Mar
29
2025

New Moon Gateway: Power-With with the Tarot’s Emperor, Two of Wands, and Queen of Wands as Our Guides

For Seekers – Moonthly Renewal – Practices for Soul & Spirit

The arrival of the new moon stamps the moonth with an initiating energy that shifts and develops through a cycle of growth, fullness, and descent. Each moonth I look to the Tarot’s astrological correspondences of the new moon to find 3 cards (a Major, a numbered Minor, and a court/people card) to find guidance for soul tending, prompts for personal/spiritual practice, and creating a moonthly reading. The reading can be done any time, but ideally between the new and full moons. Revisit the cards you pull periodically up until the next lunation to gain new insight as the light changes.

The conflicts brewing today are only superficially questions of who will take power. Underneath is a deeper struggle: to change the nature of the power in which our society is rooted. ~ Starhawk, Truth or Dare

The March 29th new moon (exact at 6:58 am ET, time zone converter) starts us on the path of the Emperor, who calls us to renew our vision of power. Wiccan teacher and activist Starhawk offers a model for encountering the fullness of power by naming 3 different aspects:

  • Power-over
  • Power-from-within
  • Power-with.

Before you read my musings on these forms of power or Starhawk’s original ideas, take a moment to let this way of naming power work on you and evoke your own feelings and ideas about power. What surfaces?

Then read below and/or check out Starhawk’s ideas and think about: What resonates with your ideas? What do you disagree with? How might your ideas be synthesized with these other ideas? This reflection can support you to articulate your own understanding of power and how you use it in your life.

Using the Motherpeace Tarot cards associated with the new moon moment—Path of the Emperor through the Passage 2 of Wands in the Posture of the Queen of Wands – we see examples of each of the different aspects of power Starhawk proposes.

The Motherpeace Emperor wears the mask of power-over.

Emperor from The Motherpeace Tarot

This type of power operates through domination and grows from an understanding of the world as one of separation and hierarchy: God is removed from and above the human; the human is removed from and above the earth; people from different tribes, groups, or nations are in competition with each other, viewing their own group as superior.

Control, and violence – both in overt forms such as war or chaotic and subtle ones that shape and limit our consciousness – are the tools of power-over. The Emperor contains this power-over energy within its range of meaning.

In the Motherpeace deck, the Emperor shown is Alexander, the Great, who ruled much of the ancient Western world after taking control by conquest. These tactics will seem familiar. Today’s authoritarian—and wanna-be-authoritarian—leaders across the globe are echoes of Alexander and act from power-over.

In these times we are seeing many who are quite good at their brutal game. If we fought them with their tactics, we would likely lose, but there is more than one kind of power.

The vision of power-from-within is shown on the Two of Wands.

Two of Wands from Motherpeace Tarot

A woman tunes into her inner sight and from it flows a vision of another being to teach her a skill she needs to learn. This teacher might be her own wisdom that emerges when she steps away from the critique and noise of the wider world. Or it might be an ancestor offering her needed guidance. No matter the source, the gift offered will sustain the woman and her community.

Attuned to power-from-within, we are able to bring forth our unique spark of wisdom and offer it to the world. This kind of power is visionary, creative, connected.

When we flow with power-from-within we fully trust our inner voices of guidance as well as recognize a connection to something greater than ourselves. There is no disconnection between serving the Whole and being ourselves. Energized by power-from-within, people manifest their visions.

The Priestess (Queen) of Wands shows us how power-from-within supports a third kind of power: power-with.

Priestess of Wands from Motherpeace Tarot

The Priestess does not walk alone; she walks naked with a lion. Her nakedness here is an expression of her comfort with showing off her power-from-within. No need to hide her light! She is joined to the lion. They support each other on the journey, becoming more powerful through their connection. When we who embrace power-from-within join together, we can overcome the tactics of power-over.

There is no sure fix, linear progress, or quick timeline for shifting power dynamics. Power-over, after all, has been dominant for millennia.

I first wrote about this Emperor-Two of Wands-Queen of Wands lunar gateway when we were in the early days of the March 2020 pandemic lockdowns.

Those of us who could, stayed home because it was the only strategy available to flatten the curve and save lives. Our separation became connection. As the pandemic continued, mutual aid groups in neighborhoods and on social media formed to ensure all received support. These groups were guided by principles of solidarity rather than charity with those in need driving decision making. Meanwhile the response of the first Trump administration was chaotic and the messaging confusing.

Stuck in our houses and glued to our screens, we watched with our own horrified eyes as police murdered George Floyd. The streets swelled with protestors and a broad cross section of people embraced Black Lives Matter. In cities and towns across the country, people began pressuring for change in their local police departments, knowing they wouldn’t change by themselves.

More and more people were recognizing that the power-over Emperor wasn’t coming to save us, so we had to save ourselves. As we saved ourselves, we created new webs of power-with connections.

Social commentators and the media have questioned the staying power of these power-with actions of 2020. Many mutual aid groups initially dissolved and Black Lives Matter activism declined. I sense a judgment of the groups as failures because they have not sustained themselves or achieved certain policy goals. But the judgment is misplaced. It is really the power-over institutions and weak politicians that have failed to sustain and adapt the innovations of mutual aid and the policies of the Black Lives Matter movement.

But power-with connections are not lost. Connection is not like a Tower that can be smashed and broken. Connections ebb and flow, but they can be returned to when needed. Mutual aid societies, for example, are not new. They are perhaps ancient and certainly have roots in the US in the late 1700 when formerly enslaved people organized themselves into the Free African Society.

As our current cruel and lawless administration works to dismantle the social safety net and target vulnerable groups, people are once again turning to mutual aid societies. Organizing meetings have been happening right here in the small city where I live. We are re-activated the muscles that we developed during the pandemic of how to care for each other.

And the Black Lives Matter movement? Is it dead? Certainly, seeing Black Lives Matter Plaza being dug up in Washington DC is a blow, but in a Two-of-Wands vision from the middle of the night it came to me:

They didn’t expend the effort to dig up the plaza because it was inconsequential.

They dug up the Black Lives Matter Plaza because it was powerful.

The Plaza was a symbol and reminder of a time when so many marched together, even across political divides. Both conservative Republican Senator Mitt Romney and civil rights icon and Democratic Representative John Lewis marched to recognize that black lives matter. Multi-racial, non-violent protests took place in large cities and rural communities. Signs were ubiquitous and practically mainstream. Companies embraced the movement. Yes, often in surface ways, but still Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion were given more attention and sometimes resources.

This solidarity is what scares those with power-over, who are always a small group. They know that connection is what topples authoritarian rulers.

The strategist Bill Moyer mapped eight stages of social movements and detailed how it is often when a movement is closest to victory it perceives itself to have failed. Because we never know if we are on the cusp of victory or a true defeat, we are called to contribute our power-from-within to the power-with efforts. (Upcoming opportunity to do so is the April 5th Day of Action.) If we don’t, the only clear winner will be the power-over Emperor.

Reflection Questions / Reading of the Moonth

These questions are offered for reflection and to spark practice throughout the moonth. Pulling Tarot and oracle cards in connection to these questions is appropriate, but not absolutely necessary. You might carry a question with you on a walk for example and observe what is happening in the natural world as a way to find insight into the answer to the question. You might carry cards pulled, too, and see what they want to interact with in the world.

POWER: What is your power-from-within that the world needs now?

EXPRESSION: How to express this power?

MANIFESTATION: What can you manifest to tip the balance ever more away from power-over to power-with?

I do offer this as an e-reading in my collaborative initiative format for $32. Sign up with Pay Pal or contact me about sending a check. When I receive notification, I’ll be in touch to let you know about when to expect to receive your reading by email. In this very busy week upcoming I will only have a slot or two open, may have to push readings to after the 5th. I’ll let you know when you sign up. If time doesn’t work for you, I’ll refund your fee.

Mar
26
2025

Dark Moon Release with with Arianrhod as our Guide

For Seekers – Moonthly Renewal – Practices for Soul & Spirit – Sanctuary

Before the moon is made new on March 29th, it returns to the place on the astrological Wheel where it began its moonthly journey. The energy gathered through the moonth now flows away into moonless nights. What will you send with this energy to be transformed in the dark?

The moonth we are concluding began and now ends in Pieces which corresponds to the Tarot’s Moon card. In the Dark Goddess Tarot The Moon is Arianrhood, the Welsh Goddess of the Moon. Ellen Lorenzi-Prince, creator of the Dark Goddess Tarot, description of Her includes:

Arianrhod – whose name means Silver Wheel – is a shapeshifter who often appears as an owl of the night, the owl who sees in the darkness, who sees at once ahead and behind, whose wings are soft and silent. She is the weaver upon her wheel, braiding and binding her magic into the manifestation of the world and the destiny of its creatures.

In the Celtic tradition, owls are associated with death, and could serve as guardians of the underworld and protectors of the dead. The newly dead encounter Arianrhod in her tower behind the dreamy glow of the northern lights, and here she serves as a guide to help them make their transition from life to death and then onward into their next incarnation.

Death and life are woven together at this time of year in the occurrences of the natural world and in wisdom of Arianrhod. In yards and forest around my town, early bulbs and spring wildflowers are pushing their way up through the litter of dead leaves that have been their protection until now. Acknowledgement and work with this interwoven nature of life and death can bring power to your dark moon release work this moonth.

From 7:30 pm ET on Wednesday, March 26th through 8:36 pm ET on Friday, March 28th (time zone converter), the dark moon returns to Pisces/ The Moon is especially potent for supporting your transformation (but any time before the new moon’s arrival when you can fit it in is good). You are invited to engage in reflection and ritual to celebrate achievements of the moonth passing and release what you do not want to carry into the next lunation.

Reflection

Do you record your dreams? If so, you are invited to look back at the dreams of the moonth for images that capture your attention, patterns that appear, and perhaps to see if any dream images had an echo in your waking life.

If you don’t record or remember your dreams, you can pull 3 Tarot or oracles to show you the main themes of your dreams this moonth. (We dream each night, even if we don’t remember those dreams.)

Then working with your reflections or your cards, ponder questions such as:

  • What are my dreams telling me about what is dead in my life (i.e. ready to be transformed)?
  • What are my dreams telling me about what new is ready to emerge into my life?

After you’ve done some pondering on your own, select by choice or chance cards to represents each thing you feel is ready to transform and each thing that might be coming new in your life.

Dark Moon Ritual

Before going to sleep on the dark moon night, shapeshift into the role of Arianrhod. You might do this by gazing on an image of her, inviting her through meditation, or by feeling the power of the dark and moonless night.  

Then take up each of the cards from the reflection above that represent what is ready to be transformed in your life and spend some time in communion with the aspects of the image that most captivate your attention. Let them know that they are dead and now is the time to transition into something new. Imagining yourself as Arianrhod, give each aspect words of encouragement and advice for making the journey into death and then beyond into the next incarnation.

Then as you prepare to go to sleep ask that these elements be released and transformed in the dark of night. You might imagine them getting into some kind of conveyance – a boat or a chariot or a sports card – and moving away from you as you drift into sleep.

Trust that the night will do its work.

When the new moon arrives, you may want to take up the cards that represented the new in your life and let them inspire you to make new moon wishes. Be sure to write them down to revisit at the end of the moonth.

Feb
27
2025

New Moon Gateway: The Way of the Imagination with the Tarot’s Moon

For Seekers – Moonthly Renewal – Practices for Soul & Spirit

The arrival of the new moon stamps the moonth with an initiating energy that shifts and develops through a cycle of growth, fullness, and descent. Each moonth I look to the Tarot’s astrological correspondences of the new moon to find 3 cards (a Major, a numbered Minor, and a court/people card) to find guidance for soul tending, prompts for personal/spiritual practice, and creating a moonthly reading. The reading can be done any time, but ideally between the new and full moons. Revisit the cards you pull periodically up until the next lunation to gain new insight as the light changes. This new moon arrives on Thursday, the 27th (exact at 7:45 pm ET, time zone converter).

Path of the Moonth: The Moon

In the iconic Rider Waite Smith Moon image, a lobster rises from the sea where it has been walking the ocean floor’s dark depths. Its claws reach toward a golden path leading to the mountains. To reach the end of the journey, the tiny creature will have to pass by obstacles – the howling dog and wolf – and through a strange landscape – rolling hills as blue as the sea support twin doorless towers. Above the moon shines as brightly as the sun. These incongruous elements give the feeling of a dream. Meaning can’t be made with the rational mind about what is happening here. We are in the realm of the emotional, otherworldly, and unconscious. We’ll have to use our intuition as we travel the Moon’s path.

The Haindl Tarot’s Moon draws us even more deeply into the dream of this archetype. There’s a lobster here, too, and a path out of the sea. The path is not golden but watery and flows toward a unicorn with an enormous horn.

While unicorns may be based on an actual animal – the extinct aurochs? – they exist today only because of imagination: our human ability to form images and concepts that are actually not present to the senses or exist in physical form. Our imaginations have imbued the unicorn with many meanings over the centuries.

Today pink sparkly ones are ubiquitous in cartoons and on children’s sneakers. But in centuries past the unicorn was a symbol of sacrifice representing Jesus Christ giving his life to protect a maiden embroidered onto tapestries of the nobility. The unicorn as symbol holds both delight and sacrifice, is found in commercial and creative spheres.

The Haindl’s unicorn undertakes an impossible feat: birthing itself out of ancient rock. The powerful horn extends beyond the image’s edge, breaking through into the beyond. When we take this unicorn as our wisdom guide, we are invited to break through to the:

  • Impossible. Because most of what now exists was once thought to be impossible from social security to hand-held computers (i.e. our cell phones!); from women’s suffrage to same-sex marriage; from anything you have created to relationships with your chosen beloveds. What is your dream right now? If someone tells you that’s impossible, you can smile because that means it is on the way.
  • Invisible. Because there is a realm beyond that we cannot see. We all conceive of, and make our connections to, this realm differently. You may know this as the place of ancestors, beloved dead, spirits, saints, or ley lines. None can be seen, but all offer support to us for walking the paths of our lives.
  • Greater Than that goes by many different names: Goddess, God, Holy One, Universal Energy, the One that Holds the Whole.

Breakthroughs of the imagination open the way for the unreal to become real.

Passage and Practice: Eight of Cups

When we embrace the images, messages, and possibilities flowing from our imagination, our perspective on the world changes. What we were satisfied with before may no longer be large enough now. We may be called to move in a new direction. This is what happens when we walk the Moon path through the Eight of Cups.

In the Tarot of the Moors’ Eight of Cups, a figure walks along the edge of a desert dune away from eight small cups and toward a deep blue sky filled with a star constellation, the planet Saturn, and a full well of water.

From Tarot of the Moors – My favorite version of 8 of Cups!

The contents of the eight cups may have once satisfied and in a desert environment the certainty of water is not to be left behind lightly. But the stars are guiding the figure toward the well, a source of new and deeper refreshment. No matter how unrealistic it may seem, we must follow the spark of our imaginations toward that well.

Posture to Take on This Path: Knight of Cups

Our guide for tending that inner light on the Moon’s winding path this lunar cycle is The Knight of Cups. All knights are devoted to a cause greater than themselves. The Tarot’s knights serve and seek to expand the gifts of their element. The suit of Cups associated with the element of water offers us emotional range, creative connection, intuitive wisdom, and Love.
From the Massachusetts Tarot Society collaborative deck – my John!

Yes, these knights are dreamers, but they also take the action necessary to make the dream real through:

  • creating art in the form of poems or dance or song;
  • offering healing practices to those in the stress of uncertainty; or
  • facilitating meetings where all ideas and emotions are expressed, for example.

Yes, they are lovers with a romantic streak, but their love is not limited to a romantic partner. Their watery, expansive selves feel the connection to even those they do not know. They do know that to love is to act for the good of the Whole—and they invite us to follow.

These Knights invites us to follow our path and practices with attitudes that support being in the flow of life while letting go of the need to control what is happening. With them as our guides we come to know that relinquishing control is not a passive activity, but rather a different, more aligned way of engaging with the world as it is.

The poet Rilke describes this approach to life as “no forcing, no holding back.” When we find this right balance between action and surrender, we are better able to ride on the wild waves of our emotions, our daily life, and any chaos that comes toward us. Our trust in self and world is strengthened, not because everything turns out the way we want but because we find we can move through the challenges that come our way.

Reading of the Moonth

These questions are offered for reflection and to spark practice throughout the moonth. Pulling Tarot and oracle cards in connection to these questions is appropriate, but not absolutely necessary. You might carry a question with you on a walk for example and observe what is happening in the natural world as a way to find insight into the answer to the question.

IMAGINATION: What wants to emerge from my imagination?

NEW DIRECTION: What new direction does my imagination invite me to explore?

ACTION: How to embrace the imaginative flow of the moonth?

I do offer this as an e-reading in my collaborative initiative format for $32. Sign up with Pay Pal or contact me about sending a check. When I receive notification, I’ll be in touch to let you know about when to expect to receive your reading by email. I generally have openings to do these readings on Mondays and Saturdays.

Feb
24
2025

Dark Moon Release with Spider Woman as Guide

For Seekers – Moonthly Renewal – Practices for Soul & Spirit – Sanctuary

Before the moon is made new on Thursday, February 27th (exact at 7:45 pm ET, time zone converter) it returns to the place on the astrological Wheel where it began its moonthly journey. The energy gathered through the moonth now flows away into moonless nights. What will you send with this energy to be transformed in the dark?

The moonth we are concluding began and now ends in Aquarius which corresponds to the Tarot’s Star card. In the Dark Goddess Tarot The Star is Spider Woman, the Hopi Goddess of Thought and Creation (XVII, Stars). Ellen Lorenzi-Prince, creator of the Dark Goddess Tarot, description of Her includes:

She creates the stars to shine upon her people in the darkest night. She arranges the constellations to show her people there is meaning in creation. A single star in the sky may appear a small thing, but be significant in relation to another, through the patterns they make together, and in the feelings the expanse of a starry night evokes.

Spider Woman reminds us that we are connected to each other, to the earth, to the sky, to the Whole – and invites us to release all that separates us from flowing with this connection.

From 5:40 am ET on Tuesday, February 25th through 3:46 am ET on Thursday, February 27th (time zone converter), the dark moon returning to Aquarius / The Star is especially potent for supporting your transformation (but any time before the new moon’s arrival when you can fit it in is good). You are invited to engage in reflection and ritual to celebrate achievements of the moonth passing and release what you do not want to carry into the next lunation.

Reflection

Take a sheet or paper or open up your journal and make a place for 2 lists:

Times I felt connected to something greater ~ Times I felt disconnected

Now look back on the happenings of the moonth that began on January 29th. If you journal, you’ll have a handy record, but even just looking back at your appointment calendar can jog your mind about what’s been going on in the past few weeks. Make entries on each list.

If you need help making entries on your list, you can always turn over Tarot and oracle cards to show you images to inspire entries.

When your lists are complete, let yourself be for a while with the connections you have found and how they have enriched your life. You might reflect on what made them possible – and think about how to keep building that into your life. You might offer gratitude to others, the Divine, and/or yourself for making these connections possible. You might finish with creating a small art work, writing a poem, or saying a closing prayer.

Then you can turn to your list of disconnections. What will you do with these broken and fragment parts of your life? Maybe some need further reflection to better understand what wisdom they are trying to offer you. Maybe some are so clear and now you can let this part of you know that it can rest and no longer work in your life this way. Maybe some stir up strong feelings and you should walk or box or scream with them.

After you have spent a while with your disconnections, identify which ones you want to release into the dark moon time to be dissolved and transformed.

Dark Moon Ritual

Inspired by The Stars’ focus on consciousness and creation, an internal meditative process would be appropriate.

Find a comfortable place to sit and close your eyes. Take some time to tune into your body and your breath. Feel how you are supported by the earth through a chair or the floor you sit on. Imagine stars above you and their light flowing down to you to connect you to the cosmos. Remember your connections. You might imagine that they are a circle of pulsating energy that supports you and that ripples out, connecting you to the Whole.

Now you might call to mind individually each of the disconnections you wish to release. They might rise up in your mind’s eye as a shape, symbol, or even a Tarot/oracle image. Let it float in front of you and when you are ready circle your lips and blow toward the image and watch it float away. Your breath might match the intensity of work to release. Some might be gentle, others fierce.

When your disconnections are gone, let yourself be under a clear starry sky on a dark moon night and bask in your connection to their luminous light.

Source Note: The reflection is inspired by my encounters with Ignatian Spirituality and the practice of doing an examen to name consolations and desolations each day and look for a pattern. I have borrowed the form and made it more general rather than specifically Christian.

Want to know more about the next moon coming? Be sure to be on my e-news list the receive my new moon news.

Feb
12
2025

Full Moon Revelations: The Tarot’s Star Gathers Strength

For Seekers – Moonthly Renewal – Practices for Soul & Spirit – Sanctuary

The height of this moonth’s cycle comes with the full moon arriving on Wednesday, the 12th (exact at 8:54 am ET, time zone converter), and offers a revelation about how the lunar energies initiated on the January 29th new moon are developing. The new moon, guided by its association with The Star. Five of Swords, and King of Swords, invited us to active hope even in violent times. On the full moon we invite a revelation about how this energy is developing. As we integrate the revelation in the last weeks of the lunar cycle, we are issued an invitation to return a gift to the world.

The astro-Tarot correspondences align this full moon with Strength. The name clearly states the card’s meaning – no enigma here – but the iconic image of a woman tenderly holding open a lion’s mouth invites us into a deeper exploration of what constitutes true strength.

a 1909 card scanned by Holly Voley and retrieved from Sacred Texts. Deck available from US Games

When I do Tarot sessions or e-readings, I often start with the prompt of: What aspect or detail of the image most captures your attention? As I consider the current lunar patterns, I am most captivated by the lion, the open mouth, teeth, and tongue. And find myself pondering the lion as both an inner and an outer force.

Outer lions are dangerous. Lions in nature are territorial, keen hunters, and known to even kill humans. A lion is not to be trifled with. Looking into a lion’s mouth is recognizing danger – and not looking away.

There are so many outer lions circling us now. You know this; the news is an onslaught of chaos and violence in our feeds each day. But I’ll share one outer lion story as a telling example.

On Friday evening’ Washington Week in Review the journalist Anne Applebaum spoke to Elon Musk’s attempt to—and temporary / at least partial success in—unilaterally closing USAID, noting that this US agency is responsible for 40% of all foreign aid in the world and thus critical to aid infrastructure globally. USAID’s closure would likely lead to the collapse of food aid in Africa and vaccination programs for children around the world. She reported speaking to a former senior USAID official who noted that malnourished children receive special feedings—they can’t just start eating regular meals—and without those these children will die.

The world’s richest man is killing the world’s poorest children.

Journalist Asma Khalid added that she had talked with a USAID staffer who acknowledged that foreign aid isn’t on the radar of the average US citizen but what they are worried about is that this is a test case for how Trump views overall his presidential power. And that what is happening at USAID will not be isolated. And it could potentially be a test case for how he could engage his power in other agencies and institutions.

Anne agreed, adding: But it’s also a test case of cruelty. Are Americans willing to accept a high level of cruelty and death just, you know, on the president’s whim, on Elon Musk’s whim?

So the lions are not just circling people far away, children we don’t know, they are preparing to circle any of us, at any time.

What can guide us in responding to these outer lions? Our inner lions, who are also on the move, who are inviting us to meet their power.

Your inner lion may be one, some, or all of these:

  • commitment to values and vocation
  • belief in democracy
  • faith and devotion to the Divine
  • capacity to care
  • cultivation of kinship with our fellow humans and more-than-human family, community, and friends

These are quieter lions than aggression, violence, and dominance. But these inner lions can be powerful companions when we consistently tend and gently nurture them. They don’t respond to force, but instead to love and attention.

The inner lions move independently of external power. They assert themselves whenever and wherever we decide to work in partnership with them, whenever and wherever we need to be courageous.

In Anne Applebaum’s final comment on Friday night, she pointed out that Senators who are safe in their seats for six years, are well resourced with funds and staff support, and have secured futures in academia or the media have been more cowardly than unnamed USAID bureaucrats, several of whom have done very brave things in the last few days, who’ve tried to stop orders, even knowing they would lose their jobs.

The Senators have the power of the outer lions but are not using it. The USAID staffers are acting in alignment with their inner lions. They may be paying a price but their souls are intact and they are buying time for more of us to join them in resisting the cruelty.

This moonth began on January 29th with the initiating energy of The Star, a symbol of hope in times of turbulence and breakdown seen in the card that proceeds The Star: The Tower. When we are living the Tower, we are truly in a broken place. We can not leap to the hope of The Star without being for a while in the reality of the Tower. In what is happening with the attack on people and institutions that USAID is just one example of, there is no denying the ugliness and destruction resulting from what is in collapse. And the Towers of our personal lives have the same impact, even if not existing at the same scale.

But as we reach toward our inner lions and let their energy flow into us, we are filled with their power. Energized by our inner lions, we become co-creators of the world we want to live in. We act to create that world not because our success is assured but because we have the strength to keep moving toward the vision. And as we move, hope may grow. As we move, The Star may become clearer.

Hope is not a condition for Strength. Strength instead is the catalyst of Hope.

To encourage a revelation on these themes as we journey through this moonthly cycle, you are invited to one, some, or all of these practices:

  • Moon bathe by sitting or lying under a window or outside on the ground. Let go of your thoughts and soak in the light. Or you might take the inspiration of this feline-connected moon and turn your moon communion into a prowl or a “dance.” Face the moon and lift your heart toward it. Feel the moon (seen or unseen) energy flow into your heart area and let that spark a movement. Let that movement lead to another. Let your thoughts flow away and follow instead the promptings of your body led by the moon.
  • Take out any reading or your reflections from the new moon and look at them in a new light. How does your understanding of the cards shift now that time has passed and light has shifted? (If you haven’t done a reading yet, no problem, just do it now under the light of the full moon. You can try the one from the new moon.)
  • Bring out your Star and Strength cards from your Tarot deck and connect them to your new moon reading / reflections. You could place/imagine these cards on either side of your reading or above and below, and then look at how they add meaning into the story your original cards offered you.
  • Reflect on questions such as: What is/are your inner lion(s)? How do you connect with them in these times? What action do they call you to? What is your highest/deepest/most secret hope? How can you work for it? What is the hard work of hope that you are called to do now? You could, of course, pull cards as responses to any of these questions. You may want to engage in Visio Divina to find the layers of wisdom within the cards.

When you are done, remember to offer gratitude for what you have received. Consider what gift you now want to return to the world. Pulling a card for guidance on the gift is always a fine thing to do. In the coming weeks and before the moon returns to dark around February 25th offer your gift to the world.

Stay Connected

Offering ~ I tend the sanctuary as gift to seekers on the unmarked path. If you find this site inspiring, I welcome a gift to continue serving you sustainably.