I have been public speaking since I was in 4th grade. I had just come home from Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., and my school principal made my absence conditional on giving a presentation about my trip after I came back. I don’t remember much about it, only that it went well enough that they wanted me to go to the middle school and a few other local elementary schools to share my story.

And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since – sharing my impossible story – trying to teach through my lived experience. Perhaps, that’s why I was always so defensive of using anecdotal evidence and testimonials in my public policy work. I saw the point of data, but I also saw the value of the intuitive and abstract lessons that exist between and beyond the data. The entire reason why I do this work, why I share my story, and why I value storytelling in general (especially sci-fi/fantasy/historical fiction) is that I believe in the power of storytelling to give us a new perspective, a better-informed framework on which to base our decisions. I firmly believe that in sharing our stories, we learn deep truths from the connections between us. I model the transparency I hope to make a reality for others.

No one gets through this life without the world whispering doubt into our ears. I heard whispers that made me paranoid about my intelligence, doubting my abilities, second-guessing every word choice until I was spending an hour drafting a simple answer to an email. I started obsessing over preparing for every single possible objection in a presentation until my content was so heavy that people wouldn’t be able to walk away with anything useful.

Doubting my own talents, the insecurity crept in faster than I expected. I was comparing myself to others, letting my failures stack up against me without ever taking the time to acknowledge all my successes. I have a talent and a passion for teaching, in particular, because I want my classes to be connective, healing, and especially enlightening. So why was I comparing myself to presenters who were commercially superficial? Or spiritually deceptive? Why was I aspiring to do my presentations like those people?

We are entering a time of radical honesty with ourselves and the world around us. We have to be clear about our own motivations, our own weaknesses, but also all the places where we chose our highest selves over the tempting paths of ruin. And so that means too that I have to be honest with myself and trust my instincts as a presenter: No one taught me how to do this, I learned how all by myself, and thus, I’ve earned the right to be different in how I approach audiences, different in how I speak as a presenter. Because not only do I want people to walk away from my talks inspired, having felt seen and heard, my deepest wish is that they will walk away with some of the embers of my starry depths and they will use it to spark their own light. I want them to take the seed of my passionate love for humanity and let it unravel their hard iron walls so they see themselves as I see them: cherished expressions of our shared oneness.

This past week I taught Tarot for Personal Insight – the first of what I hope will be many tarot courses, helping people see it through the same Jungian lens that I do. When I found myself falling down the same overthinking holes, preparing myself as if I was teaching a room full of attorneys, I decided to let go and just speak from the heart. Because the times that I truly shine are the times I’m not reading from a script or prepared outline, but the times I am just present with people who are willing to connect and try out my sparkly lens of love for a bit.

The energies of completion are swirling around us this week. We’re being given permission to close certain chapters in our lives. We can stop beating ourselves up with capitalistic expectations, serving someone else’s bottom line. We need to stop succumbing to forces that throw us into misalignment with our lived experience and heartfelt truth. We need to stop looking for permission to be “good enough”. That chapter is coming to a close – fast.

This week, the Light Seer’s tarot is sharing a similar message with the opening card of the Queen of Pentacles. She is the healer, the self-possessed soul who has learned that in showing up as she is, all her dreams are available – which has definitely matched up with the energy I’ve been feeling since the last full moon. Now is the time for us to release those old fears about whether our gifts and talents are “good enough” to shine. We just need to own up to the power of our own light and just shine.

See more below…

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Undercurrents & Final advice

In the undercurrent this week, we are assured that our wishes are being fulfilled, some of them delivered subtly under the surface right under our noses. Truly, all that we have asked for us arriving in ways we couldn’t ever imagine. Impossible connections, career opportunities, we are finding our light never depended on anyone else, just our own belief in ourselves. Once we let go of self-pity and scarcity, we open ourselves to a new level of fulfillment we never thought was possible.

Total transparency and authenticity. Every time I see the judgment card the first thing that comes to mind is “Will we finally choose to find ourselves worthy?” So much of my life was spent believing I was unworthy of whatever impossible dream popped into my head. I spent so much time talking myself out of pursuing the very things I needed to do to be successful that I only saw my failures. But with the Judgment card, we have to not only face our failures but our overwhelming successes too. Are we ready to stand up and be counted, to release our old selves so we may inhabit the new? Now is the time for radical self-honesty and to show up in the world with transparency and true authenticity. Our time is now.

Blessing

As the energies of completion swirl around us, pulling us through portals to new ways of being, may we rediscover the courage of our self-worth. May we boldly take up space, speak our truths and honor our collective expansion in ways that disrupt hierarchies of illusory power. May we each have the audacity to close the chapter for good and move into our true and real selves.

I am with you always in love 💖

So may it be.

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