The Tarot Alchemist

Musings about tarot, divination, spirituality, and soul alchemy. Follow me on Instagram @the_tarot_alchemist.

[thetarotalchemist13]

Untitled Poem about Pain, or The work of the Devil

**TRIGGER WARNING** This poem address unresolved emotions and feelings. It may bring to the surface guilt or shame or doubt. If you’re not ready to face those things reconsidering reading on. If you do, take care of yourself. Seek a psychological professional; seek a holistic healer (or both). Talk to someone. Bless!**

Let’s talk about feelings Don’t be afraid Let’s talk about feelings Come into the shade Into the shadow Into the dark This generational curse Let’s rip it apart

The water is cold and dark and deep There’s nothing fine about it Let’s take a leap Into the pain and the hurt and this fallacy you call sin Let’s talk about feelings It’s your turn to begin

Let’s talk about emotions And feel them talk back Let’s talk about emotions And the pain they enact They tell you where to start They’ll hint at the end If you ignore their message You’ll fall in the hole again

And over and over Spiral into the deep Spiral into the pain And the hurt And you’ll bleed And you’re emotions reveal where your healing should start Just a friendly hint It starts in your heart

And in your groin and in your mind and in your throat your pain left inside buried in denial It’s waiting for you If you keep it waiting It will burst through

So let’s talk about feelings Let’s talk about pain Let’s talk emotions Let’s clear this thing away You think you’re fine Odds are you’re not

Let’s heal these wounds together They’re coming Ready or Not.

[thetarotalchemist13]

The Final Exam

As I bleed here I read here How the soul moves from A to B here How it travels through space and realms (evolves) The ether and worlds Not time because time’s relevance is obsolete here In the kingdom of evolutionary soul bleeding.

And I sit here As I “sit” here In this “reality” as it interrupts my Soul’s path here to exist in the “real” and perform the guise of the rouse of the machine In this Ego’s dream and experience the place the Soul longed to be 

What irony!

But that’s the game, right? The untold mystery right?  That the Ego is the lens through which the Soul sees the world But the purpose is to shatter it Piece together the truth And balance it With Ego and clear away the veil to see the bleed

And feel the intersections intertwine hear the beat of the Collective heart And start at the end conclusion of cycles then begin again

Awakened! 

A poem about the Judgement Card

[thetarotalchemist13]

CollectiveTarot Reading for September

Spread: THE LANTERN: A Soul Tarot Spread for the month of September by Lindsay Mack of Tarot for the Wild Soul

Reading by: Tarot Alchemist

1. Card for the month of September: 

Ace of Cups - The collective this month is invited to consider compassion and love. There is an invitation here to sit with feelings and empathize with those around you. More so there is an invitation here to connect to our senses. Sensuality comes to mind with this card. In the Smith-Waite version of this image, there are five streams of water pouring from the cup, symbolizing our four senses. Approach the month of September with your senses wide open and your empathy on high. 

2. What are we being invited to pay attention to this month? 

Seven of Swords - this card brings forth a medicine of wholeness; of feeling as though we are enough. In a society built on more, more more, NOW, many of us believe that we are lacking. That we need the next best thing or what the person next to us has to feel complete….or even that the person next to us could make us feel complete. So many people are waking up to the reality that nothing can complete us but us. This month we are being called to focus on how we complete ourselves….how we are already, exactly what we are looking for to feel whole. Before seeking what you’re looking for outside of yourself, ask how we can cultivate wholeness for ourselves. 

3. What is the lantern of my life casting light upon? What am I ready to see and acknowledge?

Two of Pentacles - a need for balance. Too many of us are trying to juggle of the things, all of the time. We can’t do everything perfectly. But we can attempt to do some things perfectly. The two of pentacles address how we maintain balance in the eye of a storm. Some folks find balance in spiritual practice. Others in physical. In most cases, one of the balls has to be let go. Consider this month, what would help you best balance your many commitments and goals. 

4. What am I walking away from? 

The  Hierophant - Traditional structures and values. The human population, though it may not seem obvious, is taking a shift away from traditional views and behaviors. Earlier today, my husband made an astute observation about the current political climate: this is the death rattle of the conservative right. The last gasp for survival. Believe it or not, society is shifting and the best way to encourage the shift, to continue to move humanity in a progressive direction collectively is to continue to examine and challenge the old structures and traditions we were raised on. Why do we do certain things? Simple why questions can unpack deep and revealing truths that have been aching to surface. This month pick at them and what your world expand. 

5. What am I walking towards? 

Three of cups -  Comraderie; a supportive community; holding space for collective healing; ritualistic healing. Collectively we are walking toward a more supportive way of living. Creating space where we no longer jump to judgment or criticism of each other but move to support and be present for each other in an unconditional way. This requires empathy, compassion, and honesting that is deeply rooted in healing and emotions. If you don’t feel this shift don’t be upset. It is coming. All in divine timing. 

6. Where am I being invited to pause? 

The High Priestess - The collective is being asked to pause and listen to our intuitive wisdom. The High Priestess represents mystery, veiled sacred and ancient wisdom. Her invitation is to pause and consider your intuitive wisdom. The wisdom your body has stored over lifetimes. Trust your gut. Trust your instincts. 

This reading has a lot of water present. Water in the tarot represents emotions, feelings, psychic abilities, sensuality, intuitive wisdom and connection to the mystery in some cases. The collective is being invited this Virgo season to use your natural tuning fork if you will, your body. Use your animalistic qualities to sus out a situation. Does your stomach hurt when you talk to a certain person? Does the energy in the room feel heavy? Do the words from a specific person just not feel right? Trust these intuitive hits. Trust yourself to know exactly what you need. Reconnect with yourself in such a way that you don’t need to rely on anyone or anything else to know what you need to do. From the Ace of Cups to the High Priestess, this reading is indicating that the collective is moving toward a more compassionate and feeling centered existence, if only we choose to. 

The Deck: The Fountain Tarot

[thetarotalchemist13]

In the Shadow of the Moon: A Lesson in Tarot and Shadow Work

Surrender to the Darkness

A vast ocean of mystery, danger, and illusion stretches out and swells over a pier. Above and below, shadows seem to wait and watch. The Moon is the world of the unconscious, and it can be both frightening and disorienting. There is nowhere to anchor and everything feels confusing and deceptive, though slightly seductive and familiar. Even time seems to be disappearing, but there is an urgency for you to move or risk being lost here forever. It’s not too late to turn back, but if you truly want freedom, you will brave the current and surrender to the waves of cosmic intuition. -- The Moon XVIII, The Fountain Tarot, p34. 

Let’s start with the Moon! It seems appropriate for a number of reasons. This weekend we are in the shadow of the new/super/black moon in Virgo. This year, 2019, my tarot card is The Moon (also the Hermit which is how the work of the Moon is often administered). I am a moon baby, born on a Moon-day 32 years and six months ago. And the moon, in all of her mysterious glory, rules my birth chart. So, I guess what I am trying to say is….Hi! I’m DaVonne, the Tarot Alchemist, and I will be your host on this blog. 

Like the quote from the above entry for the Moon states, and the image of the corresponding card beautifully illustrates, the Moon carries with it some very mysterious and magical qualities. She heavily influences oceans, people, and menstrual cycles. Her phases were worshiped and ritualized by a number of ancient civilizations and people. Witches of past and present scheduled their alchemical work around her movements. Yet most people will past through an entire month and never lift a gaze to her. 

I’ve always been intrigued by Mystery. So it should be of no surprise that the Moon card in almost every tarot deck I’ve ever purchased or touched, would indicate whether or not I would actually connect, or work with a deck. There are, of course, other factors, but a poorly designed Moon card could turn me off from a deck. 

I digress…

The Moon card in the tarot, as indicated in the excerpt from The Fountain Tarot Guidebook, represents mystery, illusion, psychic abilities, seduction, shadow, and intuition. Working with the Moon, or doing shadow work, as the moon is often times associated with this type of alchemic technique, can cause anxiety, disorientation, confusion, discomfort, and, believe it or not, freedom. Trust me this process, should you accept the invitation and the challenge to work through it is not for the weak. It requires a soul ready for real change and growth. 

The advice of the quote above is to surrender, which is the only way to get to the true medicine the Moon affords, the freedom. Fighting against the strong tides the Moon produces, will only make the healing energy of this celestial body, and the work required to move through it, harder to bear. Trust me, I’m floating in it right now. The moon invites you to trust her. To allow her mysterious waves to carry you away to places you may not want to go, or realize are deep within you, to heal the parts of your Self (and some times those of your family and ancestors), you most likely weren’t aware were broken. 

Shadow Work: The Alchemy of the Moon Card

Society has taught us to push aside any feelings of fear or discomfort for the illusion that “everything is fine.” Of course, I can’t remember which book I read that contained this example, but I am reminded of the image of a family going through a divorce. The parents are arguing constantly and barely speaking but they will put on a smile to go on a family vacation and tell everyone they're fine. Why then, when an emotionally disturbed teenager tells the world they are fine and then falls into depression and commits suicide, are we surprised to learn that they were truly torn to pieces inside and drowning in their dark emotions? Extreme I know, but imagine if the norm in our society was for that teen’s parents, to actually sit them down and discuss the reality of their situation; the depth of the emotions they are feeling and face the open wound head-on. Then that teenager would probably do the same for their deep, bleeding, emotions and work through them in such a way that would allow them to be released and relieving their torture. This is shadow work. Facing those things inside us which we are the most afraid of and healing their traumatic effects. 

Another example of shadow work is journaling about why we are so quick to anger when someone questions our intelligence. Or why we are so easily agitated when things are not going our way, or 100% perfect. Or why we need to insult another person to have fun in a social gathering. All of these things are examples of unconscious expressions of deep shadowy wounds. Some of them may sound familiar as they are very common human expressions. Every person walking around on this planet has a behavior that is expressive of a traumatic event/experience, ancestral/familiar wound or curse, or other similar happenings.  This is the work of the energy of the moon card, to help bring awareness to these such wounds (along with other cards in a reading) so that we can confront them head-on and heal them once and for all. 

This is not a quick fix or one size fits all type of practice. In some cases, it may take years of therapy or similar healing techniques to even gain an ounce of change, or soul evolution. Patience, balance, persistence, and conscious awareness are the underlying efforts needed to do shadow work. 

So all hail the moon in her illustrious glory. Bath in her silvery healing light. For she illuminates for us all the depths of our souls and the stripes that bleed there so they may be healed. 

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The technique of tarot I use is focused on working through these types of wounds and facing them head-on. Used as a supplement to professional mental health guidance, tarot can aid in cultivating emotional and traumatic healing, both personal and familial/ancestral. If you are interested in a reading please feel free to DM me for more information.