#my reading

[seacret-tarot]

☁️🌑 What are you not seeing clearly right now? What needs your attention? 🔮🔍

Pick a Pile - Tarot and Oracle Reading

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Hello everyone~

Hope you got through the Eclipse(s) alright; I know I felt them 🙈 Today I got a timeless PAC for you about what you might not be seeing clearly or what could need more of your attention. I'll be using the Nameless One Tarot, the Oracle of Oddities and the Wild Unknown Archetypes Oracle. I'll also roll some dice for lucky or significant numbers/signs/houses/planets that can be taken as confirmation if you want (though they are not necessarily included in the interpretation of the reading). Please choose whatever picture you feel most drawn to.

Hope you enjoy your reading and thanks for stopping by!

[Disclaimer: Please use your own judgement when making any decisions based on a tarot reading. Magick and readings are meant to supplement, not replace professional advice. Since this is a general reading, only take what resonates with you – and at the end of the day, we all have free will and the power to shape our lives.]

Pile 1

cards: anxiety; the box (44); the jester of cups; 5 of cups; 9 of pentacles dice: number 8; 7th house/pisces/mercury

It looks like you might be ignoring - or downplaying - anxieties about the structures/constraints you find yourself in. We have a literal box here, with its borders multiplying and closing in on themselves more and more until there is almost no more room to move. But in the center something is still glowing, like a mini sun. What is it your keeping in? What is trying to shine but not being given enough room?

The number 44 - or 4 in itself - is also speaking of stability and rules and therefore alluding to the authority of the Emperor in Tarot, a figure that in a negative position can feel oppressing and overwhelming. You might feel like you can't live out your emotions in the way you want. Whether imposed on you by circumstances and upbringing (which it looks more like to me, with the bats attacking the flowers from outside in the anxiety card), or perpetuated by yourself now, any worries or negatively perceived emotions you might have are being shut down. Alternatively, if you're already aware of those limits, you might feel anxiety about how to deal with them, or how to deal with a balance between that restriction and what could be sensed as a threatening outpouring of emotion.

The Jester of Cups represents the water element and all water signs, and as a person stands for someone who is emotionally open, sensitive and playful. Perhaps there is a disappointment - or a sort of apathy, if you look at the cat's demeanor in the 5 of Cups - that you are quite literally looking away from, that you're maybe not allowing yourself to fully process. Some kind of hurt or loss could also contribute to the shutting off of emotions, if it feels like you could protect yourself through that. I think, though, that if you acknowledge your more emotional side in a healthy way again (or learn do that) and manage to nurture it and give it space - with the water and earth energies present here - you'll see that it will only lead to making your life richer in all regards.

Pile 2

cards: joy; the ring (57); ace of wands; 8 of cups; 9 of swords dice: number: 15; 8th house/capricorn/saturn

It might be time soon to wake up from your slumber and light a little fire in your life - joy is just around the corner! My personal association with the Ring card is the reminder that you have support from a friendly soul - whether in the material world or from somewhere else (or both!), depending on what you believe in. In the guidebook the ring speaks about interconnectedness and eternity, but also repetition. With the ring being so intertwined in itself and in connection with the Joy card, I think you're getting a notice here that positivity and a love for life will keep coming back to you again and again. You know the belief about how the love you pour out in the world will always come back to you (even multiplied)? That's what it's reminding me of.

Unfortunately that reminder might be very needed - you could recently have had a hard time dealing with fears and worries (9 of Swords), that left you feeling immobilized and isolated from that very world, and now you could be trying to find your way back in. If you're not out of your nightmare phase yet, there could also be a warning here to not keep falling into the same destructive cycles over again.

It's a hopeful sign to me, though, that the cat in the 8 of Cups card is sleeping so restfully, in comparison to the 9 of Swords. The traditional "walking away from disappointment" meaning of the 8 of Cups in Tarot is somewhat subvered here; whatever has happened throughout the cat's day, she's leaving it behind with a sound and guiltfree mind, resting as she deserves. So, it's time to walk away from what doesn't serve you and to find your peace - in order for you to gather the energy to kindle the flames of what you want to bring light to the world with, and find your spark of joy again.

Pile 3

cards: voice; the mother (1); 7 of wands; king of wands (aries); ace of pentacles dice: number: 5; 6th house/sagittarius/pluto

Whatever it is you're trying to do (whatever it is you're burning for even), there's a strong message here to keep going for it. The repeating 1s - in the Mother card, the Aries mention as the first sign in the Zodiac, the Ace of Pentacles - and fire - the 7 and the King of Wands - can often speak about manifesting energy or bringing something completely new into the world out of nothing. So, the reminder here might be to not fall into the temptation of putting your goals and passions on the backburner.

The Mother card represents the theme of manifestation quite literally - but I think she also warns to not get too cozy in her nest and rather become the manifestor yourself. The King of Wands is also a great representative of this kind of thinking and acting, as he's a master of transforming sparks of inspiration and ideas into tangible results and creations, of building something out of it. As a represent of Aries (the first sign, but also the first house) he is also all about action and being guided by your truest self. Getting into his mindset as well as embodying the 7 of Wands - protecting your creations - as a visualized goal should help a lot.

There is also quite literally visible growth; as you speak, as you find your authentic, genuine voice and live your truth from the heart, you will make something grow and speak it into the real world. Simultaneously, you are encouraged to plant the first seeds in the tangible matters of earthly successes to get the ball rolling.

Pile 4

cards: imagination; the mentor (6); 3 of cups; 8 of pentacles; 4 of wands dice: number: 9: 11th house/pisces/mercury

The cards here are actually making me wonder if you're a student or have been thinking of getting back into studying something. There's definitely a more youthful energy in this pile with the childlike skull in the Imagination card and a Mentor figure mentioned. The party themes of the 3 of Cups and the 4 of Wands, which speak about getting together with others and celebrating something, also remind me of initiation/graduation or college parties - friendships (3) are being built or strengthened, whereas the stability (4) of an endeavor is honored, maybe even ceremoniously.

On the other hand there's the stack of books in the 8 of Pentacles. It looks like it belongs to someone who's studying hard and probably will be returning soon to continue doing so. I do think there might be something you're currently dedicating a lot of time on in order to be able to perfect it eventually.

Whether you are formally in education or feverishly working on something else, I feel like the reminder in this pile is to let loose a bit, to let that childlike wonder and imagination meander in a more playful manner (note the heart at the center of the child's daydreams) and to seize opportunities for celebration or give them more space in your life or even create them yourself and nourish your friendships and family relations. Whenever you go back to your desk and roam through your books, you will likely still have support from a Mentor figure (material or not) watching over you and helping you accomplish your goals.

[leehallfae]

“i am more god than god is / these days. watch me refuse / to let my father die / in this poem. he is dying, yes, / but see how i keep him flickering / with a gerund?”

— eugenia leigh, “post-traumatic stress disorder with han (한/恨),” bianca

[eruscreaminginthedistance]

Silmarillion-knower Celeborn when this sounds vaguely familiar:

[booksandchainmail]

2024 reading listchallenge!

[barbwritesstuff]

The Best Books I Read in 2024

I don't think I'm going to get much reading done for the rest of the year so...

In no particular order, here's some of my top books of 2024. These books didn't necessarily come out this year, but I read them this year.

You will notice a lot of horror and sci-fi. The older I get the more I'm embracing my spooky/spacy self and I think that's beautiful.

And finally (selfishly) I need to put my own book Of Monsters and Mainframes on this list. I edited it this year and part of that process meant rereading it enough that I went from loving it, to hating it, back to loving it. It's coming out in June 2025 and I could not be more terrified.

Here's the cover:

And here's a couple of places you can preorder it: Bookshop Amazon

[dearhummingbird]

Soren Kierkegaard agreed when he confessed, “I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.” And Charles Dickens was even more direct. “If I could not walk far and fast,” he wrote, “I think I should just explode and perish.”

“Whatever the Problem, It’s Probably Solved by Walking", Andrew McCarthy for The New York Times

[celestiallime]

yall I finished hoo 😭 can't wait to start magnus chase and trials of apollo 🫶🏼🙂‍↕️

[radfemreader]

Book Review: Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women's History of the World by Rosalind Miles

I read this with my feminist book club in spring last year. (Although the book club fell apart a few chapters in - might this have been the book's fault? (it wasn't))

This book is "The Women's History of the World" as the subtitle puts it. The author endeavors to reframe commonly held beliefs about history to center women and remove the bias of (male) historians. She starts with prehistoric times and continues through to almost modern day.

Unfortunately, I absolutely hated this book and I'm shocked that it is recommended as often as it is. Within the first chapter, there was an anecdote that interested me, so I did some additional research and could find nothing that supported the author's assertions. As I continued reading, I kept researching little bits that struck my curiosity and multiple times discovered inaccuracies such as the author presenting myth or opinion as fact, misrepresenting sources, etc. to support her narrative.

For example, she describes an archeological rock carving as depicting a woman being attacked - I looked it up wanting to see pictures, and both personally would never have interpreted it that way and could find no where on the internet where anyone else had ever interpreted it that way. Perhaps Miles just had a different opinion, but she stated it like fact and didn't present any justification.

Another example, she cites Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin for the fact that the native people of Tierra del Fuego would resort to cannibalism of their women before they would eat their dogs. That immediately seems like racist falsehood, so I looked it up. It was supposed to have been said by two native boys who had previously been taken by the Europeans. Within the same chapter Darwin wrote that it was impossible to get reliable information from these hostages and elsewhere calls one of the boys a known liar, so any reader using this source should see the cannibalism is unlikely to be true, and any further research would find multiple more trustworthy sources saying that it is not. I have to consider Miles' choice to repeat this this "fact" either willful misrepresentation and racism, or incompetency.

There are more, but I also couldn't keep researching every factoid. I just lost my trust in what the author was reporting to me and took the whole book to be questionable.

Beyond that issue, I also found the structure of the book to be disjointed and confusing. It's roughly chronological, but also by theme, and I couldn't keep track of what was happening at the same time in different places. It's an insanely huge undertaking to look over the entirety of history, and yet somehow the book felt very repetitive. She writes with a casual ("witty" as reviews put it) voice that I found grating. The first half drags, it picks up in the middle, rushes through the last chapter, and then just - stops. No conclusion, no reflection, just an abrupt (but welcome) end.

I will caveat my negative experience with a few things. I've never been especially interested in history, in part because I don't like the ambiguity that comes from interpretation of artifacts and limited records. Since I don't read much history, I'm not sure if some of the things I didn't like are really more about the genre than this book specifically. Also, the book was written in 1988, so perhaps there are things that were fine at the time and are just out of date now - although it was reissued in 2001 and the opportunity to make updates was not taken.

In summary, I recommend this book to no one. I found it inaccurate, racist, and poorly structured. I acknowledge that maybe there is some merit here that I didn't fully appreciate. If you're someone who did like it, I'd love to hear why. As it is, the only way I can understand the success and praise of this book is that the concept is so strong - people really want to read the women's history of the world, and I'm not aware of any other book that attempts to deliver it. Perhaps though, it's not a concept that is possible to do well in the length of a single book.

[seacret-tarot]

🌙✨Moon-Day - General energy reading for the week (April 14 - 20) ✨🌙

Pick a Pile - Tarot and Oracle Reading

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Hello everyone~ I've got another general check-in for the coming week! I'll be using the Shadowscapes Tarot and the Prism Oracle, because I feel colorful for this one. Please choose whatever picture you feel most drawn to.

Hope you enjoy your reading and thanks for stopping by!

[Disclaimer: Please use your own judgement when making any decisions based on a tarot reading. Magick and readings are meant to supplement, not replace professional advice. Since this is a general reading, only take what resonates with you – and at the end of the day, we all have free will and the power to shape our lives.]

Pile 1

cards: king of wands; surrender (light gray)

The King of Wands in this deck is quite literally glowing - a brightly shining presence that uses the light from within (in the form of ethereal lions) to pursue their goals. As the ruler of Wands (governing in particular creative ideas and passions, but also willpower and intuition), you might feel called upon this week to put some plans into action you've been thinking on for a while. Combined with the card of Surrender, to me it looks like there might be a project you finally decide to delve deeper into, going with the flow of your creativity and work. If you don't see yourself in the King of Wands, but someone else in your life fitting the description, I wonder if you might feel resistance to their "aura" and like you have to give in to their ideas and - possibly - demands.

Pile 2

cards: 7 of wands; mystery (warm purple)

The 7 of Wands usually speaks about wanting (or having) to fiercely protect something - in the case of this card it is a mother fox shielding her cubs from a badger. Since we're in the realm of ideas, willpower and creative pursuits, I think the Mystery in the Oracle card could symbolize your "fox babies". The society we currently live in has a tendency to weigh down on us with its incessant material and practical demands, so the childlike wonder we still might conjure in more favorable circumstances often gets undermined, dismissed and ignored. The message here is to make sure that despite what the world throws at you, you don't lose that spark and guard your creations and awe.

Pile 3

cards: the devil (15); balance (grass green)

The Devil in Tarot often speaks of addiction, feeling trapped, bad influences and deception; in classic depictions it is also juxtaposing the Lovers card (6 vs. 1+5=6) and in its imagery mirrors the Lovers, previously free but now chained down in a dark environment. In this deck, the trapped person is alone, whilst the Devil figure dances upon the enclosure, weaving webs around a small heart. The thing is, though, that it looks like the trapped person can easily reach the key to unchain themselves with; they're just not looking, too afraid of whatever the Devil above is doing. You might have given your vices and unfavorable habits too much leeway recently or convinced yourself that you're too powerless to act anyway, which is why there's a call to return to balance. The Balance card depicts two sides of a whole, which just have to be puzzled together accordingly again, before one side tips over.

Pile 4

cards: 3 of swords; reflection (pale blue)

The 3 of Swords is one of the most recognizable and clear messages in Tarot, speaking of heartbreak, sorrow and a sense of loss. In conjunction with the Reflection card, I don't necessarily think the events triggering those feelings are going to happen, but already have happened, and now it might be time to allow yourself to sit with them and reflect upon them. Maybe you tried to (or had to) rush through things before you could fully internalize and work through your experience, and now you might have a moment to truly look at it with some distance and hindsight. Alternatively, I wonder if the "reflection" you're experiencing is quite literally in another person's story, such as in a movie, book, song, game etc. and allowing you some outlet that way.

[leehallfae]

“a lamb is a lamb / is innocence turning into meat.”

— traci brimhall, “you said the lambs were ready,” come the slumberless to the land of nod

[eruscreaminginthedistance]

Virgin film trilogy orcs: knows about menus

Chad book trilogy orcs: tiktok slang

[mygrayzone]

Reading in nature.

[bookaddict24-7]

💜What was one of your favourite reads from January?💜

📚✨Here is my slightly delayed January wrap up! ✨📚

Stats ⬇️⬇️

1. I read 23 books in January

2. Although most were audiobooks, 17 of those 23 were books I owned.

3. My favourite read of the month was Confessions by Kanae Minato (House of My Mother by Shari Franke was a close second.)

4. Least favourite read was The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir

5. I DNFed 16 books (I’m convinced I was very close to a reading slump.)

6. I unhauled 18 books.

7. And though I wanted to go on a book buying ban, between preorders, impulse purchases, and books coming in that I ordered in December, I added 22 new books to my library—does it help cancel out the unhauls of the month? 😅

.

I hope everyone had a great reading month! Have you read any of the books in my stack? Check out my Goodreads for more info on the other books I read! 📚

Happy reading!

[bambibooks]

“How nice—to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.”

—Vonnegut, Kurt. (1969). Slaughterhouse-Five.

[theunstuffedpepper]

Anyone else make the switch from GoodReads to StoryGraph?

I never used GR for the social component - strictly used it for (lazily) tracking my reading. Now that I’m getting more into reading, I decided to make the switch to StoryGraph and already I like it so much more. More options for tracking — I like that you can categorize books as “did not finish” — and it’s a much, much cleaner app experience.

Anywho! If you’re on SG and wanna find me, I’m audiopepper.