Messages of Divine Love (11/7/22): Resilience requires support
For a full week I have felt a new level of confidence I haven’t experienced since law school. A self-assured stance that colored all my actions. I took criticism like a pro and shrugged off the expectations that didn’t matter. I felt what it was to show up integrated and whole in who I am.
And I want more.
Regaining that confidence cost me. I had to work through the mountain of illusions of martyrdom that justified why I treated myself as disposable. I had to wrestle with why I kept hurting myself with stories of my failure when all it did was make me more fearful of myself. If i believed in the power of humanity why was I not invested in accepting my own?
Those were my thoughts as I settled into a Samhain ritual last Monday night. I lit the candles, made prayers of gratitude to my family members who had passed. Prayers of regret with some I hadn’t connected with, prayers of sorrow for those who left without knowing how loved they were. I cast my circle, lit the incense, recited incantations and then I listened.
I didn’t expect to hear from my godmother, Helga. I heard the sweet sounds of this woman who lived in the foothills and had a potter’s wheel on her porch. A fellow mental health worker with my parents, she also escaped the Nazi’s, a teenage survivor who found herself pregnant in the Nederlands. I knew her story from an early age. She wasn’t afraid to tell me, never afraid to show me how grateful she was for her life and her daughter. Despite all the reasons she had to hate, she always chose love. She taught me piano, weaving and pottery and bought me my own small loom when I was 9. She taught me to put out wooden shoes for St. Nicholas and to expect good things even after hard times.
More than anything though my godmother outdid herself because she taught me how to love through impossible hate. As I stared at the ofrenda and heard her voice, the last walls surrounding my heart finally cracked apart. Her love reminded me that the only sacrifice ever asked of me is to give up that which makes me doubt the power of my own love. Is it perfect love? Is anyone capable of perfect love? Or is it that we find a thread of our perfection embedded in the messiness of love?
I probably will never reach the kind of loving perfection I aspire to, but I am always going to continue trying. Because my love, my version of the “Queen of Hearts” archetype is one who not only fights for her people, but feels their pain and happiness with them. She sets boundaries that communicates her sovereignty without perpetuating patriarchy’s obsession with punishment.
Helga’s gentle laughter told me that when you’ve been through the worst that humanity has thrown at you, no one else gets to dictate who, why and how you love. No one else gets to dictate where I set my boundaries. If someone isn’t giving me the security, safety or respect I deserve, that I earned through literal blood & tears, then they don’t need to access our energy until we choose.
That sovereignty is only possible with the support of our community, the unconditional love of those who call us beloved. Our family who have accepted us, our friends who have been through thick and thin with us. When we are surrounded by true believers (who don’t falsely inflate our ego, but substantively contribute to our growth) we can literally do anything! This week’s reading thinks so too…inviting us to have the courage to be vulnerable enough to lean our community and the bravery to let others lean on us.
This week’s messages are delivered through the Sacred Forest Oracle by Denise Linn. A gorgeous deck, my photos don’t do these cards justice. Heavily focused on aligning with the seasons and rhythms of earth, this deck shares the messages that help us through the light (or dark) of this full moon in Taurus/total lunar eclipse on Election Day, the Last we’ll see until 2025. We aren’t just starting a new chapter of our lives, we’ve started a whole new book.
See more below…
Where we are this week
Aspen Spirit (Courage)
Last week’s High Priestess spoke to us about leaning into ritual and the mysteries of the Divine Feminine. This week, the fluttering leaves of the aspen remind us that what might appear small, fragile and insignificant on the surface has a few network of roots ready to support us. Aspens bend and wave in the wind, strong in its flexibility. This is the true lesson of resilience – we are strong not because we stand firmly by ourselves, but because we have the support of our people – our families, our chosen clan, our co-conspirators in change. Have the courage to reach out to your network this week – support others as you need to be supported. This is the true golden rule.
Messages from our Guides
Spirit Guardian of Winter (Retreat)
The leaves have turned, the sun spends less time alight in the sky. The signals of the seasons tell us to prepare ourselves for winter. Take stock of what we’ve accomplished, for it will see us through to spring again. Notice who we trust to have around us when we are at our most vulnerable – who do we reach toward and who shows up? But more than anything we need to recognize how much better our relationship is with ourselves – we love ourselves a bit more than we did three years ago. Our guides ask us to welcome this time of hibernation, reflection and retreat, so that we can preserve our energy for the growth ahead.
Messages from Lady Gaia
Moonlight Enchantment
We can feel the energy of this upcoming full moon happening during the upcoming US Election Day, which is also during the last total lunar eclipse until 2025. These cycles align with our own human experience. Even if you don’t believe in astrology, it’s hard to deny that our bodies react to the natural cycles of the cosmos – astrology is just one attempt to explain how. But the truth is even deeper and more simple than the messages of the stars, it is built in the fabric of our DNA. We are called to embrace our more physical existence, to open ourselves to the awe-inspiring mysteries of living on planet earth. Even the most skeptical among us cannot deny the fascinating beauty we see in eclipses. Mother Earth asks us to witness her sacred, harmonious dance with the sun and moon. Earth is the balance between the two. Regain a sense of enchantment under the light of this blessed full moon.
Messages from our Ancestors
Elves (Playfulness)
This is a blessed time of year, the veil parted between us and those who have passed. And as we settle into our winter and holiday routines, performing the tasks that honor those who are alive with us now, our ancestors invite us to celebrate and play, to create and rejoice, to laugh together. Heal the inner children who were denied play – be the parents we needed, that our parents needed. Get down on the ground and roll around with puppies, turn chores into a game, dream impossibly big, make goofy faces at yourself, and jump in a puddle or make a snowman. The only way to infuse magic into the world is to regain it in ourselves. Indulge the impulse for childlike wonder this week with the ancestors’ blessing.
Messages from our Future Selves
Wizard of the Woods (Focus)
My kids used to affectionately call my dad “Gran-dalf” because of his resemblance to the character but in playful wisdom and twinkling eye. But my dad’s magic was very different from Gandalf. They were motivated by different experiences, shaped by different events, one real, one imaginary. It’s one thing to be inspired by the great wizards of history and fiction. It’s another to throw away our lives trying to emulate others, trying to mimic their success. The lesson of this wizard is to cultivate your own calling, practice your own talent, sing your own song – for it is more worthy of an endeavor than being the best counterfeit version of someone else.
Mother Mary
Spirit Guardian of Spring (Activation)
Growth is coming for us no matter how prepared we may feel on the inside. We cannot rest forever because eventually we’ll reach ever upward and outward for growth. We are supported with the guarantees of a personal spring after this winter. That is the cycle of nature – rebirth after death. Possibility after rejection. Action after rest. It may feel like a mini-death, but Mother Mary assures us that not only will we survive these times but we’ll come back renewed. Don’t be afraid to take this treat for your own healing- it will be worth it.
Undercurrents & Final advice
Standing Stones (Passage)
We have been through so much that it’s hard to imagine anything more. But we have reach a stage of sacred initiation into the deeper mysteries of our interconnected truths. We may find that we have been more sensitive to energy lately, we know when the vibe in a place is off, or we feel particularly drawn over and over to the same messages and people. This is a sign that we may be ready to open ourselves to deeper truths. A sacred portal of healing is opening right now, inviting us to retrieve the intuitive knowledge that has been buried. All of this is for a purpose that will help us become our highest, greatest selves in the end.
Butterfly Spirit (Transformation)
For many weeks now each reading points to the end of an era of change. In the past I’ve said “closing this chapter” but in reality it is starting a whole new volume of stories. This isn’t just the next step of knowing ourselves, it’s entering a whole new dimension of acting with that compassionate knowledge and letting it inform our policies, practices and interactions. But most of all it is about showing up as a new version of ourselves, the version that is the most authentic and true to who we really are. We are entering an era of transformation. This is about being ready to step into the roles that make our hearts sing with freedom.
Blessing
As we refocus on the collective needs of our physical world, we are committed to dreaming a new dream for humanity. We recognize the inherent value of our own magic and give it to causes that ensure humanity’s integrity and growth. May we have the courage to rely on one another so none will have to go through these transformations alone.
So may it be. I am with you always in love 💖
If you want to connect with your intuition, I invite you to sign up for my upcoming class!
Come learn how to use tarot as an emotional mirror🪞a time-traveling companion⌚ and a loving guide for the present 😍 in this monthly 90 min workshop ✨
“We can predict the future, when we know how the present moment evolved from the past.”
Carl Jung
What you can expect
We’ll start with analyzing a few cards together to warm up our intuitive muscles 🏋️♀️ before exploring some common themes and practicing interpreting cards through new spreads each month.
The class is limited to 20 participants.
No Experience Necessary! Just bring an open mind & an open heart.
La Madonna Rosa 