Tarot Talk: It’s looking Swordsy

I did a little informal intention setting for the new year that I wanted to get serious about doing my daily card drawings and I’ve been doing pretty well.  I got myself another Fools Dog ap which helps because sometimes lately, digital is all I’ve got the energy for.  The two decks I use most in Ap form are the Ostara Tarot and the Tarot of the Hidden Realm.  I also have both of them in physical format as well.

And MAN, all this week SWORDS.  I use yellow in my tarot journal to indicate swords/air and the whole week is yellow.

I had the seven of swords twice in a row this week, from different decks even.  And then this morning I drew the Ten of swords.  Yikes.  I’m pretty sure the ten came up expressing my frustration around an incident where an “Ally” acted like an uneducated person and I was pretty much on the spot to speak up for all queer people (which happens a lot).  I felt a little 10 of swordsy.  Literally wrote in my notebook:  “TFW when you gotta educate the “Allies”.  Fucking Tired.”  This was around trans issues and I’m a cis person.  I can’t even imagine how frustrated and tired my trans friends must feel around this crap.  Sending so much love.

In other, more fun news. I’ve been holing up in my studio and Quilting All The Things!  Tarot card mats have come off the machine recently.  Last year I took an online class in watercolor quilting and I’ve finally gotten around to trying out the new skill.

You can see the pretty watercolors in the background of today’s 10 of Swords draw.  You paint the fabric with this fabric paint/dye and after it dries you use free motion quilting to outline the color shapes.  I’m crazy into it right now.  I have a few more squares of fabric to paint up and then I’ll probably have a few more mats to show you.

I got inspired by another reader on IG and I made a simple three card layout mat as well.  I took a bunch of more ‘curated’ photos of it and then I decided to share this long shot with you.  Fighting that, everything must look perfect vibe.  I did light a pretty candle here, but in the background you can see my hexie paper punch, my wife is painting with water colors over on the left, and the leftovers from a D&D gaming session cover the far end of the table.  Is it Instagram Perfect Beautiful?  Nope, but does it work?  Sure does.  Sometimes you just have to work with what you’ve got.  And sometimes that’s a messy dining room table or a sink full of dishes because I spent more time at the sewing machine than I did with a sponge.  #RealLife 🙂

Love to you all in the new year.  May your 2018 be Beautiful and Creative.

Daily Draw: Ace of Swords

Today’s card is the Ace of Swords from the Ostara Tarot.

It’s a pretty dang apt card for me easing back into trying to get my daily draw practice back into gear.  The mouse king stands victoriously on the handle of the sword.  The ace of swords represents issue of the mind.  Reason and logic and mental clarity.  It’s time to stop being the mouse and use that sword to cut through all the crap clouding my brain.

Either that or there is a brainy issue heading my way and I’ll need the sword to wrangle all of it.

Transgender Day of Remembrance ❤ ❤ ❤

Resharing the words of a dear friend about the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Bridget Essex, Author

On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, I not only honor and remember our trans family members in our big rainbow family who have died due to violence and discrimination committed against trans folk…I reaffirm, passionately and with my deepest conviction, to fight like hell for the living. &heart;

A reminder that this is a trans safe space, and *any* space that is mine is a trans safe space. That I am a passionate advocate of trans rights. That I have a zero tolerance policy of slurs or hatred directed against trans folks.

A reminder, to my trans loved ones and fans, that you are seen and heard and I love you with my whole heart. I will fight for you, always. If you are ever unsafe, I will protect you. If you are ever hurting, I will help you in any way that it is in my power. You are…

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A Wooly Witchy Tarot Spread

I wanted to pull some cards for myself this morning, I was hoping for a little guidance over the next month or so and I thought I’d share the reading because it felt like the advice was meant for more than just me.

Underlying Energy: The Moon

How appropriate that my only major appeared here.  My wife and I have been sorting through some Big Stuff, facing some of our worst fears about the path we’re on right now.  And it’s felt scary and tense.  But we’re coming out the end of the most intimidating month thus far.  And we’re doing okay.

If you’ve been feeling a lot of uncertainty lately it’s because you’ve been sort of fumbling around in the dark a lot and things look more frightening in the dark.  Problems loom larger and things are more scary than they would be in the light of the sun.  Time to channel that little black cat who looks down into the water and sees the mighty panther that lies within her.  Own your inner witch and take control and you’ll be able to see by the light of a full moon instead of inching your way around by touch.

Current Situation: Eight of Swords

Being tied up and feeling like you can’t get out of the situation when really those binds aren’t even tied and you could slip them.

There are tools at our disposal, but we need to open our eyes and look clearly and objectively at the true situation.  You might be surrounded by sharp swords, but if you take off the blindfold you can see that it’s not so hard to escape.  In this deck the witches tools, her hat and broom, are right outside that circle of swords (a circle of air).

I see a message in here to embrace our identities as well.  The witch has been stripped of hers and it’s rendered her powerless in this card.  Be who you are and play to your strengths.  You are AWESOME, and no one should deny your right to be your best self, no matter what that looks like.  ❤

Something to Release: Seven of Cups

Don’t be so dazzled by all the choices before you that you can’t make a decision.

My wife and I have been weighing choices on our life path lately.  Is what we’re doing working?  Do we continue?  Do we seek something else?  I think this card is an encouragement to stay the course.  It’s working, but it’s still always going to be work.  And that’s okay.  If we’re tight now, we’ll have greater appreciation for the abundance that will come later.

Make the choice, and trust that you’ve made the right one.

Something to Reach for: Four of Pentacles

Now isn’t the time to spend recklessly.  Whether you’re spending your money, your time, your love, don’t go wild.  I see a person protecting their savings.  And for us right now, money is tight, we need to be really careful how we choose to spend it and where.  In this card the door is locked and barred with golden leaves and iron bars.  There is wealth here, but it must be carefully guarded.

However, try not to stress over it.  Stressing out about guarding this is going to cost you in health.  So be careful, but also use your resources wisely, this is conservation and not preservation.  Conservation is using a resource sustainably as much as possible while preservation is maintaining something exactly as it is.

Looks like another while of our strict budgeting is in our future.

Interestingly enough, the cat is looking for a way out.  Or maybe she’s watching the circling storm clouds outside.  You never quite know with cats 🙂  It’s part of their mystery.

Other Thoughts

No wands in this spread, maybe I should be looking for a way to inject a little more passion into our lives.  When budgets are tight we feel stressed and worn out.  I’ll have to think of some ways to add that fire back into things and give us some fun.

Speaking of which, because we wanna be cool Instagram kids (XD), we learned how to make slime Tuesday night and I made some imperfect sparkly slime.  Always room for improvement, but it was fun.  Want to try it yourself?  Some Slime Recipes.

What Tarot is and What it Isn’t

I’m doing some work on the blog and the site today and I realized that I’ve never written a post about what Tarot is and isn’t.  My view on Tarot has been shaped and informed by so many other fantastic Tarot readers to whom I am indebted for helping me as I made my way on my path to Tarot.  But here’s what I have come to believe about Tarot in my own experiences and practices.

What is Tarot? At its most basic Tarot is the use and interpretations of a deck of Tarot cards either on their own or laid out in predetermined patterns often called spreads.  A Tarot deck is a set of (usually) 78 cards consisting of 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana divided up in 4 suits.  These suits are traditionally Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles.  Although some decks call them slightly different things, like Staves, Staffs, or Rods for Wands, Coins or Discs for Pentacles, Chalices or Vessels for Cups, and Arrows, Feathers, or Knives for the Swords.

What Tarot Isn’t.  Tarot isn’t about devil worship.  It’s not about placing curses or removing them.  It’s not about spying on your next door neighbor or ex-lover.  When I read the cards for you I’m not going to be making dire predictions about how and when you’re going to die or the precise date and time you’ll meet the person who is your heart’s desire.  In fact, if someone says that if you buy a reading from them you’re guaranteed to meet your perfect mate within two weeks, you should run away.  That’s a scam.

How Does Tarot Work?  All readers will have a different answer to this question based on their own practices, educations, and reading styles.  So I’m just going to answer this for you based on what it does when I’m working with it.  When you get a reading from me I’m going to create some sacred space for you and pull cards to see what message is out there that’s meant for you.  I sometimes work with aspects of the goddess in my readings, sometimes I’ll ask for any spiritual energies that are working towards your highest good to feel free to reach out and influence the reading.  Important note: I am not, nor do I claim to be a medium of any kind.  I can’t channel the spirit of your grandmother and get her famous cobbler recipe for you (even if it was the most delicious you ever tasted).  I believe that by opening myself up safely and in that sacred protected space, it’s possible for benevolent guides to guide my intuition as I read for you.  If there is a message out there for you from a loved one who has passed on, can that come through in a reading?  Sure it can.  And it’s amazing when it happens, but I can’t (and won’t) promise what I can’t reliably give you.  I look at the imagery on the cards and let my intuition take over.  I’ll get impressions that inform how I read that particular card in that particular space and time and that’s what I share with you.

What can Tarot do for me?   I believe that Tarot cards can help us shift our understandings of situations and energies to help us better understand what’s happening our our lives.  I believe they can also help us process difficult things.  It’s like having an objective third party getting us to look at things with a fresh perspective.  This is why I like to help clients ask the best possible questions.  I completely understand what when you’re in a terrible situation you just want to know if it’s going to end, so the temptation is to just ask “Will I get out of this thing?”  But it’s going to be so much more helpful to ask “What can I do to better my situation?”  One of them is just a yes or no answer and the other gives you the tools to find your way out.

How do I get a reading?  If all of this sounds like it’s something fantastic and you’re reading to find out what messages are waiting for you, then you can book a reading with me.  

Help Fight Trump and Get a Wooly Reading

I felt a call to refresh this offer again today.  So, if you can make a donation to an organization helping to support marginalized communities under the current state of politics.  I’ll give you a free reading!

If you donate $10 or more to an organization that is trying to prevent Trump from harming people, I will do a small reading for you.  Suggestions for organizations that are close to my heart:  Planned Parenthood, ACLU, The Trevor Project, or Black Lives Matter.

I’ll keep this up as long as I can.  Forward your donation receipt (or a screen cap with payment methods blacked out) to me (woolywitchy (at) gmail (dot) com) and your question (or if you’d a more general “message from the universe/deity” reading that’s okay too).  And I will lay out some cards for you and e-mail you a reading.  I’m not sure what time turn around I’ll have, it’ll depend on how many requests I get.  And I’ll do as many as I can.

So get donating and check out my Code of Ethics to make sure my reading guidelines will work for you.

Summer Solstice Community Reading

I cast a summer solstice spread to help folks to help heal and provide support and love to those who are in need.

1. Sunrise. What is your source of abundant growth?
King of Pentacles

This card to me is both about grounding yourself and freeing yourself from constraints. The pentacles are the suit of earth and of material physical things. But notice how this King has literally taken the bull by the horns and seems almost to float above it. It’s a card that you have to look at twice to make sure you’ve seen it the right way up. He has the support of the entire suit below him and he has mastery over it. When you take good care of yourself you can achieve great things. As a community this encourages you both to be this stable king and to seek out those who embody this king’s energy. We all should support each other as we move through a world that is sometimes hostile to us.

2. Bonfire. Where do you shine brightest? How do you illuminate the world? Adversely, what do you fear to show the world? What holds you back from exposing your greatness?
Nine of Chalices – reversed

This card talks about our fears as we look ahead to the future together. The figure on the bench looks into a future that is bright and glowing, but behind them chaotic energy still swirls, threatening to creep into the idyllic scene. This card also showed reversed, as a community we’re finding out bright future blocked and unreachable at times.

Our current political climate is hostile to us. People of color are being killed by the very forces that are supposed to protect and serve, trans folks are being stripped of their rights and denied equal protections, women are being systematically denied their reproductive rights.

As a community we’re searching for that bright future that the card depicts but we aren’t sure how we can get there from where we’re sitting. We shine brightest when we come together to support ALL of our community. We don’t want to be afraid to show our true selves to the world but it feels unsafe to do that.

3. Sunset. What is it that you have to give?
Five of Swords – reversed

The five of swords is a card of conflict, a battle is happening in our midst. There’s also a distraction at one side as one of the combatants finds a butterfly and drops their swords.

This card speaks to the divisions we’ve allowed to grow in our communities. Rifts between communities of color and queer communities, rifts between gay and lesbian and trans communities. Those who oppose us encourage those rifts to widen, driving wedges between us. They know that by isolating and dividing our communities they can weaken us. This card is a reminder that we need to come together. When we all support one another we are stronger.

Don’t turn your swords against your community. Save that fight for where it’s most needed. Resist the temptation to draw distinctions between different groups. Don’t allow your own community to “Other” people who are different. Bring everyone in and we have to use our privilege to help uplift the people who aren’t being heard.

4. Summer sun. Overview of the strengths of your relationships between friends, family, and lovers.
Eight of Pentacles – reversed

This card is a beautiful card for this position of summer sun. It depicts a person watering sunflowers. This is a reminder to nurture your relationships. Another message of coming together for mutual growth and abundance. Take the time to water new growth and carefully tend to old growth as well. We can all benefit from the harvest to come when we work together to help it grow.

In the reversed position it’s also a reminder to conserve, there may be lean times ahead so we really need to focus on ensuring this harvest can bear fruit.

5. Summer shadow. Overview of the weaknesses of your relationships between friends, family, and lovers.
Two of Chalices

Summer is a fantastic time to fall in love.  There are scores of songs in our pop culture consciousness about summer love.  The message in this card about relationships is to be careful not to disappear into a single relationship and forget about the rest of your community. New relationships are powerfully compelling and can be wonderful things. But don’t forget the rest of your friends and the community around you as you get swept away by a new lover or lovers.

6. Sacred herbs. Overview of your relationship to the green world including the food you eat.
The Heirophant

This is a call to listen to a trusted teacher or mentor. The summer is a fantastic time to get out into the green world. Visit a state park, head to the beach, partake of the abundance of nature around you. Visit your local farmers’ market and fill your meals with fresh local vegetables. The heirophant can represent authority figures which often come off as negative, but finding them here in this particular position shows the Heirophant as a force of nature. Find him in the Green Man of the woods, in Mother Nature, and in the wild places of the world, find a place of stillness in your mind and listen to what they have to say.

This is also a reminder to take breaks when you need them. Unplug your phone and get away from the 24/7 news cycle of violence and despair. Take the time to move through the growing things so you can come back refreshed.

7. Land spirits. Overview of your relationship to the land spirits.
Lovers

The Lovers represents a powerful connection. It could be to a new lover, it could be for a new project or business or a cause. This card showing up here reinforces that message from the Hierophant that this summer is a time to get out into the world and soak it in.

8. Stirrings. What part of you is awakening as the wheel turns towards the first harvest?
Three of Chalices

I can’t think of a better card to cap off a community reading. This is a card of celebrating with your community. Come together in joy, dance, share food and drink, gather around a campfire and tell stories. Celebrate the achievements that we’ve worked for. Be with your friends, family, and chosen family.

Happy Pride, everyone. ❤

Nosy Witch Questions

Death: Do you believe in, or have experience with past lives?

I would consider myself open to the possibility but not certain.  Once or twice in my life I’ve had these intense dreams where I found myself in the past living a different life and knowing that it was me, but I wasn’t my present self.  In one of these dreams I was a member of the French Resistance in Paris during World War II.  There were details that were just so vivid, like the quality of light under the street lamps in the night and this very real sense of danger as I ducked around the occupying soldiers.

It certainly gave me pause and it does make me lean strongly in the direction of believing that it could have been a past life echo.  I would love to learn a more about people’s theories of past lives and that sort of thing.

How about you lot?  I’d love to know what you think.

Nosy Witch Questions

The Hanged Man: Which area of witchcraft are you least familiar with?

I don’t know much about hexing or cursing or binding, beyond what you hear about in pop culture.  I also don’t know much about Bruja or Santeria workings and that kind of thing.  I would love to learn more about it.  I don’t think I would try to work it myself because I wouldn’t feel right about it because it’s not my heritage and I don’t want to be appropriative of something that doesn’t belong to me.  But I think there are definitely things I could learn from witches of color.

I think the best way to do that learning to find other practitioners who you respect and listen to what they’re saying.  I’m not advocating stealing or adopting their practices en masse, but building awareness of the diversity in witchcraft only helps us.  The workings of my sister witches have so much to teach me and I’m always thankful to learn from others, just as I hope that my practice can help other people too.

Also if you’re a witchy person of color and you’ve got a blog where you talk about your practice I would love to read it, share your links in the comments!

Nosy Witch Questions: Wheel of Fortune and Justice

Wheel of Fortune: Do you practice palmistry?

Nope.  So here’s another question.

Justice: Do you work with plants and herbs?

I do.  I’d love to find more ways to include green witchcraft into my practice.  I used to always think that I had a black thumb and would kill plants, but over the years I’ve gotten greener.  It sort of helps that we have a house with yard space now so we’re not trying to grow plants in the darkness or on a tiny porch filled with wasps (who built a nest in our heating vent and caused the heat and air to stop working) while living above the asshole downstairs.  Seriously, in our last apartment there was this guy downstairs who used to scream at neighborhood children and once came upstairs late at night and banged on our door after we had gone to bed to shout at us about making too much noise.  Seriously, bitch, we were ASLEEP.  I made the apartment complex install a door chain after that.

But all that’s behind us.  We have a pretty house with a little bit of green space and we’re slowly starting to learn how to increase the plants around our house.  We’ve rejuvenated two beds right in front of our house, built a bed beside our driveway, one around a big tree in our backyard, and we still have some beds that I want to transform.  I need to get a little bit better at long range gardening planning, at the moment we sort of just plonk things down into open spaces and see what happens.

But I LOVE IT!  And we’re learning so much!