131. Monthly Medicine: September is Coming Home to Ourselves
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To say that this is a radically life altering, transformative, and utterly liminal time is the understatement of the year. We are living amidst frequencies that the planet has never experienced before.
Absolutely nothing is clear or certain. Everything we’ve ever known (including who we thought we were) is radically shifting, the ground like quicksand beneath our feet.
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About the Episode
The third season of Tarot for the Wild Soul is here, and we are kicking it off with a potent edition of Monthly Medicine and some big updates from yours truly.
To say that this is a radically life altering, transformative, and utterly liminal time is the understatement of the year. We are living amidst frequencies that the planet has never experienced before. Absolutely nothing is clear or certain. Everything we’ve ever known (including who we thought we were) is radically shifting, the ground like quicksand beneath our feet.
How do we show up to these times? How do we find our roots and stability? By coming home to ourselves and our bodies, befriending the parts of us that we’ve abandoned or neglected for so long, making amends and reconnecting with them.
We are building this new world, this new paradigm together. The more we show up to ourselves, the more we will be able to robustly, resiliently, and solidly show up in the world, answering the call to be of service in the way that only we can.
Wild Soul Collective Reading for September:
Card for the month ahead: Knight of Swords
The card that is showing up as our teacher: Ten of Pentacles
What is it helping us to learn: Four of Pentacles
What is ready to be harvested, engaged with, shared and leaned into?: Three of Cups
What are we being invited to devote our attention to this month?: Nine of Cups
Land Acknowledgement
Honoring and acknowledging that this podcast episode was recorded on the unceded land of The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, currently called Portland, OR, with the deepest respect to the Kalapuya Tribe, Cowlitz Tribe, and Atfalati Tribe.
Please Note
CW Tags: systemic oppression
The content in this episode contains references to systemic oppression. We have done our best to identify difficult subject matter, but the labels may not be comprehensive for your personal needs. Please honor your knowing and proceed with necessary self-awareness and care.
Transcript
[Introduction]
[0:00:00]
(Instrumental intro music)
[0:00:12]
Hello Loves. Welcome back to a brand new season, Season Three, of Tarot for the Wild Soul Podcast, and I am your host Lindsay Mack, and it is a joy to be gathering with all of you again.
Whew, the times that we are living in right now, energetically and physically, on the planet, I mean, we've literally never seen them before. So I feel like I'm greeting you anew, and I'm sure you feel the same way about me (Lindsay Laughs). It's certainly been a time of tremendous, rapid cycling, growth, realizations. We’re all not the same. So in some ways, even though we're connecting as kin, maybe some new listeners, this is an… it's a new time with each other and on this podcast, and it's, again, it feels like a gift to be here.
I do want to start — because it's a new season — with some things that are feeling pretty clear to me now. I think that's the first thing is that one kind of wonderful thing about the last few months in the very deep work and the stuff that Spirit has really asked of me is that I've really been asked to clear attempting to be a linear person. And that doesn't mean a person who doesn't have reliability, but I am a spiral person who I think has really been attempting to be a linear person for a really long time.
And essentially, what that means for you and I is that this podcast is going to happen when it's meant to happen. It's not necessarily going to be weekly. There might be times where I don't say anything at all, and I really trust and know and believe in your ability to be your own source of wisdom so profoundly that sometimes you may get some clarity from me about why, and sometimes you might not.
I wasn't told to do anything other than the Monthly Medicines for the past three months. Typically, I do a summer break, but yeah, there's a different… I'm being asked to do something a little different with this podcast.
So here's what's so beautiful about that: if you don't like it, you don't have to listen anymore. And it's not a sassy thing. It's really, like, I would be delighted if you honored yourself, if you need that kind of linear-ness in your… in the things that you engage with, like, I love and respect that. I'm just not that way (Lindsay Laughs).
It's been, quite frankly, very freeing to be clearing some of that, some of the “shoulds”, and “you ought tos”, and internal pressures that I've really put on myself for years. And this is not just with this podcast. This is everywhere. And this is really the time right now. I'm sure that wherever you are in your process — because I know we're all in our processes right now — you're feeling the same way about where you happen to be. It might not be about your podcast, but whatever you engage with and whoever you engage with, we're just not meant to do things anymore out of a sense of should you ought to, sacrificing ourselves.
I’m finding that, yeah, just when I feel called to say something, I'll say something. When I don't, I won’t. And that goes for Instagram, too. I may never go back on Instagram. I also might, depends. I don't know yet. There's a lot of things, for those of you who work with me as a teacher, everything in the way that I work is changing. Every offering, every course I’ve ever done, it's all changing. And it's wonderful, but it's required me to go in so far to be with those changes. And that's probably going to continue forever, where I'll be really deep in the cave, and then I'll come out with some things to say, and I'll go back in.
[0:05:24]
So again, like, this is just letting you know that this new season, I mean, we're gonna go on the adventure together. Who knows how many podcast episodes? Who knows, you know, how often I'll post, how often I won't post? And I'm really running in a new rhythm of internal reflection right now. So to give you a sense of false… Here's the beautiful thing about this opportunity, this kind of declaration, really, in a way, of my what I'm available for and what I'm not, is that this is a little microcosm, likely, of what you're going through yourself, and certainly what the planet is going through right now.
We, I mean, overall, there is just… we cannot make anyone do anything anymore. We've never been able to, but God we've tried, right? We can't hold anybody really we can. We can hold a space, we can love people, we can witness them, we can see them, but we are all responsible for lighting and keeping our own flame. And this has always been true, but we're actually putting it into practice now. So, of course, that doesn't mean that we can't post, share, that I you won't hear from me anymore. You certainly will. You'll probably hear from me a ton. But yeah, I invite you to hold your reactions to this and see how it feels to receive it. Is it inspirational? If so, there's something for you to hear. Does it make you really mad? That's not for me, that's for you. So hang out with that. Maybe it's triggering you because there's a part of you that feels like you can't do this yourself.
So what I definitely can pledge to you is my willingness to always show up in this podcast space really clean. I won't show up if I feel like I should and will only ever connect with you if I really have something to say.
And yeah, so it's been a powerful few months, and I have so much more to share. But because the ground underneath all of us right now, me included, is pretty quicksand-y, like everything changes in my life, like I'm told to do a project, I’m like, “Okay,” and then I'm told, “Hold on that,” and I'm given another one (Lindsay Laughs). So it's been kind of hilarious. I wonder if other folks have been going through the same thing. If so, you're totally not alone, but yeah, there's so many exciting things in the works that have only really begun to bloom because I've finally cleared some of that old energy, some of that old stuff, have given myself the kind of space that was being asked of me — and it was hard to give it by the way — because those things are really needing my attention.
So it's definitely a new rhythm for me, and we'll see how it all unfolds. And I felt like I've only been talking for three minutes, but I guess I spend like ten. That's fair. I rarely talk about myself, and it's a new monthly medicine, the new season of the podcast, and quite befitting for our phrase for the month of September which is “Coming Home to Ourselves.”
[0:09:58]
So I know you've heard me repeat this ad nauseum. But it is a… to say that this is a time of great transformation, collectively, personally, on the planet, with the systems that have been in place for so long is, like, hilarious. It's really the understatement of this century. We, at the core of all of this swirling and everything changing, you know, this is, in a way, the term that's coming to mind is kind of like not quite an ascension time, but certainly a shifting of plane, of field, frequency, of energy, of dimensional space. Like, it really is.
There's a lot happening on the planet right now that's never happened. I don't know if you've ever had the experience a lot the past few months have been like, “Oh my god, like, I wish I could read a book that would help me through this. But there's like nothing that's even been written yet,” (Lindsay Laughs) because we're going through something totally different than anyone, any generation, before has ever gone through.
At no time in human consciousness has this been, has this happened, have we been so profoundly invited into our inner gardens, as they were, to harvest, to clear, to make use of what's there, to come home to ourselves. That's pretty much the only place we won't go is home to ourselves. And we've confused for forever coming home to ourselves as having egoically-driven accomplishments, you know. We check things off our to do list, which is great. I'm a Virgo rising. I'm about the to do list, but not ultimately the same as what we're talking about.
[0:12:05]
So we are all being invited to go further, deeper than we ever have into ourselves to shift the way we are showing up in the world. And to do this we have to come home, not just to ourselves but specifically to our bodies. And, and for those of you — I count myself among you — who have a lot of deep triggers and stories about your body, you know, take that in, in a way that feels safest for you because you don't ever have to do anything.
And it's never about, “Hey, you got to go in. You got to clear up all this stuff that you've been believing and thinking about yourself in your body in order to da-da-da.” It's totally not it. It’s just the vessel that houses everything you're going through, you know. The body is the space that houses your brain chemistry, your nervous system, your channel, your major systems. Like, even on a really objective sense, you know, how can we have the feelings that we have about our bodies and also come home to them? And again, I'm in the same place you are, likely, with the complications of that.
So it's not about doing anything that we find uncomfortable or unavailable to us. It's just where are you right now, and what are you being invited to come home to?
This is not new to anybody who's listening to this. Likely, you've been feeling this for months, especially the last month, and especially the last week or two. It's cacophonous right now, and there really isn't any place to go but within. There is, quite literally, no escaping this. I know that sounds very intense and very severe. It's certainly not meant with that spirit, but it is true. This is an evolve or die time. I have said it before, it definitely bears repeating. Most certainly.
And when we consider that idea that there's no escaping it, it automatically can fan us out and open to “Well, how do we try to escape?” So if you're like me (Lindsay Laughs), you've likely had kind of all of your stuff come up about the ways that your body and brain so beautifully tried to get you out of the present moment and away from that, right.
So again, we're not pushing anything. We're not forcing anything. We're not traumatizing ourselves. We're not going into areas that don't feel available to be gone into. It's not what this time is. We're using wise, critical thinking here. We're just showing up to the things that have — I know — been at your door for quite some time. And what would it be like to lay down all of the shoulds, all of the you-ought-tos, all of the escape hatches that ultimately aren't really working anymore anyway, and just come home, just be here without needing to fix, change anything?
What would it be like to open your arms to everything that's coming up in your life right now, without needing to fix or change it?
[0:15:58]
So that befriending involves calling home the parts of ourselves that maybe we've neglected, maybe we've abandoned for good reason, you know. And we have the ability to even just from across like a field of imagination, say like, “Hey, I see you over there, not quite ready to come closer.” But coming home to ourselves, very powerful.
And this is happening across a very large spectrum. We're all getting massive amounts of downloads right now. And if you are feeling them in your body, getting body pain, my teacher Michelle gave me a heads up about this and whoa, am I feeling that, too. And if you're feeling that, that's likely a part of it — and, you know, not to ever glorify body pain as somebody who experiences regular chronic pain — but that is a component right now. It doesn't mean don't get help and assistance if you need it from a doctor (Lindsay Laughs), but just be open to that idea because it is what is happening to every human right now.
And yeah, the planet is radically shifting and so are we. And the ground, you know, is literally moving under our feet. And as a human collective, on the planet, in reality, it's wildly traumatic and scary. And from an energetic perspective, all of this groundlessness, lack of clarity, things changing every five seconds, not knowing what the fuck is going on, where we are, where our center is, just feeling like we're floating is 100% not not just okay, but actually really important right now, you know, really important.
That's why we talk about the difference between the experience of the mind and the experience of the soul, the human experience and the soul experience. Because right now, of course, in the human experience, this is an incredibly challenging, painful, difficult time, and it's in no way negating that. It has to come with it, right? We have to acknowledge those things. It's an incredibly uncomfortable time. And yet the function of this time is to help us blossom and evolve as a collective species, not just a couple of us, or those of us who have the privilege to do this. We're all doing it. We all need to take personal responsibility. We all need to come home to ourselves.
[0:19:01]
September, it's a time of, really, a continuation of this very deep inner working in our process and we're preparing a lot.
The phrase being “coming home to ourselves” has a much larger impact than just that deep work, because coming home to ourselves involves so many different things for so many of us. For some of us it's like just acknowledging there's a home to come to, feeling into our own beauty, our own lovability, our own desirability, feeling into our own inner refuges, feeling into our ability to receive, feeling into our dreams, like, actually having the ability to practice and say like, “Oh, I'm willing to have a dream to allow this to come forward” potentially. All of that is really, really big.
And September really holds this and kind of holds hands with it. Because the more we do this work inside, the more we come back home, come back home, come back home, the more available we're going to be to show up in the world as solid structures, available, available.
We're learning in a very big way right now: what's my role? What am I hearing yes to do? How can I not rush? How can I really allow what's happening around me and within me to just happen, to not have it occur on any particular timeline, to just let it be, to not try to control, to witness when there is the desire for control — because that's not a problem. It's like part of the deal (Lindsay Laughs), like totally part of the deal — and not necessarily have that be the piece that drives the car.
So why is this important? Because for pretty much most of modern history — certainly in the United States, but not limited to that — there has been a tremendous focus on doing things for external purposes. And yet everything's been pretty backward, since we've been doing it that way. Because nobody was ultimately willing to come home, because coming home means acknowledging, processing, actually embracing, the stuff inside us that we don't necessarily want to feel or look at.
And it takes the lion's heart. It's big, courageous work. It's hugely courageous work. And if we can have the willingness to move into that space of courage, we will be able to show up in the world in a completely different way, not burned out, but actually resourced, not frantic, frenzied, harried, but solid, solid. And that also means looking very closely at the ways in which we have denied ourselves, that kind of thing.
Now, obviously, there are huge systemic reasons why many folks have felt that they didn't have access to these things, have literally been denied access to these things, marginalized folks, people of color, like, I could go on and on and on. There are a million systemic reasons why these things have taken place. It's capitalism. It's racism. It's across the board. And we are moving into a time where slowly, but surely, rest is being reclaimed by the bodies who deserve it most, where space is being… is becoming safer for those of us who have not felt that it was safe to have space, that it was safe to take time.
It's slow, and the seeds are being planted this month. It doesn't mean that any concrete, physical change is going to happen. It certainly doesn't mean the realities of life go away. But we're planting seeds.
What might that feel like to feel safe enough to have space? What might that be like for me? What might it be like for me to take rest and to let the huge waves of fear and terror and hypervigilance come up as I take that risk?
[0:24:19]
So often we think, “Oh, I tried to relax, and I just felt like I was more stressed,” and that's pretty normal I think for most of us, because a lot of us don't really give ourselves a whole lot of space. So when we actually do have space, there's so much kind of on the docket to be acknowledged and looked at and loved up that we… it all comes rushing forward.
And also, in general, we're pretty uncomfortable with pleasure and excitement, and we're pretty uncomfortable with rest and receiving, you know. That's just in general, I think, and gets harder and harder. The more trauma, the more intergenerational trauma there's been, more systemic trauma and oppression we've experienced. That's very real.
And again, this isn't providing answers. We're all Towering, Judgement-ing Ting, rebuilding, tearing things down, too, together. And we're in that process, and there's absolutely profound shifts that are happening in that space. And there's also a ton of inner work that needs to — it's calling out — must be acknowledged. We must come home, must come home.
So it's liminal this month, and that's okay. It's really liminal. Some of us might be really further out in a space of being seen, talking, offering, and some of us might be real deep in the cave, and none of its really a problem. Some things may come up for some people some things may not. Everybody's kind of doing their own thing. For some people this time is really about, like, listening, and for some people this time is they have things to say from the soul, not that the ego wants to be heard, but actual soul service.
[0:26:25]
We're moving in September through Virgo and into Libra season. Very powerful, because Libra season starts on an equinox. An equinox is... I'm very sensitive to equinoxes and solstices, but I really feel equinoxes like in my nervous system. I don't know if anybody else does as well. Whereas Solstices I do feel in the body, but it's much more of an energetic, like whoa, you know I really feel. It feels much more physical to me, which makes sense given the reality of what an equinox is, you know?
But yeah, that we're clearing something. We're heading toward kind of the last cycle in this particular spiral of the year. You know, this has been the summer spiral. We've been in water energy since June 21, so 20th, 21st, since the solstice. So we've been working in water energy.
On September 21, depending on where we are in the world — maybe a little later, maybe a little earlier, or a little, yeah, a little earlier — we will transition into the season of air, which is the season of mental, of movement, of communication, of speaking. And it makes a lot of sense that the Anchor that ushers us into this time, that holds that space with us in this last kind of water cycle, in this bigger water spiral of the summer/winter time for the whole planet from June to September is The Hermit.
The Hermit is a huge Anchor for us right now. This is total Hermit energy, what we're talking about, coming home, noticing the places in us that want to move faster, noticing the places in us that want to know, that just want to know what's going on (Lindsay Laughs). Because nobody knows what the hell's going on right now! That's as it should be. It's as it's meant to be right now. There's no answer. That's what's so crazy right now. There is no answer to offer you. Nobody knows.
We're literally building a new world together. Every time you show up, every time I show up, every time we come home, every time we do our work, every time we don't respond unconsciously, every time we take responsibility for ourselves, every time we show up, because we've truly heard a yes, we change the world. And I mean that quite literally. How you interact with people, given the situation, affects them. It's gonna affect how they are with other people. What you do, what I do, what we all do, has massive ripple effects. Huge.
[0:29:36]
So, Hermit is about taking a sacred pause. But it's not about not doing anything. The most interesting thing right now that we're really unlearning together is the idea that this work is somehow superfluous, it’s unimportant, that we really need to be doing, and we do need to be doing. Like, we're very late for a great deal of the work that needs to be done right now on the planet.
But if we're doing it from a place that isn't resourced and grounded — and I don't even think we need a whole lot of luxurious privilege to be in that space — really, we're learning to live from a place of homing with ourselves. So that if we are exhausted, pulling a little bit more from the bottom of the well than used to, we're at least aware of it. We're at least trying to put more back into the well, rather than kind of flagellating ourselves, or being like, “Well, this is just what it is.” It's not what it is because it's not sustainable, and then you're no good to anyone. So we're undoing and relearning a new way.
And the Hermit doesn't make us not go. The Hermit is so powerful because it doesn't allow us to walk forward on anything that's not in alignment with the soul. And when we want to put a bandaid on things because we're uncomfortable, when we want to just go, have an answer, the Hermit will just gently, gently, gently pause.
And that's part of the beauty of Virgo season is that it, when you deny that — you know there's a reason we go back to school in Virgo season — you know the whole rhythm of time shifts, where there are certain times… Of course, none of that means anything this year because what is school? Like what is anything anymore? You know, obviously like this is… it's a huge time for so many parents, so many teachers, where the health and well-being of our teachers, of our children, of our parents, and everyone working, custodial staff, like everybody working in our schools, everyone driving buses, it's fucking crazy right now, across the board. Some people working full time jobs, managing to homeschool their children, virtual learning.
It's, again, not saying that we're going to have all this time to pause. Hermit just draws our attention to where we really want to escape or run away from the work that needs to be done; that's really asking to be just acknowledged and paid attention to so that we can shift and show up a little better.
[0:32:47]
And that's the perfect shift into Justice energy, which essentially is the... I mean that's going to be no joke, Justice season, this year. Whoa. Watch out. So we're gonna play in those energies together.
But this all has a very different frequency this year because of Mars retrograde. And that's a big deal. And it's very present in the collective reading that I'm going to get into in just a moment, the Tarot reading for us this month.
Mars retrograde is kind of beautifully, like a little fish, like hopping up out of the water. It's a very joyful, oddly, presence in the reading because all of what we're even talking about is kind of connected to Mars retrograde and in a time when so many of us are feeling the pull to move, to create, do, what is it like to be in Tower reversed energy in the midst of that? What is it like to have an impulse and a drive to go that says, “Hold?” Right?
The only place we can take that energy is down in. And that's how we're being invited to work with Mars retrograde this year. Noticing our reactivity, noticing where we want to lash out, noticing where, you know… Anger is so sacred. It's not a problem, but when we are irrationally lashing out, when we're unwilling to look at our part, when we are, you know, unwilling to to look at ourselves, then that's not so much sacred anger and sacred disruption as it is just bypassing. So we really want to be conscious and aware of that take real personal responsibility for ourselves.
[0:34:59]
So our card for the month ahead — this is the Wild Soul Tarot collective reading — our card for the month ahead is Knight of Swords. And I've been pulling Knight of Swords quite a bit for myself, and I've been told by this card that the definition of it is in a time of change. This is happening with a lot of Tarot right now.
The Tarot has always been whole, perfect, like, benevolent, lovely helper like always. It's always struck like a perfect C on the piano, every card. Every card. It's been human consciousness that's equated certain cards as bad, undesirable, and, really, my whole… like if I had to sum up my entire life's mission as a teacher, it would be to dismantle that because every card is really perfect. And it always brings medicine, and I know because that's what they tell me because I listen to them. And if you're willing to listen to the Tarot, they'll talk to you, too, because we all have our own way of interpreting.
But yeah, Knight of Swords, it's been interesting. Every time it's come up for me, and it's coming up for me quite a bit, what I would have thought it was isn't anymore. So this is what I was told from it, and we'll see, you know, like, Tarot readings are so, like, you know… As we shift in human consciousness, our ability to actually hear what the cards want us to talk about, depending on who we are, changes. So you may notice for yourself you're having some different interps come through.
So normally, what we would say — what I would probably say — about this card, being our card for the month, is you may not feel a desire to move, but it's important to do so. It's important to move and to trust that even if you're tired, even if you maybe don't want to, that the medicine of this movement is really fast. And that, you know, sometimes we can hook into this beautiful pace that is so much speedier than we ever would have imagined, where we are capable of getting things done, or accomplishing things that we can't even envision. And in that way, particularly, that is true of this month.
So let's say you're working on a project, and then all of a sudden you're like, “I feel like I want to write an e-book.” Those two things this month could happen together (Lindsay Laughs), even though you might be like, “It's impossible.” It may not be. It just may be that some other things that were taking up space in your life can't be there anymore. So that's a big deal.
What takes up space? What matters? What doesn't. We want to make room for that. That's a part of what we're being prepared for. Every person on this planet needs to be doing their soul work, period, not what the brain says that you should be doing, not what you think you should be doing, not what you think you should, you ought to be doing. That doesn't absolve anyone of responsibility.
[0:38:39]
The soul is much fiercer than the brain. The soul is the one that will say, “Fucking get to it, show up in this way. Do the thing that makes you the most scared, move through this resistance.” That's the soul. The brain says, “Keep it safe, keep it in line, don't rock the boat, whatever.”
So watch your perception there because very often we have this ridiculous perception, many of us, that soul work is somehow light and fluffy, and it is not light and fluffy. It is a different kind of intensity. The brain is often intensity without all that much growth. The soul is a hell of a lot of intensity, but a commitment to life-death-life for the rest of our lives.
So in that way, that this card is totally showing up in that way this month, that when you click into Mars retrograde when this idea of moving in ways that have not been in alignment get cleared and kind of like sifted out, what do we have space to do, to create to show up for? Like that, that is the treasure. And in that way, this is part of the medicine that Knight of Swords is offering, and we're all moving through the world in some way.
And the important question to ask — this is like the million dollar question this month — how and why do you move through the world in the way that you do? Why? Right, like what are you invested in? What do you involve yourself in? Do you often get nos, and you do them anyway?
This is just something to look at. It's not anything to beat ourselves up over. We're all doing this work. And it's because, again, we all have roles to play, and it's crucial that we play the role we came to play. So being really clear, and it's much larger, too.
Like, capitalism is dying and has been dead for quite some time, but all of the seams are now exposed. The wound is open, we’re really rebirthing a new world together and are going to be for quite some time on this planet. But divesting from those structures, which does take time, of acknowledgement, of working through resistance, of coming out, we can't pretend that it doesn't take some time.
It does mean courageously looking at the ways we engage and move through the world. And it does mean looking at the way we invest our energy. We can do everything with our money, and still be completely capitalist in the way that we choose to move through the world with our bodies. And we all know that that's true. But that's part of what Knight of Swords is inviting us to pay attention to.
[0:41:37]
I mentioned, like, I'm finished trying to be a linear person. I'm not (Lindsay Laughs). I am a channeler. I am a teacher, I'm a guide. My job is not to be somebody who works on a schedule or on some kind of timeline. My job is to channel, to be the most authentic, integral, honest channel I can be. And I am a Queen of Cups person.
It's not like, “Oh my god, I'm a Queen of Cups,” but it's like, I'm hooked up that way. And I always have been. I'm a Hermit lifepath, like, I have to go way in, in order to come out and have something to say. And I've denied that. I've tried to work against that for forever. I have apologized for that, and there's no more of that, you know. There's no more entitlement with my work or me because you have your own medicine.
And once I realized that, it changed many things for me about how I work, how I offer my work, what kind of energetic interaction I have with my students with my audience, and it's really because I love you, and I love myself. And that's that movement from linear to spiralic is really something we're all doing. And that's happening at every facet of life because the earth is spiralic.
Things don't happen as we expect them to. We have no idea what's going to happen in this life, and we pretend like we can live differently than that. And it's really not possible. So we're really just clearing out the delusion that's been there to begin with, to try to give us a sense of normalcy and safety.
And we're not able to keep the same pace as we did through this life, and that is great. It doesn't mean that we can't do anything. It doesn't mean that we can't show up, work our asses off, be present, put our bodies on front lines, be a channel or a vessel for tremendous capacities or quantities of work.
It does mean that we're being asked to look at what are the systems in place that keep me from feeling like I can do the things that I'm really hearing a yes to do. I can do the things that maybe I don't love doing, that I absolutely have a responsibility to do, that's still hearing “yes,” that's still soul work. You don't have to like every part of your soul work. That is a huge misinterpretation of soul work. I often do not like what I'm asked to do from Spirit.
But what, how can I clear some of the pressure, self-inflicted pressure, or stories, or shoulds, that actually just serve to keep me out of the work I'm meant to do. And then when I try to do it, I've got nothing for it?
[0:44:45]
So we've been moving a little backwards for quite some time. And now we're kind of cleaning that up a bit. And we have to, because our bodies and our nervous systems and the planet are no longer able to hold that anymore.
So we're shifting and transitioning from kind of a pace through our lives and interactivity that satisfies the ego and the ego of others. And that includes kind of clearing performativity at all levels, like saying like, “Oh, yeah, I'm really into this,” and we're not into it. Saying “Oh, yeah, I'm here to do this,” and then really not being able to sustain it, right. So we're beginning to tap into our true pace, how we move through the world.
So Knight of Swords, rather than an indicator, necessarily, of being a card of huge momentum and movement in predictable ways, is one of great unpredictability and excellent ways and unexpected and exciting ways, and also an Anchor that's going to help us to unravel all the ways that we've sacrificed the wisdom of our bodies, our timing, and our process for capitalism, essentially; for the over culture for other people's egos, satisfaction, expectations of us. There's no more of that. There's no more of that.
The gift of no longer doing that is that it allows people to decouple from being overly attached to us, from making their meaning from what we're saying or what we're giving them. And I'm talking, again, on a soul level. It doesn't mean that we can't show up for our community. There's a difference between human work and soul work right. And where they intersect is “Am I getting a yes to do it? Am I really hearing ‘yes’? Is this the right time? Is that the right pace?” So we want to be in honoring of that.
[0:47:02]
And there's a lot coming up right now about the body needing to be part of the thing that comes with us now, rather than getting dragged along. And for many of you, you've been doing that for a really long time, and I bow to you and to your work in that way. For some of us, this is pretty new, you know (Lindsay Laughs).
This work is going to bring up all the things it's going to bring up all the things, and that's for us to hold, to find processors, and, you know, friends and folks who you know can really hold us in that, those feelings. Like it is going to bring up anger. It is gonna bring up resentment. It may bring up fear. It may bring up big stories and the brain being super threatened being like, “I can't fucking do that. What the fuck my suppose to do with that?” You might think like, “Ugh, this is boring, you know. I don't want to.” And that's a part of the like, you know you're on track if that kind of thing is coming up actually. Because that's part of what we're being invited to come home to.
If anger arises, don't respond to the anger, rather than react from the anger. So that's a really important distinction to make. We are totally, as a collective, clearing out any shoulds, any have tos, any ought tos from all space of our lives. And when we get an impulse to move, go, we should do this, people are expecting us to do that. we're going to be asked to pause.
Mars retrograde and the Hermit are going to say, “Let's slow down there. Let's go deeper. Why? What's the story if you don't?” And then we can let all that panic, all those stories, come up about what might happen if we don't do it. And then most likely, we're going to be asked to lean into the fire and try to speak our truth, even in the midst of that fear.
So that's literally the point is to bring ourselves to a situation where those things, that treasure that lies underneath, buried underneath, the kind of outdated rhythms of the way that we move and engage in our lives, what we give our energy to, our time to, our space to, that we can actually acknowledge part of what happens under the “why”. So that's where we're being asked to do the deepest work.
And so this isn't about a slow month or a fast month. All that is kind of changing now, anyway, like we're not… we just are, we're just being now. It's not slow or fast or anything. It is a profound invitation to deeply explore and recenter those ways in which we're moving and working in the world, and it's going to be different for all of us, because we all have completely different life experiences, totally different masteries.
[0:50:16]
So it doesn't mean that you won't be tired this month. That doesn't mean your body won't feel taxed. And it doesn't mean that we're negating reality here. It doesn't mean that if you are — God bless you — someone on the front lines, serving folks with this virus, on your fucking feet all day, it doesn't mean that if you are a parent, doing the Lord's work (Lindsay Laughs), like, caring for your children, working a job, if you're looking for a job, if you're caring for yourself as a full time job, the body is going to be tired.
This isn't some love and light horseshit that's like, “Oh, you know, if you're doing the work right you're not going to be tired. We're not supposed to move in a way that like taxes us.” Not at all. We're just divesting from the structures that keep us unconsciously moving in ways that we're not really being present about.
It is very different to say, this is… I am more depleted than I would like to be. I am deeply tired, I'm deeply stressed, I am deeply scared. And it's not necessarily something that I'm going to stop doing. I choose to keep doing it. I choose because this is my duty, this is my job, this is my calling, whatever it is. And while I, look, have to do it, so I'm just going to do it. That's different. That's different. So that's where we're feeling into that distinction.
And why do this? Because we want to actually have the capacity, energy, and availability to show up to the things that we're really called to, not what we think we should do. That may mean strengthening our boundaries around what we are and are not available for, might be letting go of certain things.
So we're divesting from the thinking mind controlling and making the decisions as to how we move through the world, and we're opening ourselves up to much deeper, richer work; much deeper, more present, more deeper presence with our work in the world. So it's a big deal.
And you know, as you're probably hearing this, and this, it's quite nebulous, because it's… we've clicked over. It's not so much like, “Wait and tell me what to do.” It's like it's all habits bubbling up underneath your surface. Go down, dive in, and really see what's oming up for you and what's calling you. And I'm right there with you in it, you know, doing it my own way.
[0:53:17]
So, the card that is showing up as our teacher for this month is Ten of Pentacles.
And Tens in the Tarot are always about both the end and the beginning of a new cycle, the clearing of something and the birth of something else. They're also about review. Any Ten that we get, doesn't matter what suit it's in, it's essentially the whole of our lives related to that suit is kind of being laid out in front of us. Like we've been planting seeds, nurturing all this growth.
And then when the Ten comes, we have an opportunity to go out on harvest day, and we can lay everything out in front of us and think “Wonderful. What works about this? What doesn't work about that? Can I keep what works and actually learn to utilize it and infuse it into my life? And can I clear compost, burn what doesn't work anymore?”
So, very often, some of us can have the perception that we only do that kind of, like, change, clearing work in maybe Ten of Wands or Ten of Swords because we've been told for so long that those are problematic, bad, scary cards, and they're not. They're just as potent and powerful and beautiful and delicious as Ten of Cups and Ten of Pentacles. And that is really true, actually.
Ten of Pentacles is like the harvest of the harvest, and, really, of all the Tens, feels most like a full moon energy to me. This is a review and acknowledgement of the ways in which we are of service. And it is a time — when we move through Ten of Pentacles energy — of very deep reflection around our physical, as in bodily, service and balance.
So I'm not talking about balance, like, again, the over cultural expectation of perfect health, like, I think you know, not about that at all. Wherever we are is wherever we're meant to be. That's fine. We're talking in a much more expanded way. Like, where are you on this spectrum of connection and restoration where your body is concerned? We're not aiming for perfect. We're never aiming for perfect A lot of us don't even have the resources to begin at the minimum amount. or this time or the capacity or the the funds or whatever it is.
[0:56:04]
Ten of Pentacles invites us into something much larger, where it lets us know that we're complete with a great deal of things. Will we be courageous enough to trust that process?
When you grow things, as we really do, we do this in all of the suits of the Tarot. But in the Pentacles, it's really at another level. When you spend that amount of time growing and nurturing a business, a platform, a course, a book, you know, whatever your thing might be, and then all of a sudden, you understand, “Well, this has gone as far as it can go in this way, and now it's time to really look much more deeply at how do I distribute those resources? You know, where am I in the relationship to reparation? Like what am I acknowledging that am I willing to receive as a form of reparation? What am I available to give as a form of reparation? Can I trust that what is left, how many Pentacles are left in my basket that feel like the right ones, that feel like the ones that are really meant to be with me, how can I trust that they are really where I'm meant to direct my energy? How can I trust that I can compost the things that I've harvested that don't ultimately match work or align for me anymore?”
And doing this is both really important for us personally, but also about a much larger, collective, planetary balance. So are we available to move into greater equitable balance with our bodies, with our service, with our money, checking in around our giving and receiving? This is a massive part of this. And we can't, you know, again, it all weaves together right?
When we're kind of being paused in our regular rhythms of movement in life, with Hermit with Mars retrograde, and even with a Knight of Swords, who is typically such a strong, fast mover the energy of change is quite strong, and we may be amazed at the rate at which we evolve this month. The teacher like what and why, and what we're being taught is that we're doing all of this so that we can be in greater balance with the world at large; so that we can really know and understand where our center is, so that we can understand that we're not supposed to compare ourselves, so that we really know and understand where have I been operating from some really old, unconscious places that have actually been blocking me from showing up as I really desire to or as I’m capable of? Where have I been denying myself that? Where can I get deeper? Where can I get richer? Where have I been afraid to ask for what I need? What you know, how can I step into that courage? Like, even if that person doesn't give it to you, just you asking for it travels back and forward multiple generations in your ancestral line and heals it
[0:59:49]
Ten of Pentacles is a card of ancestral healing work. It is. If we are choosing to show up in the world in aligned, embodied balance, embodied balance, it changes. Like we're able to change the legacy and heal the legacy, acknowledge, make reparations for the legacies that our ancestors have wrought here on the planet. We're able to bring more safety to the ancestors who couldn't receive that safety. We’re able to, you know, whatever it is. Or at least dream of the safety that is our birthright.
It's a big, huge, beautiful reflective space, where with each Ten, we're acknowledging that in order to evolve, to go forward, in the area that the suit represents, we have to get really clear on what serves the process and what doesn’t.
With Ten of Wands, it's about our energy, our capacity, what we’re holding, juggling, specific to our energetic output, to Ten of Wands or Ten of Swords, what part of our thinking, what part of our perception, needs a real fine tune, needs an upgrade? You know, with Ten of Cups, how can we be more available for the everyday, here-in-the-moment joys as a kind of a radical choosing of ourselves It’s a radical act.
With Ten of Pentacles. We say yes to our full body, embodied experience on the planet. What are we doing? What are we offering to the world? What are we… how does this body as a vessel move through space and time? And as we endeavor and drop more into greater balance with that, how can we show up in the external world, reflecting that?
And doing that is quite literally a healing to our ancestors and of our ancestors, because we're being more available to the roots within us. And the more we show up in a way that is actually with our feet on the ground, the more we can evolve past and beyond where our ancestors have ever gone. And that's really what all of us are doing now. We’re returning back to reclaim roots, and healing where those places have been severed.
[1:02:41]
What is this work with Ten of Pentacles helping us to learn?
Four of Pentacles. So, again, we have a really strong body card here. When we are really clean and clear on what is in alignment for us and what isn't, we can honor even more lovingly the times where we want to be open with our bodily availability, and times where we just don't.
Any Four that we work through is a kind of a little box, like a nice box that we get to… it's a room where we get to go into and shut the door and just be. And all of them represent different kinds of rooms for the different systems and parts of ourselves, and Four of Pentacles is very much about the body. And so we're gonna really be moving through a lot of this, and it's going to be interesting how this shows up as school comes back, as you know, fall begins to approach.
There's a lot of really strong energy related to so many of us that don't have any choice in how available or unavailable our bodies are in the world right now. Some people are out in the world, even in the midst of this pandemic. They cannot help but be, they have to be, they choose to be for a higher good, not just because they're choosing to ignore that we're in a pandemic. And some folks cannot go out into the world because of their health. And that is sort of related to this as well as there is an invitation in the world in a much larger way.
Like, can we be even more intentional? Can we check in like, what role is my body, my presence, my energy playing in this moment? And how can I not apologize for it if I hear no? Like, you know, if I just understand that right now, my body needs space and time. You don't have a lot of space and time for your body? What is it to really allow that to be, like, just to say, “Okay, I don't have that. I really want it here. Is there any space for you to give it to yourself? And if there isn't, can we acknowledge that and be with that and be with the unfairness of that. Be with what you desire, be with what you're hoping to bring forward.
Again, we can honor those boundaries. This is a card of body boundaries. Like I don't choose to show up in this way. I choose to show up in this way, period. The more we're aware, from Ten of Pentacles, about what's working, what's not working, the more we can actually embody that, come out when we feel like it's in alignment to, and stay in when we feel like it's in alignment to, to the degree that we're able.
So it's deep and necessary inner work that's really important. And there is a lot — and people may not like this — there is a shitload of emphasis on getting… it's all about inner work this month. It's related to external presence, but it has to start inside. We're coming home to ourselves.
So, Four of Pentacles is an amazing place to be. It's not an energetic cutting off. It's us going deeper into ourselves. It's very rich. So how can we make it a joyous occasion? Enjoy doesn't mean happy. Joy just means, like, we're willing to let it be enjoyable. Even though we might hate it (Lindsay Laughs). Somehow those two things can coexist.
[1:06:44]
Where are we being invited to pause? Like, what's, what are we getting worked on, or where are we getting worked on this month? Like, where kind of the energetic as a collective like, where's the attention going around?
Where we’re being kind of worked on, or what's being worked on right now, is The Star.
So make no mistake. This is a time of deep healing. And it is a time of processing and feeling those feelings that are arising from that suffering. Something that's really important to remember about The Star is that it does kind of hold us in place. We have a tendency, right, to think of The Star as being like a nice afternoon, you know, we meditate a little bit. It is a fierce healer that will root you down until you're done, basically. It will gently pause us. It will root us into ourselves, ensuring that the wounds that are ready to be healed and processed can actually be healed and processed. That's part of its job.
And there is so much wounding to be healed and processed on the planet right now, within ourselves and certainly outside of ourselves. It is a time of global grief, global suffering. And the whole point of this time is to stop trying to bypass that. It's been bypassed for generations, for years, for a very long time. And we're living in a particular time, if you're alive in this time, where we can't do that anymore. Planet won't support it. There are wounds and hurts and all kinds of different pieces that need to be — as much as we can do so - made amends for, that include ourselves as well as other people. Historical things are happening now, inequities.
The Star is working very much at the micro and the macro level. And it's really very important to let yourself pause there. You can't rush it. As much as we may want to be like, “Oh, yeah, we're going out like blah blah blah,” there are some people who are really about the “going out” right now, like even just energetically going out to speak, going out to be heard, speak, you know, whatever sharing stuff. And really, like, who knows tomorrow what we’ll feel like doing? But the important thing to understand is that a part of this is happening because we're working with The Star, and you can't bypass that. You can't rush past that energy.
[1:09:52]
What's ready to be harvested, engaged with, leaned into, and shared is Three of Cups.
So the Three of Cups is really interesting because we tend to think of it as like a community connection card, and it can be. It can be a lovely card where we get together for a certain amount of time with a particular group of people, or, you know, it can be thought of as almost like a wedding celebration in more traditional decks.
But the truth, you know, the real truth, of Three of Cups is that it presents us with a willingness, an invitation, to have a willingness to receive from our own inner wellspring.
With Two of Cups we are learning to accept and receive from ourselves. Two of cups is a moment where we kind of look into the mirror at ourselves and go, “I have a big problem with a lot of these places. My brain is inviting me into all kinds of stuff. I'm having dysmorphia here. I'm feeling like if this part of me wasn't present, I would feel better, I would do better.” You know, not everybody has that. But I know a lot of people do. We have opinions about ourselves, judgements. It's a really natural part of being alive. Two of Cups says, “Can you open your arms to it and embrace it without having to necessarily like it? But can you call all parts of yourselves back?” We kind of learned to do this with Two of Cups.
Three of Cups is when we actually play with celebrating ourselves. How do we actually drink, like deeply drink, from those cups? Can we luxuriate in that? Can we nourish ourselves with that? Can it be even a little beyond the minimal? Can it be even above and beyond what we, the bare blind, right? Can we connect with ourselves in ways that we never have? That — I think — truly is, and I think it involves Guides and ancestors and angels and whomever we may, whomever, whatever we may feel deeply connected with on the invisible or liminal plane.
We… the veil has literally never been thinner. So I've had tremendously powerful experiences connecting and actually, like, moving into such intimacy with myself in this card and feeling a lot of energetic frequencies around me while doing it. So that's what's ready to be engaged with. Like, that's what actually wants to dance with us right now, believe it or not, is like, how can we actually let it be nice, rather than just like something we have to do? Or like, how can it be really sweet? I mean, I don't know. You know, I'm learning that, too. But how can we be willing to consider that?
[1:13:02]
So where we want to root down in and let be, like where we want to allow ourselves to surrender, to pause with, is The Star. That sense of much, this much bigger purpose of deep healing, where we are ready to engage and play to actually use our tools is in Three of Cups.
And where we're being invited to devote our attention to this month is Nine of Cups, to actually have the courage to wish, to wish for a different life, a different consciousness.
We are literally dreaming in a new world together right now. We've never had a time like this before, where so much is uncertain because everything has always been about our freewill and our choices. There's so much in life we can't control. There's so much in life that we're asked to respond to, of course, there's so much we don't want so much that's unfair about life. And yet there is so much that we have choice around, so much. And steps even beyond that, you know, how do we actually dream, wish, have a high vision for what's possible in our lives, and how can we hold to that vision while staying available to something better potentially coming in?
But we are devoting our attention, above all, to nurturing, growing, wishing, dreaming in a better life, for ourselves, for our children, for our fellow human beings as a radical act of love. That's what's at the bottom of all this Tower-ing, all of this Judgement-ing, in terms of card energy, all of this new, important stuff. That's... we were hoping for something better. What would it be like to hold that vision and not feel like it's Pollyanna? You don't need to. Like it's so different to, and like, here we are with it right?
Like, maybe in two, three weeks, there'll be a brush of this for you. And you'll think like, “Oh, wow, that might be really nice.” And the brain may immediately come in and be like, “That's not possible.” And we also may come back to it and say, “I wonder, you know, if it might be actually.”
Wanting the best from and for our lives and the lives of all human beings, part of that involves that radical sense of rebalancing, redistributing wealth and energy that's involved in Ten of Pentacles. There's a huge rebalancing that's happening right now, and, of course, part of that involves the enormous clarity of all the places that are not in balance. All of that has to be made very clear. We have to awaken to that in order to change.
[1:16:18]
So this is a graduation time. We've done it, like, you did it. You know, we did it on shoulds, on ought-tos. We did it on pressure. We did it ignoring our body. You did it. I did it, too. We did it. We did a fine job. And we can do better. And we're here to graduate into the next threshold, into the next dimension, really, and frequency of life on this planet.
And it's not tomorrow. It's not even the next day. We're getting used to the new pace. We're getting used to this level of devotion that can be offered to ourselves as a means to show up in a totally different way on this planet. And we all have a role to play, you have a role to play, and I have a role to play. And the best thing that we can do is stay in our lane. And the only way to ultimately know how to flourish and expand in that lane, expand in those lanes, is to come home to ourselves and check in, and get really clear about why and how and what we're doing.
So it's really potent, important, crucial medicine this month for us. Huge. And again, like I can't necessarily say the month will feel X or Y, I can't say that it will be fast or slow. I can't say you'll have clarity. We're not… it's not really about clarity anymore so much. It's really just about presence because…
Clarity indicates that there's a path that's paved, and there is no path that's paved right now. Brick by brick, we're laying that. It's scary, and it's exciting, and it's phenomenal. But that's part of the point is that we have the ability to change the way we've been doing what we're doing. We don't have to keep doing what we're doing. We will be able to show up for our fellow human beings so much more radically and fully, if we are available to look more deeply, if we’re available to come home to ourselves and really courageously check in. What's mine to do, and what's not mine to do? And all of this stuff about, like, “What would people say? How dare you! You're going to lose everything.” That's the work to do this month. That's the courageous forest that we're stepping into.
And in a way, we're all doing it together, but it's very much a solitary journey. We're all very much just kind of waving at each other from where we are, even the teachers. And by the way, if teachers are not talking about this, then I hope they do soon, right? Because there's no… the playing field has always been leveled, right, like this idea of hierarchy.
That's why — we're going into Hierophant year next year. And if you think all this is intense now, with regard to authority and standing in your own power, like, just wait (Lindsay Laughs) for 2021 because that's all that 2021 is about: you are your own source. And any way that we've been trying to make another person or source first, we felt responsible to be the source, that's all going bye-bye.
So yeah, you can do it. You've got this. And of course, this Monthly Medicine will meet you, greet you wherever it's supposed to. If it’s not resonating with you, and if you're not into it, that's wonderful information. You have your own wisdom that's going to come through. Whatever works for you just let it infuse into your knowing, but ultimately walk your own path. And whatever you're meant to discover, touch, work with this month will surely make itself known to you.
So I am bowing to you, Wild Souls, with so much love in this hugely liminal space that we are all walking through right now, that we are all in. I thank you for being here. I thank you for many of you being here for so many years, and we'll see the next time I touch in. It might be next week. It might not be. So if you want to stay, subscribe to the podcast, you'll know when the next episode comes out. If you don't, you'll catch the ones that you're meant to catch, and I really sincerely believe that that's true.
(Instrumental exit music)
I love you. Take excellent, exquisite care of yourselves. And until we meet again, please be well.
[Conclusion]
[1:21:49]
Thank you so much for listening to Tarot for the Wild Soul.
This podcast was edited by Chase Voorhees. The podcast art is by Chelsea Iris Granger, and it is hosted by me, Lindsay Mack. For more about the podcast visit wildsoulpodcast.com, or follow us on Instagram @wildsoulhealing. For more about me and my work, please visit lindsaymack.com.
To support Tarot for the Wild Soul, please consider subscribing to the podcast on iTunes and leaving us a five star review. It helps people find us and it is greatly greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for being here.
[1:22:34]