Hello everyone and welcome to the monthly review for July! I’m sending this out to all subscribers since some life chaos prevented me from getting the Weekly Forecast out to you all this week. I’m loathe to skip anything Incandescent Tarot-related, so I hope this makes up for the absence and maybe gives an enticing peek behind the curtain/look at the magical realm of a paid subscription.
So how was July for you all?
I was looking back at my camera roll and shocked to see how much had happened. I took a trip to visit family up north and was able to take a small detour alone to visit my hometown. I hadn’t been back in almost nine years and it was euphoric and eerie to drive along the backroads of Western Massachusetts and know my way exactly.
We had an interesting group of cards this month - all minor arcana - and the month had a similar feeling of profound everyday-ness. Working through the same issues, going back to the work, driving along the backroads again, and again, and again. What did you learn from all the returning, revisiting, and repetition?
I’m writing this with the knowledge of our cards for the next month and wow. There’s clearly a lot to uncover in this month that can help steer us in the weeks ahead. Be sure to scroll down for reflection prompts to gather your thoughts and insights, and of course the cards for August. (I am shook!)
Before then, a few highlights:
In the tarot-verse: I did a bunch of personal readings this month, including one with a fun structure I’m excited to share. (Anyone else out there into DIY-spreads?) The first card I drew?? Strength! I’m also so excited that a second edition Uusi Design Studio’s Eros Tarot (joyfully NSFW) is on pre-order. What decks have you been enjoying? Always looking for recommendations to diversify my heavily-RWS tarot portfolio.
Reading, watching, listening: Vacation time means reading time and aah and I am missing the feeling of being able to devour a book in two days! I finally read Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange’s follow-up to the wonderful There There (very Five of Cups, Ten of Pentacles, and The Moon with its themes of lineage, grief, and transformation) and Birnam Wood, which I found annoying at first and then absolutely engrossing. It probably didn’t help that many of the characters gave me flashbacks to myself, age twenty, ranting about Noam Chomsky and “decentralized nodes of modality,” but what can you do?
I had the delightful experience of sitting by myself at a movie theater watching a film set in my hometown. Janet Planet follows a single mother and her daughter as they navigate the rhythms of a lazy summer in Western Massachusetts. Set in the 90s, it was like a flashback to my childhood; think Six of Cups nostalgia mixed with zany alternative Four of Wands shenanigans. (This movie made me want to host my own surreal puppet show in my back yard.)
I also got sucked in to the Netflix documentary series about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, America’s Sweethearts. (Anne Helen Petersen has a characteristically insightful take on it on her substack.) Come for the performative femininity, stay for the deeply relatable characters!
Ace of the Month: This itty bitty baby snapping turtle!
How was your June? I’d love to hear in the comments below! And don’t forget to scroll down for prompts and that insane reading for August.
Reflection Prompts for June
Eight of Pentacles
What work, projects, or routines naturally drew your focus this month?
How were you able to remain centered and on task?
What have you learned about yourself through committing to work?
Eight of Swords
What self-limiting beliefs, mental blocks, and insecurities were you able to identify this month?
How did you successfully confront them?
What do you now know about your true desires, thoughts, and direction?
Eight of Cups
When did you feel the need to retreat, chase something new, or find fault with the support and resources you have?
How did it feel to come back home to yourself?
What part of your desires are you inviting back into your life?
Nine of Cups
What did you learn about your emotional and spiritual resources?
How did it feel to uplift and appreciate the love and beauty in your life?
Did you feel discomfort? How did you soothe it?
and, finally, a look at our next reading…
Cards for August 2024
(I almost didn’t post these because I wanted it to be a surprise in the live reading, but you’ll just get to listen to me huff and puff with incredulity on the recording - I can’t get over this array!!)
July 2024 Review