We recently sat down with Vanessa Bartlett on her amazing podcast The Aquarean.

Vanessa invited us on to talk allllll about tarot, our practice, what brought us to this work, the Golden Dawn, shadow work and even our relationship, which is...something we don't discuss often. At least not in this depth!

Today (Wednesday the 13th) is the Full Moon in Capricorn and in light of this, we’ve been reflecting on the sign, its ruling planet (Saturn) and the tarot card associated with it (The Devil).

What can those three aspects show us and how can we engage with them to get the most of this full moon?

Why did you pick up your very first tarot deck? What were you hoping to accomplish when you began your journey with the cards? Where did you expect that journey to take you? We all have our origin stories along these lines. For myself I was 10 or 11 when I sensed a deep calling toward the cards. I don’t remember it clearly enough to say anything other than that; I just knew they were calling and that I very much wanted to explore that.

But, what I do distinctly recall are some of my expectations at the start, one being this very grandiose idea that if I could just get my hands on a deck of tarot cards, I could know anything. Of course, my conception of “anything” was somewhat limited and my curiosities were not exactly sophisticated. I desired to know what my peers were thinking. I looked forward to getting a sneak peak at summer plans. I was anxious to know who my real friends were and who were the phonies.

While reading 36 Secrets by T Susan Chang back in the Spring, I was struck by the chapter dealing with the 7 of Swords. In it she uses the term “the divided mind”, and that is a concept I’ve been mulling over ever since; both as it relates to the card as well as how it shows up in my own life.

First of all, what exactly is a divided mind? Essentially, it is a common occurrence where one holds two opposing values/ideals/thoughts simultaneously. For example, and this came up for me very recently, we may love social media and the way in which it allows us to share and connect, but on the other hand, we despise the underbelly; the manipulation, impossible algorithm, questionable content, etc.

Did you know you can read and receive messages from tarot without any cards?

As you engage with, learn more about and integrate the system of tarot, more happens than simply becoming a competent reader. You also become at one with its keys and the universal language of symbolism. And the more you notice, the more this system speaks, and the deeper your connection with it grows.

Tim and I were reflecting recently on aspects of our spiritual/personal journey that for whatever reason, tripped us up along the way. These may have been things we read that we took to heart, other opinions that we too easily absorbed, or ideologies we over-invested in. Now, I don’t believe we can ever go totally off course, and there are usually lessons that can be gained from any detour. What we’re mainly talking about are things that ultimately proved unhelpful that we then had to work to unravel. Things that didn’t add to our experience or understanding of ourselves, except in the discarding of them. Which, I suppose, is also valuable, even if in reverse!

I remember when I first began really noticing synchronicities. It was, like it is for many, through repeated numbers showing up for me every day, in all manner of ways.

Through the years, the type of synchronicity I receive and the frequency at which I receive them has evolved. Along with that too, with much contemplation on the subject, has my relationship with them. Do I have all the answers? Never will I ever (on anything), but this is what I’ve come to realize for myself where these little signposts are concerned.

I have never, in all my years of reading tarot, been a daily drawer. To me, it felt too burdensome to commit to, but another part of me just disliked the idea of starting the day off with some kind of definition. It’s all fun and games when you’re pulling The Sun, but for a morning to begin with The Tower just felt like a bunch of unnecessary anxiety.

I realize there are lots of ways to approach the daily draw that could have circumvented these concerns, but I also hadn’t been inspired to seek alternatives. That is until I finished T. Susan Chang’s 36 Secrets at the beginning of April. While the book is intended to illuminate the decan associations in tarot, it included many of her own daily card reflections and this got my wheels turning. Maybe I didn’t have to make this so personal. Maybe instead of approaching daily pulls as a “what can I expect today?” I would be better suited to approach them as a “what card am I bound to learn more about today?”. In this way, the teaching can take any form! Maybe it’s a stray thought, a conversation I overhear, a movie I watch, something in the news. And of course, it could also be something more direct, but it doesn’t HAVE to be and that’s an important distinction. So essentially, when I’m doing these draws now it’s like this: Don’t tell me something about me - tell me something about YOU!

This subject is so dear to me, but it’s been a long time since I’ve written about it formally. I think the reason is I could sense I was experiencing a shift in terms of what these concepts meant to me, and out of respect for it and out of respect for my own growth too, I needed to just sit with it.

As a little historical overview, I became interested in the subject of spirit guides in 2014 when I had, what I consider to be, the first of many wake-up calls. I read books, practiced communication, had lots of personal experiences, and even explored workshops on the topic. In 2016, I was working heavily with tarot and had this epiphany that the two elements would go beautifully together. That was when I devised a system to connect with guides with the aid of tarot. I went as far as to designate certain cards to represent different guide types, and then I took that concept and created an online challenge, inviting others to participate and get to know their spiritual teams too.

Following that, I continued to share my learnings with others, provide resources, and even ran a second version of the challenge at the beginning of 2019. Even at that time, I found it more and more difficult to put my understanding of these ideas into words. I became very aware of the inclination to “over-form” these connections and I began to consider that communication with “the unseen” may be more vast than what I’d so far been able to conceptualize.

So I began to reconsider what it all meant and how I’d describe it now, which is the culmination of lots of contemplation, direct experience, inspired insights, the work I do in conjunction with my partner, and other such things. One night as I was considering this specific post, I set the intention to receive some information in my dreams that could help me. That night I woke up around 2 am from a dream that, while technically fuzzy, left me with a more fulsome understanding of the spectrum I will soon describe, and even gave me the title for this article. It conveyed that rather than referring to this phenomena as “Spirit Guides” in sum, it would be clearer to separate the words. In this way, we are dealing with Spirit as a whole, messages or entities we perceive as being guiding forces, and then the “beyond” (that which remains ineffable and intangible).

I think words and precision are important when it comes to these concepts. This is also why I have removed older pieces, taken down resources, and added addendums to that which remains. I simply found myself in a situation where I believed in something so deeply, but no longer knew how to adequately talk about it.

I am hoping this explanation will prove helpful or at least interesting to those who come across it. The remainder of this post will be formatted as follows: A list of general principles that I uphold as it relates to my understanding of this subject, an overview of the “spectrum of spirit communication”, and then responses to the FAQs I receive on this topic.

I had a wonderful exchange with a client/peer recently about readings styles. It occurred to me in that exchange that I don’t really explain my process and I’ve maybe never clearly communicated how my way of doing things may differ from others.

This is no criticism, just an observation that I made of myself following an exchange. And specifically, I’m referring to my tendency to not explain what a card technically means. When I’m reading, I take all that in, but then transform it quickly into the message, and I don’t really bother to explain how that’s informed. I don’t plan on changing this because it’s just the way I read, but it got me thinking that it might be helpful to include more about my style on my Services page.

Anyway with that being poorly said, I have added a handful of bullet points to my services to highlight what I just discussed. I hope that helps to make me feel more real.

Julia

I posted nothing with the exception of a playlist in the month of January, and even though this is unusual for me, I also know enough at this point to trust in my ebbs and flows. While my blog has arguably suffered from inactivity, I’ve been in greater creative throws where other endeavors are concerned. And through that, I’ve had some time to reflect and pay attention to the reminders that universe or spirit or whatever has been graciously sending my way.

Here’s what I’ve learned or what has been reinforced through the month of January. Maybe you’ll find some pieces relateable, maybe a light-bulb will go off, or maybe you’ll completely disagree and leave an angry message in the comments. I don’t know, let’s go!

Sleep is a funny thing. We all do it and yet, we never really regularly compare notes. Growing up, I assumed my experiences with sleep and dreams were the same as everyone else's. I'm not saying they weren't, for the most part, but it's hard to distinguish what is common with what is perhaps more unusual if the experience is everyday (or, every night as this topic would have it).

Dreams for me have forever been a spiritual experience. I was always curious about this state and thought a lot about my adventures upon waking. Even as a kid, I'd wonder what they meant and dig for hidden context. In this post, I'm going to highlight various dream states that I personally experience, and provide my thoughts both on what they mean, how they can be achieved (if desired) and what to do with them once you're there.

Yesterday I posted on Instagram a quote about letting your intuition lead, and wrote about a recent TED Talk I'd listened to before going to sleep. It's become a bit of a ritual to queue up a talk and let it glide me into sleepytime. If I do this, I am guaranteed to catch at least one in full, and then I generally end up falling asleep part way through the second.

Part of the reason I love TED talks is because they are so bite sized and succinct. They also make my mission to consciously consume my entertainment super easy. What I mean by consciously consume is to pursue entertainment in a very intentional way. That doesn't mean I never watch fluff, because yes, I like to let go of consciousness every once and slip into fantasy land. I'm human. But, the purpose of this post isn't to talk about ways to shut off - it's about leaning into entertainment in a way that can intellectually and or spiritually...turn you on.

When I was in High School, Tarot cards weren't the only things I was slinging. I was super into Anime (conventions yes, cosplay no) so I accumulated a shit ton of toys and collectibles, particularly Sailor Moon because that was my favourite and it was readily available. Luckily, I've managed to hold on to many things over the years, so I can still enjoy them to this day. 

Which brings me to the Sailor Moon CCG which was released in the late 90s; think Pokemon or Magic The Gathering. Obviously, I was all over it when it came out and the other day, while I was searching the basement, my collection resurfaced!

I'm participating in the Willows East Tarot Blog Hop, so below I have answered the 5 questions that she's put forward to those involved in the hop.

Before we get to that, I first want to say that I think this is a really wonderful way to connect us tarot bloggers, to continue to build community and to help get to know each other a bit better! I encourage any other tarot bloggers who come across this post to check it out and join the hop!

So did you want to learn more about me and my journey with tarot? Read on!