Tarot of the Shadows: How to Invite the Light In.

"Even though tarot is an intuitive practice, there are some cards that just hurt. They’re scary- and very often they’re the scariest because they speak of our deepest human emotions." Explore the 5 darkest tarot cards with our contributing writer, Gabriela Herstik as she shares informative ways to allow these cards to bring illumination to your readings. 


Goddess Of Week: Diamond Dorris

diosa4.jpg

 Name: My name is Diamond Dorris, but everyone calls me Di.

 Location: I’m currently in Los Angeles, Ca, but I’m from San Jose, Ca. Gotta put on for the bay.

 Astrological Sign/rising: My sun sign is Aries, rising is Gemini, and moon is Leo. If it sounds like a handful, it is, and this is coming from the person living the life firsthand.

 Occupation: I am still working on my Ph.D. and opening my own private practice as an herbalist/nutritionist. I have a blog, lovethediosa.com, and keep in touch with my audience on Twitter & Instagram between it all. My plan is building my brand right now. The last year it has completely taken off. Whether beauty, fitness, love, or health tips, I think it’s super cool that people value my advice. That means a lot. I recently realized that people also want to pay me to take photos of me modeling or wearing their stuff. I didn’t see that one coming, especially being seen as the tomboy in corduroy overalls and sweat suits growing up, but here we are haha.

Which Goddess or Goddess Archetype do you most identify with and why?

Aja is my inspiration and my life. She’s a healer, and herbalist/botanist. She was all about wildlife, and everything green. She usually didn’t come across humans often, but when a human finally met her, they were swept away. Literally, Her entire being was overwhelming in the most positive way. Completely enchanted, they always returned stronger, and better than when she found them. She’s not meant to be forgotten. She was more about teaching people so they could help themselves. She’s all about growth, the elements, and oneness of the planet.

 How do you get in touch with/unleash your inner goddess? By creating. Women are capable of doing some powerful things. We literally are given one cell to work with by men, and the return investment is a baby. An entire child! That’s unheard of! But I’m one of those extraordinary creatures with this power. The power to make something out of basically nothing seen by the naked eye. To use tools overlooked, or seen as inefficient, and useless. I make it all come together. Whether I give birth to a new idea, a dream, or a child (one day), I’m constantly creating. When I’m in the zone, no one can touch me. No one.

 What is your Goddess superpower? I think one thing people tend to find out about me pretty quickly is that I am the one with visions and dreams. I hated it most of my life because some dreams were just terrible. I just wanted to be “normal”, but looking back I am grateful for all the amazing dreams given to me. I have told both of my aunties they were pregnant before they found out, including one who was just told she had a miscarriage. Imagine, how crazy I looked telling a woman that was told she miscarried that she was actually pregnant. My dreams even saved my dad’s life once. My dreams have shown me the next steps in my life, if I need to slow down or speed up, etc. Sometimes my dreams are just me and my subconscious just chilling and figuring things out. I even visit people when I’m not too lazy

Will You join us in the sacred twerk circle? I will bring the waka, juvie and webbie. I was born to do this. Do not play. Iso buttcheek twerk and whine is on 100%. 

What is an inspiring quote/passage/ that you would like to share with other women & younger goddesses? : I came across this passage a few years ago & it changed me forever by Rafael Espitia Perea:

 “A goddess is a woman who emerges from deep within herself. She is a woman who has honestly explored her darkness and learned to celebrate her light. She is a woman who is able to fall in love with the magnificent possibilities within her. She is a woman who knows of the magic and mysterious places inside her, the sacred places that can nurture her soul and make her whole. She is a woman who radiates light. She is magnetic. She walks into a room and male and female alike feel her presence. She has power and softness at the same time. 

She has powerful sexual energy that’s not dependent on physical looks. She has a body that she adores and it shows by the way she comfortably lives and moves in it. She cherishes beauty, light and love. She is a mother to all children. She flows with life in effortless grace. She can heal with a look or a touch of the hand. She is fiercely sensual and fearlessly erotic and engages in sex as her way to share with another in touching the divine. She is compassion and wisdom. She is seeker of Truth and cares deeply about something bigger than herself. She is a woman who knows that her purpose in life is to reach higher and rule with love. She is woman in love with love. 

She knows that joy is her destiny and by embracing it and sharing it with others, wounds are healed. She is a woman who has come to know that her partner is as tender, lost, and frightened as she has been at times. She has come to understand the scars of the boy in him and knows that together, love can be the relief, the healing of their wounds. 

She is a woman who can accept herself as she is. She can accept another as they are. She is able to forgive her mistakes and not feel threatened by another’s even when attacked. She is a woman who can ask for help when she needs it or give help when asked. She respects boundaries, hers and another’s.

She can see God in another’s eyes.

She can see God in her own. 

She can see God in every life situation. 

She is woman who takes responsibility for everything she creates in her life. 

She is a woman who is totally supportive and giving. 

She is a Goddess.”


In Rainbows: The Lisa Frank Tarot!

Visual artist Ariel Hart has made all of our childhood dreams come true this week with the official (unofficial) Lisa Frank Tarot deck. Ariel designed 22 vibrant cards featuring Lisa Frank's most popular magical friends as the major archetypes of the tarot.  Our favorites include: Hollywood Bear decked out in his infamous top hat &  stunna shades! Rainbow Cheetah, and of course Art school Panda!

 

Lisa Frank's visual imagery has always been the epitome of modern mysticism, which is why we feel this deck has been long overdue. If you've never had the pleasure of zoning out in a math class to her majestic dreamscapes where rainbow cheetahs applied your lipstick, or that you could take a ballet class with three beautiful bunnies now is your chance. The best part about this project? The cards are 100% DIY & FREE! Check HERE for link.  Enjoy!

Ariel Hart

Ariel Hart

Ariel Hart

Ariel Hart

Ariel Hart

Ariel Hart

Ariel Hart

Ariel Hart


Goddess OF The Week: Aeon Magdalena

Meet Our Featured Goddess Of The Week: Aeon Magdalena !

"Beinga Goddess is being able to recognize with one's self the things that are important, and then to strike the single note that brings them into alignment with everything else that exists. Then, beyond moral or logic or esthetics, one is wind or fire, the sea, the mountains, rain, the moon, the sun, or the stars, the flight of an arrow, the end of a day, the embrace of a lover. Those who look upon you then say, without even knowing your name she is fire, she is dance, she is destruction, she is love. You may not call yourself Goddess, everyone else does though, everyone who beholds you." - Author unknown

 

 


Five Ways To Let Out Your Inner City Witch By Gabriela Herstik

 

photo by Gabriela Herstik

photo by Gabriela Herstik

 

Witchcraft takes skill, it takes practice. It takes creativity and an overwhelming sense of trust in your own intuition. And although a part of the mystique of the path is the beautiful and wonderful tools used to create magick, they are often unnecessary and expensive or inaccessible depending on where you live.

Many of us aren’t lucky enough to live in a spacious cottage in the middle of the woods with herbs and a hearth at our disposal. Maybe you don’t have an oak tree in your backyard or a flowing stream in which to release your spell- that’s okay. Thanks to the vastness and power of living in a city, you can still channel this modern sensibility in your magick by incorporating parts of your urban landscape into your practice.

Being a city witch isn’t all bad- here are five ways to work with what you’ve got (and you’ve got a whole lot, babe!)

 

photo by Gabriela Herstik

photo by Gabriela Herstik

Use the correspondences that surround you
First things first, cities still have animals and their own energies. Okay so working with a pigeon or crow may not as sound as whimsical as working with a raven or fox, but it still does the job. Need a correspondence for determination no matter the obstacles in your path? Work with the pigeons.  Need resilience, adaptability and endurance? How about working with a cockroach? The key here is creativity, being able to adapt your surroundings to serve in your highest favor (which sounds a lot like witchcraft itself, doesn’t it?) You can even work directly with your surroundings, ie the skyscrapers and overwhelming vastness of whatever city you live in. Weave the stature of those buildings into your own magickal working, charm or sigil and you’ll be reminded of your own strength every time you step outside. Oh and don’t disregard graffiti and street art- channel that as some major sigil inspiration.

Find your own sacred space
Although sacred space is in less abundance in a metropolitan environment, it’s still there- you just have to search for it. Explore, wander and adventure your way to a park, field or cemetery that holds your fancy. Be smart- don’t go to a sketchy area, especially alone! It’s sad, but especially as women, we have to be on our toes when it comes to safety- you want all of your energy to go into your magick, and having a SAFE sacred space will make this so much easier. Finding a special place that’s yours is the goal, but even if you’re sharing a park in NYC with hundreds of your closest friends, you can still tap into the energy and work in the astral to create some magick. Cemeteries are a really beautiful space to tap into the transformative nature of death, and often they are safe but not very busy. Wander and find a space that holds your passions.

Shop the shops
Here’s where living in a city can play to your advantage: you’ve got the shops! You’ve probably got at least one Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or Earthfare. You may even have a local metaphysical shop (or ten if you’re in Brooklyn). USE THAT ISH TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. Even if you’re just heading to the nearest health food store for some Nag Champa incense and some dried herbs, you’re still harnessing the modern powers at play, this time through shaking what the universe gave ya, so to speak. So do YOU, head to that crystal store or weird bookstore and get yourself the Carnelian, Quartz, and Book of Shadows of your lucid dreams!

 

photo by Gabriela Herstik

photo by Gabriela Herstik

Bring the outdoors, indoors
Even if you have a black thumb and can’t take care of ish, adopting a plant, even if it’s a succulent or an orchid, is sure to enhance your witchy experience. Working with elementals in your own space is especially important for the city witch who doesn’t have easy access to nature- but wants all the jujus that a plant babe will bring. Start a windowsill garden, adopt a few different plants in potters or have a single pot with multiple compartments for an herb garden of your choice. By working with the faeries and correspondences of your chosen plant you’ll not only develop a relationship but also reap some beautiful rewards.

Use that luck(y penny)
One of the coolest parts about living in a city, no matter how big or small it is, is the array of humans that it brings along. Think of all the stories, all the wisdom, all the hurt, all the heartbreak and all the LOVE that are suspended in the single city you live in. We are all souls with our own stories and being aware of that fosters connection and friendship and the most beautiful of things. So, city witch, use the energy that surrounds you to really amp up your magick game. Collect pennies you find in a jar for a luck charm, buy flowers from different vendors each week and dry them, collect the cool and pretty things that people have left behind as a reminder that your story is never ending. Use the pieces of peoples stories that they are willing to share with you to create your own story and magick and you will never be alone.

 


Goddess Of The Week: Nicky Bricks!

The Goddess manifests in many forms, some of which shatter common stereotypes of womanhood. Goddess Of The Week was created to give inspiring women from various paths a platform to share their magic. Healers, Artists, Creatives, and Witches; all making a difference by tapping into the divine and sharing their skills and gifts with the world.

 


Happy Full Wolf Moon In Leo ~2016!

This is the first full moon of 2016, and according to the Old Farmer's Almanac Native American's called January's full moon "The Wolf Moon". January is the cold winter period where wolves howl loudly to communicate with their pack members, mostly in hunger. Their howls could be heard all throughout the silent hills and outside of the Native villages. 


"The Fridas" by Spencer Tunick

www.spencertunick.com/

www.spencertunick.com/

“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you.”


― Frida Kahlo

  • The beautiful photo that you see above was taken by world renowned photographer Spencer Tunick at Frida Kahlo's home "Casa Azul". Yesterday, this image was originally posted to our Instagram account, where well over 3,000 women& men were inspired by the power and beauty of Spencer's image and Frida's words. The image was removed from our account, even after we made the proper edits to cover up each woman's exposed breasts to fit the "moral" guidelines which are implemented rigidly on images (including art), breastfeeding, or anything showcasing women's bodies in a manner that isn't overtly sexualized. Social media sites such as Instagram have gone so far as to evenban words like "Goddess" (but have kept "God). Their explanation being that the "high volumes of nude content" under the tag "Goddess" were against policy. The backlash to the ban was something they were not prepared for and eventually The #Goddess tag was restored. However, these blatant acts to suppress the female form are still taking place, and our post was the perfect example of that. Wake up people, THE HUMAN BODY IS NOT SHOCKING!

Our First Mercury RX Of 2016

 

From January 5th, 2016 to January 25th, 2016 We will be experiencing the first Mercury Rx of the New Year, hooray! We all just survived 2015, so let's show this retrograde how mentally prepared we are (kinda). Be open and receptive to the lessons our lovely Mercurial teacher has in store for us by being mindful of the usual stuff.

• Don't sign legal documents and/or major contracts

• Expect travel delays, give yourself some flexibility in your travel schedule. • Be open to subconscious messages (the truth ALWAYS comes to the surface).

•Tell your ex you're still not interested (pesky ex's love making appearances during  retrogrades) • Go inward: truly use this time for deep introspection: grounding mediation, journaling, painting, resting. release & explore all of your emotions in a healthy creative manner. 

'We're all familiar by now with the dreaded Mercury Retrograde post, but life isn't about hiding from the difficulties or setbacks that may take place during retrograde. The Universe gives us very deliberate lessons for our personal growth, and healing.  Let's try to keep our thoughts positive and our vibrations raised high! we are setting the foundation for the rest of our year. We got this!