CARDS FOR WEEK 8:

Oracle: The Elk + Ash: Strength

Shadow Card: 4 of Swords

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Monday this week was the Flower Moon in Scorpio, and Tuesday was both my birthday and my solar return. So I set out to open the week by intentionally working with the polarity of the Scorpio Moon and Taurus Sun.

On the night of the Flower Moon I participated in The Rite of Her Sacred Fires for the first time. This is an international devotional celebration of the goddess Hekate, written by Sorita d’Este and hosted in my area by the Alberta Witches Association.

Hekate is a pivotal figure in the story of Demeter and Persephone that was the core of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and is a goddess I revere. I named one of my closest companions – my beloved black cat – in her honour, though I adjusted the spelling and pronunciation of the name to avoid trivializing the proper name of the goddess.

I spell and pronounce my kitty’s name the way I pronounced Hekate’s name as a little girl, completely engrossed in my book of Greek myths. I brought my “Heckity” home from the local animal shelter on Samhain in 2021, when she was a very tiny kitten.

This was the first group ritual I’ve attended since Pagan Pride Day back in 2023. There are purely logistical reasons for that – a family crisis on last year’s Pagan Pride day that kept me from attending, for example – but neurodivergence and self-consciousness also come into play. Much of my practice will likely always be solitary, but even The Hermit of the tarot eventually visits society again to share what he has learned on his inner journeys and find new questions to ponder.

I’ve been pulling many, many cards in recent weeks and months related to community and friendship. My reflexive reaction to those cards is a perception of lack and failure on my part to cultivate the kind of relationships I would like to have with other practitioners. A full moon in Scorpio invites us to confront the fears that steer us from deep beneath the surface, and so attending this ritual and being in community with other witches was a way to illuminate and push against that fear.

Since this was my first time attending the Rite of Her Sacred Fires, I did some research beforehand to get a sense of what to expect. In the course of that, I came across this performance of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter by Emily Carding. It was recorded for the Hekate Symposium 2021, and I found it very inspiring – I’ve never actually seen a dramatic reading of this text before, which in retrospect feels like an egregious oversight.

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The next morning at 6:25 AM, my solar return came – the time each year when the sun returns to the exact position it was in when a person was born. Your solar return always falls close to your calendar birthday, not always exactly on the same day, but for me this year it did come on the day I was born.

The moon moved from Scorpio to Sagittarius overnight between Monday and Tuesday, so by the time I woke up on my birthday to greet the sun… LOTS of fire energy from the heavens and from the ritual. Fire is associated with cleansing, transformation, soul, spirit, creative expression, and the persistent drive to rise.

I have pretty much no fire sign placements in my natal chart, so I have had to work a little harder to cultivate that energy in myself. But as Ivo Dominguez Jr. keeps saying (I’m still deeply engaged with his teaching on practical astrology in magical practice), a lack of placements associated with a particular sign or element does not make that element inaccessible. He has no air placements in his chart, and yet he is a prolific and successful author.

TEA BLEND FOR 36th SOLAR RETURN:

• Lapsang souchong (a style of pine-smoked Chinese black tea from the Wuyi Mountains) as the base
  • for evergreen strength and endurance touched by fire
• Lavender
  • for happiness and calm, and for Mercury energy (my chart ruler as a Virgo Rising)
• Lychee black tea
  • for sweetness, beauty, divination, motivation and wishes

My intent was to honour and engage the Moon and all it represents on the Monday evening of the Flower Moon, and then likewise embrace the Sun for my birthday the following day. And it worked! I had a very expansive birthday evening, reflecting on all the things I’ve learned and the positive change that has come as a result, and dreaming of new possibilities for the future.

I thought about grad school again. Maybe someday. In the meantime, plenty more self-study to do, and goals around community and service to develop further.

In the course of the birthday reading and writing and dreaming, I came across this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which seemed very fitting for the occasion, thinking of myself as a little girl and as a younger woman. Maybe someday I’ll tell my “little lonely child lost in Hell” story here, but for the moment, suffice it to say I have one.

Finally, I made a simmer pot filled with flowers and herbs to mark my birthday and honour the aforementioned goddess. I don’t know if other witches set their simmer pots to full boil at first so they’ll start bubbling dramatically like this, but there was something satisfying and exuberant about it!

The rest of the week was a whirlwind of work, reading, writing, and preparing to host my family for a belated birthday dinner. Honestly it wore me out a bit, in a good way, and with the Moon now waning, it’s time to rest and reflect.

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TAROT FOR WEEK 8 (May 12-19):

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THEME: TEMPERANCE

The Middle Path. Patience. Finding Meaning.

CHALLENGE: 9 OF CUPS

[read reversed]

Lacking Inner Joy. Dissatisfaction. Smugness.

BLESSINGS: QUEEN OF PENTACLES

Practicality. Creature Comforts. Nourishing.

TEND: THE FOOL

Innocence. Beginner’s Mind. Curiosity.

RELEASE: 10 OF CUPS

[read reversed]

Shattered dreams. Familial discord. Broken bonds.

FOCUS: KNIGHT OF CUPS

Idealism. Romanticism. Following the heart.

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