Honored as the longest day of the year, Midsummer, or Summer Solstice, marks a time when the sun is at its height of power. Summer Solstice, called Litha in pagan and Wiccan circles, honors this longest day of the year. The word “solstice” is from the Latin word solstitium, which literally translates to “sun stands still.” Most of the festivals from around the world, despite religion and culture, honor the Sun’s strength and gifts, particularly agrarian cultures where this time when the crops were sown, tended for a good harvest. Nearly every agricultural society has marked the high point of summer in some way, shape or form. Listen for more…
June's Tarot + Earth Medicine Allies
Tarot + Earth Medicine Allies for June are Three of Wands, Raccoon, Yarrow, Hematite, Zincite and Lapis Lazuli.
It’s Angelica Yingst with you June 2022 Tarot + Earth Medicine reading. Maybe I am early this month with our reading because I am ready to get out of the shitshow that was May—shitshow might be too strong, but the eclipses of May brought to light some darkness, revealing true motives, bringing up old wounds. I have some good news about June…it is not May!
We move into June in Gemini, which is not only my rising sign, but the sign that embraces curiosity, extroversion, and change. And I for one am here for it. Gemini craves communication, stimulation, and adventure, while we are still in Mercury Retrograde, you might find some of this difficult, but you might also find yourself wanting to express yourself through writing to better communicate a highly important message. Gemini is social, while the new moon is not. You can scratch both itches by sending a lovely text, email, DM, to someone you like and don’t want to tell off—start from grace and kindness….
Listen to the episode for more…
Beltane Reading, History + Layout
As the Wheel turns and the grass turns greener, flowers blossom, their pollen heaving, enticing, the pollinators, come and spread seed. Greater Sabbats on the pagan Wheel of the Year are the cross-quarter holidays—what they call the Earth Festivals (as compared to the Solar Festivals that mark the equinoxes and the solstices.) Beltane marks the beginning of the transition from Spring to Summer. It occurs on May 1st. Blossoming flowers, the trees and grass really take off, the bees beginning to buzz…it is a time of lightness and fun, fertility and growth.
Beltane uniquely focuses on sexuality and sensuality with a bevy of yonic and phallic symbols. The Horned God, birthed at Yule, begins to hit his lusty stage, ready to mate with the maiden Earth goddess. Both are honored at this time—Cernunnos (as well as Green Man, Pan, the Oak King) and the Maiden Goddess. Beltane honors our own unions. The Roman festival of Floralia seems to have influenced the way Beltane was celebrated. Beltaine, the Celtic Christian festival meaning “Bright Fire”, honored the release of the cattle into the fields. Standing directly across Samhain on the great Wheel of the Year, Beltane calls in light and lightness in the same way Samhain honors the dark of life. There is a focus during Beltane on life in all its sensuous and corporeal glory.
The celebrations of Beltane are joyous, raucous events with massive bonfires, dancing, singing and more. Beltane fires are said to have healing properties that were used to grant healing prayers and protection. The smoke from the bonfires were used for purification and for vitality. The ashes then were placed in the fields for fertility. Celebrations at Beltane, sometimes called May Day, involved the Maypole—a tall wood pole, a phallic symbol, placed in the center of the festivities. A flower wreath placed on top of the pole served as a yonic symbol of the feminine. Brightly colored ribbon hang from the top of the pole to the ground. Maidens and boys were placed around the pole, grabbing every other cloth or ribbon (men facing one way while the women faces another, so they could look at each other.) They danced, weaving in and out of each other, symbolizing the sexual union of masculine and feminine.
When we look at the world through the agrarian calendar, or the Wheel of the Year, we often find some antiquated ways—particularly around the masculine and feminine. Around Beltane, the idea of the masculine and feminine coming together really meant bringing fertility to the fields for a good harvest. A good harvest meant the difference between life and death. It also meant expanding the family and bringing children into the world. Childbirth brings both the feminine and masculine together forming new life, and in this way, Beltane honors the way sexuality brings together the light-dark, masculine-feminine for new life. We can certainly expand our idea of sexuality now, but the symbolism of Beltane remains in the phallic and the yonic.
During Beltane festivals, couples stayed out in the fields all night, engaging in sexual union, particularly in the fields, to encourage fertility in the crops and soil or in the woods, where they would bring back greenery and flowers to decorate for the celebrations. Babies conceived during these couplings at Beltane were called merry-begots and thought to be blessed by the gods. These couplings were not the only celebrations of unions—marriages and hand fastings often were celebrated during this time.
Magick is thought to be easy to access around Beltane. All manner of people engaged in divination and magickal behavior from the grandmother to the cook who threw his soup bones in the fire to read in the morning. In fact, the two Greater Sabbats of the year, Samhain and Beltane, lying across from each other on the Wheel of the Year, honor the thinness of the veil between the worlds by encouraging us to dive into our Tarot and oracle decks, our runes, and scry into bowls of water, another yonic symbol.
I have been reading Tarot for many moon cycles. As a pagan and an earth medicine practitioner, I have created tarot spreads for each of the points on the Wheel of the Year to help us easily tap into the energetic and magickal work important around these different points on the Wheel of the Year and in our life. Beltane’s sexy energy encourages us to connect with the light, lusty, fertile energy of Beltane and May.
I wanted to share my Tarot Layout from my book the Complete Tarot Layouts. Because the energy of sex and creativity is so intimately tied together, you can use this layout for either. If you are more interested in a creative project, you can also think of that birthing out of the same energy of Beltane. Remember you can do this reading at any time you want to check in with a relationship or project of any kind, not just Beltane. Remember you can use this and any tarot layout with runes, oracles decks or any Tarot deck.
Episode 12: Tarot's Card of the Year for 2020 with Kyra Paules
I love me a good conversation with Kyra. It was so fun to talk about the Card of the Year (Emperor) for 2020 and the Card for 2021 (Hierophant). So we talk Tarot and the energy of the past two years and how we see archetype and tarot work play out on a larger scale with this work.
Episode 9: Introverts & Spirituality with Alison Truitt
Today’s episode features my friend Alison Truitt. I met Alison a few years ago in a Tarot class I was teaching where Ali was the only student. We went deep really quickly, as tarot forces you to do. We share many of the same practices and rituals and especially our way of being in the world, because we are both Introverts. That might be surprising to some of you, especially because I am so public with my work. But I think the defining aspect of being an introvert is where you draw your energy—alone or with others. Alison and I decided to explore this topic today, talking about being an introvert, a highly sensitive person or an empath and our spiritual journey. I really wanted to have a conversation about this topic, because those of us in the spiritual realms often talk about the power of community and circles, but this is not everyone’s comfort zone. Many of us introverts are solitary practitioners and practice our own religious or spiritual practices that are separate from organized religions. So, I wanted to ask Alison: What is circle like as an introvert? What is your practice like? We also explored the tarot archetype of the Hermit, the introvert’s guide in a spiritual world. So, Alison was born and raised in the ridges and foothills of the Appalachians of Pennsylvania. As she describes in the podcast, she finds immeasurable solace in and inspiration from Mother Earth. She believes that Nature’s happenings are a reflection of one’s own rhythms. Alison is also guided by the cycles of the seasons and the moon and is strongly connected to both her Celtic heritage and the Divine Feminine. She seeks to honor all that has shaped her path as she looks inward to reclaim her soul's purpose for this lifetime and outward to manifest beauty and share it with others. Alison writes at her blog the Hermit’s Handicrafts at wordpress (I’ll put the link in the show notes) and she sells beautiful jewelry, malas and artwork around the journey of pregnancy, motherhood and beyond at her Etsy shop the Hermit’s handicrafts. Hope you enjoy this episode of Centered.
https://thehermitshandicrafts.wordpress.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/HermitHandicrafts
Episode 4: Tarot's Gatekeepers of Shadow with Kyra Paules
You know, I love good conversations with laughter and insight. Kyra and I always seem to have these interesting wandering conversations that are enlightening and interesting. This one started as a conversation about the “dark cards” of the Major Arcana. We were basically using the Rider-Waite-Smith deck for reference and start with the Hanged Man and end with the Tower, talking about this part of the spiritual journey through the Major Arcana.
Episode 2: What is Tarot's place in this moment? with Kyra Paules
Oh, boy, I was looking forward to this conversation with Kyra Paules so much. I have known Kyra for a number of years, and she has become one of my go-to Tarot friends who I talk to about cards, life and ethics. In fact, I called on her when I was working on my June reading, because I just did not know if any of this was relevant or useful in this time. She and I talked about it, and I thought…this might be a useful conversation to have on the podcast. So, I hope you enjoy it!
Saying the wrong thing
from the Chrysalis Tarot by Toney Brooks and Holly Sierra
from my June 2020 Newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.
I don’t always know what to say when the world is in turmoil. And particularly in this moment when there is violence and righteous anger. When people are so polarized and afraid, it feels like chaos. This is another Tower moment for us as a nation. First COVID-19 had us tumbling out of the Tower. My friend Sharon Muzio said we are in a Tower moment with COVID-19, but we still are in mid-air, not in the Tower and not on the ground yet. And now, the country faces nationwide protests. The president calls for militarization and more police presence, while peaceful protests move forward. It is as though we are still falling out of the Tower, and now we are seeing the Tower collapse underneath us as we are still in mid-air, unsure of where we will land.
We are razing the beast, hopefully. Kali, the Dark Mother, comes in for this work. She is a goddess of death and rebirth. The tall Tower of oppression and systemic racism needs to fall. But it is all we know. Truthfully, I am here for it. But in this way? Seeing black people genuinely losing their freedom, arrested or worse, facing bodily injury to speak the truth of police brutality and racism in the streets. Tanks rolling into town. The infamous pictures of police with raised batons hitting people, black people, injured faces from rubber bullets and fear. We are hearing mixed reports of who is causing the looting and rioting—protesters or implants to make the protesters seem violent. We honestly do not know. It suddenly seems like we have woken up in another world. We were isolated in our homes, and now the streets are filled. But this is OUR world. We created this. So, we watch it come down, frightened and unsure how to move forward. We ask Kali to guide this destruction so we can rebuild and rebirth into a different world where we no longer have to say Black Lives Matter, because of course, they do. We see that sentiment in action in our government, in our actions, in our consciousness.
I really struggled with my monthly offerings this week. Is Tarot silly in lieu of all this? What could I possibly offer right now? Is it spiritually bypassing this suffering to talk about woo-woo energy healing, earth medicine allies, tarot, journeying...I talk a little about this in my monthly reading (See below). But I mostly really struggled with speaking at all.
- I want to say my heart hurts, but I know it is not enough and, besides, my heart is not at issue here.
- I want to scream when I see another black man killed, but I am afraid of showing you my anger.
- I want to cry and throw a tantrum about all the pain black people in this country have suffered for 400 years, but I don’t want it to be about me (I am afraid you will comfort me and not do anything else.)
- I want to walk away from the news and media and forget this is happening, but I don’t want to fall back on my privilege to be able walk away from this pain since black people cannot walk away from this ever.
- I am afraid of saying the wrong thing in the wrong way.
- I am afraid of saying the right thing in the wrong way.
- I am afraid of saying the right thing in the right way.
- I am afraid you will see my own wounds around racism and being a Latinx womyn.
I have always tried to be vocal about my dedication to anti-racism and intersectional feminism. But I feel vulnerable showing these things as a spiritual teacher. There is a belief that we need to be above politics and not in the fray of polarized views. We are not supposed to watch the news or care about this stuff. I hear it all the time. the news is too toxic and full of fear-mongering and low vibrational energy. We are just spirit, right? Heaven forbid that we show anger. Anger is so demonized in our metaphysical community. So, yeah, not talking about peace and love and light is scary.
And yet this time is calling for us to move into the fear and talk anyway. We cannot be afraid to make mistakes, to be corrected, to lose people offended by anti-racist views, to say something perceived as racist or oblivious or privileged. We cannot know what we do not know. So, I am trying to remain fearless and teachable.
I believe wholeheartedly that Spiritual work is about justice and balance. We need to be speaking out and connecting the Spirit with the physical body. Spirituality is not for the privileged few who are not in physical danger or threatened with injustices. In fact, I would argue, that is EXACTLY who we are here for. So, if you are wanting to learn more, welcome BIPOC (this stands for Black, Indigenous, People of Color) into your circles—spiritual and secular. Do the work you can do around your own internalized racism and subconscious racism. We can do this, not by asking black people to explain it to us, but by reading about it. Some great places to start:
Layla Saad in the Guardian put together an Anti-Racist reading list
Buy from black owned bookstore if you can.
Layla Saad has a wonderful course/workbook/book called Me and White Supremacy that is such an eye-opener.
This piece by Layla Saad is SO IMPORTANT. It is called "I need to talk to spiritual white women about white supremacy (Part One)”
Dr. Robin DiAngelo on White Fragility and Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
If you have some money to donate to causes, here is a list of good organizations to support right now.
Support BIPOC teachers, educators, and writers. Often Black teachers will have a paysite (Venmo or PayPal) linked on their bio in Instagram so you can directly support their writing and work. They often do so much free education on Instagram and Social Media outlets for people who want to learn how to be allies.
* * * * * * * *
This month, our June allies came forth strongly, and as I have sat with them for a few days, I realize that they are so apt. If you are a membership subscriber, Tiger came through as an ally for us this month, so your shamanic journey with tiger will be emailed out. June 5th is the last super moon. It is in Sagittarius, and there is an eclipse. Plus, Mars is a perfect Square and June is facing 7 planets in retrograde. So, hold on for the ride. For us spiritually focused folk, our medicine allies can help us navigate these crazy times, so practice exquisite energetic hygiene and self-care. Ask me if you need some help.
Subscribe to get my posts when they go up!
May 2020 Monthly Tarot Reading
Moving into the lusty month of May, I did a one card Tarot reading around the energy of this month, along with the earth medicine allies that came forth for us. Let me know what you think. I am going to be doing readings at the beginning of the month for my readers and subscribers. If you want more check-ins with me via tarot and earth medicine, please subscribe to one of my membership levels for more readings and check-ins.
The Moon + Stone Healing Memberships
In the last few years, as my clientele has grown both at home and online, I have found myself in the precarious position of balancing not just my work life and my home life, but also different aspects of my work. I basically have three jobs—my career at Alta View Wellness Center as a shamanic healer, teacher, tarot reader, and circle leader; I have my own online practice at the Moon + Stone Healing where I write exclusive content and insights on tarot, crystals, energy healing, shamanic healing, soul and shadow work, and spirituality as well as offer distance and online work and teachings; and I am the head of Student Success, Curriculum Specialist, and Crystal Coach at Hibiscus Moon Crystal Academy. I am writing and creating an oracle card deck called Cycles, as well as a few other books.
I find myself in this precarious position often. With all the things I offer--teaching, circles, healing sessions, one-on-one healing, reading tarot, teaching tarot--I often have to make choices on what to focus on at any given time. It means I am often an artist not always arting, a writer not always writing, a tarot reader not always reading. I want to give my readers and subscribers more of me, but my time is so limited.
In the last few years, I have sometimes stepped back from offering Tarot readings, or online sessions here and there, just to catch up with my email. What I sacrifice are things like writing my newsletters, offering informational posts on the blog, offering monthly Tarot readings to the public, journeying for our community, developing new offerings on my website, and deepening my presence online to my friends around the world. One of the reasons I step back from these things first is that they are a huge emotional investment. I pour myself into my work. I have never been good at half-assing things. Writing and putting things out in the world takes an outrageous amount of time and energy.
Because I have children to feed and a practice to support, I often choose those offerings where I can earn a living. Money lives in that unspeakable realm, like shadow work and trauma healing and politics, in our metaphysical community. Friends and colleagues struggle sometimes to make ends meet and never mention it to their students, clients or colleagues. We are asked constantly to offer of ourselves for free, even as we are overdrafting in our checking accounts. I’ve never been one to shy away from hard conversations. I want to offer it all for free, but I simply cannot. I often talk to my students about boundaries with our psychic and healer selves, we cannot just give of ourselves endlessly, because there will be nothing left of us. I suppose the quarantine has given me fuel to try to make the things I am passionate about available in a way that also sustains me financially and spiritually.
So, today, I am here to talk about one of the things I have been toying with for a long time—a monthly Tarot Subscription. I am calling it the Moon + Stone Healing Memberships. The Moon + Stone Healing Memberships is a tiered subscription membership that offers different levels of membership and price points so you can connect with regular readings and insight done by me around the moon cycles. They start in May 2020. These are things I always want to do--pull some cards for the collective on the New Moon, or offer a quick shamanic journey, but simply cannot afford to give away. So, I tried to find a way to sustain me, and offer the things on my to-do list that I never get to. Each collective reading will be offered via audio recording on SoundCloud, which you can access as often or as much as you would like. These membership subscriptions renew every month. You can cancel them at any time, though refunds will not be given after the content is delivered each month. Please read each offering carefully. There are only two levels with PERSONAL readings (the Sun + the World).
The baseline offering is the one that you already belong to simply by being a subscriber to my blog and newsletter. I will make this email mailing list worth your while. I will do a monthly video tarot reading posted on my blog, in which I will pull a card for the month, talk about how it affects us personally and globally, and talk about some earth medicine allies. I will post this on my YouTube page, to my blog, all my social media, and send the link in my newsletter. That is what all of you receive as a subscriber to this newsletter or if you subscribe to my RSS feed, or if you follow me on Instagram or on FB. It is free and part of what you get as a subscriber. If you decide you want more, awesome. There is no obligation to do that. But if you decide to subscribe to one of my membership tiers, my commitment to you is that this tier membership program not only will give you awesome content, but will fund more free offerings on my site as well.
STRENGTH TIER $20
The first tier includes three options you can choose:
1. a monthly full moon collective reading (available a few days before the Full Moon)
2. a monthly new moon collective reading (available a few days before the New Moon)
3. a monthly collective shamanic journey (available in the beginning of the month)
These collective tarot readings will be conducted for the entire group of subscribers. They are not personalized. I talk about the energy I am feeling around this Full or New Moon period. These readings will be about 30 minutes long and I will weave in ritual ideas, earth medicine allies, including stones, animal, and plant medicine allies for this moon cycle. These readings will be offered via audio, and available as a private SoundCloud link, so you can listen on the go. You can listen as often as you would like. They will come in an email that will talk about the energy and have exclusive content for each moon. The Shamanic Journey taps into the energy I am picking up for the month (you can view the free monthly reading available on my website free each month). The Journey takes you deeper into the work, so you can do your own journeywork with the medicine arising for you personally each month.
HERMIT TIER $35
This second tier includes two of the three above options, so you can choose the full + new moon collective readings, which means you will be hearing from me twice a month with insights about the moon cycles and what medicine to work with, or you can choose the shamanic journey and one of the moon readings.
HIGH PRIESTESS TIER $47
This tier includes both the full + New moon collective readings + the monthly guided shamanic journey with an animal guide
SUN TIER $74
In the Sun Tier, you get both the full + new moon collective readings + the monthly guided shamanic journey with an animal guide, plus you get a personal one-card Tarot reading delivered via audio (15-20 minutes) sent to you either the new or full moon.
WORLD TIER $92
In the World Tier, you get it all—both the full + new moon collective readings + the monthly guided shamanic journey with an animal guide, plus you get a personal 30-minute Tarot reading sent to you via a private SoundCloud link before either the new or full moon.
Again these tiers are the starting point for me. I plan to add more incentives and offerings to these, so if you have any ideas or wishes, respond to this email with ideas. My goal is to ensure that no matter what level you choose to subscribe at, you’ll get back more than you give.
recommendations for isolation
I am not doing as much reading as I’d like. This time has been busy with lots of movement. I spent the first few weeks organizing, and now it is classes and working. But I wanted to share some great things I have read, played with, seen, experienced in the privacy of my own home!
I currently reading The Familiars by Stacey Halls. So far there are witch allusions, babyloss, and it is set in the 17th century, so I am so in.
I also blew through Kim Krans’ graphic memoir of her eating disorder while staying at an ashram called Blossoms and Bones. I finished it and then read it again. It is a must-own for your collection if you are into shadow work, art and recovery. She also is the author of the Wild Unknown Tarot, Animal Spirit Deck and Archetypes deck. I cried and laughed, but mostly just resonated deeply with it.
Poetry-wise, I am so digging Post-Colonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz. I randomly opened it to a poem that started with a song that I was right at that moment singing, which to me was a sign that I was on the same wave length as the poet. So amazingly beautiful.
I love Ann Patchett and really enjoyed reading the Dutch House. It is set in Philly suburbs in the 60s. Her voice is magick and unmatchable. I felt like I knew the characters.
Before that book, I had just finished the last book in the post-apocalyptic trilogy called the Chronicles of the One, which is about a virus that wipes out 5/6th of the world, so if you are prone to anxieties and books that mirror life right now, um skip it. But it was good. It has witches, fairies, magick and all kinds of resilience and sex.
On deck is my favorite author Louise Erdrich’s new book the Night Watchmen.
I’ve been having so much fun playing with the Tarot Mood. I don’t think any phrase encapsulates the 5 of Swords better than, “You’re a dick, Gary.”
I am also enjoying the Hedgewitch Botanical Oracle and Crystal Medicine Oracle Deck, which are both such good allies when we get stuck in our head and have no idea what earth medicine is great for right now. Meditating and pulling cards are my jam always, but right now, when I need to be in my intuition more than my head, it helps.
Also, digging the Literary Witches Oracle, because who doesn’t like badass female icons and authors who create magick along with magick and oracle work.
I also ran across this blog post about Purple Dead Nettle, and it turns out to be all over my friggin’ yard, so I am going to try juicing this and let you know how it is.
I also love Allison Felus’s podcast I’ll Follow You and was honored to be a part of her conversation a few weeks ago.
I’d love to hear about what you are reading, watching, pulling, creating and more. So share in the comments, or send me an email at angie@themoonandstone.com
spring tarot layout
Ah, Spring—-time to clean out the winter cobwebs and let in the light. I created a tarot layout for just that energetic work. Enjoy it!
mercury retrograde tarot layout
I've been in the throes of life and finding my tarot practice waning a bit. I know you all can relate--days when you want to pull a card, but how? When? For what? Sometimes I find myself in a place where I just don't want to know.
Burying my head in the sand never works. It simply wastes time. One of the times I most want to bury my head in the sand is Mercury Retrograde. Being misunderstood, having things go haywire, mixing up my navigational system is a logistical nightmare for a recovering control freak and perfectionist. It's those times when burying my head it in the sand or "not wanting to know" seem like the best idea in the world.
But avoiding tools that actually work for connecting me with Spirit and my deep wells of wisdom keeps me from peace. I need to remind myself that Tarot doesn't punish or judge--our interpretations do that! I do that! Tarot is a navigational guide and a map for moving forward. There are many times, though, that I know I am too tender, judgmental or prone to negativity to objectively read for myself. That is when I connect with another reader and trade. Tarot Share is borne out of that impulse to have a community of Tarot readers who get it.
Speaking of Mercury Retrograde, it is coming up on March 5th. Mercury goes retrograde three times a year. It shouldn't be surprising, and yet we all seem to dread it. I have developed crystals and vibrational support during Mercury Retrograde. I created this Mercury Retrograde preparation Tarot Layout to help you identify and work with issues that might arise during Mercury Retrograde.
imbolc tarot layout
You know how I love creating tarot layouts for the Wheel of the Year. I have something in the works for those of you who also work with the pagan Wheel of the Year—the equinoxes, solstices and cross-quarter holidays, plus all the moon cycles. I cannot wait to share it with y’all.
Of course, Imbolc is coming up, so I thought I would design a layout for the seeds beginning to stir within you. Imbolc is basically the halfway point between Yule (Winter Solstice) and Ostara (Vernal Equinox). This is the traditional time that candles are made, and the sheep begin birthing lambs (hence the name Imbolc, pronounced Im-olc, meaning ewe’s milk). The gift of the first milk might help sustain a family in the dark winter. Speaking of darkness, we begin to see the sun rising earlier and setting later. I mean, we hear that Yule is when the sun begins coming out earlier, but now is when we can really see it in action.
It is also traditionally the feast day of St. Brigid, or the Goddess Brigid. Her snake would rise from the soil to test the weather and tell us whether the winter would last for another 6 weeks or longer. (Sound familiar?) But the idea here is under the snow, the grass, the soil, the seeds planted deep in the autumn are beginning to stir. It looks calm and serene above, but the seeds are stirring into action and beginning to make their way toward the sun.
And the same for us. What seeds are beginning to make their way towards the light for you? This tarot layout seeks to understand what is happening below your surface. Let me know if you use this tarot layout and what you think of it.
healing relationship tarot layout
How were your holiday gatherings? One of my Tarot friends sent me this hilarious cartoon for Thanksgiving, combining two things I love--laughing and Tarot. I have a great family and enjoy them very much. This was not always the way--my extended family dinners as a child seemed more like a blood sport. People leaving drunk and crying, yelling, dramatics, drinking, accusations. No one seemed to like each other, and I vowed as an adult to not be this way.
Holidays can be fraught with emotions--joy, grief, hurt, expectation, anxiety, sadness, loneliness--then add complicated family and friend relationships, and it is a formula for deep trauma. As I thought about this, I wondered how I would want to help my clients navigate the holiday family gatherings with my clients if they came to me for a Tarot reading. And I thought about how often in relationship disputes, I cannot see the trees through the forest. So, I created a Tarot Layout for Healing Friendships, Relationships & Family Dynamics. I created it so you can go deeper with shifting tension, for seeing a new perspective and for finding a way forward. I focused this layout on the person asking the question, because we can really only change us, right?
I think it would be useful to consider the cards that arise in certain positions. There are some relationships in which there is no path forward--this rift is permanent and important. Pay attention to the people on the card--is it a solitary person, or two people? Are you seeing cards of withdrawal or protection? Remembering that sometimes you are not at fault in the slightest, so how you move forward needs to be considered with that in mind. I'm going to print some of these out for Tarot Share, though it might not lend itself to a great group reading. This is really about our individual work with another person.
going deeper layout
I just naturally do this layout on my daily reads. I always feel like I need some more insight on just past present and future, so I expand to include some Celtic Cross insights in this little six card draw.
Whenever I create a layout for Tarot, I think it is important to ask a question or at least know the area of life you are interested in learning more about. Often, three card layouts are like little selfies of our time period. I think of this three card layout as having been put vertically, so that each row is present, approaching and outcome.
I like to play with those rows--first row is really about all the influences on the present, including the past and some additional insights about what we cannot quite clearly see. This is all the energy around you right now. I often get questions about the card in the past...this card is about what part of your past is influencing the question asked, or the energy that you are bringing into the question you asked. In the Unknown position, you can use this as something influencing now, so it can be another thing from the past, or the obvious thing from the present you are ignoring. The Second Row is about what we are calling in, what is in our approaching influence. This energy is about what are current actions are calling to us. What I mean by that is that our energy attracts or moves us toward the next phase. This approaching are really helps us to understand where our energy is spiraling toward, and what situation we are setting up for ourselves. Of course, this approaching energy is really about how we get to the outcome of our question. So, the outcome stands alone in the third row as the final resting place of our question if nothing changes.
Hope you enjoy this. Love to see how you use this in your own practice!
a Lammas reading for you
New Moon Tarot Layout
New Moon is such a potent time for planting seeds, for setting intention, for taking stock. For me, the dark of the New Moon excites me. It seems so potent and full of potential for me. Plus, that inward reflection for me plays beautifully into my own introversion and need for alone time. I mean, this isn't isolation. It is solitude. It is time to check-in. I often do my most powerful readings during this time period, because I do it ready for release. Hell, the New Moon makes me sleep well, but also finds me cranky. I am not always good with too many personalities, so I pare things down. I connect with the cards, with Spirit, with my own needs.
I often do the Medicine Wheel Layout or even the Solstice layout, but recently, I have been doing this New Moon Layout I've been playing with. This is really potent for those who aren't really sure what energy they are really ready to call in at the New Moon. It is great for the question: Where should my attention be right now?
As always, please let me know how you like this layout and show me your readings. I am offering distance readings again, so please reach out if you are interested at angie@themoonandstone.com
medicine wheel layout
The energy of Summer is upon us--that fire in our belly. In terms of the Medicine Wheel, we are facing South, the direction of Fire, of mystery, of passion and heat and action and creativity and, and, and....there is so much going on the South, it is no wonder we break a sweat. The South moves us from the airy East into the deep fires of the lower chakras--the root, sacral and solar plexus. This is where we ground, we create, we do. Red, Orange, and Yellow combine to create those flames of DOING.
Many tribes use the Horse as their symbol of the South. I certainly use her as my Southern Totem. She is the Great Sojourner, the Carrier of the Warrior and the Maiden, the traveler, the explorer, that fearless movement forward. We call in the energy in the East in Spring, and it flies overhead with the energy of Hawk, Eagle, even hummingbird (hummingbirds have been all over my land this year with her busy, fast dance.) These high fliers have the vision to align you, to see the bigger picture, to see the forest, but what that vision does is move you into South, where we actually do the dang thing we have been visioning. When I am in the South, I find myself creating all day, painting, sketching, playing guitar, singing, doodling. My creativity is awakened. Creativity and action begets more creativity and action. I am ready. I call on fire to burn away that which sit stagnant in my energy field. I call on fire to start me on my wild journey.
I move through the Medicine Wheel constantly--we all do...each day, year, and in the cycle of our life, we move through east, south, west, and north. Each morning, in my prayers, I call in the directions for healing and to guide my days. I use this model for my Tarot readings too. This isn't exactly a new layout, though I didn't "copy" it from another source. This is just how I have always intuitively done reading around the Medicine Wheel. I drew it up in a Tarot Layout that is shareable and useable. I thought we could try it next Tarot Share for our group reading.
beltane tarot spread
I have really enjoyed creating tarot spreads around the seasonal energies this year. It has been such a challenge for me to think about what we need to know at different times of the year around these cycles. I connect with cycles and even created an oracle deck based on the different cycles we tap into through our life. It's not available yet. I just use it for myself. But I think about this so often when I do readings for my clients. First, what cycle of life are they in? What cycle of their year? What universal cycle are they in--what is the astrological or lunar cycle are all of us facing? This seems like such an important part of the work of reading energy to me.
Beltane, May 1st, is one of those important points on the Wheel of the Year. Spring is in full bloom--flowers are blossoming and the world radiates a thousand shades of green in every corner. The lightness seeps into us all. The Solar Horned God earns his name and is ready to mate with the Lunar Goddess. This is where the idea of Lusty May comes in. We certainly understand Spring Fever and we really enjoy a time of fertility and growth. We celebrate the light, the sexuality and creativity that lies within that sacral energy. It is within us. Now, how are you expressing this time?
I create these tarot spreads to help us easily tap into the energetic and magickal work important around these different points on the Wheel of the Year and in our life. It is such a powerful time to check-in with a relationship or partnership you have. And if you are more interested in a creative project, you can also think of that birthing out of the same energy of Beltane. Remember you can do this reading at any time you want to check in with a relationship or project of any kind, not just Beltane. Let me know how you enjoy this layout.
