Here we are at the Waxing Gibbous phase of the Moon, where we have a good sense of what we’re working with and are ready to really do something with it — The Numinous calls this the “Pivot Point” in the Moon’s cycle, where we assess what seems not to be working and compare it with what’s actually true in our situation.

For this spread I chose to draw from the Art of Life Tarot, the Wild Kuan Yin Oracle, and the Impressionist Tarot — all decks that vibe well with Aries/Taurus energy, of acting on our personal wills towards creating a stable (even comfortable!) material reality.

I laid out a crystal grid of selenite and desert rose for energy clearing and Higher Self connection, amethyst cluster to dispel any anxiety, brecchiated jasper for grounding in a heart-centred way, moss agate to remind us to engage in self-care, iolite for clear expression of our needs at this time, amegreen for head/heart connection, hematite to help us release negative patterns and addictions, black onyx for protection of personal energy, and black agate for emotional calming and further grounding.

Oracle cards: 8 of Swords | “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” -Christopher Columbus + 12. Sacred Sherpa Guides You Beyond

It probably feels like you’ve been meeting stop sign after stop light after locked gate — and you’re starting to wonder how much control you really have over all this. So much!! We’re at the point where we’re being forced out of our comfort zones, and darn if that’s not the most uncomfortable thing possible! But seriously, there is so much waiting for you once you take this Leap of Faith — in fact, your “spiritual team” is cheering you on so loudly that you are definitely hearing it now, through the voices of support that you are hearing, through little signs that are all around you, even in the faces of new people coming in to your life to help deliver you to a better place. Allow the shift, embrace the change, knowing that you are preparing yourself for something unimaginably new and exciting.

Card 1: The problem: Queen of Swords

Yes, a lot has been going on — you’ve allowed yourself to “go numb” from the pain, becoming quite emotionally detached, and this was absolutely necessary to get through your recent toils. But again, we’re talking about leaving our comfort zone, so allow yourself to “feel” what’s happening — the discomfort is necessary to encourage you to get a move on! Keep thinking towards involving everybody, because this is not a journey you can make alone. Keep strategizing, keep working with the information you have, keep nurturing your mental patterns, and let what’s been lost stand as an example of what you obviously didn’t need anyway. Those things we’ve been hanging on to for dear life even though we know they’re no longer of benefit? Well, the Universe is stepping in to clear them out for us! Trust, trust that what’s falling away only would have held you back in the long run.

Card 2: Our expectation: 4 of Pentacles

You’ve been pedaling so hard trying to “do better” that you figured you’d have it all together by now! And yet, no matter how hard you work it still feels like you’re just making ends meet, whether that be materially or on a much deeper, internal level. The process you are working through is a long one, and it will still be a while before you see concrete results — the challenge now is to keep thinking towards what you want, never wavering on your resolutions to scrimp and save, be that money or simply the energy you put out on a day-to-day basis. And really, take a few steps back and be proud of the progress you have made, even if it seems minor! Think back to this time last year and marvel at the small miracles that have transpired to bring to the point where you even have these considerations to make.

Card 3: The reality: Ace of Pentacles reversed

Heehee — it’s also true that staying grounded is a massive challenge right now, with the holidays looming, the weather getting worse, and money feeling tight. This “trapped” feeling runs across the board, and everyone is feeling crushed beneath the weight of responsibility at this time, to our jobs, to our families, to the World on the grand scale! We are challenged to continue looking around for doors and passageways that can deliver us from this feeling of stagnation and rigamarole, to accept where we’re at now and let that be the ground floor to the staircase that we’ll take back up once we have a better sense of where we really want to be. Sometimes we forget that it’s okay to dream REALLY big — it is! You should!

Card 4: Guidance: XV – The Devil

You know what has you stuck, because it’s the same story it’s been all along. The past weeks have been an incredible “dance with the devil,” where all of our egos see the progress we’re trying to make, in turn grabbing on to our old ways and trying to keep them for dear life! No, this is a time to be the master of your Self, to look your setbacks in the eye and tell them “not today.” The fire burning inside you is there for a reason, and you can use it to burn yourself down or to light the hearth that will allow you to stay on task. When you feel that familiar pull towards backsliding, letting out that rage or reaching for that vice, try to think for a moment whether that’s the best thing to do. Maybe it is, and by all means give yourself permission! But stay in your power as much as possible, and know that at the end of the day, the person you’re most accountable to is You.

As we enter December, “the Shadow” looms high and large — we’re entering dark territory and must work on how we handle the more negative aspects of our selves. You’ve been working on this already, taking action towards releasing what you don’t like, nurturing what you do, and this is fantastic! Even though it’s cold, though, you must keep pushing — no time for a rest, break down those final barriers! The help you need is close at hand and may even present itself to you unprovoked — take it when it comes. The Universe is conspiring *with* you to get your life in order, and the biggest challenge is allowing what you actually need and shutting the door on what you’ve known for a long time that you don’t. The light at the end of the tunnel is increased balance in your emotions and relationships, your work life, all of it, through continuing to work hard at your end goal, especially when the going gets tough and it seems more impossible than ever. It’s not! Find ways to keep yourself moving through the stiffness and cold, keep creating, keep striving, and take good care of yourself — soak up the sun when it’s there <3<3

If you’re interested in a reading with me, head over to my Etsy shop! Feel free to use the coupon code THANKS15 for 15% off your reading at checkout.

Art of Life Tarot. Charlene Livingstone. Stamford, CT: U. S. Games Systems, Inc., 2012.

Impressionist Tarot. Corrine Kenner. Artwork by Arturo Picca. Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2015.

Wild Kuan Yin Oracle. Alana Fairchild. Artwork by Wang Yiguang. Victoria, Australia: Blue Angel Publishing, 2015.

 

Ever have those moments where you just have to throw your hands up and say “what on Earth is happening?” (often with significantly more colourful language) …well that’s been the past couple of days for me!

In addition to dropping just about everything I pick up immediately:

First it was my tasseomancy saucer (that was actually a few weeks ago, but feels significant as the true “beginning” of this particular change of events). It fell and broke in two perfect pieces, and my love flew in to my rescue and immediately glued them back together. This was a lesson in realizing that I have support when I need it!

Next, I had just gotten by newest bag of crystal babies — so exciting!! I chose them all very carefully and was interested to note that most of them are grounding/Root Chakra stones. I’m obsessed with howlite and chose two pieces, one heart-shaped, and the other a persistent little buddy who kept jumping out of the container as I was deciding. Well. I was sitting with them all on my lap and stood up, sending them all to the floor — and my jumper howlite broke! Into three pieces!! As I was reeling from that, my phone dinged, and it was our business mentor letting us know that they had to withdraw from the responsibility. Eerie, no? Howlite can be used to attract a guide or mentor…

And finally, after a weird morning where I forgot a doctor’s appointment and was super-late, thus having to open the store super-late as well (although I found out my kidneys look much better and no more stones for the moment, yay!), I was at work tidying and singing and dancing around when all of a sudden, my special mala caught on a chair and snapped, sending beads here, there, and everywhere!! Whatttttt!!!!!!! In my stunned state, just as what had happened was dawning on me, someone came in to ask if I had jumper cables because their car was dead. I didn’t have them, but was slammed with the lesson being presented: it can *always* be worse! I managed to find all the beads and look forward to reassembling the necklace <3<3

Long story short, if you have been experiencing similar challenges, know that we are all just being prepared for the cosmic shift that’s in the works! We’re approaching the last Mercury Retrograde of the year (hello trickster energy, communication and technological breakdowns), and Saturn is grinding through the last degrees of Sagittarius, preparing to enter Capricorn on December 19, marking the beginning of the first Saturn return for everyone born between February 1988 (hello!) and February 1991 (the second for people born between January 1959 and January 1962). Saturn Returns represent specific points in our lives where our challenges seem so great as to almost be unbearable — they are a massive call from the Universe to take responsibility, to assess what you have and what you’re doing with it, showing you what’s definitely not working so you will work harder to find what really does. Saturn Returns can be a breeze if you have your sh*t together, and a nightmare if you don’t! Don’t worry, none of us really have it together, but as long as Saturn sees us truly trying, we’ll come out better for it at the other side.

I’ve been expecting the types of challenges represented by my special things breaking, knowing that the last months of 2017 will be real doozies! This reminds me of a piece of wisdom my dad shared with me a long time ago that’s always stuck — when something intense is happening, stop and ask “where’s the Buddha?” meaning “where is the lesson here, what might I need to learn from this?” It’s a bit too simplistic for really huge problems, but for little things like your favourite trinket breaking, look for ways to gain perspective on your experience — like realizing at least it’s not your car being broken down; it’s nothing that could actually ruin your day, unless you let it ❤

Have you been experiencing similar things? Cases of the dropsies, things literally smashing to bits? Leave a comment, it’s so nice to know when we’re all feeling like we’re in the same boat!

Did November fly by, or is it just me? I’ve felt like I’ve been in a total maelstrom of change and transformation — interesting key words, as they are directly indicated in the spread for this post! We are currently at the end of the Moon’s First Quarter, having come up with a picture of what we want to be celebrating by the time the Full Moon rolls around and begun to lay the foundations… now we come to the point where we test those structures out and see if they’re good to go (or not). We still need to be thinking on our feet because this is the point in the cycle where we get the hiccups, where dreams meet reality and often don’t quite match up. Here we identify the actions we want to be taking and the obstacles that meet us in our progress!

 I drew this spread from Oracle of the Mermaids, the Kuan Yin Oracle, and Shadowscapes tarot to pick up on the “Piscean” energy surrounding — the sign of Pisces is about connecting with your inner depths through spirituality, healing through self-understanding, and befriending your “Shadow.” As a side note, I almost used my I-Ching set instead of Oracle of the Mermaids, and the oracle card — Book of Changes — is a direct reference to that divination system! Too neat.

I laid out a crystal grid of selenite and desert rose to clear our energies and establish Higher Self connection, a large amethyst cluster and a small pice of amethyst to further connect and to calm any current anxieties, raw emerald to open our hearts and bring in an energy of nurturing and abundance, two shells to connect us with our emotional depths, amazonite to balance our inner masculine and feminine dualities, Apache tear for protection of our personal energy, moonstone for understanding of our personal cycles, ruby zoisite for grounding from the heart, amegreen for connection between the heart and the intuition, carnelian for creativity, labradorite for intuitive connection with the “flow” of things at present, and howlite (with a little heart!) for protection of the self-realizations and progress you’ve made to date.

This spread is adapted from The Numinous’s Moon Tarot Spreads — I switched the 3rd and 4th positions because I like cards asking “what holds you back” to be oriented to the past, with cards offering advice oriented towards the future.

Oracle cards: 16. Reflections reversed + 35. The Book of Changes

You’re in the process of major change — it’s to the point that you almost don’t recognize yourself in the mirror, which can represent a confusing time indeed. But what’s really happening is you identifying and acting on the parts of yourself that need “tweaking,” and what you’re seeing is the direct results! You have changed, and the challenge now is to stay on track, not letting yourself slip back into your old comfort zone where little to no progress was being made. You’re done with personal stagnation and are seeking anything that will help you continue to grow: be careful not to get confused as the waters become murky with all that you’re shedding, as it’s all still floating around in your energetic “field,” waiting for you to give permission for it to be flushed away. Part of what you need for this is some sort of approval — you’ve given it to yourself, and now you need to share what you’re learning to get others on the same page in your progress.

Card 1: Your self-perception: XIII – Death

Truly, you’re in a period of intense transformation, a “death of the Self,” if you will! All year you’ve been thinking on what you do not like about yourself and your life, and the Eclipse Season this summer was the trigger point where you realized what you needed to do to release, reset, and Rise. You hoped to be rising even more by now, but you’re still resetting — you’ve chosen the funeral accoutrements for the past-Self, but they’re still hanging around, waiting to be excused. Who knew self-improvement could be so much hard work?! You’re doing everything right, and just need to continue to allow your more regressive patterns to fall away through acknowledging them as they crop up and feeling them through, as bottling them up at this point very much means hanging on and staying close to where you were and decided you did not want to be.

Card 2: Your obstacle: VI – The Lovers

The funny thing with self-improvement is it is a very personal inward journey — sometimes we forget to fill the people most important to us in on what we’re going through, be it for self-protection, for fear of judgment, or simply for not wanting to slop our burdens around unnecessarily. Well, you have people who care about you very much, and they are wondering what’s happened to the old You! Tell them! Let them know how you’ve been thinking, where you’re at in your process, and seriously, let them know what they can do to help you continue moving forward. They want to help you, they want to support you, from a true place of love that you can trust in. You must choose to share your realizations surrounding the decisions you’ve been making, and step outside yourself a bit to remember the Big Picture, the Real World, as the person you’re becoming still has to live there!

It’s so, so important at this time not to blame others for what we perceive to be happening to us — we are all fighting our own battles, and we become a true army when we share our aims and experiences and open ourselves to positive resolutions.

Card 3: What holds you back: Ace of Wands

Part of the challenge is the sheer force of your motivation, the pure magical energy that’s surrounding all you’ve been experiencing, the miraculous realizations you’ve had and the many, many new ideas coming to you as a result. You’d love to get started on all of them, but there is much to take care of first! You have responsibilities to people and things that need attention, and only through taking care of those things will you be able to focus on taking up your new adventures. This will ensure that they can spark and sparkle to their best capacity! You wouldn’t start a new painting with the dirty water from the last, so do what you know you need to do, and maintain your current excitement, save your little match of inspiration, for that time when the coast is clear and you find the perfect spot to strike it and let your new vision glow.

Card 4: What will help you overcome: XVIII – The Moon

Embrace the darkness you’ve been feeling — you are incubating, growing in this darkness, and must allow the necessary time before you’re ready to bring everything out into the light. You are healing through processing all of your recent experience, bringing it all together subconsciously and slowly, slowly “percolating” a way out, a way forward, a way through. It’s coming to you — now you know that you can’t make this journey alone, and can feel filled up with the knowledge that the healing support you need can be found simply by asking. This is a tall order, as your sense of pride would rather not share the intensely personal stuff you’ve been processing — but the “necessary ear” is readily available, and the real magic can begin when you pour out the last of that internal junk so you can re-fill with much better, much clearer, much more positive thoughts and emotions.

Truly, truly you can trust that things are coming together! The bumpy whirlwind of a road that this past month has represented the presentation of what wasn’t working so you could begin to make amends. There were necessary endings to be sure, but these have put you in the direct path of what will be much better for you, and revealed to you who is still very much there to be on your team moving forward. You have the power to inspire as a result of all the good you’ve been trying to do, and the results are becoming more and more apparent to everyone else as well. Keep working at it, keep making adjustments to ensure you’re at your full energetic potential, and anything that continues to hold you back can be identified as what to focus on releasing next. You’ve done so well in taming your more regressive emotional and mental patterns, and can continue to maintain hope surrounding your material situation. Stay calm — there is balance to be found in recognizing how you’ve seemed to swim through your recent conflicts, managing to persevere against the odds, constantly finding yourself closer to your life goals than you ever expected to be at this point. You’re doing it — stay calm! — the changes you’ve wanted are so, so close!

If you’re interested in a reading with me, head over to my Etsy shop! Feel free to use the coupon code THANKS15 at checkout for 15% off your reading.

Decks used:

Kuan Yin Oracle. Alana Fairchild. Artwork by Zeng Hao. Victoria, Australia: Blue Angel Publishing, 2012.

Oracle of the Mermaids. Lucy Cavendish. Artwork by Selina Fenech. Victoria, Australia: Blue Angel Publishing, 2013.

Shadowscapes. Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2010.

Here we are, having made it through an intense New Moon in Scorpio — so intense that I forgot to post about it! Either way, we all came to some valuable realizations about where we can start over and begin again. We’re now in the Waxing Crescent phase in the driven, goal-oriented sign of Capricorn, ready to lay the foundations that will see our new plans through.

As I mentioned in my post about the Waning Crescent in Libra, I’m starting to study the energy surrounding the cycles of the Moon. I found a great set of tarot spreads for nearly every phase (I made up that Waning Crescent one in my previous post) on The Numinous, which I’ve been making use of and finding so, so helpful. This is my spread for the Waxing Crescent, the phase of Setting Foundations.

I laid out a crystal grid of selenite and desert rose for energetic clearing and Higher Self connection, citrines to remind of my personal power, dumortierite to both ground me and also the way I express myself and my needs, snowflake obsidian for understanding of my patterns and protection of the new ones I’m trying to make stick, an amethyst cluster to calm my anxiety and further establish Higher Self connection, yellow calcite to boost self-esteem, two tree/dendritic agates to help my most useful personal structures grow, moss agate to remind me to engage in self-care, and Botswana agate for emotional understanding.

Oracle cards: Venus + Valley | Fertile new role reversed

You’ve found yourself in a really good place, where the need to “start over” has disappeared — you know you’re exactly where you’re meant to be, and now you’re in a much better position to accept the “vulnerability” that comes with pursuing personal passion. Life is quite beautiful, even if your present challenges feel like a rather unforgiving mountain! Keeping things lighthearted and appealing to yourself and what you love will keep things moving in the right direction.

Card 1: Your source of energy and willpower: XIX – The Sun reversed

Yes, we’re in the darkest moment just before things start to get brighter! This is a time to continue reflecting on what is definitely working and what really, really isn’t. Personally, nothing lights a fire under me like a taste of what does not make me happy — I can’t stand the discomfort so it makes me reach for what I really do want. This is a time for observing and making peace with your personal cycles, knowing that doing so will help you easily transcend your remaining “walls” when the time is right.

Card 2: Your talents: 8 of Swords reversed

You’ve been putting some hard work in mentally, in favour of truly being honest with yourself about what holds you back. Quite specifically, this refers to the “traps of our own making” that we set for ourselves in order to stay in pretty uncomfortable “comfort zones” — situations we flip off saying “better the devil you know than the one you don’t” and so on. Well, why does there have to be a devil? Is there a devil? Or are you staying “stuck” because you’re intimidated by how high you could fly if you open the cage?

Card 3: The environment: XVII – The Star + 5 of Swords reversed (jumper)

Above all, this is a time to maintain hope and “let it rest.” Conflict was the name of the game this past Scorpio New Moon, as our new beginnings were coloured by, well — other people’s “true colours,” not to mention our own! The worst of the battle is over, and it’s time to let our minds settle and process so we can keep climbing the mountain. Slow and steady, it’s always darkest before dawn, blah blah blah — but truly, allow yourself to be inspired by your experience, and when you turn around, you may be surprised at the loyalties that remain, ready to help you continue to grow and expand.

Card 4: Your resources: 9 of Swords reversed

If anything, the nail’s been hit on the head concerning the major “source” of anxiety at present, and as such it can begin to be released. Keep thinking in this direction and reflecting on your reasons for coming to this conclusion, and continue to allow yourself to be a little bit vulnerable, admitting both your faults and what you know are your strengths, and allow this to be the foundation on which you build your next steps. None of this is easy, but it’s necessary, and you are finally willing to keep working towards establishing patterns of thought and action that will serve you much better and actually allow you to heal.

We’re getting deeper and deeper into the dark of winter, with the days getting shorter all the time — it’s time to engage in extreme self-care, allowing the opposite to fall away and make space for the leaps and bounds we’ll all be taking when 2018 rolls around. Winter’s darkness is the perfect time to get in touch with our Inner World, to find balance through meditation and withdrawal. While it’s not really possible to close off completely, what we can do is find strength in taking little moments here and there to check out without actually getting away. There are people and situations who need us to be present, and we need to be at our best to make the best of them! But you know this — truly, you’ve reached a very stable place emotionally, finding you standing strong against some intensely challenging energetic currents. Be proud of your efforts and remain committed to working on the mental kinks that can still use some ironing out in favour of maintaining that hopeful perspective that will serve you so well as we wait for warmth and light to return to our lives on a more recognizable, more palpable scale.

There are many steps still to be taken, but as they say, “keep it 100” — even if others seem not to be trying their best, that’s never permission for you to follow suit. Hang in there, persevere, because things are shifting. While the challenges will keep coming at you, it’s up to you to inspire yourself — there’s no doubt you’ll be amazed at the results <3<3

If you’re interested in a 4-card reading like this from me, head over to my Etsy shop! Feel free to use the coupon code THANKS15 for 15% off your reading at checkout.

Decks used:

Astrological Oracle Cards. LWB: Lunaea Weatherstone. Artwork: Antonella Castelli. Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2012. © Lo Scarabeo Italy.

The Nature-Speak Oracle. Ted Andrews. Jackson, TN: Dragonhawk Publishing, 2006.

Tarot Mucha. LWB: Lunaea Weatherstone. Artwork: Giulia F. Massaglia. Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2014. © Lo Scarabeo Italy.

We are currently in the Waning Crescent phase of the Moon, where we allow ourselves to rest and regain our energy for the new beginnings that come with the New Moon in a few days. I’m getting into working with moon-mapping (ironically, at the “low” point of the month when we retreat away from such types of energetic output!), and I’m excited to share what I’m learning!

The following spread works with the energy (or lack thereof!) surrounding the Moon’s Waning Crescent.

Oracle cards: 33. Ten Sisters of Light + Hare Moon

Wow!! If you’ve been feeling like the wind’s been taken out of your sails, know that this is a necessary time, a gestational period for your very Spirit! You are growing, reflecting at your core on a past-life lesson that has been eating away at things and you know it. You also know, or are becoming increasingly aware, of the amount of control you really do have here, and you are ready to do the hard work of simply waiting for the moment that you know you’re ready to take on the Big Thing looming on the horizon. You’re coming into your own, and your spiritual team is singing you along, sending messages of support and awareness to keep you on track.

 

Decks used:

Kuan Yin Oracle. Alana Fairchild. Artwork by Zeng Hao. Victoria, Australia: Blue Angel Publishing, 2012.

Moon Phases Oracle. Devin Strickler. Artwork by Lexie Marquez. First edition. Mystic Moons Tarot, 2015.

Shadowscapes. Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2010.