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.

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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. ❤︎

Gathering Ourselves Together: Plant Allies to Support Connection Without Burnout

The season of Solstice - both Winter and Summer - can be a time of increased gatherings and social outings with friends and family. Some of these get-togethers are easier to attend than others. Almost all of these gatherings draw us out of our normal everyday lives into extensively social ones with all the feelings, expectations, and (hopefully!) joy that can come with them. For those with social anxiety or neurodiversities which make social gatherings challenging, as well as empaths and highly sensitive folks, there can be an extra layer sensory and energetic input to have to contend with. Through all of the ups and downs and in-betweens of social gatherings it's important to take care of yourself and allow yourself to be cared for (Reach out for support! Ask for help!) in ways that help you connect better with those you love. 

So before you head out to gather with others, here are a few herbs that help you gather yourself together first.

All of the plants I'm discussing below can also be used as flower essences if that is what you have on hand or are inspired to create your own. Each of these herbs can be blended with the other whether as a tea or tincture, herbal bath or oil. I have chosen plants that are easy to find at local co-ops or from herbalists, easy to grow if you have the time and space, and are all considered generally safe (with the minor exception that some folks with ragweed allergies are sensitive to Chamomile). 

image via @yoyoqua

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) is a gentle ally for all ages. If you're going to be eating and drinking together with others, Chamomile can be a great either before eating or after a meal as a tea or tincture. The herb is a gentle form of digestive bitters and while lively meals in different places and times than we are used to eating can be a joy, it can sometimes be a bit of a strain on the digestive tract. Chamomile also offers emotional support as a nervine (i.e. nervous system tonic) and is particularly useful for those folks who feel stress, anxiety, and general upset in their stomach. One of the key indicators for Chamomile is someone who is quick to anger and irritation when they find themselves in uncomfortable or stressful situations - if this is you, Chamomile might be a great ally to work with. It can also be a great herb to prepare as a milky tea for little ones in your life who struggle with the unexpected nature of new places. Learn more about Chamomile and all of it's healing qualities.

image via @phillip_larking

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) is a magickal plant. I mean, all plants are magickal, so Lemon Balm is not particularly unique in that sense, but it is one of those plants whose magick feels incredibly relevant to our modern struggles. A few years back I was really struggling with social situations of all sorts and feeling more and more like I would be permanently on the outside looking in. Walking under the Full Moon feeling decidedly un-enchanted but casting spells in the ways that Witches do when they go walking while in great need, I felt drawn to a Lemon Balm plant growing on the side of the road in a tiny strip of garden (Goddess bless these slivers of tenaciously verdant refuges in urban spaces and those who care for them). Sitting with them, illuminated by moonlight, I found myself in the presence of a great harmonious hum. What I learned from Lemon Balm, plant of Bee Priestesses, was that there was a way to be in harmony with the collective without having to make myself into something I was not and without feeling over-run by social interactions. Were all my issues healed there on the spot as a hummed along with Lemon Balm under the Full Moon light? No, but they showed me a possibility that I didn't think possible for me, helping me remember that to harmonize takes a lot of different types of noises, lots of different types of people, but a harmony can exist between them all. 

Lemon Balm is a plant of life and joy, but it has this amazing power to help us feel in harmony with the world around us instead of constantly out of step. Perhaps this is the way the plant works on our nervous system, helping to bring about a state of homeostasis. Or maybe it is the way that Lemon Balm clears brain fog and helps us focus on what it is we want and need in our lives. What I've found over the many years of working with Lemon Balm is that they have a way of filtering out the noise so that we can connect with the hum. It can be social media noise, the noise of exhaustion and stress (it is a classic herb for postpartum for these reasons), the noise of self-doubt or whatever noise is isolating you these days. When it comes to social events and gatherings, these can be noisy events whether literally or emotionally, and Lemon Balm can be a beautiful ally to work with to help you feel connected to the situation at hand but not overwhelmed by it. I recommend taking Lemon Balm over an extended period of time for best results, but having the tea or tincture with you as you gather with others can be helpful for acute situations, too. Feeling inspired by Lemon Balm? Read more about them.

image by author

Calendula (Calendula officinalis)

Have you ever experienced Calendula (Calendula officinalis) herbal oil? For a lot of practitioners trained in western herbalism the making of Calendula oil is a nearly ubiquitous experience in the first year of training. This was certainly true for me and it's because if a practitioner of western herbalism is likely to use an herbal oil in their practice Calendula is probably going to be at the top of the list because it comes from an abundantly available, self-seeding plant and is just so heart-blossomingly lovely to use. What I love about Calendula oil, especially if you are using it in the winter months, is that it brings some summer courage and confidence to the physical and energetic body. Taking care not just of our physical body, but our energetic ones, is necessary when we're gathering with others, especially in situations that are less than ideal. Calendula sings "I know who I am and I love it!" and helps us feel the same especially when we are met with dismissal or cruelty at our self-expression and truth-living (hello especially to my beautiful alphabet soup and trans and nonconforming queerdos whose families of origins haven't been able to see you yet). Of course, you can use Calendula in tea or tincture form, and it is wonderful in baths and as a hydrosol, but I think there is a brave sort of magick that emerges from blessing your physical form with the oil of this bright blossom before entering into the fray of social situations. If you're resonating with what I've written so far about Calendula be sure to read more about them.

image source

Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

I love Milky Oat (Avena sativa) and Milky Oat loves you. A powerful and nourishing nervous system tonic, Milky Oat is a beloved plant ally of mine. While you can read my whole profile on them, what I want to focus on for this post is the way that Milky Oat helps us to healing parental energies. There are a few herbs which seem to help us humans connect with a spirit of a kind and generous parent, like Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) and Pine (Pinus sylvestris), and I find Milky Oat to fit well into this category. When kids grow up not getting the appropriate levels of emotional security and attachment from the parental figures in their life this often leads to a dysregulation of the nervous system (and often intense burnout around the first Saturn Return, i.e. when folks are about to enter into their third decade of life). Milky Oat can help to repair the nervous system and teach it how to find homeostasis all while making space for folks to re-parent their inner child even while they are interacting with and sometimes still parenting their own parents.

They’re a great plant ally as adjunct support before and after therapy sessions as well as if you're spending any time at home during the winter or even if you're sticking away from family but the holidays bring up a lot of feelings. What I love about working with plants when it comes to our big and complicated feelings is that we don't have to worry about wearing out our welcome with them. You could spend hours in a field of Milky Oat telling them your problems and they will continue to dance and sway with gentle encouragement. But what's even more magickal about herbs and how they help us experience our feelings is that they help guide us to the people and places we need to meet in order to feel more whole and better supported. If what I've written about Milky Oat resonates with you, be sure to check out the full profile I've written and especially the section on the Milky Oat personality.

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If you're looking for more support of the divinatory persuasion, here's a spread to help clarify the dynamic of any kind of relationship and here's one to help you connect with your future self (because getting together with family can sometimes make us feel like we're stuck in the past). If creating lists and systems is the way that you cope with the added stress of the holidays, how about putting together a winter apothecary? Or a deep dive into the energetics of traditional western herbalism?

Another practice that I find essential for navigating social spaces is breathwork so I've shared my favorite simple breathwork meditation to help you ground and center. Because while we don’t always have access to plant medicine we always have access to our breath.

Wherever the season finds you, may you find lots of rest and plenty of peace.

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

Make Your Own Flower Essences

One of my favorite healing modalities to use in my practice are flower essences. They are a vibrational form of energy medicine that works primarily on the emotional body. Flower Essences do not contain any plant material and are not herbal extracts (i.e. herbal tinctures or glycerites that are a potent form of herbal medicine) but instead help us to connect with the energetic quality of a flowering plant. There is no plant or stone material within the essences, only the energetic imprint. If you choose an essence that is not meant for you, it will not affect you. However, if you choose an essence that does fit your needs, it can be transformative.

Various forms of flower essences have been around for a long time, but the modern tradition of Flower Essences in western herbalism emerged in the 1930s through the work of English physician Dr. Edward Bach. He wanted to create a form of healing medicine that was inherently harmless and very easy to understand and use. Dr. Bach recognized that much of disease was caused by stress generated from emotional distress and that there was a healing that occurred when a client could recognize themselves in the remedy being offered (as opposed to feeling lost in unnecessarily medicalized jargon that created a schism between the body and its feelings). Some of you may have already heard of Rescue Remedy which is Bach's most well-known Flower Essence and helps to support a person's recovery from shock and trauma. Bach created 38 essences in total and many other folks have followed in his footsteps leading to the modern renaissance of essence making

Flower essences are fun and easy to make, using inexpensive ingredients, and the process encourages you to slow down and connect directly with plant spirits. For the modern tradition started by Dr. Edward Bach there are two primary methods (the sun and boiling methods), but nowadays you'll see a wide range of methods in use by folks who are continuing to experiment and play with the practice. I have described the way that I was taught to make essences which (as far as I've been able to parse out from the lineages of the teachers who taught me including Dori Midnight, Deb Soule, and the written works of Edward Bach) combines Bach, Flower Essence Society, and queer feminist witchfolk methods.

While I completely encourage you to get out there and start making essences on your own, if you do have the chance to sit in community and in communion with a teacher and classmates, it's an incredible experience. 

The process of making essences is simple - it is primarily a meditative act of paying attention to the plant spirits, the environment, and slowing down enough to listen with your whole self. I've listed out my process below and at the end included notes on flower essences and standard dosage. I hope you feel inspired to create your own essence after reading this tutorial and participate in the beautiful culture and community of flower essence collaborators (because it really is a collaboration between person and plant).

How To Make Flower Essences

Gather together supplies. For flower essence making you'll need:

• A clear glass bowl or jar

• A pair of wooden tongs or fine mesh strainer

• Spring water

• A funnel is useful

• Coffee filter

• A clean (preferably new) bottle to store your essence

• Preservative of choice

For my essence making bowl, I use an old, thick glass jar that used to house a candle - it is a tool in my practice that is used exclusively for essence making. If wooden tongs are difficult because of issues with dexterity, you can use a fine mesh strainer to scoop out the plant material. The uses for these tools will be explained in the essence making process below.

Begin with the breath. Before I even choose an essence to make and when to make it, I allow myself to come into a meditative state. The physical act of making flower essences is simple, the complexity of this form of remedy-making comes from the focus and intention of the practitioner in communion with plant spirits. For me, it means that I begin the process of making flower essences by returning to my breath and checking in to see if I'm in a place energetically and emotionally to be making essences. If the path feels clear, I proceed with the next step. And if it doesn't? I pause, I wait, I come back to the work another day, and that's ok. 

Choose the flowers to make an essence with. Like much of herbal medicine making, making essences is a seasonal craft and asks us to be aware of and sensitive to the growing world around us. Knowing when it is time and with what plant to make essences with is a bit practical (the Roses will be blooming in May) and a bit intuitive (ah, I hear Rose song - it's time to make an essence). I'll get an idea for making an essence, but sometimes the message I receive back when sitting with the plants is that I need to wait. The timing of making essences isn't about what works for my schedule but being in partnership with the plant spirits. I trust the process, knowing that'll all come together eventually, returning to my breath again and again so that I'll be ready to flow with the work when the moment arrives.

One note about choosing flowers to work with and researching them ahead of time. Personally, I prefer not to read up about what others have written about an essence before I make my own. Of course, I read about essences all the time so this isn't always possible, but instead of doing a deep dive into research like I would do for an herbal remedy I'm making, I instead strive for a state of curiosity and open-mindedness to learn directly from the plant when making a new essence. After I make an essence and have written my own initial notes about it (more on that below), I love diving into the words of others about that plant. 

Pay attention to the weather. While I can prepare all I like, one of the conditions which is out of my control is the ideal weather conditions for essence making. Here is where you'll most often find variation in essence making practices, mostly with folks being a lot more lax about weather conditions than I was taught (which is completely fine!). I find the observation of and waiting for the ideal weather to be part of the mindfulness of connecting with the plant world and is an essential part of essence making. I make essences on cloudless, sunny days or at least those conditions for the time that I'm essence making so that no shadow will pass over the bowl of essence water during the process (more on this in a minute). On rare occasions I make lunar essences under the light of the Full Moon.

Approach the plant spirits. I always approach the plant from which I hope to make an essence with reverence. For me that is breath and song along with simple offerings of water. I state my intention and I ask to be able to pick their flowers, always waiting for a response before proceeding. How you approach the plant spirits will look different, but it's an important step in continuing to make the energetic connection with the plant you are making essences with. Once I've received permission from the plant spirit, I move on to making the essence.

Set up your bowl. Fill your bowl with spring water and place it in such a way that no shadow, including your own will pass over it. Once I place water in the bowl I begin to be very mindful of my movements so that my shadow does not pass over the water. I was taught that the water at this time easily absorbs energy, including the transfer of energy from my body through my shadow. On a more mundane note, it's a practice in mindfulness, especially in group essence making situations, to be aware of where you are in relation to the essence.

Add flowers to the bowl. Now it is time to add whole flowers to the bowl. Here is another place of differentiation that I see with other instructions I've seen for making flower essences. I was taught to use only a few flowers (and in my case either three, six or nine flowers total) in the bowl, whereas other practitioners will completely cover the surface of the water with flowers. Be guided by the plants on this and be mindful to not take more than you need. Aesthetically it can be beautiful to fill a bowl with flowers, and sometimes that is the path to take, but often energetically you only need a few flowers.

I use wooden tongs to add flowers to the bowl so that I don't touch the flowers with my skin and mingle my energies with theirs before placing them in the bowl of water. If you don't have wooden tongs you can use a leaf pinched between your fingers and the flower so that your skin is not touching the flower as you pick them. Again, this is a practice in slowness and mindfulness that I find to be so beautiful with flower essence making.

Some practitioners don't even pick flowers, especially if a flower is rare or there are too few of them, and hold the bowl of water up to the flower, letting the flower rest on the surface of the water for a period of time. Though I haven't tried this myself, I think that this could be a really beautiful approach to essence making.

Be still and connect. Once the flowers are in the bowl of water it's time to let the essence brew. I was taught to be in meditation with the plants during this time, listening for stories they might offer about the essence that was being brewed and the healing qualities that it possessed. Instead of a set time of energetic infusion, I was taught to be plant-led to know when it was time to strain the essence. I write down what comes through from the plants at this point so I don't forget what can seem so clear in the moment but hazy upon reflection later. 

Offer the flowers back to the earth. Once the essence is done brewing it is time to offer the flowers back to the earth. I do this by picking them out one by one from the water with my tongs and laying them at the base of the plant. I do not let my shadow pass over the water until all the flowers are removed at which point the brewing process is done. I like to arrange the spent flowers in a way that feels pleasing to the eye. An offering of beauty can be a powerful one when making flower essences and it can be a really beautiful process when making essences in community to have everyone participate in the creation of a spent flower altar.

Filter and preserve. I set up my coffee filter in my funnel and add the essence water to my bottle. I'll add in my preservative of choice at this point (typically organic vodka, but that's just because it was a preference of one of my teachers; many essences are made with brandy) at a ratio of 75% preservative to 25% water. You can use non-alcoholic preservatives (like glycerin or vinegar) but these are less shelf-stable and I've personally not had a lot of luck keeping essences not preserved with alcohol from going off. This bottle is known as the Mother bottle and will be the source for the Stock and Dosage bottles you use of the essence.

Offer gratitude and thanks. End your flower essence making session with gratitude and thanks to the plant spirits for their help. I add any leftover water from the essence making process back to the plant. At this point I'll ingest a few drops of the newly made essence - this is always a special moment and I find it to help ground and center me after this meditative medicine making process.

Flower Essence Dosage Guidelines

What you've just learned is how to make a Mother Bottle which is the essence that you'll make Stock bottles from. Here is where the connection to homeopathy shows up with modern essence making (Dr. Edward Bach was a physician and a homeopath), as dilution is considered potentizing to an essence and a necessary part of remedy.

Most essences who find in stores or being sold online, including the Bach Flower Essences and Flower Essence Society essences, and sold as "stock" bottles. You're meant to create a dosage bottle from these stock bottles which means that those small bottles have quite a long shelf life. A dosage bottle typically lasts for one month, but that can vary depending on need and use.

To create a stock bottle: Take a one-ounce glass dropper bottle and blend together water with a preservative of choice (i.e. vinegar, alcohol or glycerin). You want to add 50% water to 50% preservative. Into this bottle add 1 to 3 drops of essence from the Mother bottle. Now you've made a stock essence that you can create dosage bottles from.

To create a dosage bottle: Take a one-ounce glass dropper bottle and blend together water with a preservative of choice (i.e. vinegar, alcohol or glycerin). You're looking to create a rough ratio of 75% water to 25% preservative. You can also use only water and simply keep the bottle in the fridge. I like using spring water because that was the wisdom that was passed down to me, but any water will do. To this bottle you want to add 1 - 3 drops of essence from your stock bottle(s).

Standard dosage for flower essences is 1 - 3 drops directly under the tongue or in a small amount of water up to three times daily. What I recommend for your personal rescue remedy is to follow the standard dosage and take 1 - 3 drops during acute moments of stress. Taken this way, dosage bottles typically last for a month. I like to use an essence for at least one cycle of the Moon and then check-in with myself to see if I should continue using the essence, pause, make adjustments to a blend or move on to another essence. Reflecting on your journey with an essence or blend after a month's time is an important part of working with flower essences, so I highly recommend it.

A Few Magickal Variations for Making Essences

• You can make essences under the light of the Full Moon using the same methods described above. This can be especially potent with night-blossoming flowers and flowers with strong lunar associations.

• Use Moon-charged water for the base for an essence.

• Time your essence making to astrological events (i.e. during conjunctions, planetary hours, and so on).

• Build an altar or nature mandala for your essences to brew on.

• Make essences in crystal bowls (like a rose quartz or jade bowl), wood bowls, or with quartz crystal in the bowl. These will all interact with your essence in interesting ways.

• Charge your essence with sound while brewing. Songs, singing bowls, monochords, drums, flutes, guitars or whatever instrument you play can be used to create a soundscape for an essence to brew in and also as an offering to the plant spirits.

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Do you make flower essences? Or use them in your practice? Not all herbalists do though I feel like most western herbalists will have at least some exposure to them in their training. I always enjoy being in a room of plant folk who suddenly start pulling out the essence bottles they keep on their person (there’s always at least one and, ok, I’m often that one) and start to share the magickal story of how these flowers have brought them healing and inspiration.

And maybe that’s what I love most about flower essences - storytelling and the communion between people and plants are inherent in their making and taking. So here’s to the more magickal of remedies in our practices and the stories they bring.

May you find yourself in a field of flower stories and find some healing and comfort there.

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

Three Tarot Spreads for the Season of Samhain

The season of Samhain has nearly begun and I am ready for the new year and the cooler weather to come. As I write this the skies are gray, promising rain, and the wind is stretching through the branches of autumn tinted trees, excited for the wild riders who’ll soon take to the sky to fly the land ‘tween Hallows and Midwinter.

For many Witch folk, myself included, the season of Samhain is the most auspicious time for divination, so I thought I’d share a few spreads to inspire your own casting of cards and lots. The following three spreads touch on important themes and lessons of the year: how we reconcile our differences with members in our family and community so that we can journey into the new year unburdened; the ways we can invoke transformation to help us call in our dreams; and the magick of facing our fears to know our power.

Enjoy and blessed be!

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The Hazel Branch Tarot Spread

To help you reconcile differences between you and another, so that the new year can arrive with greater lightness of heart and spirit. If you're looking to learn more about Samhain and the practice of reconciliation (including a suggested ritual), come this way. This spread can also be cast to help you heal the wounds between yourself and someone who has passed beyond the veil - Samhain teaches us that healing knows no time, no space, only possibility.

Card 1. The Knot

This card highlights the grievance which binds you to the other person that you are in conflict with.

Card 2. What I Think I Want
& Card 3. What They Think They Want

These cards help to highlight what has been expressed publicly about the grievance. These cards are about the surface level of the conflict and what is easy to see. 

Card 4. What I Actually Need
& Card 5. What They Actually Need

These cards dig a little deeper and examine some of the unconscious or hard-to-share needs of both involved. Comparing the first two cards with these two cards can reveal unspoken elements of the challenge which is adding to the conflict. It's important to remember that Card 5 is only going to reveal to us what is appropriate for us to know and ways for us to find compassion for the other within the conflict.

Card 6. What I'm Not Seeing
& Card 7. What They Are Not Seeing

These cards show what part of the conflict remains hidden from view, but is important to recognize.

Card 8. The Hazel Branch

This card shows a step towards reconciliation, the Hazel branch being a symbol of peace and wisdom.

Card 9. The Ancestors Speak

A card of unknotting, this card illustrates the possibility of what reconciliation may bring and the healing that is possible.

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The Cauldron Tarot Spread

To tap into the transformative energies of Samhain which straddles time and space, spiraling between life, death, and rebirth to help you manifest a dream. A great spread for casting during ritual and with a coven of friends to help you focus on a goal and how to work towards it.

Card 1. The Fire

That which inspires you and keeps you engaged with the world and your magick. 

Card 2. The Cauldron

How your desire guides you and can be transformed into a tool to reshape your life in a way that supports your goal.

Card 3. The Swirling Brew

As yet unknown, unfamiliar or forgotten energies at work that you can choose to connect to between now and Yule to help you with your goal.

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Facing Your Fear

A spread to support the work of facing our fears to know our power. Choose one fear or anxiety to focus on for this spread - it is often best to start with the one that is most present in your day-to-day life and/or hinders your ability to connect with your magick.

Card 1. My fear

The card which highlights your fear - sometimes in surprising ways.

Card 2. The ties that bind

This card looks at the way that your fear has created restrictions in your life.

Card 3. The wall that separates

This card examines how your fear is, in often misguided ways, trying to protect or support you.

Card 4. What lies beneath

Fears have origin stories and this card highlights the most important part of that story for you to examine.

Card 5. Where there is fear there is power

The final card starts to help us understand the power that lies within our fear. The title for this card is a quote by activist and elder, Starhawk.

If you’re looking for more Samhain inspiration I have a whole might-do list for the season and a tarot spread for connecting with your ancestors and the magick of the new year. You could also spend some time learning about the herbs and astrology of the season - including Lunar Samhain. Or maybe you’re just looking for a cup of tea.

I wish you and your community a beautiful Samhain - may you find the joy and reunion with those who have gone before and plenty of peace with the living.

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

How We Tell Our Stories: A Review of the We'Moon Planner

"Huh? What's a We'Moon?" 

That's what I asked when my friend, who was taking a wholesale order for our college Pagan group, offered to sign me up for a copy.

"This," they whispered, reverently and smiling, while producing a well-worn and colorful book from their bag. "Is a We'Moon planner."

I flipped through the pages, seeing that it was a weekly guidebook and planner full of unfamiliar symbols alongside lunar phases and artwork and words that I hadn't seen elsewhere. It was a cackling of feminist noise, a song of welcoming, a viewing of the world from an unihibitedly queer and womxn-centered lens.

Suffice to say, I signed up to order one and have been using a We'Moon ever since for the last 15 years. 

I have wanted to write about We'Moon and the importance of womxn's independent publications for a good long while so when the lovely folks at We'Moon offered to send me a copy of their 2022 planner to review and share with all of you it was a very easy yes. 

A small collection of my We’Moons over the years…

But, first - what is a We'Moon? A We'Moon planner, known fully as We'Moon: Gaia Rhythms for We'Moon, is a full-color feminist weekly datebook guided by lunar rhythms and overflowing with art, poetry, sacred prose, holy days of the wheel of the year, and astrological insight (including an emphermeris and multiple Moon calendars!) reflecting the ever-changing diversity of womxn's culture from around the world. It is created by and for folks who identify as womxn, is trans-inclusive, and committed to the liberation of all womxn. If you identify as a womxn you can answer the call for contributions and submit work inspired by the annual theme. I've always found the editorial team at We'Moon to be really great to work with and highly recommend submitting art or poetry if you're feeling called. 

The name We'Moon reflects the long tradition within womxn's culture of reweaving, reclaiming, and redreaming language to better reflect our experiences outside the boundaries of patriarchal oppression and the bindings of the binary. Wemoon means "we of the moon" and is a way of creating space for womxn to create art, culture, and spaces to exist in our own image as well as realigning ourselves with the rhythms of Moon, Star, and Sun rather than endless cycles of production, extraction, and consumption presented to us by patriarchy and capitalism. In the spirit of dismantling oppressive powers and centering the voices of womxn, We'Moon continues to seek out and center the voices of BIPOC womxn in addition to holding space for dykes, lesbians, and queer womxn.

But here's the reason that I've continued to support We'Moon for all these years: I've ever encountered another publication that so consistently and radically tells womxn, and especially queer womxn, that they are loved and adored and needed and magickal. All of this is done in the holy container that We'Moon has created over the years, inviting in familiar rituals alongside new words, and helping womxn to track their rhythms in ways untethered from endlessly being othered into a Moon-shaped world of just being.

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We'Moon is part of the long but often untold and unknown story of radical womxn's publications such as Sinister Wisdom, Azalea, Amazon Quarterly, Of A Like Mind, Lady-Inclination-of-the-Night, and WomanSpirit, to name just a few. We'Moon is unique in its longevity having been in publication for forty years which is no small feat for a group of mostly lesbian and queer womxn indepentendly publishing a printed book during some of the hardest periods endured by the publishing industry. And they're not just publishing a planner but caretaking land and leading educational retreats for lesbian feminists - it's amazing and inspiring. The We'Moon anthology, In the Spirit of We'Moon, is a beautiful read if you want to learn more and also just have a lovely collection of words and art to feed your soul (it really is like a Book of Shadows in addition to an anthology). 

And, holy Goddess, is this sort of feminist rabble-rousing, queer dyke gathering, and womxn-centered story-telling needed during this time when trans-exclusionary folks are noisier than ever.

Trans-exclusionary folks who are binary-bound and biologically-reductionist in their thinking are not only terrifyingly un-feminist by modern standards but also by the standards of many of our feminist ancestors who were truly radical in their philosophies. I've been around long enough to watch elders and their followers in my community become poisoned by the powers of patriarchy that they are fighting and embrace patriarchal thinking, swayed by its illusions of power and adopting its cruel and threatening tactics of silencing womxn's voices - all which makes them seem more numerous than they really are. I've also been around long enough to see plenty of my elders continue to be incredible in their radicalism (hello, Judith Butler).

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One of the ways that patriarchal systems of power are dismantled is through spells of storytelling, of collecting and distributing herstories and ourstories and theystories like dandelion seeds on the wind. Because the power-over narratives of the patriarchy are paper thin and easily shredded by the stories of brilliance and love and struggle and resiliency that emerge when we tell our own stories. And that is why We'Moon continues to be more relevant than ever - it is a current of telling, an upswelling of songs, a flow of herstory through time and space, messy and revelling and wondrously wild.

If you've been following me long enough, reading my newsletter or blog over the years, you've read poetry that I first encountered in the pages of We'Moon. I've been published in We'Moon a few times and it's been an incredible honor. More importantly, sharing my work has connected me to an intergenerational community of womxn, as readers of We'Moon have reached out to me, and let me know that my own words has been shared in rituals around the world (it is truly wild to know this). Knowing that I'm participating in this vast network of womxn caring for eachother through the power of our words and art has shaped me and how I move through the world.

Every year, when my friends and I receive our We'Moon we sit down together, sometimes with a greater community of other wemoon, sometimes just ourselves, and read out loud the astrological forecasts of our signs. We look at the poetry and art on the pages surrounding our birth dates and fill up on the vision of a world that is kind and feminist and queer and sees us as we see ourselves. Friends, it's a powerful magick, and if you're feeling called to participate I highly recommend getting a copy of the We'Moon planner or calendar - you can purchase them directly from We'Moon or often find them in co-ops and similarly rad spaces.

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The 2022 theme is The Magical Dark so as you can imagine I've been reveling in the deep resonance I'm feeling for so much contained in these pages. Every year a portion of proceeds from We'Moon is donated to a values-aligned organization because we all thrive when we cast seeds of resources far and wide. You can get a spiral-bound planner, a sturdy paperback (my preference) or unbound (I always imagine that this if for the most chaotic of hags who shuffles the pages and lives according the the random order in which they fall and, holy heck, do I want to meet you). The planners are also available in both English and Spanish.

I hope that I have succeeded in introducing some of you to the magick of We'Moon much in the same way that I was introduced to it so many years ago - with excited whispers and the sort of wonder that emerges when you finally see yourself reflected in the world and choose to say "YES."

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This post was made possible by the womxn of We’Moon who sent me a copy of their 2022 planner for free in exchange for an honest review.

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