October 1, 2024 • 18 mins
Today on CARD TALK, I’ll cover:
-ways to think about hope as a practice
-questions for thinking about what feeds your hope
-insights into my own relationship with hope
-a simple way to start exploring hope with your tarot deck
-an upcoming live course for activating hope & resources
If your sense of hope is supported by expansive imagination, envisioning new possibilities, and changing your perspective, check out Magician's Lens, beginning October 26th. This course is also available with streaming access only through the 3am.tarot conservatory.
Also recommended for exploring hope:
-this tarot spread (you can also find my whole tarot spread archive here)
-this interview on spiritual activism, an upcoming conference, and the next issue of one of my favorite tarot literary projects
-this blog post on spiritual healing & temperance
-this book on grief & climate justice; this book on tarot & creativity; this book on tarot & liberation
-our october 2024 forecast for CALL YOUR COVEN
For more on Meg, check out 3amtarot.com, and order your copy of Finding the Fool through Bookshop.org or your favorite local bookstore.
Find episode transcripts and more over on the CARD TALK website. And as a special thank you for CARD TALK listeners, click here to download a completely free, exclusive workbook for building your best personal tarot practice.
Love what you’re hearing? Support the pod with a one-time donation or recurring subscription, and please subscribe, review, and share with a friend or two!
CARD TALK is written, edited, and produced by Meg Jones Wall of 3am.tarot. Theme music created by PaulYudin.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm Meg Jones-Wall and this is Card Talk, a mini
podcast for tarot basics andevergreen insights.
I'm here to help you build atarot practice that works for
you.
Glad you're here.
Glad you're here.
In today's episode of Card Talk, we are going to be talking
(00:32):
about how to use the tarot as away of cultivating, protecting,
expanding and supporting yourpersonal sense of hope.
Now, if you're thinking thatthis feels a little bit
different than previous episodesof Card Talk, you would be
absolutely right.
Over the past 25 episodes or so,I've really been focused on
making sure you have all of thenuts and bolts needed to be able
to develop tarot rituals, tarotroutines and a tarot practice
(00:54):
that works really well for you,whatever that might mean,
whatever that might look likeand don't worry, we're not done
with those.
I have so many more episodesplanned along those lines.
But given that today is October1st 2024, and given what we are
looking at as a collective forthe next month and for the rest
of this year and into next yearand into the future, whatever
(01:15):
that may hold, it's been reallyon my mind lately that I wanted
to start offering someadditional episodes that are a
little bit more heart-focusedand a little bit more intimate.
I really want you to feelpersonally equipped and
personally resourced to not justknow the nuts and bolts of a
tarot practice, of what it mightlook like externally, to be
(01:36):
organized about your readings orto be able to think critically
about how you work with thecards that you pull.
I also really want to give youeverything you need to build a
tarot practice that's going tohelp you become whoever you want
to be right, Whether that'syour best version of self,
whether that is a more creativeversion of self, whether that's
(01:56):
a more compassionate version ofself, whether you want to go on
to read tarot professionally,whatever your tarot goals might
look like, I really want you tofeel like you have a strong
sense of understanding aroundwhat the tarot can do for you on
a deeply personal level.
And again, given that today isOctober 1st 2024, I think
there's a lot that needs to besaid around using the tarot for
(02:20):
hope.
There's a lot of things thatwe're probably going to cover in
these sorts of episodes, but Ireally want to start with hope
because it's the thing of thingsthat we're probably going to
cover in these sorts of episodes.
But I really want to start withhope, because it's the thing
that I just can't stop thinkingabout right now.
Now, to refresh your memory, Iam a queer, trans, chronically
ill, self-employed person basedin the United States, which
means that my political lens, mypersonal lens, my general views
(02:40):
are all shaped by being aperson of those identities in
the United States.
I'm not going to get into allof the specifics of how fucked
everything feels, but suffice tosay I understand why you might
be feeling a little bit hopelessthese days because, if I'm
being really brutally honestwith you, I'm struggling with
hope myself.
There is so much to beconcerned about.
(03:02):
There's so much to be angryabout.
There is so much to be angryabout.
There's so much to be grievingbetween the lack of resources
for hurricane victims, betweenthe fact that our Congress
continues to choose to sendbillions of dollars to Israel
rather than investing ininfrastructure and protections
and services for people here athome.
From COVID denialism to thisgoddamn election that I'm so
(03:23):
tired of, to the economy andinflation, to police brutality,
to there's just.
There's so many things.
There are so many things, and Ijust wanted to give voice to
that with my actual voice.
I know I write about thesethings a lot.
I know I share a lot ofresources and thoughts about
these things on social media,but I wanted you to hear with my
voice.
(03:43):
I know hope is hard right now.
I know hope might feel likesomething that is completely out
of reach and I'm not here toconvince you that you have to be
some gratitude, practice, loveand light Pollyanna, who sees
the good side of everything.
Grief feels like a closepersonal friend to me at this
point.
I spend a lot of time in grief.
Ask my partner how much I crythese days, like there is so
(04:06):
much to grieve, there is so muchto be angry about, there is so
much to be upset about, and ifyour hope is faltering, I get it
.
I am not here to judge you andI'm not here to tell you that
you have to hope in the face ofthings that feel hopeless.
If you're mad, if you'regrieving, if you're devastated,
if you've lost someone you love,to COVID or to hurricanes or to
(04:27):
Zionism or whatever, you get togrieve that and I'm never going
to tell you not to grieve whatyou need to grieve and not to be
angry when you should befucking angry.
The reason that I want to talkabout hope today and the reason
that I'm probably going to betalking about it a lot for the
rest of this month and for therest of this year, and maybe for
the rest of my career, I don'tknow.
But the reason that I reallywant to talk about hope is not
(04:49):
because it's some sort of easyantidote or balm or medicine or
solution for the problems thatare facing us.
The reason that I think hope isso important is because it is a
survival mechanic, and I wantyou to have it in your pocket,
and I really truly believe thattarot is one of many tools that
(05:10):
can help you cultivate a realand authentic sense of hope, and
I want you to have that.
If you can find it or I atleast want you to believe that
you could find it I want you tofind hope for having hope.
If that's where you are, that'swhat I want for you.
So the million dollar questionreally is how do we find hope?
And, more specifically for thispodcast episode and this moment
(05:32):
in time, how do we use thetarot to cultivate and support
and protect our sense of hope?
When I think about thisparticular problem or this
particular challenge or thisparticular goal right To
cultivate hope.
The first thing that I reallythink about is what does your
hope need in order to grow?
What does your hope need inorder to survive?
(05:53):
What things nurture and supportand encourage and even expand
your personal sense of hope?
Now, that is going to lookreally different for everyone,
and I want to be so clear herethat I'm not judging anyone's
thoughts on this.
I want you to pay attention towhat bubbles up for you first,
and I also want you tointerrogate this idea within
(06:13):
yourself and see what comes up,whatever that thing is.
What feeds your hope, whatmakes you feel hopeful, what
lets hope bubble up within youand what helps it to take root,
what sustains your hope?
Now, I asked this question onsocial media and I was so
fascinated by some of theanswers that I got, like freedom
(06:34):
and intuition, and someone saidI connected to my future self
once via meditation and saw thatwe made it.
But I also got answers likeplants, how they keep growing,
my friends' laughter, that thestars have kept me alive long
enough to free myself halfwayand they're not going anywhere.
That the future doesn't need tomimic the past, that stars are
(06:58):
being born right now, even if wecan't see them and just joy, a
fierce desire to continue tolaugh in the face of despair.
I loved every single one ofthese answers, including the
ones that I didn't read here.
I just think there's somethingso beautiful about thinking
about what feeds our personalsense of hope and, if you want,
pause this episode and thinkabout it for yourself.
(07:19):
Write down whatever comes up.
What makes you feel hopeful?
What literal things make thesensation and emotion and
reality of hope bubble up andtake root within you?
What gives me hope a lot oftimes is seeing people on the
ground doing things in the faceof imminent disaster or actual
(07:39):
disaster always gives me hope.
I'm thinking specifically aboutpeople that are loading up
supplies and driving or ridinghorses or taking helicopters in
to parts of the southeasternUnited States right now that
have been absolutely destroyedby this recent hurricane.
Watching people gather water,watching people gather medical
(08:02):
supplies, watching people usedrones to deliver insulin, which
is a thing I saw on TikTok theother day.
Watching the ways that peopleshow up for each other in
catastrophe Sorry, I'm gettingemotional Always makes me feel
hopeful.
Watching people physicallydeliver petitions and letters
(08:23):
and gathered support to protestthe execution of Marcellus
Williams gave me so much hope,even though I was also crying
and even though he was actuallystill executed.
Watching the ways that peopleshowed up to the governor's
office to pass along, in aphysical way, the support of
millions of people who wereprotesting this execution gives
(08:45):
me hope.
Millions of people who areprotesting this execution gives
me hope.
Even when the thing doesn'twork, even when it feels like
that collective action hasfailed in some way, there's also
still the fact that it provideshope to people and shows us
different ways to keep fightingand keep working.
Those people are fucking brave.
Everyone who is showing up tosupport other people and act in
(09:08):
defiance of institutions thatwould cause harm.
That always gives me so muchhope.
I guess the short version ofthat is to say that community
gives me hope.
Real community, not infightingon social media, not people
being shitty about someonemispronouncing a name when
they're clearly upset.
Shitty about someonemispronouncing a name when
(09:28):
they're clearly upset.
Not any of the bullshit that wesee that gets conflated with
activism somehow, but real, onthe ground community.
People showing up for theirneighbors.
People showing up for peoplethey don't know, because
something is fucked up and wrongand they want to do something
to try to help.
That shit always, always,always gives me hope.
But when I dig even deeper thanthat, when I think about where
(09:51):
that stuff comes from, I thinkwhat really hits the root of it
for me is that my hope isgrounded by, and fed by, and
nourished by and sustained byimagination, because someone has
to think of the things that wecan do to fight.
Someone has to be creative tocome up with solutions for
(10:13):
getting people the medicalsupplies that they need.
Using a drone to deliverinsulin, that's brilliant, and
someone had to come up with thatidea in order to put it into
practice.
Someone had to recognize thefact that, printing out all of
these petitions and deliveringstacks of paper, each one
representing a name or acommunity or a group of people
(10:33):
who deeply believe in speakingout against injustice it takes
someone to come up with thatidea before it can be put into
practice and before it canactually be accomplished.
It starts with the idea.
So many of us are really trappedin specific perspectives.
We see the institutions thathave been around for such a long
(10:54):
time, we see the rules and thelaws that feel unchangeable, and
it really limits our capacityto think beyond what already is.
And to be clear, I'm guilty ofthis too.
It can be really hard to lookat something that feels like it
is immovable and consider waysthat we might be able to operate
(11:15):
in a completely different way.
Right, it is hard sometimes toimagine that something could be
really different than the waythat it feels like it has always
been.
But that's just me, right.
I connect hope with imagination.
My hope is fed by a sense ofimagination and visioning and
changing perspectives andexpanding beyond what is to what
(11:38):
could be.
My hope is fed by possibility,but your hope might be fed by
something completely different,and that's also beautiful and
useful and powerful.
And so my lesson for you todaywhat I?
The reason we're here, thereason I wanted to record this
on the fly episode, is thatwhatever feeds your hope
probably has a tarot card or twothat you can associate with
(12:01):
that sensation, and so if youtook the time to write down what
feeds your hope, or if it'sjust something that you're
starting to think about, I wantyou to think outside of the
tarot, about what feeds yourhope in general.
For me, that's imagination andpossibility and perspective.
For you, it might be somethingdifferent.
It might be freedom, right, itmight be intuition, it might be
plants, it might be laughter, itmight be starlight, it might be
(12:23):
community.
Whatever it is, I want you toname that thing, or name as many
of those things as you can,identify the things that give
you hope.
And once you have a little list,or once you have a single idea,
whatever it is, I want you tostart looking to the tarot and
finding that idea within thetarot, finding the cards that
(12:44):
represent or feel connected tothat idea within the tarot.
It might be a single archetype.
It is for me.
It's why I've been talkingabout the magician so much, it's
why I'm probably never going toshut up about the magician, but
for you it might be thepriestess, it might be justice,
it might be strength, or itmight be a collection of cards
or a sequence of cards, right,you might look at the story of
(13:04):
ace two, three in the suit ofwands and feel deeply hopeful by
that message.
Whatever it is for you, I wantyou to start finding the cards
that feel connected to thethings that support your sense
of hope within the tarot, andthen I want you to work with
them, and that could meananything.
Right, that could mean anintensive study.
That could mean a resource or aclass that you sign up for.
(13:27):
That could mean looking atdifferent versions of that card
and seeing what you feel.
It could mean making an altarto that card or a playlist for
that card or a Pinterest boardfor that card or artwork for
that card.
It could mean findingsignificant colors and starting
to wear them in your daily life.
It could mean any number ofthings, but I want you to start
making space for that card inyour life and I want you to
(13:50):
think about what that card lookslike in your life, ways that
it's already showing up and waysthat you can bring it more
deeply into your daily life.
Now I'll also post some spreadsand some other things in the
show notes that you can use toconnect with this card in
different ways, but I reallywant to encourage you to see the
tarot as a tool that you canuse not just for readings right,
(14:11):
but also for exploring who youare and what's going to help you
be a person in this world thathas hope.
I want you to start connectingdifferent tarot cards to your
sense of hope and thinking aboutthe cards that are going to
support you in continuing tobuild your sense of hope.
Now, if you happen to be likeme and imagination or changes in
(14:36):
perception or the idea ofpossibility feel to you like
something that really nourishesand nurtures your sense of hope,
I have something coming up thatmight feel particularly
supportive for you that I wouldlove to invite you to.
I wrote a course last yearcalled Magician's Lens.
It's a six-week series and it'sreally experiential, which is
(14:57):
to say that it is grounded ineveryday sensory-based
activities.
There are things that you canactively do, things that you can
actively try, challenges andideas, and also tarot spreads
and tarot activities.
But playlists and mood boardsand all kinds of different
things that you can choosebetween and try out that are
(15:18):
really designed to help youconnect with your imagination,
connect with your capacity forrule-breaking and risk-taking
and connect with your capacityfor play.
When I think about imaginationand vision work, the magician is
always the archetype that Ireturn to and it's an archetype
that I have been compared tomyself.
It's an archetype that I loveworking with really closely.
(15:39):
It's an archetype that I havebeen compared to myself.
It's an archetype that I loveworking with really closely.
It's just one that I alwayscome back to and really love,
not just because I am a child ofMercury and I love Mercury too
and the magician and Mercury areheavily associated with one
another but just because I feellike the magician offers us so
much potential for seeing theworld differently, and I feel
like that is such a powerfulthing to be able to do right now
(15:59):
to be able to look at anobstacle or a challenge or a
question and see somethingdifferently, to see possibility
or a new way of approaching thisthing, to tap into our own
personal resources andunderstand what we have
available to us that might helpus come up with an unexpected or
innovative solution to aproblem.
Working with the magician hastruly changed how I see the
(16:22):
world and how I approachproblems, and I would love to
share that magic with you andhelp you find it in your own
daily life.
So, if this sounds appealing, Iam running a live version of
magician's lens that begins onOctober 26th and I'm including a
link in the show notes.
But even if you happen tolisten to this episode way after
October or this is out of thebudget or whatever this course
(16:43):
is also available as part of mymonthly membership, the 3am
tarot conservatory.
However you choose toparticipate.
You're going to get access to aton of different activities and
exercises that you can do atyour own pace and on your own
time, but they're going tochange the way that you see this
world and they're going tochange your relationship with
your imagination, and I thinkthey're also really going to
(17:03):
help you expand your perspectiveon what hope looks like and
what hope feels like.
Feeding your imagination canfeed your hope, and it's my
sincere hope that, if you chooseto sign up for magician's lens,
that this will offer youeverything you need to cultivate
a broader, bigger, morebeautiful imagination.
(17:24):
Make sure you check the shownotes, because I am going to be
linking a ton of differentresources, both mine and others,
to help you explore and thinkmore critically about hope as
well as your personalrelationship to hope, and it's
my sincere hope that listeningto this episode made you feel
maybe a little bit less aloneand maybe a little bit more
hopeful.
Listening to this episode madeyou feel maybe a little bit less
alone and maybe a little bitmore hopeful.
I really do think that thetarot can be an incredible tool
for doing hope work, both inmaking space for your grief and
(17:47):
your anger and your feelings ofhelplessness, but also helping
you understand what yourpersonal resources are, what
your personal strengths are andwhat really can give you a sense
of hope, even as hard as theworld is right now.
That is all I have for youtoday.
Thank you for hanging out withme in this slightly
unconventional and definitelymore emotional episode of Card
(18:07):
Talk.
I will be back again soon withanother episode and I'm sending
you a lot of love and safetyCheers.
Card Talk episodes are alwaysfree for everyone to enjoy, so
(18:32):
if you love what you hear, thankyou and join my signature Tarot
Conservatory membership programthrough my website, 3amtarotcom
.
Thanks for listening and seeyou next time.
I'm Meg Jones-Wall and this is Card Talk, a mini
podcast for tarot basics andevergreen insights.
I'm here to help you build atarot practice that works for
you.
Glad you're here.
Glad you're here.
In today's episode of Card Talk, we are going to be talking
(00:32):
about how to use the tarot as away of cultivating, protecting,
expanding and supporting yourpersonal sense of hope.
Now, if you're thinking thatthis feels a little bit
different than previous episodesof Card Talk, you would be
absolutely right.
Over the past 25 episodes or so,I've really been focused on
making sure you have all of thenuts and bolts needed to be able
to develop tarot rituals, tarotroutines and a tarot practice
(00:54):
that works really well for you,whatever that might mean,
whatever that might look likeand don't worry, we're not done
with those.
I have so many more episodesplanned along those lines.
But given that today is October1st 2024, and given what we are
looking at as a collective forthe next month and for the rest
of this year and into next yearand into the future, whatever
(01:15):
that may hold, it's been reallyon my mind lately that I wanted
to start offering someadditional episodes that are a
little bit more heart-focusedand a little bit more intimate.
I really want you to feelpersonally equipped and
personally resourced to not justknow the nuts and bolts of a
tarot practice, of what it mightlook like externally, to be
(01:36):
organized about your readings orto be able to think critically
about how you work with thecards that you pull.
I also really want to give youeverything you need to build a
tarot practice that's going tohelp you become whoever you want
to be right, Whether that'syour best version of self,
whether that is a more creativeversion of self, whether that's
(01:56):
a more compassionate version ofself, whether you want to go on
to read tarot professionally,whatever your tarot goals might
look like, I really want you tofeel like you have a strong
sense of understanding aroundwhat the tarot can do for you on
a deeply personal level.
And again, given that today isOctober 1st 2024, I think
there's a lot that needs to besaid around using the tarot for
(02:20):
hope.
There's a lot of things thatwe're probably going to cover in
these sorts of episodes, but Ireally want to start with hope
because it's the thing of thingsthat we're probably going to
cover in these sorts of episodes.
But I really want to start withhope, because it's the thing
that I just can't stop thinkingabout right now.
Now, to refresh your memory, Iam a queer, trans, chronically
ill, self-employed person basedin the United States, which
means that my political lens, mypersonal lens, my general views
(02:40):
are all shaped by being aperson of those identities in
the United States.
I'm not going to get into allof the specifics of how fucked
everything feels, but suffice tosay I understand why you might
be feeling a little bit hopelessthese days because, if I'm
being really brutally honestwith you, I'm struggling with
hope myself.
There is so much to beconcerned about.
(03:02):
There's so much to be angryabout.
There is so much to be angryabout.
There's so much to be grievingbetween the lack of resources
for hurricane victims, betweenthe fact that our Congress
continues to choose to sendbillions of dollars to Israel
rather than investing ininfrastructure and protections
and services for people here athome.
From COVID denialism to thisgoddamn election that I'm so
(03:23):
tired of, to the economy andinflation, to police brutality,
to there's just.
There's so many things.
There are so many things, and Ijust wanted to give voice to
that with my actual voice.
I know I write about thesethings a lot.
I know I share a lot ofresources and thoughts about
these things on social media,but I wanted you to hear with my
voice.
(03:43):
I know hope is hard right now.
I know hope might feel likesomething that is completely out
of reach and I'm not here toconvince you that you have to be
some gratitude, practice, loveand light Pollyanna, who sees
the good side of everything.
Grief feels like a closepersonal friend to me at this
point.
I spend a lot of time in grief.
Ask my partner how much I crythese days, like there is so
(04:06):
much to grieve, there is so muchto be angry about, there is so
much to be upset about, and ifyour hope is faltering, I get it
.
I am not here to judge you andI'm not here to tell you that
you have to hope in the face ofthings that feel hopeless.
If you're mad, if you'regrieving, if you're devastated,
if you've lost someone you love,to COVID or to hurricanes or to
(04:27):
Zionism or whatever, you get togrieve that and I'm never going
to tell you not to grieve whatyou need to grieve and not to be
angry when you should befucking angry.
The reason that I want to talkabout hope today and the reason
that I'm probably going to betalking about it a lot for the
rest of this month and for therest of this year, and maybe for
the rest of my career, I don'tknow.
But the reason that I reallywant to talk about hope is not
(04:49):
because it's some sort of easyantidote or balm or medicine or
solution for the problems thatare facing us.
The reason that I think hope isso important is because it is a
survival mechanic, and I wantyou to have it in your pocket,
and I really truly believe thattarot is one of many tools that
(05:10):
can help you cultivate a realand authentic sense of hope, and
I want you to have that.
If you can find it or I atleast want you to believe that
you could find it I want you tofind hope for having hope.
If that's where you are, that'swhat I want for you.
So the million dollar questionreally is how do we find hope?
And, more specifically for thispodcast episode and this moment
(05:32):
in time, how do we use thetarot to cultivate and support
and protect our sense of hope?
When I think about thisparticular problem or this
particular challenge or thisparticular goal right To
cultivate hope.
The first thing that I reallythink about is what does your
hope need in order to grow?
What does your hope need inorder to survive?
(05:53):
What things nurture and supportand encourage and even expand
your personal sense of hope?
Now, that is going to lookreally different for everyone,
and I want to be so clear herethat I'm not judging anyone's
thoughts on this.
I want you to pay attention towhat bubbles up for you first,
and I also want you tointerrogate this idea within
(06:13):
yourself and see what comes up,whatever that thing is.
What feeds your hope, whatmakes you feel hopeful, what
lets hope bubble up within youand what helps it to take root,
what sustains your hope?
Now, I asked this question onsocial media and I was so
fascinated by some of theanswers that I got, like freedom
(06:34):
and intuition, and someone saidI connected to my future self
once via meditation and saw thatwe made it.
But I also got answers likeplants, how they keep growing,
my friends' laughter, that thestars have kept me alive long
enough to free myself halfwayand they're not going anywhere.
That the future doesn't need tomimic the past, that stars are
(06:58):
being born right now, even if wecan't see them and just joy, a
fierce desire to continue tolaugh in the face of despair.
I loved every single one ofthese answers, including the
ones that I didn't read here.
I just think there's somethingso beautiful about thinking
about what feeds our personalsense of hope and, if you want,
pause this episode and thinkabout it for yourself.
(07:19):
Write down whatever comes up.
What makes you feel hopeful?
What literal things make thesensation and emotion and
reality of hope bubble up andtake root within you?
What gives me hope a lot oftimes is seeing people on the
ground doing things in the faceof imminent disaster or actual
(07:39):
disaster always gives me hope.
I'm thinking specifically aboutpeople that are loading up
supplies and driving or ridinghorses or taking helicopters in
to parts of the southeasternUnited States right now that
have been absolutely destroyedby this recent hurricane.
Watching people gather water,watching people gather medical
(08:02):
supplies, watching people usedrones to deliver insulin, which
is a thing I saw on TikTok theother day.
Watching the ways that peopleshow up for each other in
catastrophe Sorry, I'm gettingemotional Always makes me feel
hopeful.
Watching people physicallydeliver petitions and letters
(08:23):
and gathered support to protestthe execution of Marcellus
Williams gave me so much hope,even though I was also crying
and even though he was actuallystill executed.
Watching the ways that peopleshowed up to the governor's
office to pass along, in aphysical way, the support of
millions of people who wereprotesting this execution gives
(08:45):
me hope.
Millions of people who areprotesting this execution gives
me hope.
Even when the thing doesn'twork, even when it feels like
that collective action hasfailed in some way, there's also
still the fact that it provideshope to people and shows us
different ways to keep fightingand keep working.
Those people are fucking brave.
Everyone who is showing up tosupport other people and act in
(09:08):
defiance of institutions thatwould cause harm.
That always gives me so muchhope.
I guess the short version ofthat is to say that community
gives me hope.
Real community, not infightingon social media, not people
being shitty about someonemispronouncing a name when
they're clearly upset.
Shitty about someonemispronouncing a name when
(09:28):
they're clearly upset.
Not any of the bullshit that wesee that gets conflated with
activism somehow, but real, onthe ground community.
People showing up for theirneighbors.
People showing up for peoplethey don't know, because
something is fucked up and wrongand they want to do something
to try to help.
That shit always, always,always gives me hope.
But when I dig even deeper thanthat, when I think about where
(09:51):
that stuff comes from, I thinkwhat really hits the root of it
for me is that my hope isgrounded by, and fed by, and
nourished by and sustained byimagination, because someone has
to think of the things that wecan do to fight.
Someone has to be creative tocome up with solutions for
(10:13):
getting people the medicalsupplies that they need.
Using a drone to deliverinsulin, that's brilliant, and
someone had to come up with thatidea in order to put it into
practice.
Someone had to recognize thefact that, printing out all of
these petitions and deliveringstacks of paper, each one
representing a name or acommunity or a group of people
(10:33):
who deeply believe in speakingout against injustice it takes
someone to come up with thatidea before it can be put into
practice and before it canactually be accomplished.
It starts with the idea.
So many of us are really trappedin specific perspectives.
We see the institutions thathave been around for such a long
(10:54):
time, we see the rules and thelaws that feel unchangeable, and
it really limits our capacityto think beyond what already is.
And to be clear, I'm guilty ofthis too.
It can be really hard to lookat something that feels like it
is immovable and consider waysthat we might be able to operate
(11:15):
in a completely different way.
Right, it is hard sometimes toimagine that something could be
really different than the waythat it feels like it has always
been.
But that's just me, right.
I connect hope with imagination.
My hope is fed by a sense ofimagination and visioning and
changing perspectives andexpanding beyond what is to what
(11:38):
could be.
My hope is fed by possibility,but your hope might be fed by
something completely different,and that's also beautiful and
useful and powerful.
And so my lesson for you todaywhat I?
The reason we're here, thereason I wanted to record this
on the fly episode, is thatwhatever feeds your hope
probably has a tarot card or twothat you can associate with
(12:01):
that sensation, and so if youtook the time to write down what
feeds your hope, or if it'sjust something that you're
starting to think about, I wantyou to think outside of the
tarot, about what feeds yourhope in general.
For me, that's imagination andpossibility and perspective.
For you, it might be somethingdifferent.
It might be freedom, right, itmight be intuition, it might be
plants, it might be laughter, itmight be starlight, it might be
(12:23):
community.
Whatever it is, I want you toname that thing, or name as many
of those things as you can,identify the things that give
you hope.
And once you have a little list,or once you have a single idea,
whatever it is, I want you tostart looking to the tarot and
finding that idea within thetarot, finding the cards that
(12:44):
represent or feel connected tothat idea within the tarot.
It might be a single archetype.
It is for me.
It's why I've been talkingabout the magician so much, it's
why I'm probably never going toshut up about the magician, but
for you it might be thepriestess, it might be justice,
it might be strength, or itmight be a collection of cards
or a sequence of cards, right,you might look at the story of
(13:04):
ace two, three in the suit ofwands and feel deeply hopeful by
that message.
Whatever it is for you, I wantyou to start finding the cards
that feel connected to thethings that support your sense
of hope within the tarot, andthen I want you to work with
them, and that could meananything.
Right, that could mean anintensive study.
That could mean a resource or aclass that you sign up for.
(13:27):
That could mean looking atdifferent versions of that card
and seeing what you feel.
It could mean making an altarto that card or a playlist for
that card or a Pinterest boardfor that card or artwork for
that card.
It could mean findingsignificant colors and starting
to wear them in your daily life.
It could mean any number ofthings, but I want you to start
making space for that card inyour life and I want you to
(13:50):
think about what that card lookslike in your life, ways that
it's already showing up and waysthat you can bring it more
deeply into your daily life.
Now I'll also post some spreadsand some other things in the
show notes that you can use toconnect with this card in
different ways, but I reallywant to encourage you to see the
tarot as a tool that you canuse not just for readings right,
(14:11):
but also for exploring who youare and what's going to help you
be a person in this world thathas hope.
I want you to start connectingdifferent tarot cards to your
sense of hope and thinking aboutthe cards that are going to
support you in continuing tobuild your sense of hope.
Now, if you happen to be likeme and imagination or changes in
(14:36):
perception or the idea ofpossibility feel to you like
something that really nourishesand nurtures your sense of hope,
I have something coming up thatmight feel particularly
supportive for you that I wouldlove to invite you to.
I wrote a course last yearcalled Magician's Lens.
It's a six-week series and it'sreally experiential, which is
(14:57):
to say that it is grounded ineveryday sensory-based
activities.
There are things that you canactively do, things that you can
actively try, challenges andideas, and also tarot spreads
and tarot activities.
But playlists and mood boardsand all kinds of different
things that you can choosebetween and try out that are
(15:18):
really designed to help youconnect with your imagination,
connect with your capacity forrule-breaking and risk-taking
and connect with your capacityfor play.
When I think about imaginationand vision work, the magician is
always the archetype that Ireturn to and it's an archetype
that I have been compared tomyself.
It's an archetype that I loveworking with really closely.
(15:39):
It's an archetype that I havebeen compared to myself.
It's an archetype that I loveworking with really closely.
It's just one that I alwayscome back to and really love,
not just because I am a child ofMercury and I love Mercury too
and the magician and Mercury areheavily associated with one
another but just because I feellike the magician offers us so
much potential for seeing theworld differently, and I feel
like that is such a powerfulthing to be able to do right now
(15:59):
to be able to look at anobstacle or a challenge or a
question and see somethingdifferently, to see possibility
or a new way of approaching thisthing, to tap into our own
personal resources andunderstand what we have
available to us that might helpus come up with an unexpected or
innovative solution to aproblem.
Working with the magician hastruly changed how I see the
(16:22):
world and how I approachproblems, and I would love to
share that magic with you andhelp you find it in your own
daily life.
So, if this sounds appealing, Iam running a live version of
magician's lens that begins onOctober 26th and I'm including a
link in the show notes.
But even if you happen tolisten to this episode way after
October or this is out of thebudget or whatever this course
(16:43):
is also available as part of mymonthly membership, the 3am
tarot conservatory.
However you choose toparticipate.
You're going to get access to aton of different activities and
exercises that you can do atyour own pace and on your own
time, but they're going tochange the way that you see this
world and they're going tochange your relationship with
your imagination, and I thinkthey're also really going to
(17:03):
help you expand your perspectiveon what hope looks like and
what hope feels like.
Feeding your imagination canfeed your hope, and it's my
sincere hope that, if you chooseto sign up for magician's lens,
that this will offer youeverything you need to cultivate
a broader, bigger, morebeautiful imagination.
(17:24):
Make sure you check the shownotes, because I am going to be
linking a ton of differentresources, both mine and others,
to help you explore and thinkmore critically about hope as
well as your personalrelationship to hope, and it's
my sincere hope that listeningto this episode made you feel
maybe a little bit less aloneand maybe a little bit more
hopeful.
Listening to this episode madeyou feel maybe a little bit less
alone and maybe a little bitmore hopeful.
I really do think that thetarot can be an incredible tool
for doing hope work, both inmaking space for your grief and
(17:47):
your anger and your feelings ofhelplessness, but also helping
you understand what yourpersonal resources are, what
your personal strengths are andwhat really can give you a sense
of hope, even as hard as theworld is right now.
That is all I have for youtoday.
Thank you for hanging out withme in this slightly
unconventional and definitelymore emotional episode of Card
(18:07):
Talk.
I will be back again soon withanother episode and I'm sending
you a lot of love and safetyCheers.
Card Talk episodes are alwaysfree for everyone to enjoy, so
(18:32):
if you love what you hear, thankyou and join my signature Tarot
Conservatory membership programthrough my website, 3amtarotcom
.
Thanks for listening and seeyou next time.
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