March 25, 2024 / The Fantastical Tarot
While it has been logistically difficult for me to post the Messages of Divine Love via this wordpress site, I’m wanted to give an alternative to having a substack subscription so I can better archive these for future reference. However, I will always be posting these to substack first: https://sharpsweetbella.substack.com
Intro Notes to the Deck & Reading
The closest I ever get to “cursing” others is when I reach for this deck. And oh boy, I was angry enough that I wanted that curse to resonate through lineages of rejection. The Fantastical Tarot is arguably my most used, trusted deck. Where the Oracle of 7 Energies is the “sweet”, this is the “sharp” part of SharpSweetBella. It’s my shadow self that shines through. This deck speaks with the same merciless proclamations that my inner shadow had to learn to stay safe.
So, why did I reach for this deck when everything last week felt so confusing with its shallow threats to our systems? Because right now we need some direct truth – god only knows we’re not getting it from Instagram or Twitter, our news agencies, or governmental actors. We’re getting manipulated algorithms and desperate denial, the tools of a world that is dying away. That isn’t to say we can’t find any truth there, but we’re living in such a fractured reality it takes time to know who and what to trust. No wonder our compass was spinning wildly in too many directions at once!
When trying to describe this week’s reading, I kept seeing someone discarding the husk of an old world – throwing it away as people do during corn season at the grocery store. However, even the husk has value as I can attest after years of helping my mom & grandma with tamale-making for Christmas. The husk, which once protected corn with its tight exterior then transforms to hold the traditions and values of my Chicana heritage safe during las posadas (which starts on my birthday making it even more special for me). The husk finds a new purpose to support a different kind of nourishment because it’s tough enough to withstand the steam, holding the tamale together until it’s ready.
That’s all that our past selves (and indeed, our ancestors) are doing for us when we “shed what no longer serves us”. If we allow it, our past can be transformed to support a new kind of nourishment. Let that past self be a protection instead of a burden, a shield instead of an ancient artifact. Because what is the point of those gifts if we’re not going to use them?
Where We Are This Week
Page of Pentacles (R)
Solar Plexus Chakra
Last week this card was in the upright position at the end of the reading. Here we might be experiencing the opposite: The more we tap into the earth’s power the more we find old parts of ourselves withering away. The temptation is to disconnect, to ignore the eclipses and moon cycles. The temptation is to ground so deeply in the material, the knowable reality that we miss the forest for the trees – that this connection to earth should make us more amenable to hearing our interconnected heartbeat, not less. When all other possibilities start withering away, what will sustain, other than faith in something deeper than what reason and senses alone can perceive?
Messages from our Guides
King of Wands (R)
Root Chakra
Every tyrant thinks they’re right. They will move hell and earth to satisfy whatever distorted belief is powering their internalized justifications. There are signs along someone’s journey to power – little unethical choices that they make, cover up, and get away with that people dismiss. It emboldens them the next time – accumulating more successes, rising through the ranks, usually on someone else’s back. I’ve seen good leaders poisoned by the power handed to them by being on a pedestal. Systems have incentives built in for them to help them keep accumulating power (like how some state laws protect incumbents in redistricting), and to keep churning the machine exactly the way it is…because if they don’t they will lose power. While we could look to any number of bad global actors 😣 it is more important to act a little closer to home (because one enables the other). Who shown that you should be concerned about what they will do with a little power? What can you do to meaningfully intervene? (FYI – school boards, library commissions, and DEI in local government are all under attack right now – get involved locally!).
Messages from Lady Gaia/Mother Earth
Four of Swords
Crown Chakra
Resist the temptation to think of rest as frivolous or unproductive. Some of my most significant creative moments happen when I’m “at rest” while watching Star Trek or taking a shower. Some of the biggest spiritual “downloads” that I’ve shared on Patreon started in the shower after I’ve washed the day off. The guilt we carry when we have to lay down our swords long enough to rest is just hurting us and taking away from the restoration we deserve. Align your life so that rest becomes not just a priority but an investment you make in your future self. (And because I know my partners get this newsletter, I’m going to own that YES, this applies to me too!😝 )
Messages from the Ancients
Ace of Swords
Throat Chakra
This full moon includes a lunar eclipse in Libra. For many that means a re-examination and transformation of relationships that do and don’t serve us. But one of the biggest that I don’t want us to lose sight of is the relationship with our elders, ancestors, and ascended ancients who came before us. This card serves as a challenge, much like the “Sword in the Stone” of Arthurian legend: we have been destined for this moment since our birth. Are we willing to step up and lead? Will we finally shed the skin of our old self to embark on this miraculous, yet treacherous journey of curing our intergenerational curses, recovering the treasures of those who came before us who couldn’t go further because of the world, society, and time they were born in? Are we brave enough to take up this sword?
Messages from Our Future Selves
Devil (R)
Heart Chakra
Last week I wrote: The judgment card is here to put the gaze straight on you – to hold you accountable for this piece of the world’s soul that’s been entrusted to you. A lot of us did a deep dive and discovered wounded parts of ourselves that have been inflicting their judgment, telling us that we can’t/shouldn’t (the two most powerful curse words that society uses against us). This has finally revealed the shadow parts of ourselves that we can no longer hide from, the parts that need to be integrated into the whole. This week, the message from the future selves is the use this eclipse energy to find the strength to look ourselves in the mirror, to let go of the shards of hurt that keep bringing out the worst in us, and to allow ourselves to make peace with the devil within.
Messages from Mother Mary
Three of Pentacles
Solar Plexus Chakra
“Be brave enough to do the heavy lifting” says this week’s iteration of the three of pentacles, now no longer reversed. Now that we have started to navigate the new currents of our lives. This has necessarily shifted who was on “our team” – which is better than it seems. It means we are shaking up the skillsets, realigning how we can complement each other. Each person who begins on their path of unique requires a shift in the process, the same way a new co-worker needs time to train in a new role. We’re realigning to work even better together. New people bring new energy to learn from to augment all we can do and be. The only hitch is we have got to be brave enough to do our work instead of trying to control everyone else’s, especially the work of breaking our intergenerational curses and making peace with the devil we find in ourselves. We have to play our part and show up with the rest of the orchestra if this symphony is going to move hearts or minds.
Undercurrents
Page of Swords (R)
Throat Chakra
The trolls are out in force, trying to thwart anyone who is just trying to put good into the world. I’m not exaggerating – among my circle of influence, there has been a noticeable uptick of deliberately divisive commentary being left on otherwise benign posts. Do NOT give in to the bait…and don’t start shit this week. It’s going to feel difficult to remain calm, but keep Wil Wheaton’s law front & center: Just don’t be a dick (and don’t give in to those who violate that law). You may have to be merciless in enforcing this for yourself, but it is necessary if you’re going to get the growth you need.
Final Advice
The Tower (R)
Sacral Chakra
Last week I wrote, “Temples are still quaking, towers still crumbling, and mixed messages abound. It makes it hard to know where to go or who to believe.” While there will still be towers coming down through the next Mercury Retrograde, most of us have a pretty good idea that we’re on the other side of a tower that has fallen. We’re looking at the pieces and need to decide what to do from here. Denial is no longer useful – now is the hard, but rewarding work of discarding what was false about our prior lives, what columns were no longer in alignment with our purpose. In sifting through that rubble, take note of all the ways you have been freed to create something entirely new, entirely you. Let this moment of chaos and madness inspire new dreams that feel more enlightened and inspired than what you were in before. Let this inspire new growth.
Parting words from a Geek Empress
Over the past week, I’ve had the duel experience of confronting two prior versions of myself – both who felt the sting of rejection from peers at two distinct periods. One was my 8-year-old self who couldn’t understand why no one wanted to play with her (whether distorted or not, it was a flashback that threw me into a vulnerable headspace). The other was my college-bound self who jumped through hoops to prove that she was really, truly Latina. One was neurodivergence, the other was my heritage vs. my privilege. Both were hard lessons that taught me I would not be accepted for who I am. I would always have to shift myself and prove myself to get approval.
This week I had to confront all those feelings of loneliness, rejection, people people-pleasing shifts that have kept me safe. The soft husk of my youth – the earnest innocence of wanting to be liked kept me from liking myself. I could show acceptance to others because I knew what it was to be on the sidelines. I felt it too keenly from too many of my peers. But to continue to hang onto that soft, supple, but maddeningly indestructible green husk that protected me in my youth is like keeping me cocooned, never ready to be transformed.
If I listen to my abuela, she is whispering that I don’t have to cast aside the old parts of me, I can let them be repurposed into my protection for a deliciously complex version of me. Just like my mom has added and changed her tamale recipe over time, adapted from generations of Espinosa women, this is how I can honor and integrate my prior selves (the ones who didn’t know it wasn’t about me). The lesson has been to transform the husks of my youth into the vessels that will serve up heart-centered nourishment on a different scale – one that feels more like “home” than ever before.
We are calling in soul families who will support us as we level up and shed this old skin we’ve been burrowed in. But it doesn’t mean it’s trash, it just needs time before that feast is ready.
No matter what happens this week, remember I am with you always in love 💖
Meanwhile over on Patreon…
This substack will always remain free to anyone who wants to get the Messages of Divine Love and the Radiant Resilience Newsletter. However, for subscribers who want to get a bit more by contributing financially to my patreon, there is more for you!
Subscribers who support me on Patreon get access to:
- Weekly preview of the Messages of Divine Love
- Weekly Choose Your Own Card Adventures
- Monthly channeled Messages of Divine Love/Shadow Self
- Monthly noon posts
- Discounts on readings, classes and more
- Previews of new posts, articles & excerpts from my book in progress
- Extra videos, archives and specials just for patrons.
I recently re-opened my $1.11/mo tier that gives access to previews and discounts. Even more goodies coming…stay tuned!
Book a service:
If you enjoyed this post, here are some other ways to support my work
La Madonna Rosa 