice and fairness. Modern reenactments of Bacchanalia, the festival of Bacchus, take place on the following day. This energy encourages us to explore the energy of chaotic expression beyond the negative light of a dualistic system: freedom, passion, ecstasy, fun, wine, festivities and a release of inhibitions.The Super Hunter’s Moon in Aries requires us to kill what doesn’t serve us so that we can hunt after what we really want. Finally, on the 31st we experience a thinning of the veil, which is an ideal time to honor the ancestors and communicate with them. The wisdom offered prepares us for the long months ahead and can be used to sustain us. 

0: center- ether - initiating spirit: Fool and Magi

Two cards came up to describe our center: the Fool and the Magi. These can be defined as the zero and the one, the basis of all information. In the Fool we experience limitless potential, in the Magi we distill this into a single choice. We step confidently into the unknown, day by day, and revise our path as we learn. We especially step into this crux around the Super Hunter’s Moon in Aries, as the Fool is symbolized by an upside down crescent moon, and a ram’s horns adorned with flowers, symbolizing our potential for growth and regeneration as we allow ourselves to wax and wane into different shapes. This same moon is mirrored in the crystal glass (symbol for water) of the Magi, above which float the remaining elements: fire, sword, and club. At the center is nothing and everything, the absence that illuminates and differentiates all interrelating elements. In this space we learn we are makers, endowed with the responsibility of creation. Our endings prompt beginnings, which we must wander through to reveal their unfolding. 

1: east - air - the realm of thoughts, beliefs, intellect, communication: Conqueror (Knight) of Swords

In the element of air, we are asked to consider ourselves as warriors of the mind and the word. These are tools we have sharpened over the years that give us the confidence that we can come up with the necessary solutions to any problems that can present themselves. We know we can bring ourselves to safety, fight fiercely for our cause, and protect what’s dear. A jeweled hilt on our swords suggests that our cause is noble –which we achieve through noble means and deeds. It is important to wield our power responsibly. Our words can soar, cut, prod, and unite. Our sword can conquer and topple. We have the ability to cut ourselves down, to cut away at old skin, keep in or out, and establish boundaries. This is the realm through which we feel most inclined to create, and the path to which we feel most inclined to devote ourselves. 

2: south - fire - wands - the realm of connectivity, passions, willpower, drive, desire: Reverse Four of Coins

The reverse four of coins appears in the element of fire to remind us that our power lies in what our hands can do, not in what or how much they hold. The imagery of this card presents us with two roses crossed, their petals falling on our bound up hands, like spiders that got caught in a web of their own making. We stay there because that is where all our trinkets and everything we deem to be of value lies. In reverse, gravity does its work–all we have to do is let this concept fall away. Love is the final petal that falls and transforms. In it, we discover our passion, and a connection to our primal being. Once, as people, our curiosity drove us to discover and create, and thus we gained the Promethean knowledge of how to make fire. Our hands grasp, weave, manipulate and create. The act of creation itself is our power, our drive and desire reveals our personal values – this is what forms our being, rather than what we passively possess. 

3: west - water - the realm of intuition, emotions, relationships, psychic energy: Reverse Six of Coins

Our hands are free in the reverse six of coins, and  from them we spill resources into an adorned, prosperous hand that possesses more than we do. We are reminded that a depletion of energy and uneven exchange can throw us off center just as much as bound up hands. We may be undervaluing what we have to offer, or feeling stuck in this pattern of energy flow. Abundance, expressed in this card as diamonds, extends beyond finance–it looks like time, energy, experience, refined talent, connectivity, growth, freedom of movement, and more. Are we seeing these things for their true worth, when we have an exchange? Do we feel happy, satisfied and cherished, or are we feeling drained and resentful? These feelings are a good indicator of whether the scales feel balanced, or whether they need to be evened out or replenished. 

4: north - earth - the realm of resources, home, security, finance, career: Reverse Five of Coins

In the realm of the earth, a reverse five of coins appears. Two hands seem worse for the wear, bound at the wrists by thorns. In the center of the hands are half opened eyes - a sign of awakening from suffering, and of protection. The things we seek are falling towards us - wisdom, a key, love, joy, pieces of ourselves returning to us and more. It is not a matter of whether what we need is out there, but whether we can see and access it. Sight is the ability that needs to be honed, rather than the availability of resources themselves. To see, we have but to open our eyes. Our eyelids, half closed, serve as shields and so we must lower our defenses. It is as though we are trying to keep salt from getting into our wounds even as we hold our hands out. If we allow, we can test our newly formed beliefs and capabilities, to shift our dynamic of receiving. 

September Tarot Forecast

2nd - New Moon in Virgo

16th - Mexican Independence Day

17th - Super Harvest Moon in Pisces/Partial lunar eclipse

22nd- Fall Equinox 

September begins with a New Moon in Virgo, denoting a new structured learning cycle in which we adapt our daily routines and habits to optimize personal growth. We are reminded that spiritual expansion requires us to first tend to our physical needs. The leaves turn red, orange, and yellow, further emphasizing that we must first build a strong foundation of the corresponding chakras–security, creativity, and confidence. The energy on the 16th encourages revolutionary independence achieved through sustained and multiple efforts, in which we wait for and recognize an advantageous moment to overthrow imperial forces. The Super Harvest Full Moon in Pisces with a partial lunar eclipse denotes the spiritual harvest we can collect as a result of structuring our everyday life to support the expression of our spiritual needs, lacks and wants. On the 22nd we experience Fall Equinox, a time when day and night reach the same length. In contrast to August, which focused on integrating our external and internal growth, in September we strike an equal balance between both to affect personal transformation. 

This month, we’ll be looking into the tarot forecast through the lens of The Star Road Map, a Mesoamerican inspired deck. The deck makes use of the major arcana, and replaces the minor arcana with Aztec concepts (of which we have the most record) based within a Mayan calendrical system. The Mayans keenly observed the Star Road (Milky Way) because they believed that a planetary shift corresponded with a shift in individual and collective consciousness. Instead of suites we have Days, Four Directions, Overworld cards (representing “the cyclical cosmic or spiritual influences” on physical reality), Underworld cards (representing the course of human evolution since amoebic conception, in relation to co-creation with Hunab K’u ie, the great Creator), and Intercession cards (representing Divine intervention). The six card spread below represents a single idea that examines a primary issue we will face in September. 

The Mesoamericans believed in an afterlife composed of 13 layers of heaven and 9 of the Underworld. In this deck, the heavenly layers are represented as Overworld cards. To determine the heart of the issue we will face in September, we will first examine the reverse Overworld card in the spread. The creators of this deck write that an Overworld card can be considered as the issue that lives in the day. The issue contains energy that impacts our consciousness, and works in tandem with our resulting Underworld response i.e., the soul’s evolution. Each Overworld card represents a level of understanding, and all 13 levels must be realized to progress through one of the 9 underworlds (a new age of soul consciousness).

[Im]balance - Reverse 8 Overworld 

Where the obsidian knives are creaking

The 8th layer of heaven is rife with storms. It is home to the god and goddess of death, rulers of the Underworld. From here, darkness comes. Here dwells the god of darkness, storms, disaster, and frost, as well as two gods of sacrifice. The last occupant is Tlaloc, god of rain, war, thunder and the earth. The creators of the deck have chosen to associate this card with Tlaloc specifically, perhaps because rain serves as a double-edged sword–it could come as a much needed blessing, a thunderous storm, or an overwhelming flood. When we view the Balance card in reverse, we see a horizontal line with three close circles hanging under it. This imagery could be likened to an uneven division, a hanging ellipses at risk of falling off, or upside down scales dropping their contents and failing to preserve the balance of fairness and justice. There are a few things we can consider in deducing this imagery: are we taking on too much or too little? Is too much being given or taken away? Has an expressed need been left unaddressed, and now we are left questioning if it will ever be fulfilled? Do we have an inherent bias, or are we being overly critical? Are we getting lured in by a deceitful illusion? Do we have honest motivations? These questions may cut like knives, but they call in the necessary awareness to instill personal balance, within and without.

In the Star Road Map, the underworld cards correspond to the 9 levels of the afterlife which most souls must undergo, before they can be freed from bodily suffering. The creators of the deck liken this to 9 levels of consciousness that humanity undergoes in advancing from amoebic form to a co-creative force with the great creator. When we shift from survival mode, we can recognize that our thoughts and perception of reality can affect the material. These cards are meant to reflect where our consciousness lies. Are we struggling to survive, learning how to manifest, or have we accepted that we are creative energy that is one with Source? 

Regional - 5 Underworld

The Regional card represents the point of human consciousness in which we develop complex language, culture, art, religion, and local identity. This version of consciousness can be channeled via regional organization, craftsmanship, abstract thought, and complex expression. Regional corresponds with the fifth level of the underworld, which translates as “the place where people fly and whirl like flags,” in which the dead were whipped around by the winds until they were released to the 6th level. There is potential here to get carried away by identity politics. An upright position signifies that we transcend beyond the limits of culture or religion and connect to a greater humanity. This card encourages that we instead get carried away into a creative flow state, through mediums such as art and writing, to access a greater reality that will serve our evolution. We are encouraged to step into our authenticity and work on our self expression. This will prime us to co-create with Source and work through the imbalance we experience above. 

The Star Road Map defines the Major Arcana as mental attitudes and fixed ideas that prevent us from evolving and influence our daily lives, which we will now apply to the month of September. Each is represented by an Aztec deity, which represent Mesoamerican beliefs around the concept.

Reverse Death

In this deck, reverse Death is depicted as Tzitzimitl, a set of four Aztec deities associated with the stars, fertility and birth. During solar eclipses, they were thought to attack the sun and devour humans. They were included in the New Fire Ceremony, which began a new calendar round. The proper offerings had to be made in this time, otherwise the sun would no longer rise, prompting eternal darkness. In Mesoamerican culture death can be imagined as birth in another form. We see this in the way that a snake emerges from the skirt of the Tzitzimitl, though in reverse position this may result in complicated labor. The snake represents the regenerative properties we may experience if we allow ourselves to cyclically shed old skins and become new. This process is enabled when we challenge old behaviors, habits, internal dialogue, thoughts, and what we consume. Our unhealthy ego, attached to its comfort zone, will work to prevent the necessary awareness to do so, to threaten or cajole us until we relent. This may manifest in our stubbornly convincing ourselves to keep doing things the same way while demanding the results we have yet to see. It will exhaust all our energy to remain in the old snake skin, depriving us of finding the motivation necessary to transform ourselves and our lives. We must overthrow this imperial force if we are to achieve true independence. 

Reverse Magus

The reverse Magus is depicted as Quetzalpapalotl, the butterfly god of transformation. He represents the deepest physical and spiritual metamorphosis–within, and without. Like so, in September we are encouraged to learn how to play freely between Underworld and Overworld energies, to affect our experience in the Middle World (Earth). A reverse position suggests we must reassess our daily routine and commitments to enhance the optimal awareness needed to maintain the balance between them. When both energies are used equally and we find ourselves aligned in body, mind, heart and spirit, true magic can take place. As the Magus, we can recognize that in any moment, we are an expression of the Creator. Our will is the only thing that could keep us in a caterpillar state, uncertain whether to unfold our wings or take flight. We may have a lot of resistance, thinking we need to acquire more knowledge, compile other opinions, better prepare and wait for a better moment or more resources. These fears come from the same egoic force we see in the reverse Death card, made to keep us locked into our comfort zone. We need to recognize our skills as valuable, whether or not they are recognized by society. It is important not to mute ourselves, lest we give greater credence to deceptively confident figures that may convince us out of our own will, out of recognizing our own magic potency. Yes, we need to take a realistic inventory of our flaws so we can better work with them, but we mustn't downplay our assets in the process. In truth, we already have the innate ability to sprout wings and take flight. Everything we need is within us–we are enough. 

Reverse Fortune

In the reverse Fortune card, we see the Earth portrayed as a tortoise shell, from which the Corn god emerges, with a son on each side of him–the Hero Twins. In the Popol Vuh, a sacred Mayan narrative text, the story begins with twins playing a loud ball game, which annoys Underworld gods. The Underworld gods invite the twins to play with them and rig the game so they can defeat the twins and collect their heads as prizes. One of the heads impregnates a daughter of the Underworld, who gives birth to the Hero Twins. These boys play a loud game, annoy the same Underworld gods, and get invited to a ball game as well. These boys learn all the deceptive tricks or the Underworld gods, and win the game. This story reminds us that we can fail, come back in a new form, and succeed. Failure is not a permanent state, nor is it a part of our character. If we feel powerless after defeat, we can pick a practical thing to work on for the month so that we can better reposition ourselves for a good outcome. After this, the Hero Twins are able to revive their father, who emerges from the Earth as a Corn god. The sons are elevated and turned into the Sun and Moon, signifying that we can generate abundance when we balance external and internal growth for personal transformation. The Corn God advises the other gods to make humans from white corn, corn being one of the most important forms of wealth and abundance in the Mayan economy. It sustained everything, and therefore human life could be considered the same. The reverse Fortune card challenges us to recognize that wealth extends far beyond capital–good health is the greatest form of abundance. September encourages us to adopt a revolutionary spirit, to cast off Imperialist notions that would have us feel impoverished and engage with the world with a scarcity mindset. This cycle can be broken by practicing gratitude and celebrating what we have. This mentality will help us nurture the abundance we seek. 

The day cards invoke the Tzolkin 260-day sacred calendar of the Maya. There are 13 cycles comprised of 20 days. Each of the 20 days works in tandem with the Overworld and Underworld cards, giving us an intersection point to help us understand the energies in action that impact our earthly experience. Maya time keeping differs from the Gregorian calendar in that it has a fixed but repetitive cycling of energies denoting birth, death and rebirth. 

Persistence - Day 9

East energy: associated with initiation with the power of creativity. 

This card corresponds to today’s challenge of balancing Virgo New Moon energies that help us to navigate the minutiae of every day living and Pisces Full Moon energies that motivate us to tend to emotional and spiritual needs. In September, particularly from the 9th, we will feel emotional, imaginative, and capricious. This capriciousness lends itself to struggles with impulse control, which we must learn to moderate. Negative perceptions such as those embodied in reverse Death, Magus, and Fortune will convince us to passively hold onto old way of being in which we give away our agency and devalue our personal will, so we must combat this by learning to watch for triggers for regretful behavior. As an agent of will we must take responsibility for our actions and behavior. We can cast off our Imperialist ego by developing persistence and consistency, through multiple effort is necessary, to be responsible for our part in everything. Persistence is the vehicle through which our soul will achieve true liberation. 

August Tarot Forecast 2024

1st- Lammas, Lughnasadh (First Harvest)

4th - New Moon in Leo

13th-15th - Nemoralia (Diana)

19th - Super Sturgeon Blue Moon

21st- Festival of Hecate

23rd- Vulcanalia

The first two months of summer, we experienced a shift from primarily outward growth to the inward journey. In August we can expect to integrate these learnings. We’ll be using the Dalí Tarot Universal deck to explore the bleeding of worlds from a surrealist perspective –external and internal, dream and reality, psyche and manifest. Salvador Dalí was a Spanish surrealist artist in the 20th century who used trancework to transcend preconceived notions of the world, and build novel connections for his paintings, so that the viewer may experience the subconscious. He was the first famous painter to create a completely new deck of tarot cards, a medium which is also intended to make the unconscious conscious. At Angel Intentions, we offer tarot readings to create an understanding between these two states, so that all aspects of the psyche can make a collaborative effort to make meaningful change, and fulfill one’s purpose and dream.

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Lughnasadh, the festival of the Celtic sun god, marks the beginning of the harvest season. Lugh’s influence grants us the ability to collect the wisdom and divination we’ve conducted thus far this year from a broader, big picture perspective. We can re-envision our lives from the framework of an epic poem in which we are the warrior who renders obstacles obsolete and creates the conditions for meaning and beauty in our lives. With a New Moon in Leo, we are further encouraged to bolster self-confidence as the protagonists of our own story, and to immerse ourselves in free creative expression. The interplay of solar and lunar energies continues with the celebration of Nemoralia, a festival of torches at Lake Nemi in ancient Rome. Gratitude is expressed for the year’s bounty to Diana, Goddess of the Moon. The Super Sturgeon Blue Moon in Aquarius, named after the ancient fish species, symbolizes sturdiness and resilience through the ages, intuition, and insight. These qualities can help reignite our inner fire for any innovative visions we may want to actualize. The festival of triple moon goddess Hecate towards the end of the month reinforces crone wisdom brought forth from the underworld to assist us in navigating the crossroads and liminal spaces. Vulcan’s festival at the end of the month celebrates fire once more, the force which purifies, hardens, and strengthens our resolve. 

The Key or Main Aspect: Four of Cups ~Step Into Your Power - Ray Lamontagne~

In Dalí’s rendition of the four of cups, our eyes are drawn to a nude seated figure, perhaps feeling vulnerable and exposed. He hugs his legs and presses his forehead to his knees, as though trying to hide or console himself. He pays no mind to the three golden cups before him, that represent the current gifts he has at his disposal, nor his natural surroundings. Awareness would reconnect us to ourselves, the present, nature and the world. In the backdrop is a tree from which a hand, representing Spirit, emerges. It seems that solace is but a tap away, bent fingers hovering just above his head. If the man were to look up, he would see the golden cup that Spirit has to offer–a bright opportunity to stir up complacency and renew his vigor. The bird could be likened to our soul still in its familiar nest. A spectral female with bare breasts and a hen’s head stands behind him, with a trailing blue line that could be imagined as a phantasmagoric placenta. This Freudian imagery suggests what keeps the man curled into a nearly fetal, infantile state. From birth and early development, we subconsciously learned to associate safety, survival and comfort with nourishment, with the person who would act as our mother hen. Learning to be mindful would allow for the enlightenment necessary to see that remaining in this state hinders our growth, whereas Spirit offers something more. A shift to a curious mindset will allow us to transform the bird soul atop the tree, free to erupt into birdsong or erupt into flight.

The Past or That Which Already is: Reverse Ten of Coins ~Within You Without You - The Beatles~ 

At the center of this card is a scene depicting bathing women, from the painting The Turkish Bath (1863) by Ingres. The figure on the far left idly plays a string instrument while the rest of the women have their attention fixed elsewhere–one even glances at the viewer. The women have been displaced from the bathhouse and appear to exist in a liminal space lined with red drapes, as though they were performers on stage that might soon be revealed to an audience. A distinction has yet to be made between reality and performance, before the actor morphs into persona. We experience a doorway to the surreal in which we can consciously induce the unconscious, using art as a medium to affect great psychic transformation. This is mirrored in Dalí’s placement of two enormous butterflies–one perched on the shoulder of the musician, marking her as the vehicle for transformation and another hovers above her. The butterfly on the musician’s shoulder is red and blue, indicating the active and intuitive principles necessary for music’s creation. This butterfly covers some of the women, as though ready to take them under its wing. The one overhead is yellow, symbolic of alchemical gold, the soul’s transformation made possible to all when music, the unifying force, is experienced.

In the naked indefensive state, the soul should more readily accept this metamorphosis. Instead the women seem closed off from one another. The bubbles, instead of bringing cleansing and uplifting attributes, weigh down the wings of the butterfly, rendering flight impossible. The wings are as heavy as the ten coins that border this card, a symptom of unshared wealth. As this card is inverted, it is indicative that in the past, the figure from the previous card did not take up the golden chalice. At some point in the process, whether due to artist's block, a fear to play, a lack of audience or an inattentive one, withholding the gift only for an exclusive audience…the music never truly had a chance to reach and transform the soul. 

The Future or That Which Needs to be Newly Evaluated: Reverse Moon ~Moon in the Mind - Ed Askew ~

In this position, the reverse Moon suggests we need to reevaluate how we approach the subconscious, lest we experience our unrealized dream in the future. In regards to the four of cups, it means we passively remained in a curled up position, which has allowed us to become haunted by the spectral siren of safety, rather than engaging with our present gifts and more importantly, the golden chalice. In refraining from making a choice, we make a choice. In the short term we may feel comforted, but in the long term our inner moon, the subconscious psyche, will feel great discontent. The divine feminine will not accept confinement to the mother hen role–she will insist we explore subconscious depths, wailing and moaning in a volatile manner until we do so, for she is chaotic matter that cannot be contained. Yet her wolves are miniscule in this scene, their howls drowned out by the city sounds. Her lake mirrors the skyline, and solar colors intrude otherwise blue waters.

The Moon finds herself at odds with the skyscraper–our self-made tower, or the reality which we have locked ourselves into. It is constructed of defense mechanisms that we think will keep us from having to engage with the subconscious world. This tendency is mirrored in the previous card, as well as the red crustacean that refuses to allow gravity to pull down its masculine armor. As a skyscraper, the tower mistakes the Moon as its foe and tries to pierce her with its needle, to kill her off. In reality, it is but an irritant, though the more we do so, the greater we provoke her. The skyline represents phallic man-made ideologies of domination and exploitation, the pressure we put on ourselves to reach our goal in a linear fashion so we may adhere to city standards of material success. We have a tendency to do this without regard to cyclical rhythms, the natural waxing and waning of our energy levels and need for rest. We keep the city lights on to ward off what lays dormant in the night of the psyche. We fear the traumas and negative substances lurking there. Avoidance causes them to grow increasingly until we are forced to deal with them in an unmanageable state. We need to really examine our dreams which inform us what we need to work at so it doesn’t get to this point. Finally, the city pollution dulls the night sky such that we can only see a faint glimmering of a few select stars. In warding off the night, we distance ourselves from hope itself, which rests at the bottom of Pandora’s box.

The Root or Foundation: Reverse Nine of Wands ~Mad Rush: Part D (Bar 232 - Bar 273) - Philip Glass, Vestard Shimkus~

When we look at Dalí’s Nine of Wands in reverse, our primary focal point becomes a vibrant green aquatic scene drifting through muted waters, with the central muted scene shifting into secondary focus. At the top right corner, we see a green amphibian man who seems to be struggling to reposition himself to a point where he can gather back up the nine green wands of vitality that seem to have slipped from his grasp. He may have been swimming upstream for a while and tiring himself out, making him susceptible to a sudden current that caught him off guard. He hardly has the energy to recover them, and ascribes this as a personal failure, when in reality he is very strong, as we can see from how developed his calves are. This figure represents our inner green man, our primal aspect that primarily engages with the world through the senses and direct physical interaction. He longs to connect with our conscious aspect through nature and has gotten very close to doing so. He reaches out to the murky vision through which our conscious mind wanders ungrounded, suggesting that our own mind creates the divide between ourselves and our sense of oneness with nature. We resist metamorphosis, the ability to slip between land and water (the conscious and subconscious) when, as in the four of cups, we remain unaware of the inner green man who would help us reach for the golden cups. 

The root or foundation of the disconnect can be found in the central scene, through which a man wanders through a forest, perhaps for a very long time. At this point his walk begins to feel monotonous, tiresome, and he forgets why he came here or what he was looking for in the first place. The man has left the city we saw in the Moon card, but the city still resides within him. That is to say he has become goal-driven, believing he has a hunt to accomplish, a landmark to find, a home to get back to. Miles from the city, he thinks he has somewhere to be and something to do, but deep in the forest, all he can do is walk and wander. He forgets that this is what appealed to him in the first place. He entered the forest to be mindful, to commune with nature and rejuvenate the self–the journey and the process were the intent all along. This reversed card asks us - why don’t we enjoy ourselves while we are here? Why don’t we delight in our surroundings, in the sunlight, and our senses? Rather than treat the hike as a chore, we can open ourselves up to curiosity and appreciation, so we may live life to the fullest. 

The Crown or Change: Reverse Eight of Swords ~Somewhere in My Heart - Aztec Camera~

Throughout the reading, we have looked at the main aspect, ie the curled up figure in the 4 of cups, from various angles. In the past, there was a missed opportunity to transmute through shared art. We found we need to re-evaluate how we approach the lunar subconscious lest we experience the unrealized dream (the golden chalice) in the future. The root or foundation revealed itself to be a disconnect between our conscious city self and the inner green man that would use nature as a medium to slip between the conscious and unconscious, bringing subconscious desires to fruition. Finally, we have arrived at the reverse eight of swords, which reveals two primary oppositional forces that must be mentally resolved, so we may experience the crown or change that would allow our four of cups figure to grasp the golden chalice. The first force is the superego–defined as cultural and systemic programming that we mainly absorb from our parents–which is concerned with its own spiritual ideals. It prohibits the expression of the id–our drives, fantasies, feelings and actions. The superego is evidenced in the woman who holds a butterfly tight to her chest. It recalls a Heimlich maneuver as though she is trying to revive a choking butterfly, never realizing that she is the suffocating force. She mirrors spectral siren mother hen from the four of cups, because she believes ignorance is bliss, and remaining unaware of the unconscious will keep us safe in what she envisages as a castle in the sky. In reality we know this castle to be the tower from the reverse Moon, which we know to be true because the eight swords appear to serve as bars for her prison cell. This contrasts with the green wands in the prior card, that act as trees in a forest –a necessary life force.

The second force is Eros, or our desire for wholeness. The woman (the superego) holds a loving intent towards the butterfly, which can be likened to our inner child. She is trying to keep it safe from the dark bubbling water that could provide cleansing qualities, because in contrast to the light bubbles in the ten of coins–it is a heavy, dark, and difficult cleansing. The nature of the cleansing, an alchemical process known as nigredo, is evidenced in the butterfly’s black upper wings. In the Jungian psychoanalytic realm, this involves a painful growing awareness of the paralyzing shadow aspects that lurk in the reverse Moon card–undealt with traumas we have compartmentalized, for instance. Per Jung, we must seek the coldness of the moon to find the sun. The superego fears the darkness but it does not know we will rise like a phoenix from the ashes. She fears the transformative death process because she fears she will not survive it. And when we look at this card in reverse, she even seems to want to cushion the butterfly from their fall, though all she would have to do is release it for its true safety. The woman does not realize that in holding it close, she keeps the butterfly from its own nature, to fly, transform, and pollinate. Its life is so short–we cannot waste our time locked in the prison cell. The swords, i.e. rationality and thinking, that serve as bars could be used to cut ourselves free. The lower wings of the butterfly hint at the final process for the figure in the four of cups–the alchemical gold, or final transformation of the soul that can be found when we drink from the golden chalice.

July Tarot Forecast 2024

1st - Crone Day

4th - Independence Day

5th - New Moon in Cancer

21st - Full Moon/Buck Moon

A Note: In June, I began my nomadic year of experience and reflection in search of a dream place to set my roots. The journey began in San Diego, California. I’d like to weave my experience of each place into my tarot writing, so I may share it with you, the reader. This month highlights the Osho Zen tarot deck, which is fitting, as it reminds me of the contemplation and tranquility I’ve experienced in the Japanese Friendship Garden and Museum near Balboa Park. In transit, I passed through the same kind of garden in San Jose, CA, and look forward to the next experience in the Portland Japanese Garden. I never knew how many could be found throughout the states, or even the world –how we are all universally in awe of the peace and beauty to be found there. 

July is an introspective summer month, in which we have the opportunity to redefine how we relate to our internal sun, as it relates to the ego. In June, we experienced the heat of the summer day – the excitement in the first week of summer break. We had endless opportunities for activity–a vacation, a day on the beach with hot sand between the toes, rushing into the waves with friends, going on roller coasters, ice cream dripping off the cone and onto the hand. July in contrast is a cool summer night–the wind making itself known, a pulled up hoodie, a dark night with water feeling so cold to the feet–a sea lion, abandoned by its playmates, resting alone on the buoy. We must return home, and learn to slow our pace. July is the lull in summer break, when we must learn to occupy ourselves – with a hobby or a book, gardening or a creative pursuit. Our friends have all gone on a cross country trip, or a foreign country, or enrolled in a summer program. We must content ourselves with our own company or the spare visit to Grandmother’s house, as she knits,or tells old stories of wisdom. This is a time to seek and listen to inner wisdom as well. This month is also good for exploring independence - how to seek more of it, discovering what we can accomplish on our own, and how to celebrate it. With the upcoming New Moon in Cancer, we are encouraged to lean into the sensual, emotional, familial, and intuitive. Intense emotions are best channeled into showing care and understanding. Finally, with the Buck Moon, we will be entering a regenerative cycle, in regards to power, security, sexuality, and personal status. 

Spread for this month: The Flying Bird

Like a bird taking flight, using the divine feminine and masculine as our wings, we can use the clarity gained from the reading below to lift us higher and higher, gaining greater vision of our internal and external state for the month ahead. 

Here and Now - the “lift-off” card: Nine of Water - Laziness 

~Summer Nights by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John~

This month, there is a distinction to be made between immersing ourselves in joyful abundance, and a complacent desire to stay in this space for the sake of comfort. We are encouraged to be fully present in this moment, and appreciate it all the more for its temporal nature. We are asked to get quiet and connect with the divine. Much hard work has been done on our part to get to where we are –we have finally arrived at the future we’d been longing for and manifesting. Recognize that this is it - we are living in a state of fulfillment. This fulfillment does not always necessarily come from having all the things we’d been vying for. Rather, we made space for it with a compassionate release of pressure on ourselves and became more present. This is when we can listen to the whispers of our internal knowledge: we can meet our authentic desires. We earned the fruit of our emotional labor and now we sink into the sensual. 

However, blissfulness is not the final destination. We must be willing to move through it, lest we become like the Lotus Eaters in the Odyssey. Perhaps we built ourselves a cozy nest with all the finest things and want to stay in our comfort zone. We must shatter the illusion that keeps us dormant in peaceful apathy, that keeps us from caring for our practical concerns. This is but a stopping point on our journey. We were born to take flight, for there is more adventure that awaits us.

The Resistance Card - “fear of flying”: Four of Fire - Participation

~With a Little Help from my Friends, by the Beatles~

In the last card, we see a solitary figure and bird. Here, we see four figures sitting in a circle of giving and receiving. As the solitary figure, we are not accustomed to being a part of the flock after living in the nest so long. We may feel self conscious about our imperfect form, having not taken to the air in some time.  Comparing ourselves to others more experienced than us makes us feel intimidated or shut down, and to prevent that we may be resistant to branching out from our safe and comfortable solitude.  Participation could have burnt us in the past –an all give and no take environment, getting rejected or feeling not welcomed which solidified our concerns. Aside from rejection, we may also be afraid to celebrate ourselves where we’re at and put forward imperfect shares, not realizing that the whole flock benefits from joyous experience when we do. Participation could be seen as slowing down too much, but we need rest and integration after working hard on something. 

There may be other causes at play – perhaps we want our triumph to remain our own, or to remain unchallenged so that we don’t have to leave our comfort zone. If we joined such a group, we would no longer be able to remain a spectator– we would have to become a participant in life. We would have to make the necessary changes that the group may otherwise hold us accountable for. Joining a flock would mean we really have to put forward the time, patience, and effort into a dedicated practice, instead of just dreaming about it. 

Response-ability to the fear: King of Rainbows - Abundance

~She’s a Rainbow - The Rolling Stones~

It is our response-ability to balance the energies of resting in our comfort zone and challenging ourselves via external participation. Both these practices have something to contribute to the whole, though apart they make only half the picture, half a recipe. We have the ability to navigate both realities, as a worldly person rooted deep in spirituality. We can dress ourselves in silks and root ourselves to the ground through our bare feet. We can engage fully and sensually with our surroundings and appreciate the beauty, while maintaining a connection to the emotional, intuitive, and the divine. The lotus in our hands signifies our ability to rise from the mud unblemished and bloom. Even in a city it is important we step out into the natural world, and engage with all the colors of life. This balance makes us rich in body and in spirit, for a whole and holy experience. 

Here is also where the Buck Moon can lend us a regenerative spirit. The elder king tells us to love deeply, hold onto our values, create while we can, and not let our fears keep us from taking flight. To fly means to take the necessary risks to live our lives well. We need to honor what is holy to us. The King of Rainbows teaches us that true security comes not from forever staying in the luxurious nest, nor on the Island of Lotus Eaters. We will face a different discomfort if we do –an unpleasant itch to do something, that grows into a deeper disappointment for not answering the call. Security and holiness come through participation, committing to life, to creativity. To let these sacred noble values give us the strength and courage needed to take that first step towards true abundance. Finally, the King’s Father Time energy teaches us How - we can slow down our flight, make careful considerations, protect our precious energy,and make any needed adjustments. We must learn to gain wisdom along the way, and stay disciplined in showing up consistently. 

Inner Support (intuition) of responsibility: Page of Water - Understanding

~I Want to Break Free by Queen~

There is a bird within us –all this time we thought it was trapped in a cage. It has only just occurred to us, on an intuitive level, that the bars of this cage are illusory. It may have presented itself once as safety, but now it only keeps us from our calling. We see other birds flying free, beckoning us to do the same. Oh, how our bird longs to join them. When we start, we can approach our new and awkward flight with compassion and understanding. It takes time to get used to our wings, and progress may not always be linear. We may need to coax ourselves out at first, and break courage down into small manageable steps. Still, taking the first step is a necessary and fundamental shift to acquainting ourselves with the freedom we have all along. We may feel uncertain and self conscious at first, but soon we will taste thrill and adventure which will fuel our desire for more. Our hearts become light, and we can go to places that inspire us and bring us joy. We have to be open to finding not what we expect but what we need. The beauty of flight is not in the destination, but the journey itself–whether that be creating art or in your becoming. The wings of faith will help us navigate the intuitive and unknown. In doing so, our ideas of what is possible in our lives expands. The sky is endless. Our dreams are the compass.  

External Support (intelligent action responding to intuition): Eight of Water - Letting Go

~Let Go by Frou Frou~

To facilitate flight, in addition to understanding we were never in a cage, we can let go of the things that cage us into our former identity. We have mastered what we could within our former circumstance, and there is nowhere to grow from here. Our inner bird wants to be continually surprised and challenged, to discover and learn. To do this, we must release ourselves into the unknown, towards which we are already falling. Let go and the infinite will catch us. We will soar into the world and expose ourselves to a multitude of perspectives and wisdoms, to which we find we contribute to as well. There is no greater or lesser being – we simply find we are part of the whole. There is a message here acknowledging the hard work we’ve done leading up to the Nine of Water lift-off card, from which we’ve begun. In our hyperproductive culture, Spirit reminds us that rest and recuperation are critical after a big effort, which includes the Letting Go. While doing so, we can stop to appreciate the fruits our labor has brought us and remind ourselves what it was all for. Integration and reward is a valid and important part of the journey, as we continue to make the necessary releases.

Relaxation and Acceptance: Six of Water - The Dream

~Dreams by Fleetwood Mac~

The Six of Water teaches us to relax and accept that we are the ultimate deciders of the direction and timing in which we take flight. We are our own pilot, and are more adept in manifesting our own dreams than we realize. This results in a journey that is perfectly tailored to our needs, adaptive to where we are and where we can meet them. No one else will know us as well as we do – only we know what makes our hearts sing, how to coax ourselves forward, when to take a step back or when to take a rest. This may initially dispel a fantasy we have around someone else coming into the picture to catalyze us, to fill in the missing pieces or remove our loneliness. In this card, the figure has their hands clasped, perhaps in a loose prayer to this illusion, but we empower ourselves when we turn that faith inwards. As the masterful granter of our own wishes, we can provide ourselves with the necessary change, solutions, self love or fulfillment.. The companionship we attract will flock to support us because of what we are actively manifesting, not the other way around. Dependence is not the key to real love–this comes from developing a rich inner self. This is powerful, because no one can take that away from us. The healing needed to address the points denoted in this reading can all be addressed from within: being told that our daydreaming and creativity was laziness, that our pursuit is unworthy of supportive participation and so we must go it alone, that we must exist in a binary structure that deprives us from take the necessary risks to live a whole and holy life, that we cannot break free, that we must retain a singular identity for life which keeps us holding onto the past. To supersede these messages, we must accept the inner child and give it what it needs. We may write letters to our past selves, leave healing offerings, sing, draw, or play –whatever it is that the inner child needs.

Arrival at New Level of Awareness: Five of Water - Clinging to the Past

~Pictures of You by the Cure~

The new level of awareness that will allow flight to occur is the realization that the only thing holding us back is the past we hold onto. The past plagues and riddles, entrapping us in old experiences. Old attachments and ways of thinking, including the cage we once thought trapped us, will not allow us to see and experience the abundance of the present. Staying in the past keeps us in a scarcity mindset, feeling like our memories are all we have left and that the best is behind is. Richness awaits at our fingertips, if only we can let go and turn around to see what beautiful gifts we can access. This epiphany is something we will feel in our hearts and in our bones, such that it becomes a knowledge that lives within us. There is so much magic that lies at our fingertips should we find the courage to let it all go. Our authentic desire will strengthen us to do so. 

Letting go is a difficult but necessary process we can achieve by giving ourselves the permission, grace and understanding to fully grieve the things we've lost. Once we allow this, can hold a wake I which we can honor, thank, and celebrate. We can build a routine of care and comfort for ourselves, through a meditative, creative or physical practice. It is something we get better at the more consistently we practice. To grieve is to recognize we came with nothing, and will leave with nothing. It is a fundamental part of what it means to be alive. This truth can transform if we allow it. Even grief itself can be grieved and released. This is when we can seek the cup of renewal. When we release the past, we finally feel light enough to soar into the sky. We may find that beyond the fog is a beautiful rainbow. 

-Angel Intentions

June Tarot Forecast

New Moon: 6th (Gemini)

Father’s Day: 16th

Summer Solstice: 20th

Full Moon: 21st (Strawberry Moon in Capricorn)

Midsummer: 24th

A note: the reading below will include messages channeled with the help of my Patron Tarot Guide Isadora, who I started working with in February. In Espiritismo, each individual is believed to have a set of spirit helpers, with one main guide. Also, in this deck, all color correspondences are in relation to the Seneca.

June - a taste as sweet as strawberries and honey. A crescendo of light, where the day grows increasingly long until the summer solstice, when the night grows longer. We start primarily with an active, outward growth and experience, and slowly pull deeper into the passive internal. In many ways, the energy of June offers an extension and culmination of the energies brought forth in April and May – spring cleaning, rebirth, fertility, and love. June, named after Juno, the protectress of marriage, fertility, rejuvenation, and women’s genius reinforces this.

This month favors late bloomers –a time when bluebells, roses, peonies, and lilacs burst open. There is still opportunity to experience all of these beautiful April and May energies, to decorate with flowers, to go barefoot in the dew of the Midsummer night and be blessed with good health. A Midsummer Night’s Dream presents itself as a time of magic and mystery, when true alignments and healing through joy and merriment can occur. The New Moon this month teaches us the art of communication via listening and waiting our turn to speak. June’s full moon, once named the Honey Moon, offers lovers a honeymoon like bliss. The strawberry in Greek and Roman culture symbolizes flirtatiousness, love, lust and romance and is associated with Aphrodite. However, since it was renamed per Native American harvesting of the fruit, it is more apt to look to the Cherokee story of the first strawberry, which was created to foster love, resolution and the recognition of how much one means to another. 

Below, we’ll be using Jamie Sams’ Sacred Path oracle card, which she describes as “the discovery of the self through native teachings,” to explore the coming month. This choice is a bit of a love letter to Sedona, AZ, a place with native influence that has become dear to me, though I will have moved on to a nomadic lifestyle by the time this newsletter is published. The spread we will be using is called the Peace Tree spread, for those who may feel at odds with their environment or aspects of the Self.

Buried Talent: Council Fire ~The gift or ability you are not acknowledging, because you have not set your roots deep enough into Earth Mother~

Key Word: Decisions

Numerology: 24, choices

In the Sacred Path deck, all of the scenes are depicted on animal hide of various shades. Here we have a white hide, a color symbolizing clarity and magnetism. A council of natives wrapped in blankets sit on the earth around a bonfire. The council may represent our inner council of our various parts (internal family systems), or an external council around us. The fire exudes warmth and envelops us, while the earth keeps us grounded. Spirit wants us to know that we are supported in our decision making. The validity of our voice and experience has earned us a place at the council –ours is a sacred point of view as is our decision. When we consider all the possibilities and how our decisions affect others, then we have made an honorable decision. When we make a mistake, we can admit wrongdoing and make amends, for there is honor in willingness to change. It is an act of courage and keeps us in line with the right path. When making the decision we are advised to leave our troubles outside the circle, and bring in any talent for finding solutions. We have the ability and courage to make a decision and sit with it. When we are finished, we can end our sessions with prayer or gratitude.

Whether we are an elder giving guidance or a youth offering new ideas and creativity, we belong here. When in doubt, we must remember that we have run our ideas by others in our circle many times, taking into account their offered wisdom and perspectives. These people in our circle are good listeners, wise, diplomatic and communally supportive. We are a culmination of ancestral perspective and our circle–their wisdom resides within us. 

My Patron Tarot Guide, Isadora, says: “Yours is a story that deserves to be told at the fire–make it a good one. Make it something you’re eager to share, that others can take stock in. You are a storyteller. Your words have power. They influence your reality. Your choices show what is possible, to self and others. It can heal, entertain, teach.” 

Root: Medicine Bowl ~Strength to be gained, root of your new understanding~

Key word: Healing

Numerology: 31 - stability

On a pale yellow hide, a color symbolizing love, the Medicine Bowl card depicts a round bowl with a link pattern wrapping around its belly, with beads and feathers dangling from a string tied below its mouth. Poised beside it is a long bowl, which is used to fill with water to pour into the medicine bowl. A female Seer will gaze into the water, and use the reflection of firelight to create an image of the Void where the future lives, to help her and her tribe. Like the Seer, we are encouraged to tap into our clarity and focus, so we may seek the wisdom of the Void and interpret it through silent vigil. We can access it through smoke, dreams, scrying and more. In seeking answers, we must be open to what the future brings. Healing awaits. We can pay attention to the events in our lives and express gratitude for the healings that manifest themselves in our lives. These can be big, but most often they occur in small releases. We can become conscious observers of our shifts in attitude, new sense of well-being, and understand healing as it presents itself. We assist our future, beyond the Void, to heal our present selves.

The medicine bowl encourages us to get in touch with our internal healing, which is always available to us. It is communal, holistic, and most powerfully accessed via the Divine feminine. It is this side that can best access the cyclical, liminal spaces needed to do this work.

From my Patron Tarot Guide Isadora: “Go into your darkness without fear. Navigate these cycles–everything is happening in just the right time, your time. Everything is being prepared for you just as you need it, customized in every possible way, to facilitate your particular healing and goals. You will find what you have been looking for. What you need to stimulate, prompt, clear, navigate and co create with body and spirit.”

Trunk: Cradleboard ~The lesson to be applied to physical body and sense of Self, to walk tall~

Key phrase: Ability to respond

Numerology: 27 - internal voyage 

In this card, we see a smiling baby content inside a beautifully decorated and wellmade cradleboard, depicted on a white backdrop of fresh potential. In native culture, it is natural to move with the seasons. This reflects the value of adaptability, and the belief that “our purpose in life is growth, understanding, and living in harmony.” We can respond to the past, present and future –to ancestral wisdom, to the beauty in each moment, the survival and wellbeing of future generations respectively. We are meant to use our gifts for collective good, and understand that our current thoughts and actions will affect the future. Hence we must take responsibility for them, and respond now. Our warrior side will provide us with the needed courage. We can use our creativity and speak the truth to respond. We have a duty to find our answers and act upon them with our personal medicine in such a way that promotes growth. 

A message from Isadora: “Your cradleboard looks like a moccasin. It fits like a glove. Inside, you feel warm, comfortable, safe, protected, and tended to. Imagine it around you. Care was put into your comfort, wellbeing, everything just right for you and your future. You are just right. There is a place for you, that belongs to just you. Your ability to respond and the way you respond are just right for you. This is exactly the response that is needed from you. To pave the way for others like you, though of course they have their own cradleboard to take care of. The collective future wellbeing belongs to you as well. You benefit from it and pass it on.” 

Branch: Power Place ~Ways you might be limiting your joy, or adjustments needed to reach further and touch the place you seek~

Key words: Earth-Connection/Empowerment

Numerology: 16, work/will

In the Power Place card, we see a gold hide background, which serves as the color of the sky. In this place, we find love and enlightenment. The blue-tinged clouds look like gentle ocean waves with soft white foam floating in the sky. A pair of birds grace the sky, a symbol of freedom. Below is a vista of a southwestern landscape with tall red rock formations symbolic of faith, reaching to their highest heights. The ground is a field of red soil, where patches of desert flowers grow. Jamie Sams describes a power place as “a place of solace to seek at one-ment with themselves or the Great Mystery.” It is a place of concentrated energy where a strong connection can be felt. We can also seek the places we are drawn to, and make them places of power by praying there. In vision quest, this energy can be summoned through singing, drumming or active ceremony. We can reconnect through joy and celebration, and acknowledge our gifts with gratitude.

 Per Sams, “Earth-connection gives the energy needed to use our natural gifts, abilities and talents; without it many plans and dreams will vanish, for they have no manner in which to manifest.” When we seek this Earth-connection, we need to let go of our limiting ideas in order to feel her nurturing, which will allow for self discovery. We can become catalyzers using our creativity and create our desired outcome by allowing Earth mother to feed it voltage. This way, our needs will be met, through personal empowerment.

Isadora says: “Reach for the highest heights and ask yourself what makes you soar? What makes you bloom and collect harvest? Where do you thrive, find healing, peace and connection? What do you connect with? Where could you lose yourself and seek solitary connection with nature, to learn and communicate with her? What land feels supportive of your goals? Earth meets your needs, you respect and meet hers. In giving and receiving, you become a conduit.

Father Sky: Talking Stick ~the personal freedom you can gain~ 

Key words: Viewpoints/Options

Numerology: 15, choices

It feels as though the reading has brought us full circle from the beginning - from the Council of Fire congregation, to the Talking Stick used to speak there. On a yellow hide, an outstretched hand grips a white-barked talking stick, decorated with a bit of colored paint, strips of leather, feathers, and beads. The way the top fingers are positioned may even seem like they are playing a flute. The talking stick reminds us that we take turns to share our sacred points of view, and teaches us to value each. Thus, everyone must listen carefully. When making a talking stick, the individual must decide which tree, colors, and feathers will assist one’s needs and add the needed medicine to facilitate communication. In Council, listening to the wisdom and teachings of others will allow us to relate in a new way with them. We learn how to listen and apply what we hear, and not to interrupt those who are sharing their wisdom. We are shown that life has countless options and answers to any dilemma, which allows us to see where we may have stagnated within our own echochamber. The talking stick allows us to open up and hear what opportunities are coming our way, the alternative routes we could grow through. We are encouraged now to use this gift.

A channeled message: You have the power to lift your talking stick into the sky – “I speak!” The wood is a conduit of power and healing. There is pleasure to be found in giving voice empowerment. Like a flute, its use can guide, or it can form one part of a greater musical ensemble. There can be pleasure in learning to play and having an effect, as well as learning to listen, wait, and play a role in a greater piece. It is part of a discussion, conversation, and communion. Learning to be part of a formative group. This process involves learning strength and empowerment, and staying informed. One can speak because one has integrated and listened. You are, aside from the Self, a sum of many voices, a choir, a collective that lives within you and you are speaking on their behalf. In a Council of Fire you are in the presence of many collectives. One hand reaches up, as does its voice. Gratitude can be found for holding space for others because it is reciprocal. Coming back to the community and speaking as a voice can be a uniting force. I have traveled, I have come back, I have something to say. Let’s all learn together. We can share our findings, revelations, and shine. 

May Tarot Forecast

1st - May Day/Beltane

7th - New Moon in Taurus

12th - Mother’s Day

23rd - Full Moon (Flower Moon)

This month, we’ll be using the Songs of Siren tarot deck, by Lady Moon Co. On the back of every card is a big SOS –a way to request aid from Spirit with every card we pull. The reading below uses one of the spreads from the booklet, called Crystal Visions. It is meant to create crystal-clear clarity on a situation that feels murky, whether due to our proximity to the issue at hand or projections from prior similar situations.

The April rain clears, leaving us with a fiery field of flowers and ripe possibility. We enter a halfway point where spring equinox and summer solstice kiss. If April was a bursting pregnant belly, May is the birth of a newborn calf. Motherly love surges for this new life–a fierce, protective love that carefully governs its growth. Maia, the goddess of fertility for whom the month is named, blesses this love, as well as new beginnings and rebirths. Here, relationships flourish, and the May King and Queen are crowned. We are invited to visit holy wells, and the morning dew grants beauty and promotes youthfulness. If we were to engage in wordplay, we would get to the heart of what this month has to offer. “May” is the grantor of permission to pursue the possibilities. We “may” bring in the month of May, by adorning our space with yellow flowers, a symbol of fire and light. “Mayday,” or m’aidez in French, enables us to ask for help from Spirit threefold, and receive threefold blessings in return. 

What’s Happening Now: Nine of Pentacles ~Sailing by Christopher Cross~

 Lyrics: And if the wind is right, you can sail away and find tranquility.

In the Songs of Siren deck, the Nine of Pentacles is represented as a pair of feminine hands gracefully held out. This positioning makes it seem like they are the magical force that suspends nine vinyl records levitating above. We see perfectly manicured sharp nails leaving scratch marks in the air. These nails feel primal, mesmerizing, sensual, and dangerous. Their perfect shape simultaneously indicates someone who is cultured, well put together, and cared for. Further, the imagery of the scratch seems suggestive of a DJ creating scratch sound effects. In this analogy, we are the DJ with nine records at our disposal. There is a dynamism in shifting from the eight to the nine. It feels as though the ninth album in the bottom center has been carefully created from the full collection. It is the fruit of the many, drawing from a wide knowledge base. Our present experience reflects this, in that it is the curated result of many trial and error experiences. 

The DJ can pluck any song out of the many, combining and remixing songs and experience in any way she chooses. The result is a magical experience that makes the listener feel as though they are hearing their favorite songs anew. Currently, we are this DJ. We feel confidence in our skills, our ability to draw from a wide knowledge base, and the mastery of our art. We feel our music, art or creation causes us to enter a state of trance and dance that leads us to feel joy, movement, and ecstasy. This enjoyment affects us so deeply that we feel moved to share it with those around us, creating a ripe environment for inspiration, conviviality and play. We know the space around us is not empty, but filled with crackling inspiration that we can access and manipulate. Finally, the card is framed by the following lyrics: “And if the wind is right, you can sail away and find tranquility.” We can make the most use of this line when we recognize that we are secure enough in our own groundedness that we have the power to give rise to any new conditions we might seek to reach our desired goals and tranquil states.

Your Role in This: Five of Wands ~Us and Them by Pink Floyd~

 Lyrics: Black and Blue, who knows which is which and who is who

At first glance and listen, this card evokes a traditional Rider Waite interpretation of struggle and conflict. Laura Wong’s choice of “Us and Them” by Pink Floyd for this card association suggests an internal war between the Internal Family system, i.e. our various parts. The imagery of five drumsticks hovering over a single drum seems to confirm this. We can imagine that if we attempted to strike a drum with five drumsticks at once, this would sound chaotic. Alternatively, if we got a band together with five different members, the initial practice sessions might clash. Likewise, different aspects of our psyche might present many disparate or contradicting thoughts and ideas, tugging in every which direction. This initial discord occurs, however, in the noble attempt to bring together all the band members’ skills into a greater harmonious whole that amounts to more than sum of its parts. We can see this potential in this card, by the way in which the drumsticks sparkle.

The Five of Wands ultimately represents the messy thoughts and work that goes into the act of creation, in order to produce the beautiful distilled result that others want and see. It represents a work in progress, the result of messy trial and error. This comes from the process of getting to know oneself and pursuing one’s art, the honoring of our various facets, and discovering which brilliant path to pursue to make the magic happen. The drum is a template of pure potential. This process can be too daunting for some to even get started. Others, like us, plunge forward and get into the messiness of practice, knowing this is the only way to get to the desired goal. Surrender only occurs when people get lost in the mess, the sense of failure, and forget what they were aiming for. We pushed past this, continually striving, keeping the goal in mind, and this is what got us to the Nine of Pentacles current situation we find ourselves in now. 

Outside Influences: Four of Wands ~God Only Knows by Beach Boys~

 Lyrics: God only knows what I’d be without you.

In the Songs of Siren deck, the imagery for the Four of Wands is nearly the same as that of the Five of Wands. We see four sparkling drumsticks hovering over a single drum. The drum, aside from pure potential, also symbolizes a shared vision, in which agreement and collaboration are required to ensure its success. In this continued analogy, the Four of Wands can be likened to getting a four member band together. They are all committed and want to work together, and have complementary styles and vision. Together they have the resources in place to be a successful band greater than its individual parts and create a successful album. In coming together, this group will share resources, struggles, joy and abundance

The chosen song correspondence for this card, “God Only Knows,” by the Beach Boys suggests that the band in question is our chosen family. The outside influence is a tight knit community whose love for us is sure and unshakeable. They value the way we shine and feel their world would not be the same without us. In this passion-driven process of mutual creation with them, we are advised to focus on beauty, pleasure, enjoyment, ample rest, all of which lend to a fruitful creative atmosphere. Inspiration cannot be strangled out of us by relentless force. When put together in the same room, the group can jam together in a creative ambiance that gives rise to the right conditions for an initiatory spark. This spark is fueled by connection. Time and patience is needed for the results, but the foundation has been built so that they can be long lasting. Together the band members provide each other with the structure, stability, and accountability that allows for exploration.

What’s Ahead: Nine of Swords ~I’m Only Happy When it Rains by Garbage~

 Lyrics: I’m riding high upon a deep depression, I’m only happy when it rains.

In this version of the card, swords are replaced by microphones. We see small lightning bolts spark off of each microphone, as though they are all competing to be heard at a karaoke event or singing tournament. It is as though they are all too anxious to wait for their turn, so instead all try to sing at once, resulting in a disastrous cacophony. A solitary microphone stands out amongst the rest, in that it is slightly bigger, and surrounded by four microphones on each side. This seems to be our true self, connecting with our heart and values, trying to ring out against all these competing voices. There are our intrusive thoughts that keep us from being able to hear ourselves. 

Our personal contribution, the five of wands, is a trying path that will test our ability to persevere through the trial and error of realizing our next pursuit. Naturally as an idea unfolds into reality, our plans will encounter complexities, obstacles and setbacks. We are wont to take this hard to heart and see it as a personal failure. We’ve avoided facing this side of ourselves thus far, but when we enter such a miserable state, we learn that the only way out is through. Our ability to persevere in the face of this is tested, but hope remains in our continued striving. The remedy for this future predicament is to come to center, without allowing this self to get stifled by the surrounding noise. We can sing our hearts out, using art as a container for the heaviness that torments us. The rain —tears, crying, processing emotion in a support group–has the ability to rust the swords and weaken their efficacy. If we push through to the other side, we may reap the rewards of a powerful and steady voice that can cut through the din of negativity and rise above it. 

Help From Spirit: Nine of Cups ~Good as Hell by Lizzo~

 Lyrics: I do my hair toss, check my nails, baby how you feelin’? Feeling good as hell

Here we see stars falling like glitter from nine downturned cups. In particular, the stars fall principally from a cup in the center, with eight cups tilted towards it, like bells ringing in celebration and support. The cup in the center seems to be the higher self, our own personal fairy godmother within that leads us to express our wishes, and grants their fulfillment.The spirit of Beltane sends us a threefold blessing in response to the Nine of Swords crisis above, which may have us wanting to send out a spiritual SOS or mayday signal. This month, we are encouraged to connect with and ask for exactly what we want; and in response, we shall receive. 

Through Lizzo’s lyrics, we are reminded that we are a star that can touch the sky. We have the ability to change our lives, and have it all without sacrifice. When we feel otherwise, we should question those thoughts, and ask Spirit to help intervene. Spirit validates the hard work we’ve done to foster a good relationship with her and ourselves, and wants us to know that this is a well-earned blessing. She offers to help us pick ourselves up, to dry our eyes, and move forward again. A feeling of goodness washes over us and soothes us. Spirit is here to shower us with love and abundance, with gentle blessings and the granting of wishes. She is here to protect our dwelling and those within it, wherever we may be. We are encouraged to connect with the spirit of water – wells, hot springs, baths, and May’s dew, which bestows us with beauty and youthfulness. We are blessed by freedom, truth and love as well. Though this is not permanent, we are encouraged to soak it in this month.

The Choice That’s Yours: Three of Wands ~Roam by the B52s~

 Lyrics: Roam if you want to, roam around the world. 

This card reveals three drumsticks that sparkle and hover over a shared drum, i.e. vision. We have the opportunity to gather a team together of like-minded individuals to go on a learning or exploratory adventure if we so choose. One of the drumsticks stands out in that it is smaller than the main two drumsticks that are playing on the drum. This suggests that our efforts this month resound a bit softer, as though we are waiting for our turn to play. At this stage, we have the chance to learn from and shadow others who have taken this path before. Our plans are like fledglings that are waiting to grow up. We may find a teacher or someone more learned than us who is willing to show us the ropes. Importantly, we will be learning to play a different, complementary song. We will be learning the same foundational techniques, but creating our own song and rhythm. This is a song that will go to the beat of our own drums and hence fill us with a greater sense of accomplishment. 

The song chosen for this card is “Roam” by the B52s, with the lyrics “Roam if you want to, roam around the world.” The most literal interpretation of these lyrics is of course the opportunity to follow the impulse to go on upcoming travel. Rather than a solo endeavor however, this will likely be with a small group of friends, a nuclear family, or group that we have gathered together to go on a shared adventure. Specifically, we are encouraged to go where the wind blows, where Spirit may take us, in a co creative process. We may call on Mercury for help with inspiration and ideas in this endeavor. The Three of Wands lends itself to journeys taken off the beaten path. Though this will very much be a learning process, we have the adventurous spirit, love, and courage needed to embark on this journey. We may even find we inspire others in doing so.

Wishing all Threefold Blessings,

Angel Intentions

April 2024 Tarot Forecast

1st - April Fool's Day

8th - New Moon

22nd - Earth Day

23rd- Full Moon

30th- Walpurgisnacht

April is the first full month of Spring, a month we have only just entered. With new life comes new possibilities. Here we will see what blooms forth from our prior efforts. What doors and opportunities may open. What parts of ourselves might bloom and open under the gentle gaze of the sun? What winds may blow us, what clouds hover over us, what rains give way to relief, until the sun breaks through again? In some ways, April takes us through the full range of the Arcana. We begin with the childish trickery and laughter of April Fool's Day, and find ourselves connected back to the collective and the planet on Earth day. The reading below is meant to address all the day to day in between. 

Energy of the Month: Ace of Pentacles

This month presents us with the Ace of Pentacles, the symbol of pure potential, the pure seed that can give rise to a forest. It is a golden seed. We are encouraged to put all our hopes and dreams into it, to see it for what it could be. We are presented with a brand new future, a brand new chapter. Anything can happen, anything new can arise. Anything can sprout forth from the golden seed. We are not limited by the way our lives looked like before. We can act forth from it. The Ace of Pentacles is Spring. The zero and the one. The fool and the creator. It is hope, our internal sun, beaming. From Pandora’s box sprung true hope, sun and light. This is the thing inside that really resonates with us, aligns with us and is meant for us. This month can be used to dream up everything we can dream. For it to actualize, we need to really envision it and put thought into this new reality. We begin with the energy of the fool, able to consider endless possibilities from the unknown. With the new season brings a new chance in the year. This ace is something that would delight the inner child and self. It is something we would be happy to see grow, to cultivate, to watch as it unfurls. It’s something we’d want to wake up every day to see how it fares, caring for it as our own, investing in it. 

Love: The Chariot

In love, within ourselves and in a relationship, we experience all hands on deck. All parts of the self (or each person) are cooperating for a shared goal. We listen to the self and the other, and this energy is returned. Our will is the conductor for all our moving pieces. The past, present and the future work together. The head, heart and the id are on the same track. When it all comes together we feel like a champion who can fly. We feel empowered like royalty, like someone who is worthy of respect, who can voice their desires and command at will. Even in moments when we do not feel this way, we are willing to put on the guise of a royal to take matters into our own hands. Little do we know, when we present ourselves as a royal, this is what we become. We develop a proud chest, a head held high, with the heavens shining down on us. We are of course mortal and not perfect, but we are reminded this is a part of us we can access. This is not to say we should stop watching the road or steering when needed to make adjustments for love, but to have confidence in ourselves as a driver. Rather than having to travel by foot, we can cover long distances now. Travel this month is likely. This will be enlightening travel where we learn something at the end, becoming more aligned, encouraged, and more like our true selves. This has all sprung forth from the fool’s energy, where we were willing to take a blind leap, to not know, to have faith. This faith is paying off.

We are well on our way down the yellow brick road, feeling confident on this part of the path and on our way to Emerald City. We have found ourselves the brain and the heart, and our courage presides within. These are our trusty companions. We know we are going somewhere purposefully,and this brings us confidence and a sense of accomplishment. We know where we are going and that we can steer in the direction we so choose. We are insured, and have the necessary tools and fuel to get us through anything. The pumpkin has been transformed into a carriage, and we can let it take us to a place of empowerment.

Money: Page of Cups

This month, under the general energy of the Ace of Pentacles, we have a much more romantic idea of what wealth looks like and what it can do for us. Think back to when we first had money and independence–what were we excited to spend our money on? What dreams did we want to foster, and what things brought us joy? This is the relationship we have with money now. What things sing to our hearts, spirit of adventure, poetry and romance? What supports our love sector, and helps the Chariot travel long and far? Right now we feel brave and willing to take a step at a time towards love and heart. We are not overly concerned with whether this matches the head. Rather, we take off the critical thinking cap and use our mind instead to help us think of ways to support these ideals. The page of cups has golden curls like the sun (the true self), the inner child, and is adorned with a whimsical floral crown. We look to the innocence of the heart, the inner child, to help inform us of what financial decisions would be the most satisfactory for us. We should look to the heart for answers when we are stuck. 

Further, the Page of Cups has a scarf wrapped around them to help keep them warm, as though gifted to them by their mother. It is flying in the air as though leading the way. Viewing our decisions through the eyes of a loving mother figure, and whether she would support the decision will also help lead us in the right direction. Further, plants are the markers of alignment on the path –this month we will want to check in with plant magic and wisdom along the way. 

Our strength is getting everywhere on our own two feet. We don’t completely know what we are doing but we have full control of our choices. The things we learn through them and the distance we cover feels earned. We get to learn intimately about ourselves and our hearts through these choices. We can start with smaller strides and take bigger strides as we gain confidence.

Work: 7 of Pentacles

This month hard work is in store for us, from which we will see fruit. There is a real sense of earning through work and/or ordeal. We are held in the center, supported by Source. Things are growing in the right direction –not just abundance or that which we want to manifest–but also ourselves. We are encouraged to keep up the steady pace in work, to embody the Chariot attitude of showing up each day and rolling our sleeves up. The results will follow. We have a good amount of work but not a lot of idle time to spare–there is more to grow and cultivate, and we still have a good amount to go before reaching the destination. We have to listen to our needs and show up for them, act on behalf of them, and be responsive to them. We wake up to toil under the 7 am sun. We do best when we rise early and sleep at a good time so that we can repeat the cycle once more. We are in a good place, from us sprouts prosperity and the work we’ve imagined. We are gardeners at heart, designers, and what we can imagine is what we can cultivate.

Health: Page of Pentacles

In our approach to health, we can take stock that our attitude is like that of a willing beginner, filled with enthusiasm and confidence from all our learnings and ideas, not beaten down by heavy experience or limitations. We have a lot of ideas connected to Source and a bright thinking cap. Ideas for action flow from the subconscious and alchemize into a reality others can see. Our feet are submerged in blue like water, as though we are a plant we are tending and growing. We have a fresh seed, growth in the making, and one clear accomplishment that has been harvested from our efforts. This is our sun, the thing about our health or our bodies that lights us up, that we are very proud of. It’s the thing that motivates us and propels us forward. Our chest and hearts are full of energetic will to action. For some reason France feels important here–perhaps a reminder to romance ourselves through health, and not forget the pleasures of life, such as wine, cheese, culture, art, etc. We can fall in love with our health, and let our bodies romance us too. We can move in ways that we love.

Spirit: 3 of Wands

We are fiery in energy and spirit this month with the Three of Wands. The hard part of stoking the fire is done, the kindling has caught fire, and now we only need to keep tending to the flame and watch it grow. The life path we are on and the passion we feel has been fueled by a team of three, close knit and united as the Three Musketeers. Together this group will fly on a small craft with propellers. This flight feels mechanical in nature–more like a human-powered bicycle plane and less like the modern airplane. The effort is self-generated and more difficult, but also much more rewarding. We are advised to keep working in threes –head, heart and courage. Mind, body and soul. Together in harmony, working in threes creates a balance from which we can soar. It is a time to be excited by the potential and experience spirit in a new way. By trying new things, seeking adventure and new destinations, we can heal by expanding beyond what is known.

Wishing everyone a fruitful Spring,

Angel Intentions

March tarot forecast

New Moon: 10th (Pisces)

Ostara: 19th, Spring Equinox

Full Moon: 25th (Worm Moon)

Easter: 31st

March has me thinking about my upcoming marriage, and all the other Ms that might be associated with the month. It recalls Mad March, which refers to the wild and unpredictable hare in March, exemplified by chases and boxing during their mating season. This berzerk behavior is fitting for the month of Mars, the god of war. Other Ms that come to mind include music and the Muse. Together, these themes show March to be a month of passion, love, inspiration, competitiveness, energy, and action. Keeping the Ms in mind, I’ll be reading from the Marseilles deck once more to illuminate what we can expect with our openness to connect.

Theme:

Death ~Abstract (Psychopomp) by Hozier~ 

The presiding theme and overall message for the spread is represented by the Death card. Allowing past connections, old narratives and ways of operating to die can be scary and challenging, but we are encouraged to do it with vigor and a cheerful, diligent step. We can whistle while we work, sing, celebrate what once was and will be, in order to facilitate the process. Death reminds us of what we hold precious, and what joy we want to ensure more of in life. We’ll want to strip ourselves down to the bones, the core of who we are –beyond status, employment, riches or power–our fundamental selves that would stand before Maat to have our hearts weighed. This is who we want to bring forward into the next stage of our lives. This is where we act from, and where transformative change can happen. It will feel at first as though we are losing a critical part of ourselves when we release our old identities. Then we will feel lightened and reunited with our true selves, the version of us that operates from love and connects fully. We bring an end to an old way of connecting, and to bring in a new way of doing so. 

The way am I most open to romantic/intimate connection:

Strength ~Light My Love by Greta Van Fleet~

It takes Strength to confront Death —which is inherent in all relationships. We transform over the course of a relationship, as do our ideas about love. In Women Who Run with Wolves, Clarissa Estes uses a Skeleton Woman tale to remind us that we all undergo the life/death/life cycle – the initial excitement, the deepening of the relationship, the decline of intensity, and a reanimation of fervor. A strong soul does not bolt at the first shift, but rather endures. The brave, courageous part of the self that is willing to confront and work with and reawaken the lion (fear, unruliness, unbridled desires) is the part that is most open to connection. This is the part that is connected to the higher divine self and the infinite, the part that feels strong enough to be vulnerable and open. We may not feel ready or capable, but we are able to summon up compassion and courage to step into connection. It’s not that we have an absence of fear, but that we are able to face it. We are grounded and empowered when we act from this space. We feel like a superhero with extraordinary abilities, and are able to initiate, act boldly, cultivate joy and play. We are able to confront our past, our demons, to listen, integrate, connect, forgive, and make amends both in relating with the self and our connections.

The part of me that is hesitant or resistant to intimate and romantic connection: 

Reverse Page of Wands ~When I’m Small by Phantogram~

The reverse page of wands seems rigid and in discomfort holding the club, which is symbolic of power, libido and the creative spark. This page represents the part of ourselves that doesn’t feel up to the task of connection. We may feel vulnerable and fear getting burned by our own fire. The page feels they can’t trust their mind to come up with ideas for right action that can be confidently acted upon (perhaps feeling too hot-headed), and feels a need for clarity of thought. This results in having a stifled flame that lacks fluidity of action and movement. This is a part of the self that cannot see the ground or where it is going, resulting in the intuitive recesses not being addressed. The arms of the figure look like scissors, as though any action or movement cuts any connection it tries to touch. This creates a painful separation from what is desired – and we may even hesitate to keep trying since the result always seems to be the same.  

What from the past is influencing my present desire/capacity for intimate connection? The Emperor ~Lovesong by The Cure~

In the past, we lived under the steady rule of the Emperor. We had either a sturdy father figure or a trust in the authority that we were raised under within the current patriarchal paradigm. In the Emperor we saw discipline in service of something greater, wisdom, needs being met and contained. In the Emperor’s presence we felt abundance, and grounding. With that also came rules, limited autonomy, a naivety and sense of safety that relied on wisdom belonging outside of ourselves. A structured path was laid out before us –school, work, buying a house, having children, and retiring. The ways we should and should not behave. Regardless, this far-sightedness gave us something to put our resolve and motivation towards each day. This affects our attachment style and what kind of connection we seek – a stable relationship, a sense of consistency, reliability, and someone whose wisdom we can turn to outside our own. We trust the sensible decisions the Emperor makes. When backed by the protective shield of the Emperor we are empowered to soar to our fullest power. 

How can I actively invite in more romantic connections? 

Reverse Knight of Pentacles ~All Mixed Up by 311~

The reverse Knight of Pentacles seems to have gotten turned around, but doesn’t want to admit it. We are being advised to share where we might be feeling ungrounded in the material plane (health, abundance, lifestyle, etc) and lost. It’s time to ask for directions instead of trying to figure it all out on our own. At this point even our horse, the seat of our desire and intuition has become turned around. Instead of dragging the horse against its will one way or another, we should let it guide the way once we have been resituated. It seems like we have our guard up but we don’t know how to really employ the club that we’re using to overly protect ourselves. What can we do on a daily basis to make ourselves feel more consistently secure? To activate our internal energy, creativity and enjoyment? To feel secure in our sense of abundance, health, resources, home and the body? What do we truly and naturally love and how might we increase that sense in connection?

What helpful healing advice do my spirits have for me? 

Reverse Devil ~Take Me to Church by Hozier~

The reverse Devil is the natural part of life and humanity that we’ve been taught to demonize while in our Emperor phase. We’d been taught that our internal desires, such as lust, the insatiable quest for knowledge, and making our own path lead to terrible consequences, when in reality this is part of what it means to grow up. We should question and explore, rather than submit. The social construct of the Devil plays us for a fool when we play by the rules of shoulds and should nots. This leads us to believe that we are at the Devil’s mercy, when in reality we are the ones with the power. We have the ability to follow our inner moral compass. We are not whole when we sever the Devil within from our being. When we do this, we assume guilt and shame which can drive us to self punishment or addictive behaviors that keep us from acting in our full power. It keeps us from connecting to the wild, magical parts of us that enliven us and the world around us. The Lightbringer aspect of this card makes us aware of all the places we store shame, all the parts of ourselves we are holding back, which keeps us from fully connecting.

To sum things up, we can summon our Strength to bring about Death to the shadow ideas of the Emperor that demonize the Devil, which keeps us feeling small and turned around. We can let go of the parts of ourselves that we deem unworthy of connection. We can be fully held in connection when we embrace full vulnerability and unbridled authenticity in its stead.

February 2024 Tarot Forecast

Imbolc: 1st to 2nd

New Moon: 9th (Aquarius)

Lunar New Year: 10th

St. Valentine’s Day/Februalia: 14th

Full Moon: 24th (Snow Moon)

Intro: This month uses the Golden Tarot of Klimt deck, with a prediction tarot spread.

February offers us two medicines: that of self love and compassion, and a more nurturing beginning with the Lunar New Year. It reminds us that we do not have to measure up to our ideas of where we idealized we would be at this point in the year, or whether we have or will find a partner at this stage in our lives. Rather, we can offer ourselves love for where we are now. This month is also good for spiritual cleansing and purification, per the traditions of Imbolc and Februalia. 

Present: Ace of Chalices

In the Present, we are experiencing the Ace of Chalices. In the Klimt deck, this symbolizes the pure essence of love, as envisioned in a Victorian romance novel. It has the quality of maturity and chivalry. We are inspired by the romantic, by poetry, the senses. We most actively feel through the divine feminine –via emotions, intuition, relationality, and creativity. Acting in this capacity makes us feel the most aligned. The imagery here is that of softness, in which the divine masculine will simply observes with sensibility. In this card, a couple stands in a rose garden in the evening. What lush things might flourish privately in the dark, what passions? What can be birthed in the night? What flowers bloom? Dreams and ideas percolate. Imagination runs wild in a way that it cannot in the day. Secret things have room to grow and emerge. Our truest passions and desires come forth in this space, where they can freely be enacted and fulfilled.

You: Knave (Page) of Pentacles

Our significator this month is the Knave of Pentacles. In the Klimt deck, he looks like he has worked on his physique for a while. He has a gold circlet around his head, which symbolizes a ring of promise. He is holding, practically cradling a large gold weight with ease, as though it were a babe. He has signed up for something in its initiatory stages, and is willing to see it through. It’s something he has been working on for a while, and is gearing up to take the next step in commitment.  The Knave wears a golden dress, as though holding this material thing, this guiding light, is what makes him feel the most aligned. He stands tall, but his eyes are closed as though he is in a dream. Perhaps this thing that is materializing has yet to feel fully real. He needs an extra moment of lucidity to realize that it is. It feels as though the golden columns in the card can be reimagined as trees in a dark fecund forest. The pentacle he holds seems like a solar shield, a gift that has resulted from this space of work, strength and the dark. Otherwise known as the Winter Page, when embodying him we can be cleansed and renewed. February marks the last chance for a new beginning. The pentacle is the motivator, something of great value that gives the Knave the vigor to pursue and invest further in it. 

What’s Next: 4 of Swords (Aquarius)

In comparison to other decks, the figure in the 4 of swords here looks very restful and at peace. She looks like Eve before the fall, with a snake wrapping through her Rapunzel-like hair. In both these tales, a forbidden food was eaten, so that something else –such as knowledge, or Rapunzel herself–might be born. Subsequently, these women had to leave Eden and the tower. Suffering and wisdom resulted from maturity, from leaving the naive state. This card suggests we will enter a period where this suffering can be put to rest. Rest brings complete peace and serenity, an unburdening that temporarily restores us to our former self, until we wake up and pick up the swords again. This self can be reintegrated into the psyche, to help stabilize it. Trauma informs us, but we are also more than that. We also have a fundamental core to tune back into. This level of vulnerability brings us to our truest self, emerging anew though we have encountered the swords. 

What You Can Do About It: 8 of Wands

Traditionally, this card suggests we act swiftly and seize upon the momentum we have. In the Klimt deck, we seem to witness three female figures that might infer the different stages of a butterfly’s metamorphosis. The first figure is resting and facing away, as though in a golden cocoon. Progressively, the figures seem to emerge more from this cocoon, until the last one is naked, upright. The women are all aglow in golden light, and the wands seem ready to fly and light up the night. Movement is what links her to her truest self. She transforms self through action, engagement, and accomplishment. The next two signify movement - one who might be lifting the wands with her arms, and the other who looks as though she is about to fling them through the air. The figures may all symbolize one person, but they could also suggest that momentum could be found in a group or community. Mastery of movement can be inspired or learned from those around us. 

What to Expect if You Do: 7 of Cups

If we were to enact the 8 of Wands, we can expect to encounter the 7 of cups. Traditionally, this is the card of many choices. This is reflected in the card’s artwork, in which we see 7 cups of different shapes and sizes. This rendition suggests that these are the different ways water could fit into, but this does not change or diminish the substance of the cup. A female figure–our divine intuitive and creative self–presides over these cups. She takes the breath of inspiration, a heavenly dragon. A dragon has the potential to hoard, but it can also serve as a wise protector and guardian. A golden spiral curls up along the side of the female figure, which sugests that the cups are chices we have faced and will continue to face and repeat. We can invite inspiration from our highest self to reside over these choices. This will allow us to pull all the various facets of self and desire to come together as a team to make a unified decision.

What to Expect if You Don’t: King of Chalices

Interestingly, this card is associated with Pisces and Aquarius (our full moon is in Aquarius), and with the time frame of February 9th to March 10th. It could be especially useful to tune in with this card’s energy on the New Moon, to align with our ideals.

If we were to be restful with the 4 of Swords, rather than propelling ourselves forth with the 8 of Wands, we can expect the King of Chalices. When looking at all the cards together, he looks like a matured version of the Knave of Pentacles. In place of the Knave’s circlet of promise, the King of Chalices has a crown of fulfillment with two prongs, and a centerpiece of 6 loops, symbolizing cyclical creativity. This King is also strong, yet he is able to be seated at ease and receptive where the Knave would feel the need to be more proactive. The King has a bare chest, raw and true, that is more readily able to receive the message from the chalice he holds so dear. It seems he is entrusted with it and its safety, and can gaze into the waters to scry a message forth from the waters of the subconscious. He seems to work closely with the dream world and spiritual messages. The chalice also seems to be a companion that helps him speak from the heart. 

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January 2024 Tarot Forecast

A Note: Last month I forgot to mention Winter Solstice and Yule, which in the Pagan world represents an earlier start to the New Year! We’ve been able to access the new year energy since December 21st.

New Year: 1st

New Moon: 11th (Capricorn)

Full Moon: 25th (Wolf)

Intro: 

In honor of the new year, I’m changing some things for this year’s tarot forecast for the Ahimsa newsletter. I’ll be rotating different decks and spreads for each month of the year. In addition, I will only be creating playlists when music related decks are in rotation. January features the Starman Tarot deck, in honor of David Bowie’s birthday, death date, and final album release. This month’s spread is a preview for what you can expect for the Minute Analysis year-ahead readings I am offering for 2024. 

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I’ll be sending a monthly three card forecast with an oracle card, plus send out invites for a monthly discussion group! For those who sign up this month, I’ll be offering $5 off a one hour year-ahead reading, or $10 off the Minute Analysis reading (a two hour year-ahead reading)

January galvanizes us to pursue new goals with vigor. Being the first month of the year, it is symbolic of creation, manifestation, and willpower. In the first few weeks we feel disciplined and determined that this year is the year we can finally make a change. After several attempts, we learn momentum alone is not enough. We ask ourselves, what can we do this year to make lasting change? How do we navigate change when affecting our personal sphere seems to pale in comparison to the greater change we want to see in the world?

Theme or Major Event: The Lovers ~As the World Falls Down by David Bowie~

With the world in the state that it is, it may feel counterintuitive to think that the Lovers could be at the heart of it all. Our collective love is tinged with grief and heaviness. The world seems senseless and painful, with little room for lasting thrill or fun. Yet beyond this binary of light and dark, love and grief, is the possibility for coexisting experiences. In this time, we find support, and those who are there for us. Spirit grants us the gift of seeing clearly. We are given the ability to hold dreams, relationships, intuition, and natural cycles in our hearts that can make waves. We are able to experience beauty, richness and love. 

The key word we are granted in this card is “cede,” as in, ceding and not ceding to the other (boundaries). This could be in relation to partnership, narratives, ways of thinking, and more. The image of Tipheret suggests we find spirituality, balance, integration, beauty, miracles, and compassion when we embrace the spirit of the Lovers card. In this card we experience a mirroring of the self, in relation with another on several levels –mind, body and spirit. We learn what we need, how we communicate, how we can be our best selves, how to hold space for ourselves, for another, and for the relationship (be it with person or Spirit). We learn to become flexible and nimble. We learn to catch each other like circus performers and fling each other to the highest heights. In this union, our third eye opens and we experience closer communion with the divine. We tap into fertility and creativity, inspiring creativity in kind. We ourselves are creation. Part of a greater web. We are able to be vulnerable, sensual and in greater connection in an emotive, intuitive, subconscious, creative, and fertile water. We want to be able to keep tapping into this space and this ability throughout the month, in all the facets of our experience.

Block, Complication, Need for Spiritual Maintenance: The Hierophant ~Quicksand by David Bowie~

The beauty of the Lovers card is a result of putting two forces together and seeing what unfolds; the sum being greater than the individual. In contrast, the Hierophant does not really allow room for this curiosity. Instead, it subjects the forces to judgment values of what love “should” look like. When we get caught up in what relationships should look like, we stifle connection. Or, if we get caught up in the idea of what things should be, perhaps we feel powerless or like things are going wrong when they don’t follow this model. We sink in the quicksand of our thoughts and cease to believe in ourselves when we fail this model. We deceive ourselves with this belief of failure. 

It is also striking that in this deck, the Hierophant seems to be a werewolf. A werewolf does not belong fully to either the human world or the natural world. Furthermore, they do not have packs. In this case, the binaries of light and dark, neither nor, create a sense of distance, and a defensiveness against anything beyond the self. Every part of the Hierophant’s body is either subtly shielded or clothed. This presents an obstacle to the flexibility and vulnerability that the Lovers card has to offer us this month. The feeling in the reversal of this card is very one-sided. The symbolism in this card suggests one sided insemination of information. This Hierophant feels they are the only ones who have something to teach, and cannot imagine that they have something to learn from the student. In this card the students do not even have a face, and seem spectral in nature. They emerge as a projection from the Hierophant’s hands, much further down on the stairs. The rest he perceives as innocent lambs that need his protection. He does not seem entirely altruistic either – he bears a couple medallions and money lies beneath his feet. It may be time to question those financially benefiting from us adhering to certain beliefs, and from the historical revisionist narratives we are meant to believe.

Lean In: Reverse Seven of Pentacles ~Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide by David Bowie~

The Hierophant would have us believe that his paradigm -external success that others can see– is the only valid way to be. Under this paradigm, we might find marriage without love, work without fulfillment, a place to live but not a home, Instagram likes but no connection, and so on.

We may make efforts to adhere to this image of success, and find ourselves failing. We are asked to step back and reassess what in our environment is causing our garden to struggle, what needs tending, and what we truly want to grow. We should focus on things that nurture us in the long-term, rather than ripping out what little we have nurtured just to have something to show. We do not want to collect the harvest preemptively under the Hierophant’s pressure, procuring something under quick, capitalistic, extortionary means. If we move with slow and careful cultivation for a grander vision, we have the potential to grow Jack’s beanstalk, which can take us to the crystal palace in the sky. We are asked to stick with it. Instead of assuming the worst of ourselves, we need to see what is not supporting us. In these circumstances we can look to the larger community that can support us, and see we are not alone. If we reach out and take each other’s hands, we may be able to see that we are wonderful in our own rights.

Lean Out: Reverse World ~The Man Who Sold the World by David Bowie~

We do not need to put the world on our shoulders like Atlas, in an endeavor to meet the standards of the Hierophant. This is overwhelming. We do not need to have it all accomplished, nor pursue every area of interest. It is better to simplify and pick one thing to excel at. Further, we should select something that we are okay with pouring ourselves into, regardless of the outcome of our efforts, which we cannot always control. We do not constantly have to be a source of strength for ourselves or others. To come up with or present a solution that could solve the world’s problems. To be wise and always know the next step. To see above it all. If we can lean out of this pressure, we can focus on tending what we are working towards in the 7 of pentacles above. January does not have to be about accomplishing some great thing to be worthy of celebration or even rest. It can be enough to just be. 

Hidden Jewel: Reverse Temperance ~Under Pressure by David Bowie~

That which is not working in the reverse 7 of pentacles can be used as the fuel for transformation in the reverse Temperance card. This is the hidden jewel. Energy that was once expended for something we no longer want to pursue can get redirected to a new goal. It can be used to bring us back into balance with the higher self. We can create the image in which we would like ourselves and others to see us. This shedding of old energies, old forms, things we no longer recognize or want in our lives, all of this can be recreated into what represents us best. Rather than think of this time or energy as lost, we can see it as great potential that we can call back to ourselves. The sense of feeling pressure can be transformed into the love we need to give ourselves one more chance.

Your Gifts/Blessings: Reverse King of Swords ~Space Oddity - Moonage Daydream Mix by David Bowie~

This month, we are able to see the world with clarity, in its greater macrocosmic totality. We are lone explorers that offer an imaginative and very different point of view. What’s missing is the ability to connect with people so they can properly hear us. It does not seem like this is going to be achieved through conventional means, such as teaching from a higher platform like the Hierophant. An authoritative stance like the Hierophant or King of Swords is what distances us from students and people. It is in fact to our benefit to lean into the reverse 7 of pentacles energy. We are more relatable when we are not an authority and do not know it all. We are figuring it out with everyone else, and thus do not have a judgmental air. We make a greater impact when we step out of this role and reanimate ourselves. We step out of the throne of one-sided judgment, and intermingle with the people so that we are better able to learn their circumstances for ourselves. Further, when combined with the Lovers card, even moments of short-sightedness or unjust judgment on ourselves and others can teach us to practice greater compassion and humility in regards to others. We are not immune to this, and thus we do not expect others to live up to this clean ideal either. This is how we can bridge the gap in misunderstanding and miscommunication, or lack thereof. 

A musical supplement to this month’s forecast

December tarot forecast 2023

New Moon - 12th (Sagittarius)

Fall Ends - 22nd

Christmas -25th

Full Moon - 26th (Full Cold Moon)

Year Ends - 31st

A Note: This is the last time we’ll be using the Ancient Roman calendar as part of the monthly analysis. I am wondering what new things people might like to see in the New Year. Should I try out new decks, a new spread, or format? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

Next year I am also starting up a personal newsletter with a different approach to the month ahead. Follow @angel_intentions on Instagram for upcoming details!

In Ancient Rome, December was the tenth month of the year. Its name comes from the word decem, Latin for ten. Today, December is the twelfth month in our calendar. Numerologically, this means we have completed an old cycle and way of being and believing, in order to start again. We are incentivized by a greater cause, with perspective to how we can be of greater service towards the collective. The reading this month speaks to a greater narrative - to us as individuals within a greater ecosystem of suffering around the world. We sit in duality and discomfort. We are being asked to redefine happiness as being part of a greater meaning and service. We are being asked to consider not just those who share our fireplace, but also those who have none. The year ends on a very different note than the way it started, and this month encourages us to process it all.

Energy of the Month: Reversed Page of Cups ~Seven Seas by Echo & the Bunnymen~

The reading for this month shows that we will need to prepare for an underworld descent and apply spiritual medicine to many areas of our lives. Fall ends in the last week of December. Days get darker. We are being prepared for ego dissolution and navigating the unknown with but our faith to guide us. In this process our understanding for what is possible expands. We grow as adults but also retrieve the child self (the true self and the dreamer) we left behind to survive. We may feel at the passive mercy of what is occurring in our lives and the world. It is important not to kill or suppress our raw or natural instincts and responses in the attempt to seem agreeable to society. They can help us harness our energy and strength and regain our will. Without this, we cannot see ourselves clearly. This month, we will see if we can be courageous with ourselves by representing what we believe in.

As a page, we first must learn to find balance while getting in tune with and navigating these emotions. We must walk the line between self care in a vulnerable time and becoming aware of collective suffering. The path historically laid before us feels maligned. It can feel that we must rely on only ourselves as a compass, but this solitary path can lead us uncertain of the next step. All we can see is our reflection in a golden cup –the idealized version of ourselves. This does not give us an accurate understanding of where we are or how we need to get there. We need to watch where we step. We need practical actions and resources to fulfill it. Trying to fulfill our ideals in this state can leave us feeling discouraged, disoriented, overwhelmed, and ungrounded. We struggle to approach the path to our ideals with sacred intention. To find our way, it may be necessary to distance ourselves from those we don’t align with and our old identities. This allows us to find true belonging and strength in relationality, community and the collective. We will be able to better thrive, ground, and recognize ourselves in those around us.

Love: Ten of Wands ~Gush by bdrmm~

In Love, the ten of wands asks us to analyze what we are trying to veil from the other, in order to look more put together. We are worried we will preemptively let someone in before we are ready, before we have all our ducks in a row and have it all sorted out. We are underestimating the magnitude of what we have to accomplish, and this may even grow into an ordeal. For those of us who are not in a partnership, love itself may feel like a stressor or a burden. We don’t want to bring anyone into this or have them experience us like this. It is okay to relieve yourself of the additional task of pursuing romance, but we should still turn to our inner circle for help. In a Western, hyper individualistic society, we may feel we have to take everything on ourselves. But we are communal beings, and some of the things we are asked to take on, or feel we must take on, really take a village. In partnership, when we finally let on everything we have been taking on or had been thinking to accomplish, the other feels stupefied of having heard of it or been reminded of it for the first time. They wonder if this is what they’ve become –someone we didn’t feel like we could bring into our confidence. The key is to have this communication earlier on, and see where you can course correct. 

The beauty of this card is that we have put together a strongly constructed goal–something that brings purpose and meaning to life’s struggles and suffering. It has everything we need to steer it forward. It is like a raft, a vessel, or even a ship that will carry us forward and strengthen our resolve. A lot could be accomplished here if we can bring others on board. A long distance can be traveled, if we can go in the same direction. Each wand seems to be like an oar. We cannot steer all the oars at once on our own, but together the oars could be moved together in unison. Together we can use a strengthened will to move the ship forward through the sea and light the night.

Money: Reversed Tower ~Cities in Dust by the Siouxsie and the Banshees~

This month, more than any other, we are feeling the pressure of time. Time to produce or achieve certain goals. Time to figure ourselves out and gain clarity. Time makes us feel as though we are crumbling under pressure. We have invested a considerable amount of time into a certain dwelling, or career, or financial way of expressing ourselves. We’ve come to identify ourselves with our investments, and for any of that to be forced to change would cause a considerable amount of grief for all our efforts, and discomfort at having to redefine it. These things offered a container and a structure with which to safely define ourselves. We would feel as though we are free falling and directionless without it. Where were we really going? What would our inner Page of Cups have to say about it? One way to answer this is –what would we reach towards if we were to find ourselves without these structures or containers? 

Like those on the quest to Oz, we may have trekked all this way hoping for an answer, a way home, a resolution, and higher knowledge. Reality starts to crumble when we realize that the wizard is not all powerful and cannot fix it all. The two fallen figures in this card clutch to what at first seems like an unreliable ground that won’t hold them. At a closer glance, it seems like the one sturdy, safe, and grounding part of the foundation. This is likened to the yellow brick road, the ideals that gave us hope and resolve and led us on this journey in the first place. This is what strengthens us and helps us find our way back. It seems like money is the area in life where we have most tried to seem contained, but lightning, a rose, or a dragon topples the tower and the sky sheds tears of regeneration. Perhaps the tower was the one that needed slaying. We may have been mistaken about who or what needed to go. Everything falls out and becomes destabilized. We find the parts of us that could not be contained. What do we want to recollect? 

Work: Reversed Eight of Cups ~Earth to Jay by Jay Arner~

The reverse eight of cups in work, preceded by the reverse Tower in money suggests that our sense of work identity is a key destabilizing factor this month. Perhaps we have had a moment of insight that cannot be retracted. Some dream that we talked ourselves out of and now we are in a place of wondering what is worth pursuing. The inner voice telling us not to change anything at all, to keep our egos safe.  The cups of dreams, intuition, creativity have spilled, along with the networks that supported them. It seems like they are always spilling and not being replenished, that they are staining everything. We are left with a sense of what they were supposed to be, and what was supposed to fill them. We spent our efforts flailing and trying to catch them, only to get spilled on and splashed at. Maybe we even feel others are pitying or laughing at us, like a waiter who spilled a tray of wine. Our arms however are now free, to devote ourselves to the clean up instead of the serving of others. To spill something is to draw attention to something. We have the option to stay in a repetitive cycle, transfixed on what was lost, or to really use our focus to recollect ourselves, to clean up after ourselves, and to refill our cups in new and sustainable ways. 

Health: Reversed Knight of Cups ~Medicine by Momma~

The reversed Knight of Cups appears in our Health sector to as a call to reconsider the motives of our health and healing goals. Are we pursuing health because we want to appear a certain way, to appease someone, or are we recognizing an issue and addressing it? The underworld journey inherent in the reversal of this card will also lead us to the medicine–a sense of renewal, purpose, and newfound commitment. We are reminded to approach our health in a sacred manner, because our bodies are in themselves sacred homes and temples. To treat our ailments, we need to address what our true Holy Grail is. What feels truly loving and restorative? Is our path helping to heal the collective narrative of what health “ought” to look like? Will it give us the strength to fight the collective battle? Will the medicine bring color, energy, and enthusiasm back to our lives? This month it is suggested that we will struggle with a poor grip on our horse, that which feels instinctually right for us. This part of us even seems gagged and tamed, with a golden yoke. It wouldn’t even know what to do with itself if it were released and set to run free. We seem ungrounded, but in this card, as in the Tower, we still have the yellow brick road to help us regather ourselves and pursue what matters. 

Spirit: Reversed Ten of Cups ~Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears~

In Spirit, collective joy, understanding and reciprocity feel like a pipe dream given what is taking place in the material realm. Seeing what has been unfolding is making us feel dejected, as though we are all losing a grip of true meaning and purpose, in service of humanity. We want to drown these sorrows and experience a dulled sensation of them. How much can we truly commune, feel mirth and warm sensations in these times? Our attention is drawn to one large cup, which is tipped over to its side, as opposed to the other cups which have spilled out. In it is a flower. A reminder of the beauty, the preciousness, and the brevity of human life. In it is the reminder of sweet joy and a taste of the divine. We should make the most of freedom and pleasure, knowing that none of this is forever, and even those who want to rule the world will change hands. We can find bliss in the now by holding hands as the walls of the Tower come tumbling down. We can find solace and strength in each other. We are asked to fight through a indecision and lack of vision, to renew and find it again and again. In never giving up, in keeping hope alive, in honoring ourselves and those around us, the dream presented in the ten of cups can never truly be defeated. 

November Forecast 2023

Día de los Muertos - 1st and 2nd 

New moon- 13th (Beaver, Scorpio)

Thanksgiving - 23rd 

Full moon - 27th (Beaver, Gemini)

A note: This month, I will be supplementing the tarot reading with the Offerings Oracle, an Espiritismo deck which helps connect us with the desires of our good spirits and ancestors. This is a way that we can tend to our altars, beyond the confines of capitalism.

The name for the month of November is derived from the word novem, Latin for nine. This is because November used to be the ninth month of the Ancient Roman calendar. In today’s calendar, it is the eleventh month. Numerologically, this means we will be reaping the rewards of what’s been learned on our solitary journeys. We are in an autumnal period where we are prepared to shed what no longer serves us to make way for new growth. We will also be transforming other aspects of ourselves that we’d like to keep, but want to relate to in a new way that is more in alignment with who we’ve become. In a newer sense, we will be exercising our wills this month for moral strength and purpose. Rather than using sheer force, we will be cocreating with the wild aspects of our psyche.

For the new moon, we may want to focus on where we want to build our home, and what we are most passionate about. For the full moon, we’ll want to think about preparing shelter for the upcoming gestational winter period. 

Though this month is more dedicated towards our solitary will and goals, we will also want to be thinking about familial themes. The month begins with el Día de los Muertos, a Mexican holiday in which the lives of the ancestral deceased are celebrated. This reminds us that even when we are focused on individual growth, we are still supported by and in connection with our ancestors. At the tail of November, Thanksgiving will ask us to consider who is family, how we connect back to them, and where we want to direct our gratitude. We may also spend extra time on fostering a gratitude practice this month.

Energy of the Month: Reversed Death ~You Make Me Wanna Die by the Shivas~

Offerings Oracle: Rest - Tend to the altar of the self by allowing the self to rest and rejuvenate. For ourselves, for our ancestors who could not, so we can regain the energy and capacity to pursue our dreams.

Other Tools: Ritualizing grief, sacred burial, eulogy

In October, Death presented itself in our spirit sector. We likely made use of the opportunity to approach spirituality in a new way, including incorporating ancestor work. This month, we are asked again to work with Death in a more holistic sense. Where are we struggling to let go of old ways of operating that are holding us back? These are typically carried over from old versions of ourselves that leave us feeling unneeded, unwanted, on our own, and not treated well. Yet we feel attached to and even infatuated with the inner critic or coach that reinforces these old ways, perhaps because they serve as a defense mechanism, feel like a familiar companion, or feel necessary to get ourselves on track. We are encouraged this month to let go. 

Communal energies such as those experienced during el Día de los Muertos further encourage us to ask our ancestors wise and well to help us work through this. They see and value our work in being the intergenerational cycle breakers, and want to help us succeed. Letting go may make us feel like we have lost our heads and our hands–as though we have become senseless, useless, and unable to function. When we feel this way, we need to find and operate from our core –not the face we present to others. Not the self we have become familiar with operating for so long because we knew no other way of doing so. This is the version of ourselves that was on autopilot. We need to strip everything down to the essential in order to ground ourselves in the new life we want to bring to fruition. We must do this in order to really see and bring about the change we want to see in our lives. If we operate the same way, things will go on in the same way. It takes change to make change. 

Love: Reverse Page of Swords ~Eddie My Love by Brigitte Calls Me Baby~

Offerings Oracle: Service- Being of service to our community, our loved ones and our partners can help us get out of our own heads. Giving back will help us to foster reciprocal, non-extractive relationships with the good spirits of our altar and the land. This translates back to our love lives as well.

This month, we feel like we are stumbling in our interactions with love interests, partners, or loved ones. It feels as though we do not know when to use the sword or when to put it away back into its scabbard. The sword in this case could be our voice in expressing needs or boundaries. We don’t know when to cut through or away at an obstacle, use the sword in our defense, or put it away in peace. We have a hard time finding a middle ground right now between overzealousness or restraining ourselves. Right now, the impulse is to overcome this by way of willpower. We are very much caught up in our own thoughts, and trying to think our way to a solution. The issue is that we are trying to do all this on our own within the confines of our minds. Communication improves through practice with a partner. We have a responsibility to communicate with others–so that they may meet our needs and we meet theirs. 

We may also find that we thought we knew ourselves and others more than we actually do. We need to engage with another to see where our understanding is limited. Some notions may need to be explored and strengthened further. The other has the ability to see through this, to see our true selves. This is what makes us love them or the idea of them. We yearn to find acceptance and validation from them, and are waiting on it. In reality, we must first give these things to ourselves: clarity, acceptance, and validation. In terms of love–it seems as though our whole torso and mind is full of love, that we are very heartful. But we are also positioned like an upside down hourglass. This card in tandem with the Death card suggests that we need to finish filtering an issue from the past that is preventing us from taking a fresh approach in love. When we can do this, it will help ground us back in reality and alchemize our love efforts to gold.

Money: Queen of Wands ~Rich Girl Mood by Dounia, Kehlani~

Offerings Oracle: Moon- We are encouraged to work with the lunar calendar and her phases and cycles. Perhaps now that the eclipse has passed, we can slowly get back into a manifestation practice and moon ritual practice as well.

The Queen of Wands shows up to remind us to foster the inward part of our relationship with manifestation and money; the attitude that supports the wealth we are seeking to call in. Rather than win the lottery and lose it all, what we’re looking to do is build the stability and knowledge required to maintain an adequate sum. We are encouraged to note the ways in which we are creatively wealthy, confident and secure within our own being–without worrying about how much others have in comparison to us. When approaching financial decisions, we want to feel selective, cool, and collected. We want to tailor an approach that feels right to our unique values, and remember to make room for an element of fun. After all, this is part of the financial incentive.

Death informs this card in several ways–it reminds us to enjoy ourselves while we are here, and what we have acquired we cannot take with us. This card focuses mainly on the individual relationship with money, however we are also mindful of wanting to save some wealth for the future, to assist those who come after us. Our choices become based on our core values as such. In embodying this card, we have a firm grip on what we want our financial life to look like, and how we want to act on it as well as defend it. We are entering a state of flow and receptivity. The Queen builds up her ideas and gets them into sharper focus, before they become fully engendered into the persona. 

Work: Reverse Queen of Pentacles ~Queen of Pentacles by Cary Grace~

Offerings Oracle: Gratitude- Adapt a 7 day gratitude ritual, attached to something you practice as a regular part of your routine (drinking coffee, for instance). See how life starts to feel after a full week of this practice.

In work, our sense of self worth is challenged. In American culture in particular, work as a system can feel oppressive. We accept this because it is associated with gold and grain – but how do we quench our thirst for life, and where do we find enjoyment? We go through a cycle of emotions and perceptions in regards to work – we view it with suspicion and shame when we lack it, and idealize those who seem to have perfect security and status through it. All the while we know that in our current capitalist system, wealth is a zero sum game, where some of the populace must ultimately take on the consequences of plague and ruin. Against this, we try to build a fortress.

It may help to see the system from a macroscopic lens, so that we can challenge our thinking in regards to ourselves. Where might we be internalizing oppressive values and inflicting them on ourselves? Where are we giving away our power? Where are we not setting up boundaries at work because we are not recognizing our inherent value? Where are we not recognizing that our time, health, and wellbeing are important, or that we are deserving of dignity and care? Where are we embodying insecurity, whether that’s accessing what we need to survive, or feeling like our self worth depends on what others think of us and our status? Perhaps we feel we fall short because we aren’t a main provider in the family, or we don’t have a high enough career status. Is this a genuine need, or do we have all the essentials? November is a good time to question limiting beliefs that may be pushing us towards or keeping us in jobs or dynamics that are not serving us. There is an opportunity here to shed old values and identities, to allow ourselves to undergo an initiation or renewal and rebirth.

Health: King of Pentacles ~Live Well by the Palace~

Offerings Oracle: Enter a trance state and meet with your good spirits in the astral realms. Some things can only be known beyond the veil.

Additional Tools: Nature, Detailed Manifestation, Discipline, Routine

Healthwise, we have the full support of our ancestors and our good spirits. They have differing opinions on the road to be followed, but there is a common consensus when it comes to our health and wellbeing. Health makes us free, wonderfully breathing, blessed and cleansed. It allows us to live well and reap what we sow. It allows us to take our lives and our futures back, and expend our energy into what we are becoming. The King of Pentacles looks far out into the future, and is clear sighted. He is confident in his ability to physically manifest what he envisions. 

The king is grounded and sturdy in his older years, and looking out for his long-term health. He has a strong grasp on the parts of his health he is responsible for, and cocreates with the cards he’s been given. The king sees the value of a holistic approach to health, and the careful balancing of physical, mental, and spiritual health. He is well equipped by his lifestyle in this pursuit. He takes care with where to exert his energy, reviews and makes changes to his routine as need be, and shows up continually for his practice.

The king gazes intently, slowly, with the intent to savor as much as possible out of life. This provides the motivation necessary to build a consistent and disciplined practice; one that will lend him regenerative power. Rest and rejuvenation is a part of this practice. Taking on physical challenges and witnessing growth is another. Experiencing nature and understanding how we live in reciprocity with it, and seeing the preciousness of life is a third. He is focused on experiencing physical goodness and enjoying the state of bodily existence. Health grants him the freedom to pursue life in the way he sees fit.

Spirit: 5 of Pentacles ~Truth by Alex Albert~

Offerings Oracle: Sun - Sun bathe, work with solar colors and flowers. Stretch your arms up to the sky as the sun pours strength, energy, vitality, and courage into you.

Additional Tools: Ancestor Work and Offerings, Love

This November, we may feel riddled by imposter syndrome, internal battle, feeling dumb and defenseless. We may feel heavy and weighed down by the earthly experience. This sensation affects and becomes entwined with the spiritual experience.We feel stuck in the earthly to do list, the need and the struggle to manifest. We feel rather human, limited, and flawed. We feel vulnerable and forget we are not alone in our suffering. As though the things we’ve built could easily slip away. But we do have resources – beginning with our strongest ally (the self), community, our ancestors, and our practice.

Overcoming this kind of pain can strengthen us into fighters. Like Pandora’s box, we have flaws, shadow and darkness that we are trying to hold in so no one finds out about them. What we must realize is that everyone has these qualities. It is okay to open the box and let our dark parts (as well as our bright parts) shine. We can have faith in ourselves when we do this. This is more reflective of the truth, and will allow us to better access truth. We are ennobled when we consider there are a million paths in life. Which future do we want to lean into before we die? Even negative thoughts, habits, or experiences could be turned into valuable lessons. The key is in working and trying to love, so that compassion and love can preside.

October Forecast 2023

Happy October! Consider this month’s forecast energetic group reading my treat to you. Want even more of a treat? Consider doing a one on one tarot or Akashic reading with me! 

This is the last month of my tarot level 2 mentorship course (only the final project remains), so I’ve learned a lot of new spreads, and how to engage with the cards in an Espirista framework :) My interpretations below include intuitive playlisting and imagery from the Marseilles deck. 

October is the tenth month in the contemporary calendar, but its name comes from octo, meaning eight in Latin. This is because it was the 8th month in the early Roman calendar. On the 14th we’ll experience the new moon, and two weeks later we will experience the full Hunter’s moon. We will then enter the liminal space that the thinning of the veil affords as we approach festivities such as Halloween, Samhain and el Dia de los Muertos. Numerologically, we will be completing the thing we’ve been working hard at most recently. In terms of our bigger picture goal, we will now engage with it from a level of expertise that we’ve achieved to the degree that we’ve reached a state of flow. We’re closing an old chapter that no longer serves us, to give way to the work that we thrive in.

Energy of the Month: Ten of Pentacles  ~Sagrada Familia by Curawka~

 Tools: Beautify, decorate, protect, enjoy, sing

This month, we are asked to see how we are a part of the community as a whole, and in what ways we want to give back to it. We have reached a point in life where our garden is bountiful and there is lots from the harvest to give to everyone. We reach a point where we realize it is not simply a matter of having wealth or abundance–we are wealth and abundance. We see we are a part of nature and the medicine that heals hearts, beginning with our pueblo (town). We place the medicine or the wealth in the hands of the children, the future generations, and in doing so become a part of the holy family. We paint the colors and sing the songs that reverberate healing and community, and the beauty and the mystery of life. We realized that this kind of wealth is regenerative and it comes to us because we are in a state of flow–divine receiving and giving. Hands are held out to receive the pentacles, and our hands are held out to like antennas to sense where they are needed. Like a good omen we shine bright, held by intuition and supported by action. We are stabilized by our own wealth and have enough that we can give back out (while we continue to receive). 

We connect well this month with childlike energy and delight, a connection with our ancestral gifts, and ancestral blessings and protection. We can embody what we desire, imbue a sense of safety around us, and create a fun atmosphere so that others can enjoy what we have enjoyed receiving. We are encouraged to give offerings at the altar so that the spirits are happy. They have given us so many blessings throughout the year, and now it is their turn to receive and enjoy our thanks. 

Love: Reverse Knight of Wands ~Darkeve by Lutalo~

 Tools: Rewilding

This month, there is a wild part of our nature that feels it is being unheeded and untended to. It feels like we are clothing or costuming this part of ourselves so it can suit a role. This however, is the primal part that we really want to be acting from so we can ensure greater depth in a relationship. As a result, we seem to be especially sensitive and easily emotionally wounded. We may be tempted to be reactionary from this space of hurt. We need to take a step back at the bigger picture and see if the reaction is suitable to what is actually taking place. It also seems like something that on the surface seems to draw all our attention and that seems worth getting impassioned about. It is hard to focus on the actual relationship (or pursuit of it) due to this distraction. The strength of our willpower and ability to act seems to be divided in half. 

By the end of the month it may feel like our heads are spinning or we’ve lost our minds a bit from this. It’s an ordeal we need to get through in order to return to the long-term journey we need to get back to. It is important to recognize this so that we do not let it engulf the entirety of the month, or worse threaten the foundations we’ve been building in working on or towards relationships. It is better when we stay still for a while, and allow ourselves to feel held and contained, so that we can act from a secure space. This month the sense of dealing with our own problems, and not wanting to be on our own when dealing with them. But rather than reach for just anyone, or simply commiserate, we need to establish a partnership in which each person feels they have something to believe in. 

Money: Four of Swords ~Who We Are by Hozier~

 Tools: Rest and Recovery, Boundaries, Meditation

We rest and recover in the dark and the stillness. In the past, sacrifices were made–chasing an someone’s else’s idea of a dream or success—whether that was a parent’s idea or a societal idea. In this stage, we felt like we were living a phantom life in pursuit of a certain financial lifestyle, and when we sharpen our focus on it, it hurts. This phantom time, as well as the restful period we are asked to enter in October is not wasted time, but rather time spent defining who we are. Right now, we are like a gardener prioritizing the sacred percolation of ideas in our mind–using a cage of firm boundaries to keep external elements, and influential ideas that might have once harmed us. We need this quiet time to help us grow strong and in an aligned direction. In time, we will be ready to thrive when living according to the values that align with our true essence, our hands held open to the abundance of life. We need to use this month to think about who we are and what works for us when the material is cut away. From the perspective of the death of the short-lived life of a flower, how do we want to be seen and admired? We are getting ourselves to the place where we realize the nature of our core, a dancing figure. When we discover this nature, we can then pursue our liberation, our release and align with this self. 

Work: Queen of Wands ~Queen of Wands by Spellling~

 Tools: Do it scared

This month, the Queen of Wands asks us to assess and confront our fears in work. She is the inner fire that motivates us in life. As such, she has magical and transformative abilities when we work with her. Are we afraid of pain, and want to live in our comfort zones? Or are we afraid of power and what it looks like to truly succeed in our ambitions? Where we may once have shied from what feels like danger, the imposter syndrome, and making it within a patriarchal system, we are now asked to confront these fears. In money, we were asked to really see what matters to us from the perspective of death, in order to inform how we really want to live.

We need to remember that we have the power to protect the desires of the essential self – we have the club (as this suit is called in the Marseilles deck) in our hands. Like a fierce mother bear, we become willing to defend our desires with a protective might. This is everything we have at our disposal in the material realm, including that which we’ve already manifested. The queen encourages us to use it to defend our will, our ideas, and the ambition we wish to birth. This month we are clear and levelheaded about what we want to work towards in the realm of work. We are centered by noble and enlightened ideals. The more we pratice defending and acting on these ideals, the more rooted and confident we will become. Intuition and mental clarity and enlightenment will strengthen these actions. When embodying Queen of Wands energy, we look out and forward, and do not waste our time looking back on the past. Then we can hold the harvest of our enlightened actions.

Health: Page of Swords ~This Must Be the Place cover by Kishi Bashi~

 Tools: Experiment, Advocate, See the Bigger Picture 

This month, the Page of Swords encourages  us to see our health from a long-term perspective. We want to maintain a youthful and energetic optimal health for as long as possible. We recognize our body as a place we want to feel at home in. Feeling this sense of being at home in the body may take a bit of trial and error at first - - making things up as we go along. We are enthusiastic and willing to try new things to see what best works for us. Regardless, we ultimately feel clear headed and grounded. From this space, we know we cannot go wrong. This month, we will tackle the blind spots in our approach to health. We will also have a breakthrough in terms of how to support our health for a lifetime. The Page of Swords enables us to be outspoken advocates in regards to our health–whether we are in the doctor's office or we need to keep firm boundaries in social settings. We are learning to be a valiant hero in regards to our health, and act on our ideas. This is a good time to pursue physical activities that make us feel youthful enjoyment, and eat foods that make us feel energetic. 

Spirit: Death ~Nascer, Viver, Morrer by Tim Bernardes~

 Tools: Shavasana, Death Cleansing, New and Full Moon Rituals, Altar and Ancestor Work

Life -- a cycle of being born and dying. To be born, we truly wake up and see life in all its strength and magic. We are conscious of the self, and we interface with our desires, love, capabilities, and will. In the monotony of prosaic life we can lose sight of our aliveness, in the highs and the lows. We lose ourselves in the world, in our minds, dreams, and in being. But life presents a rare infinite moment to live. Death comes as a reminder -- through the presence of nonexistence. It is beyond luck and chance. It proves that life precedes it. It is the great uniter of humanity, for it is the commonality we all share. It is also the great separator of the ego from the whole. It is the great experience.

Death strips us down to our core and enlightens us as to who we really are, the self without embellishments or pretenses. It has the potential to bring out the best and highest of ourselves when we are made aware of and live according to its principles. How will we allow Death to transform our approach to spirit? What spiritual avenues do we want to pursue from it's perspective? What practices are the spinal cord to our existence (that which we cannot live without)? Values like rest, intuition, dream, and spirit may serve as the critical and central function of the self in which we operate. Death also reminds us that we are seasonal, cyclical beings. We must let go of old seasons and hearken in the new. Also, now that fall is upon us, this may be a sign to focus on ancestor work. It is now our turn to hold space for them, in gratitude for their assistance. We should hold space for them in such a way that later, when we are gone, we would like to be received. 

September 2023 forecast

Welcome to the September forecast! Happy news–I got published in the Huffington Post about my experience reading tarot at a bar. It has been a lifelong dream as a writer, and I was able to reflect on my growth as a tarot practitioner. 

As an ever evolving tarot reader, I am now learning to read the cards in an Espiritista framework. Interpretations combine intuitive Playlisting and imagery from the Marseilles deck. 

Though we understand September to be the ninth month of the year, it is named after Septem, meaning seven. This is because September was the seventh month of the ancient Roman calendar. Numerologically speaking, this suggests we will be reaping the rewards of hard work of something we have been working on continually. This also falls in line with reaping the harvest, and the Harvest full moon we are expecting on September 29th. At the same time, we continue to put in the work and direct our will towards a bigger picture goal that has been brewing for even longer. Astrologically speaking, we will be experiencing Mercury Retrograde until September 14th, when there will be a New Moon. Perhaps we will be shedding old patterns of thinking, expression, and boundaries, which will prepare us to better hold space for the incoming harvest at the end of the month.

Energy of the Month: Knight of Pentacles ~Gypsy, cover by Gardens and Villa~

This month, the Knight of Pentacles signifies a return to the true self. We live by the divine spark that guides us, thus externalizing it as the sun. We find ourselves pursuing that which is most natural to us and our true earthly selves. This lifestyle we've chosen fits us like a glove. At this stage in our journey, how we live and what we do is between us and the earth. As though no one is watching, we feel true to live to our authenticity, no longer beholden to external pressures. We know who we are, what we and our inner child are - - and we are willing to protect it as the precious apple of our eye. This enlivens our day to day labors and gives them a purpose. It motivates us and gives us something to go home to. We are willing to do heroic deeds for it. 

We are intuitively guided down the yellow brick road to our dreams, which, as we physically manifest to, further informs the direction of our path. In doing so, we are building a path that is made to last. We are willing to protect this dream, this self, and that which gives us pleasure through real tangible actions. Perhaps once there was fear and trepidation in regards to pursuing this path, but this is no longer the case. Love is guiding the way, the kind that makes your inner child, your inner free spirit happy to see. This energy is not coming from a naive space–rather, it is life that arises from decay. We have suffered difficult battles and losses, but became all the wiser and more experienced for it, and found this energy all the more worth fighting for. 

Love: The Emperor ~Water your Garden by Magic City Hippies feat maye~

This month, the Emperor guides our values in love–whether we are seeking a relationship or in a long-term partnership. Experience has wizened us and now what we value in a partnership is attentiveness in sunshine or storms. We want a relationship that feels consistent, fertilizing, and that can be relied on through all seasons. We know how to make time go slow around this person. We are confident that you can boost one another to help when there is a sense of stagnation or unsureness of how to grow. We attract goodness and security in relationships, because we are embodying these traits of the Emperor in ourselves. We’ve got this–the ability to find love, embody it, and continue in it. The relationship feels like a comforting place to go to. In the partnership, there is a sense of each person inspiring the qualities of having it together, being organized, standing strong and defined. There is a looking out for one another, endowed with and speaking with a caring intent. This partnership is very grounding and forward looking.

Money: Strength ~Lion by Saint Mesa~

This month in the money sector, Strength us to bring the inner lion out–representative of the innate, wild drive within us. This is the call received by the untamed aspect of our psyche and persona unaffected by societal values. What is that deeper drive lurking within? The idea which excites us most and gets the blood flowing? We have reached a stage where we can work with this aspect of our inner selves without having to overpower or suppress it. From the outside, it may be fearsome to heed this side of the self–the self we are taught to tame, kill, or avoid. But from the lion’s mouth appears the source of our abundance, from which carbon pours forth. And like Midas, our hands, our labor in working with this carbon, are the gold that transforms and transmutes. Our desires have become hardened and refined like diamonds, and made all the more precious from the external pressure put forth on them. 

Work: Reverse King of Pentacles ~The Melody of a Fallen Tree by Windsor for the Derby~

This month in the work sector, we are confronted with old traditional work values that are no longer serving us. We are primarily driven by this focus of not losing coin or not having the future taken away from us. But this is more of a feeling than a perception. In looking only to the past however, we are not focusing on our present and we are placing ourselves in a precarious situation. The past way of operating is too heavy to bear and handle. In embodying the reverse King of Pentacles, we take on more than we should. This is unbalancing and not adding security the way that we think it is. 

We may be tempted to leap back into an old career or an old job that no longer holds space for our growth and wisdom. The past was a transient dynamic, a fallen tree in a frozen field. What we need to do is place our ear to the ground and listen to the voice within, rooted to nature, ancestral healing, our bodies, and our wisdom. Right now we are operating under a sense of urgency. In pursuing a calling, our hopes and dreams appear to rise and fall. If we don’t understand the cyclical nature of life, this could seem wildly unsettling. Instead of demanding results or a timeline from the thawing soil, we should ask what we can do in order to tend to it. We need patience to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, allowing space for a new chapter, a new tree to arise.

Health: Ace of Pentacles ~First Light by Hozier~

September brings with it a fresh new perspective in respect to health. Each morning is made to feel like a bright new opportunity with which to tackle routine, habits, and goals. We see the untapped potential of what we envision and we are ready now to make it material. In the Virgo season it is also helpful to make detailed plans and routines, and tend to the little details especially at the outset, when we want this new seed of an idea to grow. We are whole and integral, and encouraged to seek what is good for our personal growth, in order to flourish and thrive. We envision ourselves radiating health and a state of wellbeing. Our body becomes the personal sun around which we orbit the rest of our choices and activities. We see a glinting opportunity for ourselves and are encouraged to pursue it. We only have one body, one life, on this one beautiful earth, which makes it all the more precious. We must hold onto it for what it is, and carry it with us always. We are the coin and the piece of gold transmuted by the sun’s warmth. Our body is the most precious thing that allows us to tune into nature, to create, and to experience. While we are in the process of gestation, we can also look to past lives and work with our dreams to inform our path to growth.

Spirit: The World ~Dancing Barefoot by Patti Smith~

In Spirit, we have reached the far end of a long journey to birth ourselves as we truly are, and survived all the tests to make it there in one piece. This is the version of ourselves that is free to dance barefoot–secure in ourselves, connected with the earth, grounded, and thriving. We have worked hard to create beautiful work–ourselves. We deserve to celebrate it and ourselves. The wreath represents victory, and perhaps also serves as a kind of frame we can display that victory in. We are encouraged to celebrate this period, to hang it up, admire it, and share this victory proudly with others. Our spirits that surround and support us celebrate this victory as well. This version of ourselves is the root connection–recognizing the harmony of all suits, and engendering the virtues of the major arcana that precede it. This is our recreated self–the hero or the heroine. This is the version of ourselves that we can say we are proud to have lived by, at the end of it all. We have practiced courage, reason, wisdom and strength. And when we go through another cycle of growth, around the wheel again, we can take all of our capabilities and all we have learned into the next situation.