The Beauty of the Year: An Annual Tarot Spread for Review & Renewal

Is this just an annual review tarot spread or is this secretly a spread to help us work with the magick of Venus retrograde? Yes.

Even though I don't tend to do end of the calendar year readings (or annual spreads at all for that matter) since I celebrate the end of the seasonal year at Samhain, I felt a need for something different this January. These past few years have felt both more amorphous and intense because of our ongoing shared global experience of crisis. So it has felt useful to add in more points of purpose and reflection at times of ending and beginning - such as we experience at the changing of the calendar year. Throw into the mix the Venus retrograde (read more about that through the wisdom of Chani) and there's a call for us to reflect and remember, release and renew all of which lends itself well to an annual review tarot spread. 

With that in mind, let's work with Venus in retrograde as a guide, helping us to review the year that has passed, looking within before looking ahead.

Cards shown are from The Natural Ink Tarot

The Crone, Inanna, and Venus Retrograde 

As the calendar year ends and begins again so many of us get caught up in the pressure to live in ways that “better” than we currently are, to be more perfect, more beautiful in all ways in our life. Yet, when Venus Retrogrades we are left not with the direct experience of harmonizing beauty (which is what Venus brings) but the question of “What is Beauty?”

Many astrologers liken the energy of Venus Retrograde to the story of the Descent of Inanna. It's an apt and useful comparison as the story of Inanna and her sister, Ereshkigal, is ripe with metaphor and wisdom. I also like to recognize Venus Retrograde as helping us to connect with the energy of the Crone who is beyond the need to be desired by anything other than their infinite self, emancipated from societal expectations of beauty, and confidently centered in their power as something wildly independent yet intimately intertwined with the ecosystem of life, death, decay, and renewal. Venus as a Crone asks of us:

• What would you do with your life if you were not blinded by beauty or afraid of your own shortcomings?

• How would you live if you clothed yourself only with self-assuredness, the songs of your ancestors, and glimmering jewels of visions of the worlds to come?

• How would you feel if you always found yourself at home within the deep knowing of your bones no matter where you were in the world?

What a powerful practice to look back on where we've been in order to dream of where we might go. As we review the year we let go that which we no longer need, pick up what may have been forgotten, and affirm what it is that keeps us steady on the path of becoming more sturdy and well-loved within ourselves, calling in and calling ourselves back to community along the way.

We are all just ancestors in the making and reflection practices like these help us to move along the path of the young crone, the baby hag, the old-one-in-training. And in the very practical living of our lives which rotate on an annual axis, the following tarot spread helps us to measure our needs, call in our power, and reflect in order to remember and renew.

An Annual Tarot Spread for Review & Renewal

Before you cast your cards, take a minute to create a space of beauty in which to work. Creating beauty will mean something different to all of us from setting up an altar, to taking a moment to cleanse and dress ourselves with intention or spending a moment tidying up our space. Beauty calls to beauty and since we are working with Venusian energies it can enhance the casting of our cards and the clarity of our reading to try and align ourselves with beauty from the start.

Card 1. Overview of Beauty
Where did the beauty of your life emerge this year? This is a card that helps us to connect with the beauty of the year whether generous or hard won, hard to see or brightly shining. To connect with the beauty of the year is not to ignore its hardships, but to help us find our strength through our beauty and the beauty of our community connections.

Cards 2 & 3. What Needs to be Released
These two cards help us to understand what it is that needs to be released and let go of. Sometimes these can be ways that we perceive ourselves, our lives, our work. Sometimes they are practices or ideas that we have enjoyed but it is time to honor and retire. In order to open ourselves up to the promise of renewal, we need to make space in our lives for such magick to take place.

Card 4 & 5. What Needs to be Recovered
These two cards help us recognize what may have been left behind, but it's time to bring back into our lives. These could be practices that we set aside whether through forgetfulness, busyness or a change in our lives. It might be a practice that we are entering into a renewed relationship with (i.e. approaching yoga not as a consumer but as a student committed to honoring the practice's roots or returning to a forgotten but favorite childhood pastime). Sometimes what needs to be recovered is more abstract in practice but still potent in experience - a feeling, a sense of home, a calling to hope.

Card 6. What Needs to be Faced
Returning again to the myth of the Descent of Inanna, after She has gone through the seven gates from the Great Above to the Great Below, She steps into the space of Her sister, Ereshkigal. With no treasures clothing Her, nothing shielding Her, Inanna is must face Her own vulnerability, Her mortality, and the finite reality of Her existence. So here is a card which reflects back to us something which needs to be faced - these are often entrenched but unhelpful habits (like overwork) that seem inevitable and unquestionable, but are ultimately the things we cloth ourselves with that can and should be set aside. Another way to understand the energy of the card is to imagine Venus as Crone, delighted in her own mortality, laughing and saying, "What makes you so fearful of your own wild life?"

Card 7. The Promise of Renewal
Here is the card which brings us back to the surface, returning from our retrograde, facing forward with the momentum of the year. It is a glimpse into what might become and our own beauty, newly understood and remembered, in the making.

Cards shown are from The Natural Ink Tarot

An Optional Addition: The Two Helper Cards
If you want, you can cast two additional helper cards to assist you in connect you with much needed allies. In the myth of Inanna, She is recovered from the underworld by two beings called galla (fun fact: these beings which are described in as "neither male nor female" are ancient examples of nonbinary and transgender expression). Cast two additional cards on either side of the spread to represent the type of support you should call to you in order to thrive or, more mythically speaking, to be  brought back to life, renewed and restored.

᠅

If you love these types of tarot spread that center healing in the reading, you might enjoy my post on using tarot in your healing practice. For those of you stuck in the intensity of the descent that Venus Retrograde can sometimes bring, worrying that you’ll never get your magick back, here’s a love letter just for you. And if you’re just looking for more tarot spreads, come this way.

May the season of Venus Retrograde help you uncover the path of beauty in your life.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

Radical Harmony : The New Moon in Libra

Take a sledgehammer
to the statue
they have erected of you
fashioned by their own fancies
of how you should look,
who you should be.
Do not
ask for permission.

Smash it
into a thousand shoulds
you sweep into the dustpan.
Then stand naked
in front of your own mirror
and dress
in your softest words
of wisdom
whispering
from within.

- Kaveria Patel -

The New Moon in Libra takes to the night sky like a scythe. It is the season of Samhain (and by some calculations, Lunar Samhain) and Libra’s guardian planet of Venus arises in their form as Crone. We need the slow rumination and depth work of the Crone now more than ever in our time of quick clicks, soundbites, and the constant fear that you might not be keeping up, doing enough, being aware enough.

Libra is a sign of harmony and it’s symbol the scales of justice. The voice of Libra this season moves away from the common Libran question of “Is it fair?” to a Libra which shouts, “No justice! No peace!” For justice should be a tool of harmony and from the harmonization of conflict we hopefully arrive at the Libran vision of peace. This is the Crone’s path of unbridled, shape-shifting, core-changing harmony. As it is the season of Samhain, we must remember that it is a traditional time of reconciliation at the Witch’s New Year approaches. And what is harmony but a radical reconciliation of all our parts into an whole?

Image by Ryan Holloway

At the New Moon in Libra we have an opportunity to change that which needs changing in order to align our inner values with our outer actions. Libra is an cardinal air sign which means that it brings an energy of new starts and momentum to our lives. In pursuit of a life that feels just, that works for peace, and that feels like there is harmony between all parts of who you are,  you are being asked to not depend on what others say or think you should be doing but to instead listen deeply and unflinchingly within for that which you know needs changing. Because the Crone doesn’t do what she does because she’s worried about getting dragged on twitter. The Crone builds mountains and tears down walls because they are connected to the certainty of who they are and their purpose. Are you?

Elder (Sambucus nigra)
The New Moon in Libra Plant Ally

I’ve written about Elder many a time on this blog and it’s one of the herbs I recommend working with during for Samhain. And I just used it in my most recent tea recipe. So, I’m going to depart from the norm in this part of the New Moon Healer’s Project and focus solely on the magickal and spiritual gifts of Elder. 

Elder is traditionally classified as an herb of Venus. I see it specifically as an herb of Venus in Crone form. If you have worked with Elder, you’ve most likely met the fierce guardian spirit of the plant. As humxns we have been cultivating and using Elder since the stone age. She has raised us, kept us well, set boundaries to help keep us safe. The Elder has a decidedly take-no-fools attitude combined with a generosity of healing that is immeasurable. To sit with Elder is to say, “Ok, I don’t just want to get rid of this head cold - I want to learn about the coldness that haunts me in my heart.” And off you’ll go between the worlds (for Elder is a guardian of the gates between the worlds) and between your words and between the places you thought forgotten. 

If you’re ready to take up the scythe of the Crone in your life and cut away that which no longer serves you, add a jar of Elder berries to your altar. Sit with the Elder tree if you have one growing near you. Know that the Elder one will protect you on your journeying, but once you start down the path you must see it through to the end. For that is the promise of the Elder Mother - they’ll never abandon you, but they also won’t allow you to abandon yourself. 

Flower + Gem Essences for the New Moon of Libra : Chicory (Cichorium intybus), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Rabbit Orchid (Thelymitra antennifera), Vervain (Verbena officinalis), Yarrow (Alchillea millefolium), Agate, Peridot, Smokey Quartz, Rose Quartz.

Essential Oils of Libra : Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum),Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii).

Photo by Oscar Keys

Cutting Cords Ritual

Whether on the New Moon or at Samhain, perform this ritual to cut away that which no longer serves you. Be the Crone in your own life and stand on the foundation of who you want to be, not who you’re expected to be.

If you have a sacred blade, scissors (silver is best) or athame, you may use those in this ritual, but they are not necessary. Begin in a sacred way (read the New Moon in Aquarius post for further inspiration). Once grounded and centered within yourself, start to whisper:

Crone, Wise Elder,
Reveal to me
Those things which I carry
unnecessarily.

Continuing to whisper the chant, hold your hands a few inches above your body, start to move them in slow sweeping motions over all of your parts. You are feeling for the knots of energy that you carry which mark a burden that you carry that you can now release. When you find one of these knots of energy, pause from saying the chant and if you have it, take up your athame, scissors or blade. Or extend your pointer and middle finger out from your hand like a blade. Imagine slicing through the knot while saying:

I cut away that
which is no longer needed
Your presence in my life
has been completed

Repeat this charm two more times and end with a “So Mote It Be.” You can continue to say the first chant and scan your body for more knots, cutting cords as many times as is necessary. Once the rite is done, thank the Crone in your way and be sure to spend time doing gentle self-care or going to bed for the night. 

The World Spirit Tarot

Oracle

With a divinatory tool of your choosing ask the following question. You can also ponder it during meditation or through journaling.

How do I give my self-worth away?

Additional queries to consider:

• Where in my life to I bow to public pressure?
• What do I need to give up in order to be more me?

Tarot Cards of Libra

Every card within the tarot deck has an astrological association. The following correspondences follow the system laid out by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. You can add these cards to your altar as part of your New Moon in Libra magick or use them in readings to help with determining celestial influence or timing (i.e. this will come to pass at when the Moon is in Libra).

• The Sign of Libra: Justice
• Moon in Libra: Two of Swords
• Saturn in Libra: Three of Swords
• Jupiter in Libra: Four of Swords
• The Air Signs of Gemini, Libra, + Aquarius: Ace of Swords

Find all of the New Moon Healers Project posts right over here. Be sure to share your insights and experiences in the comments below or via instagram with the tag #NewMoonHealersProject.

Need more astroherbology in your life? You can learn more about the astroherbology of Libra by reading my in-depth profile on the sign. Check out the magick of each phase of the Moon. For those of you ready to learn how to live your magick and create your herbal remedies by the cycle of Moon and star, you're invited to join the The Lunar Apothecary.

Blessed New Moon, wise healers.
May your healing be healing to us all.
May our healing be healing to you.
Blessed be! Blessed be! Blessed be!

Crone Wisdom : The Full Moon in Sagittarius

The following is an extract from my bi-monthly newsletter, The Moonlight, that all of my Lunar Apothecary students receive. Each month we explore a Moon sign and phase, as well as associated herbs, and different aspects of herbal medicine, magick, and practice in addition to the material of the yearlong ecourse. If you're thinking "heck yeah, I want more of that!" you're invited to join the Lunar Apothecary.

The first of TWO Full Moons in Sagittarius happen at the end of the week. The next Full Moon in Sagittarius is in June so we have a lot of fiery lunar energy happening over the next two cycles. When the Moon enters into the sign of Sagittarius adventures are on the horizon and with two Sagittarius Full Moons back-to-back energies are getting stirred up and wanderlust, whether of the physical, emotional or spiritual variety, comes into bloom.

While it is traditional to associate the elder energies of the Crone or Old Wise One with the Dark of the Moon, the Full Moon in Sagittarius has a Sage quality to it - both when speaking of age and of the herb (Salvia spp.). Sagittarius is associated with the Ninth House of the birth chart which is the House of adventures and travel, but also of philosophy and the perspective gained from a life that is lived. In other words, the Ninth House does a lot to shape who we will become in our elder years. Since the Full Moon is a time of maturation and Sagittarius the sign of wisdom gained from experience and age, I always feel a distinctly Crone energy during this time. Sometimes the Crone is a gentle grandmother welcoming us in for a warm hug and other times the Crone is a fearsome visage of all that unsettles us. And hey, if we pay attention to our fairy tales, sometimes the kind grandmother and the fearsome one are the same.
 

Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) by author

Sagittarius is also a mutable fire sign which means it embodies a fire that is flexible, adaptable, and changing. So while Leo is a intense fixed fire sign of solar heat and Aries is the sudden cardinal fire of a lightening bolt, the fire of Sagittarius is the heat of our blood running through our veins and the moving flame of a poi spinner's light. Mutable signs teach us adaptability and as a mutable sign Sagittarius teaches us that wisdom does not come from sitting in one place and following the rules - wisdom is gained by being uncomfortable, in charge, following the wind, coming undone, and any other myriad ways we experience life. In short, it is the wisdom gained by growing up. 

image by gabriel santiago

What wisdom have you gained through age, clever one?

Sage (Salvia spp.) is in many ways a mutable herb with a strong fiery element. As a sun-loving plant often found in dry and desert settings, Sage shows its ability to adapt to harsher environments than many of its herbal companions. Indications for the herb include similar signs to the environment that the plant enjoys growing in - look for dryness and heat with signs of sometimes accompanied by signs of mental burnout. Sage is quite resinous which is one of the reason that it is so excellent as an expectorant in cases of chest and head colds where there is excess mucus. Overall, Sage helps to regulate the fluids of the body, especially in cases of stagnant conditions (such as poor circulation) or excess secretions (such as too much sweat from hot flashes or wanting to dry up breast milk for weaning), but because the herb has mutable qualities it can help where there is lack of fluids and secretion as we'll see in a moment. The herb also helps with the oils of the body, improving the digestion of oils and fats (in part, because of its bitter taste which stimulates digestion and the production of bile). As a restorative for the mind, Sage helps to clear out mental fog by improving circulation to the brain and oiling the tracks of memory. It is an herb of Jupiter and it seems in its Crone wisdom to temper the excesses of Jupiter in order to let the benefits of Jupiterian energies shine through (i.e. longevity and the wisdom that comes with age). 

---

A Note on Sage + Smudging

In North America, White Sage (Salvia apiana) has become an increasingly popular herb to use for smudging or cleansing by smoke. The herb has historical and modern-day use amongst American Indian groups primarily located along the southern Pacific Coast, but since becoming popular in New Age and Pagan communities, White Sage has been overharvested to the point of endangerment and, clever ones, there is nothing sacred about wiping a plant out so that it can sit about collecting dust on the shelves of shops. 

So what to do? First, if you're able, grow your own White Sage as it can help in small ways to turn the tide of its endangerment. Second, you only need one leaf at a time to effectively engage White Sage's clearing properties - no more mega bundles! Third, but maybe most importantly, find other plants to smudge with. There are plenty including Juniper (Juniperus spp.), Mugwort (Artemisia spp.), and Lavender (Lavandula officinalis) to just name a few. Have fun getting to know your local and ancestral smudging plants and give White Sage the space and support it needs to regenerate in the wild. 

---

White Sage (Salvia apiana) by author

When using Sage in your practice, know that the herb has different qualities when prepared either hot or cold as a tea. The cold tea restricts while the hot tea stimulates. In other words, the cold tea is good to curb excess sweating (such as menopausal night sweats) whereas the hot tea brings out the aromatic qualities of Sage and stimulates secretions. One of my favorite ways to prepare Sage as medicine for cold and 'flu season is to make a simple Sage honey by infusing the leaves in local, raw honey for a cycle of the Moon. You can strain the leaves out, but I typically leave them in, eating them as I go along. Add a teaspoon to water for an instant cup of cold care and sore throat soothing tea with antimicrobial qualities. 

The flower essence of Sage is sweet and simple: it helps us to connect with our wisdom. Through working with Sage we gain perspective which is a crucial component for growing our wisdom. Use the essence during times of transition (such as a school graduation) to help integrate all that has been learned for the path ahead. I also enjoy using the essence when someone feels clouded or confused about their self-worth - Sage helps us to connect with our own unique wisdom even if we didn't know it was there in the first place.

Ready to practice herbal medicine and magick? Be sure to sign-up for my free and fully enchanted Magick Mail to gain access to exclusive content including my Sage Wisdom Tea and Crone's Blessing ritual!

If you enjoyed that little preview from the Lunar Apothecary I know you'll love the rest of the course.

My students get even more astroherbology-inspired content including profiles on Guardian and Remedy herbs for the sign of Sagittarius, rituals and recipes for all Moon phases in the sign of the Archer, and a full astroherbology profile on Sagittarius' Guardian Planet of Jupiter. Sign up today!

Happy Full Moon Magicking, clever ones!