Here in Michigan, the earth is alive and buzzing, butterflies dance during the day and fireflies sparkle at night. June is the time that I fell in love with nature in the midwest, and that love is alive for me now, thank goodness, because the world in this moment is confounding and heartbreaking in equal measure.

The spread for this month wants you to fall in love with nature again, too, over and over again. What flowers are you crushing on right now? I’m a little heartbroken that peony season is behind us, but for me, these funky dianthus are catching my eye. I grew them from seed a couple years back, but they are really coming into their own this year.

I began this dark moon reading thinking about the difference between the 7 of Pentacles and the 6 of Cups. In the 7, a man looks upon his thriving pentacle plant despondently, his doubt and concern matching the gray of the sky around him. To me, in this spread, he feels weighed down by responsibility.

There is so much maintenance and care and tending involved in being alive.

And some of that is brought on ourselves, through a dominance paradigm that teaches us that every aspect of our earth can be commodified, tamed, and controlled. It’s as if the centerpiece of our spread this month is exhausted from his hard work trying to produce his fruits, and daydreaming about the days when he was a child whose only earthly concerns were playing with flowers.

We have a lot of work to do if we are to get this world back to a thriving state, but what if we don’t have to do it all alone? What if the beauty and buzzing surrounding us in this season also has ideas about what is needed? We have been indoctrinated for generations into a relationship of control and domination with the wild.

How might our connection to earth shift through a collaborative stewardship model, instead of taming and subjugating? How might hearing the earth's wisdom transform our ideas of wealth and success?

To me, it feels like the Kings in this spread are lonely at the top. The work and responsibility in the dominance paradigm is isolating and exhausting. So perhaps we need to take the weight of this world off of our shoulders, and begin standing side by side with the beauty and fearsome wildness around us. Hear the wisdom on offer, when we listen instead of lead with control. I’m excited to see where this spread takes us this month, but for now,

🌑♊︎ reading: the earth has secrets to share

There is so much maintenance and care and tending involved in being alive.

How might our connection to earth shift through a collaborative stewardship model, instead of taming and subjugating? How might hearing the earth's wisdom transform our ideas of wealth and success?

I think it wants us to get closer to the earth, so close that we can hear her secrets. And so open, she agrees to reveal them.

🌑♊︎ reading: the earth has secrets to share

There is so much maintenance and care and tending involved in being alive.

How might our connection to earth shift through a collaborative stewardship model, instead of taming and subjugating? How might hearing the earth's wisdom transform our ideas of wealth and success?

I think it wants us to get closer to the earth, so close that we can hear her secrets. And so open, she agrees to reveal them.

🌕 Scorpio Moon Reflection: Braving the Torch of Our Rage