The Knight of Pentacles asks us to savor slow and steady movement towards manifesting our heart’s visions, says Brandon Alter … Cast using the Prisma Visions Tarot
Deck
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPE JANUARY 10 2019: KING OF WANDS
The King of Wands asks us to master our raw power and become a channel for wise creative force, says Brandon Alter … Cast using the Prisma Visions Tarot
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPES: JANUARY 2019
Dive into this month’s medicine for your sign with our Numinous Tarotscopes January 2019, cast by Melinda Lee Holm. Artwork: Prince Láuder
CAPRICORN // CAPRICORN RISING
Judgment
Happy Solar Return, Capricorn! You’re starting your year with a major clearing. How major? The depth and breadth and even the volume (spatially and aurally) are all up to you. The beautiful thing about the Judgment card is that it is self-directed. You are the one called to do the digging, to clear the clutter, organize, and finally make some informed and clear decisions about what stays and what goes. This means that if there are some areas that are too sensitive or too fresh to go digging around in right now, you simply focus on another area. One where the soil is loose and easy to move, free of heavy boulders and buried wires. You can choose some light weeding over a major excavation.
However, I do want to challenge you to look for the places that are juuuuuuuust barely ready, that you can push along a little further to get there. This is a major opportunity to make some space for things you want to actively invite into your life this year, while letting go of some long overdue extra baggage. We all have our security blankets – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – and they all have a life cycle. Look around for the tattered remnants of fabric that have started to drag you down more than they lift you up. Launch an expedition to the back of your closet and the bottom of the pit of your stomach to dredge up any rusted treasure you’ve held onto for too long. Then release it back into the wild and step lightly into your future.
Capricorn stone for January: Fuchsite creates a nurturing atmosphere for the heart to open and release any baggage or past woundings. It helps us to accept the past and move forward with compassion.
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AQUARIUS // AQUARIUS RISING
Temperance
My dear Aquarius, you are being called to bring a gentle start to the new year. Temperance is one of those cards that makes me instantly release stress. My Cancer Sun and Taurus Moon are attracted to the message of moderation, to not push too hard, to enjoy some quiet even in the midst of pressing deadlines and social calendars. I welcome the reminder to take a step back, pull my foot off the gas, and get a little better view of the horizon before deciding which way to steer the wheel. Are you with me? I am betting on it that you are. Your desire to stoke the flames of freedom in yourself and others makes you well primed to enjoy a chance to gain new perspective that can help feed that fire.
Throughout this month, keep an eye out for ways you can pull back to center. In work, home, love, and all the spaces in between, even out the energy through schedule modifications, dietary shifts, and a full accounting of habits, conscious and unconscious. I can feel you becoming skeptical of what could look like a month of restriction, but remember – this is all in the service of making sure that you have the best possible view on your current standing and situation so you can make informed decisions about how to move forward toward greater independence. Freedom from the constraints of tradition can only truly come when we take the time to examine where we are unthinkingly following a path out of habit, whether that habit comes from our culture, our family, or ourselves. Examine, reflect, and balance it out.
Aquarius stone for January: Amber bathes all that comes into its orbit with warm solar energy. It grounds us in the collective history of life on Earth so we may share in its strength and balance.
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PISCES // PISCES RISING
The Star
Oh, Pisces, you luscious, compassionate dreamer. Your year begins with the promise of eternal hope, the ancient Divine feminine splendor of The Star. The 8-pointed star is an ancient symbol of the Great Mother, passed down through the ages to represent such notable goddesses as Lakshmi, Ishtar, and Venus. In the Tarot we receive the wisdom of all iterations of this yin energy through their shared glyph. What greater gift than the hope of creation, restoration, nourishment, reconciliation? It’s a gorgeous outlook to have, particularly at this moment in time, and for your particular personality type. Your great big heart wants to see and to share the best in everyone and everything. You are being invited to indulge in that optimism and hope.
How can you put this into action? For starters, allow yourself to see the good all around you with a pure heart and without fear of being disappointed. Am I guaranteeing you wont be disappointed? Absolutely not. I’m a Tarot reader, not a psychic. I can’t tell you what will or will not happen. What I can tell you is that hope and outcome detachment are not mutually exclusive. Re-read that sentence for me. Now go forth and hope for the very best in and for yourself, your loved ones, and the world! And when you do, every time you do, tack on this little sentiment to the end: “… I will do all I can to help this come to pass while accepting any outcome with a gracious heart.” Practice makes perfect!
Pisces stone for January: Purpurite elevates consciousness into the ethereal realms, bringing heightened spiritual connection, and the freedom that comes with it, into daily life.
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ARIES // ARIES RISING
Two of Swords
You’re kicking off the year with a dose of intellectual wisdom, dear Aries. The classic Smith illustration is of a blindfolded woman, conveying what some see as a binding or restriction of her senses. I see her as more of a Jr. High Priestess, able to make a temple anywhere she goes using only the power of her own boundaries and mind. I have a trick I use for coping with traffic. When I see someone driving like a maniac, I say out loud “oh, I hope everythng is ok!”, framing their behavior as a response to an emergency, in which case it would be appropriate. I know the chances of them having an actual emergency are slim to none. I also know that I will never know for sure and that this framework keeps me calm and I prefer to feel calm. Instant mobile temple.
How can you reinforce the boundaries of your mind this month, Aries? Do you need to revise any policies about what goes in and what comes out and when? Your drive to express yourself is an enviable asset. This month gives you a moment to pause and consider whether your current mode of expression is accurately transmitting your message or if there are ways you could be refining the medium and method of delivery. This shouldn’t be a heavy thing. If it feels that way, then take a step back and ask for any areas of improvement to be gently revealed to you. We want this to feel more like a fun puzzle than a final exam.
Aries stone for January: Azurite brings a clarity of mind so sharp and profound that it can crack open insights into the Self and the world that blur the line between observation and psychic knowing.
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TAURUS // TAURUS RISING
Two of Cups
First, Taurus, let me say congratulations. This year it seems we are moving on from the lessons of Earth that fed you all through last year. And no sweeter way to make this transition than with the gift of pure true love. You know very well that true love exists in all areas of life, not just the romantic realm. True love can exist with and between between friends, family members, animals, and, particularly for you, the perfect meal and throw blanket. Love is the ultimate extension of comfort, the feeling that you are completely in the right place at the right time in the right company and that somehow you have been all along. It makes us feel that we are not alone in the world.
This month, spend as much time as you can with people you either know you love or suspect you could. Accept invitations to dinner parties and small gatherings, places where you can actually have a conversation with someone. Be the first to say hello. The more you offer the more you can receive. Think about how big a wave you can make with the force of your Watery push and see how it returns to you after bouncing off the shore of another heart. You could make real, deep connections now that benefit your life in untold ways. I’d even suggest taking the romance question out of it altogether and simply looking for that true heart connection in terms of general human relationship. After all, that’s where anything worth pursuing romantically is going to come from anyway.
Taurus stone for January: Blue Tourmaline opens connection with the Divine realm in the service of bringing peace and heightened emotional awareness, and can help resolve emotional trauma.
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GEMINI // GEMINI RISING
King of Pentacles
Plant those seeds and watch them grow, Gemini! You’ve got a serious green thumb this month. Exactly what type of seeds is completely up to you, though I highly suggest you keep it in the realm of Earth. This means thinking in terms of practicality, projects, and goals grounded in the material world that you can see and touch. Work is a great area to focus on, but so is anything related to your home. You have access to a certain kind of manifesting magick. The King of Pentacles won’t bestow special powers upon you. It’s more like it allows you to recognize the special powers inherent in other people and things, so you can organize your goals around the bounty of skills and supplies in your immediate sphere.
The really great news about this energy is that once you’ve channelled it to sort out your seeds and plant them, it kind of carries the progress forward for you from there. If you take advantage of it this month, you could be feasting on the fruits of your labor for the rest of the year. So, while you’re dreaming and scheming big and long-term, keep your January to-do list focused on the preparation and launch of your pursuits rather than getting into the actual execution. Exercise trust and patience and emphasize quality over quickness. Sometimes it feels like we’ve been waiting forever to mold our dreams into reality (and sometimes that is accurate!) Instead of letting that wait get you down, try to focus that energy into a devotion to nurturing your goals like you never have before.
Gemini stone for January: Amazonite connects the heart and the throat, allowing communication of deeply held desires within and with the world, paving the way to true abundance.
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CANCER // CANCER RISING
Seven of Pentacles
Time to throw those shoulders back and hold that head high, Cancer! You are spending January overcoming doubt in your own creative abilites. A great way to begin is by applying the old advice to “fake it til you make it” to your physical body, taking on the posture of confidence on the outside and allowing the receptors in your brain to pick up the cue and carry that feeling to the inside. The fear of failure or even worse, harsh criticism, can keep you safe in your shell, mitigating risk and stifling opportunity. This month is your chance to set a new normal for the year, to break through the glass ceiling you’ve built for yourself and climb on up to the next level.
First things first – eliminate the words “can’t” and “should” from your internal dialogue this month. You don’t need them. They color throughts with unnecessary limitations. Get creative and more specific with your self-communication. Something seem impossible? Get into exactly why (finances, times, etc) instead of blanket statements that send messages about inherent ability and worthiness. Get in the habit of talking about your goals in the present tense (“I am writing a book” instead of “I want to write a book”) and see how quickly you start forming habits that make these statements true. You are an emotionally fueled being. If you follow your heart, Cancer, the productivity will follow and your self-doubt will melt away. This life is yours. Go out and build it!
Cancer stone for January: Cavansite illuminates inner truth, allowing greater understanding of oneself and one’s abilities and true potential, and can help with gaining access to ancient wisdom.
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LEO // LEO RISING
Five of Cups
Be kind to yourself this month, Leo, and allow plenty of time to sink into some watery realms that may be unpleasant or uncomfortable. You are now ready to mourn some old emotional wounds you’ve likely been avoiding for quite some time. Sometimes when we’ve been hurt deeply, it is necessary to pack away the emotions in order to get through our daily lives. It is simply a fact of life that we are not always in a position to process our emotions in real time. But at some point, in order to stay healthy and continue to grow as people, we need to go back and recover what we felt and do the work to integrate the lessons and wisdom offered by the experience. That point in time is now.
You can do this work at your own pace, take small bites and chew them thoroughly before digesting, but make sure you begin right at the top of the month so you have as much time and space as possible to do this work. If you don’t know where to start, pay special attention to what comes up over new year’s. There’s something about the one-two punch of the holidays followed by the pressure of glitz and resolutions that tends to illuminate some areas ripe for emotional growth and renewal. How you process is up to you – therapy, journaling, magick, nature, spa therapy, talks with friends, etc. – you just have to do it! Put that Fiery nature to work to motivate and look forward to a fresh emotional start.
Leo stone for January: Jet purifies energetic environments, lightening a heavy emotional load and clearing the way for the development of and will to harness personal magickal talents.
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VIRGO // VIRGO RISING
The Fool
Ooooo, I like this start to 2019 for you a LOT, Virgo! As a native Virgo Ascendant, I speak here from personal experience and love. Stepping off a cliff with perfect trust is not your strong point. You prefer planning. You’re good at it. You can spot a potential wrench in the works from a mile away and almost instantly conjure a solution to avoid or soften it. This month, I want to invite you to set that skill aside and embrace the art of wandering. Opt for curiosity over cunning and allow the world to take you on an adventure. Avoid making advance plans where possible, and instead see what comes up last minute. Trust that the Universe will place you where and with the company you need to expand into the new year.
Keep this as light-hearted as you can. Make it easy. Instead of bringing your lunch to work, wander down the street and see what you find. Take the train instead of driving. Got to the movie theater and buy a ticket for whatever film plays next. Order the special. While these may seem like silly or inconsequential ways to embrace The Fool, they work to set new patterns in your thinking and physiology that will let this energy seep into more serious area of your life, leaving you more open to exploration in matters of career, home, and love. This is where the magic is. Sometimes all of us need a little nudge from the Universe. Too rigid a stance can prevent us from feeling it.
Virgo stone for January: Serpentine loosens attachment to markers of identity and patterns of behavior, allowing movement into a new realm of action and existence free from past boundaries.
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LIBRA // LIBRA RISING
Seven of Cups
Libra, my beauty, to assist you in integrating your lesson for January, I’d like to impart on you some wisdom from one of my very favorite humans, RuPaul. At the end of each episode of his show, we are asked the rhetorical question “If you can’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?” It’s catchy, it’s wise, and it’s poignant, reminding us of all the times we thought we had loved and lost when really we were the ones we were searching for all along. I want you to keep this in mind as you head into a month of conquering doubts in your own heart. I find that of all the Sevens, the Cups can be the most challenging, mainly because emotion is so personal and intangible. It’s impossible to measure, difficult to assess progress.
All through this month, be looking for ways to love yourself more completely, more truly. Find out what makes you feel adored, cherished, appreciated. Be a great lover to yourself. As you do, keep track of what makes you tick, what words make up the vocabulary of your heart. Then, armed with this information, you can begin to hold others to these standards, to notice immediately when someone isn’t speaking your same language, and not spend too much time getting lost in translations. Know that any doubts you have around what your heart desires or is capable of can be easily overcome when you simply devote your pure, unconditional love to your own heart first.
Libra stone for January: Pistachio Opal promotes regeneration of mind, body, and spirit, particularly around the heart and emotions. It eases feelings of guilt and fear, bringing deep calm and inner peace.
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SCORPIO // SCORPIO RISING
The Empress
You catch more flies with honey, Scorpio! January has you opening up that gorgeous heart and letting it shine down on everything you want to grow in the coming year. The Empress teaches us that true abundance comes when we feed the object of our desire – a creative project, new business, home improvements, wider circle of friends, anything – with love. It can be frightening and even stressful to open your heart this radically, especially for someone whose heart runs as deep and dark as yours, but with some practice and patience with yourself, this can be an extremely fruitful exercise. The main thing is figuring out exactly what is represented by those proverbial flies so you can beam that love with laser focus and not get burned or burned out.
Spend the first few days of the month figuring out what you want to grow this year. The custom of new year’s resolutions usually has us thinking of things we can cut out (resolving not to eat sweets, drink alcohol, waste time, etc), but your focus will be only on what you want more of. Did that grab your attention? I am inviting you to be an absolute glutton for what makes you feel content, accomplished, loved. The trick is, you have to show and tell your appreciation for these things and people out loud, in the open, for all the world to hear. The Empress asks us to be as bold as we are discerning in our declarations of love.
Scorpio stone for January: Black Moonstone carries the energy and wisdom of the New Moon, asking us to open our hearts and our intuition to find what it is we are ready, willing, and able to manifest.
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SAGITTARIUS // SAGITARRIUS RISING
King of Swords
You’ve got the gift of gab this month, Sagittarius, and the clarity of mind to back it up. Air of Air, the King of Swords is blowing into your sphere to sort out any tangled thoughts, clouds of confusion, or mixed messages that have been floating around. I spend a lot of time trying to get clients to stop trying to “figure things out,” to bring that figuring down out of their head and into their heart and their gut. We humans like to solve puzzles with our big brains and it can be difficult to break the habit. Fortunately for you, you are being invited to lean HARD into that innate human desire and scheme and ruminate and solve as much as you can stand it – and to share your findings with anyone within ear shot.
The communication piece of the element of Air is key. All of those internal musings are really just communications with yourself, transmitting ideas back and forth between different intellectual frameworks and points of view. Communicating internally and externally with clarity and purpose is extremely satisfying both for the person sending and receiving the message. This month is an excellent opportunity for you to polish up and send out any messages that you’ve been wanting to get across. Be sure to take time to dig up any past misfires to get them cleared up and to make sure your words are not only clear and concise, but crafted to communicate with love. The last thing you want is to have an errant word cut into someone, causing them to hear only the pain and not the truth of your message.
Sagittarius stone for January: Muscovite stimulates mental activities and connects them to intuition and the spiritual realm, ensuring all problem solving and new ideas are grounded in Divine wisdom.
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPE DECEMBER 6 2018: 4 OF CUPS RX
As this week’s astro forecast heralds powerful initiations, the 4 of Cups Rx asks us to dissolve our resistance and free ourselves from an emotional rut, says Brandon Alter … Cast using the Prisma Visions Tarot
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPES: NOVEMBER 2018
Dive into this month’s medicine for your sign with our Numinous Tarotscopes November 2018, cast by Melinda Lee Holm. Artwork: Mystic Mondays Tarot by Grace Duong
SCORPIO // SCORPIO RISING
Ten of Pentacles
Happy Solar Return, my dear Scorpio! I don’t think I could have pulled a better gift for you if I tried. Whatever collaboration you got into last month is really paying off one way or another and you are set to have a gilded month metaphorically, and perhaps even literally speaking. The highest potential of the element of Earth, that physical manifestation of all we create and consume and live on and around and through is visiting you, and when it comes knocking, you have to be ready to answer the door. When you do, don’t be surprised if you find a who’s who of your biggest cheerleaders and most cherished mentors crowded at your front door like carolers. There is a strong sense of community that accompanies this gift. You’ve heard misery loves company? So does abundance, baby!
Now about that collaboration from last month – if you got into something that doesn’t feel right or isnt working out, don’t force it. Sometimes collaborations or relationships of any kind work out best by dissolving. If this is the case for you, resist the urge to indulge in resentment, or worse, revenge. You have bigger fish to fry and besides, once Mercury stations retrograde on the 16th, you may get an unexpected return from someone in your past who wasn’t quite right for a project at the time, but is now ready, willing, and more than able to help you transmute any lead weighing you down into pure gold. Keep your eye on the prize, Scorpio, and you could be sitting pretty by month’s end.
Scorpio stone for November: Peridot. Peridot is the master stone for prosperity. The vibrations it exudes excite the energetic body, creating an atmosphere rich in material and emotional abundance.
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SAGITTARIUS // SAGITTARIUS RISING
Nine of Wands
You’re levelling up your mastery of Elemental Fire this month, Sagittarius, and I have a sneaking feeling you’ll know exactly what to do with it. Heating up in your native element can just as easily mean a deep inward journey of intuitive spiritual expansion as it can a direct charge forward in physical space, but following the big outward burst of last month, my money is on the former. With back to back retrogrades, there will be plenty of information dredged up to fuel the flames of introspection and dedication to ascension. It may not be easy, but it will be well worth the trouble. Expect to experience this month as preparation for an unknown event. Follow the clues and don’t jump ahead to conclusions. Let it unfold.
Your innate sense of wonder will be heightened this month and you may feel called to explore the world around you in service of opening greater exploration within. Taking a few day or weekend trips would be a great idea. Just remember to give yourself plenty of extra time and to plan for all contingencies if you go after Mercury stations retrograde on the 16th. We don’t want you having a surprise journey through frustration as you wait on the side of the road for AAA. You don’t have to go far and you don’t have to get exotic about your travels. Sometimes taking a walk down an unfamiliar street in your own neighborhood can open up an entire world of sacrosanct adventure.
Sagittarius stone for November: Red Calcite. Red Calcite promotes an increase in life force energy, revitalizing the physical and energetic bodies. It heightens appreciation for the beauty of life on Earth.
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CAPRICORN // CAPRICORN RISING
The Magician
What an absolutely perfect follow up to last month, Capricorn! Following exactly the development of the Major Arcana energy as mapped to the Tree of Life, you’re stepping out of your open-souled wandering and into a month-long intensive on the art of self-mastery. It’s safe to say your November will be interesting at the very least, life changing at best. With these back to back retrogrades adding static to the signal between individuals, this is a wonderful time to be focused more on you, who you can be, what you can create, and what you seek to accomplish. Remember, Magician energy is not about controlling others or your surroundings – that’s called tyranny – so be careful where you point that magic wand.
My greatest wish for you this month is that you can use this momentum to get your inner workings and powers identified and organized so you have a clear path to refinement and eventually mastery. That way, you’ll be prepared to shift into a more practical mode moving into December and the new year. To do this, you’ll have to have at least a vague idea of what your long(ish) term goals are. Spend some time at the beginning of the month identifying what you want to accomplish and what you need to create and manifest to get there. Then spend the rest of month building and refining your magical chops to conjure it all up. You are being told that you DO have the power to create your ideal world, so dare to think big.
Capricorn stone for November: Cinnabar. Cinnabar acts as a catalyst of transformation into our most exalted form. It opens powerful abilities of manifestation and draws creativity and prosperity.
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AQUARIUS // AQUARIUS RISING
Three of Swords
You’ve got more lessons blowing in from your native element this month, Aquarius! October’s fresh perspective will come in very handy as you work in the potentially treacherous realm of collaboration in thoughts and communication. The classic image of this card from the RWS deck and the Sola Busca before it show a big red heart with three swords stabbed through, a decidedly brutal take on this energy. While it can sometimes feel that way to navigate multiple points of view – within ourselves or among others – if we stay centered and remain open, these can be great times of growth and expansion. Not just hearing, but listening to, processing, and integrating points of view different from our own is essestial to our development as humans.
This could get veeeerrrrrryyyy sticky after Mercury stations retrograde on the 16th if you let it. To avoid confusion and heartache, make sure to take extra measures to reduce daily stress as much as possible so you are operating from a place of calm security. Get plenty of sleep, take long baths, eat foods that make you feel good emotionally AND physically, and for the love of all that is good and holy, DO NOT procrastinate. You want to be ready to process these messages in real time, especially if someone or something from your past sneaks back in to stir the pot. If you feel a storm brewing, head right for the still eye of it and watch it churn and toss all around you. Be an observer. When the clouds clear, step back into participant mode.
Aquarius stone for November: Green Calcite. Green Calcite soothes the body, mind, heart, and spirit. Its gentle, calming energy loosens anxiety and aids in releasing stress, allowing room for the heart to speak.
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PISCES // PISCES RISING
Five of Pentacles
My dear Pisces, are you doubting the wisdom of your choices from last month already? Did the call to action brought on by that gorgeous flaming queen (of Wands) leave you second-guessing the ease with which you were able to choose, to discern, to refuse? Fear not, dear one. Though making hard choices is somewhat contrary to your all-inclusive nature, it is necessary to allow you to really pour your gooey cosmic self into projects, situations, and relationships that truly set your soul aflame. Anything you have walked away from to get closer to your ideals will surely have someone else running toward it with open arms. The world is a big place, Pisces, and we can’t devote ourselves to everything in it.
This month, take time to notice where you feel a fear of lack. I’m talking about wondering whether taking that dream vacation is pulling you away from other opportunities you’ll regret missing later, saying yes to gigs you know you don’t want, not wanting to burn the last candle in case you can’t get more. All of these things can be considered prudent, but with this chaotic Earth energy swirling around, they can easily spiral into unnecessary worry and heaviness. Take extra care to assess whether something is a reality or a projection (fear, worry, etc) before deciding how to approach, and keep your eye tuned to what you have rather than what you don’t.
Pisces stone for November: Ocean Jasper. Ocean Jasper eases the mind of stress and worry to allow for full enjoyment of life. Its positive energy encourages fearless self-expression and release of negativity.
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ARIES // ARIES RISING
Ten of Cups
Your famously fiery nature is going to get a little softer this month, Aries. The gentle waves of high mastery in the emotional realm are here to smooth over the rough spots and help tune your heart in to the frequency of unconditional love. This can be a wonderful opportunity to deepen existing relationships, strengthen your sense of community and your place within yours, and even rekindle some relationships that may have gone a bit cold. After all, you never know what the winds of Mercury retrograde will bring your way when they blow in on the 16th. Whether messages or actual people from your past, try to approach them with an open heart, open mind, and open eyes. Sometimes looks can be deceiving. Unconditional love doesn’t mean unconditional acceptance. Get familiar with the difference early on in the month.
The key to making this month really sing for you is getting your intuition sharpened up right at the top. You don’t get a lot of ink spilled on your intuitive nature, but I see it clearly. Instinct is just another word for intuition and you’ve got that in spades. You are known for acting quickly on instinct and that can earn you a reputation for being rash or impulsive. Let this Water energy douse the outward action part of that flame and you’re left with a pure intuitive sight that can keep you seeking out and letting in only the people and situations that truly resonate with your highest vibes. And THAT, dear Aries, is golden.
Aries stone for November: Blue Topaz. Blue Topaz attunes the mind to the true guidance of the Higher Self. It clears our vision so we can see what we truly desire and see the path forward to getting there.
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TAURUS // TAURUS RISING
Six of Pentacles
You’ve got something to prove and the means to do it this month, Taurus, and based on how your year has gone so far, I think you just may be the one who ends up being most impressed. I don’t say this because I feel you’re likely underestimating yourself or doubting your abilities, but because I feel like this year’s absolute master course in the element of Earth has likely elevated your game much more than you could ever have imagined. It can be difficult to see the the heights you’ve got to when the climb has been a steady shallow incline. Take a moment at the beginning of the month to look back over this year and see how far you’ve come in your ability to manifest, to mold your surroundings, to create a home for yourself and those you hold dear.
You’ve got to know where you’re at to accurately assess what a real accomplishment looks like. Sometimes we can misinterpret our own progress and accidentally hold ourselves back by shooting for stars that turn out to just be flickering street lamps in the near distance. You can be as humble as you are stubborn, Taurus, and neither is going to get you to where you truly long to be. Resist the inner voice that tells you that striving for accomplishment is a vain grab for glory. Working to achieve the life of comfort you long for on your own terms is a noble and Divine pursuit. Reach for the stars, just check them out with a telescope first to make sure they’re true.
Taurus stone for November: Chrysanthemum Stone. Chrysanthemum Stone awakens the mind, heart, and spirit to what is possible. It reveals our greatest dreams and provides the grounding and luck needed to achieve them.
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GEMINI // GEMINI RISING
Two of Cups
You may just be the envy of the zodiac this month, Gemini. The sweetness of the Two of Cups is unrivaled in the Tarot in my book. The spark of emotional connection with a window into the enormity of what can come from it, the air of discovery and exploration, the excitement of building without knowing for sure what the end result will be. It can be incredibly intoxicating. And I am not just talking about romance. These sparks of connection can come with new friends, co-workers, even family members. They can come with people who have been in our lives forever but suddenly take on a new role or switch spheres from personal to professional or vice versa. One of the greatest gifts of being human is to connect on a profound level with other incarnated souls on Earth and this month it’s all yours.
How do you know if you’re experiencing a Two of Cups moment? If the connection is real or just a smoke screen? If you’re being lead on or taken advantage of or if your rush of anticipation is reciprocated? Well, you can’t. And that’s ok. With your wit and charm, you will likely attract many into your sphere if you choose to leave the gate open. When you do, take the time to really look and listen as much as you’re feeling your way into a new relationship. Radical openness requires intensely good boundaries and the ability to dance your way around them so they don’t feel like harsh walls to others. It’s a delicate proposition, but I think you’re up for it.
Gemini stone for November: Kunzite. Kunzite opens the heart to give and receive all forms of love. It is especially great at tuning the heart in to the frequency of Divine Love and true joy.
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CANCER // CANCER RISING
Page of Cups
You’re right in your element this month with a Cups card, Cancer, even while being pushed out of your comfort zone by the adventurous Page. You sometimes find yourself in a bit of a dilemma, yearning for deep emotional connection but being reluctant to come out of your shell to get it. This month it is time to face facts: it’s too small in there for anyone but you. You have to make a choice. You can either stay solitary and protected or you can venture out of your cozy fortress and risk being hurt in the service of opening your heart to the world. Any attached Crabs out there thinking ‘well, I have a partner, so this doesn’t apply to me’, sorry! It applies to you tenfold. We Cancerians have a tendency to secretly fortify our defenses even more in relationship. As the risk of injury increases, so does our desire for protection.
Time for a month of radical vulnerability. Stay with me. I know Venus is retrograde. I know Mercury is gearing up to follow suit and possibly interfere with communication and that is scary. But what’s more scary is playing it safe with your heart when the depth of emotional connection you truly desire is only available to those who take risks to get it. People open up to people who are open. Take the lead. As a Cardinal Water sign, you are the natural leader of emotion. Step up onto the podium and preach the gospel of leading with your heart like no one’s ever hurt it before.
Cancer stone for November: Angelite. Angelite opens a channel for communicating with our guides and angels. It helps tune us in to receiving communications and gives us greater access to their Divine love.
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LEO // LEO RISING
Strength
This is shaping up to be quite a nice little stroll through some of the greatest hits of the Major Arcana, Leo! The Magician, The Hermit, and now Strength. It conjures up a narrative of someone who discovers their power, goes into seclusion to study and master it, and comes back to the village ready to serve the community and themself by embodying the level of strength that can only come through a recognition that we are all extensions of the body of the Earth and the Universe. That someone is you, Leo! What will you do with this newfound level of Strength? What are you ready to accomplish that you were not just last summer? How does this awareness of your own power and your being as but one small part of the much larger body of the cosmos shape your thinking on that?
It can be overwhelming to sit with this kind of information. We tend to want our actions and goals to reflect the grandeur of how we see our place in the world. Accepting ourselves as parts of an eternal Divine body does not help in making decisions. So start small, so small that your activities and accomplishments will be invisible to everyone but you. Start within your own body. How can you take care of your body with this new strength? Do you feel able to make different choices about what you put into or on your body? Give yourself time to grow into this story. It’s going to continue to develop for a very long time.
Leo stone for November: Tiger Eye. Tiger Eye clarifies the workings of the mind through balancing the energies of the physical body. It restores balance to all levels of being, inspiring strength and fairness.
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VIRGO // VIRGO RISING
Judgment
Ooooo, Virgo! Moving from Justice into Judgment is a wonderful lesson in the workings of the Tarot. They seem similar but represent very different ways of redistributing energy. Last month I talked about seeing Justice as a seesaw, moving only up and down in a single, two-dimensional plane. Judgment is bigger and messier. It calls on us to dig around to find what we have buried in this life and other lifetimes past, present, and future. It can extract stories from alternate timelines and alternate stories that are bothering us somehow subconsciously, spiritually. Where Justice is about balance, Judgment is about exhumation. There are some things that are just too sticky to be easily released. Some things require some digging.
So get our your shovel, Virgo, and get ready to get your hands dirty. With back to back retrogrades helping to loosen the soil, there is going to be plenty for you uncover and examine. Some you will re-plant back down in the Earth, some you will set free, some you will thoroughly dispose of. It’s a big job, but you have to try not to be too precious about it. Get all Marie Kondo on the psychic debris you find. Be brutal in your assesments, but kind in the execution. Yanking something away before you’ve fully detatched will just give you something else to dig out later. Practice your self care and drink lots of water. Seriously – it helps to clear your energy as much as it does your cells.
Virgo stone for November: Lepidolite. Lepidolite is a powerful ally in emotional healing. It can help uncover and repair old wounds, and smoothe over frayed nerves, clearing the way to true acceptance.
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LIBRA // LIBRA RISING
Temperance
You are being called to reassess where your center lies as you leave your birthday month and head toward the holidays, dear Libra. Temperance as a virtue calls for moderation, which is exactly what is needed to get into the more delicate alchemy of resetting our psychic equilibrium. Moderation in consumption, in the expenditure of physical energy, in the amount of work and of play we allow ourselves, in our sleep. Reigning in our habits gives us a closer look at what’s really going on underneath them. Are you really that busy at work or are you feeling inadequate and trying to prove yourself wrong? Did you really need that afternoon nap or would your body be better served with a brisk walk? Did you need to spend all day editing that presentation or did you really just need to trust yourself a bit more?
These are real questions. You might be that busy, need a nap, and benefit from a heavy handed edit. Take this month to find out. Temperance is of course also associated with abstaining from alcohol. If this rings bells in your head, go with it and give yourself a little break. Take this time to really get to know what makes you not just tick, but purr. It’s easy to fall into patterns without even knowing it and to keep on racing ahead without considering how these patterns effect our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Meditate on it it, journal about it, talk about it with your friends and loved ones. This is your time to take control of what has become automatic.
Libra stone for November: Scolecite. Scolecite carries a highly developed energy of inner peace and deep tranquility. It is an excellent stone for meditation and for feeling at one with the spirit world.
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPES: SEPTEMBER 2018
Dive into this month’s medicine for your sign with our Numinous Tarotscopes September 2018, cast by Melinda Lee Holm. Artwork: Devany Amber Wolfe.
VIRGO // VIRGO RISING
Knight of Swords
Happy Solar Return, Virgo! You’ve got a lot to say this month, both internally and to the world! The Fire of conviction is burning within, bubbling your emotions to a fever pitch and compelling you to let it all out. The Knights are passionate, at times to the point of being impulsive. And with your ruling planet of Mercury, planet of communication, entering your sign on the 19th, you should be positively effervescent in your expression. Allow your thoughts and words to flow freely and openly, just make sure you maintain your connection to the heavier elements of Earth and Water to mitigate any sharp edges that may come as an unintended outcome of such fast-paced intellectual outpouring. The last thing you want is a lesson in the potential of wounding inherent in the suit of Swords.
And while we’re talking about the power of Air, I’d be horribly negligent if I didn’t take this opportunity to remind you that all words are magic words, so choose them wisely even as you race to keep up with the speed of your thoughts. This is an excellent time for you to focus on making some adjustments to patterns of speech and mental frameworks to make them support your goals more strongly. Talk a lot about how much you hate your boss? Replace that with a statement about how much you look forward to the day when you have a boss you admire or when you are your own boss. Lather, rinse, repeat. Make your birthday gift to yourself a whole new set of spells that call in the experience of life you desire.
Virgo stone for September: Blue Lace Agate gently opens perception to allow access to both see and communicate truth, both inwardly and outwardly, deepening compassion for self and others.
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LIBRA // LIBRA RISING
Eight of Cups
After all the building and planning and making and growing of your life these past few months, you’ve got a little time to settle into how all of this impacts your emotional life, Libra. Change, even the most exciting and hoped for change, is stressful to our bodies – spiritual, emotional, and physical. Once we settle into the new structure of routines and habits, we need to take time to focus on how to best structure our emotional lives to ensure we can maintain a good relationship with our new circumstances. Water is one of the heavy elements. It can take some time to catch up once Fire and Air settle down and things start to feel routine again. Listen to your heart and give it time to express what it needs to stay full and bright.
I’m sure you have a LOT to do this month, Libra. There’s no way you came out of an Emperor month feeling like you’ve got loads of spare time on your hands. You can still carve out a little bit every week – bonus points for every day – to experiement with adding little things to your routine to help maintain a lasting emotional stability. Maybe daily affirmations are your thing, maybe a cup of chamomile tea before bed calms you like nothing else, maybe you need to schedule in time to read or paint or write or sing – whatever it is, take the time now to figure it out and start building the habits. Your long-term happiness depends on it.
Libra stone for September: Emerald cleanses and energizes the heart physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It is an excellent stone for all aspects of heart health and emotional development.
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SCORPIO // SCORPIO RISING
Knight of Wands
Well, Scorpio, I hope you spent last month digging DEEP into that Seven of Cups energy! If you did, and you got very clear about what your heart truly desires, you have an incredible opportunity to throw yourself into getting it this month with everything you’ve got. Knight of Wands is the Fire of Fire of the Tarot family, gifting us with an almost superhuman level of energy, drive, and animal instinct that is essential for going after something big, something we maybe didn’t even think we were allowed to wish for. What is it that is gnawing at your gut instinct as you read these words, urging you to pull the thread? What deeply held desire has gone neglected for too long?
I cannot overstate the importance of seizing this moment, Scorpio. Fire of Fire burns powerfully bright, but it cannot sustain itself for long. These moments are gifts and it is our choice to be gracious receivers or to deny the gift out of fear, humility, or even laziness. Resist the urge to linger too long in the depths, questioning your emotional response. This is the time to embrace that Scorpionic connection to the wisdom of Death and release any lingering doubts that are holding you back. Your soul’s passion is begging to be let loose to lead you to a time of renewed conviction that you alone have the power to make your dreams come true. Heed the call and stoke the flames. This month is a sprint. Make it count.
Scorpio stone for September: Ruby is the stone of passion. It infuses the energetic body with the courage and strength needed to follow your true path and pursue your highest aspirations with optimism.
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SAGITTARIUS // SAGITTARIUS RISING
The High Priestess
This month will be spent getting your temple in order in preparation for the coming harvest season, Sagittarius, and I have a hunch you’ll be looking at quite a bounty. The High Priestess does not show up for the small stuff. When she comes knocking – or, better put, when you receive her invitation to knock on her temple door – it is an indication that something big is underway. You’re now being gifted the ability to carve out a little world of your own, a temple, to make it sacred, apart from space and time, and to travel effortlessly between your personal sanctum and the outside world. It’s perfect work for this time of year, a sort of spiritual nesting as we approach the Autumnal Equinox.
This month, I want you to point that gorgeous idealistic gaze directly at your home enviroment. What household cleanups, repairs, or projects have gone undone for too long? Is there any way you can make your physical surroundings more comfortable, more suited to you? It is difficult to sink into the deeper spiritual work when nagging material world concerns populate your temple space. If you can’t get everything done, designate a specific area and get it cleared out and leveled up. Populate it with trinkets, and magickal items to elevate your devotional practice. Allow your temple to be the mirror that see your true image reflected in. When you do, the distorted image you see relected in our imperfect society will fall to the background, allowing you to fully embody your innate Divine form.
Sagittarius stone for September: Moonstone heightens intuition, introspection, and protection of individuality. It helps us to maintain control of our personal temples of home, body, and spirit.
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CAPRICORN // CAPRICORN RISING
Five of Swords
Dear Capricorn, I would like to invite you to enjoy a quiet month filled with nourishing food, plenty of rest, and loving, supportive friends. Generally speaking, you are transitioning from achievement to chaos in the realm of Air. This is not a time for big ideas or attempts to talk or think through really anything of great importance. When this anarchic breeze blows in, it’s best to keep your head down, put one foot in front of the other, and stay on the path you know best – and enjoy it! It’s rare that we are called on to do less, to take a break in any area of life and just rest and be. Let this month act as cosmic pause button on all the things you believe you have to “figure out” in order to move forward.
So, what can you do when you can’t use that seductive power of Air to run your life? You get down with the other elements, especially Earth and Water. This should be music to your ears, my cardinal Earth sign darling. Dig your heels in, don’t do anything you don’t feel like doing (within reason, of course), and feel absolutely no pressure to explain yourself. The message probably wouldn’t come across as intended anyway. Channel your inner luxurious recluse. Spend a day alone at the spa, see a matinee, take a long hike in the woods. Whatever makes you feel like your heart is taking the lead and reinforces your connection to the Earth under your feet.
Capricorn stone for September: Smoky Quartz carries the gravity of our planet in energetic form. It connects us to ourselves and the Earth, helping us to feel grounded as it gently pulls psychic static from our field.
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AQUARIUS // AQUARIUS RISING
Seven of Crystals
I suspect you may be feeling a little impatient about seeing actual results from the work you did last month, Aquarius, and I’m here to talk you down with my dear friend the Seven of Crystals. Sevens ask us to find where we are doubting ourselves, the Universe, or both in their elemental realm, and here we are looking to weed those pesky doubts out of the Earth. Anxieties about whether our work is paying off in tangible ways is common and understandable. Earth is the slowest moving element. We spend most of our time in the lighter elements, dreaming up ideas, taking action to bring them to life, and then we have to wait for their manifestation in the material plane to take form.
Rest assured, Aquarius, your work has not been for nothing. The seeds you planted are quietly and resolutely outgrowing their outer husks and making their way to the surface where they will begin their journey toward the Sun. I know this is a jarring and potentially frustrating change of pace. When you find yourself antsy for something to do, some action to take, water the seeds. Love them, care for them, pour your heart out and offer it up to their growth and development. And when you come up against that nagging anxiety in the back of your mind, the voice that tells you that you are wasting your time, that you can’t make it work, that it was a dumb idea anyway – love that voice too. Soothe it and put it to bed.
Aquarius stone for September: Howlite relieves stress and opens connection to the eternal Divine. It brings an atmosphere of acceptance and contentment with one’s circumstances and surroundings.
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PISCES // PISCES RISING
Four of Swords
Now that your heart has been thoroughly rinsed and renewed, Pisces, it’s time for a little check in on how your views and thoughts meld with how you live and communicate day to day. Periodic assesments of whether our head is in alignment with our heart are essential for finding stability in the realm of Air, that lightest and most difficult to contain of elements. Lightness is a great place to focus – this can be a gentle and enjoyable experience. No need to get into judgment or mourning of things, ideas, or patterns that no longer serve your highest goals. This is simply an opportunity to gently sift through the contents of your mind and to let anything heavy fall away.
I strongly suggest you not make any big life changes this month. There can be a strong urge to make bold moves when we first realize that something is not in alignment with the life we seek to live. It is intoxicating to step into your own power of clear sight. However, this energy is with you all month long. Things can shift around quite a bit in that time. Plus, this whole operation is more about your internal intellectual framework and how you present that framework to the world than it is about the container of your life. If you already had a change in job, living situation, or relationship in the works, that is another story. But resist taking action on an internal shift that comes up this month. Stay the course and let it all unfold.
Pisces stone for September: Fluorite is a stone of insight through clarity. It helps to clear the mind, allowing for greater focus and decision making, and opening the door to the wisdom of the higher self.
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ARIES // ARIES RISING
Page of Wands
Ok, Aries, what did you learn last month about the power of your own instinctual knowing and ability to create? What conclusions did you come to about how to best use this power, its potential, or your relationship to it? Any hard and fast rules you came across? Any nuggets of eternal wisdom to frame your personal gift with Fire? Throw them out. All of them. Or rather set them aside, locked away for safe keeping. You won’t be needing them for now. The Page is here to disrupt anything you thought you knew about Elemental Fire and to open new doors of exploration and experimentation in this realm of action, magic, and creation. Cleanse that magic wand, clear yourself of all expectations, and get ready to play.
Welcome this energy with open arms and this can be a wonderful month of expansion. Dig in your heels and you’re likely to have a frustrating four weeks ahead of you! Think of it this way – you don’t have to be married to any of these new ways of handling your native element that come up. You’re not signing any contracts or setting anything in stone. This is simply a time to be open, to say yes. Pages represent the Earth of the Tarot court, they bring us back down to basics, slow us down, give us time and space to explore in an energetically safe environment. It is a beautiful gift to step into the shoes of the novice. Accept it graciously and use it wisely.
Aries stone for September: Honey Calcite inspires action and dedication while maintaining a light-hearted atmosphere. It provides the perseverance needed to make a creative spark become a full blazing fire
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TAURUS // TAURUS RISING
Eight of Crystals
My dearest Earth child, here we are again. This time focusing on building a beautiful, lasting stability in your material world. After the refining moment of the Ace last month, you’re in a great position to work with this energy. Thinking about everything that came up regarding your home life, your physical surroundings, your feeling grounded (or ungrounded), your method of interacting with our society’s version of the currency of Earth – money, find what feels like home to you. Dig deep into the ground beneath your feet and find exactly what it is that keeps you stable. We live in a time when many of us have more options than we ever have before. It can be overwhelming. Now is the time to whittle your life down to the essentials that will serve you best in the long term.
Finding this type of stability requires us to seek and confront our true nature, our deepest core of Self, that eternal piece that holds us steady while our bodies and circumstances shift around us. This is soul work, Taurus, pure and simple. Your inherent desire for security and predictability in your surroundings is essential to your nature. You are being called to step into alignment with this aspect of your Self, to ensure that you are nuturing this need for many years to come. This doesn’t have to be difficult. It could be as simple as finally acknowledging that you like to always have fresh flowers in the house and committing to make that happen. Find your Earthly bliss!
Taurus stone for September: Danburite connects the heart to spirit realm, bringing the calming and loving energy of the Divine down into our daily lives, calming and reassuring us in our Earthly pursuits.
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GEMINI // GEMINI RISING
Queen of Cups
Get ready for a month of nurturing and emotional excavation, Gemini, all courtesy of your inner mother. The Queen of Cups is here to lead you by the hand to a safe place where you can step outside of yourself to be the loving caretaker you have been waiting for. I have a strong suspicion that taking inventory of your internal communications last month dredged up more than a few emotional rough spots. As we pass from Summer into Fall, you have the opportunity to mend your bruised heart in ways you have never been able to before – or more likely, ways you didn’t even know you needed. This is excellent timing. When the seasons tip and we begin to head toward the nesting of winter, you will be in great shape to move from damage repair into some more forward moving modes of development.
Spend time alone this month, but try to keep it purposeful, rejuvenating even. No wallowing. The Queen of Cups encourages deep and long dives into our innermost depths, but she does not tolerate indulgent self-pity. Imagine her as a kindly grandmother, always there to clean up a skinned knee with tender care, but just as quick to send you back out finish your chores once you’re taped up. Coming back up for air is the most important part of any dive into our emotional waters. Take a long bath, get serious about journaling, pour your heart out to yourself as you never have before. And then take a deep breath, lift your head up, and get back to it.
Your stone for September: Rhodochrosite teaches us the art of self-love. It opens a channel within that allows us to love ourselves as we desire to be loved, to be our own best friends and caretakers.
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CANCER // CANCER RISING
Perspective (Hanged Man)
It’s time for a change of scenery, Cancer, and I don’t just mean sitting in a different spot in your living room. The scenery I am talking about is more energetic, spiritual even, the stuff we can’t see but that alters our perception of our surroundings immensely. This month you are being asked to see things in a new way and the more you can push up against the edges of that, the better. You had a month of digging in the Earth in August and now you can spend a little time up in the clouds, surveying the new lay of the land, getting a broader picture of what is possible and within that, what is desirable. And since we are in the Major Arcana, we are looking at all realms of life – emotional, spiritual, creative, intellectual, and material.
How many different ways can you find to force a shift in your perspective? What would it look like to try on a new emotional perspective? A new instinctual perspective? Can you borrow another person’s experience for a time? Use your enviable powers of empathy to walk in another’s shoes without ever moving a muscle? This may sound like an invitation to get into astral travelling (which I wholeheartedly encourage if you can accomplish it), but it can be as deceivingly mundane as watching a movie about a person completely unlike yourself or reading a book by someone you normally wouldn’t. The important thing is to keep your heart, mind, and eyes open to new experiences.
Cancer stone for September: Blue Apatite is a stone of profound psychic opening. It can act as a key to opening levels of knowledge and wisdom and as a catalyst for exploring past lives and energetic influences.
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LEO // LEO RISING
The Magician
Is it your birthday AGAIN, Leo?? A swell of personal power to manifest your dreams and desires is headed your way to carry you into the Fall. You have the magic of the elements tingling at your fingertips, waiting to help you connect the kernel of intention in your heart to the blueprint of the Universe. The Magician ignites personal power – power that originates from within and that is used to control, alter, or expand the personal sphere. True magic(k) is a tool of self-mastery. It has no place or interest in manipulating the free will of others. If this is sounding a bit heavy, it’s because it is! There is a great deal of responsibility that comes with the gift of The Magician.
The trick with this energy is that if you’re not very specific with your words, thoughts, and actions, you could send an unintentional signal to the Universe, one that manifests something you don’t want or need. So be extra mindful this month with the messages you are transmitting. Take a few minutes each day to set your intentions – for the day, week, month, year, and even longer. Write them down, say them out loud, carry stones in your pocket that emanate an energetic quality that supports them, light candles and give offereings for them, and for the love of the Divine, mark the New Moon on the 9th and the Full Moon on the 24th with a manifesting and releasing ritual, respectively. Harness this energy in alignment with your true path and you could be feeling the benefits for a long time to come.
Leo stone for September: Labradorite is the Magician’s stone, activating powers of personal magic, self-mastery, and manifestation. It elevates one’s personal vibration to ensure purity in conjuring.
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPE JULY 5 2018: QUEEN OF CUPS
The Queen of Cups returns to the Numiverse for the first time since the New Year, and invites us to dive deep into our emotional landscapes before birthing our beauty in the world, says Melinda Lee Holm …
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPE JUNE 21 2018: TEMPERANCE
As the Solstice brings us to the brink of major cosmic balance, the Temperance card invites us to recalibrate, alchemize, and make ourselves available for subtle shifts, says Melinda Lee Holm …
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPE JUNE 14 2018: 3 OF SWORDS
The 3 of Swords asks us to take a New Moon approach to our thought process, and to let communication feel collaborative and inclusive, says Melinda Lee Holm …
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPE MAY 10 2018: THE HIGH PRIESTESS
The High Priestess invites us to stake a claim to our personal temples by shoring up sacred boundaries, says Melinda Lee Holm …
THE HIEROPHANT SESSIONS: WHICH TAROT CARD IS YOUR TEACHER?
The Tarot is a powerful tool for intention setting and conscious growth. With The Hierophant Sessions, Melinda Lee Holm shares how to discover which card is your Tarot teacher right now …
We generally consult the Tarot when we have specific questions and seek clear answers.
Yet in the same way that we look to figures like Joan of Arc, Yogananda, Angela Davis, and Harvey Milk as role models, we can also look to the Tarot’s archetypes not just as divination tools to give us information about our lives, but as actual guides for our behavior.
In my own work, I use the cards as practical guides, and encourage my clients to actively work with the deck by meditating on its images, setting altars to archetypes, and consciously cultivating relationships to these symbols through everyday strategies.
I’ve selected my top Tarot “teachers” and techniques for you below. See if you recognize yourself in any of these types and when in doubt, separate the 6 teachers, shuffle, and pull one to discover whose guidance is calling to you right now.
*Want to learn more about the Tarot as a practical guidance tool? Listen to my Hierophant Sessions podcast every Wednesday (preview episode up now!) and book a session with me HERE.
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1// Teacher: The Empress. You may need The Empress if you are experiencing: impatience, narrow focus, scarcity mentality, a closed heart.
Stone: Aventurine
Food: Basil
Scent: Rose
Action: Open
The Empress teaches us that sometimes the best way to get the great love and prosperity we desire in life is to wrench open that bear trap around our little modern hearts, lean back, and let the love flow! There is an element of profound trust inherent in this card, a fundamental knowing that we are loved by the Earth and the Universe and that by simply opening up and loving unconditionally, we can tap into that great well of abundance they promise.
**Activate The Empress by embracing the idea that to give is to receive. Volunteer your time cooking at a shelter, reading to children, caring for animals or the environment, sorting food at the food bank—anything that gets you immersed in that consciousness of the Universal flow. Showing your love for others and backing it up with your time and money is a great way to get into Empress mode!
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2// Teacher: The Hermit. You may need The Hermit if you are experiencing: stress, feeling overwhelmed, lack of direction.
Stone: Sodalite
Food: Watercress
Scent: Lemon balm
Action: Withdraw
When it all feels like it’s just too much and you want to run away, it may be time to do just that—with the focused guidance of The Hermit. While in common usage we use the word “hermit” as a synonym for “recluse,” in the Tarot the figure is a wizened sage who seeks solitude in order to gather more wisdom. The seclusion he seeks is not motivated by desire to hide, but rather to cut out the noise to better focus on gathering the knowledge he needs to best serve not only his own personal development, but the needs of the broader community.
**Activate The Hermit by thriving in the cycle of intake and reflection. Try reading a great book on a topic near and dear to your Self and take time to journal for at least 30 minutes after reading each chapter. Solo trips into nature are a great Hermit activity as well—if you can’t make a trek into the mountains, sit alone under a tree in a park for a few hours. It’s a great time to read that book!
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3// Teacher: Strength. You may need Strength if you are experiencing: isolation, fatigue, weariness, feelings of resentment.
Stone: Ruby
Food: Thyme
Scent: Ginger
Action: Embrace
This card teaches us that true strength comes through co-creation and collaboration with the world around us, and through knowing our strengths and our weaknesses and embracing both. So much in our society pulls us apart and encourages us to see our fellow humans as competitors or even adversaries. Strength counters this messaging and reminds us that we are all children of the Earth and the Cosmos, and that when we embrace each other and our home we can achieve the greatest results. Only through vulnerability can we fortify ourselves to accomplish our greatest goals.
**Activate Strength by seeing the results of co-creation appear before your very eyes. Complete a project with someone close to you—this could be a household project with your partner or a creative project with a friend, anything where you are working in tandem with someone else and there is a clear concrete goal you can see completed. Repeat as needed!
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4// Teacher: The High Priestess. You may need The High Priestess if you are experiencing: disconnection from self, lack of confidence, feelings of being unworthy, imposter syndrome.
Stone: Moonstone
Food: Pomegranate
Scent: Lilac
Action: Reflect
The High Priestess calls us to fully explore the depths and dark corners of our souls. Just as the Moon shows itself by reflecting the light of the Sun, the High Priestess teaches us to look for clues about our true natures by looking at our reflections all around us. All of this inner exploration is made possible by her dedication to maintaining strong boundaries around her temple (nuns may be our closest living embodiment of High Priestess energy). From her, we can learn how important it is to enforce and maintain strong boundaries around a space we designate as sacred in our lives.
**Activate The High Priestess by designating and consecrating your temple. Your studio, office, bedroom, even a little corner of your living room that is just yours. Choose a space, clear it (physically and energetically), and then very selectively populate it with items that reflect you as you aspire to be and be seen.
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5// Teacher: Death. You may need Death if you are experiencing: scattered thinking, lack of productivity, obsessive thoughts about the past, inability to form new relationships.
Stone: Black Tourmaline
Food: Sesame
Scent: Lavender
Action: Release
When we try to hold onto ideas, patterns, and even relationships that have passed their usefulness to our well-being, it can manifest in a confusing series of seemingly unexplainable setbacks and energetic blockages. As the confusion sets it, we tend to clamp down ever harder, afraid to lose the ground we’ve worked so hard to gain, and further exacerbating the problem. The magic and wisdom of the Death card shows us that loosening the grip and allowing release is the surest way to make more room for new growth to emerge.
**Activate Death by leaning into the wisdom of letting go. Start with donating clothes you no longer need. The act of purging material posessions has a profound effect on the emotional and energetic bodies that can lead to greater ease in releasing emotional patterns and psychic loops.
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6// Teacher: The Hierophant. You may need The Hierophant if you are experiencing: lack of meaning, directionlessness, strained connection to the Divine, difficulty finding your path.
Stone: Herkimer Diamond Quartz
Food: Sage
Scent: Frankincense
Action: Transmit/Receive
While all of the cards offer wisdom and guidance of their own, The Hierophant stands apart as the one figure completely dedicated to downloading Divine teachings and disseminating that information for the benefit of others. If you’re feeling lost, calling on The Hierophant can be a powerful force to help you find the direction you need. Working with this card in manifestation practice can even bring in the teacher or mentor you need to get going on your path and achieve your goals – as long as those goals are aligned with your spiritual purpose!
**Activate The Hierophant by quite literally finding your gurus. Read spiritual texts, go to group meditations, go on a retreat if you can swing it—just get around as many people and ideas as you possibly can that are inspirational and aspirational to YOU. And be ready for the surprise twist where you actually end up being the guru someone else was looking for! We all have wisdom to offer the world.
*Want to learn more about the Tarot as a practical guidance tool? Listen to Melinda’s Hierophant Sessions podcast every Wednesday (preview episode up now!) and book a session with her HERE.
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPE APRIL 26 2018: THE MOON
As we crack ourselves open to even deeper levels of vulnerability, The Moon card asks us to step outside our comfort zone and become the heroes we were born to be, says Melinda Lee Holm …
FROM FEAR TO MEDICINE: USING THE TAROT TO FACE WHAT SCARES US
The Tarot is both a mirror and an evolutionary invitation towards change. Lindsay Mack offers us a guide to the so-called “scary” cards and reveals how we can use our decks to turn fear to medicine …
Fear is a highly unpleasant, but profoundly important emotion — one that deserves a place at our table of feelings.
Fear, when considered for what it is, can offer information, wise counsel, direction, and clarity on our deeper feelings. We don’t have to believe everything our fear communicates to us, but it can be transformative to hear it out. By doing so, fear can become an ally, especially when we understand the strength that can arise within us through working with it.
Fear has always been a very deep teacher in my life. I live with a long term brain condition. I’m a healthy and joyful survivor of extreme childhood abuse, and have worked through complex PTSD for most of my life. I have traveled through some of the darkest places a person can experience, and every time I take one of those journeys “through the woods,” I am shifted for the better, having gained deeper strength, trust, and faith, my fear shifting into medicine with wisdom to offer me. The more wisdom I cultivate through those paths of darkness, the more I have to offer to myself, my students, and my clients.
The Tarot is a profoundly useful tool to turn to in moments of fear, trauma and stress. It can help to contextualize what’s happening underneath our fear, and how it is trying to help us evolve. It can also bring a visual landscape to something that we may not be able to communicate or understand with words. Whether you are a reader or not, The Tarot can be a deep aid in moments of darkness.
There are six Tarot cards in particular that, when we look at them through a soul centered lens, offer a beautiful invitation to evolve through fear.
Read on for how use them as guides in our own journey, exploring what it means for us to shift from fear to medicine. You can also check out my brand new course, From Fear to Medicine: A Six Week Journey into the “Scary” Cards of the Tarot. The first class begins on April 22nd – find out more HERE.
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// THE FOOL // Trusting The Invisible
Have you ever been called to take a giant leap of faith with hardly any proof that it will pay off? If you have, you’ve been in the energy of The Fool. It is the invitation to jump into the unknown, and begin a whole new cycle of our lives. We are drawn to the edge of a cliff in this card, but it is up to us to jump off of it. The soul work that we are asked to do in this card is to trust ourselves, and trust the invisible.
To our brain chemistry, The Fool can feel like death, a loss of control for the ego. If we can move through this deep contraction with mindfulness, leaping into the unseen, the treasures we will gain will be priceless. We will begin to truly know that when we jump in The Fool, we will be supported. We will begin to trust our intuition, and we will be a co-creator in our own evolution and growth. Trusting the invisible takes deep work. The Fool is here to help us learn.
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// WHEEL OF FORTUNE // Centering in the midst of change
The Wheel of Fortune heralds the coming of great change, the marriage between our choices and our destiny. The change that Wheel of Fortune brings is always for our good. There is no “bad” turn on this card, and there is no reversal.
When we work with the Wheel of Fortune, we can never see the change that’s coming. It teaches us to root into the unknown, and to stay centered in the Wheel, rather than flailing on the outer edges. When we work with this card, we get to learn how to root into ourselves in times of change, staying calm in the eye of the storm. Beautiful wisdom for life.
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// DEATH // Sacred Compost
There is no greater metaphor for the Death card than that of composting. I eat you, then you eat me. Nothing truly dies in the Death card, just like nothing ever truly dies here on Earth. It merely changes form, becoming a different version of what it was.
The Death card is the transformation of something – a relationship, a thought pattern, a belief – into something new. When we work in this card, it is a signal that we are no longer being fed by something growing in the garden of our lives. It lets us know that it is time to pull the weeds up and allow it to become sacred fertilizer, encouraging the new things in our lives to grow. The work we do in this card is profound ego surrender, letting go of the things that are ready to go.
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// THE DEVIL // Blessing the Shadow
The Devil is an opportunity to look deeply at our shadow. Are we judging ourselves? Believing that there is something wrong with us? Are we spiraling into an old, destructive pattern out of fear or contraction? If we are, The Devil will let us know.
If we pull this card, it is a sign that we are doing everything right. The Devil always shows up as a little mindfulness bell around our expansion, letting us know that the brain is trying to pull us into some old, limiting patterns to keep us in what it perceives as safe and known. We get to drop into these patterns and say no thank you to the invitation, whatever it may be. By doing so, we liberate ourselves from believing that we are “bad” or “wrong,” to thinking that there is anything adverse about us for our desires or our anger, and allowing all parts of ourselves to just be there.
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// THE TOWER // When Things go Wrong
Everyone has experienced a Tower moment in their lives. It is a moment where it truly feels like everything has gone wrong – it can feel like we are living in a nightmare. A beautiful metaphor for The Tower is a forest fire. We watch everything burn, knowing that it is clearing the soil for new growth.
It is an intentional shaking of the foundations underneath us, all to help us grow, and shed some part of ourselves that is no longer aligned with our expansion. The Tower can be intensely uncomfortable, or it can be a very minor, internal experience. When we survive and move through Tower experiences, we emerge stronger, clearer and transformed, our lives shifted on its very axis.
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// THE MOON // Floating in the Darkness
In The Moon card, we learn how to hang out in the Void – no easy feat! Ruled by Pisces, this card goes as deep as it can go. It is an experience of truly not knowing where we are going next, not having any answers, and feeling like we are floating back into old, shadowy feelings and emotions. To experience this can be very uncomfortable, and can make us want to really swim to shore, to find the light, to get some semblance of clarity and direction.
But, the more we kick, the deeper the waves become. We eventually learn the most profound surrender in The Moon card, letting the darkness become an ally, learning from the quiet, tuning in with ourselves beyond the din of our ego. When the light finally dawns, we learn that we have been moving all along, allowing the currents to take us to our next destination.
Want to go deeper into these energies, and learn how to work with your own fear in a mindful, empowered way? Please join me for my brand new course, From Fear to Medicine: A Six Week Journey into the “Scary” Cards of the Tarot. The first class begins on April 22nd – find out more HERE.
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPE APRIL 19 2018: STARSEED
After all that’s been uncovered, Starseed (The Fool) asks us to get comfy with vulnerability, radically trust the Universe, and burst into bloom, says Melinda Lee Holm …
NUMINOUS TAROTSCOPE APRIL 12 2018: 10 OF WANDS
The 10 of Wands wants you to get gutsy, trust your intuitive hits, and then spark up your fullest fires and take action, says Melinda Lee Holm …
