Monday Mettā
A new + beautiful way to experience Mondays.
I am free to lead with my heart.
“Heart coherence” is the experience of life through an alignment between the heart, mind, and emotions.
In today’s mettā, visualize your brow chakra, your heart chakra, and your root chakra all coming into alignment as you breathe in, letting the power from those three chakras rest below your breath (right under your lungs). Pull that energy up to your heart and breathe from there, allowing your breath to “come from” the heart.
By practicing this regularly, your experiences of joy, appreciation, love, and delight will feel whole and connected, instead of mixed with fear, denial, or skepticism.
✨
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: Picture Jasper Choose this card if you’re trying to alleviate fear.
Card 2: Flint Choose this card for a message of security.
Card 3: Peach Quartz Choose this card for calm.
Wait to scroll down to the bottom of the newsletter until you’ve chosen your card!
A New Moon, A New Beginning
On Wednesday, May 8th, we welcome in May’s new moon. New moons are for that first step. As the old moon winds down, there is a pause, a darkness, before the spark of the new lunar light. They are for new beginnings and the start of something new.
I have a new beginning that I’m nurturing this month. Just over a year ago, my husband, Yevgeny, and I planted the seed of an idea: a music festival and music education nonprofit to add to and bolster the thriving arts and culture scene in our beloved Berkshire County. We called it The Birch Festival.
With a ton of community and financial support, a lot of faith in ourselves, and many little mistakes along the way, we held our very first events last October, and have another weekend of music in just a few days: May 18-20.
New moons are like that. They are full of possibility and impact, of old ideas and new determinations. They mark the beginning of something.
As part of my community here on Substack, I invite you to join another slice of my life. If you live near or in Berkshire County in Massachusetts and have a hankering for some good music, a free yoga class, and a tarot workshop, maybe I’ll see you on the 18th-20th as we make music.
In-Person Birch Yoga Class and Tarot Workshop!
On Saturday, May 18, I’ll be presenting two in person classes as a part of my nonprofit music festival, The Birch Festival. Both will be held in Lenox, MA, at the Church on the Hill Chapel (in their beautiful labyrinth room!). Both are free!
Saturday, May 18th from 9:30-10:30: Join me for a gentle yoga class. Donations to The Birch Festival of any amount are welcome. RSVP here.
Saturday, May 18th from 11-12: Join me for a workshop linking the Soldier’s Tale to the archetypal elements of the Tarot. Donations to The Birch Festival of any amount are welcome. RSVP here.
These two events are in support of our main music festival, which includes two concerts of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) on May 19th and 20th.
With Gratitude,
As part of my community, here are three beautiful ways you can support this newsletter:
🌱Make a micro-donation or become a totally optional paying member of this Substack. Subscribe to pay for this newsletter for $5/month or $50/year. Paying subscribers have access to my entire archive.
(Or, donate any amount below. Whatever you donate goes directly and completely to me.)
🌻Contact me for a Tarot or Akashic Records Soul reading or connect with me about learning yoga, meditation, or breathwork.
💌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 make a great gift! Interested in gifting a private yoga, a tarot or an intuitive soul reading to a friend? Reach out!
Your Tarot Reading, Revealed!
Card 1: Picture Jasper // The Devil
I can’t think of a better card. The Devil represents the inflammation of worry, anxiety, and fear, and asks us to take a hard look at what we’re attached to that is causing that fear. By looking at fear directly, you can decide which chains to cut and what to (potentially) walk away from.
Card 2: Flint // Page of Pentacles
An abundant card, with a message of things beginning anew! All you need to do is get clear on what security looks like for you. Write it down, speak it out loud, get very intentional. Because the Page brings you what you need—you just need to know what that is.
Card 3: Peach Quartz // Ace of Swords
Not exactly the calmest card. Instead, this card is bringing with it the power to see clearly. And maybe that’s what you need to stay calm! What in your life needs a clearer view? What do you need to amplify, or shine light on? And how can you, now that you’re seeing clearly, create a space of calm for yourself?
Rachel Barker's role as writer and intuitive is to facilitate the reader’s introspection, awareness, and reflection. Whether to make a particular choice or take a particular action is entirely the responsibility of the reader.