The Knight of Swords and the Mirror (December forecast)

In this episode we conclude the monthly cards of 2020 with truth.

Truth in our spaces. Truth in the mind. Truth in the energy we bring to show up and do the work. The Knight of Swords tarot card and the Mirror oracle card present challenges. They invite us into spaces of perception, reflection, self-love and truth as revolution.

This intense merging may have you feeling exposed, judged, in need of rest. These cards are about getting honest with yourself, with others, and pushing back on systems of oppression that distort the truth of your beautiful nature.

I want to apologize for some audio background or distortion that can be heard around the 30 minute mark. It only lasts about 10 minutes, but still, sorry! 

Click here for the link about how our faces look different from selfie to mirror, and the basis of distorted self.

My Links

Transcript

Ashlie McDiarmid: 0:01

Hello there dear spirits. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode from the Tea and Tombstones podcast. Tea and Tombstones is a platform dedicated to helping you root into nourishment through the haunted darkness and claim your hallowed ground through tarot education, spell crafting, spiritual coaching and nature based services. My name is Ashlie, the creator and wolf- child of Tea and Tombstones, and I welcome you here. Hello there hauntings I hope you were doing well today. It's quite cold here in Colorado, so I'm sipping my coffee. I'm also getting a little bit of a later start that I wanted, so I am using my coffee as, uh, as an ally and a support system right now. There was a lot of intense energies and emotions that came up for me at least yesterday with the Eclipse with the New Moon. I was just really all in the feels yesterday, and I was actually going to try to record the podcast yesterday, but I just yeah... I could not. There is other things I needed to get done, and I just, I realized that I needed to find a place of stillness before I could record within myself, so I'm getting this out a day later than I wanted, but that's okay. Today's podcast episode is going to be about the monthly cards for December, and they are the Knight of Swords and the Mirror. Very intense, intense cards this this final month to end an intense year. One thing that I see with these cards is they present, contrasting but also supportive themes, and they challenge us to consider concepts, forms, and how these concepts come into our daily lives or into our practices. And these concepts are things like perception, reflection, and self-love and truth as a revolution. As with all the monthly card episodes, I want to take this episode to discuss the cards in further detail. Work with their energies and their invitations so that after this podcast episode is over, you have something to consider to challenge yourself with, to work with, and to open the door for as you intentionally or unintentionally and just create a sense of mindfulness, as these cards come into your life, into your magic, into your relationships, your narratives, whatever and wherever you find these cards, I hope that this episode provides a little bit of something to, to chew on or to digest, to process for the remainder of December. So grab your tea or your coffee or whatever you are sipping on today, and let's get started. All right, so we're first going to talk about the Knight of Swords. I love the Knights. I love the Knights. They are quite challenging cards, and I do not dismiss the challenge of their medicine. I do not dismiss the full spectrum of their scope and their focus, but I love the Knights so much. And the Knight of Swords in particular, really speaks to me. I hope that by the time this episode is over, I have translated some of that deep love and understanding that I have with the Knight of Swords through my narrative, through my words to you. Because I feel like sometimes the Knight of Swords gets a bit of a bad rap. Sometimes I feel like he gets this, this description or this

definition put on him that is: 4:12

he's aggressive, he's challenging, he's abrupt, he doesn't mince words, and that is true. That's a.. that's part of his... of his spectrum, and that is often challenging, but as I will mention here in a little bit, I think that there is something to be said within the gifts of that. That he is in this space that others choose not to be because someone has to hold it. Someone has to say it. And sometimes it comes off as maybe being an asshole, when in reality there's just no other way to approach a situation or a concept or a construct that is so challenging in its own way. Sometimes the only way to step up to these, to these roles, to these places is to meet the energy as it is. I think that's where a lot of the Knight of Swords comes in. I would also like to briefly just mentioned the role and the concept that I use within reading tarot court cards, with the use of double elementals. So with all tarot there is the elemental signature from the minors, the four suits, and so with the Knight of Swords he has an elemental signature of air because he's of swords, swords are of air, air is related to thoughts, policies, perceptions, communication, philosophy, brainstorming, the narratives that we choose to engage with, either internally or externally, the narratives that we choose to engage with, and then act upon ego and brain chemistry, that's all air. That's all swords energy. But then there is the elemental signature of the Knight himself, or if like we had the Queen than the Queen herself, the King himself. And I believe that all of the Knights are air. I have heard some people say or mentioned that they believe the Knights are fire. The reason that I believe the Knights are air, and I would like to go more deeply into this in a future podcast episode and just talk all about Courts and double-element[sic], double elementals, excuse me, I believe that the Knights are air are given the elemental signature of air because the Knights speak to this sense of shifting, engaging, opening, moving. They hold this role of moving into the bigger picture, they hold this role of merging into the higher calling of whatever their elemental signature of the suit is. But there's also this sense of beautiful autonomy and reckoning of self that comes with the Knights. They are not... they are in service to the bigger picture, but they do not allow the bigger picture to suppress, or challenge, or change their identity, their sense of self, their seat of self. They hold their autonomy and their ability to self- govern as sacred, and then use that sacred nature to merge as they can into the bigger picture and surrender to, to that cause, to that situation, to that philosophy, whatever it is. So that's why I think the Knights are air in their own elemental signature. So with the Knight of Swords it's double air, because it's Knight, and then Swords. So that's.... that's pretty challenging. I mean, the Swords suits and the Knights are sometimes, uh sometimes they're a challenge, because, again, they're really pivoting us on the fulcrum of extremes and asking us to find the eye of the hurricane, if you will. That they're asking us to step into this space of autonomy and reckoning of self, but in a way that allows us to be of service, and sometimes the ego can be quite challenged or triggered by that spectrum because it can feel like there's no easy way out. And there's really not, and that's kind of the point. So the Knights are definitely a challenge, and the Knight of Swords, as I mentioned, is also a challenge. But some of the things that I love about the Knight of Swords, and the way that I see the Knight of Swords, the way I work with the Knight of Swords, is that he's really about declaration. There is this sense of declaring the truth loudly and without fear, that when we step into a space of complete and total declaration of what is true, that can be quite challenging to others, and I think that's part of why the Knight of Swords sometimes gets this rap of being aggressive and overbearing and hostile. But it's really about... again there's no other way sometimes to say things, to act on things, and to do so without fear can be a gift. Now the shadow element of the Knight of Swords can bring him into a sense of righteousness. It can bring his invitations into a sense of open hostility or refusal to cooperate or to listen, and sometimes, especially with Swords, that there needs to be that space of listening and perceiving and that physiological process of brain chemistry so that we are responding and not reacting. And that can happen with the Knight I mean, it can happen with any card, but the Knight of Swords definitely there is that element of hostility, reaction, overbearing, aggressive, but in.. in the light, in the space of rooting and healing and merging. It's... he's really about not being afraid to declare the truth openly. And that's very, very hard, because people can be quite challenged by that, and they can also be quite afraid of that. And that leads them to, to shun the truth, disbelieve it, and they just want to stay in their bubble. And there's no way to engage with people like that. And so I think, I think that's part of why sometimes the Knight gets.. the Knight of Swords gets a little bit of that narrative placed on him. I also see that the Knight of Swords is about creating the sense of proceeding to seek the whole truth by moving through the rough terrain, and again, this is where that autonomy and that self-governance and that reckoning of self comes in. That he, with the Knight of Swords, we're being asked to peel back the layers or lift the veil on these situations. And sometimes ignorance truly is bliss and the Knight of Swords is not about bliss. [mumble] His messages are not about that. And so we are being asked to, in a sense, be brave and accept and appreciate the whole scope of a situation, or an experience, or a memory, or a relationship, or a dialog, whatever that be.. fill your blank in, is what you're being asked to appreciate and accept and own the whole truth. And that is often something that requires bravery. It's requires a tough skin. It also requires that we balance our softness and armor. We cannot be constantly softening to all the situations that are before us because we would not be using boundaries as a form of protection and self- love if that were the case. But we also cannot be fully armored all the time, because life is meant to be experienced and lived. Vulnerability is the means to which we get to the intimate and sweet spaces. If we're armored all the time, and if we're defensive and shut off all the time, this.... those sweet spaces and those intimate spaces may come for us, may try to open for us, but we guillotine down. We shut that situation off. We can't be completely soft as babes, but we can't be fully armored like, like soldiers all the time. We have to have this sense of balance, so that as we proceed to seek the whole truth, and we move through this rough terrain, we are protected, but we're also wholehearted. We're also inviting in this sense of acceptance and ownership and the Knight of Swords is about finding that balance so that when we peel back the layers and get more to the bedrock of truth, more to the bedrock of what is here in this present space, that we can create ownership, that we're not stagnant, that we're not stuck that we are still able to process it in a way that allows the physiological firing of synapse to not overwhelm the ego. That there is clarity and an ability to take a fresh breath and again respond instead of react. I also love with the Knight of Swords, but this is where sometimes I do feel, at least with me in particular, I feel challenged by him, the Knight of Swords speaks to moving.... to moving with focus, to moving and not letting the upheaval or the downdrafts or the lack of visibility stop you. And that, at least for me, is very, very hard. Especially when I am in a creative space, and the Knight of Swords appears to me... as he comes forth for me, I pull him a lot when I am in my creative spaces, because there's a lot of brainstorming and inviting me to trust that I am a creator. And sometimes, when I'm in these creative spaces, it's like I have this need to be validated because I don't trust that this is my truth, and there's this upheaval in the act of creation itself, that we are bringing forth something from nothing, then we are engaging the collective conscience with our own contribution. There is upheaval in that naturally, and the Knight of Swords, is asking you and me to just keep creating. That I have this need to be validated or to be sustained and to be nourished through my creation, and that's because I don't trust myself within this intimate, beautiful process. And that's my own shadow work. That's my own peeling back the layers and feeling that vulnerability within myself to be in the space of creation. And the Knight of Swords is basically saying, keep going. Keep creating. You do not get to the top of the hill, you do not get to the summit of the mountain without feeling your breath and your lungs straining at times, without feeling your legs ache, without feeling the heaviness on your shoulders. You do not get to these spaces, without feeling the hardship of what it takes to get there. And not hardship, in the sense of physical pain, although like if you're hiking a 14, or it can be that but, I'm talking about the proverbial mountain here and he's basically saying that we do not get to these spaces of, of success, of merging into that bigger picture without some form of resistance to test our vulnerability, to test that balance between our softness and our armor. And that is something that is quite challenging for me, and maybe that's why I find him so challenging. And I hope that makes sense. But yeah.... if, if you are feeling that way, he's basically asking and inviting you to just keep creating. Keep trusting, keep doing the work that you are being called to do because at some point, the bend will turn and you will reach the peak, and then you will descend and go back down, and sometimes that's even harder because visibility is low, and you have gravity working, kind of like with you, like pulling you down even further, so there can be a sense of not feeling as stable. There's this sense that just keep moving. Slowly, intentionally, beautifully, softly, protective. All of that. He's asking, just keep going. Keep merging. I also see with the Knights of Swords, there's this sense of impulse. As mentioned before, that can lead into, into some of the shadow elements that come with the Knight of Swords that this impulsive nature can, can lead you into or can lead his energies into situations where you have to rectify, pull yourself back from, but with impulse, there's also this sense of opening and allowing this situation this conversation, whatever this, this experience to just move you instantaneously. That can feel quite erratic. It can feel quite unstable at times. Oftentimes it is but at the same time, with the Knight of Swords with this relation to impulse, sometimes that is lower brain chemistry grabbing the megaphone and trying to make its message heard without The executive higher portion of the brain, dictating, shutting down, or justifying, or talking its way out of this experience, the situation. So impulse is something that the minute that it happens, we.... there's this sense of like, instantaneous, instantaneous choice, that that's the whole point of impulse, that it's there instantly, and there's a need to choose or act on it or to not choose, not act on it. That, again, is where some of the challenges with the Knight of Swords can come because impulse can b...uproot us, it can unseat us, it can put us into a situation that we then have to walk back from, heal from, make amends for, and then at the same time, the impulse can also be the lower brain, the spiritual self, the instinctual knowing grabbing the megaphone and trying to make itself heard. So that... that's hard. That's it, there's not a little wiggle room there, and at least for me, I see that energy just being a lot of trial and error. That through trial and error, forgiveness, and appreciation, and reflection... going back to that concept, again, that through these, through these elements of forgiveness, reflection, all of that, that through that we can alter our perception in a way that when these impulses come up, again, our perception is a little bit more all encompassing. It's a little bit more solidified, so that the impulse can happen, and we can act on it accordingly, whether yes or no, and not have to walk back from it or not have to make amends for it, forgive, or heal, or rectify or anything like that. So with the sense of impulse with the Knight of Swords it really is just a lot of trial and error, and that's... there's no way around that. I also love that the Knight of Swords is about evolution, and also invoke an evoking truth. That through, again, through the primal and the higher mind, through the through the layered formula of brain chemistry, there is this sense of being both battle-ready and battle-worn, and what I mean by that is that as we step into the spaces of risk and reward, cause and consequence, we carry the burden of peeling back the layers of truth. But we're also ready, more ready for that situation to unfold as well. We're more ready to engage with that, and move through that with our autonomous self, with the seat of ourselves, with that balance of softness and armor. And so to be battle-worn is to also be battle-ready- that we are able to carry the burdens because of our strengths. And I love... and that's one of the things I love about the Knight of Swords, that when he... when I pull the Knight of Swords in my readings, there's really a sense of this is the stock you're made of. This is the shit you're made up and you are made for this. We're also battle-worn when that card comes up, it's like yeah, "I've been through it. I've I've had to come back from all these situations. I've had to carry these burdens." But you do not gain strength by not carrying heavy loads. So with the Knight of Swords, when working with the Knight of Swords, I invite you to see how you are battle-ready because you are battle... because you are battle-worn. One of the things that I noticed when doing my research and putting my notes together for this podcast episode. I was going back and looking through all of my decks, looking at the guidebooks really kind of just writing everything down, and one of the things that I noticed was that one of the key words that you often see in guidebooks that kept coming up was determination. That determination was one of the key features of the Knight of Swords, and I agree with that, to some extent. Yes determination is, is there. It is that, but I see it as more determination to do the work that others refuse to do, which can often be isolating, create a sense of, of judgment or hierarchy. Now, sometimes this is our... this is the shadow elements of that cart, as I said before, being abrupt, righteous, all knowing, better than, but it can also be, because other people are not willing to live in the situations and experiences that the Knight of Swords asks us to hold. They don't want to know the deeper truth. They don't, because then they would have to admit in some ways when they're wrong, and that's one of the biggest gifts that the Knight of Swords offers us. Through self- love, and through perception, through the totality of ourselves within this higher calling, within this bigger picture, we are not always going to be right. And, again, there's that.... that upheaval, that trekking that's tiresome. and yet, when you get to the summit and you see the landscape, and you see all the expanse before you, and then you make the dissent, you can admit that you didn't have the full scope that you had walking up. You can admit that you didn't know then what you know, now, and that's okay. But some people cannot do that. They cannot admit when they're wrong, and they cannot let their brains, or their opinions, or their belief systems, or their [sic], or their sacred space of holding, that is attached to identity, action and dialogue. They cannot let them be altered by, by truth, by facts, by support, and by evidence because that would mean that they didn't know something. And that's, that's triggering. And so, when we speak of the Knight of Swords in this sense of determination it is that, but its determination So, sometimes the Knight of Swords gets that rap of being to surrender into the process because the process is the hostile and abrupt and aggressive and completely in a strength that allows us to carry those heavy burdens. It is that frenzy of just action without forethought, and yeah, there's that some times, but there's also the space of: people see which allows us to be battle-ready. It is that which that because they don't want to see what's beneath the surface. allows us to be in a space of self- love as a revolution What's beneath the surface, excuse me. A long time ago, I because we will not be diminished or told or uprooted was in a counseling session, and she said something that I will by the narrative of someone or something else that is not true, never, ever forget. She told me that anger is always a secondary and doesn't serve us. emotion. That anger is always an impulsive, emotional reaction to something deeper. And I will never... I will never forget that because it's true. When a lot of times when I'm angry, it's because I'm feeling isolated. I'm feeling judged. I'm feeling jealous. I'm feeling unheard. With how that relates to the Knight of Swords not to like go off this tangent, but how that relates back to the Knight of Swords is that the perceptions of others, angry by the way that the Knight of Swords moves through these situations or the way that his energies present themselves, those that are angry by it are often challenged by it. But it's kind of like when you do shadow work and there's a lot of projection, but it's kind of that way with the Knight of Swords. It's not just simply about being misunderstood, it's that he is determined to peel back the layers and go deeper into the a space of reflection so that truth can be born, and be present, and be a mover, be a shifter, be an inviter for the next.... for the next phase, the next, the next journey towards that higher calling. That's really hard to do I mean, we're we're not always gonna get it right. It's not like the Knight of Swords is infallible. He's absolutely not, so when.... when we are speaking about the Knight of Swords and the sense of like determination comes up, it is that but it's because he is stepping into these spaces that many people shun and refuse to take part of, and that can feel quite isolating. That can feel quite heavy. And again, that's.... that's kind of the point of the Knight of Swords is when he... when he shows up for you, he is saying, this is the stock you're made of and you are built for this, but it's not going to be easy because other people are not made of this. Other people cannot hold the space that you can hold, and that can feel a little bit like a vacuum. In some ways, that's maybe the best way I can put it. So again, a lot, a lot of intense energies there. So, let's move on to the Mirror. The Mirror was chosen from the Wild Unknown Archetypes, chosen randomly, I should say, but I feel that it connects and supports quite beautifully to the Knight of Swords because the Mirror is the reflection, the illusion, the looking glass. Some of the notes from the guidebook was that... that I gathered was that it's this portal to another realm, another dimension, another sense of knowing. The mirror can shatter flatter, distort, reflect, project. This image that we take in as truth. There's the sense of self-perception, but I would also say being influenced and aided, or made by the perception of the collective. And that image is also a construct, that when we look into a mirror, we are not... we're seeing the reverse image of ourselves. So there is this distortion, this shard between who we are within the mirror, and who we are in our true selves, and we cannot get there through a mirror because again, it's a reverse image. It's it is a distortion, and so we cannot get to the sense of deeper knowing of our true selves through the mirror, because we cannot get there through a distorted lens, and I'll give you an example. Have you ever thought, like,.... have you ever looked at your face in the mirror and, and then you go to take a selfie, it's like you have a whole different face, and that's because when we look into a mirror, we're seeing this reverse image. When we do this... when we take a selfie, we are not getting that reversed, distorted image, so it's not that our face is different it's that we're used to seeing our face through this reflected, and that's the only way we can see our face without unless we use you know, the phone. The Mirror is one of the only ways that we can see our face, and times when I take selfies. "I'm like, I look weird. Why is my face like this.?" And it's not that my face is weird. It's that my perception is distorted. That is where image is a construct. It is not the whole truth, and it is the shard between the image that we hold of ourselves and ourselves as we are, and we cannot get there through the image in the Mirror. We cannot do it because again, it's a distortion. There's also some trickster elements that come with the Mirror because of that. The mirror can be distracting. The Mirror can move us off of our path or our day, or it can again distort the truth in a way that distracts us, and that's why instead of taking one selfie, when I take a selfie, I have to take like 30 because I keep finding one tiny little thing that I don't like within that selfie image and then I have to take another one and another one, and so there's a little bit of trickster energy that comes with that. This distraction that detracts from what I'm trying to do. Going back to the Knight of Swords for a little bit, my higher brain knows that. My higher brain knows that it's not that my face actually looks weird. It's that the distorted image I have of my face is different in a mirror than it is in a selfie, and I will actually have a link to an articles that I read about this posted in the show notes for you to read, if you feel or connect with this in any way. The mirror bolsters our image, it allows us to see ourselves in the space. It allows us to be reflective and perceive this image of ourselves in a way that we couldn't get without a mirror, but it's also distracting, andd it's...., it's not entirely true. So with the Mirror, there is this sense of needing to intentionally choose the Mirror and then intentionally not choose the Mirror. So that is where there's a little bit of a difference between the Mirror and the Knight of Swords. When the Knight of Swords is inviting us in, as I mentioned before, it's all about keep going. Keep creating. Keep processing. Don't stop moving. Definitely take breaths, but even when you take breaths know that the rest is... know that the rest you take is part of this space of moving and merging into that what you're trying to do. The Mirror on the other hand, there is a time to choose the Mirror. There is a time to choose even the Mirror in the form of social media, and then there is a time to not choose it. There is a time to put it down. So there is a little bit of difference in that. There's a little bit of distance between those two actions, but I think that they actually kind of support each other, because whereas the Knight of Swords is asking us for continuation and the Mirror we should approach with intention, those two can serve each other even though they're, they're different, and their opposites because to know when to choose and to know when to not choose is one of the best strengths of the Knight of Swords. That when we have the space of knowing that, you know,"I'm feeling really triggered today. I'm not going to get on social media because I'm going to toxically compare myself. I'm going to feel jealous. I'm going to get angry that other people have these beautiful images, and my face looks weird in this selfie," you know what I mean? Like it's through this continuation of choosing to or choosing not to, we can keep moving without that distraction. We can keep moving without that trickster energy coming in and detracting us from what we are trying to do, what we are trying to accomplish in our day with this goal in this situation. So these two I feel actually kind of really support each other, but they're quite different. One of the other ways that they're different but they support each other, or they enhance each other, is as mentioned that the the image in the Mirror is not complete truth, so it's part of that layering and that unfolding of those layers to get to deeper truth. So when we work with these two energies, yes, we need to use the image in the Mirror as part of a bigger understanding of truth, as part of a bigger knowing and initiation of truth and what to do with it. Of accepting and owning truth, that this is the image I see when I look in the Mirror, but it's not the whole truth, and these are the ways that I get to the whole truth. And the Knight of Swords is going to be the ally that gets us to that whole truth or it is going to be the bridge between the construct- the image in the mirror and the image that is not there of ourself as we are. So, the Knight of the Swords is a little bit of a bridge between that shard, or I should say it's a little bit of a bridge within the shard between you and your true self. Another way that they are enhancing each other, supporting each other is I mentioned that the... some of the themes and concepts that were the most vital to me with these two cards was perception, reflection and and.... I'm sorry, perception, reflection and self- love and truth is revelation.The Mirror is a reflection of ourselves, so, when we are looking in to the Mirror, when we are looking inward, when we are reflecting on ourselves, we are opening the space for that unfolding gently. Again finding that space between the softness and the armor. When we go into reflection, and we allow our perception through reflection to be deepened, to be expanded, to be more encompassing of what is the truth, we do that gently, but also fiercely. We do that in a space where we're protected, but we also do it willingly, openly, and honestly. And then the self-love and truth as the revolution, that's present, as I mentioned, with the Knight of Swords, but it's also present with, it's also present with the Mirror, because if we accept ourselves and love ourselves, and the truth that we see in the mirror, and the truth that is without the image attached to it, that is a very radical form of revolution. That is a very radical form of self-love because if you even look at marketing ads, or advertising, a lot of it is geared to what we do not have. It's geared towards all of our lacking, because if we lack it, then we need to buy it, and if we don't lack it then we don't need to buy it. There is this pressure from the external, from the external world, from capitalism, from patriarchy, from toxic energies that want to feed on that which we perceive we lack. But the Knight of Swords and the Mirror if we approach it, which includes things like social media or the collective narratives, what's trending, what's popular, if we approach those themes, and those discussions, and those dialogues, and those energies, if we approach those with self-love as our armor, there is nothing that can stop us from moving except for when we intentionally choose to rest. When we intentionally choose to put it down, when we intentionally know within our deeper reflection that this is not serving me right now, and so I actively remove this from myself, or from my space, from my awareness, from my awakened, alert, mind, if that is the only time that we choose to remove ourselves, and it's not based on the pressure of the external, we are in the deep and beautiful depths of fierce revolution and fierce guidance towards that higher merging. I hope that makes sense. It's hard to it was, when I was writing this down, I was trying to think of ways to explain that- that these pressures from the external world, sometimes the Mirror is a channel for that because we reflect on that which we lack, we reflect on that which is... makes us different from what we see in the mirror or in the collective mirror of advertising, marketing, what's popular, what's being talked about. When it comes through the Mirror, when those discussions come through the Mirror, and we perceive the image that we see, that we take in, we can feel like we're lacking, and this is not to say that when you find a form of self-love that you will never lack anything, uh I mean, that's, at least for me I fully recognize that in my approach for self-love I'm going to be messy, I'm going to fuck up. There are going to be times where I still toxically compare myself whether that's my body, my face, my... my looks, or my capabilities, my energies, my personality, my behaviors. I'm going to compare that sometimes because I'm human, I'm not perfect. But when I make the space for self-love to open me a little bit more to the bigger truth, and the bigger picture, and the bigger narrative that I'm stepping into, I am fiercely devoted and determined, again using that word, to do the work that other people do not want to do, cannot do, are unwilling to do because it is a form of revolution. It is a form of rejecting these external pressures that are a little bit of a straw man. These external pressures, in some ways provide power. If you're in the IT club, whatever it is, then that can, the facade of that can be quite beautiful. And as a person of as... an as a person of privilege, I fully recognize that in many ways, I'm in the IN club just by sheer nature of the privileges that I hold, but I cannot do anything but choose to unlearn from those privileges and act from a space of intentional merging into a bigger picture that does not allow for division, that inclusivity and merging in a space that strips privilege, but it's also... if I speak of the self-love just of myself, not within the external pressures for dogmas or narratives from privilege, or patriarchy, or capitalism there are still times where feel I'm lacking because again, I'm human. And the Knight of Swords is challenging me to again, just keep moving. Keep finding self-love and truth in that which you unfold and reveal as a revolution, that the process is going to take time. And it's going to isolate you from others because it's hard work, and yet the Mirror in that support allows us an image that we wouldn't have otherwise, but there's a little bit of a caution that comes with that, that the perception has trickster energy attached to it, and that the in,,,, that that trickster energy can be distracting, and can make us feel like we're lacking when we're really not. So, I hope that makes sense for you. And I think that's where I choose to end this podcast today. Thank you so much for listening. Just a few things that I want to mention before I close out. First, I want to thank my spooks patrons: Lisa Zimmerman and Bobbie McDiarmid, thank you so much for your support as always, and I'm humbled by all that you offer to Tea and Tombstones. I also just want to let you know that I created another Instagram account it is... the handle is teaandtombstonesandmakeup, and this platform is strictly dedicated to glamor magick. I may end up deleting this account, I don't know. I wanted to create a secondary account that was just for glamor magick because I step into glamor magick pretty much each and every day, and it's a form of self-love and revolution and perception and reflection. For me, my glamor magick is part of my Knight of Swords and my Mirror for obvious reasons, and I wanted a space to reflect on that each and every day but I didn't want the Tea and Tombstones Instagram to be just glamor magick. So, I created a secondary account. Please follow if those things interest you. Like I said, I'm gonna kind of see how it goes. It's..... it's fluid, it's in motion. If in a month I decide I hate it, I'm just gonna delete it and not give a shit. So if you would like to follow that then please do. There is also now new offerings available on the store. So if you go to teaandtombstones.com you will see that I now offer physical products. There's some beautiful mugs that my beautiful friend Kara made. There's protection powder that I made, and the protection powder can be used, sprinkled on your front door, to cast your circle, around your altar. It can be used however in whichever way you want. It's obviously not meant to be ingested or anything like that, is strictly for magickal ritual purposes, but there are physical products now up and available on the store. I also have some new spreads that are out. I also have another coaching session called Webs and Bonds that looks and deepens our... deepens our perceptions and our conversation around attachments. This can be an attachment to a belief system, a person, a memory. There's a bunch of new stuff offered on the website. So again, please check that out if that interests you. And then I am going to now officially mention that I am in the creation of making a rooting course. This course is not going to be available until next year. I'm hoping to have it available late February. The Rooting course is going to be all about removing that external pressure, removing narratives, and finding yourself at the seat of yourself in a way that is grounded, that is intentional. That is... that is mindful. That is all about the process of rooting, and seeding intentionally, and mindfully into your beautiful self and into your beautiful spectrum. Some of the things that are going to be offered on this course are things like root herbs to help optimize different organ systems, different bodily systems, and optimize just an overall sense of good health. There's going to be yoga, there's going to be spellwork, altar work. There's going to be journal prompts, so there's a lot.... there's a lot in this course, and that's partially why it's taking me so long. So like I said, it's going to be available hopefully early next year, and I think, yeah, I think those are all of the announcements that I wanted to make. Again, I will have links to the articles that I mentioned in the show notes. I will have links to all of my social media and digital platforms so you can find me and connect with me. And until the next podcast episode, take care and I will be connecting with you then. Thank you. Bye