Collective Tarot Reading - Hurting Heart Halloween Edition

 
Take what resonates, leave what doesn't, and keep an open heart-mind.
Tarot card deck used is The Halloween Tarot by Kipling West ©1996
 

As the veil thins, what do our beloved ancestors { the ones that really care about us and give a shit about our collective well-being + future } need us to know?


Three of Bats (Swords) Reversed

Our hearts are breaking. There’s no other way of putting it. Our collective heart aches. And our ancestors want to recognize this truth. It’s really really hard out here, especially for those of us sensitive souls. It’s like they're communicating, ‘It makes sense you’re scared and sad’, and then proceeding to give our tender broken hearts a gentle hug. 🥹 In all of the tarot, this is the one card that is very straightforward about recognizing the presence of sorrow, grief, disappointment, fear, and anguish. This card’s traditional depiction is of three swords piercing a heart amidst a torrential rainstorm. So, yeah I’d say that’s about where we are right now collectively.

Because it is in the mental domain of Swords (bats), there is specifically an invitation to look at how we think about our pain, how our thoughts and beliefs affect our achy tenderness. How do you think about the experience of grief? What are the beliefs you turn towards when there is disappointment or when things are not feeling as hopeful? What worries tend to come up with the sorrow of your heart? How our mind perceives or makes sense of the emotional experiences matters.

Our loving ancestor guides are encouraging us to hold compassionate, curious space for our painful emotions. What would it be like to create a guest home for these feelings, as if they were visitors staying awhile needing refuge and a cup of tea? This can be very hard, certainly for the feelings we want to completely avoid thinking about, the ones we tend to judge, or even the ones we cling onto/rigidly attach to as part of our identity. Note that these are common approaches to pain that tend to increase suffering. A first step is to acknowledge the presence of the tougher tender feelings without shaming or the reactionary impulse to push away. How can we begin to be with them? Research studies consistently show that intensity levels of challenging emotions decrease when we give language to our feelings. Naming anxiety or heartache explicitly actually transforms the unsettling experience from being a raw, overwhelming feeling to a more approachable experience. A helpful tagline to remember: “When we name it, we begin to tame it.” Use this Feelings Wheel to help you. Also, I’m hearing the ancestors continue to suggest that we get comfortable with explicitly naming capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, and colonial exploitation - not to drown in despair but to remember: these are human-made and can be unmade.

We can also introduce loving strategies to cope with the more vulnerable emotional visitors. Reconnecting with your hurting heart might look like: A statement of recognition with a hand on your dear heart: “I know you’re aching. I know it's so heavy right now. Let’s breathe together.”  Writing a loving poem for them. Painting your heart with colorful symbolism. Closing your eyes for five minutes and imagining your heart and whole being held in some way - a protective glow, a warm cozy blanket, anything that feels safe and nourishing.

When this card is reversed, as is the case here, it's a recognition that we are in an active hopeful transition; we are in process of recognizing, releasing, and transmuting this pain. Additionally, our loving ancestors are reminding us that while the environment we are in is deeply disturbing, it does not need to have a hold on us and our worthy essence. We have the power to let go of some of its tight painful grasp on our hearts.

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 🎶❤️‍🩹
PLAYLIST to create a home for the feels:
Haunted House by Florence + The Machine
b i g f e e l i n g s by WILLOW
In Between by Lauren Jauregui
Changes by Hayd
healing hurts by BLÜ EYES
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood by Nina Simone
Ansiedad by Carla Morrison
At the Mercy of the Waves by Clem Leek
My Body’s My Buddy by Tessa Violet, Brye
Orpheus by Sara Barailles
Tomorrow by Miner
Rooted by Aisha Badru
Collapsed in Sunbeams by Arlo Parks

If we’re courageous enough to look at our shadows - the scary stuff - what will we uncover?

Two of Pumpkins (Pentacles)

This card is all about adaptability, flexibility, and sometimes literally juggling. When we look at our shadows { the unnerving, uncomfortable, stigmatized, or challenging parts of our life } we show up to what is authentically present for us. By facing the truth of what is - even if it's scary to do – we allow ourselves the opportunity to assess the whole picture. When we do this, we have more of a chance to respond wisely and adapt in a way that is actually helpful. We might even expand more beautifully in the process. Conversely, if we relied on toxic positivity (“light and love only”) or complete avoidance we would be doing ourselves a disservice. We would be missing such essential pieces of the puzzle. Perhaps even living behind a mask that constrains us and our true needs. I think about the collective moment of preparedness that is critical right now. The Reality is REALLY Bad: Techno-oligarcy-facism is here. So, with that clarity of our current situation, our Beneficial Adaptation in Response: We can build communal survival strategies to support our ability to maneuver (and ideally dismantle) it.

There's a nudge here as well to embrace all parts of who we are, especially the dualities that at first glance seem to be completely opposing forces. This collective chapter is giving big BOTH/AND energy. Remember we can hold space for the grief and the joy. We can mourn and mobilize action. You’re a sacred messy human being that might be both confident and soft, fearless and scared, tired and determined, disgusted and hopeful, sweet and fucking fierce. We are experiencing a collective death AND rebirth. Also, our energy (individually and collectively) is not a limitless or fully restricted entity. Gift yourself permission to shift as needed, to drop the juggle ball that doesn’t serve you, to reach out to resources that would help you. This card signals that we can uncover harmony when we flow with the fluctuations of life. Careful to not read this as achieving some perfect balance. There is no such thing. However, dynamically ebbing and flowing with what is real and true is a reasonable goal or intention.

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SPELL FOR FLOWING WITH DUALITY

On a scrap piece of paper, or a large bay leaf, write a both - and sentence that feels true for you right now. I’ll give a few examples:
“It makes sense that I don’t want to feel this way, AND I am learning how to be with this part of me.”
“It feels so overwhelming, AND I am taking time to honor that it’s alot.”
“I wish I didn’t have this pain, AND it is here, so I practice greeting it with softness.”
“I’m grieving what’s ending, AND I am curious about what is beginning.”

Once you have it written, create a repeated spiral motion 🌀 with your pointer finger over the sentence, symbolizing the cyclical flowing nature of all things, and say to yourself: “As this flows, so do I." 

Then choose any of the following actions: 
🌝 Place the paper/leaf in a bowl of water and allow it to flow there under the moon. 
🛁 Place the paper/leaf in the bathtub and sprinkle rose petals. Take a nourishing bath.
🐚 Place the paper/leaf in a seashell and have it sit with you at your desk or bedside.

When all is completed, place your hand on your heart and send a wave of gratitude to your mind, body, and spirit. Consider saying, “I hold both the ache and the healing. I am whole as I am.”

 

What will support us as we face the real fears of our time?

Four of Bats (Swords) Reversed

This card is an invitation to reclaim rest as resistance. Creating intentional time for a reset or recentering is critical work. This allows us to not only recharge, but also process and integrate the ongoing funnel of information and trauma impact of oppressive policy. The card is reversed, and I take this as an extra note of caution on how we understand and engage with rest. There is a reminder here of being intentional with our rest. This isn't a card suggesting a retreat to Bali or a shopping spree as self-care. It’s learning what activities, qualities, and relationships restore you. It's ironically a rest that is awake. What do I mean by this? It is meaningfully and consciously connecting with acts of rejuvenation. Leaning into relaxing, grounding, and creative ways of being that truly refuel you and invigorate you.

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REST RITUALS

✍🏼Try free writing what forms of rest come to mind when you think of these words:  Nourishment.  Medicinal.  Regenerative.  Connective.  Inspiring.  Sustainable.  Easeful. 

☁️Carve out an hour at some point this coming month. Light a candle and get your favorite beverage. Then, tune into this powerful healing keynote session by Tricia Hersey (starts at minute 8:22). Journal on what comes up for you.

🌙Play this in the background one evening while you read, craft, cook, clean the dishes, fold laundry, or look up at the cosmos and let it wrap you in whimsical cozy. 

How do we move from stuck fear to mobilized empowerment?


High Priestess Reversed

Our intuition is divine and necessary. This is what the High Priestess is about - reacquainting yourself with and befriending your intuitive gifts. You do not need to be a seasoned oracle to connect with your intuition. Consider ways you may already be turning towards your inner knowing. Examples: Listening to your gut when something feels off. Thinking of a friend and texting them only to hear that they were also thinking about you. Attuning to your body cues and respecting its needs. Having a sudden ‘aha!’ moment and allowing yourself to be curious about it. Realizing that your energy is impacted by others’ energy. Feeling into a decision versus solely relying on “logic”.

Imagine your intuition as a magically perceptive part of you who whispers only truths with hopes that you create space to listen. You can also think of your intuition as any of the following if it makes more sense to you {again follow your intuition wink wink} …. A friend, a trustworthy confidant, a compass, an inner light or lantern, a conversation, an instinct muscle. Intuition is not about getting something correct or getting to some destination. It’s a subtle pathway of tuning into a deeper knowing that can provide additional insight. There are various ways to tap into and strengthen your relationship with your intuition; you can reference some in the practices below.

In its reversed position, there’s an extra nudge to notice when you question your intuition or doubt yourself. There’s also an acknowledgement that it can be tricky to distinguish between anxiety and intuition. Some tips: Take note of the tone of the message/download/insight you have. If it's feeling calm or more neutral, rather than rushed or jittery, then it more likely will be an intuitive hit. Also, check how your body feels. Anxiety tends to leave us feeling contracted: tight chest, shallow breath, racing thoughts. Intuition tends to feel like ease, expansion, clarity, and groundedness in our body.  Sometimes anxiety guards intuition. Your nervous system may be on alert because your deeper self already senses something real. The goal isn’t to silence anxiety, but to soothe it enough so you can hear what’s underneath.

This card reversal is also a big ancestral caution against soaking up the whitewashed, patriarchal, capitalist dogma nonsense. That is all designed to disrupt the connection we have with our worthy inner wisdom. Sweet one, intuition is an active re-membering who the fuck you are. What a potent way to mobilize our power!
 

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INTUITIVE PRACTICES

🪶Flow with your body: Play this song Quedate Luna by Natalia Doco and follow the rhythm of your body. No judging or critiquing or trying to get the proper moves. Simply intuitively follow the intuitive way your body wants to move. Practice being in flow. Note how that feels all through your being. Then pick any song of your choosing and do the same thing, giving permission to your body to take the lead. 

❣️Quiet check-in: Throughout the day/week, pause to ask yourself “What is true for me right now?” or “What does my heart need right now?”

🐠 Stream of consciousness: Select the act of writing, painting, or drawing. Then put a timer for 10 minutes and free flow whatever comes out. No analyzing or censoring. Just instinctively following where the stream wants to go. After the 10 minutes is up, approach what you have with curiosity (“hmmmm”) and highlight anything that feels extra interesting or unlocks something for you.

🪬Slow the noise: Avoid the stimulation of screens or other intense forms of manufactured input. Go for a walk, meditate, stare at the clouds, stretch your body. Play instrumental music and take deep breaths. Listen to the birds. Build a quiet fort, where silence is sacred.

🔮Divination play: Pick a tarot card or a random painting on the internet. Close your eyes and select a page of a book; read the passage message. Go to a park and select a flower or tree that speaks to you. Then channel, dear one. Tune into any mental downloads, any ideas that come ‘out of the blue’, any bits of sudden inspiration or symbolism.

 

What is a treat we can offer ourselves on our communal altar?


8 of Pumpkins (Pentacles) Reversed

Oh, I love this for us. The craftsperson appears again for us. This time in pumpkin form. This card was in the last collective tarot reading, interesting. The delicious treat we can offer ourselves is our very own craft, our life’s work. This beautiful message is asking us: What is stopping you from embracing the gifts that you uniquely have? What would it be like to view your life’s precious work as worthy and honor it on the altar of your life?  

Reclaim what work is, love. Sure we’ve been taught that it needs to pay the bills, and it needs to produce results, and it needs to make rich people richer. But that is not what this card is about. The work here is what conjures aliveness, what makes your life meaningful, what feeds your creative nature, what embodies authentically who you are. It’s also often tied in some way with your legacy or what you feel called to leave on this planet or in community. Work can be organizing the banned book club or the neighborhood mutual aid block party; it can be volunteering at the food bank; it can be starting an urban garden; it can be building a business rooted in reciprocity; it can be advocating for children’s rights; it can be writing a novel or poetry; it can be designing a fashion show or art gallery that fundraises for Gaza, Sudan, Congo; it can be giving mentorship that emboldens the next generation. 

There is a repeated invitation here to share our offerings not only because it benefits our own humanity and makes us feel better, but because it also elevates the communal good.  So, let’s notice when we are too afraid to share our work with others. Let’s practice redirecting when the metalords attempt to distract us with their algoh AI. Let’s collectively build an altar that imbues joy, wonder, gratitude, mystery, connection, playfulness.

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REFLECT ON YOUR (OUR) WORK

✨What is my work at this point in my life journey?

✨If I had an altar honoring my life’s work or legacy, what would be on it?

✨How might I infuse my work with more aliveness, enjoyment, and purpose?

✨What would a loving, protective ancestor of mine say about my work?

And a reminder from your community of family, friends, animals, trees, neighbors, ancestors (past and future), we are in this together. You are never alone in your work....Help You Do The Work by Pierce Freelon, Nnenna Freelon, Jarrett Johnson 

With so much care and appreciation,

🧡DR. MO

How did this reading land with your heart? I would very much like to hear. Please send me an ⇨ email to let me know what resonated, what supports you, and what feels uncomfy but true.