The Runes are taking a break this week. I did two big readings with them this week, and they needed a recharge. Since I’m nearing the end of the biggest spell I’ve ever written, the book: Magic In Your Cup: A Guide To Sippable Spellcraft, chatting up some other women writers seemed appropriate. The Literary Witches Oracle* will substitute for the weekly Rune casting.
This felt perfect to me because we are shifting into deeper winter, I’m shifting from creating to tempering, and then to releasing. The fact that we’re on the heels of the Full Wolf Moon in Leo and the culmination of writing efforts feels right. The process has been difficult – I hadn’t even finished writing it at the Leo New Moon. And here it is, getting polished and plotted for publication. Woah. I’m still absorbing all that means.
Your support, encouragement, and patience are deeply appreciated as I juggle this project and line up more witchcraft learning classes. As we enter the Lunar New Year season, it feels like starting a new chapter, semester, and season. So that’s the energy I took into this spread. Then, I queried the Situation, Action, and Outcome. So what did they have to say?
Emily Dickinson, the soul, as it represents in this deck. Dickinson was a deep introvert and thinker. She bucked the systems in place in her life then and dedicated it to solitude and poetry. This card speaks to what we’ve carved out in our lives already. See the ferret in her arms – a symbol of feistiness and joy. The soil beneath her feet is filled with healthy, wormy activity. There is growth around the foundation of Dickinson’s presence in the card. Yet there is a lot of darkness around her, and thereby us. But even in that darkness, life takes flight, as the bats represent. Listen to your soul and focus on your inner life right now.
With that inner work, we’ll be able to shine like the peacock. This card makes so much sense following the Leo full moon. A peacock is a symbol of beauty, renewal, and abundance. Just don’t be greedy or prideful. If you’ve any Pennsylvania Dutch folk culture in your ancestry, you may remember the peacock motif found on cookware, dishtowels, or even the side of barns. They were used by that agricultural folx to let the farmers know a storm was coming because peafowl do not like high winds and rain. A peacock’s cry in the dark, too, can scare off predators or foes. Many Witches will also tell you about the evil eye within the peacock’s tail feathers. And such are amulets of protection. Legend has it that it was a peacock that let the serpent into the Garden of Eden. This means its energy can be partnered with snake energy. What peacock is letting in the snake’s energy? Is it for good or bad? In the card, the tail is down and the bird looks relaxed. The work you did even within the darkness will arrive in splendor, attracting more light as you ease into the actions you need to take to move forward with your personal mission. Cry in the dark if you need to be scared of the things stopping you. Know that you are protected and can rest when needed.
The boar is a symbol of aggression, masculinity, and danger. Ha! Ain’t gotta tell us Witches that we all live under a toxic patriarchal over culture. It is also a symbol of up-front, head-on action. We still need to fight it. Unlike a pig, an energetic partner for us, boars are obstacles. The outcome is that we still need to show up to tear down the over culture’s oppression. We do the inner work, then show up to call out the storms, scare away the baddies, and support the collective. The boar must be contained or even dispatched. How can we do that and honor the planet, ourselves, and each other? We have decisions to make and work to do.
The cards have spoken. What do you see in them? What does your intuition tell you?
I hope this reading resonates with you. Go out there and be the magic of the world! ~R
*Written(by Taisia Kitaiskaia and illustrated by Katy Horan