Mica Sage Tarot

Ahh, finally! As of September 22nd, it is officially the favorite season for many witches, hikers, and horror fans alike: Spooky Season, also known as Fall!

In This Newsletter…

I’ll give a wrap-up of how September went and some exciting news for October, then we’ll take an in-depth look at a suit of the tarot, and wrap up with a coaching skill I would love to share with you all.

September Wrap-Up

September dragged its feet for me, both personally and business-wise. However, I officially became part of the Radiance Crew at the beginning of the month, and I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of people to work with. Not only is everyone respectful, friendly, and a little bit psychic (that took some getting used to), but the owners still encourage me to read tarot at their place several days a week. Walk-ins are more than welcome — encouraged, even — for readings. 🙂

Now, I get that a public setting can be a bit uncomfortable if you’ve a weighty topic to ask the cards about. If you would like to schedule a private reading with me, please let me know! This is a service I gladly offer, because ultimately my goal is to help you gain clarity, insight, and direction — and if we need to set an appointment so you can be comfortable as we talk, I will gladly do so.

October Events

Last month, I used the Dancing In The Dark tarot deck, and this month I’ve switched to The Poe Tarot, a fitting choice for the upcoming holiday. Each card features a quote from our favorite morbid author, and the images feature Poe as the Fool on his journey through the Major Arcana.
I’m excited to use this deck as Poe has piqued my interest since I was a young thing. I read The Tell-Tale Heart as a grade schooler, and rather than terrifying the daylights out of me, it sparked an interest in the macabre and this sad, desolate man.

Fun fact: even though the story of The Black Cat is incredibly disturbing (especially for cat lovers), did you know that Poe loved cats? In his later years, his constant companion was a feline named Cattarina, and she often kept him company while he was writing.

Since we’re on the subject, I have an announcement to make [cue drumroll]:
MY NEXT TAROT & TEXT EVENT IS THIS MONTH!!
On Saturday, October 29th, we’ll be using tarot to explore the famous poem “The Raven” — what, exactly, is knocking, knocking at your door? Join me at Radiance Apothecary to dig into the text and sling some cards!

Tarot Tidbits

Last month, I talked about the tricky suit of Swords; this month, I want to talk about Cups.

Often, I find the interpretations of Cups reduced down to relationships. While this is certainly one aspect of them, there’s much more to our emotions and heart-spaces than simply the people around us.

What if Cups represented faith?

This brings the Ace of Cups, which typically reads as “new emotions, a new relationship” to “a sense of faith, a trust that things will go well”. More nuanced, eh? And rather than the 9 of Cups simply meaning “wishes granted”, it becomes “a faith in the self, lacking want” and brings our favorite happily-ever-after card, 10 of Cups, to mean “faith restored”.
But a reversed Cup? What does that mean?
Well, it means a couple of things. Typically, I read those as a block. A sense of faith or a powerful emotion isn’t being expressed, and this is causing inner turmoil. Once the emotion is tapped into, it can be released, thereby restoring the faith.

This is a perfect transition to my next topic.

Release Writing

One thing I’ve learned while studying coaching is that, much more often than not, our painful emotions become recycled, not released. Even in therapy, we become aware of the underlying emotions and their causes, but not always are those emotions given a place to be expressed. As such, the feelings resurface again, and again, and again.

Is there an emotion that keeps cropping up for you through your life? For me, it’s anger. Wholly justified anger, but anger. Here’s a practice you can do at home.
Grab some paper and a pen or pencil. Begin your page with, “I’m feeling angry/hurt/sad/scared because….” and then just write it all out. If your handwriting is legible, you’re probably thinking too much: this is a messy process, so let it be messy. If you end up with one page, great. If you end up with fifteen pages, great. Just write until you begin to feel a sense of relief.

Here comes the fun part: we get to play with fire.
Find somewhere safe, tear the papers into pieces, and burn them. Watch the pages curl as the fire eats away the emotions. Spend some time reflecting and noticing — without judgment — how you feel after expressing this emotion.

I did this not long ago. What was under all that anger was fear. Fear that I had to deal with big, scary, traumatic things by myself, as I’ve had to in the past. Doing this exercise released the anger and allowed me to be there for myself and reassure myself that I’m not alone, and I’m here to protect Little Me from bad people.
Are all my issues solved? No. But this was a huge step in the right direction, and I quite literally feel lighter. I can rest more easily knowing that the anger has been released, not recycled.

If you do this exercise, let me know how it went for you!

In Summation…

October holds a lot of potential! I’m excited to see where this month goes, and I hope you’ll follow along with me as the days shorten and the veil between worlds thins.

May the Moon guide you,
Mica Sage