I was so relieved to realize what “phase” we’re at in the moon cycle based on how — well, looney!! — I was feeling yesterday. We’re past the peak of the Full Moon and all the excitement that came with it, and now we’re working on “re-settling” by going back within for the next few weeks, to a place where we regain understanding of our selves and our responses to our respective environments at this time.

This spread is based on The Numinous’s spread for the Waning Gibbous phase of the Moon, focused on Turning Inward. I was really feeling a “Shadow” deck, so I chose to draw from the Mary-el Tarot, with the Mother Mary Oracle and Goddess Guidance Oracle cards — I don’t know about you, but when I pulled these cards I was going through some intense stuff and needed a big cosmic hug! The decks delivered.

I laid out a crystal grid of my usual selenite, desert rose, and amethyst cluster for energy clearing and Higher Self connection, the blackened wood rosary I keep with my Mother Mary Oracle, malachite for heart healing and protection of children and hope, white opal for balancing the messages we’re receiving, vogesite for further energetic clearing and clarity of mind, two petrified wood to bring in an energy of ancestral support, citrine to welcome abundance and remind us of our personal power at this time, cropcircle stone for grounding through understanding patterns and expanding the mind, and jet for protection of personal energy while maintaining a lightness of spirit.

I have to include the Shadow and Higher Self cards for this reading — they were too perfect, and were exactly the confirmation I needed when I drew this spread! I was feeling pretty desperate and these cards really helped me relax, especially where the main reading has some intense points.

Shadow Cards: 41. Our Lady of Sweet Rest + Sige | Quiet Time + 6 of Disks reversed

I think I actually laughed out loud at these cards — they’re saying quite loudly “CHILL!!!” It’s true that we’re at the point in the cycle where we are all feeling very overwhelmed, with more being thrown at us all the time. Accept how these occurrences are making you feel, but be still with it — give yourself permission to rest, to choose not to choose right now. It’s okay to feel like poop every now and again, as long as you take necessary measures to keep yourself from burrowing deeper in the — well, poop-pile. Halt!! Pull back and assess where you are, why you figure you’re there, and where you very much want to be — and that’s all you have to do for now <3<3

Oracle cards: 32. Our Lady Who Gives Peace + Maeve | Cycles and Rhythms

Indeed, the conflicts and difficulties you’re experiencing are natural, not only for this time of month, but also for this stage in what you and bringing in to the world! You’ve experienced some successes and some setbacks in your new venture, and this is a time for taking stock of what is working, of what is not, and for continuing to trust that it’s all going exactly as it should. You are supported in this, especially for the way you are working to make sense of every part of this experience — you really are learning your personal patterns through this, in such a way that you have a better grip on them and how to use them to your advantage. As such, know that this is a time not to “force the issue,” instead to pull back and marvel at what you can count among your achievements.

Card 1: Fears: Ace of Wands

During this natural lull in personal energy, it’s natural to fear that all your new ideas, all your new motivation will be lost! Not so. You are a rechargeable battery, and it’s time to pop back into the charger for a while, so both you and those great ideas will be at full power when it’s time to implement them for real. Lean in to your current sense of confusion and misdirection — there could even be new inspiration to be found there, to think on while you’re building yourself back up!

Card 2: Secrets: 8 of Cups reversed

Part of what you’re feeling is how very much you’ve been trying to endure your struggle “on your own” — we’ve touched on this recently, the need to let the people you care about “in” to help you. This card confirms it — you are seeking warmth and support, but you are so emotionally overwhelmed at what you’re going through that you’re scared to make yourself vulnerable by admitting to how very much you need support now. Don’t be afraid — trust, trust that reaching out really will help the fog start to lift, for everyone involved.

Card 3: Lies: XVII – The Star

No, you’re not out of the woods yet — the funny thing with hope, is we hope and hope and hope and seem to still find ourselves right where we started! Don’t think that any of this will be easy, or that the work is “done” so to speak — no, you must keep building, or at least chipping away at those old foundations, recognizing that the road ahead will never be easy. Always maintain hope, even when it feels like you just keep slipping back to the bottom of the hole. Once we’ve made a bit of progress it can be easy to think that we’re done with the previous lesson — quite the opposite, the previous lesson just becomes part of the fabric that we carry with us always, becoming a reference point for what helped and what didn’t when the same problem arises later in a different form. That sense of hope (with a heaping dose of creative thinking!) is your cloak on this journey, and it will always steer you in the right direction.

Card 4: Regrets: 9 of Disks reversed

Oops — again, when we make a bunch of progress, sometimes it becomes easy to set aside the personal grounding practices (meditation, journaling, exercising, etc) that were so integral in getting us to that point. These acts of self-care are more important than ever at this point in the Moon’s cycle, where the darkness creeps back in and our personal “demons” start nipping and grabbing at our heels again. Keep working at it, keep doing what you love, and know that you’ll feel more comfortable with your self, with your life, with everything soon enough.

Higher Self Cards: 13. Our Lady of Innocence + Lakshmi | Bright Future + 7 of Disks

These cards broke me right down — they were exactly what I needed to hear, and I hope they help you, too! This is not your fault, or some conspiring of the powers that be to punish you for anything. No indeed, this is just another little purification, and you are simply challenged once more to allow, allow, allow what’s trying to fall away to be let go of. Focus on the future, because the dreams you have for it can be real, and you’re already doing great work in holding them in your heart, not to mention the effort you’ve already put in to very much making them happen. Persevere, keep doing the little things that keep the world turning wit what little energy you do have, and know that you’re poised for a big positive boom. To underline the message at the bottom of the Lakshmi card: “Stop worrying. Everything is going to be fine.”

You are still so very much in the “first phase” of all this! There is much to be done, for sure, but those steps are not ready to be taken — this is a time for considering what they miht be, with no pressure to actually do anything about it just yet. Focus on reconnecting with others when you’re feeling better, continuing to lay our foundations, continuing to determine the structures you’ll need in place moving forward. Again, stop worrying as best you can — things really are falling into place, and the balance is being determined and identified by these reoccurring discomforts. You do have a measure of control here; rest on it, recuperate, and prepare to be amazed once the path becomes clear again.

If you’re interested in a personalized reading with me, head over to my Etsy shop! Feel free to use the coupon code THANKS15 for 15% off your reading at checkout <3<3

Decks used:

Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards. Doreen Virtue. Various artists. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc., 2004.

The Mary-el Tarot. Marie White. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2012.

Mother Mary Oracle. Alana Fairchild. Artwork by Shiloh Sophia McCloud. Victoria, Australia: Blue Angel Publishing, 2014.