July 2023: Tarot spread for the new moon in Cancer

Plus some journaling questions, an astro-tarot forecast and an exploration of the Sabian symbol for the new moon in Cancer.

Tarot spread and astro-tarot forecast for the July 2023 new moon in Cancer

The July 2023 new moon falls in the sign of Cancer. The Cancer archetype is emotional, intuitive, nurturing and healing. It also symbolizes “home” and all the things that home represents – not just our physical home, but also our emotions, energy, body, and the spiritual hearth of our souls.

Spiritually, the Cancer archetype is one of compassion, of recognizing that people, in general, act to the best of their abilities, limited by their education, upbringing and current awareness. The Cancer archetype knows that love and forgiveness, where possible, are the best way to respond to destructive behavior – along with firm boundaries, of course.

The July 2023 new moon also highlights the concept of home. Where we lay down our roots, the people we consider family, and more importantly, this body that we inhabit, which is our home on this planet that we call home.

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July 2023: Tarot spread for the full moon in Capricorn

Plus some journaling questions, an astro-tarot forecast and an exploration of the Sabian symbol for the full moon in Capricorn.

Tarot spread and astro-tarot forecast for the July 2023 full moon in Capricorn

The July 2023 full moon falls in the sign of Capricorn. Symbolized by the mountain goat, which maintains perfect balance while it climbs over precarious rock ledges, the Capricorn archetype is one of disciplined and dogged determination towards the attainment of our worldly desires.

Spiritually, the Capricorn archetype teaches us about integrity and helps us to harness the ability to plan our work, and stick to it, no matter what. In these times of 24×7 consumption culture, it’s easy to be addicted with shiny object syndrome and forget about our goals and plans. Capricorn teaches us about the meaning of integrity: to align ourselves with our highest ideals and actualize our potential.

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June 2023: Tarot spread for the new moon in Gemini

Plus some journaling questions, an astro-tarot forecast and an exploration of the the Sabian symbol for the new moon in Gemini.

Tarot spread and astro-tarot forecast for the June 2023 new moon in Gemini

The June 2023 new moon falls in the sign of Gemini. The Gemini archetype is very curious, an excellent communicator, and a disseminator of knowledge. It is the sign of the writer, of those who tend to think deeply, are highly perceptive, and prefer to learn from experience.

Spiritually, the Gemini archetype is about courageous conversation, be it with another person or with the Universe. Gemini adds its vibration to the advancement of culture and civilization through dialogue, be that via books or blogs or letters.

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June 2023: Tarot spread for the full moon in Sagittarius

Plus some journaling questions, an astro-tarot forecast and an exploration of the the Sabian symbol for the full moon in Sagittarius.

Tarot spread and astro-tarot forecast for the June 2023 full moon in Sagittarius

The June 2023 full moon falls in the sign of Sagittarius. The freedom loving Sagittarius archetype is in a constant search for inspiration, new avenues of exploration, and adventure. This is a sign that gets bored of the status quo easily, and needs the rush of a new quest to keep them on their toes.

Spiritually, the Sagittarius archetype teaches us to cultivate our own personal relationship with the divine. Contrary to what most religions and a lot of spiritual teachers say, you don’t need an intermediary between you and Source/God/the Universe. You have that connection available to you at all times. Learning to tune in and trust that connection is where a lot of us seem to stumble, though.

The energy around this particular full moon is both playful and profound. While the June 2023 full moon highlights our creativity and creative expression, it also asks us to examine our life choices and responsibilities.

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May 2023: Tarot spread for the new moon in Taurus

Plus some journaling questions, an astro-tarot forecast and an exploration of the the Sabian symbol for the new moon in Taurus

Tarot spread and astro-tarot forecast for the May 2023 new moon in Taurus

The May 2023 new moon falls in the sign of Taurus. The Taurus archetype is grounded and steadfast, calm and composed, firm and also somewhat stubborn. This is a sign that is practical and earthy, and is associated with material pleasures, desires, luxuriousness, and abundance.

Spiritually, the Taurus archetype teaches the principle of belonging through presence…our presence as sacred human beings…honouring the body temple…honouring the flow of life. This can be difficult given the society we live in, which praises the hustle over reverence and treats time as money rather than a finite resource that should be used wisely in the pursuit of the things that give us meaning.

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Substack for beginners: The what, why, and how

What is a substack newsletter and how to start your own substack publication

The social media landscape is evolving at a blistering pace — algorithms are constantly changing, new features are rolled out at a fast clip, you’re constantly bombarded with advertisements, promoted posts, and toxic rhetoric on apps like Twitter. As if that wasn’t enough, you now have to figure out NFTs and the metaverse, and this new thing called Substack that everyone seems to suddenly be talking about.

Take a deep breath, and let me tell you all about what Substack is and how you can use the platform.

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May 2023: Tarot spread for the full moon in Scorpio

Tarot spread and astro-tarot forecast for the May 2023 full moon + lunar eclipse in Scorpio

The May 2023 full moon falls in the sign of Scorpio. The Scorpio archetype is known for its intense power and its ability to transform, much like the butterfly emerging from its cocoon, ready to fly. The Scorpio archetype isn’t afraid of the birth-death-rebirth cycle, for it is only when parts of us die and are reborn that we can fully transform.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that spiritually, the Scorpio archetype teaches us to surrender – to align our human will with divine will. It can teach us that sometimes our human trials can reveal a need for deep healing. This is not always easy to live with or to understand, especially when the need for healing arises from trauma, and yet on the other side of working with and healing trauma there can be deep and valuable transformation.

This month, we also have a lunar eclipse that will be visible in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Antarctica.

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Book review: The Fire Ant’s Sting by Kamalini Natesan

From the back cover:

The road to perdition is paved with desires. An expat couple resort to illicit means to hoard wealth. A small-town author yearns for fame and laurels at the risk of alienating his family. A widowed woman is desperate to preserve her youthful looks and turn the clock back. An eager-to-please, do-gooder mother seeks respect and reciprocation of her efforts. The common thread weaving through these stories is a pulsating and addictive desire to attain what one craves for at any cost. In Fire-Ant’s Sting: Desire Diaries, Kamalini Natesan explores, through twelve varied characters, the different facets of desire—a primal human emotion—and how its pursuit blinds one to reason. Alternately wry and full of pathos, daring and evocative, this is a delectable diary of desires that will leave you asking for more.

Desire is one of the human emotions that is generally suppressed the most, and is yet the single-biggest driver of our actions. We are adept at suppressing desire, at painting it as “too much”, as taboo.

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Using mixed media art dolls in your journal

Plus a conversation on finding your art style

Using collage elements and mixed media art dolls in your art journal

Welcome to part 2 of this tutorial! I hope you’ve had a chance to watch and make your collage art dolls; if you haven’t, you’ll want to do that first. I’ll wait!

So, now that you have your cool little collage doll, it’s time to add her to an art journal page. Since this project was a way for me to connect back to my artist’s journey, I decided to use some of the elements I noticed in my very first art journal {see this post for the flip through of my first art journal}.

Watch the process: Using mixed media art dolls in your art journal

One of them is collage. I don’t use collage too often in my work, so I decided to use some of the painted papers I had pulled out while making the doll to see how I could incorporate those into my art journal.

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