A blue moon for liberation and expansive growth
This weekends Full (blue) moon in Sagittarius asks us for bold exploration and promises radical truth and expansive growth in return.
I've spent much of the week feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, getting nowhere still convinced I needed to push harder. So I designed a spread to find out exactly how we might tap into the expansive energy and growth promised - i figured I wouldn’t be the only one wondering.
After the reading I knew what I had to do. Abandon the work I was never going to finish, head to the sea, offer flowers from my garden to the water and swim beneath a (very pink) Blue Moon. Its exactly what I needed. I wanted to get this out to you earlier - but there is still plenty of time for you to integrate any wisdom you receive from it - even if you read this after the full moon tonight. I have a feeling Ill be doing this work for many moons to come.
The reading that follows is both radical and illuminating. Take a deep breath blue moon babies, were diving deep for pearls of wisdom!
The deck that chose me for this reading is Tarot Del Fuego - it might seem at odds with the still serene images of the sea - but it was the perfect choice for this reading. Its a no nonsense folky deck that delivers tough love messages with a bit of humour. It never fails to spice things up! You can see the cards pulled below - and marvel at my "moon above the horizon stone that I found on a Yorkshire beach last year.
1. What beliefs and identities are keeping us from expansive growth? - 9 of Swords
Scarcity Mindset | Anxiety | Insecure Attachment | Hyper-vigilance | Codependency | Hoarding
Beliefs:
Safety comes from holding tightly to resources
The world is unsafe
If I don't hold on tightly, I will be abandoned
2. What beliefs and identities are keeping us from joyful participation in the world? - 7 of cups
Extraction | Productivity Culture | Disconnection | Consumption | Transactional Relationships | Capitalism
Beliefs:
There is not enough for everyone
My value is determined by my productivity, labour, or contribution
Resources (and bodies) exist to be exploited
We are separate from the food and systems that sustain us
3. What beliefs and identities are keeping us from authentic natural rhythm? - The Magician
Manipulator | Self-Importance | Entitlement | Self-Serving
Beliefs:
My energy / time / body are more important than those of others
Controlled outcomes are better than uncertainty
A Culture of Disconnection
Taken together, the first three cards point towards a culture of disconnection. Beneath them sits a shared belief: that we are separate. Separate from one another, the systems (and food) that sustain us, from nature itself, and even from our own intuition. The result is fear, scarcity, exhaustion, and a constant sense that we must earn our place in the world. The next card offers us an alternative. Phew!
4. How can we best clear the way for expansive growth?
Knight of Cups — A Deep Dive for Pearls of Wisdom
The Knight of Cups offers a balm for the disconnection, control, and anxiety revealed in the earlier cards. This knight isn't exactly easy-going. They invite us into a practice of playful resilience, encouraging us to follow what genuinely moves us and explore our depths with curiosity and compassion.
The Knight reminds us that we are shaped by what we love. Follow what calls to you. Romance the world a little. Chase beauty, wonder, meaning, and connection wherever you find it.
This knight has a reputation of being self indulgent. All those feelings! But I don't think its that. Time spent in the deep waters of emotion isn't about wallowing. It's about retrieving something hidden and bringing it back. It's an act of connection. We connect with others through our experiences, our stories, our art, and our shared feelings. It's healing for us and healing for others.
The Knight of Cups sees emotional depth and authentic expression as strengths rather than weakness.
So - go and romance someone, romance yourself. Write a poem. Spill your feelings. Whatever you do, don't stay on the surface.
5. What message does the Blue Moon want to reveal to us?
Knave of Pentacles — Embodied Abundance
Throughout this reading we've encountered fear, scarcity, disconnection, exploitation, and the belief that our worth must be earned. The Knave offers an opportunity to rethink our relationship with abundance, wealth, and the value of our bodies.
She's a curvy gender bending tattooed diva - coin spilling from booty - and I’m here for it. She models a grounded self-awareness that appeared nowhere else in this reading. She knows her needs, her limits and her worth without needing constant validation from the outside world. She's really in her body but she's fluid, refuses to conform to hereto-normative or gender roles. It's powerful, challenging, fun, but also political. Expanding our understanding of abundance means expanding our understanding of who deserves it.
It might be the most powerful message of the reading: reclaim your body as a source of wisdom, abundance, and belonging.
6. What could expansive growth look like?
3 of Swords — Witnessing Wounds • Compassion • Collective Care
The 3 of Swords confronts us with heartbreak, grief, emotional pain, and the wounds we carry through life. But at its heart, this is a card of resilience. Healing begins when we are willing to witness what hurt us in the first place.
In many ways, this is what the reading has been asking for all along. The fear and hyper-vigilance of the 9 of Swords, our disconnection from the things that nourish us, and the need to control outcomes rather than trust the process all point towards the same thing: unprocessed pain. The knight of cups has already shown us that our emotions and wounds can be a source of creativity and emotional resilience. The wound is the source. Its not easy, or light - but necessary.
We just need to remember that healing is not linear, nor is it something we are meant to do alone. This card calls for compassion: for ourselves, for others, and for the shared human experience. I thinking we are being called into a complete remodelling of our care system - collective care to replace care for profit. Communities taking a leading role.
7. What personal qualities or shifts would contribute?
9 of Pentacles — Embodiment • Boundaries • Redefining Value
The 9 of Pentacles builds on the Knave's message of embodied abundance. It asks us to question the belief that our worth must be earned through productivity and , and instead cultivate a relationship with ourselves rooted in wellbeing, boundaries, self-respect, and care. All these images and particularly this one are confronting and graphic - showing the real damage that can occur when our bodies are exploited.
10 of Wands — Release • Rest • Make Space
The 10 of Wands is a card of exhaustion, burnout, and reaching capacity. As if we needed another reminder that our bodies, minds, and nervous systems all have limits.
But the message here is one of affirmation. If we are serious about following what is meaningful, tending to our wounds, and building more caring ways of being together, something else may need to be put down. This card tells us it's okay—necessary, even—to do so.
You might start by asking yourself; What are you carrying that no longer belongs to you? Which responsibilities are truly yours? Which expectations have you inherited? What would become possible if you released them?
