May is Rest & Digest

Your May Tarot Reading & Magical Download

Of all the things I learned when I became a yoga instructor, the concept of the parasympathetic nervous system has continued to fascinate me. As someone who spent a lot of her life in “fight or flight”, it was pretty life changing to learn about the other side of that coin.

The long and short of it is that when we’re on alert, we trigger the sympathetic nervous system. This is the fight/flight/freeze response we know and… have mixed feelings about. We evolved this internal alarm to stay safe from predators, but in our modern world this reaction can be triggered by anything from a vaguely menacing email from our boss to an unexpected text from your ex. Which is why it takes a constant, concerted effort to help our bodies unwind from this place of stress and reactivity.

This is where the parasympathetic nervous system comes in. Also known as “rest and digest”, this is the internal system that helps our body calm down. When our brain believes we are safe, the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activates, thus setting of a whole slew of internal functions that help us rest and recover from fight or flight.

It's when the PNS is at work that our bodies begin to digest. Literally, the PNS is necessary to digest food (hence why anxiety is associated with gastrointestinal problems), but it’s also when we digest our experiences. The body metabolizes the chemicals produced by highly emotional experiences, allowing us to process and release these emotions from our bodies. Ever heard the saying, “our issues are in our tissues”? That’s because when we don’t rest and digest, those chemicals get stored in the body, causing pain, tension, and lasting damage. The PNS is what allows us to release those chemicals once and for all.

It’s also when our brain works through all we’ve seen/done and decides which experiences to store as long-term memories and which to release. Again, this is why anxiety disorders are associated with poor memory. But that’s not all. The PNS is when muscles rebuild, stress hormones break down and leave the body, and we finally find calm after pushing through whatever we’ve been facing, be it a predator or an obnoxious colleague. The PNS is the counterbalance to our stress response and a necessary part of keeping our bodies happy and healthy.

Throughout April, most of us were firmly rooted in fight or flight. Now, as we ease into May, we’re being invited to rest and digest.

May Theme: Nine of Cups

During every Tarot and Tea in the past, I’ve pulled our theme cards from the Rider Waite Smith deck. This month, however, I felt called to the Way Home Tarot. This deck comes through whenever a client is moving through a season of returning to the self, and the imagery of this deck always has something to add to the interpretation. In this case, we see nine cups resting in a hammock, strung between two palm trees, overlooking a sunrise or sunset on the horizon.

The Nine of Cups is always a card of pause. It’s a time to take stock of the people around you who love and support you, the hobbies and activities that nourish your soul, and how much emotional fulfilment you have in your life, even when things may not always feel that way. However, the Way Home version of the Nine of Cups brings an additional flavor to the reading that brings me back to that theme of Rest and Digest.

The imagery here immediately evokes one of rest. More specifically, of the kind of rest we get on a beachside vacation. It’s not a small nap between work calls—it’s a full weekend of nothing but sun, sand, and a cocktail, if that’s your thing. The Nine of Cups is calling us to pursue deep rest and ease our bodies out of the fight or flight we’ve been in for so long. After the intensity of April—it was the month of the Ten of Swords, after all—we are being invited to cultivate stillness and ease. The sun in the distance reminds us that the pain of April is setting, and the hope of summer is soon to rise, but for now, we must rest here in the in-between. We let our body do what it needs to do to process and restore, and we take time to integrate all we’ve been through.

During that rest, the Nine of Cups also asks us to reflect on what we do have, even amidst our recent losses. After all, that hammock is filled with cups—the symbol of emotional fulfillment, personal relationships, and a whole heart in the tarot. Who are the people that have shown up for you during this season of challenge? Where can you seek community and companionship moving forward? What are the salves available to aid your wounded heart? Seek them now and let your weary soul rest in that nourishment.

Want the recorded reading for this month? Get more detail, personal tidbits, and see me channel exactly what the Good Spirits have to say in this month’s Tarot + Tea video! Members of the Mystic Auntie’s Coven get this monthly recording along with a magical movement practice, a custom spell or ritual, and so much more.

What to Lean Away From / What to Lean Towards: Daughter of Cups / Two of Cups

This month, we see Daughter of Cups (representative of the Page of Cups in the RWS tarot) in the spot of “what to lean away from”. To fully understand the implications of this, I think it’s important to hold it in conversation with our “what to lean towards” card, which is the Two of Cups.

Right away, three cups out of four cards tells me this is a month about the heart. It’s a time to focus on our emotional well-being and the people/relationships that serve us. In particular, the contrast of moving away from the Daughter of Cups and towards the Two of Cups tells me we’re being invited to focus less on what we can do for ourselves, and more on who we can lean on.

In this capitalist, individualistic society of ours, we often talk about “self-care”. Self-care is a beautiful and important aspect of wellness. But it also feeds into the idea that we have to take care of ourselves, alone, and without help. This month, we are being asked to think a little bit more about community care. Rather than focusing on the things you can do to tend to yourself—a long soak in the tub, a cozy night with your journal—think about the ways you can lean on your relationships to tend to your broken heart. Things like a hike with a close friend, tea with a neighbor, or a spontaneous call with someone who loves you.

We’re being asked to lean into the reciprocity of community this month. Take time to consider the ways you show up for others, and the ways they show up for you. Last week, I had a nail appointment. I walked in and my stylist asked how I was feeling. Honest to a fault, I told her about what was going on with my physical health, the loss of my dog, and the other burdens that were weighing heavy on me at the time. Then, I asked her how she was doing. In turn, she opened up about the deep loss and grief she was moving through, and we spent the next hour discussing loss, grief, anger, pain, and how we manage to survive when everything around us is falling apart. It was a deeply healing experience, but not just because she held space for my emotions. It was powerful because I, in turn, could show up for her. It was a reminder that I don’t need to be in a good mood to have something to offer the people I love, and that community is its own salve to whatever wounds we carry.

This month, lean into your community. Show up for your friends and let them show up for you. Bring a meal to your grieving neighbor, then ask your mom to help you clean your house. The only way through the darkest days is to remember that you are not alone. You are one amongst many, and your existence matters to this world. This world matters to you, too. Community is, in my personal opinion, the single most important aspect of being human. So, step into community this month… it might help you feel just a little more human.

Bottom of the Deck: The Fool

Every time I pull from the bottom of the deck, it comes through with a different meaning. After the election, we were getting a lot of cards that spoke to the collective experience. We had a break from that recently, but this pull feels like a return to considering the world beyond our microcosm. In this case, The Fool came through as a reminder of the need for hope and faith as we look towards a better tomorrow.

I spent most of April disconnected from current events. I was in and out of doctor’s appointments, grieving the loss of my dog, and in constant, debilitating pain. I didn’t have space to hold more hurt. This month, I’ve started listening to my daily Democracy Now episodes once again. Immediately, I was struck with how much hate and fear are leading every choice coming from our government.

It's easy to get pulled under by the weight of that. However, there’s another option that The Fool illuminates. We could recognize that this dry, cracked landscape can no longer grow the world we crave, and we can choose to step toward a more abundant future. The path will be unclear, but if we hold hope close to the heart, we will find the people who share this dream and, together, we can build something that doesn’t thrive on hate. We can build something grounded in love, community, and the inherent value of every living thing. But to do that, we must take the first step. The Fool is asking us to do exactly that.

Support from Spirit: Hecate & Rooted

Hecate

I work with three goddesses as a part of my spiritual practice, and Hekate is one of them (I prefer her name with a K and from our conversations, so does she, so I will be using that spelling of her name from here on out). Hekate is the goddess of the crossroads, mother of witches, and the protector of the innocent. She is a formidable force you don’t want to wrong, but a powerful ally if she chooses to fight beside you.

Hekate comes to us this May as so many of us stand at a personal crossroads, and as the world (or at least the United States) teeters on a crossroads of its own. She offers her torch and is willing to guide us through. She can show us the route to safety, peace, and a world so much better than the broken one we’ve been grieving for years. However, Hekate does not work for free. She is a goddess who can offer powerful magic and support in ways that will transform your life, but she’s also a demanding goddess. If you want access to all she can offer, you must be willing to make sacrifices of your own.

In this case, Hekate is asking us to stand up for the voiceless. As the protector of the innocent, she sees our privilege and says, “what are you going to do with that?” She asks us to rise up for those being persecuted and killed by the hate that has taken over, and she demands we take action in a world that desperately needs people who are willing to fight for it. As Hekate comes to us this month, she recognizes that we are still in a place of integration of rest. She knows the action won’t be immediate. But she asks that we start building our resources, tuning into our community, and preparing to walk beside her as she guides us to a better future.

Rooted

We’ve been through a lot this winter. I get the sens, from what Spirit has told me, that summer will be a busy time of activation, revolution, and fighting for what we believe in. Now, as we rest in Spring, we’re invited to build the practices that will help heal our wounds and support us in the chaos to come.

This is the time to build a regular practice of grounding that can support you in an ongoing way. Perhaps you’re called to a daily pause over your morning coffee. Maybe a regular movement practice works better for you. Or maybe a weekly walk with your best friend is the grounding you need. Experiment and explore this month. See what works for you. Build the habits now so they can be there for you when you truly need them.

Join The Mystic Auntie’s Coven for a 35-minute grounding movement practice to help you root down and nourish what is wounded. In addition to a monthly movement practice, members get a recorded reading of the month’s tarot pull (with additional insight, interpretations, and sassy one-liners from Spirit), a custom spell or ritual, channeled journal prompts, and so much more. Check it out:

May Happenings with the Mystic Auntie

May 16th, 5-7:30pm: Journey into Spirit
May 24th-25th: Intuitive Tarot Reading
May 25th, 5-7pm: Tarot + Tea

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