Weekly Readings

Back from an unexpected hiatus.  Some life stress caused me to retreat from most of the internet, but I’m feeling better again and ready to chatter about Tarot again!

A nice little piece on Offbeat Home talking about Forgiveness and why you don’t necessarily have to forgive.

Then there is a point where our anger no longer serves us

And that point usually comes after we are no longer actively being harmed. And that harm has been acknowledged and validated by our community (best case) or, at minimum, by ourselves.

It is at that point that we can accept the things we cannot change and have the courage to change the things we can. And it is here, right here, that I think “forgiveness” was substituted for “acceptance” by our culture.

 I’m totally not getting a kickback from this company, but we bought our kitties a Cat-It treat ball and them seem to get a great kick out of it.  Plus it’s supposed to be engaging for their little brains, so sounds good to me 🙂

I’ve been listening a ton to podcasts lately and I want to share a few of my favorites:

Nancy from WNYC Studios – BFFs Kathy Tu and Tobin Low are super queer, super fun and ready to take over your podcast feed. Join them for provocative stories and frank conversations about the LGBTQ experience today. Because everyone’s a little bit gay…

Radiolab – not a new one, but DANG is it good stuff.  – Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience.

From The Tarot Lady – Tarot Certification: Do you need it?

Teachable Racial Moment: A Black History Lesson Behind “Son of a Bitch”

Top 10 Phrases used by #NotRacists

RuPaul Is Everything: The Rise & Reign of America’s First Drag Superstar

Diverse Tarot Decks you can buy right now.

 

Weekly Readings

From Offbeat Home: Don’t know what to do next? Here’s what you can do to fight white supremacy.

Fantastic review of Kitchen Table Tarot that I found on Little Red Tarot.  I’m reading my way through that book right now.  Just very slowly!

Converting Hidden Spiritual Racism Into Sacred Activism: An Open Letter To Spiritual White Folks – a good read with some practical steps you can take to help.

 

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.

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!

Weekly Readings

I’m back from vacation!  It was tough to go from high 70’s and white sand beaches back to 20 degrees and windy in NH, but such is life.  I went back to work for Friday to get a handle on e-mail and all that rot, and then I had a weekend to get back into step with NH life.  With that, here are some things that caught my eye this week.

11 Crucial Organizations To Donate Your Money Or Your Time To.

Cauliflower Mac and Cheese: I love mac and cheese so very much, but being diabetic I shouldn’t indulge quite s0 much, but if there’s a lot of veggie to balance it… 😉

And speaking of things I shouldn’t eat… unicorn hot chocolate.  I actually probably wouldn’t have that one though, I don’t like white chocolate, but with that many sprinkles, marshmallows, and glitter to eat how could I not love it?

An online discussion of the Pink Pussyhat thing is happening.

A little girl and her mother recreate famous images of black women for Black History month.  It’s pretty awesome.  And gave me some new women to learn about.

From Autostraddle: This Is a Nightmare and a Genocide: Jaquarrius Holland is the Sixth Black Trans Woman Murdered This Year.

A Primer on Women and Civil Disobedience.

From Lavender Moon: What I wish people knew about Tarot.  She talks about predictive readings and why she doesn’t love them.  I feel very similarly.  Predictive readings don’t put the power in the hands of the querent.  I feel very strongly that my readings should empower you to take control of your life.  ❤

Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors On Intersectionality In Activism: BUST Interview.

Bringing a little Woo into your workplace.  Love these ideas!!

I think I need to watch this:  When We Rise.

My wife and are participating in this #CreateThisOracleDeck challenge this month.  Are you?

Victorian Ladies Perfume Guide.

The FBI opted not to prosecute any of the Gamergate harrassers.  Shock, they decided it’s fine to threaten and harass women.  I mean, boys will be boys, right?  So funny when they threaten to blow up universities because women are speaking at them.  -_-

Nevertheless She Persisted tattoos.

from LRT: 10 ideas for your Tarot Blog/Journal – you’ll definitely be seeing my take on some of these ideas coming up 🙂

Help Fight Trump and Get a Wooly Reading

 I saw other people doing this over on IG and I wanted to do something too.  I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but I think it’s past time for me to just do it.  So, I’m doing it.

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.

Weekly Readings

From the Southern Poverty Law Center: ways to respond to everyday bigotry.  I kind of want to make some of these a printable card I keep in my wallet so I can walk away from a bigoted exchange having said something instead of wishing I’d been able to think of what to say.

Benebell Wen shares how she journals and “documents her woo”.  There’s some beautiful stuff in there, makes me want to have a paper planner again!

Kelly Ann Maddox shares 50 Journal Prompts for Toughening Up and Getting Inspired in the Hardest of Times.  I could definitely use some of these about now.

How to support and Herbal call to action from Worts and Cunning.

Autostraddle shares 5 ways to stand up to Trump Tyranny right now.

How you can intervene when witnessing racist assaults.  Always make sure that you’re not putting yourself in physical danger too, but speak out where you can.

Here’s how to set up monthly recurring donations for a TON of great organizations that are fighting to help keep us all safe (Planned Parenthood, SPLC, NAACP, Trevor Project, and lots more).

A knitted garland made entirely out of mittens!  I knit this for my mom one year and it’s adorable and free!  And another garland made with stars.  Also free.

From Northwest Witch : What Now? a Tarot spread in the wake of the election.

Ethony shared 6 daily practices to improve your tarot journey.

Buddhists bring meditation to the streets and subways of NYC.

This is awesome: The Inclusive Local Yarn Store Initiative.

Weekly Readings

I did a whole lot of reading this week, so strap in friends, this one is a big one 🙂

Beth at Little Red Tarot wrote a great post on where to start with Tarot if you’re a newbie.

Liz Worth has some thoughts on how to survive Mercury in Retrograde.

I read an article about the use of the racial slur Gypsy in Tarot and other spiritual practices and why it’s not okay to call yourself that unless you are a Romani person.  Rather than linking the article I prefer to share with you the actual Romani created posts about the topic in an effort to magnify those voices of color.  Big Gadje World, Gypsy Appropriations, It’s a Slur.

From Worts and Cunning: Three New Ways to Read Tarot.

South African school girls are protesting racism in their school.  You can get more information at #StopRacismatPretoriaGirlsHigh.

And more news in Policing Womens’ Bodies, French Police are forcing women to undress now with the ‘Burkini Ban’. From the article:  While the target of the laws has changed, the intent has not; women are being subjected to laws that control their outfits and bodies.

And something to make you chuckle:  The perfect response to random people asking you to knit something for them.

Not really news, but another article on how knitting can save your brain:  Knitting and Digital Overload.

From Lavender Moon: how to bond with a tarot deck.

Tips on cleaning your tarot cards.

The Price: a Queer Daughter of a Queer Mother.  I am doomed to die an ugly death or at least to be separated from my partner, probably violently. So is my queer mother and my partner and my cousin and many of my friends. We are all doomed, it seems, because this is the only story American media tells about queer women.

Augmented Reality Tarot Ap, if you work with a traditional RWS deck this might be for you.

Reading the 5 Stages of Grief in a Tarot Spread.

 What I’m knitting: a Turn a Square hat and a tarot bag.
What I’m watching: Still the West Wing on Netflix!  Although my wife and I watched Stranger Things recently too.  SO GOOD.
What I’m listening to:  My 90’s Pandora station.  So much nostalgia!

Weekly Readings

The Chaos Witch had some interesting thoughts on ditching gender essentialism in pagan practices.

Black Lives Matter: a Spell for Visioning Justice from Northern Lights Witch

If you’ve ever been curious about Shamanic Journeying, Woolgathering and Wildcrafting has an interesting post about how to try it for yourself.  Check it out: Shamanic Journeying.

Because my lavender is blooming and ready, here’s an article from Garden Therapy about harvesting your lavender.

How to make your own collage oracle or Tarot cards.  A Guest post by Jess on Little Red Tarot.

Also:

What I’m reading: Date Knight by Bridget Essex.
What I’m listening to: it alternates between Two Dope Queens, the Hamilton soundtrack, and Alice Isn’t Dead.
What I’m knitting: a pair of Spring Forward socks

Repost: walking through fire, a gathering of survival strategies by community and allies — Asali Earthwork

I wish I could say that I was surprised at the events over the last week or two.  Surprised that while I was safe at home two more black men were killed by police attacks, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.  But, sadly, like my reaction to the shooting at Pulse in Orlando, I wasn’t surprised.  I feel sad and sometimes hopeless, but never surprised any more.

I felt like I knew what to do in the wake of the Orlando shootings.  I’m gay, this was my community.  I feel less well equipped as to what I can or should do to help my POC friends.

The best thing I’ve found that I can do so far is to listen to those POC voices, support them when they ask for help, listen to their stories and trust them.  My voice doesn’t have a place in the discussion except to amplify theirs and be the best ally that I can be.  And to remember that this isn’t about me, but that it’s my job to help fix the problem.

I’m boosting a post from Asali Earthwork.  Go, listen to her, and help where you can.

I’m still reeling. Here is a link round up of community and allies with strategies that have helped the healing along. – Where does a healer’s anger go? Beyond love and light. I wrote a piece for the Little Red Tarot on holding space for anger that bleeds through my identity as a black queer […]

via walking through fire, a gathering of survival strategies by community and allies — Asali Earthwork

Edit: a few more links to add

Girlbosswoo has some important thoughts in her open letter to white business owners, this was especially good for me to read as a white person.

Worts and Cunning also has some good advice.