Six of Cups
Fixed water: alchemy, memory, distillation
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.’
Five of Cups
Fixed water: loss, appetites, sacrifice
That reminder of loss can be a sharpener to appetite. Time is short. Do you want to be perfect or do you want to be gluttonous for experience, pleasure, and joy?
four of swords
Cardinal air: chaos magic, willpower, telepathy
The aerialist reminds us of the possibilities of this card, just as the telepathic lamb controlling the swords above her head: it is possible to wield mass, force, and energies that feel chaotic in the service of a singular goal.
Three of Swords
Cardinal air: Bonds, Promises, Endurance
This is the engine of storytelling – in any story, there is a winnowing of options, a set of choices that become a single choice. This is what makes the story resonate – we can feel the experience of the characters as they grapple with what we must, every day.
Fungal Magic and Mycelial Networks
Cardinal air: mycelial networks, field notes, fungal categories
In The Museum of Atheism, each chapter begins with a description of the fungus that has taken over the town of Rosewood, where the action happens. These descriptions act as field notes about real and imagined fungal forms
two of swords
Cardinal air: hoodwink, meditation, play.
This scene could be from a play or a photoshoot. The figure could be sitting for a portrait, or waiting for a lover to release them from a game.
ten of pentacles
Mutable earth: Homecoming, mortality, transition
This card feels like a hopeful and homely card to pull - it gives a sense of things being in their rightful place - but the ten gives a sense of the next transition to be to something else, another stage of life. For some of us, that transition is into the realm beyond life, and the spectre of death haunts this card and decan.
Voice and Style
Mutable air: research, reflection, voice
You unearth your work like an archaeologist discovers treasures, or a farmer pulls up crops.
Everyday Witchcraft in Sian S. Rathore’s Wild Heather
Fixed earth: wild animals, practical witchcraft, poetry
Rathore’s poem ‘Alison Device (1594-1612), named for a Pendle witch, is a beautiful meditation on mortality and desire.
Ritual Support System for Writers
Fixed air: systems, ancient wisdom, collective practices
This can become the container for all of your rituals, devotions, and divinations, and a space to process what your subtle body is experiencing when you generate, edit, and share creative work.
Writing as Devotion
Fixed water: shadow, will, integrity
Writing is an act of devotion, the same as any other magical practice.
The work of writing is as integral to their lives as any other form of ritual, ceremony, or prayer, and their devotion produces magical results in their writing.
A Ritual for The Underworld of your Writing
Fixed water: petrichor, deep wells, decay
The sun doesn't disappear. We just can't see it as much as in the height of summer. There is treasure in the void. There is gold in the dark.
A Spell for Writer’s Block
Fixed water: working through, deep release, breaking open
You can work with this ritual to come back to creative centre whenever you are feeling blocked.
Year Ahead Spreads
Fixed air: future visioning, collective energies
What happens if you think about your projects not in terms of word counts, but in seasons? Could you be guided by a full seasonal cycle, from solstice to solstice, or Samhain to Samhain? Or could you work with your solar return?
Temperance: Genre Alchemy
Fixed fire: alchemy, energy, creative flows
Have you been feeling like you could use a change in your writing routine? Perhaps you would like to find a regular weekly slot to work? Or even something more drastic like a complete change in direction?
Two of Wands: Writing Sabbaticals
Fixed air: portals, balance, opposition
How do you build rest into your writing practice? When do you let the field lay fallow, and when do you let it grow wild?
The Devil: What is Story?
Cardinal earth: ambition, architecture, boundaries
When we read a story, temptation only works when we agree to it. Like the two figures here, we must submit to story.
Five of Pentacles
Cardinal earth: cathedral, winter, resources, the unknown
The Five of Pentacles appears to be about stuckness, and scarcity, but it can teach us a lot about the luminous mysteries.