Hullo! A few bits and pieces to share today. Starting with some musings on the cards I drew this morning for myself from the Spacious Tarot, the Hermit and the Explorer of Pentacles.

I jotted down some quick notes on this pair in my morning pages (and also shared them on Instagram):

Going places and doing things alone can be quite satisfying. The solitary path is expansive and centering. Having the space to find your own way forward – without rushing or conforming – is a gift. So take the long way around. Sometimes your own slow scenic route is exactly what your soul and body need.

As the day went on I kept thinking back to this draw and some additional messages came to the surface. Most notably, I kept thinking about the order: The Hermit, then the Explorer of Pentacles. Visually, it’s almost like the bear has been in hibernation and is now venturing into the wider landscape. Which is pretty fitting for how I’ve been feeling lately, slowly doing a few more “normal” things like going to bars and seeing friends and family now that myself and many of my loved ones are fully vaccinated.

Visually, the bear is on the edge of the card closest to the Hermit, so it’s like she’s just peeking out of that Hermit cove. Juuuuust starting to move slowly into what might be out there. In her own time, at her own pace.

A thing I’ve thought a lot about over the past year is: what aspects of ‘normal’ do I not WANT to go back to? In what ways do I want to sprawl out not into the way things were, but the way things will be? It’s something I’m now slowly figuring out through direct experience.

Another question I’ve been mulling over – maybe kind of related to all this – is what do I want to share with the world, and what do I want to just be mine? This is part of why it’s been a while since I wrote a more personal, chatty post like this.

Most of what I’ve shared online over the past few months has been more directly tarot related – like all those Instagram lives I did about reading reversals, court cards, and spread creation (all of which are available on my IGTV). In a way it feels safer to be in ‘teacher mode’ and not sharing so much of my own journey. I think it’s good to have boundaries.

But I also do miss doing more of this type of thing, just rambling, talking about my personal tarot draws and my existential angst and such. So maybe (probably) I will continue to share a mixture of things. Cuz boundaries are good, but vulnerability is good too. I can have both, and you can too.

Alright! From here, I want to share more about a few exciting things I’ve got on the horizon.

The Witch City Tarot + Divination Gathering is happening virtually this year, which in a way is a really good thing because it means you can attend from anywhere in the world. Happening July 23-25, learn more or get a weekend pass here.

I’m looking forward to my presentation, titled ‘Telling a New Story With Tarot.’ And I’m really looking forward to the whole line up of amazing presenters, ranging in scope from tarot deck creation to herbalism to ritual to the creative process. Eventually the fine folks organizing this event will have the option to buy tickets for individual presentations if you just want to see mine, but honestly they’re all going to be great and you can buy a full weekend pass right now so probably you should just do that, I say! Support weird, wild, independent witchery.

Annie are still in the midst of creating the Spacious Tarot Expansion Pack. Here’s me holding a mockup of the Gemini card… UGH I’m so excited and also nervous for this project.

If you haven’t heard, let me tell you more about this. One of my personal favorite decks, the now out of print Spolia Tarot, took inspiration from an older cartomancy system called Minchiate. While related to tarot, Minchiate packs contained additional cards for the four elements, twelve zodiac signs, and classic virtues.

Our Spacious Tarot expansion pack is an homage to these older decks and will contain 22 cards: the elements + zodiac signs, and instead of depicting the classic virtues we will have cards that reflect modern values and the vibe of the Spacious Tarot. The expansion pack can be mixed right in and used along side the tarot deck, or can be kept separate and used kind of like an oracle deck.

We hope to release the expansion pack before the end of this year, but we’ll see how that goes! Gotta trust the pace of the creative process (and not to mention the production process, once we reach that point).

I have to say, creating the zodiac cards has been quite daunting for me. I love astrology, but every time I’ve tried to get serious about learning it more in depth I get overwhelmed and give up. Thankfully my friend Shonna recommended Steven Forrest’s book ‘The Inner Sky’ and it’s really helped so many things click into place for me.

Here’s what I shared about our Gemini card on The Spacious Tarot Instagram, inspired by what I’ve learned from Steven Forrest:

Gemini energy is communicative yet scattered, always in motion. In awe of the variety of life.

Gemini notices details…like the feathers here…but may be challenged to contextualize bits and bobs into a coherent whole.

Gemini is effervescent and always inquiring. Gifted in unraveling layers of lofty ideas, yet prone to flights of fancy.

Exemplifying curiosity, Gemini is the gift of perceiving that which might otherwise go right over your head.

I’m still a little nervous about sharing more of these cards, but I’m also grateful for this creative challenge, and I’m very pleased to finally be deepening my astrology knowledge. I hereby officially upgrade myself from Astrology n00b to Astrology beginner.

Another big ‘behind the scenes’ thing happening with Spacious Creations is we are officially hiring a fulfillment center to take over the shipping process. This doesn’t change anything for our customers, but is a pretty huge change for me as I’ve been doing allllllll the shipping out of my back bedroom ever since we launched the deck. The transition is still a few months away but I’m already looking forward to having more time to work on creative projects and less time hunched over folding, labeling and sorting boxes.

Mostly, Annie and I are both GRATEFUL that the initial tarot deck has been so well received, grateful to have help with the arduous task of shipping, and grateful that we’re now able to focus on making something new.

And one more note before we wrap up the journey of this post: I’m still open for tarot reading sessions and I actually have quite a lot of availability in June. Let’s explore some cards together? All the booking info is here.

That’s it for now. Thanks for being here! Oh and hey, happy PRIDE month! Take good care and seek joy because you deserve it. See ya next time.

Book a private reading with me here.