Courage & Joy
Monday Mettā
A new + beautiful way to experience Mondays.
May I release old fears. May I travel forward with renewed courage. May all beings find peace. May all beings find belonging.
Peace, belonging, and courage. In this Mettā, I’m asking you to start with yourself first, to give yourself a release of old fears and the renewal of courage.
Then pause, and take a few breaths.
You don’t know the fear of others, although I’m fairly certain we all have many of the same core fears. But without making those assumptions, send your loving-kindness to all beings. May they find peace. May they find belonging.
Peace + belonging, to help with fear and courage. May we all find courage and peace in this New Year.
✨
So glad you’re here.
Intuitive Tarot Card Reading
Use your intuition to guide you to a specific card below. Choose the card with the crystal on it that calls to you.At the end of this newsletter, you’ll see the cards flipped over, with a reading for each one. The card that you choose here will have your reading for the week.
Card 1: Angelite Choose this card if you’d like a message about how to access your higher self.
Card 2: Dumorite Choose this card if you’ve been feeling unfocused.
Card 3: Blue Aventurine Choose this card if you’ve been feeling very externally influenced lately.
Wait to scroll down to the bottom of the newsletter until you’ve chosen your card!
Yoga Classes:
Follow this link to book a 1/2 hour yoga (or breathing, or meditation, or all of the above) with me. You can book a class almost instantly, or weeks in advance. It’s all up to you.
No group yoga in January—see you in February for yoga at noon on Mondays!
Do you very specifically live in Door County, WI? If so, come to my Yoga and Meditative Journaling class on January 21st at 10:00am!
A Thank You in Courage and Joy
I am so filled with gratitude for the love, connection, and spirit in the “room” on January 1. Thank you so much to all who came to my New Year’s Day retreat, signing on with courage and joy, the surprise theme of the day. We breathed together, sent loving-kindness out to the planet, moved and stretched, shared our reflections and encouragement, trusted our intuition, envisioned our year with Leonor, and listened to good words.
A few mentions, source citing, and inspirations:
During our mettā meditation, I modified Thich Nhat Hanh’s meditation on joy from his short book How to Sit. The meditation reminded us to cultivate joy by staying present.
In the journal workshop, Leonor and I used two essays from David Whyte’s Consolations. We asked everyone reflect on the courage and joy they’ll be cultivating in the New Year. The essay on courage is excerpted below.
In the intuitive tarot workshop, I used The Star Tarot deck by Cathy McClelland, whose carefully researched symbolism helped us reflect and connect with who we are and what our potential is. I was inspired to do this reading by Sarah Greenman.
During our vision board creative time, we each shared our “word of the year.” I found each person’s word inspiring and comforting. They were:
root
color
freedom
less
Nurture
play
COURAGE
is a word that tempts us to think outwardly, to run bravely against opposing fire, to do something under besieging circumstance, and perhaps, above all, to be seen to do it in public, to show courage: to be celebrated in story, rewarded with medals, given the accolade. But a look at its linguistic origins is to look in a more interior direction, and toward its original template, the old Norman French coeur, or heart.
Courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work; a future. To be courageous is not necessarily to go anywhere or do anything, except to make conscious those things we already feel deeply and then to live through the unending vulnerabilities of those consequences. To be courageous is to seat our feelings deeply in the body and in the world: to live up to and into the necessities of relationships that often already exist, with things we find we already care deeply about: with a person, a future, a possibility in society, or with an unknown that begs us on - and always has begged us on. To be courageous is to stay close to the way we are made.
Courage is what love looks like when tested by the simple everyday necessities of being alive.
From the inside, it can feel like confusion; only slowly do we learn what we really care about, and allow our outer life to be realigned in that gravitational pull. With maturity, that robust vulnerability comes to feel like the only necessary way forward, the only real invitation, and the surest, safest ground from which to step. On the inside we come to know who and what and how we love and what we can do to deepen that love; only from the outside, and only by looking back, does it look like courage.
From Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words by David Whyte, page 49.
With Gratitude,
There are three beautiful ways you can support my work writing and teaching!
Make a micro-donation, either through Buy Me a Coffee (or in my case, a love note), or after you’ve listened to one of my meditations on Insight Timer.
Book a personalized yoga class or contact me for a Tarot or Akashic Records reading.
Forward this newsletter on to anyone who might want a little love! Ask them to subscribe! Tell them you love them!
Thank you thank you!
Much love and gratitude,
Rachel xo
PS- I love hearing about the cards you pick and your related experiences. Please email me or comment below to share what came up from your card reading this week🔮
Your Tarot Reading, Revealed!
Card 1: Angelite // Two of Pentacles
The Two of Pentacles represents a juggling act. Balancing what exists below the surface (the bottom half, in black) and what’s being shown to the world (the top half, in blue). Both require a little bit of an act, sometimes. Today, this card asks you to let those two balls drop and hold tightly to a third one, if we’re extending the metaphor. Notice the circle in the very middle of the card. This represents the balance, what’s in-between what you never share and what you always project. This is your higher self. Reflecting on when you feel most you is a great way to start the process of accessing the messages your higher self has to offer.
Card 2: Dumorite // Two of Wands
Talk about focus. This card has the two wands literally hitting the bullseye of the zodiac target in the center of the card. It’s an overabundance of creative energy that has you feeling like you’re whirling through space, grasping at idea after idea. And that’s OK! Sometimes, we have to through hundreds of ideas at the dart board but it’s only one or two that stick. Make a list of your creative endeavors and then map out when you can take the time to focus on each one. If there is an endeavor that you never quite find time for, you may let it go for the time being, without any guilt. It just didn’t hit the bullseye, this time, and that’s OK.
Card 3: Blue Aventurine // The Magician
The Magician is all about knowing your own power. This can be hard to access, especially if we’re constantly subjecting ourselves to information, input, and other people’s lives, experiences, and thoughts. Take some time this week to reflect on what you are most influenced about. Is it what you consume? Who you connect with? What you read (in long form or tweets)? What you wear or how you look? Figure out what comes up first, and then sit with it for a bit. Journal or meditate to figure out how you really feel about the subject, not what others are nudging you towards. It’s great to do research and get advice, but at the end of the day, you have the power to run your own life.
✨I use House of Intuition’s Crystal Encyclopedia and Judy Hall’s Crystal Bible to interpret the crystal meanings. Intuitive tarot inspired by Sarah Greenman, who was in turn inspired by Chris Corsini, because inspiration is contagious✨
I loved all three readings this week. Perhaps I was drawn to the blue stones, but each message was helpful. Time to break out the journal and spend some time reflecting on what is buried under the leaves!
I love your newsletter 😍 Every Monday I wait for the message that you show us with the tarot. Thank you very much! ✨🙌🏽