*play me*

IT’S ECLIPSE SEASON Y’ALL!!!

🔮 August Energy Reading 🔮

Overall Energy: THE DEAD END – I always include the guidebook summary for these cards below because I think Kim Krans the deck creator, so beautifully explains what each card means, so read that! And I’m going to talk more about this in the summary at the end.

To Release: THE LOVERS – Okay we all know I never purposefully do a love reading & I want this to stay general so I have two ways to look at this.

One, there is a romantic relationship you need to let go of, but it could be a friendship or some kind of partnership. Or two, this could be a decision you’ve been putting off making. But this is most likely for someone dealing with a relationship that is at a stalemate or someone you’ve been waiting on consciously or subconsciously. This is something you and your energy are entangled with that you need to let die. If you know you know, if not this message might not be for you.

To Embrace: THE WELL – This deck has two extra cards, one of them being The Well, which comes after Judgement the traditional final major arcana card. There’s a call to stop searching outside of yourself and embrace what’s within you. To fill your own cup, water your own garden. Return to your creative center and nurture that. Focusing energy there that was previously entangled with the lovers situation.

To Look Forward To: 6 OF SWORDS – With this card in this position there’s a real sense that we can look forward to a change in direction, moving, traveling. Upon clarification there’s a sense of moving towards financial stability and small movement that leads to HUGE change in your life.

Spirit Guide: DURGA – “My energy is worth protecting” is the affirmation associated with this card in the guidebook. Durga the Hindu warrior, mother goddess who’s name can translate to “fort”, is a highly revered deity and is the embodiment of strength and higher consciousness. I find it also interesting that she is usually depicted on a lion, and appears to us during Leo season. Please read more about her in the link I shared below, she has fascinating symbolism and mythos connected to her. But in this reading, I think we’re meant to embody her strength and use that force to remind of us of the power of boundaries and to protect our energy instead of freely giving it away and letting it get entangled with people or energies that don’t serve our bigger purpose.

READ MORE about DURGA!

Charm: THE CARDINAL – The cardinal is a powerful spirit messenger and can represent loved ones that have passed on. I’m feeling with this reading there are people on the other side, loved ones, guides, here to support and protect you. Look for their messages of encouragement and direction in the mundane and miraculous.

SUMMARY – This month it’s time to recognize what can no longer go on. I too am going through this process and a couple weeks ago wrote down: “there is somewhere you are going and cannot bring something with you”. Every dead end also represents a new beginning which we see with The Well and The 6 of Swords. There is a new direction the universe and your guides are pushing you towards, something you’ve been waiting for and perhaps have been manifesting. But there is something you must leave behind. A dead end you must recognize as such and pay the tax to open a new door. Unfortunately, it seems there is some relationship that must be let go of. Feel free to comment what this is if you feel comfortable, I think those of us hitting the dead end could use the support of knowing we aren’t alone. Grieve what you must grieve, and then do as Durga would do, and protect what you must at all costs.

🌛 Movie(s) of the Month 🌛

{coming of age}
Leo & Virgo
Moonlight (2016) & Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)

It’s August which means our movie pairing is based off of the overlapping energy of Leo and Virgo. Looking at the archetypal themes of the independent and courageous Leo, combined with Virgo who we see through it’s association with the Hermit card in tarot is a seeker of knowledge and understanding. Plus, both of these signs sit at the threshold of the second half of the wheel of the year. The wheel of the year and the zodiac calendar can be viewed as the start and end of life, in this season we are no longer the newborn of Aries or child of Cancer, we’re in our teenage years, not yet mother or crone, but maiden (a symbol associated with Virgo). We’re ripe, ready for more, to spread our wings, and face the challenges that come with coming of age.

Which is why the theme for August is: coming of age. The first movie I picked was 2016’s Moonlight, which received 8 Oscar nominations that year, winning Best Picture and awarding Mahershala Ali with Best Supporting Actor. The movie follows a young boy through three different phases of his life as he navigates growing up as a young black male in Miami struggling with his sexuality. The movie focuses on themes of “identity, family, friendship, and love” (A24), what it means to become your own person, how our connections shape us, and the choices we make.

The next movie I chose was Never Rarely Sometimes Always an indie film from 2020. This follows a young girl from rural Pennsylvania who must travel to New York for an abortion after finding out she’s pregnant. It’s an intimate portrayal of bravery, friendship, and what it means to find independence even when it requires making tough choices.

I’m interested to see how both movies handle young people navigating the practical and emotional challenges of coming of age and into your own. They also juxtapose each other as they follow people from different racial and socio-economical backgrounds. Yet, both struggle with support from their communities as they make decisions or realize their identities are different than what may be accepted.

♾️ Have You Ever Seen A Piebald Deer? ♾️

Have you ever seen a piebald deer? Piebald comes from pie in reference to a magpie bird’s coloring and bald as in spotted or white. Piebald refers to a genetic mutation resulting in irregular color patterns typically in deer or horses, and a piebald deer is white with brown spots instead of the opposite. These creatures are rare, making up 1% of the deer population in the United States. At the end of June I learned there’s one in my area, walking my neighborhood, and the fields surrounding me. Caught on grainy camera footage and seen by almost everyone I know, yet the beacon of hope remains elusive to me.

Every walk, I take extra care to linger near the tree line where they might be lounging. Every ride home from work I circle the mile radius around my house where it’s been spotted hoping to catch a glimpse of it grazing at dusk. Around and around I drive thinking “Today’ll be the day.” If I walk a little farther, drive around the block one more time, it’ll appear to me. But no matter how long I loiter or how hard I stare, it’s as if this symbol of abundance and prosperity refuses to show itself to me. I’ve begun to worry it’s mocking me, hiding in the shadows at my back and laughing at my desperation. Every rustle of a leaf, crunch of stone, or white picket fence has become mirage of what I seek. I tell myself when it’s time, it’ll find me. But what if it never does and proves that everyone else is more worthy, more interesting, and better than me. What if it’s already been struck down and I’m chasing a ghost.

Or perhaps, I am the deer. Transforming every night and running free through the woods, only to forget as dawn approaches. Maybe I’m pursuing something I already have. I’ll let you know if I ever wake with dirt under my nails and leaves in my hair. For now, I’ll put the chase to bed… but I wonder,
have you seen the piebald deer?

Learn about Piebald Deer: https://www.marinersmuseum.org/2021/09/piebald-in-the-park/

🌸 reading club! 🌸
summer curriculum

“Vanessa Wye was fifteen-years-old when she first had sex with her English teacher. She is now thirty-two and in the storm of allegations against powerful men in 2017, the teacher, Jacob Strane, has just been accused of sexual abuse by another former student. Vanessa is horrified by this news, because she is quite certain that the relationship she had with Strane wasn’t abuse. It was love. She’s sure of that. Forced to rethink her past, to revisit everything that happened, Vanessa has to redefine the great love story of her life “ her great sexual awakening “ as rape. Now she must deal with the possibility that she might be a victim, and just one of many.”

What I’m curious about:

1. What factors in Vanessa’s life make her susceptible to Strane’s influence?
2. What techniques does Strane use to psychologically groom Vanessa?
3. What historical and present systems of power make room for Strane to gain control over Vanessa?
4. What systems or people fail Vanessa, how were their decisions influenced by colonized and patriarchal ideas?
5. How is Vanessa’s attraction to Strane influenced not just from grooming, but the subliminal messaging we all receive through media?
6. How does the unbalanced power dynamic in their relationship continue into Vanessa’s adulthood?
7. How does Vanessa’s trauma manifest and follow her into adulthood?
8. How is love confused with abuse and how are we taught to confuse the two through societal conditioning?

Supplemental Material:

The Survivor’s Guide to the Novel, “My Dark Vanessa”

What is grooming?

My Dark Vanessa reading list from the author!

Annotating & Processing babblings Reading Club

Now that we are getting into our 5th month of babblings reading curriculum and our first fiction novel, I wanted to expand & remind us of the purpose of this curriculum. Plus, how to use the materials I provide, annotate your books, and process for deeper understanding.

babblings reading club is a diverse curriculum that follows different themes around seasonal quarters. There is a reason we read one book a month, I want you to truly digest the material and make room for other books you want to read outside of the curriculum. Each book I read with you and am inviting you into my process for intentional reading instead of just recreationally reading a book. Then the next month I provide my thoughts on the book and whether I would recommend adding it to your bookshelf for those just looking for book recommendations and reviews. I would like to have deeper discussions with my babblers around the books and want to hear what you would be interested in! I ran this poll before, but returning now that we have more eyes to see who would be interested in virtually meeting to discuss each book and deepen how we use the curriculum:

reading club components:

CURIOSITY QUESTIONS: These are meant to guide us through our reading as touch points connecting us to the quarterly theme and how it interconnects with other books that quarter. Kind of like discussion questions, but you’re meant to ponder them as your reading and should be able to answer them by the end.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: I provide videos, essays, extra books, articles, and podcast episodes to be used in conjunction with the book to give us background knowledge, expand on themes talked about, hear from the author, and keep the learning going past just reading the book. Sometimes it’s not enough just to read the book and these extra materials help continue processing themes and subject matter.

annotating:

Now there are different reasons one might annotate their books, for fun, to retain information, or to pull out important information to return to. You don’t need to annotate your babblings book picks or keep notes, but if you’re someone who wants to keep a commonplace journal this can be a way to kill two birds with one stone.

Use the curiosity questions as your guide, maybe color coordinate based on different themes and questions, then highlight or tab information you find throughout the book that relates to the themes or questions. Use a journal to note down the pages and a brief summary of the information, or how if makes you feel, or what additional questions it ignites. In nonfiction books this is a great way to track data, research, quotes, or new information you want to keep or that you may return to. If it’s a library book use sticky notes to mark pages or take notes, and then if you end up buying the book you can use it as a reference to annotate your copy.

By doing all of this you make the action and process of reading active instead of passive. It creates intention and a measurable way to track comprehension. It also makes it easier to compare information and themes between books.

xoxo,

Ali Ann!!!!