Everyday Woo (Volume 1)
A deep dive into the Queen of Cups (what IS in that cup?!). Some thoughts about the scamming of spirituality. And a lil bit of yoga to soothe an anxious mind.
Everyday Woo is a place for the woo curious to learn a little more about tarot, spirituality in a not-too-serious way. Here’s what I’m thinking about this week…
👑Focus on: The Queen of Cups: Why is she so obsessed with that cup?! Let’s take a deep dive into what’s up with our lovely lady on the throne. Here’s a few important elements to consider when reading the Queen of Cups.
She’s an archetype. You can take the Queen literally and say, “hey, that’s my mom/best friend/dog showing up with a message for me!” But more often, the Queen doesn’t represent one person. She is instead revealing a facet, or energy, of a situation, relationship or other realm of your life. I’ve heard people say things like, “oh, I’m a TOTAL Queen of Cups/King of Swords/Knight of Wands” in regards to the court cards, but guess what? We are all of them at different points and in different situations in our lives.
She’s ~emotional~ but grounded. In my opinion, the Queen is the best, most authentic manifestation of the suit of Cups. Cups, which link to our emotional state and our intuition, are naturally at home with the Queen, who embraces her lunar, or feminine side. She’s wise. She knows that both freedom to feel all the feels AND the ability to put a lid on it are important (literally…her cup has a lid).
She embodies stillness and movement. The Queen pauses, gazing intently at the cup in her hand. She is seated, relaxing into her emotions. In the midst of this stillness is movement. One foot rests in the wild water of her intuition, and the other is planted on the solid ground of her reality. She is assured in this balance. She doesn’t feel the need to get up, move around and show off all that she’s learned about her emotions. She needs no one’s affirmation. All that she needs is safely ensconced in her cup.
Prompts to consider when the Queen of Cups shows up:
Where do I need to allow my emotions to run free?
What emotional boundaries need protecting?
Where in my life can I take a seat and let the waves of my intuition gently nudge me forward?
What would I discover if I lifted my gaze from my emotions and examined the world around me?
Do I spend more time decorating my cup than filling it?
🔮Spotting a Spiritual Scam: If you’ve ever had someone slide into your DMs and tell you that you need a reading, you’ve probably encountered the spiritual world’s version of the Nigerian Prince who wants to send you money. Here’s my hot tips for figuring out whether or not these offers are legit (hint: they’re usually not).
Check the handle. Scammers usually tack on an underscore or insert a period to a popular spiritual account’s handle. They look at that person’s followers, follow as many as possible, and start spamming them with reading offerings. And these people are persistent. When Kate Van Horn, a wonderful intuitive reader, had scammers targeting her and her clients, they made several versions of her account name. It was sort of like Whack-a-Mole: report one, get it taken down, and then another one popped up. Super frustrating—it hurts genuine readers AND their clients.
Look for fear tactics. Most of these “readers” will tell you something along the lines of being drawn to you for a reading because there’s an important message that you’re meant to hear. If you decline their offer, they begin to play to your fears, telling you that you’re cursed or that your life will be ruined if you don’t get a reading RIGHT NOW. Oh, and it’ll cost you. If a reader is pressuring you, scammer or not, block and be blessed. Any authentic, people-centered reader would NEVER use scare tactics to get you to pay them money.
Scammers use certain phrases. Okay, this one is often paired with these other signs, but scammers love to use phrases like “merry meet” and “grand rising.” They also like to call everyone “love,” as in, “You need a reading, love.” And speaking of love, they loooove emojis. Especially the evil eye. If you’ve been following this person for awhile and their tone suddenly shifts, that’s a red flag. Trust your intuition. No need to draw any cards to receive that message.
Legit readers will never seek you out for a reading. If someone is cold DM-ing you about a reading, that should sound the scam alarm in your head. The authentic readers I know are very transparent about the fact that they don’t engage in this practice. It feels icky, predatory and just plain unspiritual.
Look at when the account was created. Depending on the age of the account, when visiting its Instagram profile, you can see when the account was created. Go to the top right corner, click the three dots, and choose About This Account. Not there? The account probably isn’t big enough, which, depending on who’s contacting you and who they say they are, could be a red flag. If it is there, check out the date. If it was super recent, be suspicious. Verrry suspicious.
At the end of the day, best practice is to book readings directly through websites. DMs are fine…until they’re not. Stay safe, spiritual friends.
☮️Asanas for Anxiety: the build up to the full moon was ROUGH for me, y’all. Anxious thoughts, limiting beliefs, that horrid little voice in my head that tells me stories that just aren’t true…the gang was all there. I am wrapping up my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training this month, and I’ve really been loving how movement can help quell some of the buzzing of the mind. In yoga, we call this heightened state of anxiety rajas.
To bring us to the balanced state of sattva, some simple asanas, or yoga poses, can help. Here’s a few that I love:
Child’s pose: ah, sweet, sweet relief. Child’s pose is a vulnerable posture of complete surrender. Grab your mat or a soft surface. Come to hands and knees, stacking shoulders under wrists and knees under hips. Extend the hands forward as the tailbone reaches back. You can open knees towards the edges of your mat, or you can hug them under your heart. Think about energy moving up the spine, up the arms and exiting out of the fingertips.
If you’ve taken a yoga class, you’ve probably come into child’s pose. But as you hold this posture, think about how the frenetic energy of the mind moves through the body and exits, making space for calm.
Thread the Needle: anxiety shows up in my body as a crunching of the neck and shoulders. I quite literally hunch into myself, like I’m trying to hide from these intrusive thoughts. Using the mat as a support, threading the needle can help me melt into a state of surrender and release. And usually, my thoughts follow.
To get into this pose, return back to Tabletop. Root through your left palm, press through the tops of the feet and on an inhale, extend the right hand to the sky. Gaze lifts towards your extended hand. Exhale and guide the right hand under the left shoulder, as if you are threading a needle. Your right shoulder and right ear will fall to the mat, or grab a soft pillow and place it under the shoulder for support. Breathe deeply and let the body release. Close the eyes. Imagine your thoughts as tiny stitches in a larger tapestry. The small imperfections or anxieties don’t matter when you zoom out and look at the larger, beautiful picture. Repeat this pose on the other side.
Even if you’re a regular yogi or have never stepped on the mat, these poses are simple ways to help your body work through what your mind is dealing with. The best thing I’ve learned about my anxieties is that they always pass. Moving through them with the support of practices like yoga has helped me immensely.
Mantra for the week: I give myself permission to feel deeply and fully.
Go drink some water, maybe pull a card or two, and I’ll see you next week to chat about using crystals in your day to day life, fall messages from the cards, and how to use a pendulum. 🌻