witch

June 24 Full Moon Reading 🌝

/ Bee La Rosa / Leave a comment

Hello, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve done any public card readings! If you are new here – welcome and thank you for stopping by the moon hive. I am the bleeping bee and the is a place where I like to post moon cycle tarot and oracle readings, as well as other content that I find supportive to inner work and spiritual development. Please consider signing up for email alerts if you like what you see!

Today I am excited to use my new ring light setup I just received today. Having the right light to photograph the cards I draw was actually somewhat of a hindrance in the past – I often felt a pressure to do readings by a certain time when the natural light for photography was best. Now I can do it whenever I feel like it and still achieve aesthetically pleasing results! Let’s get to it.

Decks used: Golden Art Nouveau Tarot, Moonology, and The Sacred Self-Care Oracle

Before I dive right in, I’d like to explain that these readings are for fun and aren’t specific to anyone in general. That means if you don’t find that it resonates with you, then it doesn’t! If you get something of value from this reading then that’s wonderful. Whatever your experience is, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Let’s get to it.

Card 1 – What needs to be forgiven? 8 of cups.

Card 2 – What is the full moon illuminating? 7 of cups.

Card 3 – What comes next? 9 of wands.

What I got from this reading is that issues of abandonment are coming up for a lot of people. Perhaps you were abandoned by someone, like a family member or someone you looked up to. Maybe you are considering abandoning something you’ve put a lot of work into or that took up a large part of your life and even produced a lot of good outcomes for you. This full moon is revealing to you that you have a lot of choices for how to proceed. Another phrase coming up: forgiveness is a choice. I’m feeling very drawn to the cloaked figure radiating from one of the cups in the 7 of cups – the choice that feels right to you might not make a lot of sense or the details for how to make it happen might not be clear yet. Go with your gut feeling – what feels empowering to you. Empowering doesn’t necessarily mean free of fear or that it’s going to be easy – look at the figure in the 9 of wands. What you’re moving towards may have been on your mind or been developing for a long time now. You might feel confusion or self-doubt, but your position is secure. You can handle whatever challenges might come up during this waning phase!

I drew the following supporting cards – you are good enough and alone time.

Whoever abandoned you, their actions don’t reflect on your worth. Your choices do not have to be perfect either. If you are choosing to learn a new skill, accept that you are not going to be exceptional at it right away and love yourself for taking up a new challenge. You will feel connected to your inner strength through overcoming this challenge. Make some time to be alone with yourself, with no expectations, just listening to your body and what desires and drives surface when there aren’t any people or responsibilities around to distract you. Consider how alone time makes you feel – get curious. Are there any emotions or memories that come up? Consider journaling about your experience.

Thank you!

I hope you enjoyed this reading! I greatly appreciate feedback and would love to hear your thoughts. Happy full moon!

August 18th New Moon Insights

/ Bee La Rosa / Leave a comment

Welcome back honey hunters! Today I will be diving into the recent new moon. As always I am using Yasmin Boland’s Moonology oracle deck and Giulia Massaglia’s Golden Art Nouveau tarot deck! Please refer to my first post for a rundown of my reading ritual.

To get in the mood for this reading I did some painting and depicted the new moon! Lately I have been paying attention to the gradient of darkness in the sky as the sun sets and wanted to depict that in this piece. I also got to play around with some of my iridescent paint pans and silver and gold inks that I recently purchased. If you enjoy my artwork, please consider supporting me by making a purchase through my redbubble! On to the readings.

Prints available here!

The Spreads

The new moon spread contains the following:

  1. What is rising up within us? Full Moon in Leo: Don’t let pride get in your way.
  2. What is the main message this new moon? Mutable Moon: Nothing is yet set in stone.
  3. The final outcome. Waning Moon: What do you need to release?

The new moon happened to occur in sidereal Leo this month, conjunct with Mercury. Every new moon is a conjunction of the Sun and the Moon – the Father and the Mother or the Masculine and the Feminine. The presence of Mercury could represent an exchange (commerce) between these two dynamics, or learning from one another. Mercury can also represent a youthful/playful presence, perhaps the three planets together represent a family or triad. Whatever is happening right now, it is a good idea to act from your heart and communicate with the people involved in your current situation. Is pride holding you back from making concessions that could invite harmony to your situation? Is it possible to make some space for others during this time? The mutable moon tells us that it is not too late to change directions and let go of grudges or emotional baggage. The card itself depicts ocean waves – are the tides changing? The spread itself is fairly ambiguous about where things are heading, and I take this to mean that right now it’s important to turn your attention inward and reflect rather than worry about the outcome.

This waxing phase spread contained the following positions:

  1. What is rising up between now and the full moon? Ace of Swords
  2. How can any challenge that arises during this time be resolved? King of Pentacles
  3. General advice. Ace of Wands
  4. The final outcome. 10 of Swords

First off, this spread has a lot of masculine energy in it. We see the Ace of Swords and Ace of Wands – hands holding phallic objects, as well as the King of Pentacles. In the 10 of Swords we also see a man on the ground, defeated by 10 swords. There is also a kind of tension between there being aces and 10s and a king – the bottom of a suit vs the top of a suit. It can represent a period of great creative potential, transitioning between different phases. Aces represent new beginnings, or raw potential, while 10s represent finality and conclusions. The kings of a suit are very experienced and rule over their suit with authority – they’ve seen it all.

We can also look at how the images on the cards appear together as a kind of storyboard or complete picture. First, the hand in the Ace of Swords appears to be holding the sword towards the King of Pentacles. Where did this sword come from? Was it plucked from the ground of the 10 of Swords? Is the sword being offered to the king, or is it being held to strike at the king? Likewise, the Ace of Wands appears to be looking towards the man in the 10 of Swords. Does this hand mean to offer the man the wand as a tool, or does it intend to beat a broken man? Was this wand sent by the king? What kind of exchange is happening? The man is merely dressed in a common robe, while the king is dressed lavishly. Likewise, the Ace of Swords depicts a barren landscape while the Ace of Wands depicts flourishing river with a castle or town in the distance.

With all this being said, the spread itself can be interpreted a number of ways, and I encourage you to try out your own interpretations (and share them in the comments!) I believe we are seeing an exchange between the defeated man and the king. What is rising up? The Ace of Swords – cutting through the bullshit and the facades, posing serious inquiry to the king, who possesses the solution to the challenges that have left this man strewn on the ground. The king has achieved material success and enjoys great security, not without hard, patient work. I believe the advice is to take what he is offering – perhaps the wand can be used as a walking stick to help the man pull himself up off the ground and limp to his next venture. The outcome remains the 10 of swords, because it may take longer than the waxing phase to pull ourselves up off the ground. The pentacles are a slow suit that require much patience and commitment to obtain their bounty. It’s okay to hurt for a while and be still; sometimes that is what is necessary to discover creative motivation. As the new moon spread revealed, some reflection is necessary right now while we traverse this sea change. We may need to wait for the full moon to shed light on a dark period.

Thank you!

Thank you for reading my article and I hope you enjoyed it. If you enjoy this kind of content please comment below or follow me in the upper right corner! If you have any questions about my readings or how to use tarot and oracle cards, I would love to answer them. Have a wonderful time and I will drop in again at the new moon!

August 3rd Full Moon Insights

/ Bee La Rosa / 1 Comment

Greetings honey hunters. I’ve decided to start sharing with you all an exercise I’ve been doing – lunar tarot readings! These are spreads that I use every full moon and new moon as my own lunar ritual. I am using Yasmin Boland’s Moonology oracle deck combined with Giulia Massaglia’s Golden Art Nouveau tarot deck! The spreads I use come from the Moonology booklet. My goal is to share my readings in a way that is instructive to how I interpret cards so that others may find some guidance in how to do this for themselves!

Before I dive into the readings, I just wanted to mention that the moon was gorgeous last night! I went to the park to watch the moon rise over the mountains before my reading and it was so worth it. When the moon rose, the sky was a soft cornflower blue and the moon was a vibrant tangerine – and HUGE! I felt so amazed and lucky to live just a block away from a park that gives such gorgeous views of the mountains. Here is a beautiful photo of last night’s moon by Josh Jones of Everett, WA:

The Reading Ritual

My lunar readings follow the same format every time. They are two sets of spreads tailored to either the new moon or the full moon. The first spread is always a 3-card spread, which I prefer to use the Moonology deck for. The second spread is a 4-card spread, which I prefer to use a traditional tarot deck for.

The 3-card spread is focused on the immediate situation – the night of the new or full moon, and what’s going on right now. It tells us about the moon. The 4-card spread deals with the specific lunar phase for the next 2 weeks. A full moon is the start of a waning moon phase, and a new moon is the start of a waxing moon phase. I use this spread to get a general idea of how to approach the next 2 weeks. I like that it’s a specific range of time that isn’t too long or too short.

Before I start reading, I meditate to clear my mind and develop a connection to my intuition. You can do whatever feels comfortable for you – but I especially love going outside when the moon is out to do this. I have a space at my dining table where I always draw my cards. I sometimes light candles or sage my space before reading. Once I am settled in and able to focus on the reading, I begin shuffling my cards.

Everyone shuffles differently, but this is what I do: I first hold the deck in my hand and then cut it, allowing the cards to slide over each other from one hand to the other, similar to the overhand method. After that, I then perform a Mongean shuffle. I repeat both of these methods for every question/position in the spread and focus on the question while I am shuffling. When I finish, I cut the deck one last time into three piles. From there, I proceed with drawing the cards – but I don’t draw from the top of the deck. I close my eyes and focus on my question, and then I intuit where I should cut the deck and then draw the card that is there (sometimes I feel that I should draw the top of the deck, too).

On to the spreads!

The full moon spread is as follows:

  1. What needs to be released? Disseminating Moon: Take time to breathe out
  2. What is the full moon illuminating? New Moon in Sagittarius: Luck is on your side
  3. What comes next? Void-of-Course Moon: Nothing will come of this situation

You may be feeling tense right now – something has been consuming your attention that causes you to worry and forget to breathe. We often hold our breath when we are in a state of high stress and adrenaline and feel compelled toward action, but know that the situation has peaked. The full moon in sidereal Capricorn brings a kind of foreboding pressure with it – but the moon travels quickly, and the feeling will pass soon enough. Release your breath, as the disseminating moon suggests, and be at ease. The new moon in Sagittarius is here to show us a new path or vision. Jupiter, the Guru, is currently retrograding into sidereal Sagittarius – his own sign. This transit brings fortune and rejuvenated enthusiasm to those experiencing it. The void-of-course moon adds that it could be a good time to abandon old plans and try something you had not considered before. Or, it could mean that the worst case scenario you have been agonizing over is all in your head and will not come to pass. It’s okay to take a detour off the beaten path.

The waning phase spread is as follows:

  1. What needs to be released or surrendered? 10 of Pentacles
  2. Available help. 8 of Pentacles.
  3. How to surrender or find acceptance? Knight of Cups
  4. The final outcome. The Empress.

The 10 of Pentacles depicts a scene with an old man gazing on towards a young couple. The card traditionally represents achieving wealth and prosperity – the kind that leaves a legacy for the next generations. The 8 of Pentacles depicts a man working diligently to craft 8 pentacles – he may be an apprentice, he is devoted to improving his craft. Then we have the Knight of Cups, a gentle idealist who offers out a cup. Finally, The Empress is a major arcana that represents sensuous femininity and motherhood.

Taking the entire spread into account, we see the old man, the apprentice, and the knight looking towards the right – perhaps to the future? Or perhaps the old man and the knight look towards the apprentice, who is focused and absorbed in his craft? Who is the knight holding the cup for? Is it leading him?

The 10 of Pentacles is in the position of what needs to be released or surrendered, paired with the 8 of Pentacles I wonder – is it time to pass on the mantle? Is there someone in your life that could learn from your experiences, that you could mentor? Or maybe you are the budding apprentice here, who has outgrown their mentor. Perhaps you are ready for the next level. The Knight of Cups calls on you to follow your heart. Knights can also bring about a change. Harkening back to the full moon spread, it could be that the path you have been on has run its course, and you have achieved all that you can. While you reflect on your next steps, take pleasure in the comforts around you. Right now is a fertile time for new ventures, give yourself permission to treat yourself as new desires and ideas gestate during this period.

Thank you!

Thank you for reading my article and I hope you enjoyed it. If you enjoy this kind of content please comment below or follow me in the upper right corner! If you have any questions about my readings or how to use tarot and oracle cards, I would love to answer them. Have a wonderful time and I will drop in again at the new moon!