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Thinking About Metaphysics

/ Bee La Rosa / Leave a comment

I’ve spent the last several years in a variety of online metaphysical communities, sometimes as moderator, and more recently some in-person communities as well. One thing I have noticed is that within these spaces, many metaphysical or spiritual topics are taken for granted as absolutely real or literally true, especially by newcomers or in spaces where philosophy isn’t a familiar topic. In fact, many people do not even realize that a philosophical claim or position is underneath their understanding of a given metaphysical topic. 

In these spaces you’ll often find people asking questions or getting into disagreements about the attributes of say, crystals or energy work, not realizing that their position necessitates the assumption of several premises that are not universally agreed upon. This leads to a lot of fruitless arguments and people missing, in my opinion, opportunities to go deeper with their spiritual practices because they have approached information about spirituality/metaphysics with the same attitude or regard that they may pay towards scientific knowledge. Today I’d like to offer some food for thought on this, with the provided forewarning that I am aware that what I am offering here today is my own set of philosophical suppositions.

What is Metaphysics?

Before I jump in I want to clarify my use of vocabulary within this article. Spirituality, metaphysics, and occultism can often be used interchangeably in the communities I mentioned. Metaphysics specifically, according to Wikipedia, is a branch of philosophy concerning the fundamental nature of reality. The word’s Greek roots literally mean “after or behind or among [the study of] the natural.” Generally speaking, the field of Metaphysics is more than just practicing witchcraft or buying crystals to attune your chakras. It’s about ideas and claims that often are impossible to empirically validate through the scientific method. It’s important to know this because fundamentally at the core of spiritual and occult practices are metaphysical claims about reality, of which there are about as many claims as there are people practicing spiritual or occult paths. 

Unlike the natural sciences, which tend to converge toward consensus as empirically validated evidence accumulates, metaphysical practices and ideas tend to diverge according to the teachings and doctrines inherent to an individual’s culture, faith, and community. I don’t mean to say that metaphysical ideas are inherently false or less valid, but they are often not falsifiable, which makes them untestable hypotheses. Therefore, engaging with metaphysical ideas and practices requires a different kind of approach and way of thinking than we may typically pay towards other kinds of information.

Descriptive vs Prescriptive

The most accessible way I can think of to convey the difference between taking metaphysics for granted and not is by framing it as descriptive versus prescriptive metaphysics. I actually owe Christopher Wallis, who goes by Hareesh, for this, as he frames the western misunderstanding of Indian chakras in this way in his article:

“THE CHAKRA SYSTEMS ARE PRESCRIPTIVE, NOT DESCRIPTIVE. 

This might be the most important point. English sources tend to present the chakra system as an existential fact, using descriptive language (like ‘the mūlādhāra chakra is at the base of the spine and it is red’ and so on). But in most of the original Sanskrit sources, we are not being taught about the way things are, we are being given a specific yogic practice: we are to visualize a subtle object made of colored light, shaped like a lotus or a spinning wheel, at a specific point in the body, and then activate mantric syllables in it, for a specific purpose. … The texts are prescriptive — they tell what you ought to do to achieve a specific goal by mystical means. When the literal Sanskrit reads, in its elliptical fashion, ‘four-petaled red lotus at the base of the body’ we are supposed to understand ‘The yogī ought to visualize a four-petaled lotus . . .’”

I find that this way of framing the way people think about chakras can easily be applied to other metaphysical concepts, like paranormal entities, divination, spellwork, deity worship, and so on. When one treats metaphysical ideas as prescriptive rather than descriptive, practices can be treated like a set of suggestions or steps (or conceptual frameworks) that, if followed, may produce a particular result in your experience. Personally, I find this approach liberating and pragmatic. You know your own direct experience that follows from performing a certain practice or put faith in a particular conceptual framework (such as pantheism), but you cannot necessarily objectively prove that what you experienced is evidence supporting the framework behind the practice. Another way to put it is that there is no way to know with absolute certainty that the results you experience are because your conceptualization of a metaphysical system is real in the way that you conceptualize it, or that your conceptualization is a symbolic representation of the unknowable acting mechanism – and that’s okay. There is still truth in your experience even if the “ultimate truth” of it isn’t able to be articulated or scientifically validated.

Material Truth vs Other Truth

Of course, everyone will have their own ideas around what is actually happening when they are engaging with a metaphysical practice – I just think it is wise to recognize that these kinds of ideas do not necessarily say the same kind of things about our world as science does – or at least, say it in the same kind of way. Science, which observes the material world, is able to be used as a relatively reliable method of inquiry into the nature of said material world. However, metaphysics and spirituality are often dealing with immaterial beings and experiences – things that cannot be directly observed and documented objectively. In my opinion, to treat spiritual truth as if it is the same thing as material truth misses the point. Take, for example, many of the claims in Christianity about historical events that have since been refuted – such as the great flood told in the story of Noah’s Ark. Does this mean that there is no truth to be offered through this story? Only if you think the truth needs to be materially true or literal. Taken as a symbolic representation of a kind of human experience, the interpretation of Noah’s Ark is able to yield instead a different kind of truth about the transformative experience of unyielding faith in divine guidance.

I understand this may sound like a devaluation of metaphysics, but it would only seem that way because Western society has a heavy bias towards scientism, which is the belief that the scientific method is the best or only way to provide “genuine knowledge of reality.” I guess what I am ultimately trying to say is that we should be mindful to separate our implicit biases towards scientifically-validated knowledge from spiritual matters so that we can actually approach the realm of Spirit – which is transcendent and therefore immaterial in nature. In short, spiritual experiences do not need empirical validation to be true – they are validated moreso through the resonant feeling or intuitive sense of knowing one receives from the experience. That is why faith is such a powerful and revered concept among religions. Sometimes, objective validation does occur and it is quite awe-some when that happens, but we shouldn’t base the value of spiritual practices on how reliably they can be empirically validated. I believe this bias towards scientism is at least partially, if not significantly, why we have people preoccupied with finding physical evidence to validate their religions. In my view, this is a huge mistake.

When metaphysical teachings are taken for granted as facts about material reality, it can lead to dogma and senseless squabbling over details that often cannot even be directly observed – or, have even been reasonably refuted. Engaging with ideas and practices becomes about who has the answers and the correct information about reality. Whereas, when metaphysical teachings are taken as a set of suggested practices to produce a kind of result, it brings spiritual experiences back into the domain of conscious presence and intuition. I believe this ought to be the ultimate aim of metaphysical teachings – to bring people in relationship with their inner experiences and truth, rather than dependent upon external authority or science to validate their experience of meaning. However, this does necessitate a change in the way we regard bodies of metaphysical knowledge.

Approaching Metaphysics

Again, there is a tendency among newcomers, “baby witches,” etc to treat metaphysics as if it is some unified body of knowledge akin to “hard sciences” like physics or biology (the unity of which is not to be taken for granted as much as one might think). If we are mindful to regard metaphysical teachings as prescriptive practices, then their validity and content become highly contextualized to the culture and even specific lineage or tradition from which they originate. It means that one must exercise due diligence to understand the surrounding context from which these teachings and practices emerged. It’s especially important to keep this in mind when interacting with different practices – especially if you decide you would like to mix and match them, as is common in new age communities.

Basically, a lot of the time a question like, “how do I balance my chakras?” or “how do I interpret my astrological chart?” is going to come down to what tradition or school of thought you operate within or belong to – and the people who answer these questions for you, might not even realize this either. With this being said, there is benefit in following teachers from within established traditions, as there is often a wealth of history and experienced individuals who are able to guide and help one work through challenges, compared to picking a little bit of everything from everywhere and trying to figure out how to synthesize it all together on your own. It is tempting to try to find a way to unify or syncretize different traditions, but I advise against this. I think it is fine to draw from different traditions, but I like to keep my traditions planted within their original framework. When I get acupuncture or practice tai chi, I am working with my qi, but when I am doing yoga and breathwork, I am working with the prana. I might personally believe and even experience qi and prana as the same thing, but I understand that the practices I am using to work with this kind of energy/experience are different – they come from different belief systems and cultures that have different purposes for their practices.

That about covers everything I wanted to talk about. I know that this might be confusing or come across as nit-picky, but if I didn’t believe this was important then I wouldn’t have written about it. It has made a big difference to me to clarify these points for myself over the years, so I hope this is helpful to others on the spiritual path. Thank you for reading!

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Reading Rituals: Grounding, Framing, and Shuffling

/ Bee La Rosa / 1 Comment

Originally published on A Lighter View’s March 2023 Issue

When I was starting to read tarot for others, I remember feeling clueless and concerned about what kind of rituals and practices I should be performing to open and close readings. Reading rituals come in such a vast variety, it can be hard to feel confident that you are doing enough or doing it competently. Rather than get caught up in whether or not you should be casting a circle or shuffling 11 times under a full moon, you want to make sure your reading rituals contain the following fundamental components: grounding, framing, and shuffling.

Grounding is a necessary part of any spiritual or intuitive practice. Grounding is essential to bringing spiritual energies or, for the more secular readers, your thoughts and ideas down to earth. When ungrounded, you may find yourself stuck like a deer caught in headlights while trying to give a reading. Reading also, in my experience, is significantly more draining without grounding appropriately. Giving tarot readings without grounding first can leave you feeling similarly depleted as pulling an all-nighter – wired and tired, anxious, unable to feel settled. So, how does one ground? 

For those who are cautious of metaphysics, grounding is about ensuring that you are mentally present in and aware of your body. This can be achieved through mindful meditation. You may consider introducing sensory experiences such as incense or an ice pack to the back of the neck, which stimulates the vagus nerve to promote relaxation. For those that are more comfortable with energetics, grounding is about one’s connection with the Earth through our energy bodies. You can achieve a grounded state by visualizing roots from your feet or the base of your spine anchoring deep into the ground or the core of the Earth. Consider also visualizing protective shielding around your aura, whether that is a literal shield or a shell of light. There are many ways to accomplish this, and guided meditations for grounding and shielding are abundant on YouTube for free. Do whatever makes you feel centered, aware of your body, and safely connected to Earth and your surroundings.

Now we come to what I’m calling framing. Framing is important for opening and closing readings. The purpose of framing is to set clear boundaries, especially energetic boundaries, around the reading. These boundaries are important for providing yourself containment, which promotes a sense of security and safety. Even for secular folks, framing rituals are powerful and important for preparing the mind to perform a reading and informing the unconscious that a reading is over so one can disengage and move on. Good framing rituals set the stage and mood for a reading and clearly define when the reading has ended.

To frame your reading practice, you’ll want to set aside a sacred space for the reading. This can be accomplished through the use of a reading cloth, but you don’t have to limit yourself to reading cloths. You can create a sacred reading space even if you only have room to spread a clean towel out on the floor of your bedroom – ensure the space is clean, free of dust and clutter. Consider adding candles or arranging crystals to form a boundary around your reading space, whatever helps you feel the magic. A framing ritual should also include clearing your mind with meditation or cleansing energy (in addition to, not instead of, grounding!!), especially at the end of a reading. 

Whenever I read tarot at fairs, I start and end my day cleansing myself with sage, but I use an aura spray made of essential oils in between readings. Whenever a reading has ended, I like to visualize sending the person’s energy back to them and my energy returning to myself. You can even say out loud, “The reading has ended, all my energy returns to me now, and all energy that belongs elsewhere now returns home.” The important thing is to remember to concretize the closing of your reading in some way. This ensures that your mind will be able to disengage from the reading and that your energy will be cleared of the other person’s energies, if you are reading for another person or your question involves other people. Even if your reading only involves yourself, it is a good idea to clear your energy.

Finally, consider what shuffling method you would like to use in your tarot practice. To choose a shuffling method, it is important to understand what the purpose of shuffling is. One purpose is to introduce randomness into the order of the cards so that you are not merely pulling the same cards every time. The other purpose of shuffling is to clear any lingering energies from previous readings. Another purpose of shuffling, for me, is to convince the ego that the cards that come out during a reading are not there by mere coincidence. An unconvinced ego is one of the biggest barriers to giving a good reading – accessing our intuition requires bypassing the logical mind. The ego has to surrender in some way for that to happen, so you need to get it on board with the reading.

With that being said, there are many shuffling techniques out there. Most people are familiar with hand-over-hand and riffle shuffling. I prefer the Mongean shuffle method because it keeps my cards from bending and it is very effective for randomizing the cards, especially if you do some hand-over-hand shuffling in between. It doesn’t matter how you shuffle or in what order, as long as you are sufficiently randomizing the cards and you are convinced the cards are sufficiently randomized.

I hope that you feel more confident preparing yourself to read tarot now. As long as your reading rituals fulfill the purposes of grounding, framing, and shuffling, then you can be sure that you are “doing it right.” There are no hard-lined rules for practicing tarot. What matters is that the practices you utilize are creating conditions that support the spiritual dimension of life. Thank you.

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Astrology 101, Pt 6: Houses and Classifications

/ Bee La Rosa / Leave a comment

Part 5

Welcome back to my intro to astrology series! Last time I went over chart structure and today I will be taking a deeper look at houses and their classifications. This series is here for people who are clueless about astrology and would like to develop a working knowledge of it. So please, do not use my series to administer astrological consultations to other people, as this will not prepare you to be able to ethically do that. This is to empower you to understand your own chart and understand what astrologers are talking about when you consult them.

Quick Review

In the last article I only briefly wrote about houses as they were relevant to demonstrating how a natal chart represents the sky at a given moment. We now know the following critical structural points of a chart:

The ascendant – the point on the eastern horizon where the Sun and ecliptic rise into our view of the sky.

The descendant – the point on the western horizon where the Sun and ecliptic set out of our view of the sky.

The midheaven – the highest point the ecliptic reaches in the sky.

The ipsum colei – the lowest point, beneath the ground, where the ecliptic reaches in the sky.

These four points are associated with the cardinal houses 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, and 10th. When you look at a chart, you know that houses that fall beneath the ascendant/descendant axis are below ground, while houses that fall above that same axis are in the visible sky.

We also know now that just as the ecliptic is divided into 12 zodiac signs, we also divide the ecliptic into 12 houses. The start of each house is called a cusp, and there are several different systems for calculating house cusps. One of the most common house systems people encounter is Placidus, which results in houses of varying widths of degrees within the ecliptic (remember the ecliptic is a 360 degree circle). Though it is common for western chart generators to default to Placidus, I find it can introduce unnecessary complication to learning houses and their role in the chart. Additionally, it is generally understood that Whole Sign houses is the housing system ancient astrologers likely used for thousands of years and is the primary housing system used by traditional astrology – both Western and Vedic. Therefore, when I refer to houses it should be known that I do so from the perspective of using the Whole Sign housing system. Let’s take a look at the significance of houses in astrology.

The Role of Houses

Houses in astrology represent the different areas of life within a native’s chart. In the whole sign house system, the houses are the zodiac signs and their numbering is determined by which zodiac sign the ascendant, which is always the 1st house, falls in at the time of birth.

The ascendant changes signs about every 2 hours, which is why an accurate time of birth is so critical to proper chart analysis. The ascendant is considered one of the most important points in a chart because it determines what areas of life the planets will rule over in the native’s chart. This is particularly relevant in Vedic astrology, where yogas, or planetary combinations, are often determined by the houses the planets have lordship over. One such type of yoga, a raja yoga, is formed when a planet that rules the 1st, 4th, 7th, or 10th houses becomes conjunct with a planet that rules the 1st, 5th, or 9th houses. Two people may be born on the same day, with two planets conjunct in the same sign, but whether or not that conjunction confers a raja yoga will depend on where the ascendant falls in their respective charts. This is why people who share a birthday can have incredibly different lives and even personalities from each other in natal astrology.

Houses are how an astrologer is able to assess what kind of results a planet will give in a native’s life. We know that the planets and zodiac signs carry their own unique significations, and you can certainly tell a lot of generalized information about a person from that alone. However, to be able to achieve a high degree of specificity in their analysis an astrologer must consult the houses, which are determined by your specific time of birth. This is how your chart becomes truly yours and reflective of your particular life story, as opposed to anyone else on the planet who shares your birthday. This is the role of houses in natal astrology.

House Classifications

For this section I will be using Vedic astrology as my primary frame of reference, since I am a Vedic astrologer. If you are interested in house classifications from the Western tradition, I recommend this article.

First we have the kendra (cardinal/angular in English) houses (the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th) which contain the cardinal points (the ascendant, the ipsum colei, the descendant, and the midheaven, respectively). Depending on the latitude of the location a chart is being cast from, the midheaven/ipsum colei axis may not fall exactly within the 10th/4th in whole sign houses, but they are still in essence associated with these houses. The kendras represent four pillars that hold up the life of the native: the self (1st), home/roots (4th), spouse/partnerships (7th), and our presence in the world (10th). When assessing a chart, looking at the lords of the kendras will give an astrologer a sense of the overall resiliency, capacity for power and achievement, and health of the native.

Next we have the trikona (trine in English) houses (the 1st, 5th, and 9th) which represent our fortune and purpose in life, referred to a dharma. These houses are important for supporting a native’s path in life. When the trikonal lords are well-placed, an individual has a strong sense of purpose driving them through life which empowers them to have faith in themselves and their goals.

You’ll notice that the 1st house is both a kendra and a trikonal house. Therefore, the ascendant lord rules both a kendra and trikonal house in everyone’s chart. You might notice this is similar to a raja yoga – the coming together of lords of both a kendra and trikonal house. Ascendant lords are generally not interpreted as raja yogas unto themselves, but they are auspicious planets for any chart as they represent the very native whose chart is being cast. In this way, the ascendant lord is imbued with many of the qualities of a raja yoga such as power and achievement, but it is not a raja yoga because it only involves a single house. Yoga means “to yoke” – and so the involvement of at least two houses are required to form a raja yoga, as a single house cannot be yoked to itself.

The next housing classification to cover are referred to as dusthana houses (6th, 8th, and 12th). These are considered inauspicious houses, often dealing with areas of loss, disease, conflict and obstacles. Do not despair, because the events these houses bring are often necessary for growth and overcoming our suffering and limitations. In fact, the 8th and 12th houses are strongly associated with spiritual strength and liberation – because it takes great spiritual strength to be able to surrender and release one’s attachments.

Another housing classification is known as maraka, or killer houses (2nd and 7th). Please do not be alarmed at the name. Under specific conditions, the lords of these houses can be involved in transits that bring death and difficulties in a native’s chart but they are not to be feared – often these are just normal events that happen to everyone at some point in life, not unlike dusthana houses. Everyone dies eventually, most everyone loses a parent or a loved one or has an encounter with disease and misfortune at some point in their life. The reason the 2nd and 7th houses are maraka houses specifically is because of the 8th house and a Vedic technique called bhavat bhavam (“house from house”). The 8th house is associated with longevity and death. Using the bhavat bhavam technique, we know that the 7th house is 12 houses away from the 8th – we say that the 7th house is 12th from the 8th in this case. We know that the 12th house is associated with loss & surrender, so the 7th house in this way is an area of the chart that is associated with the loss of one’s longevity or lifespan. We apply this same principle to the 2nd because the 3rd house is 8 houses from the 8th, and the 2nd is 12th from the 3rd.

The last housing classification I’m going to cover are called upachaya houses (3rd, 6th , 10th, and 11th). The word upachaya roughly translates to “increasing” or “growing,” so the upachaya houses are houses that get better over time. This makes sense when you look at the areas of life these houses are associated with – the 3rd being your self-expression and courage, the 6th being competition/work and work-life balance, the 10th being your career and reputation, and the 11th being your financial gains and group associations. These are things that just tend to improve as we accumulate resources and life experience across the lifespan.

The Houses

Now let’s get into what the houses actually represent. There are twelve houses total, just like the zodiac, and each one refers to a specific area of life and relevant archetypal themes:

House NumberClassificationSignifications/Karakas
1st HouseKendra/Cardinal, TrikonaYour physical incarnation on the planet; body, head, total being; personality, appearance, stature; true self, purpose
2nd HouseMarakaThe mouth/speech and what goes into the mouth, face; what one accumulates/stores, as a reflection of your values; everything that you take in – mental, emotional, physical;  wealth, family, possessions; values and self-worth, how you value yourself as internalized through relationships with the family
3rd HouseUpachayaSiblings, courage, communication; degree of courage vs conscientiousness when competing with siblings/peers, camaraderie/conviviality; early learning, curiosity, exploration, self-expression; seizing desires; short travels; arms/shoulders, neck
4th HouseKendra/CardinalMother, home/comforts, happiness; real estate, vehicles; your emotional experience, intuition, knowing what brings you security/peace; sensorium, sensual experience of emotions/the heart; chest/breast
5th HouseTrikonaChildren, mind, creativity, intelligence; the heart’s desire, pleasure, spiritual devotion/mantras/prayers, seeking to understand the divine; purva punya, past life merits, the strength of the mind being brought from the previous love; heart, stomach
6th HouseDusthana, UpachayaEnemies/competitors, legal battles, debts; health/disease brought from the struggle of routines/labor/work, sacrificing self; contention, struggle; purification, being in a state of struggle/dissatisfaction and seeking improvement; servitude, pets, inequitable relationships, apprenticeship; intestines, metabolizing/alchemizing matter
7th HouseKendra/Cardinal, MarakaOne-to-one relationships, marriage, partnerships, contracts/agreements; the “other” self, that which is not like ourselves, foreigners; equitable relationships; quality of the spouse
8th HouseDusthanaSexual attractiveness, how others value you/wish to possess you; longevity, chronic conditions/health including death; other people’s possessions – they relinquish their resources unto you; speculative/risky activities, finances; sudden events, scandal; genitals/anus
9th HouseTrikonaFather as teacher, guru; higher learning, long distance travels; spiritual teachings, impassioned spiritual faith; your purpose, how you embody divinity; ishta deva or the kind of god one is drawn to; thighs/buttocks
10th HouseKendra/Cardinal, UpachayaHow one is known in the world; career, duty, the karma we act upon the world; vocation pursued in service of the Self/dharma/purpose; reputation
11th HouseUpachayaGains, group associations, status; the fulfillment of one’s desires/aspirations; one’s social sphere/community, networking; wealth, abundance, prosperity
12th HouseDusthanaLosses, release, surrender; sanctuary, privacy, withdrawal from the world; pleasures of the bed; surrendering oneself to merge with an other or the divine; hospitals, prison; feet

Closing

That should give you a clearer idea of what the role and significations of the 12 houses are in astrology. I hope that the information I’ve provided is clear and easy to understand. Next article will be focusing on aspects between planets.

I am currently studying to become a professional astrologer and if you are interested in receiving a brief consultation please check out my rates and services page. I am grateful for opportunities to practice my skills and increase my experience.

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🌼🐣 SPRING FORWARD! 🫶 Spring Equinox 2023 🌈🐝 Pick a Card Seasonal Forecast 🌱🌄

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🌼🐣 SPRING FORWARD! 🫶 Spring Equinox 2023 🌈🐝 Pick a Card Seasonal Forecast 🌱🌄

Greetings! My name is Bee La Rosa, the Moon Lodge Mystic. I am a spiritual content creator, diviner, and artist. I offer tarot readings, dream interpretation, and Vedic astrology consultations. I also craft custom jewelry, malas, and art commissions. Please feel free to reach out! I love connecting with others.

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Beyond the Booklet: Reading Tarot Intuitively

/ Bee La Rosa / Leave a comment

Originally published in A Lighter View’s February 2023 issue.

You heard about tarot and wanted to learn more so you picked up a deck or two. You’ve downloaded apps and eBooks and have memorized all the meanings of the cards by heart. You feel pretty confident about drawing a card or three and knowing the general gist of the message. Still, something feels a little off about your readings. You wonder how the tarot readers you see on YouTube are able to convey such rich, detailed messages and advice from just the basic definitions of the cards, while you feel like your readings are AI-generated. The secret is that professional tarot readers usually aren’t relying on the card definitions to construct their readings – instead they read intuitively.

As a beginner, it’s totally normal and perfectly fine to rely on the deck booklets and tarot apps to remind you what meanings the cards are generally associated with. However, it’s also really common to come up on a wall with this method eventually as the booklets and definitions begin to limit our perspective on what the cards may be trying to convey. This is where it can be helpful to learn to read intuitively. Reading tarot intuitively is a skill that can take some time to develop, but usually comes more naturally to creative types. That’s because this method of interpretation relies on using your imagination, not a dictionary, to construct the narrative that accompanies the cards. Here are some tips to get started:

  1. Connect with the cards, not the booklet. The booklets are there to help you learn about the imagery and symbolism of the cards – but they are not the cards themselves. It’s kind of like confusing a photograph of a mountain for the mountain itself. It’s easy to begin to think that the booklets and the definitions are the cards, but that’s not correct. The next time you pull out your deck to do a reading, try just looking at the cards. You may feel called to arrange them a certain way besides the way they came out. You might notice repeating symbols or details that jump out at you that wouldn’t have even been mentioned in the booklet. Notice what feelings or ideas come to you when you look at certain cards. How does it feel to look at The Devil, especially compared to Temperance? How do the colors, landscapes, and figures make you feel?
  1. Give the cards a story. It’s helpful to treat spreads like a storyboard. What are the events taking place from start to finish? Who are the main characters? What are their motivations? What is the primary conflict of the story? What is needed to overcome the conflict? Sometimes you might even see the same character across multiple cards, tied together by some consistent color or symbol. You might even spontaneously imagine an entire backstory to the cards that has little to do with the traditional meanings. Let your imagination take the wheel here and you might be blown away by how relatable your reading becomes. This is often where readings really start to come alive.
  1. Experiment with spreads or no spreads. Spreads, such as the Celtic Cross, can be helpful because they give a predefined purpose to each card. It gives structure to the overall narrative and arrangement of the cards. Sometimes this can just cause confusion instead. If you find yourself confused, try reading without a spread. Let yourself arrange the cards in whatever way feels right to you and allow the narrative to emerge organically. Just don’t forget to have a well-constructed question going into the reading, or you may find yourself just as lost and confused as before. How we apply language is important for cultivating specificity within a reading: too much, and the reading becomes formulaic and lifeless; too little, and the reading becomes too general to be meaningful.
  1. Let your inner critic take a backseat. When reading intuitively, doubting yourself is the surest way to throw off your game. That’s because acting on intuition is ultimately faith-based – you can’t be sure that your interpretation is going to resonate with your client or friend until you just go out and say it. Don’t hold back what you’re picking up from the cards – it may be that it takes a while for your message to make sense, due to external circumstances. The same goes even if you are reading for yourself. Also, it’s okay to just plain be wrong sometimes. Even professional readers are wrong sometimes – we’re not omniscient. If something isn’t landing, it can help to make your message more general and see how the querent responds. Perhaps, for example, you see the Knight of Cups appear and you think it could be about a lover or long-term relationship only to discover that the person you are reading for has no interest in romance. You can walk things back to something more general like “acting from the heart.” Reading intuitively isn’t an exact science.

Try putting these tips into practice and see how your readings evolve over time. Eventually, you may find yourself not even bothering to flip through the booklets of new decks you buy – not that there’s anything wrong with doing that. Booklets often contain valuable information about the deck they belong to and it doesn’t make you a worse reader to refer to them. Tarot ultimately is a medium for channeling messages and advice, and booklets can serve as that medium as well. What’s important is understanding that channeling is an intuitive act, which can be difficult to grasp when you are first starting out. Using these tips will help broaden the perspective with which you approach your readings, so that your approach is not exclusively logic-dominated. No matter what techniques you use to do a reading (booklet or no booklet, spreads or no spreads, etc.) your experience will benefit from finding ways to allow your intuition to participate.

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A Chance to See Me In-Person in the Seattle Area

/ Bee La Rosa / Leave a comment

Come see me at the MeWe Fair in Lynnwood! Jan 7-8, 11am-7pm at the Embassy Suites.

This is a huge metaphysical/wellness fair that takes place throughout the year in the PNW. I will be offering intuitive services at my booth: tarot, Vedic astrology, and dream interpretation!

If you can’t make it this time around, then perhaps you can catch me at the February, March, or June fairs!

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🔮 December 22 New Moon in Mula 🌑 Time to Transform 🌟

/ Bee La Rosa / Leave a comment
🔮 December 22 New Moon in Mula 🌑 Time to Transform 🌟

Greetings! My name is Bee La Rosa, the Moon Lodge Mystic. I am a spiritual content creator, diviner, and artist. I offer tarot readings, dream interpretation, and Vedic astrology consultations. I also craft custom jewelry, malas, and art commissions. Please feel free to reach out! I love connecting with others.

Check out my Intro to Astrology guide to develop a working knowledge of astrology: https://moonlodgemystic.com/2022/08/02/intro-to-astrology-a-brief-history/

🐝Follow Me🍯
https://moonlodgemystic.com/
https://www.deviantart.com/moonlodgemystic
https://www.goodreads.com/moonlodgemystic
https://moonlodgemystic.tumblr.com/

🪄Services✨
Intuitive Services https://moonlodgemystic.com/services/ 
Art and Jewelry Commissions https://moonlodgemystic.com/custom-arts-crafts/ 

🎥Timestamps🎞️
0:00 B-roll
0:09 Disclaimer
0:53 New Moon Forecast
16:38 Collective Oracle Reading
29:40 Outro

📓Books and Content Referenced📰
27 Star, 27 Gods: The Astrological Mythology of Ancient India by Vic DiCara https://amzn.to/3G9Y4Ah

🔮Decks Used📚
The Nakshatra Oracle https://thenakshatraoracle.com/
Sacred Forest Oracle https://amzn.to/3hza0SU
Moonology Oracle https://amzn.to/3h3fBjW
Self-Care Oracle https://amzn.to/3AZYEN5
How to Love Yourself Cards https://amzn.to/3D72RkZ

🎧Music🎼
Track: Static — Land of Fire [Audio Library Release] 
Music provided by Audio Library Plus 
Watch: https://youtu.be/oROZqpCPvhA 
Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/static

📸My Gear🎙️
Camera: Galaxy A53 phone, ultra wide lens
Lights: https://amzn.to/3QugihQ
Phone stand + lights: https://amzn.to/3eAPMX2
Editing software: Davinci Resolve 18
Other software: Canva, GIMP

DISCLOSURE: Links included on this website might be affiliate links with Amazon. If you purchase a product or service with the links provided, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you. I make no guarantee of your satisfaction with the purchases made through my affiliate links. Thank you for supporting me by making purchases through these links.

DISCLAIMER: This is a general reading for entertainment purposes only. Watching my content does not constitute an advisory relationship such as therapy or legal counsel. I am not a certified medical or therapeutic professional and my readings do not constitute professional advice. My readings are for confirmation of what you already intuitively know for yourself, not to get answers from me. General readings like this are like forecasting the weather for the entire planet – I can say that it is summer in the northern hemisphere, but summer looks very different from region to region. So please use your best judgment, take what resonates and leave the rest.
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❄️🧣 WINTER IS COMING 🫶 Solstice Guidance 🧤☃️ Pick a Card Seasonal Forecast 🎄🌄

/ Bee La Rosa / Leave a comment
❄️🧣 WINTER IS COMING 🫶 Solstice Guidance 🧤☃️ Pick a Card Seasonal Forecast 🎄🌄

Greetings! My name is Bee La Rosa, the Moon Lodge Mystic. I am a spiritual content creator, diviner, and artist. I offer tarot readings, dream interpretation, and Vedic astrology consultations. I also craft custom jewelry, malas, and art commissions. Please feel free to reach out! I love connecting with others.

🐝Follow Me🍯
https://moonlodgemystic.com/
https://www.deviantart.com/moonlodgemystic
https://www.goodreads.com/moonlodgemystic
https://moonlodgemystic.tumblr.com/

🪄Services✨
Intuitive Services https://moonlodgemystic.com/services/ 
Art and Jewelry Commissions https://moonlodgemystic.com/custom-arts-crafts/ 

🎥Timestamps🎞️
0:00 Intro
0:35 Disclaimer
1:18 Reading Overview
6:49 Meditation/Pile Selection
11:20 Pile 1
41:28 Pile 2
1:09:01 Pile 3
1:42:50 Outro

📓Books and Content Referenced📰
The Secret Language of Feelings by Calvin Banyan https://amzn.to/3W957Pg

🔮Decks Used📚
Golden Art Nouveau https://amzn.to/3QkQ69f
Sacred Earth Oracle https://amzn.to/3BOXt4D
Spirit Animal Wisdom Oracle https://amzn.to/3FCLzvE
Sacred Forest Oracle https://amzn.to/3hza0SU
How to Love Yourself Cards https://amzn.to/3D72RkZ

🎧Music🎼
Track: Static — Land of Fire [Audio Library Release] 
Music provided by Audio Library Plus 
Watch: https://youtu.be/oROZqpCPvhA 
Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/static

Meditation track: Field Wave Audio
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYpvrUFoQzDViNzS1thsSKg

📸My Gear🎙️
Camera: Galaxy A53 phone, ultra wide lens
Lights: https://amzn.to/3QugihQ
Phone stand + lights: https://amzn.to/3eAPMX2
Editing software: Davinci Resolve 18
Other software: Canva, GIMP

DISCLOSURE: Links included on this website might be affiliate links with Amazon. If you purchase a product or service with the links provided, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you. I make no guarantee of your satisfaction with the purchases made through my affiliate links. Thank you for supporting me by making purchases through these links.

DISCLAIMER: This is a general reading for entertainment purposes only. Watching my content does not constitute an advisory relationship such as therapy or legal counsel. I am not a certified medical or therapeutic professional and my readings do not constitute professional advice. My readings are for confirmation of what you already intuitively know for yourself, not to get answers from me. General readings like this are like forecasting the weather for the entire planet – I can say that it is summer in the northern hemisphere, but summer looks very different from region to region. So please use your best judgment, take what resonates and leave the rest.
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🪄🕷️ Trick or Treat: Messages from Your Shadow and Inner Child 🎃🍬

/ Bee La Rosa / Leave a comment
Greetings! My name is Bee La Rosa, the Moon Lodge Mystic. I am a spiritual content creator, diviner, and artist. I offer tarot readings, dream interpretation, and Vedic astrology consultations. I also craft custom jewelry, malas, and art commissions. Please feel free to reach out! I love connecting with others.

🐝Follow Me🍯
https://moonlodgemystic.com/
https://www.deviantart.com/moonlodgemystichttps://www.goodreads.com/moonlodgemystic
https://moonlodgemystic.tumblr.com/

🪄Services✨
Intuitive Services https://moonlodgemystic.com/services/
Art and Jewelry Commissions https://moonlodgemystic.com/custom-arts-crafts/

🎥Timestamps🎞️
0:00 Introduction
2:02 Disclaimer
3:11 Guided Meditation
8:30 Pile 1
26:41 Pile 2
43:27 Pile 3
1:02:33 Outro

🔮Decks Used📚
Guardian of the Night Tarot https://amzn.to/3szNs6o
Tarot for Kids https://amzn.to/3DjitjY
Sacred Earth Oracle https://amzn.to/3Ncoe7n
Spirit Animal Wisdom Oracle https://amzn.to/3fdS26X
Self-Care Oracle https://amzn.to/3AZYEN5
How to Love Yourself Cards https://amzn.to/3D72RkZ

🎧Music🎼
Track: Static — Land of Fire [Audio Library Release]
Music provided by Audio Library Plus
Watch: https://youtu.be/oROZqpCPvhA
Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/static

Meditation track: Field Wave Audio
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYpvrUFoQzDViNzS1thsSKg

📸My Gear🎙️
Camera: Galaxy A53 phone, ultra wide lens
Lights: https://amzn.to/3QugihQ
Phone stand + lights: https://amzn.to/3eAPMX2
Editing software: Davinci Resolve 18
Other software: Canva, GIMP

DISCLOSURE: Links included on this website might be affiliate links with Amazon. If you purchase a product or service with the links provided, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you. I make no guarantee of your satisfaction with the purchases made through my affiliate links. Thank you for supporting me by making purchases through these links.

DISCLAIMER: This is a general reading for entertainment purposes only. Watching my content does not constitute an advisory relationship such as therapy or legal counsel. I am not a certified medical or therapeutic professional and my readings do not constitute professional advice. My readings are for confirmation of what you already intuitively know for yourself, not to get answers from me. General readings like this are like forecasting the weather for the entire planet – I can say that it is summer in the northern hemisphere, but summer looks very different from region to region. So please use your best judgment, take what resonates and leave the rest.

Astrology 101, Pt 5: Chart Structure

/ Bee La Rosa / 3 Comments

Part 4

Welcome back to my intro to astrology series! Last time I went over the planets and today I will be diving into natal chart structure and a little bit about houses. This series is here for people who are clueless about astrology and would like to develop a working knowledge of it. So please, do not use my series to administer astrological consultations to other people, as this will not prepare you to be able to ethically do that. This is to empower you to understand your own chart and understand what astrologers are talking about when you consult them.

We are now ready to start exploring charts. The components of a natal chart depict what positions the planets occupy in the sky relative to the zodiac and then divide the zodiac into houses. Houses are where deep astrological analysis is able to take place. We know there are 12 zodiac signs, and these also make up 12 houses in a natal chart. This is the part of natal astrology where people’s heads tend to start spinning. There are all kinds of different chart styles and housing systems and it can be difficult to understand what is being represented in a chart. To really understand what we are seeing in a natal chart, we need to start with the sky.

Above is a screenshot I’ve taken in the free stargazing application, Stellarium. This application allows us to observe a simulation of the sky outside. I’ve chosen a random location near the equator so that the ecliptic cuts as straight across the sky as possible. Then, I zoomed out so you could see the entirety of the sky. In red you can see the compass directions. When you look to the eastern horizon, you are looking towards a point in the sky that is referred to as the ascendant or lagna (Sanskrit) in astrology. The ascendant specifically is the point where the eastern horizon meets the ecliptic, and thus the zodiac. This point shifts around depending on how close or far away you are from the Earth’s equator. The zodiac sign where the ascendant falls is commonly called the rising sign because it literally rises above the horizon and across the sky throughout the day, just like our Sun. Opposite this point is called the descendant, at the western horizon where the sun sets. Between them lies the midheaven, which sits opposite the imum coeli – through the ground to the opposite side of the earth where you are located. In terms of natal astrology, these four points represent the cardinal houses (1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses).

Before we get deeper into houses we need to briefly go over chart design and components. A chart shows us the position of the zodiac signs and which of the 12 houses they occupy. There are many styles for how to draw a natal chart. The Western tradition typically uses a circle, while the Vedic tradition uses a couple different shapes: the “diamond chart” (North Indian Style), and the “square chart” (South Indian Style). All three are pictured below:

While they look vastly different from each other, these chart styles are all able to accomplish the same thing: giving us a pictorial representation of the positions of the planets, zodiac, and houses across the sky. Your chart style preference is largely going to come down to whether you prefer the houses to be stationary (Western Chart Style and North Indian Style), or the zodiac to be stationary (South Indian Style). I prefer the former, so I tend to use the Western and North Indian styles in my practice. The movement of the zodiac in these two styles is consistent with the way it looks in the sky, which is part of why I like it.

Circling back to before, now that we know about the cardinal points and chart styles we can start understanding how a chart relates to the sky. In any chart style, the ascendant or the 1st house always represents the eastern horizon, while the descendant or 7th house always represents the western horizon. The midheaven or 10th house always represents the highest point up in the sky, while the imum coeli or 4th house always represents the lowest point beneath the ground from where you are located. Therefore, houses 7 through 12 are “above ground” and visible to us in the sky, while houses 1 through 6 are “below ground” or not visible to us.

Now we are ready to dip into houses. In natal astrology, the zodiac is divided into 12 houses in addition to the 12 signs. There are many methods of calculating houses, but since this is meant to be an introductory level series I am going to focus on whole signs houses. In the whole signs scheme, each astrological house is the full 30 degrees of a sign, starting with the ascendant. The houses begin where the signs begin, which means the ascendant can fall anywhere within the 1st house.

Let’s cast a chart for the positions we captured in Stellarium. Note that since we are using the positions of the constellations themselves, this is going to be a sidereal chart. Using the image from before, we can see that the ascendant is located at the very end of Taurus in the sky, which makes Taurus the 1st house. This defacto makes the 7th house Scorpio. The midpoint between the two falls in Aquarius, the 10th house, which makes Leo the 4th house – which we cannot see in the sky because it is “beneath” us. Here is what such a chart would look like in the Western style:

You’ll find the ascendant, called the AC, is located at the very end of Taurus. The line that represents the ascendant-descendant axis is the plane from which we can observe the sky. Planets above this line are visible to us in the sky (depending on whether it it night or day, etc.), and if we were to look up at the night sky represented in this chart we would see Jupiter and Saturn among the stars. The other planets in the chart would not be visible because they are on the other side of the earth. If you remember, the lunar nodes are fictitious points in the sky, so we cannot see them regardless of where we are. You’ll also see a point in this chart called the MC; this is the true mathematically calculated midheaven in the sky, which doesn’t always fall in the 10th house depending on where on the globe you are located.

Beside the planetary glyphs you will see numbers. These numbers tell us what degree of a zodiac sign the planet occupies. Zodiac signs are measured in degrees and minutes. Degrees represent the angular degrees of a circle – the zodiacal wheel being a 360 degree circle divided into 12 sections. Minutes are a single degree divided into 60 parts. Each zodiac sign is 30 degrees long, starting with 0 degrees and 0 minutes going up to 29 degrees and 59 minutes. In this chart you will see that the Moon is located at 9 degrees and 59 minutes of Leo – this Moon is in the very end of the 10th degree of Leo. Meanwhile, Mercury is located at 21 degrees and 01 minutes of Virgo, meaning Mercury has just entered the 22nd degree of Virgo. Degrees can carry some meaning, but it is not necessary to know in great detail at this stage. A general rule of thumb for degrees is that the higher a degree is, the more “mature” that planet is considered to be. A planet such as Mars at 0 degrees and 48 minutes Gemini is considered a very “young” planet, just getting started in his journey through Gemini.

By now, you should be able to look at a chart and be able to tell what was going on in the sky at the moment for which the chart was cast. Now we can look deeper at houses and what they represent in a chart, in the next article. See you next time.

I am currently studying to become a professional astrologer and if you are interested in receiving a brief consultation please check out my rates and services page. I am grateful for opportunities to practice my skills and increase my experience.