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On this night of the dark moon, there are three omens. Choose the one that’s in alignment with your life, your loves, or your aspirations.

The Omen of the Ritual

There’s little that helps in times of chaos or indecision like a ritual. It can be as elaborate as you please, or as simple as arranging flowers and leaves like the one in the photo above.

Why ritual? We 21st century humans have fallen away from rituals that were commonplace for our distant ancestors. Because of their primarily rural existence, they were tuned to the seasons far more than we are; that meant rituals for each turning of the wheel. Or ones for a safe birth, an easy journey to the afterlife, or those for a happy marriage.

If you choose the Omen of the Ritual, what will yours be? If you’re asking for a better job, will you place coins and notes on your altar or write your desire on a postcard addressed to The Universe, then stamp it and place it in the mail?

Although I can’t give you specific advice, I can suggest that the ritual match the wish. Think about it.

The Omen of the Bloom

Have you ever wondered why some days are full and beautiful, carrying the fragrance of orange trees or sweet petunias? The days we lack for nothing, desire nothing, and know that we are standing within a magical circle, certain that this is the earthly version of heaven.

Why does it matter? Because most of us spend our days chasing the next thing. We forget that the ancestors who came before us had to grab onto these perfect moments and hang on as long as possible. A good harvest, a healthy child, a roof that held through the storm. They knew the Bloom when they felt it and they marked it. A ribbon tied to a doorknob. A jar of homemade blackberry jam set aside for the altar.

If you choose the Omen of the Bloom, your work is to notice. That is the whole assignment. Maybe press a flower from the garden between the pages of a book. The Bloom rarely lasts. That’s part of its nature. But the small ritual of acknowledgment, teaches your bones to recognize the next one when it arrives.

What was the last Bloom you remember? Can you name the day?

The Omen of the Bear

Bears sleep through the worst of winter. They eat as much as they can in the autumn, find a den, and let the dark months pass. When spring comes, they walk out lean but alive.

That is the medicine of the Bear. Rest as survival. Retreat as wisdom.

Our ancestors understood this in their bones. Farm families banked the fire, mended what needed mending, and stayed close to the hearth from November through March. Sailors waited out the gales in port. We have lost that permission to be the bear. The 21st century rewards the person who pushes through, who answers the email at midnight, who books the flight while running a fever. The Bear says no.

If you choose the Omen of the Bear, something in your life is asking you to enter the den. Maybe it’s a project you’ve been forcing. Maybe it’s a relationship you keep trying to revive when it needs a time-out. Maybe it’s your body telling you the tank is empty.

The Bear isn’t giving up; it’s trusting that spring will come again. What in your life right now is asking you to enter the den?

The Dark Moon rises. Choose.

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All of the posts in June are free in honor of the solstice and my ancestors, as is access to the Community Chat.

We all inherit money habits from our family line, and the second house in your astrology chart is where that story lives. I’m not an astrologer but I know enough to be annoyed at that dreamy Pisces ruling my second house. For me that means I prioritize spiritual fulfillment over material accumulation.

I remember when I was very young and struggling like crazy to keep afloat. Looking back, I can see that part of the issue was that dreamy Pisces, another the story handed down in my family, and yet other was doing work that wasn’t in alignment with who I was.

It’s frustrating when you’re young and know the path you should walk but lack of money gets in the way. Then you end up doing something you’re totally unsuited for.

If this vibe is you, one thing I can promise you is time and intent has a way of eventually swinging things around in your favor.

But for now, let’s concentrate on the money story you inherited - it’s there, whether you were aware of it or not.

Look in Your Wallet - the Spread

1. The money story that was handed to you before you could speak

2. Which part of that story you’ve been living as if it were true

3. Where fear is driving your current choices

4. Where your intuition is trying to lead you

5. What you’re protecting by staying in familiar patterns

6. The money move your wisest self already knows to make

7. What becomes available when you trust that knowing

   

   You could do this spread with an oracle deck but I’m not 100% certain that you’ll get as much good information. If you do the spread with tarot and feel a little lost, pop over to my Tarot Lab Substack and read the 60-Second Sweep - that might help.

Nancy

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All of the posts in June are free in honor of the solstice and my ancestors, as is access to the Community Chat.

Want to get a message from an ancestor? You don’t need anything fancy to start. A deck of cards, five minutes, and a name. That’s it.

I’ve worked with tarot and the ancestors for decades, and here’s the part nobody tells you at the beginning. It’s simpler than you think. People picture ancestral work as incense and incantation. It can be, someday, if you want it to be. But for most of us it started at a kitchen table, with a worn deck and somebody we missed.

What an ancestral card pull actually is

Here’s the idea in plain terms. A tarot deck is a tool for asking a question and getting back an answer. An ancestral pull is that same tool, pointed at one person who passed over. You’re not summoning anyone. You’re not opening a door you can’t close behind you. Think of it less like a Ouija board and more like writing a letter to someone, then reading their handwriting back to you.

Does the card carry their voice? What I mean by that is does that card hand me something I needed to hear from a person I can no longer call on the phone.

I think it’s all in your intent. You bring the love and the longing. The cards just give it a shape to pour into.

What you’ll need

● A deck of cards. A tarot deck if you have one. In a pinch, a regular pack of playing cards works fine or an oracle deck.

● One person in mind, someone who passed over.

● A few minutes where nobody needs you.

● A pen and paper, or the notes app on your phone.

That’s it. No special cloth, no certificate, no permission from anybody.

The pull, step by step

Pick your person. Choose one. A grandmother, a father, a great-aunt you only know from a single photograph. It helps to start with someone you have real feeling for, warm or complicated, it doesn’t matter which.

Hold them in mind. Say their name out loud if you can. Picture their face, their kitchen, the sound of their laugh. This is the whole of the spellwork, and it’s easier than you think.

Ask one clear question. Keep it simple and open. “What do you want me to know?” is my favorite for a first pull. Steer away from yes-or-no questions for now. You want a card that can talk, not a Magic 8 Ball that grunts “reply hazy, try again.”

Shuffle until it feels right. There’s no correct number of shuffles. Stop when your hands tell you to stop.

Pull one card. Just one. Lay it face up in front of you.

Read it as a message from them. Look at the picture before you reach for any book. What’s the first feeling that lands? A card showing a cup might be them offering you comfort. A card showing coins might be them nudging you about home, security, the practical worries you carry around all day. Trust that first read. Then, if you like, look up the traditional meaning and see how it measures against what your gut tells you.

Write down what you got. One or two sentences. The card, the question, and what it stirred in you. This becomes the start of an ongoing conversation, and you’ll be glad later that you kept the thread.

If nothing dramatic happens, you did it right. This isn’t a séance with the lights flickering. It’s softer and steadier than that. Most of the time the message arrives later, while you’re in the shower or halfway through the dishes, when you suddenly understand what that card was getting at.

And most of all - remember it doesn’t need to be complex. I asked one of my grandmothers what I most need to know today and she answered with this:

It was a clear message that the issue that’s been on my mind is in the process of becoming much, much better. As you can see, in this rendition of the 6 of Swords, that boat and its passenger are heading towards home. The hearth fires are lit and the welcome mat is out. I also love that in the top right corner of the card, a bright sun is shining - the boat is leaving the clouds and heading to such beauty.

So that’s your first one done. Tell me in the comments: who did you pull for, and what card showed up? I read every single reply, and I’ll help you puzzle out anything that left you scratching your head.

Nancy

P.S. Next week - What Your Wallet is Trying to Tell You

Our Private Group Chat is open to all subscribers in June. Please tell us something about you and what you hope to learn on Ancestral Tarot with Nancy Hendrickson.

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You send the question. The longest day of the year answers it.

June 21 is the longest day of the year. The sun climbs higher than it does on any other morning, stops up at the top of the sky, then begins its slow walk back toward the dark half of the year. That arc is the shape of this reading.

I’m opening a small round of solstice readings, and here’s how they work.

You send me your question. Any question. Love, work, a move you’re chewing on, the retirement you can’t quite picture yet. It doesn’t have to be tidy. I lay five cards in a low arc across the longest day and read your question through the sun’s path from sunrise to sunset.

The five cards

The spread tracks the solstice sun across the sky, and each position answers a different part of your question:

• Sunrise: where your question actually stands today, no spin.

• Climbing Sun: what’s already growing around it, whether you tend it or not.

• High Noon: the brightest light of the year, and the truth it shows you that you’ve been squinting past.

• Turning Light: what to set down now that the days start shortening. The load that’s done its work.

• Sunset: what ripens through the rest of summer if you follow the light.

It reads like a story because it is one. The first cards build, the middle one tells you the truth, and the last two carry the turn toward what’s coming.

What you get

You get a written reading delivered straight to your inbox, plus a summary that pulls the whole arc together.

Then you get two things to carry past the page. First, your one step: a single, concrete move pulled from your cards, the thing to actually do this week. No vague advice, just the next move.

Then your solstice ritual, written for you and timed to the longest day. On June 21, near sunset, you’ll light a candle and send off the one thing your cards asked you to set down, in a small bit of spellwork you can do at the kitchen window in a pinch. It’s the difference between reading your cards once and living them.

You can read it at the kitchen table with your coffee, sit with it, and come back to it all summer. The sun’s at its peak just once a year. A reading from that day is worth keeping.

The practical part

Readings are $125, and all will be completed by Summer Solstice. I’ll be cutting off the order date on June 16, just to give me time to complete the readings.

When you sign up, send me your question. Sageandshadow@gmail.com DO NOT FORGET TO DO THIS.

ORDER HERE

So. What’s the knot you’d hand to the longest day of the year? Send it my way, and let’s see what the sun has to say about it.

June 21, 2026, is the longest day of the year, when the sun climbs to its highest point in the sky before the light starts pulling us back toward winter. On that day, at 5PM Pacific (8 Eastern), master Lenormandist Erika Robinson will give a presentation to paid subscribers on using this 36-card system for mediumship. This is one you don’t want to miss.

If you don’t know Erika, she hosts the popular YouTube channel In the Company of Cards, along with writing a Substack of the same name. She brings years of experience, having worked with Lenormand on everything from political predictions to everyday life questions.

Before the event, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Erika’s book, The Language of Lenormand. (Optional) This gives you a few weeks to become a bit familiar with the system. Also, please bring a Lenormand deck with you, too. Any deck will do, though if you’d prefer Erika’s own Lenormand of Hope, you can purchase a copy from our friends at La Panthere Studio.

If you’re brand new to the system and want to quickly learn as much as possible, watch Erika’s YouTube channel, as she does several political readings each week.

Her presentation will include a Q&A period; thanks for bringing your Lenormand questions.

Again, although all the June posts are free to everyone, this presentation is a benefit for paid subscribers only. If you have a free subscription but would like to attend, you can upgrade to paid for a single month.

Please Note: The Zoom link to Erika’s presentation will be emailed to paid subscribers on June 20. Be looking for my email.

Nancy

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All of the posts in June are free in honor of the solstice and my ancestors, as is access to the Community Chat.

As you read this month’s Witch’s Ledger, you’ll see that it’s exceptionally long; I encourage you to do the exercises in four pieces, ending by Solstice. The sections:

• June Witch of Summer Solstice

• Solar Charm and Yellow Candle

• Honest Audit

• Solstice Altar Reset

This month’s witch doesn’t arrive quietly. She arrives for the longest day of the year with the sun at full height and no apology for how much light she brings.

The Witch of the Summer Solstice is the ancestor who knew her own power and used it. Not for show or to impress anyone. She understood that visibility isn’t vanity. It’s responsibility. You can’t do much that’s useful from the shadows, and she was done being useful in the dark.

Every matriarchal line has one. She might be several generations back. She might be someone no one talked about, because women who know their own power have a way of being edited out of family stories. She’s there. This month we find her and find out what she’s been holding for you.

June is your month to stop practicing your ancestral work in private and start letting it count for something.

Finding Her: The June 1st Practice

Before you do anything else this month, you need to locate her in your line. This takes some deliberate thought, and it’s worth sitting with rather than rushing.

Go through what you know of your matriarchal line, your mother’s side, your grandmothers, the women you’ve traced through your own research. You’re looking for the one who fits one or more of these:

• she ran something, a household, a business, a community role, even informally.

• she made decisions that other people followed.

• she had a skill or knowledge that set her apart.

• she was described in ways that weren’t entirely comfortable, too much, too strong, difficult, proud.

• she left something behind, a thing she built, even a story that survived.

If you find her in your documented line, write her full name, her dates, and what you know of her in your Ledger. If you can’t find a specific person, write what you sense: the shape of her, the era she might have lived in, what she might have done. Ancestral work doesn’t require a paper trail to be real.

If you get stuck, get your pendulum and start asking about specific time frames and/or places she might have lived.

Now set up her space on your altar. A photograph if you have one, her name on paper if you don’t. And if you have no photo and no name, just add a descriptor on a piece of paper that feels right. Add a yellow or gold candle. Add one object that represents authority to you: a key, a coin, a piece of amber, a brass object, anything that reads as power rather than sentiment.

Light the candle and introduce yourself. Tell her what you’re working on this month. Not what you hope for. What you’re actually doing. She’ll want the honest version.

The Solstice Sun Practice

The summer solstice is three weeks out. Between now and then, spend at least one morning outside in the early sun, before the day gets busy. Ten minutes is enough. You’re not meditating. You’re not doing a formal ritual. You’re just standing in the light with your face up and thinking about what visibility has cost the women in your line and what it might make available to you.

If you can do this on multiple mornings, do it. The Witch of the Summer Solstice worked with accumulated light, not single moments. Notice what comes up across those mornings. Write it down when you get back inside.

The Spread: What She’s Handing You

Shuffle with this question: What power have I inherited that I haven’t fully picked up yet?

Card 1 — The Light What are you being called to step into this month?

Card 2 — The Shadow What does that light ask you to look at honestly?

Card 3 — The Torch What does the Witch of the Summer Solstice need you to carry forward?

Journal Prompt

Write about one woman in your line who knew what she was doing and did it anyway. She doesn’t have to be someone you admired. She just has to have owned something: a skill, a decision, a room, a way of moving through the world. What did she carry that you recognize in yourself?

The Solar Charm and the Yellow Candle

The Witch of the Summer Solstice worked with what was available. She didn’t wait for the right tools or the right moment. The solstice arrives on its own schedule whether you’re ready or not, and she knew how to meet it.

Now, you’re making a solar charm. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. It needs to be intentional.

What You Need

A yellow candle. Small is fine. A piece of paper. Something gold, orange, or yellow you can hold: a coin, a button, a dried flower, a small stone. String or a ribbon if you have it.

The Work

On the piece of paper, write the name of the ancestor you’re working with this month. If you don’t have a name, write a description: The one who knew her own power. The woman who didn’t wait for permission. Fold the paper around your gold object. Tie it if you can. This is your solar charm. It goes on your altar for the month.

Light the yellow candle. Hold the charm in both hands and think or say what you’re calling in this June. Not what you hope for in vague terms. Something specific. A project, a decision, a capacity you’re ready to stop pretending you don’t have.

Let the candle burn as long as you can. Leave the charm on your altar until June 21st - Summer Solstice or Litha.

The Spread: What the Fire Shows

Shuffle while keeping your charm nearby and ask: What am I ready to stop keeping to myself?

Card 1 — The Flame What’s been burning in you that you haven’t let show?

Card 2 — The Fuel What ancestral resource is available to feed it?

Card 3 — The Heat What will change when you stop containing it?

Journal Prompt

What would you do this month if you stopped treating your practice as something private and personal and started treating it as something that mattered beyond yourself?

The Honest Audit

The solstice arrives on June 21. This is the moment the Witch of the Summer Solstice asks the question nobody likes: what are you actually doing with what you’ve been given?

Not what you intend to do. Not what you’ve been meaning to do. What you’re doing.

This isn’t a guilt exercise. It’s a practitioner’s audit. The Witch of the Summer Solstice didn’t have patience for the gap between intention and action, and she won’t be particularly interested in your reasons for it. The sun doesn’t negotiate about whether to rise. She didn’t either.

Three Questions for Your Ledger

Which ancestor relationship has genuinely deepened in the first half of this year? You’ll know because that ancestor shows up more clearly in your readings, you have a stronger felt sense of who they actually were, and you’re not just lighting a candle but having a real conversation.

Which relationship has stalled? These are the ones you set up with care but haven’t activated. The photo’s on the altar. The candle gets lit occasionally. But there’s no real exchange happening.

Which ancestor have you been avoiding? Most practitioners have at least one. Write that name down even if you go no further today. Recognition is the first step and sometimes the hardest one.

The Solstice Fire Practice

This week you’re going to write two lists. You’ll need the yellow candle from your altar and a fireproof dish or your outdoor fire pit if you have one. If open flame isn’t possible, a candle alone will do, even a battery-powered votive.

List one goes in your Ledger and stays there: what you’re carrying forward into the second half of the year. The ancestor work that’s alive, the practices that are actually working, the things you’ve claimed in the first half of 2026 that you want to keep building. Write this list with some care. It’s a record of what’s real.

List two gets burned. Write on a separate piece of paper what you’re releasing: the practices that have become obligation without meaning, the ancestor relationships you’ve been maintaining out of guilt rather than genuine engagement, the story you’ve been telling yourself about why you haven’t gone deeper. You don’t need to write paragraphs. A few words per item is enough.

Light the yellow candle. Read the release list out loud. Then burn it in your dish. Watch it go. The Witch of the Summer Solstice understood that the peak of the light is exactly the right moment to release what you don’t want to carry into the darker half of the year, because the fire is strongest now and so are you.

The Spread: The Mid-Year Look

Shuffle with this question: What does my practice need more of, and what does it need less of?

Card 1 — What’s Working Where is your ancestral practice actually alive right now?

Card 2 — What’s Stalled What have you been tending without real attention?

Card 3 — What to Release What needs to come off the altar, literally or figuratively, before June closes?

Journal Prompt

Name one thing you’ve been calling ancestral work that’s actually just maintenance. What would it look like to go deeper with it instead of going through the motions?

The Solstice Altar Reset

Before you do the spread, reset your altar for the turn of the year.

Take everything off. Set it all aside. Wipe the surface down with your hands or a cloth. This is a physical act of acknowledgment that something is completing.

Now rebuild it deliberately. Put back only what belongs in the second half of the year. The solar charm from earlier stays, but move it to a different position, because its work is shifting from calling in to carrying forward. The ancestor you’ve been working with this month stays. Anything that belonged to the first half of the year and feels finished can come off for now.

Add one new element that represents the retreating light: something dark, deep, or autumnal alongside the gold. A dark stone, a piece of bark, a dried leaf if you have one, anything that acknowledges the year is turning. The Witch of the Summer Solstice didn’t pretend the light lasted forever. She prepared for the shift while she still had full sun to work by.

The Closing Candle

Light the yellow candle one last time. Hold the solar charm in both hands and remember what actually happened this month. Not what you hoped would happen. What you did. The conversations you had with your ancestors, the one thing you claimed that you hadn’t claimed before. Even if June felt incomplete, name what was real. Even partial work counts if you’re honest about it.

When you’re finished speaking, set the charm down on the altar and let the candle burn for as long as you can. When you snuff it out, do it with intention. That candle has done its work for this cycle.

Keep the charm on your altar through the summer. The Witch of the Summer Solstice doesn’t disappear after the solstice. She just changes what she’s asking of you.

The Spread: What You’re Carrying Forward

Shuffle with this question: What did June build in me that belongs in the second half of this year?

Card 1 — What You Claimed What did you actually step into this month, even imperfectly?

Card 2 — What She Gave You What did the Witch of the Summer Solstice put in your hands?

Card 3 — What Goes Forward What does July need you to bring?

Journal Prompt

Write the name of the ancestor you worked with this month and a few sentences about what she handed you. Not what you hope she handed you. What you actually felt, noticed, or received. Keep it honest and specific. She kept records and so should you.

Our Private Group Chat is open to all subscribers in June. Please tell us something about you and what you hope to learn on Ancestral Tarot with Nancy Hendrickson.

A Written Request, Tucked Under a Photograph

Pick up a photograph of an ancestor. Hold it for a minute.

There. Half the spellwork is done. The other half is a slip of paper, a pen, and a question you really want answered.

This is one of the simplest pieces of ancestral magic I know. You don’t need candles, oils, herbs, or a black moon. You will need one photograph, one slip of paper, and a question.

Why it works

Photographs hold attention. When an ancestor was alive, their attention was hard to come by, the same as yours and mine. A photograph is a doorway you can knock on by looking. You leave a note by writing.

The slip of paper is the part that surprises people. We assume the ancestors hear us if we think hard enough. They hear us better when we write it down. Writing is a commitment. It tells the one on the other side that you mean it.

I have done this using scans of old tintypes, on photocopies, on screen captures from Ancestry. Any image of the face works. It is all in your intent.

How to do it

You need:

• One photograph of an ancestor who passed over.

• A small slip of paper, no bigger than a business card.

• A pen.

Sit down at the kitchen table. Put the photo in front of you. Take a breath and look at the face. Long enough that you are no longer mentally drafting the grocery list.

Now write your request in one sentence. Not a paragraph. One sentence. The shorter the better.

Requests might sound like:

• Aunt Hazel, show me what I am missing about my mother’s silence.

• Grandpa, point me toward the document that tells me where you came from.

• Great-grandmother whose name I don’t know, give me a sign of your name this week.

Don’t ask something like:

• Tell me everything about our family.

• Fix my life.

Fold the slip once. Tuck it behind the photograph, or under the frame, or between the pages of the album.

Then leave it alone. Three days at least, seven is better. Check the slip when you remember it, not before.

What to watch for

A sign rarely arrives by certified mail. It arrives sideways. A song on the radio. A book that falls off the shelf. A cousin who calls out of the blue. A dream where you remember the smell of their kitchen. A document on Ancestry that you swear wasn’t there last week.

Write what you notice on the back of the slip. Date it. That is your record.

When you feel the question is answered, take the slip out, read it once, and burn it or bury it. The spellwork is closed.

Remember: You don’t need to know their name. A faceless silhouette in an old wedding photo counts. Or, someone who lived long before photography existed.

What is the first photograph you would use, and what is the one sentence you would write?

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If you’ve done any genealogical

research, you already know this truth: Women disappear.

They vanish between censuses. They change names through marriage and never change them back. They surface once in a birth record and then dissolve into someone else’s household. They leave behind children, sometimes graves, often nothing at all.

You can follow a man through land deeds, tax rolls, military records, court cases, or probate files. You can (sometimes) follow a woman until she becomes “wife of,” “mother of,” or simply stops appearing.

And it creates a specific kind of frustration for researchers. You can feel a person there, shaping generations, and yet the paper trail doesn’t acknowledge her.

That’s where psychic genealogy begins for me.

It’s not as a replacement for traditional research. But when the archive runs out, another kind of listening becomes necessary.

If you want to explore more of this world, check out my friend Carielle’s book: The Magic in Your Genes: Your Personal Path to Ancestor Work - Bringing Together the Science of DNA with the Timeless Power of Ritual and Spellcraft

Step One: Exhaust the Paper Trail First

Before I ever open a tarot deck or pick up a pendulum, I do the boring work.

[If you’ve never done this kind of research, start at FamilySearch.org. You have to register for an account but there’s no cost to search the records. If you’re not interested in research, skip ahead.]

I look for:

• Variant spellings

• Neighbors and witnesses on documents

• Children’s birthplaces

• Migration patterns

• Church records if they exist

• Probate files connected to husbands or fathers

• Household clusters in census records

Keep in mind that it was common for a woman to be the first wife of someone, but lost in records because she wasn’t the last wife.

So, I build timelines. I note gaps in records and I document every possibility.

Divination comes after documentation. Tarot and pendulum work function best when you already understand the shape of the mystery.

You’re not asking the cards to invent a woman. You’re asking them to help you locate someone who already left their fingerprints behind.

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Step Two: Tarot for Context, Not Fantasy

In this case, I was looking for the mother of Pharaby Matthews. I know absolutely nothing about her other than the fact she was a Quaker. When I turn to tarot in these cases, I don’t ask romantic questions like: “Who was she?” Instead, I start with structure:

A Simple 5-Card Spread for Missing Women

1. Her role in the lineage

2. What obscured her from records

3. The pattern she passed forward

4. Where she still lives in the family system

5. What wants acknowledgment now

✅Before you draw cards, please remember that using tarot for ancestral work is often more about trusting intuition than knowing the traditional meaning of a card.

This is what psychic genealogy looks like in practice:

Her role in the lineage came through as the Queen of Pentacles: a woman who held the material and emotional center of a large family. The Page of Wands suggested she died young, likely in childbirth, which immediately explained why she disappeared from records so completely.

The Moon pointed to the pattern she passed forward: intuitive sensitivity and psychic ability. The Knight of Wands showed how that energy still moves through the family today, as enthusiasm and a strong drive to get things done. And the Six of Cups told me she wanted acknowledgment, not biography.

For me, the Six of Cups is my ancestral card, so I understood this as her stepping forward to be recognized as part of my ancestral team.

By the way, if you like, choose a card that represents your own ancestral line. You’ll see why this matters as we go deeper. Tarot in psychic genealogy isn’t about traditional meanings, it’s about pattern recognition and relationship.

Step Three: Pendulum Work for Specificity

Tarot gives me the landscape. The pendulum helps me narrow the field.

I use the pendulum very practically here, almost like a yes/no index system.

Before doing this, be sure to calibrate your pendulum. (If you don’t know how to calibrate a pendulum, read this post)

Then I work slowly, logging answers in my notebook instead of trusting my memory.

I’m not asking for stories. I’m gathering directional information.

I ask questions like this:

• Was she a first wife?

• Did she migrate?

• Did she remarry?

• Is her disappearance connected to illness, poverty, or family rupture?

• Is her influence still active in the present generation?

Pendulum responses don’t create narratives. They provide black and white answers. Use a map and your pendulum to pin down the place she lived. After working with the pendulum, I move back into research mode.

At that point, I have several practical options:

• Ask AI what records exist for that place and time period (genealogy has been using AI tools for years for photo resolution and to help identify where records exist).

• Use the pendulum to narrow which record types are most likely to hold her name.

• Ask directly whether I’ll find her in documents at all.

• Ask whether her first name appears with one of her children.

The pendulum doesn’t replace research. It helps me decide where to look next.

That’s its job.

Why This Work Matters

Women held families together.

They raised children whose descendants are now sitting at your table. They made decisions inside societal or cultural boundaries we can barely imagine. They carried households, grief, migrations, illnesses, and hope, often without their names ever being properly recorded.

For me, these women deserve far more than footnotes or a box labeled Unknown on a family chart.

And you deserve to know whose strength you’re standing on.

Psychic genealogy isn’t about replacing records. It’s about continuing the search when history goes quiet.

If you’re looking for a woman who vanished from documentation, you may never find her in an archive. But through careful divination, pattern recognition, and practical ancestral work, you can still locate her influence. You can see how she shaped the family system. You can recognize what she passed forward. And you can decide what continues through you.

Psychic genealogy doesn’t replace research. It carries it forward, so the women who vanished from history don’t vanish from us.

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Pull up a chair. Get a cup of something warm. This one asks you to slow down for about ten minutes.

Somewhere in your lineage, someone is closer to the surface than usual. Not in a frightening way. More like the way a name suddenly comes to you while you’re washing dishes, or you find yourself reaching for a cherry scone without knowing why. Something is trying to get your attention.

This quiz won’t tell you their name or birth year. That’s what genealogy is for. What it will do is point you toward the shape of the ancestor who’s knocking right now, and then give you a three-card spread to open that conversation at your own altar.

Answer honestly. Don’t think too long. Your first instinct is the one that counts.

The Quiz

For each question, choose the answer that fits you most. Write down the letter. You’ll tally them at the end.

1. When you walk into an old family home, what pulls your attention first?

A. The kitchen, the pantry, the worn places where people gathered

B. The door to the outside, the windows facing somewhere else

C. The medicine cabinet, the garden, anything growing or healing

D. Something locked, something hidden, what they didn’t want found

E. The photographs, the letters, anything that holds a name

2. Which phrase feels most like something you inherited?

A. “We take care of our own.”

B. “There’s more out there than this.”

C. “Let me fix that for you.”

D. “I don’t care what people think.”

E. “I remember everything.”

3. When you dream about ancestors, what does the setting look like?

A. A warm interior, something cooking, someone waiting for you

B. A road, a ship, somewhere between there and here

C. A garden, a sickbed, hands doing useful work

D. A confrontation, someone holding their ground alone

E. Someone at the edge of the room, watching, not speaking

4. In a thrift store, your hand reaches first for:

A. Old linens, a casserole dish, something that lived in a kitchen

B. A map, a suitcase tag, a guidebook to somewhere far

C. An apothecary bottle, seed packets, anything herbal

D. A pamphlet, a button, a letter that cost something to write

E. A photograph album, a diary, names written inside

5. Which unexplained trait did you arrive with?

A. A deep instinct to feed, shelter, and keep people together

B. A restlessness you can’t fully name, a pull toward elsewhere

C. An instinct toward healing before you know someone needs it

D. A refusal to comply when something feels wrong, even at a cost

E. An extraordinary memory for names, dates, stories others forget

6. When family tension rises, you tend to:

A. Move toward it, try to smooth things over, offer food or practical help

B. Slip out the back, put some distance between you and the fire

C. Look for the root of it and try to address that directly

D. Name what no one else will say, even if it costs you

E. Go still, observe everything, and remember all of it later

7. What would you most want to find in a family attic?

A. A recipe box or household account book in her handwriting

B. A ticket stub or passport from a place no one knew she went

C. A bundle of dried herbs or a home remedy journal

D. A letter someone was forbidden to send, or one they received and hid

E. A box of photographs with full names and dates written on the back

8. If an ancestor left you one object, what would it be?

A. Something handmade, built with care, meant to last

B. A map or a direction: “Go there. Find out.”

C. A remedy, handwritten on a card, for something specific

D. A permission: “You don’t have to play by their rules.”

E. A name, a date, a story that needs to be told

9. At your altar or in a still moment, what do you feel most often?

A. Warmth and safety, like someone is watching over the household

B. Restlessness, like a door just opened somewhere nearby

C. A pull toward the body, health, and physical sensation

D. An edge, a sharpness, something unresolved pressing close

E. The feeling of being observed by something patient

10. Which ancestor do you think is most likely reaching out to you right now?

A. One who worries about how the family is holding together

B. One with unfinished business from a life cut short or left behind

C. One who has practical knowledge you need right now

D. One who was punished or misunderstood and wants acknowledgment

E. One who kept the family history and wants it preserved

Total your answers.

Whichever letter you chose most often is your ancestor for this reading. If you have a tie, trust your gut, or read both.

Mostly A’s: The Keeper Mostly B’s: The Wanderer Mostly C’s: The Healer Mostly D’s: The Rebel Mostly E’s: The Witness

The Keeper

She held it all together so you could fall apart safely.

The Keeper passed over with her hands still busy. She was the one who fed people when no one else thought to, who made a home out of whatever was available, who absorbed the family’s chaos so everyone else could function. She may have given more than she ever received. She’s not bitter about it.

But she has things to say about what you’re carrying right now, and whether you’re taking care of yourself the way you take care of others.

Her symbol is a worn wooden spoon, a quilt made from scraps, anything used so long it carries the shape of the person who held it.

She communicates through the domestic and the physical. Light a candle in the kitchen. Set a place at the table. Offer something you made with your own hands. She notices that kind of thing.

Her Three-Card Spread

Shuffle your deck while thinking about her. Think about the women in your line who gave without being asked. Draw three cards and lay them left to right.

Card 1: What she needs you to stop carrying alone. Look at this card honestly. The Keeper knows what you’re absorbing right now, the thing you haven’t told anyone. She’s not asking you to put it down permanently. She’s asking you to name it.

Card 2: What she’s clearing from the maternal line. This is the pattern she’s working to dissolve, something that passed from mother to daughter in your family longer than anyone remembers. It wasn’t malice. It was survival. She’s done passing it forward.

Card 3: The gift she’s leaving in its place. This is what she actually wanted for you, the version of her legacy that’s worth keeping. Whatever comes up here, it’s yours to use.

The Wanderer

She left. That was the bravest thing she ever did.

The Wanderer went somewhere. Maybe she crossed an ocean. Maybe she just left the county and never looked back. She moved toward something she couldn’t name, away from something she couldn’t stay inside of. She may have been called selfish for it. She wasn’t.

She’s reaching out now because you’re standing at a threshold she recognizes, and she wants you to know what it felt like to go.

Her symbol is a worn leather bag, a ticket stub, a map folded and refolded until the creases are soft.

She communicates through movement and open space. Take a walk somewhere unfamiliar. Open a map. Stand at a threshold, a doorway, the edge of something, and let yourself feel what’s pulling you forward. She’ll meet you there.

Her Three-Card Spread

Shuffle while you think about restlessness. Think about the ones in your family who moved, who left, who were never quite explained. Draw three cards.

Card 1: What she wants you to know about the threshold you’re standing at. She can see it even if you can’t name it yet. This card tells you what kind of crossing this actually is.

Card 2: What she’s helping you leave behind. Not what you should leave. What you’re already, whether you’ve admitted it or not, done with. She recognizes the look.

Card 3: What’s waiting on the other side. She’s been there. This card carries her report.

The Healer

People came to her door. She always answered.

The Healer knew things. She may have been the midwife, the herbalist, the neighbor people came to when the doctor was too far or too expensive. She worked with what was available: plants, hands, practical knowledge, and something harder to name. There’s no proof she was a witch. There’s also no proof she wasn’t.

She’s reaching out because something in your life right now needs practical tending, and she has knowledge you need.

Her symbol is a mortar and pestle, a bundle of dried herbs tied with cotton string, a handwritten list of remedies on the back of an envelope.

She communicates through the body and the plant world. Work with your hands. Tend something living. Make a tea. Pay attention to what your body has been trying to tell you that you’ve been too busy to hear.

Her Three-Card Spread

Shuffle while you think about the body and what it’s been carrying. Think about the healers, known and unknown, in your line. Draw three cards.

Card 1: The thing in your body or your life that she’s pointing at. She’s practical. She doesn’t waste time on what’s fine. This card is her diagnosis, not a gentle one.

Card 2: The remedy she’s offering. It won’t be complicated. It rarely is with her. This card names the direction of the tending.

Card 3: The knowledge she’s passing forward. Something she carried in her hands and her instincts. This card tells you where it lives in you now.

The Rebel

They called her difficult. She called herself honest.

The Rebel was the one who said the wrong thing at the wrong time and paid for it. She may have left a religion, a marriage, a country, or a name. She may have been the scandal the family stopped mentioning, or the one they mentioned too much. She carried a cost that others refused to pay.

She’s reaching out because you’re facing a moment that requires that same kind of clarity, and she wants you to know the price she paid was worth it.

Her symbol is an unsent letter, a name crossed out in a family Bible, anything that proves someone once stood firm.

She communicates through friction and pressure. Write the thing you haven’t been able to say out loud. Notice where you’re holding yourself back to manage someone else’s comfort. She’s not asking you to blow anything up. She’s just asking you to be honest about where you are.

Her Three-Card Spread

Shuffle while you think about the ones who paid a price for telling the truth. Think about the family stories that got quietly edited. Draw three cards.

Card 1: What she wants you to stop pretending isn’t true. She doesn’t do gentle nudges. This card names the thing you already know.

Card 2: What her courage is clearing for your line. The cost she paid wasn’t just for her. This card shows what opens up behind her.

Card 3: The permission she’s handing you. This one is specific. Whatever shows up here, she’s saying: go ahead.

The Witness

She saw everything. She’s still watching.

The Witness was still, and people mistook that for absence. She wasn’t absent. She was paying attention. She saw the family clearly, without the stories they told about themselves, and she kept what she knew. She may have been the one with the extraordinary memory, the one who wrote things down, the one who understood the shape of the family from the outside while everyone else was caught up in it.

She’s reaching out because there’s something she watched that you need to understand.

Her symbol is a photograph with names written on the back, a locked diary, anything that proves someone bore witness when others looked away.

She communicates through stillness and detail. Sit with a photograph. Pull out an old document. Let yourself notice what you’ve been too busy to see. She’ll show you where to look.

Her Three-Card Spread

Shuffle while you think about what you’ve been observing but not saying. Think about what in your family has never quite been said out loud. Draw three cards.

Card 1: What she’s been watching in your life right now. She sees what you’re managing. She’s not here to judge it. This card names what’s actually happening, under the story you’ve been telling about it.

Card 2: What she wants you to stop ignoring. It’s probably been there for a while. This card gives it a name.

Card 3: The story she wants preserved. Something from the line that needs to be written down, remembered, or spoken before it’s gone. This card points you toward it.

If you tied or couldn’t pick one:

That happens, and it’s not a flaw in your wiring. It means more than one ancestor is close to the surface right now, which is actually pretty common during times of growth or when you’re working through something layered. In a pinch, just read both archetypes and see which description is a better fit. That’s usually her. You can also pull a single card before you read and ask directly: which one is closest right now? Let the card point you toward the spread you need.

Which ancestor showed up for you? I’d love to know. Drop it in the comments, along with the card that landed hardest in your spread. I was almost tied between the Keeper and the Witness; the Witness won out.

If I were to ask you to choose

one tarot or oracle card to represent the thing you’ve been trying to accomplish forever, which one would it be?

Don’t choose a card for the problems you’ve faced, but one that symbolizes how you would feel if that thing ever came true.

Go ahead, grab a deck and pull that card out now.

For me, an abundance of good health would be the Queen of Pentacles. (BTW, I love the modern image above of Queen Elizabeth I - it looks so Pentacle-ish to me.) This is such a long-lived ancestral issue, I want to be the one to break the pattern.

Okay, do you have your card?

Next, place your chosen card face up

and shuffle the rest of the deck. You’re going to draw four cards (from the top, the bottom, or randomly - your choice) and place one to the center card’s right, one below, one left, and one above. The layout should look like this:

Before going further, let me explain the theory behind the spread. We may want something that’s really good for us, but for some reason it doesn’t happen. I think it’s because not all parts of us really want it, for one reason or another. This spread will show you which part of you isn’t on board with the desire or the goal.

The card to the right represents the Yang part of you - the action-oriented, ‘let’s get it done’, jump right in person. Below is the Child-like you - the one who is innocent and is easily frightened. To the left is the Yin you - the nurturing, loving, accepting one. And, above, is your inner Sage. This is the wise woman (man) part of who you are.

Got it?

The Assessment

Now, as you look at my 5-card spread, what do you notice? The Child and the Sage are totally on board. In fact, the child is urging me to move forward with health issues, while the Sage is counseling me that not all good things ripen overnight. Patience, grasshopper. I’m not worried about either part of me.

But can you see the two problem parts? Yes, the Yang and the Yin. The Yang part of me is saying:

Let’s do it now (Tower) and let’s do it in the extreme . . . stop screwing around and hand me the dynamite. (So much for patience).

On the other side, the Yin side is saying (and I actually heard this in my mind) ‘well, f*** it. . . here we go again’. She’s sick and tired of me trying to solve this particular equation.

We could stop there and ponder, but this is an open-ended spread. It means you can draw as many cards as you like for clarification. And so I did.

As I had no worries about the Child & Sage, I only drew cards to give me a sense of right action.

The Tower wants to blow everything up . . . Kabook! And the Queen of Wands is actually agreeing, but in a far less extreme way. She is definitely an action Queen and has mastered fire and her psychic ability (the black cat). And, if I have to tell the truth, I am drawn to extremes when it comes to health issues. Clearly, I missed the Virgo handbook.

Because this is an open-ended spread, I could pull more cards - which I actually did but didn’t photograph them. Bottom line: Doing something extreme is in my nature and right now I’m exploring intermittent fasting, which is extreme for me.

Try the Ancestral Cairn Spread for deep clarity.

But how about that Yin 9 of Wands?

So perfect to have drawn the 7 of Cups as a clarifier as it perfectly mirrors how shillyshally I am about which direction to go, health-wise. I drew another card (Death) which, together with the 7, told me that I had to make a choice if I wanted real transformation. Why? The Star (Major Arcana XVII). When Erika asked me how I saw the Star I said it was someone who inspired others.

“Ah-ha!” she said. “Others”. How about inspiring you?

(Okay, that may not be an exact quote but the sentiment is all hers.)

I nourish my mind and my soul. Why, then is the body ignored?

One last card. King of Cups. Is the answer that I’m lacking self-love? Hmmm.

If that’s so, what to do about it? I drew the Knight of Wands.

He’s on fire to take action, but do you notice that his body is protected with armor? Okay, now I think I’m getting somewhere.

I’m going to keep working with this group of cards until I have a definitive ‘first step forward’. I also drew a card from Ancestral Magick to see if a bit of woo could help. Interestingly, I drew the Sigil card: Creating a symbolic representation of what I want.

Wrapping this up,

this spread is meant to identify which part/s of you is not on board with achieving whatever that thing is that you want.

In my many years of using this spread, it’s fairly common for some kind of fear to come up with the Child card, along with a sense of overwork with the Yin card. But, as you can see in my spread, this Child is suited up and ready to go. Reminds me of my tree-climbing, rebellious self. (Remind me to tell you about the time I jumped out of a moving car because I didn’t want to go to school.)

Try this spread for yourself. At its most basic, it’s a four-card spread with a fifth card chosen by you (the central card). Identify the discontents, then begin asking questions and don’t stop til you have an actionable first step forward.

Thanks for leaving a comment - I’d love to know what you think of this spread.

Nancy

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You probably know I don’t love drawing cards for ‘the collective’. But I do love drawing an Ancestral Magick card to see what energy is coming in. That way we can each work with it in a way that fits our own life.

This week the Innocent came calling.

Here’s the most important thing this card can tell you: There was a version of you that trusted completely. That was before disappointments stacked up or before you learned to read the room or the neighborhood for danger.

The Innocent is pulling that original version of you forward this week.

This card isn’t asking you to be naive. It’s asking you to notice where you’ve built walls that are now costing you more than they’re protecting you. This could look like:

• A relationship where you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.

• A creative project you won’t start because you’re already bracing for failure.

• A conversation you keep postponing because you’ve already decided how it ends.

Your ancestors knew this energy. Every single one of them had to trust something or someone before they had any proof it was safe. That’s how lineages survive.

This week, pick one place where you’ve been armored longer than necessary. Not forever. Just for Tuesday or Saturday. See what happens when you show up without the shield.

The Innocent doesn’t promise it won’t hurt. It just reminds you that trust was your original factory setting.

What would you do this week if you weren’t already expecting it to go wrong?

Nancy

P.S. This week's Dark Moon Omen went out to paid subscribers yesterday. Join them for less than a cup of upscale coffee.

Tonight the Dark Moon brings the Omen of Perspective

When I was a kid I used to sit upside down in a chair and imagine what it would be like to walk on the ceiling. The Hanged Man is a bit like that. In his hanging, he has no choice than to see the world from a different perspective. Our Omen this month is a polite request to change your viewpoint - and not just from things like ‘what’s for dinner’, but instead, how you go through the world.

The Omen of Perspective is advising us to check ourselves:

• how do we relate to those we love

• how do we relate to strangers?

• do we say hello to the grocery clerk

• are we convinced that one way is the only way

• are we staying in a relationship way past the sell-by date

• do we need more education in a different field

And here’s the ancestral layer: somewhere in your family tree is someone who refused to change their perspective, who held so tightly to one way of seeing that it cost them something real. A relationship or perhaps an opportunity. You may have inherited a stubbornness that looked like loyalty, or principle, or just the way things are done. But tonight the Dark Moon is asking whether that inheritance is serving you or whether it’s just familiar.

The question the Hanged Man poses isn’t difficult. It’s just uncomfortable. What would you see if you stopped insisting on the view you already have?

This month you have two pathways to honor this Omen: the pathway of the Achiever, and the pathway of Bird. And Bird being an omen unto itself makes this month’s pairing a particularly interesting one.

Paid subscribers get the full breakdown: what each choice means, and the action that follows. Not there yet? Try paid for a month. If you don’t like it, stop.

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What is Calling You?

Take the quiz to find your native entry point into sensing the Unseen or the not-yet-obvious.

Choose the answer that feels most true in your bones, not the one that sounds impressive.
Keep a tally: A, B, C, D, E, or F.

Question 1

When the unseen wants your attention, you tend to notice:
A. Sudden chills, static, or shadows changing shape
B. Vivid or recurring dreams
C. Objects falling, shifting, appearing, disappearing
D. Animals staring, winds changing, trees whispering
E. Lyrics, humming, melodies, rhythms, or spoken phrases
F. Ancestor pull — dates, bloodline stories, photographs, surnames

Question 2

You trust a message most when it feels:
A. Electric and undeniable
B. Like a scene, symbol, or story
C. Tangible, physical, or impossible to brush off
D. Rooted in earth, body, and nature’s timing
E. Rhythmic or repeating through sound
F. Connected to memory, lineage, or bone-deep familiarity

Question 3

Your earliest strange experience involved:
A. Sensing presence
B. Dreaming something that later came true
C. A physical object behaving oddly
D. An animal acting like a messenger
E. Hearing what no one else heard
F. Feeling watched by someone long-gone, but beloved

Question 4

If a door appeared in front of you, you’d check:
A. What stands behind you
B. The symbols carved into it
C. The hinge, lock, and weight
D. The soil beneath it
E. Whether it hums or sings
F. Who walked through it before you

Question 5

You are most haunted by:
A. What cannot be proven but won’t leave
B. The dream you forgot too soon
C. The thing that moved when no one touched it
D. The feeling that nature knows your name
E. A voice you once heard that no one else did
F. A family story that feels unfinished

Question 6

Your relationship with silence is:
A. The beginning of everything
B. A screen waiting for images
C. Suspicious
D. Medicine
E. A tuning fork
F. A prayer

Question 7

When you are very tired, your perception becomes:
A. Shadow-sensitive
B. Myth-saturated
C. Poltergeist-adjacent
D. Animal-aware
E. Whisper-ready
F. Ancestor-thin

Question 8

Your psychic fear is:
A. Seeing something fully
B. Not being able to un-see what the dream meant
C. Feeling something grab back
D. Misinterpreting a natural sign
E. The message coming through too clearly
F. Meeting someone from your own bloodline who is not friendly

Question 9

The message “door” that always works for you is:
A. Shadow + heat
B. Dream + symbol
C. Object + movement
D. Weather + animal
E. Song + repetition
F. Family + memory

Question 10

If the veil opened right now, you’d hope for:
A. A shape
B. A story
C. A sign
D. A guide
E. A voice
F. A reunion

Results: Your Native Doorway

Mostly A — The Shadow Door
You are fluent in edges and echoes. Your gift is peripheral sight, where truth arrives sideways. You do not chase meaning; it comes to you when you’re still. You are the one spirits approach first because you react, not perform. Your work is to learn discernment without dread.

Mostly B — The Dream Door
You travel without leaving the bed. Stories seek you because they know you will carry them intact. You are a myth-breather, a translator of archetype, metaphor, and pulsing image. You don’t receive messages — you live inside them.

Mostly C — The Object Door
You interact with spirits through matter. Objects bend, hold charge, or wake when you are near. You are a threshold-touching medium, where the invisible borrows the physical to speak. You should never apologize for noticing the impossible.

Mostly D — The Nature Door
You meet the unseen in land, branch, water, and wing. You are a field-sensitive soul, attuned to atmospheric truth. Spirit doesn’t “visit” you — you stand in a world where everything is already alive.

Mostly E — The Sound Door
You are wired to hear what others filter out: tones, click, breath, cadence, hum. Spirit knows you through rhythm. Yours is the auditory threshold, where messages are not seen or felt — they are remembered by the ear.

Mostly F — The Ancestor Door
You are contacted through blood, memory, ritual objects, and old paper. Your gifts are inheritance-linked, and the dead consider you reachable by name, grief, or vow. Your work is not about ghosts — it is about unfinished lineage.

The Truth About Doorways

• Not all mediums are meant to see.

• Not all seers are meant to hear.

• Not all intuitives must leave their bodies to travel.

The Unseen chooses the channel you can easily access.

Each doorway has its own:

1. Strength

2. Vulnerability

3. Training path

4. Boundary requirement

5. Warning sign

Below are the deeper teachings for each.

The Shadow Door — Depth Notes

Strength: Reads between worlds without forcing focus
Vulnerability: Fear becomes a magnet
Training: Practice soft-gaze witnessing
Boundary: Close your field before sleep
Warning: Curiosity can turn into hyper-vigilance

Ritual seed: Light behind you, no lamp in front.

The Dream Door — Depth Notes

Strength: Multidimensional narrative intelligence
Vulnerability: Symbol-addiction, meaning-inflation
Training: Title every dream, never interpret immediately
Boundary: A dream journal is not a prophecy ledger
Warning: Beware of “I was meant to…”

Ritual seed: Place a cup of water beneath the bed, not beside it.

The Object Door — Depth Notes

Strength: Mediumship through matter
Vulnerability: Fixation on physical proof
Training: Work with one object at a time
Boundary: Touch is consent — for both sides
Warning: Repeating tests damage the bridge

Ritual seed: Choose a keeper object, one that feels magical

The Nature Door — Depth Notes

Strength: Regulates with land, communicates without language
Vulnerability: Romanticizing signs and neglecting logic
Training: Observe, don’t request
Boundary: Never demand from wild spirits
Warning: A message is not the same as a mission

Ritual seed: Leave offerings that decompose, not dominate.

The Sound Door — Depth Notes

Strength: Receives through vibration rather than vision
Vulnerability: Misattribution to imagination or mental noise
Training: Note tone first, meaning second
Boundary: No listening sessions when emotionally raw
Warning: Volume ≠ authority

Ritual seed: Hum back only if you feel steadied, not stirred.

The Ancestor Door — Depth Notes

Strength: Receives lineage-specific instruction
Vulnerability: Enmeshment or inherited guilt
Training: Distinguish blood from burden
Boundary: You are allowed to refuse ancestral work
Warning: Family is not always kin

Ritual seed: Honor only names you would invite to dinner.

Doorway Essentials: A Clear Guide to Your Type

Now that you know which doorway fits you, the next step is understanding what to do with it; how it works, what to watch for, how to strengthen it, and how to set clear boundaries. The section below breaks that down in plain language so you can use your doorway as a reliable skill rather than a confusing experience. I am making this free for all subscribers.

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The Shadow Door

How This Doorway Works

You read the “in-between” of a situation — tone, mood, energy shifts, patterns, and what’s not said. It’s a peripheral form of intuition, like catching something out of the corner of your awareness before it fully forms.

What to Watch For

Aligned signs:

• You get quiet nudges that feel neutral, not dramatic.

• You notice patterns or emotional weather in a room without trying.

• Your insights land suddenly and feel simple, not cinematic.

Distorted signs:

• You start scanning for danger instead of information.

• You feel flooded, jumpy, or overly responsible for everyone’s mood.

• You confuse intuition with anxiety.

Strengthening Practice

Once a day, take 2 minutes to observe something without naming it — a room, a conversation, even the sky. Let details come to you naturally rather than hunting for them. This builds trust in your natural “soft focus.”

Boundary Script

“My field closes now. What’s mine stays mine; what’s not mine returns where it belongs.”

Do / Don’t

Do: Step back and let information arrive.
Don’t: Chase meaning — it becomes noise.

The Dream Door

How This Doorway Works

Your primary doorway opens when your conscious mind is off-duty. Information comes through symbols, themes, repetition, and emotional tone — not literal events.

What to Watch For

Aligned signs:

• Dreams feel like messages without pressure.

• Certain symbols repeat, but they don’t feel urgent.

• You wake with clarity, not confusion.

Distorted signs:

• You interpret too quickly and inaccurately.

• You assume every dream is a prophecy.

• You feel responsible for “catching” something important.

Strengthening Practice

Write a short title for each dream within 30 seconds of waking. Not an interpretation — just a label. This creates structure without obsession.

Boundary Script

“I welcome what teaches me. Everything else can fade.”

Do / Don’t

Do: Work with themes over time.
Don’t: Treat dreams as assignments.

The Object Door

How This Doorway Works

You pick up information through physical items — texture, history, weight, temperature, or emotional residue. Objects act as bridges or anchors, not props.

What to Watch For

Aligned signs:

• You sense simple, grounded impressions.

• Objects feel “quiet” until you connect.

• Information feels steady, not dramatic.

Distorted signs:

• You test yourself repeatedly to “prove” it.

• You cling to artifacts for validation.

• You get overwhelmed holding too many items at once.

Strengthening Practice

Choose a single object (stone, key, heirloom). Hold it for 60 seconds daily and notice one detail you didn’t catch the day before. No stories — just impressions.

Boundary Script

“I open to this object only when I choose. I close now.”

Do / Don’t

Do: Build trust with one dedicated object.
Don’t: Jump between items looking for big results.

The Nature Door

How This Doorway Works

Your intuition syncs with natural environments. You read shifts in weather, movement, animal behavior, and landscape the way others read text.

What to Watch For

Aligned signs:

• You feel steadier outside or near natural elements.

• Messages come as gentle recognition, not theatrics.

• You sense when the land feels “open” or “quiet.”

Distorted signs:

• You over-assign meaning to every bird or leaf.

• You confuse coincidence with instruction.

• You forget to use logic.

Strengthening Practice

Pick one natural place — your yard, a park, a tree outside a window. Visit daily or weekly and notice patterns: light, movement, sound. Familiarity sharpens your doorway.

Boundary Script

“I listen when the land calls. I don’t demand answers.”

Do / Don’t

Do: Let nature teach through consistency.
Don’t: Treat signs like orders.

The Sound Door

How This Doorway Works

You receive through tone, vibration, cadence, and subtle auditory impressions. Meaning arrives second — the sound is the medium.

What to Watch For

Aligned signs:

• You notice tone shifts more than word choice.

• You pick up on emotional truth quickly.

• Sounds feel supportive or neutral, never aggressive.

Distorted signs:

• You doubt yourself constantly (“Was that real?”).

• You interpret every random noise as a message.

• You listen when overwhelmed, which distorts everything.

Strengthening Practice

Once a day, sit for one minute and listen for the farthest sound you can hear, then the closest. This organizes your auditory field and reduces confusion.

Boundary Script

“I’m not listening right now.” (Simple, effective, and enough.)

Do / Don’t

Do: Prioritize tone before meaning.
Don’t: Seek messages when you’re dysregulated.

The Ancestor Door

How This Doorway Works

Information comes through lineage — memory, values, patterns, stories, or a sense of presence. It’s a relational doorway, not a job description.

What to Watch For

Aligned signs:

• You feel supported, not obligated.

• Messages feel like nudges, not assignments.

• You sense clarity about what is “yours” and what is not.

Distorted signs:

• You feel responsible for healing everyone.

• You confuse inherited emotion with intuitive instruction.

• You forget you’re allowed to say no.

Strengthening Practice

Choose one ancestor (even one you never met) and dedicate a weekly check-in: light a candle, ask one simple question, and listen for familiar patterns — not supernatural theatrics.

Boundary Script

“I honor my line, but I choose my work.”

Do / Don’t

Do: Distinguish lineage support from family trauma.
Don’t: Accept every ancestral request as yours to carry.

At the end of the day . . .

your doorway isn’t something you have to master so much as something you learn to work with. It’s a pattern, a language, a way your mind and intuition naturally organize information.

When you understand how it operates it stops feeling like something unpredictable and starts becoming a steady companion. Use what fits, ignore what doesn’t, and let this be one more tool that makes your inner world a little clearer and your outer life a little easier to navigate.

xo

Nancy

What landed for you here? Tell me in the comments—I read every one.

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Ten Cards to Mark Your Way

There’s a reason hikers have stacked stones for thousands of years. A cairn doesn’t shout directions - it simply says someone passed here before you, and this is the way. In fact, in my experience, every cairn is a message from someone who walked before you. And some of those walkers shared your blood. This spread is fantastic for those times you feel you’ve lost your way.

The Layout

Stack your cards like stones, bottom to top:

7 8 9 Beacon Stones
4 5 6 Way-Finding Stones 10 Ancestral Stone
1 2 3 Foundation Stones

Three tiers. Ten positions. Each one a stone you’re placing with intention.

How to Work the Spread

Set the scene. Place a single real stone or crystal beside your deck to anchor the reading. If you work with ancestors, invite the wise ones of your line to witness the stacking.

Shuffle with intent.

Deal the cards face-down in three rows of three (1–3 bottom, 4–6 middle, 7–9 top), with a 10th card placed to the side. Then turn them over row by row, bottom to top. Build your cairn before you read it.

Optional: if you like, you can place a small stone on top of or below each card.

Foundation Stones: What Steadies Me

These three cards sit at the base. They’re what you’re standing on whether you realize it or not.

Position 1: Bedrock
The deep truth you stand on.
Journaling cue: “When I remember this truth, I feel…”

Position 2: Weight
A burden or belief you’re carrying.
Journaling cue: “Its story began when…”

Position 3: Ancestral Root
A hidden resource or gift carried forward through your line.
Journaling cue: “I can tap this gift by…”

Way-Finding Stones: How I Navigate Now

The middle tier is about movement—where you’re headed and what helps you get there.

Position 4: Compass
The direction your heart wants next.
Journaling cue: “I’m pulled toward…”

Position 5: Trail Sign
What to pay close attention to in the present.
Journaling cue: “I commit to noticing…”

Position 6: Fellow Traveler
An ally, habit, or practice that helps you move.
Journaling cue: “I’ll invite or support this by…”

Beacon Stones: Clarity Emerging

The top tier is what you’re building toward. These cards catch the light.

Position 7: Summit View
The larger perspective coming into focus.
Journaling cue: “From up here I see…”

Position 8: Action Cairn
A tangible step that honors the whole stack.
Journaling cue: “My next right action is…”

Position 9: Lightkeeper
How to keep the path lit going forward.
Journaling cue: “I sustain clarity by…”

Ancestor Stone: Remembrance

Position 10: The Ancestor
Who in your family line is with you in building the cairn?
Journaling cue: What do my ancestors want me to remember as I navigate this path?"

Photo capture: Snap a picture of the spread. Revisit it in a week to notice what shifted. The cards won’t change, but you will.

When you feel the reading is complete, gather the cards, thanking each “stone” for its guidance. Touch your real stone and thank those who walked before you for leaving their markers on your path

Keep the stone on your desk or altar as a living cairn until you feel the spread’s work is complete. You’ll know when. The path will feel clear again, and you can release the stone back to ordinary duty.

When Stacey Williams-Ng and I created the Ancestral Magick Oracle, the Outlaw card was of an actual outlaw - Laura Bullion, a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang. Stacey lives near the cemetery where Laura is buried, so there was a personal connection for her right from the start.

But why did I keep drawing this card over-and-over for months on end?

Finally, I realized it was my grandfather knocking on my virtual door. Stay with me here for a sec and let me explain.

My grandfather died a month or so after I was born, so obviously I didn’t know him. But I heard plenty of stories, from his love of drinking homemade wine to being robbed on the road thanks to the big fake diamond ring he wore.

But about a week ago a memory came flying back to me. According to my aunt, Grandpa said the Hendricksons he knew of were “all a bunch of horse thieves”. The penny dropped. You can see why the Outlaw card makes sense here, right?

After that realization, I was sure that Grandpa had a message for me. Interestingly, I haven’t heard a word from him since I wrote Ancestral Tarot. Since he came through the Ancestral Magick deck I decided to use the same deck to try and capture his message. You can do the same using any deck you feel is right for you.

The Process

I know there’s a deeper conversation waiting, but for now I just wanted a peek at why he’s been trying to contact me. You might approach your ancestor differently, but this is what worked for me.

I drew three cards:

1. Why are you contacting me - Conjure

2. What do you want me to do - Alchemy

3. Where is this journey taking me - Storyteller

This was quite startling. Here’s what I got: He said I was the one who conjured him! I realized it was true as I had been asking for an ancestor to come through who could help me with a specific issue. I guess I sent out the invitation and he answered - but I wasn’t paying attention.

His message was Alchemy (what he wanted me to do). Alchemy is turning one thing into something else; so he’s telling me my current state regarding this issue really has to be transmuted if I want to achieve the Storyteller.

Now here’s where it gets personal. Being a person who tells stories wasn’t the real message. He was showing me this card as a kind of faery humor. The person in the card is actually me from about 20 years ago. Significantly lighter, both in pounds, energy, and adventurousness. He’s telling me that I need to change from my current state into something else in order to reach that earlier version of me.

When I asked from what to what, the cards were Offering and Folk Magick. In other words, move from being a passive magician to an active one - and I mean physically active. When I asked how, his answer was this:

As you can see, the Hero card pictures Rosa Parks, most famous for refusing to give up her ‘white’ seat on the bus. She was brave enough to do something that was right and just, even though it was dangerous and probably scary. But she remained in the seat.

Am I ready to do something that falls way outside my comfort zone? That’s the question, isn’t it?

What Should You Do?

If you keep pulling the same card and you’re not sure what it means, don’t just shuffle it back and move on. Draw a confirmation card and ask your deck straight out: “Is this card meant for me right now?” A yes card, a card of clarity, or even another card that echoes the same theme is your answer.

If you work with a pendulum, this is exactly the moment to bring it out. Hold it over the repeating card and ask whether an ancestor is trying to get your attention. You might be surprised how quickly you get a clear swing.

The thing is, your ancestors aren’t going to give up just because you’re confused or distracted. They’ll keep showing up in your draws until you stop and listen. So when a card won’t stop following you around, treat it like a knock at the door, because that’s probably what it is. Sit down, pull a few more cards, ask your pendulum, and let the conversation begin. Your people have been waiting a long time to talk to you, and they’re pretty patient. But they’re also pretty persistent. I found that out today.

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Nancy

P.S. If this sounds familiar, leave a comment with your recurring card and the ancestor you think it could be.

The Second of the Seasonal Gates presentations for paid subscribers will be on Saturday, June 20, 2026, Solstice Eve.

The presentation is by Erika Robinson and will be on using Lenormand for Mediumship. Erika is known both for her Lenormand expertise and her political readings on YouTube. She is considered one of the best Lenormand readers in the world. I’m thrilled she agreed to join us for Solstice Eve.

Erika’s presentation will be on Saturday, June 20, 2026, at 5:00 pm Pacific (7 Central, 8 Eastern).

I’m posting this far in advance to give you a chance to learn something about this 36-card system before the presentation. You’ll need a Lenormand deck for the class. Erika’s book, The Language of Lenormand, is also helpful, but not a requirement.

You can use any Lenormand deck, but if you’d like to have Erika’s, it’s available at La Panthere Studio.

Bring to class any questions you want to ask Erika about the system and about using the cards to communicate with those across the veil. This will be another amazing evening.

Nancy

You know this one.

Every family has one, even if nobody called them that.

She was the woman the neighbors came to before they called the doctor - if there even was a doctor within twenty miles. She knew which poultice to apply, of which prayer to say over a fever in the middle of the night. The healers operated at the intersection of practical knowledge and something older, and they were careful about who saw which side of their work.

Some of them were midwives. Some were herbalists. Some just had hands that knew things. Many of them were never written down as anything other than “wife” or “daughter” if the records found them at all.

What they carry: Generations of accumulated knowledge passed down hand-to-hand. The understanding that the body and the spirit are not separate problems. The responsibility of being the one people came to in the dark.

What they need: To be named. To be acknowledged as the professional they actually were, without credentials, without recognition, often without payment. They need you to say out loud that what they did was skilled work, not luck or superstition.

What they offer: Direct access to embodied ancestral wisdom. If you work with plant medicine, body work, energy healing, midwifery, nursing, therapy, or any practice that takes care of living bodies, this ancestor is already in your corner. You didn’t come to this work from nowhere.

How to find the Healer in your tree

Look for women listed as “nurse” or “midwife” in census records. Look for men with large land holdings that included gardens or orchards in regions without nearby medical infrastructure. Look for the person everyone in the family story seems to orbit around during illness or birth or death. They’re there. They may not have a title but they have a pattern.

This month’s practice: Light a candle and say the names of everyone in your line who tended the sick, delivered the babies, or sat with the dying. Then pay attention to your own hands this month. They remember more than you think.

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This month we work with The Weaver of the Wild Rose

Don’t mistake her for softness. The wild rose isn’t a garden rose. It grows where it hasn’t been invited, blooms without anyone’s permission, and defends itself with thorns that mean exactly what they look like.

She wove with deliberate arrangement of what was available to her. She made patterns. She understood that the way something holds together can itself be a form of meaning.

She exists in your line. Maybe she’s the woman who kept a small garden when there was barely enough water for it. Maybe she’s the one who dressed carefully when money was short, because she knew dignity had its own kind of practical value. Maybe she’s the one nobody called an artist, but whose hands never made anything plain when they could make it worth looking at.

This month is about making, yes. But it’s also about allowing what you make to carry intention.

The Pre-Work: Your Card Pull

Before anything else, pull one card and ask: What matriarchal energy am I weaving with this month?

If it’s a Sword, you’re carrying her clarity of pattern. She wove carefully because she saw the structure beneath the surface of things. This month’s work lives in your thinking, your decisions, the mental frameworks you’re building or rebuilding. What you’re weaving is a way of seeing.

If it’s a Pentacle, you’re carrying her hands. She shaped through repetition, through daily labor, through the slow accumulation of small consistent effort. This month’s work lives in your body, your routines, the material things you’re tending or building. What you’re weaving is a life structure.

If it’s a Cup, you’re carrying her emotional weave. She held things together through love, through grief that didn’t break her, and even through the relationships she kept mending. This month’s work lives in your connections, and your emotional patterns; the threads between you and the people who matter. What you’re weaving is belonging.

If it’s a Wand, you’re carrying her restless creativity. She couldn’t stop making because making was how she knew she was still alive. This month’s work lives in your creative output and your willingness to begin again when something unravels. What you’re weaving is a way forward.

If you pull a Major Arcana card, you’re not carrying a single trait. You’re carrying the pattern she organized her whole life around. Ask: What did she keep weaving, across her whole life, no matter what came undone? What did she return to again and again? The Empress wove a line of women who made life livable for others, often before themselves. The Star wove a line that held hope past the point where hope made sense. The Hermit wove a line that worked alone, in the dark, making something no one else could quite see yet. Justice wove a line of women who kept their own account, even when no one else was keeping it.

Ledger Prompt: Where in my life right now am I weaving something I’ve been calling purely practical — and what would shift if I allowed it to also carry beauty?

The Ink

Your card tells you what material you’re working with this month. This matters because the Weaver of the Wild Rose doesn’t weave with just anything. She chooses her threads.

Swords (Air): Your ink is discernment. The weave you’re working on is mental like a belief system, a story you’re rewriting, or a decision that’s really weighty. Work with it through precision and honesty. Ask what’s holding the pattern together, and whether the structure is yours or inherited without your consent.

Pentacles (Earth): Your ink is the body and the habitual. The weave you’re working on is material like a daily practice, or a financial thread you’re trying to strengthen or even untangle, a skill you’re building through repetition. Work with it through your hands and your consistent showing up. The beauty is in the doing, not just the result.

Cups (Water): Your ink is feeling and memory. The weave you’re working on is relational or emotional. It’s a grief you’re processing, or a pattern of attachment you’re slowly, carefully changing. Work with it through honest feeling, not productivity metrics. Some weaves take a whole season.

Wands (Fire): Your ink is drive and creative momentum. The weave you’re working on is alive with possibility and still forming: a project, a version of yourself you’re building in real time. Work with it through movement and initiative. Don’t wait for the full design to reveal itself before you start threading.

Major Arcana (Lineage Ink): Your ink is ancient. The weave you’re working on has been in the hands of your line before it reached yours. Work with it slowly, with patience, and without expecting fast results. You’re not just making something new. You’re completing something old.

The deeper work below — the Practicum, the card spread, and the monthly practice — is for paid subscribers. If this work is calling to you, consider joining us inside.

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I’ve spent a lifetime looking at U.S. census records. Because I use census data so much, I started wondering if I could use it and tarot or an oracle to learn more about an ancestor. So, I did an experiment, first with an oracle deck, then with tarot, and finally with my pendulum.

Here’s my method - read through it and then I’ll show you how you can do the same with your family. At the bottom of the post you’ll find my source for free census records.

First, I decided to look for my mom on the 1950 census. (BTW, that’s the most recent census available in the U.S. as they’re kept out of sight for 72 years). I looked for three columns: Age, Marital Status, and Employment. Here’s what I drew:

• Age: Protecting Treasure

• Marital Status: Deep Freeze

• Employment: Magic Prayer

I could have added many more columns, but after all, I was just experimenting. My interpretation with Age, was that my mom was really trying to take care of herself (the treasure) and my dad, who had been terribly wounded in the war.

Deep Freeze for her marital status (married) was something I had to stop and think about. In 1950, she was pregnant with a child who only lived a week. Is it possible she and dad were having issues? I don’t know for sure (and never will), but this card says it’s possible.

However - and this is where you let your intuition and memory come to life - as I was writing this post I remembered my mom telling me that during that pregnancy all she craved was ICE!

That’s totally fairy humor at work.

As far as Employment (housewife), her card was Magic Prayer. My mom was never happier than when she was married and all her kids were around. For me, this confirmed something I already knew - her prayers had been answered.

By the way, I re-did my 3 column (Age, Marital Status, Employment) question using tarot. The cards were: Ace Wands, 6 Wands, 6 Pentacles. I felt they fit well with the oracle cards.

Now you try it - and yes, you can still do this even if you can’t find a census record.

Choose Columns

Regardless of where you live, it’s probable that several censuses were done over a period of many years. Each - at least in the U.S. - is unique in terms of what’s asked. For example, the 1910 U.S. census asked if the person was a survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy.

Let’s begin.

Marital Status

This is usually a binary “Married” or “Single”

• Tarot Unlock: Pull a card to see the internal climate of the union. A card like The Lovers suggests a genuine partnership, while something like the Nine of Swords indicates a marriage that was a source of anxiety or a “Frozen” state of being trapped by social convention.

Occupation (Employment)

The census lists what they did for money, not what they did for passion.

• Tarot Unlock: Use a card to differentiate between the labor of the hands and the labor of the soul. If they were a “Laborer” but you pull the Star, they likely had a creative or spiritual life that the census taker couldn’t see.

Literacy / Education

Usually recorded as “Can read” or “Can write.”

• Tarot Unlock: Pull to see the intellectual hunger. Did they feel limited by their lack of schooling (e.g., Eight of Swords), or did they possess a natural, unrecorded wisdom (e.g., The High Priestess)?

Relationship to Head of Household

This defines their status in the home (Wife, Son, Daughter, Servant, Boarder/Renter).

• Tarot Unlock: Pull to find the true power dynamic. A Servant who pulls The Emperor might have actually been the one running the entire household’s logistics behind the scenes.

Age

A number that often changed or was lied about in historical records.

• Tarot Unlock: Pull for their spiritual age. Someone recorded as 60 might pull the Page of Wands, showing they kept a youthful, impulsive spirit despite a hard life.

Place of Birth (Migration)

Shows where they started versus where they ended up.

• Tarot Unlock: Pull to see the trauma or triumph of the move. Was the migration a desperate flight (Six of Swords) or a calculated expansion of the family’s reach (Three of Wands)?

Real Estate / Personal Property Value

Records their material worth at that specific moment.

• Tarot Unlock: Pull to see their relationship with security. Did a high property value come with the burden of the Ten of Pentacles, or did they have a pauper’s heart despite their wealth (Five of Pentacles)?

Number of Children Born / Living

A grim column often found in older censuses to track infant mortality.

• Tarot Unlock: Pull to see the unspoken grief. For a mother with many children lost, a card can reveal how she processed that void—was it through stoicism (Strength) or a permanent withdrawal (The Hermit)?

Infirmity (Health Status)

Historically, censuses tracked “Blind, Deaf, or Insane.”

• Tarot Unlock: Pull to see the heightened perception. Often, those marginalized by health columns developed a different “sight.” A card here shows how they navigated a world that labeled them as broken.

Citizenship / Naturalization Status

Tracks their legal belonging to the land they lived on.

• Tarot Unlock: Pull for the sense of home. You can be a citizen on paper but a foreigner in your own heart. A card like the Four of Wands shows they finally felt they belonged, while the Five of Swords might suggest a life of constant legal or social battle.

Pendulum Power - Use a weighted object on a chain for confirmation

Pendulums are one of our best confirmation tools. When you draw a card you can use your pendulum to confirm or deny your interpretation. It’s as simple as that. And, if you want to go further, ask more questions.

For example, in my Deep Freeze card, my pendulum confirmed it was about mom’s ice eating that year. But then I also asked if she and dad were having issues and the pendulum said Yes, although since my pendulum barely moved, I’d say the issues were minor.

If you’ve never used a pendulum: This post tells how to calibrate your pendulum.

Above all, remember this is your experiment, so don’t be afraid to do as many columns as you want, and trust what you get.

Where to Find Free Census Records

Family Search is the free genealogy site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon). You have to sign up to use the site, but it’s totally free. Once inside the site, search for your person and if Family Search has census records on that person it will show up in search results.

Others

Occasionally Ancestry will make one of their census sets free. It typically announce that on their home page.

FreeCen is the site for free UK census records

The National Archives has fully searchable 1950 census records

My Canadian friends can search census returns from 1825 to 1931

Mastering ancestral tarot gets a lot easier when you have something practical to work with. Here, you'll get a fresh look at ancestry that isn't just another repeat of what everyone else is saying.

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P.S. You may also like

What Magic Runs in Your Blood?

Time Travel Trick

How Do These Dimensions Work?

I seriously want to know. And, is another dimension hugely different from an alternate universe? I think so. Here’s my story.

Years ago I was in the desert, just this side of the Chocolate Mountains. It’s a little range between Eastern California and the Arizona border. A friend lived in a weekend desert home, remote, quiet, eerily so.

On a Full Moon night, late in the summer, I visited her. For some reason, we decided to drive out into the desert, towards the Chocolate Mountains. Then, we began scrounging up rocks - large and small - to build a spiral. A labyrinth would have been cool, but we didn’t have that many rocks. Our spiral was small - only a couple of turns until the walker reached the center.

We managed to finish, just at the moon began rising above the mountains.

And Then It Happened

One of us drummed while the other walked the spiral. Not only did we drum, we shouted - exhorting the Moon to come up faster and faster! Can you feel the beat? The pounding, hollow sound of that drum echoed through the desert and we could feel the energy rising up from the desert floor, through our feet and flying out of our heads.

As the drummer, I felt as if I was dancing with the Spirits of the Mountains, enclosed in an invisible aura of Otherworld. As the spiral walker, I couldn’t understand why it took so long for me to walk the few turns of that broken wheel. And, I knew if I closed my eyes and kept walking the spiral to its center, I would end up somewhere in Arizona or in the California of one hundred years ago.

Time kind of wiggled, then shimmered. Then came the silence.

Did we open a time portal? Did the energy of the drum, the shouting, and the magic of the spiral cause a momentary split in time?

I still wonder.

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I hope you enjoyed this short break from ancestral work.