From June 29 to July 23, 2026, we are experiencing our next Mercury Retrograde. That includes four Mondays of things getting “unbound”, according to my latest book. Especially in communication, professional exchanges, and travel.

New Jersey/New York will be in the thick of hosting the World Cup. Public transportation will be gnarlier than usual.

The World Cup organizers appeared to have ignored astrology. But you're not the World Cup organizers— or ARE you?

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No matter where you are heading, I wish you easy commutes. To ease the tension of this period, here are the affirmations from the Mercury in Retrograde entry of “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”.

I smartly take my time. I am comfortable with the freedom of the unexpected. I retrace my steps. I accept loss. I mindfully watch my words.

The themes of Mercury Retrograde are all over these statements: Time, the unexpected, reviewing, losses due to breakdowns in technology or commerce. And of course, miscommunication.

Before we create affirmations, I want to share a quick poetry prompt inspired by those Mercury in Retrograde affirmations:

Write a poem that either begins with these two word phrases: “I smartly” or “I retrace”—

Or write a poem titled “Poet Seeks Affirmation”. It can celebrate poets, or criticize them. Same with the concept of affirmations.

Quick Note: You'll find new affirmations every week in my book, “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”. Come back next week for a peek at July 3-July 10 for Cancer. It's part of a potpourri of poetry prompts, plus a revision idea.

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Affirmation Writing Exercise

Write 3-5 words describing yourself when you communicate freely.

Write 3-5 words describing yourself when you feel social and friendly.

Write 3-5 words describing a sense of wonder about the world.

Circle your favorites.

Congrats! We're almost there.

Now, take the words you circled as your favorites. Use them to write your own affirmations— or you might find more words that work better for you.

EXAMPLE:

“I am recharged” is a clean, and more accurate affirmation for me. This acts as an aspiration, something I hope to achieve— Better than using any of the words from the list I wrote off the top of my head.

🌱Also, if you don't want to say “I am”, you might have words from your list that can be made more active.

EXAMPLES:

“I fill the world with good thoughts” instead of “I am full of thoughts”.

“I encourage peace” instead of “I am peaceful”.

🫖📚If you think you only have one OK affirmation after trying this exercise, that's perfect. Anything is better than nothing.

Thanks for working with me! I hope these ideas were helpful to you.

Remember: Mercury in Retrograde isn't happening to you, it's happening for you.

• 🫖80's/90’s Lunar Faire Night Market at the Middlesex County Fairgrounds, June 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5pm-10pm

• 📚Poetry performance at the NYC Poetry Festival, with Jersey City Writers, White Horse Stage, Governor’s Island, 2pm

  July 19

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22.

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

  

  Want a private reading? I opened my schedule again for:

  🌠Tarot Card Readings

  🫖Tea Leaf Readings

  and

  🔭🧀Tarot with Cheese Astrology Affirmations

  I hope to work with you soon! Spots fill fast!

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that every season is your season. Creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

At some point, my greatest ambition became getting on The Totally Awesome Gameshow.

I got there. And lost more than a dozen times.

Hey, y'all. I'm Tabitha.

I believe every season is your season. Mindful, small goals are your Magick.

Dig the vibe?

Join us.

Totally Awesome Gameshow wins: 6. Maybe 7. Totally Awesome Gameshow Losses: 14 or more.

We're still rainchecked for a “Superstars” version that had to be postponed due to technical difficulties.

The Tiktok Breakdown

Tiktok is like any job. And I chose the early morning shifts.

Eventually, six days a week. Often at night.

Doing Tea Leaf Readings (where I look for shapes in the leaves left in a tea cup for insight) led to burn out. Reading a Tarot Card here and there led to burn out. I used a variety of non-Tarot decks, too.

I gave custom affirmations to my viewers, for a brief change. I saw the best in others and I “saw” the future-- but I didn't predict the stress over my set up, the planning for various events and costumes, or how many times I would get a cold and lose my voice from the strain.

Collaboration and The Magick of Asking

One of the best parts of my experience is the friends I made along the way-- one who asked me to help him learn the ropes.

I joined a Tiktok Live agency after I caught my favorite Tiktok Hedgehog on The Totally Awesome Gameshow.

Our agency had objectives for us to complete to be an active part of everything they offered.

When a livestreamer named Joseph asked me to “do a [Tiktok Live] Battle in costume” to help him level up with the agency, I felt seen and needed for days.

Which Came First: The Sprinkles or The Donut?

They have been shelved for over a year, but I may have never developed Donut Sprinkle Readings without Tiktok. It isn't anything new to interpret food. I didn't invent that! And I have done Nacho Divination for Superbowl Predictions.

Joseph's request for the costumed battle was part of the “dawn of Donut Sprinkle Readings”. He helped bake it in to my weekly schedule—

Sometimes all you need is an apron to “be in costume”. And friendly competition helps collaboration. I'm glad I rose, like a Donut, to the occasion.

Totally Awesome Secret Alliances

Joseph and I were familiarizing ourselves with The Totally Awesome Gameshow, owned and operated by our agency. It ran— or would soon run— two nights a week.

I only wanted to be on once. But I was becoming a staple.

I'm not sure if the hosts were aware of the connection I had with the “Trivia King”, but behind the scenes, we both worked for his benefit during the gameshow.

And he pulled off his win. An absolute newcomer, surprising everyone. I'm a Pisces and I cried a little. I wanted that crown for him as much as he did.

He came out to say hello to me between Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings the following Spring at an Expo.

🎯For your Creative Goal Guidance this week, ask someone you admire to collaborate with you. Costumes and aprons optional:

With the ability to collaborate on Substack, everyone can feel the joy of “helping a friend win”. If YOU need a guest post written, want to co-write a poem, or launch a livestream, be like Joseph! Ask a person who inspires you!

Or offer to help them.

🎬While I'm not Live daily, my Livestreams have evolved to highlight poets, astrologers, and other principled personalities. I'm beginning my lineup of collaboration, and hope you'll join me June 24 at 1 pm ET to explore Mercury in Retrograde. will be our guest.

🫖BONUS: I'm thinking of a Live Tea Leaf Reading for the Month on the Monday closest to the first of every month. Let me know if you like that idea by joining the chat:

Cheese Astrology Affirmations

Yes, I’m still a Tea Leaf Reader. Before my Tiktok time, I published a book to guide people to try it themselves. True to what you see in this Substack, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code” is built to inspire your own reflection and creative writing.

I still have affirmations to share. I intend to roll out Affirmations for Mercury in Retrograde in a Post on June 21. If you can’t wait for that, check out my latest book, “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”.

Want a private reading? I opened my schedule again for:

🌠Tarot Card Readings

🫖Tea Leaf Readings

and

🔭Tarot with Cheese Astrology Affirmations

I hope to work with you soon! Spots fill fast!

Maybe I'll bring back Donut Sprinkle Readings if there's demand. May you feel fueled, inspired, and as desired as a donut.🍩

• 🫖Pride Lunar Faire Night Market at the Sussex County Fairgrounds,

  June 20
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5pm-10pm

• 🫖80’s/90’s Lunar Faire Night Market at the Middlesex County Fairgrounds, June 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5pm-10pm

• 📚Poetry performance at the NYC Poetry Festival, with Jersey City Writers, White Horse Stage, Governor’s Island, 2pm

  July 19

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22.

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that every season is your season. Creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Hey y’all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer.

Especially when we show up for ourselves and each other.

Poetry prompt and Goal Guidance for Creatives follows this poem.

Join me!

Made of Tin

I take responsibility.
I’ve
chopped away
my humanity,
replaced it with metal
and forgot to watch for storms.

Come near my
steam powered
heart, and hear
my rattle-echo

but let’s not bother
with making friends or a
song about what I’d do
if I only filled that cavity.

Don’t tell:
I don’t
believe
in technicolor.

Don’t remind me
of hopeful
melodies.

Don’t recruit me
for the journey towards the
single miracle
meant to set it right.

-From the Lexington Poetry Month anthology 2018

Write your own poem that Follows the Yellow Brick Road

The form you use doesn’t matter, but please share your poetry with us.

Consider any of the characters from “The Wizard of Oz”. Use their voice and write from their perspective. Or try to take a stance that's opposite theirs.

Try the Goal Guidance exercise below if you want a different starting point:

What’s one realistic goal meant for a character from The Wizard of Oz?

Write their To-Do List-

Imagine you're in the Land of Oz. Someone there needs a little help getting organized. This can be at any point in the story line, in any Oz Universe you choose. ⏰️ SET A THREE MINUTE TIMER. Write their To-Do List. Let one of their answers guide you to a simple goal you can complete this week.

Examples:

1. Writing a thank you card to your Auntie Em

2. Enrolling in a dog obedience course

3. Reading a good book on how to deal with stubborn people

What it’s like to make plans within this alternate reality? How do you accept these ideas and needs — making a simple goal of your own?

• 🫖Pride Lunar Faire Night Market at the Sussex County Fairgrounds,

  June 20
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5pm-10pm

• 🫖90’s Lunar Faire Night Market at the Middlesex County Fairgrounds, June 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5pm-10pm

• 📚Poetry performance at the NYC Poetry Festival, with Jersey City Writers, White Horse Stage, Governor's Island, 2pm

  July 19

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22.

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that every season is your season. Creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

I'm close to my inner child, who I bring along to as I cook, as I garden, as I read books like the “Wildwood” series by Colin Meloy.

No wonder the essay “Things my 13 year old self would think are really cool about my life right now” caught my eye weeks ago.

Sarah inspired me to write a prose poem for my 13 year old self. I've been holding onto it since last month for the blue moon. It's now time:

Better than Stars

(After Sarah's Substack)

My 13 year old self plays with the long vines of the pothos around the living room. She sat with me when I filled out the membership paperwork for the Garden Club.

My 13 year old self can't believe we're friends with Tarot Card readers because she grew up into one. She peers at the images and helps me tell other people what they mean.

My 13 year old self loves that our grandmother's paintings are on our walls. We stare at them together sometimes.

My 13 year old self is glad there was poetry to help us when we lost our mom and dad. It helps with other losses, like the farmers' decision to scale back on Olathe Sweet sweet corn production.

My 13 year old self doesn't sleep under a ceiling covered in glow-in-the-dark stars. But she sleeps under a quilt our aunt made. It is covered in a blue spruce design. It helps us slip into home. And that's just as good if not better than stars.

Write your own poem to your 13 year old self

The form you use doesn't matter, but please share your poetry with us. Try this Goal Guidance exercise if you want a starting point.

I want to Create More

What's one realistic goal worth pursuing for your 13 year old self?

Talk to Them-

Invite your inner child over. Talk to your 13 year old self. Ask them what they'd like to experience: Taste, Feel, Touch, Smell, See, and Hear. Let one of their answers guide you to a simple goal you can complete this week.

Examples:

1. Listening to an old album for your 13 year old self

2. Watching a beloved movie for your 13 year old self

3. Making stroganoff or another family favorite to feed your 13 year old self

What it's like to make plans with your younger self? Do you accept their invitation of possibility?

If you would like more poems, here are two picked for you:

Once monthly, I share either inspiration for writers, a poem and its origin story, or Goal Guidance for Creatives, read by 140+ people.

As one reader put it: “The word play is thrilling. And I love the joy of the home garden.”

Upgrade to be a paid subscriber to opt into Weekly Accountability Check-Ins and get the full experience. 🫖

Subscribe now

Upcoming Substack Live🔭

Mercury in Retrograde (Working Title) | June 23, 12pm ET

Upcoming Events📚🔮🫖

• Pride Lunar Faire Night Market at the Sussex County Fairgrounds,

  June 20
  🫖🔮📚Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5pm-10pm

• 80's/90’s Lunar Faire Night Market at the Middlesex County Fairgrounds,

  June 27
  🫖🔮📚Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5pm-10pm

• Poetry performance with Jersey City Writers at the NYC Poetry Festival at the White Horse Stage on Governor's Island at 2pm

  July 19

• Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning

  Aug 22.

• Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ,

  Sept 27 —
  🫖🔮📚Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 12-5pm

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor. Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that Mindfulness is Magick. Creativity and maintaining weekly and seasonal goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings with a more recent interest in Automatic Writing. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She is co-teaching a multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Uranus moved out of Taurus and into Gemini on April 25:

Uranus is the planet of revolution, awakening, and disruption.

Gemini is a sign of thought, communication, and networking.

This means that for the next seven years we'll see revolution and disruption in the realm of ideas and how we share them.

Hey y’all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer.

Astrology is one of many methods of looking at our writing styles. And what influences what and how we write.

Join me!

Gemini Influence

I grew up close to a Gemini grandfather, have a Gemini fiancé, and am a Gemini Rising and Gemini Moon.

In plainspeak: I feel at home with Gemini.

Gemini can be tricksters. They can have reputations as gossips. They can seem fickle.

But they have sharp wits, a thirst for mental stimulation, and can make you laugh—

if you're open to them, a Gemini can be the best medicine.

I believe in myself as a writer

Uranus, planet of Disruption

The energy that Gemini represents gets a big boost of Uranus’ power right now.

Revolution and awakening in light of what Gemini rules is expected now into 2033! These include:

1. 🤲🏻Physical and social media- hand written work appeals to more writers now, people are collecting their own libraries

2. 🛢Travel- We’ve got a historic global oil crisis

3. 📖Communication- Substack, for example, reshapes communication with narrative essays, notes, livestreams, and subscriber chats

4. 🧠How we think- the quiet part has been said outloud a lot, right?

   

Archetypes for Uranus in Gemini

Here are three archetypes that represent this astrological transit.

They prioritize:

1. 📖communication

2. 🤲🏻physical media

3. 🤝🏻unusual alliances

1- Investigator- New information? You can't resist. Getting the answers to questions? Baby, you know all the resources.

Nothing gets past you, and others rely on your skills of observation.

🔍Traits of an Investigator:

1. You absorb a lot of news

2. You see the patterns behind people and organizations

3. You examine life from various angles and quickly look up answers

2- Book Clubber- If you could spend every day reading, you would. You have several books you can recommend to others, and each have a little piece of your soul.

Your “To Be Read” pile is taller than your pillow.

📚Traits of a Book Clubber:

1. You are upset about the Library of Alexandria (SAME)

2. You write—or read— book reviews

3. You believe the book is always better than the movie

3-Cafecito Cup Raiser- No one is a stranger for long. Everything and everyone feels worth learning from.

Others open up to you over coffee or tea —or at a bar. You somehow remember everything and aren't against taking notes after others have shown you who they are.

☕️Traits of a Cafecito Cup Raiser:

1. Everyone interests you

2. You get along with all sorts of people

3. You can make anyone laugh — and reflect on their own beliefs

How can Poets/Creatives use these Archetypes?

1- 🔍Investigators can compile lists. They can look for the significance between the poetry/details they enjoy and the poetry/details they write.

Uranus in Gemini gives them the opportunity to find places to not only share their work, but to find more information and inspiration.

🔍Research weaves gold.

2- 📚Book Clubbers shine by understanding the importance of pacing and originality. Play with form.

Uranus in Gemini gives them a home for their own voice. Awaken a new plot twist within a poem. Collect favorite quotes and create a cento (or patchwork) poem.

📚Prose poems challenge norms.

3- ☕️Cafecito Cup Raisers can capitalize on dichotomy— and eavesdropping. Try mashing one train of thought with a different environment, profession, or activity.

Uranus in Gemini gives them a green light to make new social and mental connections. Disrupt expectations and allow observations to percolate— this might just change the world for the better.

☕️Steep with actions to fuel your creativity.

🎯Writer Goal Guidance

You probably see yourselves in one of these archetypes, but a secondary one calls you.

Brainstorm a simple, measurable goal for the month ahead—

Come from the perspective of your main “Uranus in Gemini Archetype”, but also work with the most of that secondary archetype.

Exercise:

Three minutes of brainstorming what your main archetype wants to accomplish in 3-4 weeks.

Circle the goal that will give you the most impact.

Follow this with 3 action steps your secondary archetype would take.

Review these and map out what you can reasonably do in the span of one month.

Congrats!

For a little accountability:

Where does Uranus in Gemini Show up in Your Birth Chart?

Gemini is ruled by Mercury. Mercury's named after the Roman god of communication, thought, (and medicine).

Everyone has a sign in Mercury, based on their time and place of birth.

Look up yours and please tell me in the comments what yours is!

♓️(Mine is Pisces!)

Quick love

Please hit the ❤️ button.

Consider it a small sign that something ignited your creativity.

I share monthly inspiration for writers, a poem and its origin story, or Goal Guidance for Creatives, read by 125+ people.

As one reader put it: “The word play is thrilling. And I love the joy of the home garden.”

Upgrade to be a paid subscriber to opt into Weekly Accountability Check-Ins and get the full experience. 🫖

Subscribe now

Upcoming Substack Live🔭

Archetypes of Uranus in Gemini | May 27, 1pm ET

Book signing and Tarot and Tea Leaf Reading events in May 📚🔮🫖

[Waitlisted]Lunar Faire (Blue Moon) | Vasa Park, 93 Wolfe Road, Budd Lake, NJ 07828 | May 31, 5pm-10pm

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor. Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that Mindfulness is Magick. Creativity and maintaining weekly and seasonal goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings with a more recent interest in Automatic Writing. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers (where she is working to co-facilitate a Poetry Book Publishing Class), and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She is the Poetry Editor for Roses & Wildflowers magazine.

Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

The New Moon in Taurus happens to be a New Blue Moon. It sets the cycle for the Blue Moon at the end of the month.

The cards have been pulled to help us create refuge.

Question One:

What do our bodies need to ground us?

Page of Pentacles Inverted

Element: Earth

Our bodies need us to slow down. This is a good time to let go of things that do not work. Especially when it comes to labor and a sense of security.

Question Two:

What do our minds need to ground us?

The Tower Inverted

Element: A Major Arcana representing sudden shifts.

Oh my. This is the “break out before you break down” card. This is a big call to give your mind a break.

Question Three:

What does our soul need to ground us?

Justice

Element: Major Arcana associated with accountability.

Most Sundays, I share either inspiration for writers, a poem and its origin story, or Tarot Goal Guidance for the Full or New Moon, read by 100+ people.

As one reader put it: “The word play is thrilling. And I love the joy of the home garden.”

Upgrade to be a paid subscriber to opt into Weekly Accountability Check-Ins and get the full experience. 🫖

Subscribe now

Upcoming Substack Live🔭

Archetypes of Uranus in Gemini | May 26, 1pm ET

Two book signing and Tarot and Tea Leaf Reading events in May 📚🔮🫖

Lunar Faire (Fairy/Tales) | East Freehold Showgrounds, 1500 Kozloski Rd, Freehold, NJ 07728 | May 16, 5pm-10pm

Lunar Faire (Blue Moon) | Vasa Park, 93 Wolfe Road, Budd Lake, NJ 07828 | May 31, 5pm-10pm

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor. Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that Mindfulness is Magick. Creativity and maintaining seasonal goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings with a more recent interest in Automatic Writing. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers (where she is working to co-facilitate a Poetry Book Publishing Class), and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She is the Poetry Editor for Roses & Wildflowers magazine.

Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

And Mom saw it — "You are happy wherever you are. That's contentment, and that's a rare thing."

Hey y’all-- I'm Tabitha.

I believe everyone creates refuge when they create: writing, art, gardens, and acts of service.

Join us!

I want to Create Refuge

Mom, with her piano students, and love of musicals, is gone. Dad, with his jokes and ability to choose battles, has followed her.

Now it's my job to curate and uplift fellow poets, and hopefully deliver work that inspires the pursuit of happiness — a publication worthwhile to our community.

Poems, Archetypes, and Astrology

Mom used to read us our horoscopes. Dad used to print my poems when I emailed them to him and my parents would read them together. This Substack is one way of keeping them close and bringing our traditions into your personal landscape.

One of my hopes is that this space brings an understanding of ourselves through Archetype lenses: like Astrology, Tarot Cards, and Tea Leaf Readings ( more on that in this essay and later on).

We can also create refuge in poetry and gardens. I believe that creative expression and innovative connection helps keep us from depression and collapse.

I've been an avid astrology lover and poet all my life: I'm reading a Chinese Astrology book in this photo from the late 90s:

My best writing probably includes details about my loved ones, and plant life.

Here's a poem (written after Kasu of , with a word discovered through that I heard here on )

She warms herself,
wrapped in a blanket,
listening to scattered rain,
lit by the alpenglo of her ancestors.

Her alarm tells her to get up to turn off
the glowlights in the back room,
where she accepts that not every seed
will starbust through the top soil--
not every promise grows the same.

She hears yesterday's piano,
she returns blessings in kind,
brings tomato seedlings
to give away one by one by one.

Most Sundays, I share either inspiration for writers, a poem and its origin story, or Goal Guidance for Creatives, read by 180+ people.

As one reader put it: “The word play is thrilling. And I love the joy of the home garden.”

Enjoy two Livestreams a month: One Tea Leaf Reading to interpret the month ahead, and one with a guest. Guests include poets and astrologers.

Upgrade to be a paid subscriber to opt into Weekly Accountability Check-Ins and get the full experience. 🫖

Subscribe now

This is the space for you if:

Background and Purpose

Throughout my life, I have valued imagination and gut instincts. I want you to do more than write down your goals.

I believe everyone can write. I believe everyone can rely on their intuition. I believe everyone deserves tools to “break out before they break down”.

Creating refuge began as a young girl in my back yard. It is something I have done myself after relocating from Colorado to Kentucky and from Kentucky to New Jersey.

I’m an author and award-winning poet, and Tarot Card and Tea Leaf Reader nurturing my third year home garden.

I’m a former print journalist. I have taught virtual classes like “Rituals, Returns, and Retrogrades” to help others create affirmations to align with planets in Retrograde. I recently finished teaching a 5-part virtual class called “Curious Contents” A Writing Routine with Automatic Writing and Personal Divination”.

I have published a 44-page printable Weekly Planner and two nonfiction books to help expand your personal landscape. That’s what I aim to continue to do in our community.

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor. Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that Mindfulness is Magick. Creativity and maintaining weekly and seasonal goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers (where she is co-facilitating a Poetry Book Publishing Class), and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021.

Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

The Flower Moon is another nickname for the current Full Moon. Prepare for transformation. Be ready to dive into emotional depths

This is a reading for all of us “Creating Refuge” in our communities.

Quick Background:
My journey with Tarot stopped for a decade, shortly after I put my first deck away.

Why? I was learning all the card meanings and the Queen of Wands repeatedly appeared. No matter how I shuffled the deck between multiple practice Celtic Cross spreads.

What were the odds?

I realized that card represented myself. At the age of 17, in an age just before AOL Chat and before YouTube, I didn’t have other readers to talk to.

Question One:

What topic deserves a deeper second look?

Five of Wands Inverted:

Element: Fire

Learn from the old embers.

This card helps uncover possible topics:

It’s time to focus on what works, based out of recent lessons on where we’ve felt conflict in our own growth and creativity.

Question Two:

What will we find as we explore this topic?

Five of Pentacles Inverted

Element: Earth

Ground with gratitude and make genuine connections.

I love that this card can be so concrete and literal.

As we look at finding ways to prosper out of past tensions around collaborating with others (Five of Wands Inverted), we can acknowledge our current resources.

I want to Create Refuge

Question Three:

How will our findings change us and our goals?

King of Wands Inverted

Element: Fire

Craft a new, freer self-image: but use caution.

When we reflect on burnt bridges (that Five of Wands) and are willing to accept new ways of giving and getting support (that Five of Pentacles), we level up our creativity.

Goal Guidance and Affirmation:

Take inventory of what you really want to fuel — especially who you want to nurture it with. Pause and reflect on where you want to lead or why you might want to be seen as an authority —

1. Why do you need to be respected at this time?

2. How did recent past difficulties around your own interests effect this?

3. Where do you want to draw resources from, and are you giving those spaces and people their due respect?

   Now is a good time to look at your “Third Space”
   (a place you exist outside work and home for a sense of community)
   and how it reflects your personal landscape.

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This spread is inspired by OMG Tarot and adapted from her ebook, “A Year in Moons”.

Thank you for joining me on this new journey as a Substack contributor. It’s an honor to give back to our stream of life.

I Resonate

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that Mindfulness is Magick. Creativity and maintaining weekly and seasonal goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings with a more recent interest in Automatic Writing. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers (where she is working to co-facilitate a Poetry Book Publishing Class), and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She is the Poetry Editor for Roses & Wildflowers magazine.

Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

“Always write them down”, my grandmother advised me.

I was a pre-teen and had just rehearsed my first poem to her. She said she used to create poems all the time, too.

She said she trusted herself to remember them. And then she forgot them.

Committing poetry to writing was invaluable currency in an age long before we could easily record our ideas.

Hey y’all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer.

Happy (still barely) National Poetry Month. I hereby declare this space “Never Not April” so we can celebrate whenever we want.

Join me!

So. You know you gotta write your poems down.

But how can one month dedicated to working with poets and poetry effect that?

Let’s look at National Poetry Month for lessons that can inspire more rich opportunities to write poems.

Lesson One:

Join a Local Writing Group/Poetry Workshop because:

1- Meeting active poets will help you create more,
whether it is poetry, or something else.

2- Forming bonds with REAL people who are
interested in YOUR poetry— in REAL time— introduces
you to creators who share your interests.

3- Other poets want other poets to succeed.

4- Making time for your poetry is easier
when you have regular meetings.

5- Consistency provides the exact conditions
that help generate new poetry.

(BONUS: Sometimes you can go to Spring Retreats with local writers, who will take your surplus seedlings off your hands for you! Ask me how I know.)

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Lesson Two:

Write “After” poems because:

1- Reading and hearing writing from other poets
ignites and sharpens your own work.

2- Witnessing how another poet works makes you reflect
on how you write, what you write, and try new techniques.

3- Titles and lines are like incantations that want to
become YOUR OWN.

4- There is power in actively engaging in your own art form
through outside perspectives.

5- Borrowing from other poets allows you to speak to them
and other word lovers about their work and what inspired it.

For daily poems you can listen to and write “After” poems for, visit One Poem Only. Tell Maggie “Tabitha sent me”.

Subscribe now

Lesson Three:

Work with prompts because:

1- Prompts are an “easy-in” for anyone who feels intimidated by
or new to poetry, or those poets who are returning after years.

2- Slowing down and showing up for poetry helps you notice
the themes and forms that you use most naturally.

3- You’ll begin to pick prompts that speak to you, like finding your order
off of a menu. It’s a great way to build YOUR next POETRY COLLECTION.

4- Prompts encourage you to add to your poetry tool box.
They can remind you to use sense, sound, imagery, and more.

5- When you are familiar with writing prompts, you will invent them
for yourself. You will want to write more, with or without formulas.

For prompts full of depth and invitations to create “After” poems, save this April Poetry Prompt Calendar from “Despair, you cannot have me”

Publishing Opportunity

Please send us your poetry at Roses & Wildflowers.

Check out our current Call for Submissions (Deadline June 15).

Subscribe now

Thank you for joining me on this new journey as a Substack contributor. It’s an honor to give back to our stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that mindfulness is the cornerstone of creating refuge and maintaining weekly and seasonal goals. She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She is the Poetry Editor for Roses & Wildflowers magazine.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings with a more recent interest in Automatic Writing. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a local metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers (where she is working to co-facilitate a Poetry Book Publishing Class), and Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Hey y’all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer.

Happy National Poetry Month. There’s more than a week to celebrate.

Join me!

🌅In keeping with today’s theme, Maggie Devers appears in the role of the General Store of Poet Town. Every day she offers “One Poem Only”.

🤝🏻Instead of paying for your poetry fix in coins, she asks that we engage with them this month.

The next step is to share your creativity with One Poem Only. But share here, too, please!

🍀You can do this with any resource, but Maggie is my go-to. She gave me a double feature in October:
👻Please check out her loving performance of my poems “Green Soup” (written Halloween Night 2020) and “Apparition Appetizers”
🍵I'll use both as creativity prompts for a class I proposed for WitchCon 2027.

🤩The poem that my own is modeled after is "Once a palm reader told me" by Ariel Kasha. Listen here.

I hope this poem helps you feel like the deputy of your own heart. No matter the shape of the heart line in your palm.

I hope you will share it because you want to remind someone that it is OK if they didn’t “play their role” perfectly.

Share

Thank you for being here as I begin to form this Substack (and my third year home garden).

Create your refuge.

Mindfulness is Magick. Give back to our stream of life.

🧀🔭PS-- The image on my poem is my latest book! “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide” is available now.

Subscribe now

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that mindfulness is the cornerstone of creating refuge and maintaining weekly and seasonal goals. She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She is the Poetry Editor for Roses & Wildflowers magazine.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings with a more recent interest in Automatic Writing. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a local metaphysical night markets), Jersey City Writers (where she is working to co-facilitate a Poetry Book Publishing Class), and a Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

My grandmother taught me to greet everyone with a smile and a hello-- 

Always. On principle. As a second nature habit, it became her simplest, money-free investment in dispelling sadness.

It wasn’t done to become town mayor, or gain popularity and prestige. In the 30-some years since I've followed her advice, I'm convinced she did it to keep her communities connected -- and warmer. 

Hey. y’all. I’m Tabitha. I believe everyone can create refuge.

No Lonely Cowboys

Every community is like a cattle ranch.

Every event is its own type of rodeo.

The Heart of Oneness Holistic Expo is always well run. It feels good to set up my section of “the rodeo” and work among 200+ holistic vendors for two and a half days.

Most rodeos, by tradition, are held in the spirit of competition. But that’s never the point for me.

This past Heart of Oneness Holistic Expo reunited me with someone I almost forgot I said hello to the previous year.

Thinking about Putting up the Lasso

As the Expo’s resident Tea Leaf Reader since 2021, who also began doing events 15 years before, I am lucky to have a sense of what works for myself and fellow vendors.

Still establishing myself in New Jersey, I had done well at other events, too. After a year of suspended faires plus trial and error, one response to looking for new places to vend seemed appropriate:

No thanks. Not for now.

When you Say Hello

I believe sound dispells negativity.

Things had been slow at Heart of Oneness. I needed to start the final day of last year’s Expo with a boisterous hello, and cheerfully introduced myself to the vendor behind me.

And as fate would have it, that hello was to someone running their own rodeo.

A week before this year’s Expo, she left a voicemail, offering me a spot as her only Tarot and Tea Leaf Reader at her local fall festival.

She explained she invited me because of the impression I left. She didn’t bristle with a sense of invasion when I peeked through the back-to-back curtain that separated us as Expo vendors the previous year.

She remembered how that felt. In her words, there was warmth where I pulled back the curtain. There were good vibes behind the hello.

The Universe has More Rodeos for You

The Universe kept me incredibly busy at this year’s Heart of Oneness Holistic Expo. Better still, it said “You don’t need to look for new events! We got you!”

And I have my grandmother to credit.

Yes, opportunity happens when we show up. And yes, people will want to stand with you when you can share your metaphorical sunshine.

To be accepted, to have more to look forward to, it doesn’t take

some complicated act or a sales pitch: It can only take a smile and a hello.

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This September, I have accepted the invitation to bring my energy to MetaphysiFest(TM) with Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings.

Joanie has a deep enthusiasm for her “low cost, low key, high vibe metaphysical event”. When we met, a match was made. It began by pulling back the curtain between us.

We don’t need to decode the tea leaves to know that supporting each other opens doors.

Acknowledgement is Healing

Acknowledgement is a two-way street.

How we treat our fellow beings helps us create refuge.

And without refuge, our goals lack the mindfulness to move forward.

Thank you for joining me on this new journey as a Substack contributor. It’s an honor to give back to our stream of life.

Subscribe now

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that mindfulness is the cornerstone of creating refuge and maintaining weekly and seasonal goals. She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She is the Poetry Editor for Roses & Wildflowers magazine.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings with a more recent interest in Automatic Writing. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a local metaphysical night markets), Jersey City Writers (where she is working to co-facilitate a Poetry Book Publishing Class), and a Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Hey, y'all. I'm Tabitha. I believe everyone can practice trusting their intuition (and one way is with Tarot Cards).

My friend OMG Tarot and I met at an opportune time. It was days before a Full Moon in Libra at an Expo I love to read Tarot Cards and Tea Leaf Readings at.

The Pink Moon, as it is also known, restores harmony. It asks us to create space for what comes our way.

Enter her ebook, "A Year in Moons".

There wasn't a plan to share any particular readings here, but a twice monthly ritual feels good. And I need to keep learning:

I've felt in a Tarot rut for awhile. It's why I started reading with this deck that has comprehensive card meanings on them.

Grab your own deck: Any type will do!

And let's create our refuge.

From "A Year in Moons", here's OMG Tarot's first of three questions for the New Moon in Aries. It kicks off the astrological season and lands this year on April 17:

Card One: What's one realistic goal worth pursuing this year?

The Seven of Swords Inverted-

Normally I'd see this as letting go of deceit, no longer holding onto secrets.

The card emphasizes "starting fresh, taking responsibility" and "imposter syndrome".

Ok, Universe. We'll accept seeing ourselves with fresh eyes. We'll also follow through on plans.

That means showing up. And when we show up, y'all, imposter sydrome often follows. Any attention coming our way will be reckoned with.

Takeaway:

It's not a realistic time to start new gardening goals. Or probably expansive projects--

Not ones that haven't already been forming or don't incorporate collaboration.

I've got quite enough in motion, so I'm incredibly pleased with this advice!

Card Two: What's one dream goal worth pursuing this year?

The Fool-

KA-CHOW!

This is a green light to dream and to trust that every adventure leads to bliss-- I warn clients about blissful ignorance and "playing the fool" when this card comes up in a reading.

It seems almost contradictory with the realistic goal of the first card: but "freedom" is the second word in the Seven of Swords caption. That's why we love physical media, and receipts, y'all.

Takeaway:

Our dream goal involves "spontaneity, rashness, a free spirit". I'll accept the invitation of possibility. Will you?

Card Three: How can I keep myself motivated to pursue both these goals?

Nine of Pentacles Inverted-

Without using the text on the card, I'd interpret this as a need to stay on solid ground and conserve energy. To focus on one thing at a time as best as possible.

Mostly, to accept that stability could feel near impossible because we have a lot of goals in progress!

If I was reading this for a client, I'd suggest it could feel like there are several goals underway (the Seven of Swords) and they can occupy a lot of brain space.

But as Cirie says on Survivor 50: "Nothing's impossible on Survivor."

The card itself mentions setback, poverty, and yes "over-investment in work". Even being "trapped in a hustle" and "success at all costs".

Takeaway:

When the going gets tough, maybe pretend you're a castaway on Survivor. Persist.

Don't have to read the Tea Leaves (a discipline I've specialized in for 15 years) to see how perfectly "success at so costs” fits with staying motivated about our goals. We're almost forced in our commitment.

Conclusion:

We can only stay centered and present for the horizons ahead. In my present ssituation the rhythm of a home garden is hard to ignore.

Thanks for coming along for the reading and please let me know one of your goals for the year.

PS-- For another fun resource full of methods for reflection through divination prompts, please check out my book, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”. Available now.

Hey y'all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer. Happy National Poetry Month. There's two more weeks to celebrate. Join me!

🌅Maggie Devers at One Poem Only has me writing like we're back in school.

✍️🏻Follow her for poetry so crisp and clever, they are worth 3 minutes of your day. And join in!

🤝🏻Write “After” poems the rest of this month.

To paraphrase Maggie:

🛑 Pay attention to what the poem is doing.

🌿And then write your own.

🤗The next step is to share your creativity with One Poem Only.

🍀You can do this with any resource, but I’ve had good professional experiences with Maggie. More details on my poem “To Be a Baby Slug”

🤩The poem that my own is modeled after is "Homecoming" by Kara Dobias. Listen here.

🫖 This poem began with Kara's line about “the end of my season of seeking”

I hope this spoke to you in some way and that you are performing your own home rituals that bring you well-being.

Thank you for being here as I begin to form this Substack (and my third year home garden).

Create your refuge.

🫖📚PS-- Creativity sprouts in all forms, and that's where “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code” got such a long title. It is purposely designed for everyone's creative side-- to give you 79 themed exercises with multiple questions to spark your own writing.

I hope you'll purchase it or find a copy wherever books are sold--

and please give it a review if you've read it!

Hey y'all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer -- our own best source for understanding our personal symbols.

The prominent heart emoji is the red one and SNL recently had fun with its popularity.

🌅As a digital pioneer and communication-happy soul, I've relied on texting and produced content with the hopes it catches the eye.

🛑And stops the scroll.

🌻A good emoji helps!

👀On Discord, people like us sometimes join servers just to collect the emojis. [And I hope you'll join me on my Discord server].

🤔Let's look at the blue heart emoji as a Personal Symbol 
(a term we can use synonymously with Personal Divination).

First, learn what a couple heart emojis could mean for you if you use them:

💖 - magickal, full of wonder, light, bright, and hopeful

💓 - loving vibes, a rhythmic beat, sending out a wave of emotion/support

🤩There's a pattern of joy and optimism in these hearts. These are ones I relied on for years.

🫖If you are new here or don't know me, well, hey, Sugarcube! You're in for a somewhat sunshiney ride.

💙 I want to emphasize that we all need to dig into our own definitions of symbols, including the power of color.

Develop your Personal Code, perhaps sparked by thoughts from my journey with the blue heart emoji:

🦋 Which came first? Using Bluesky or using the blue heart emoji?

💙 In my early days of using Bluesky, I thought using 💙📚 together was the equivalent to a writer hashtag, 💙👩🏻‍🌾 similarly so.

🖼My personal reasons for the blue heart emoji habit might lie in the open-ended design. And the fact that it's not the traditional red.

🏡It's also about me: used with love toward my two former homes. It is a Denver Broncos color, and my family still loves to cheer them on. It also reminds me of the Bluegrass state, where I established myself in their communities of poets, artists, and cheese lovers.

🌈While rainbow hearts decorated my own bedroom as a kid, I can also remember a blue heart motif in my mother's kitchen.

🧠I've not made those connections til now.

QUESTION:

💙🎯 If you rely on the blue heart emoji, what does it represent to you?

Don't Forget to Get your Love! 

❤️Please share which heart emoji you use most often. 

🔮📷⏳️Or give me the 3 emojis you used most recently and I'll interpret your recent past, present, and future.

Thank you for being here as I begin to form this Substack (and my third year home garden).

Create your refuge.

🫖📚PS-- Developing your Personal Code is what inspired my book on Tea Leaf Reading (it's in the title!).

I hope you'll purchase it or find a copy wherever books are sold--

and please give it a review if you've read it!

This is National Poetry Month and Maggie Devers of “One Poem Only” has been encouraging others to create “After” poems.

If you've ever read a poem or heard a song and begun your own lines inspired by it, you've nurtured an “After” poem.

Even if it's only been a couple phrases!

Hey y'all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer.

“One Poem Only” highlighted “To Be a Salamander” by Rachel Turney as part of a movement to generate more poetry from followers.

Rachel's poem has such wonderful imagery, vulnerability, and an ache of whimsy (yes, quite a dichotomy!). I'm honored to have read it and glad I followed the prompt to create something inspired by it!

Check out Rachel's poem here.

🐌I recently encountered the smallest baby slug while adding piles of mulch to my front flower bed this past weekend.

I'm grateful to use that encounter to inspire this poem.

I don't ordinarily publicly share poems I've just composed, but given Substack is a new venture (and I want to connect with more Writers, Gardeners, and other Bringers of Magick and Empowerment), and “One Poem Only” put forth the call, here we go:

👻Maggie accepted and shared my poetry as a double feature this past October!

🍵Please check out her loving performance of my poems “Green Soup” (written Halloween Night 2020) and “Apparition Appetizers” (which I'm planning to use as my own creativity prompt for a class I'm proposing for WitchCon 2027).

Thank you for being here as I begin to form this Substack (and my third year home garden).

Create your refuge.

🧀🔭PS-- The image on my poem is my latest book! “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide” is available now.

My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer.

My motto for almost ten years was “Create your fate”. It has evolved into “Create your refuge.”

How do I mean fate?

I started seeing myself as a serious writer at age 11. I committed my first “memory-worthy” poem, called “Rainbow's End”, to paper for my grandmother to keep on her kitchen wall a month shy of turning 13.

I was known to have my head in the clouds.

And was lucky to be able to pursue a number of dreams.

I'm from the Sagittarius in Neptune generation and believe in boundlessness.

I've held a job as a journalist in Denver, Colorado. I left it to earn a Masters in Poetry and work for the Colorado Review.

The real test of fate/faith came later.

It's a story for another time. But I left my home state to live in Kentucky. The Bluegrass state resides always in my heart:

There I learned the power of creating community around poetry, around my passion for Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings, and a cool job in cheese (more about that another time, too).

How do I mean refuge when I say “Create your refuge”?

No tea leaves are needed to be able to tell that we live in dark times.

Fate is something that can feel beyond the reach of many of us.

The shadow side of a belief in boundlessness can harbor willful ignorance.

Refuge?

That can be defined across a spectrum, individually. Refuge can be composed gradually. Like a bird nest.

Or it may be all we feel we've got.

A peek at part of my refuge:

I'm terribly privileged to have the resources and time to learn home gardening, another future theme.

The original goal was to share part of my garden when I started this entry!

Blink and you'll miss the beginnings of a blue potato crop!

Only 10-12 more weeks til harvest.

Thank you for being here as I begin to form this Substack (and my third year home garden).

Create your refuge.