Welcome to October’s Pick-A-Card reading! Fall has officially arrived in North Carolina—the temps are finally consistently in the 70s and the evenings are cool enough to have the windows open. I am back from Boston and settling back in after being away. Coming home after something so life changing and then having to do “normal” things is weird because things have been so no normal for so long. It’s taken some adjusting, but having things to anchor into is super helpful in getting reoriented–like these pick a card readings, podcast recordings, walking the dog…We even decluttered the storage places in our house and got rid of so much. I think when you brush up against death as much as we have since May, you realize you just don’t need all the junk—nor do you want to leave your junk for someone else to sort through when you’re gone. So that’s where I’m at…which is an interesting lead into the collective card for the month.

But first, let’s talk about what deck I’m using and who I’m connecting to. I was pulled to use the Angels and Ancestors Oracle Cards by Kyle Gray and I posed a simple question, “What is the message for October?” The interesting thing was that when I went to tap into Spirit and reach out for help, it wasn’t Spirit Guides that stepped forward, but I found myself asking for the Great Ancestors. I’m going to be honest–I’ve never uttered those words before this reading and was sort of caught off guard by asking for help from “them”. I paused and asked who the “Great Ancestors” were and the response was more of an impression—these are the ancestors of all. So I’m thinking it means more than just our individual lines of ancestors. Maybe similar to a council of elders or council of wisdom? It bears looking into more, but my Guides assured me it was a legit source of information, so I leaned into it.

Back to the collective card—The Sun, Enjoy Success & Happiness. This card has a blazing sun on it. Ok, so I don’t know about you but Mercury Retrograde was rough and I’m liking that Spirit is reminding us to tap into our joy and happiness and really giving us permission to relax into things that are going well. It’s also a reminder to find the spark or the light, now that the light has shifted. As the evening comes earlier here in the northern hemisphere, it can be a struggle to step into the light and for my southern hemisphere friends, it’s a reminder to shake of the dust of winter and step into the light as well. Let’s do some journal prompts this month–feel free to use these with your card decks too.

Journal Prompts for the Sun:

• What does the Sun/Light look like for me right now?
• How can I create more light in my life?
• What gets in the way of creating that light?

Take a few minutes to pause and just play with these questions because they are going to help you get the clarity you need for creating more joy in your life this month.

Card #1 Folks—We are looking at the Shaman, Trust in Higher Forces Card. This card has a healer on it with an owl positioned over two antlers. This card is really about calling back your power. What do I mean by that? As we move through the world, we sometimes give away our power to others, sometimes we let people take it from us…it’s like we let go of bits and pieces and maybe they’re not huge bits and pieces, but they add up to a lot when you look at it collectively. So you’re going to focus on calling your power back to you, reclaiming what is yours. There are many ways you can do this, but a simple one is to just put the intention out there or say a prayer calling it back:‍

Thank you Angels, Guides, Guardians and Ancestors for helping me call my power. I now feel it returning to me and as it does, I release any energy I’ve picked up that isn’t mine and send it back to its origin. Thank you and so it is.‍

However, I think it’s also helpful to figure out where your power is going–sort of like plugging up the leaks. Take a few moments and explore these journal prompts:

• Who/What do I give my power away to?
• Why do I do this? (It may be subconscious or conscious…stay open to this one)
• What can I do moving forward to give less of my power away?
• What can I do daily to call my power back to me?

Card #2 Folks—you’ve got the Protection Guardian, Drop Your Shields with an angel in blue and greens on the card and a crown of peacock feathers. When I hear the phrase Drop Your Shields, I think of the idea that as we move through life things happen and they aren’t always pleasant. And we respond to those things with the intention of keeping ourselves safe. Sometimes what we put in place to do that works really well and sometimes it actually blocks us from our authentic selves. What comes to mind are the patterns and belief systems that we form in response to things, learning how to be invisible to be safe, or blocking certain doors and opportunities because they remind us of something past and we don’t want to get hurt again. These feelings are valid. Being human is hard, but we need to discover ways to keep ourselves open. For Card #2 folks, this month is all about “dropping your shields” and figuring out what your shields are made of.

Journal prompts for Card #2:

• What do my shields look like or feel like? (This can be a visual, a knowing, a feeling, but when you think of your shields what comes to mind.)
• What events contributed to these shields?
• When do I put my shields up?
• When do they help me?
• When do they hinder me?

Just play with this–if you want more information, Andrea and I recently did an episode on belief systems on the Adventures with Spirit Podcast. That may help you dive in a bit more and understand what’s contributing to your shields.

Card #3 folks—you've got She-Wolf, unleash the Wild Within. It has a person howling at the moon with a wolf and feathers on their head. The energy surrounding this card is to break free, but what you break free from is going to be different for each of you. The Devil card pops into mind right now–Spirit’s telling me it’s about looking at what’s binding you. You can go as deep as you want with this or as surface level. Totally up to you. If you decide to go surface level, look at things holding you back in day to day life.

• What’s preventing you from following your passions? (If you want to dive into the bottom of the ocean, go further and look at how society limits you.)
• What patterns do you follow because society says that’s what you do?
• Where does your culture put you in a box?
• What bindings do you want to cut so you can be truly free to be your authentic self?

Journal Prompts for both surface and deep:

• What areas of life do I feel stifled in and need more room to breathe?
• Where do I feel like I brush up against the people around me?
• What makes me different and how can I let that shine?

That’s it—that’s October. Let’s recap:

Collective: Finding your joy and creating more light in your life.

Card #1: Take time to Call Back Your Power.

Card #2: Explore where you’ve put walls up to keep yourself safe and figure out which walls actually hold you back. 

Card #3: Jump outside the box and find yourself.

Towards the end of October the veil becomes really thin! It’s a fantastic time to get in touch with your ancestors and loved ones. You may want to ponder building an altar this month to honor those who have come before you or freshen up the altar you have already. Carve out some time to connect to your own ancestral wisdom and let curiosity lead you where you need to go with that.

There are new episodes dropping for Adventures with Spirit Podcast this month. I’ll be opening some days up for readings towards the end of the month. Keep an eye on the newsletter to get first access to those. They will be first come, first serve. I would love to hear how this reading landed for you, so please hop on over to the comments on FB or IG and let me know what your takeaways were.

Have a beautiful month and let me know if you have any questions!