Our First Spread!

We explore a three-card spread called the Mirror Challenge and Helper using the Secret Woods Oracle by Kelly Patton to examine our relationship with inner sovereignty, passion, and wisdom. These cards reveal how to reclaim our soul's compass, tend to our inner fire, and trust the guidance that already exists within us.

• The Mystic card reflects our current state, showing we're in a season of sovereignty where we need to reclaim our soul's compass
• This mirror card asks who is governing your soul right now—your truth or others' expectations
• The Catalyst card represents our challenge to keep our fires burning without burning out
• We must examine whether our passion is dimming or burning too hot, and learn to tend it properly
• The Shaman helper card reminds us that the wisdom we seek is already within us
• Our inner compass is trustworthy when we pause, breathe, and listen deeply
• These cards together show that the soul's journey requires claiming our sovereignty, honoring our fire, and trusting our inner wisdom

For more reflections and to see the cards themselves, find me on Instagram @the_cardcast.

For a closer look at the cards, follow me on Instagram @the_cardcast. For more about mental wellness and psychology, sign up for my newsletter at www.natashasheyenne.com.

Thanks for listening!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi there and welcome to the Cardcast.
I'm Natasha and I'm so gladyou're here.
Together we explore the art ofnoticing the symbols, stories
and quiet patterns that surroundus every day and how they
connect to our mental health andwell-being.
Each card becomes a way topause, reflect and anchor

(00:22):
ourselves more deeply in thepresent moment.
Reflect and anchor ourselvesmore deeply in the present
moment.
So take a deep breath, settlein and let's see what today's
card has to offer.
Today we're doing something alittle different.
It's a three-card spread calledthe Mirror Challenge and Helper

(00:44):
spread, and we're going to usethree cards from the Secret
Woods Oracle by Kelly Patton.
Our mirror card, or the cardthat reflects where we are right
now, is mystic and it saysgovern your own soul.
I want to describe this card asa way of looking inward.
Imagine your inner world as asacred garden held within a

(01:05):
glass dome.
It's not locked away from theworld, but it is protected.
This dome represents yourboundaries, your container, the
space where your soul canbreathe without being scattered
or pulled apart by all theoutside noise.
Inside this garden grow bluetrees, unusual and radiant, and

(01:27):
it's obvious that these treesare not ordinary.
They remind you that your pathis not ordinary either.
You are cultivating somethingunique, something that others
may not always understand, andthat is part of your gift, and

(01:48):
that is part of your gift.
Hanging in this space aregolden keys.
They shimmer with possibility.
They are the reminder that youalready hold the ability to
unlock the next part of yourjourney the tools, the wisdom,
the direction.
They are not outside of you.
They are already here, waitingfor you to pick them up.
And there in the garden standsa bird-like creature that's half

(02:11):
familiar and half strange.
It's both whimsical andmysterious, just like the soul
itself, and this creaturereflects the part of you that is
learning to be fully authentic,even when your truth doesn't
look like anyone else's.
It's a reminder that youruniqueness is sacred.

(02:32):
This is the imagery representedon this card.
The mystic card, as our mirroris really here to ask us who is
governing your soul right now,and is it your own truth or the
voices and expectations ofothers?
This card reflects that we'rein a season of sovereignty.

(02:54):
You're being called back toyourself to reclaim your soul's
compass, to trust your own keysand to honor the uniqueness of
your inner garden.
In the real world, this maylook like setting clearer
boundaries, protecting yourenergy or even just choosing

(03:15):
differently.
It may look like saying no towhat doesn't align and yes to
what feeds your soul, even ifothers don't understand.
The mystic card is not askingus to abandon the world.
It's asking us to recenterwithin so that when we do step
outward, we're moving fromalignment instead of from

(03:39):
obligation.
So from our mirror we're goingto move into our challenge card,
and the card we have for thisis Catalyst, and it says keep
your fires burning.
In this image we have a fierycreature with wide eyes and a
mischievous grin, and there areflames dancing all around it.

(04:00):
The energy on this card isundeniable.
Fire has always been a symbolof transformation, the spark
that lights us up, the blazethat pushes us forward.
But here's the challenge Firemust be tended.
Left unattended, it eitherburns out or it burns

(04:20):
uncontrolled.
So this card is a challenge, isasking us to pause and notice
our own fire.
Is it dimming, strugglingagainst the rains of doubt,
fatigue and discouragement?
Or is it burning too hot,scattering you in too many
different directions,threatening to consume your

(04:42):
energy completely?
Catalyst reflects the tensionthat we all live with how to
hold on to passion without beingruled by it, how to protect our
spark without letting fear orpressure smother it.
And in our daily life, thischallenge can look like a lot of
things.
It can be the loss ofmotivation when routine dulls

(05:07):
what once inspired you.
It can be burnout when you giveeverything without rest or
boundaries.
It can be the fear of your ownintensity when you dim your fire
so that others feel morecomfortable.
Or it can be the externalpressures, the reign of
criticism, of comparison and ofsetbacks that tempt you to give

(05:32):
up on.
What matters.
Most is really asking you toface this challenge directly,
because your fire matters andyou need to keep it alive in the
most productive way for youpossible.
Now, that doesn't mean runningfaster or pushing harder.

(05:53):
It means tending your fire likea hearse.
You feed it with the thingsthat inspire you, so that could
be creativity, movement,connection, rest.
You protect it with boundariesthat keep you from burning out
and, most of all, you trust thatyour fire has a purpose.
You don't need to apologize forit and you don't need to let it

(06:17):
fade.
Catalyst as a challenge is notan easy challenge.
It does push us to lookhonestly at our relationship
with passion and energy anddrive, but it's also a very
necessary one, because your fireis part of your soul's work.
Our third and final card is ourhelper card, and we have shaman

(06:42):
and it says find your own innertruth.
This is the guide that remindsyou that your greatest ally on
this journey is already withinyou.
So on the card we have a largegentle figure with these wide
knowing eyes and it's seatedinside the sacred hut of

(07:03):
branches and flame and around itburn these candles and
different symbols oftransformation.
Before it a small figure sits,perhaps a seeker, perhaps it's
representative of you or of meand our place in this card.
And that seeker is learning,listening, remembering.

(07:23):
So this scene really reads as areminder that the wisdom you're
searching for is not outside ofyou.
It's always lived within yourown depths.
The challenge in life is thatit's easy to get lost in the
noise, the advice of others, theexpectations of society, the

(07:44):
fears in our own minds.
But the shaman steps forward toremind you that your inner
compass is trustworthy.
You already hold what you needIn our daily lives.
The shaman as helper could showup as the moment of intuition
that rises before your logiccatches up, or as that deep

(08:06):
breath that steadies you whenthe world spins too fast, or as
the clarity that comes not fromrushing, but from sitting
quietly and really listeningwithin.
Sitting quietly and reallylistening within.
The shaman as helper, though,is also not a rescuer.
It's not going to hand you aneasy answer.

(08:32):
Instead, it's helping you byreminding you that you are your
own guide, your own healer, yourown truth teller, and that when
you listen deeply, you alreadyknow the next step.
Today's spread reminds us of themovement between reflection and
challenge and guidance.
Each of these cards builds onthe other and shows us not just
where we are, but what we'recalled to face and how we're

(08:55):
supported along the way.
Our mirror, the mystic, showedus that we're in a season of
sovereignty, a time to reclaimour inner authority and remember
that our uniqueness is sacred.
This card reminds us to tend toour inner garden, to protect
our boundaries and to trust thatwe already hold the keys to the

(09:18):
next step of our journey.
We're already in that place.
Hold the keys to the next stepof our journey.
We're already in that place.
Our challenge, the catalyst,confronts us with the fire
inside.
It asks us to notice whetherour fire is dimming or burning
too hot, whether we're losingmotivation, scattering our
energy or dimming our spark tomake other people more

(09:39):
comfortable.
The challenge is to keep thefire alive, not by pushing
harder, but by tending it withcare, feeding it with what
inspires us and protecting itfrom burnout or fear.
And our helper, the shaman,steps in with reassurance.
The wisdom we seek is alreadywithin us.
The shaman reminds us that,even when the world feels noisy

(10:03):
and overwhelming, our innercompass is trustworthy.
When we pause, when we breathe,when we listen deeply, the
truth rises quietly from within.
We are not lost.
We are our own guide and ourown truth teller.
Taken together, these threecards really paint a powerful

(10:25):
picture.
The mystic reminds us who weare, the catalyst challenges us
to protect what drives us, andthe shaman guides us to trust
our inner truth.
This spread is a reminder thatthe journey of the soul is both
fierce and very tender.
It asks us to claim oursovereignty, honor our fire and

(10:48):
lean into the quiet wisdom thatlives within us.
As you move forward, carry thiswith you.
You are the gardener of yoursoul, you are the keeper of your
fire and you are the seeker whoalready carries the information
and the truth that you need.
So take a breath, trust yourcompass and walk forward in the

(11:11):
truth that is yours alone.
That's it for today's card.
For more reflections and acloser look at the cards
themselves, you can find me onInstagram at the underscore card
cast.
I'll see you in the nextepisode.