Originally included in my March 2024 newsletter. To get the most recent edition of the newsletter, sign up here!
This month’s collective reading is from the Gentle Tarot by Mariza Ryce Aparicio-Tovar. There’s also a special, bonus oracle card from The Nap Ministry’s Rest Deck oracle. The spread is:
- What seeds are we preparing to plant? IV The Emperor
- What saplings are we currently growing? Flower of Wands (Queen of Wands)
- What do we need to compost before Ostara? 8 of Thunder (8 of Swords)
- (Bonus) How can we deepen our rest practice? Perfectionism is not human. To be human is to rest. I will open my heart to rest.
We are preparing to plant seeds of our own authority and empowerment. We are crafting our ideas of what an aligned leader looks like and stepping in to our own abilities to be those leaders. As Aries season approaches, we are seeding new opportunities for us to own our leadership and demonstrate self-loyalty. Not all invitations are aligned for us, but the opportunities that will grow out of these seeds speak to us as gentle, compassionate, and stalwart leaders.
Over the winter*, we’ve been growing our capacity to be with our passion and creativity. This has been mostly done in isolation, with us nourishing our flames with great love and care. What practices, hobbies, or rituals have kept your inner fires burning over the past few months? Continue to tend these moving forward and be sure that, above all else, they are nourishing you. If there’s a talent you’ve been wanting to share with the world but you’re afraid it may take away from your enjoyment of it, find ways to structure sharing it that prioritize your joy. For example, posting it on social media but disabling likes and comments or only posting so that supportive loved ones can see.
As we prepare for Aries season, it’s time to compost our reliance on structures that oppress us and bring anxiety. The figure in this card is immensely powerful, sending out shockwaves of thunder as they lift up the wildflowers. We are taught that if we break certain social norms, such as endlessly striving to be “fit” or having a large retirement account, than we forfeit our right to support. But conditional support isn’t really support. Recognizing our inherent right to our power, to thriving, and to autonomy helps us to see these fear-based tactics and conditional support for their false promises. It’s time to let those parts of your life that have only been conditionally supporting you compost. It’s ok to do this in layers, and even advisable in many cases. The first step is recognizing where the chafe is, and the next is to accept that this part of your life is not meeting you where you’re at. These two simple steps open a world of possibilities.
Spring* and Aries season can ignite a feeling of needing to do everything all at once. But before you rush to tackle your to-do list in a day, remind yourself that resting is part of human nature. Name your willingness to rest with more gleeful abandon and less shame and guilt. The back of this card sums it up well: “To attempt perfection is to donate your spirit to the hands of a toxic culture. Perfectionism drives us to unnecessary and unsustainable ways of living. Grind culture holds perfectionism as a badge of honor in a system far from perfect. Your work is to open your heart to rest and to be more human with each slow moment.”
Journaling prompts from the reading:
1. What does the part of you that is an unabashed leader look and feel like? How does that part make others feel? How comfortable are you with inhabiting that part of yourself?
2. What has been lighting your inner fire lately? How can you deepen into your enjoyment of those things?
3. What structures and narratives were you taught would support and protect you that aren’t? How are these failing to meet you where you’re at?
4. In what ways has perfectionism creeped up on you lately? What are some strategies you use to release perfectionism?
*In the northern hemisphere
Until next time, dear readers!
💜 Lindsay
the radiant unknown 