Love for Myself and All Beings
Love for Myself and All Beings
Plus Pinecones // 8.1.22
Monday Mettā
A new + beautiful way to experience Mondays
I breathe in love for myself. I breathe out love for all beings.
Let’s make our breath work for us this week by moving love around.
Placing your hands on your heart, breathe in love for yourself. Even if you don’t believe it, you’re still manifesting (through touch, breath, and a mantra) that you are worthy of love.
As you exhale, imagine you’re sending love out to all those in your vicinity and beyond. Sometimes, when I’m asked to send loving-kindness to “all beings,” I imagine myself in outer space, zoomed wayyyy out, looking at the world from above. All of those beings are worthy of love.
✨
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.
Wait to scroll down to the bottom until you’ve chosen your card!
Card 1: Snowflake Obsidian Choose this card if you’d like help with memory.
Card 2: Dalmatian Jasper Choose this card if you’re searching for a more playful attitude.
Card 3: Hematite Choose this card if you’d like some help “rooting” (being brought down to earth).
Yoga Class Schedule:
*Interested in scheduling a private yoga class? Info is here or email me!
Online classes for any and all:
Tuesday: Noon // 45 minute flow
Wednesday: 5:30pm // 45 minutes Yin Yoga
DM/email Rachel for the Zoom link and password. All times in Eastern.
Pinecones and the Third Eye
About a year ago, I had a vivid dream that centered around a pinecone. It was clear, colorful, and stuck with me. I woke up and of course googled “dreams about pinecones.” A blog by Sarah Greenman, an artist and writer with some great SEO practices (and a now-friend), popped up almost first on Google’s list, and I felt vindicated. My pinecone dream was IMPORTANT.
A few weeks ago, while hiking along the north coast of California, I was again confronted with pinecone imagery—this time in real life. The pinecones out there are intricate and varied, and I found myself pulled back in to their magic and symbolism.
As part of my holistic yoga studies and advancement, I pay close attention to the chakras. According to most, there are seven main chakras, and one of them rests in the center of the forehead, commonly known as the “Third Eye,” and sometimes known as the “Brow Chakra.” The third eye chakra is the center of wisdom in the body/mind, and is where our we cultivate the power of our mind. It’s where we examine our beliefs (self-limiting and otherwise), and it offers us the possibility of wisdom, imagination, discernment, knowledge, and intuition. It’s a collection of our experiences and what we know and learn about those experiences.
Our third eye is related to our pineal gland, which is a tiny “seed” that sits in-between the two sides of the brain, between the brows. It’s shaped like… a pinecone. And it regulates our hormones, especially melatonin, which helps us sleep and adjust to light.
And here’s another connection: Pinecones have this ability to close up in the dark and open up in the light. The light actually activates their ability to reproduce—their “petals” open to release their seeds. When they’re not activated, pinecones are sleeping.
Pinecones are some of the oldest life forms on earth. Pinecone imagery, associated almost always with wisdom and enlightenment, shows up in Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, and in indigenous North, Central, and South American cultures. Did artists and sculptors and healers and writers in ancient times know about the inner workings of our hormonal systems? Did the ancients know about the tiny pinecone gland in our brains when they connected its shape to the third eye?
Pinecones remind me that we mirror nature, nature mirrors us, but really, that we just all are.
(There’s also some really cool stuff about pinecones and the Fibonacci Series and the Golden Mean but ask me to interpret math and I fall apart.)
We Support Each Other
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 class or an intuitive reading! Come to one of my online yoga classes, schedule a private 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 let me know what comes up from your card reading this week! 🔮
Your Tarot Reading, Revealed!
Card 1: Snowflake Obsidian // Two of Pentacles
Ooo this the perfect card for this stone! This card is all about two sides, two perspectives, about mirror images and the inverse (notice the black and white on the crystal, notice the black and white mirroring images on the card). Think about an event that has you confused or overwhelmed. Maybe it’s a conversation with someone, or an awkward thing that happened at work, or a memory from childhood. As you mine your memory, stand outside the experience for a moment, as if you are observing it. From a bit of a distance, notice how you are behaving, and how the other person is behaving. What new or challenging perspectives come up that could give you more insight to this experience if you look at it this way?
Card 2: Dalmatian Jasper // 10 of Pentacles
What a joyful card! There’s a lot of love, prosperity, and security here. If you had everything you’ve ever wanted (or thought you’ve wanted), in what ways would you be more playful, more joyful? Guess what—you can act playful and joyful even if you don’t have everything you think you need. At its surface, this card is about getting it all materially, but if you look deeper you’ll notice the pentacles all have hearts inside them. It’s a message to let your heart dictate your playful spirit, not your circumstances.
Card 3: Hematite // Nine of Pentacles
Sometimes, I use my trusty Rider-Waite-Smith deck (in my head) to supplement reading with The Star Tarot deck that you see here. I will do that in this case, because the Nine of Pentacles is SOOOOOOO earthy. It’s literally the gardening card. It’s literally telling you to go plant something, to go water something, to get your hands dirty and feel some connection to, and responsibility for, plant and earth life. If you’re feeling airy, flakey, unable to focus, unstable or confused, get outside and put your feet on some earth. Sit on a rock. Find your stability in nature.
✨intuitive tarot inspired by Sarah Greenman, who was in turn inspired by Chris Corsini, because inspiration is contagious✨