Sage and Shadow Covid Time

You may wonder what the 8 of Tulips (Cups) is doing up top. I wasn’t 100% sure about the content of today’s newsletter, so I asked the Ancestors what they thought was most important.

The Eight of Cups has always been a favorite of mine, and one that I call the ‘hole in the heart’ card. For me, this card has always been about how life can look perfect to the outside world and yet inside, there’s something missing. Being isolated in this Time of the Pandemic has acutely brought this message home. For almost everyone I’ve spoken to, especially those of us who live alone, it’s close to a Tower experience. Jumping into the flames, removing what’s no longer important, and emerging cleansed and renewed.

In this particular deck (Rabbit Tarot) it seems as if Bunny is looking to the Heavens for help. He’s turned his back on half of the tulips and the others are fading fast. What’s next?, he’s asking. Where do I find the missing part?

Something to consider, yes? At least that’s what the Ancestors thought.

And, in this time of pandemic, something to consider is that every one of us had an ancestor who went through the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. If you’re dealing with anxiety,or too big an intake of fear energy, I’d suggest having a conversation with your 1918 ancestor. I suspect they have something important for you to hear.

Practices for This Time-Out-of-Time

You might have noticed that there are a lot of people creating Covid Tarot spreads. Just the other day I saw Joanna Powell Colbert’s IG post with her pandemic spread, created around how we can learn more about ourselves and how we can contribute to healing. She’s @joannapcolbert

Over on FB, James Wells, a Canadian Tarot reader, is working on a 21-day healing ritual for every earthly being. If you’re not connected to James, I’d suggest it.

Jessica Macbeth (Faeries Oracle) also wrote a piece on FB (on April 15, if you want to find it) about how Empaths are not used to this level of ‘misery energy’ and how to deal with it. I highly recommend the read. You can also listen to several of her guided meditations here. They help.

Because I didn’t want to waste this self-quarantine time, falling back onto the same old habits, I created a Tarot spread to help myself. And, hopefully, it will help you too.

What do I need to release?
What new path is opening to me?
How can I use this time to prepare?
What can I do to help in healing the Planet?
What does the other side of this look like?

For me, I need to release the notion of going back to living a ‘normal’ life. I’ve always been an outlier (as many of us are) so instead of trying to change my stripes to ‘fit’, I’m going to go more towards the outlier end of the spectrum. By the time we all get out of this, my goals will have undergone a massive shift. In fact, they’re already heading there. I’m definitely being challenged to make choices.

If you’d be comfortable sharing, I’d love to know if the spread helped. And, if you’ve found other grounding/centering resources, please let me know.

Dreaming Weird?

Don’t know about you, but my sleep has been off way more than usual. Disturbing dreams, frequent waking up. If you Google ‘dreams and Covid’ you’ll find articles about how the virus has changed our dreaming patterns. In fact, someone started a website titled I Dream of Covid. If you hit the Dream/Browse link on the home page you’ll see people from around the world reporting their strange dreams.

From the articles I’ve read, the dreams are most frequently about anxiety, separation, loss, being lost, being trapped, and fear. Something you may want to check out is the Sleep Course from Dr. Mark Hyman (he’s authored many wellness books). He’s now offering it for no cost.

Do You Have a Tarot Deck for the Times?

I know money is tight so not as many decks are being purchased right now, but I did want to give a shout-out to Grace Duong for her Mystic Mondays Tarot. I purchased this deck in December and it’s become one of my go-to decks. I realized just the other day that I’m having problems using my standard RWS decks. They’re simply too somber for me right now. And I definitely don’t need somber.

Grace’s deck is stylized, colorful and easy-to-read. The colors, especially, make it a good choice when those long days of isolation really start closing in. I don’t know about you, but the energy of color makes a huge difference for me.

What deck are you using right now? And does Covid-ness make a difference in your choice?

Until we meet again,

Nancy

@nancysageshadow

P.S. Don’t forget the anonymous ‘make a wish’ page on the website. It doesn’t collect your name or your email. It’s just something I set up ’cause sometimes we need to toss caution and wish for the the things we think we’ll never get.