Monday Mettā
Mettā: Loving friendliness, goodwill, and kindness directed both inward and outward.
Embody loving-kindness by breathing these words in and out. I am loving-kindness. I am mettā.
✨
So glad you’re here.
Intuitive Tarot Card Reading
Use your intuition to guide you to a specific card below. Choose the card with the crystal on it that calls to you. At the end of this newsletter, you’ll see the cards flipped over, with a reading for each one. The card that you choose here will have your reading for the week.
Choose your card, then scroll down to the bottom of the newsletter for the reveal!
Card 1: Thulite Choose this card for some compassion.
Card 2: Gold Pyrite Choose this card for a message on attracting wealth.
Card 3: Botswana Agate Choose this card for a message on balance.
The Pinnacle ⛰️
A decade or so ago, I set a goal: to visit all of the National Parks in the United States. It was a fun goal—I’d plan my vacations around the parks by following the world’s best traveling violinist to his concerts and using them as a jumping off point or planning solo vacations like taking the Coast Starlight train from LA to Seattle to visit Joshua Tree and Olympic in one fell swoop. And many of you have read about my camping trips to Acadia during the Jewish New Year, where I catch the United States’ very first glimpse of sunrise on the new year.
Like many of my goals, I intend to pursue this one until it stops being fun and only at about 85% effort. (In fact, I bought the official National Park Passport book and promptly lost it after two stamps.) If I never make it to all of the National Parks, I won’t mind. It’s the journey, people…
Last month, the aforementioned traveling violinist and I spent the day hiking Pinnacles National Park, a “landscape forged by volcanoes.” As is typical, I did very little research leading up to the trip, and was thus unprepared for the surprise of the landscape. We entered on the west side, and drove through rolling farmland to get there. The thing about Pinnacles is that it’s sudden. Without warning, out of the gentle grassy landscape, we saw the rock formations in the distance, jagged and pointy and completely at odds with their surroundings.
Pinnacles is a haven for California Condors, which we didn’t see, for big-eared kangaroo rats, for badgers, for coyotes, lizards, and more (all of which we did see). Our hike took us through canyons, up rock faces, over the pinnacles themselves, and through mountain tunnels. We saw moss and fungi growing in collections of purples and oranges and bright greens, their natural fluorescence clinging to rock. We passed by the twisting red and white trunk of manzanita shrubs and I found a pinecone the size of my head (and you know I love pinecones.)
As we drove and and as we hiked, we were so grateful for clean bathroom facilities; fresh water stations where we could fill our bottles; absolutely zero trash on the trails; a helpful park worker who gave us a map and shared some of the best “short” hikes; guard rails for the somewhat scary and very vertical bits; and for the park rangers we saw on the trails themselves, looking out for the hikers on what was a relatively crowded and very hot day. It felt like a very safe space for the flora and for the reptiles, birds, and mammals, including us humans. I am always, always, so appreciative of our country’s wide open and protected natural spaces, and am concerned they won’t remain that way. Where else can I stop in the middle of a one-lane road to watch a jackrabbit thump by? Our National Parks always make me tear up, and this one was no exception.
Full Moon July: the Buck Moon 🦌
A few years ago I read a strange book called Deer Man. It was a memoir of a young man’s seven (7!!!) years spent with the roe deer in northern France. For a time, the book became a small obsession of mine. The writer, Geoffroy Delorme, left his home and community, already feeling like a bit of an outcast. His safest space was the forest, even though he had to sleep sitting up during the winters so he wouldn’t fall asleep for too long and get hypothermia. His closest friends became a herd of deer, friends who kept him warm, taught him what to eat, and showed him where to rest. Throughout the story, Delorme writes poignantly about the deer he lives with, naming them and describing their personalities. The ending is surprising and emotional.
Anyway, Thursday is July’s full moon, sometimes known as the Buck Moon. This is the time when the buck’s antlers are at full growth.
Though July often makes me feel languid, nature uses this time to grow and grow and grow. Here’s to July’s Buck Moon, to growth, and to what’s coming next.
Workshops, Classes, and Ways to Connect
How would you like to bloom?
This September, I’m holding a mini-workshop called Aligned Possibility. Two packed, live, group sessions on how to bring to bloom an idea, goal, or dream. Basically, it’s a workshop on manifestation, lead by someone who generally refuses to use the term :)
The workshop is highly personal, and will focus on your own desires or dreams, with clear and connected ways to move towards them. You will work with me and each other to gain perspective, new ways of thinking and speaking, and powerful processes you can take with you and use over and over again.
The details:
Wednesdays, September 10 and 17 from 6-8pm eastern time. Bring dinner!
Both sessions will be live and neither will be recorded.
The cost is $200.
Interested? More to come. Email me with any questions or …
Miraval Berkshires: You can always find me in real life at Miraval Berkshires: I teach weekly in-person workshops on how to read tarot and how to practice using your intuition, as well as a weekly yin yoga class and a Thursday evening class on the soul. I’d love to see you there! Respond to this email to learn more.
Would You Like to Listen to Me Instead of Read Me? If you’re looking to hear more from me, here are a couple of recent podcasts to check out:
With Gratitude,
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🌱Make a micro-donation or become a paying member of this Substack. Subscribe to pay for this newsletter for $5/month or $50/year. Paying subscribers have access to my entire archive.
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Thank you thank you!
Much love and gratitude,
Rachel xo
PS! I make a great gift! Interested in gifting a private yoga, a tarot or an intuitive soul reading to a friend? Simply respond to this newsletter!
Your Tarot Reading, Revealed!
Card 1: Thulite // The Devil
The Devil card, paradoxically, offers us a great message on compassion. We all have parts of us that are inflamed, addicted to drama (whether real or imagined), and parts that are held back by that dramatic inflammation. Compassion, then, needs to be a clear and vulnerable look at what’s keeping us inflamed: find the source of your irritation, anger, frustration, nerves, aggression, etc… and ask what you can do to release it or face it.
Card 2: Gold Pyrite // King of Swords
The King of Swords is a mentor of communication. Thus, he reminds us to speak clearly about the wealth we already have and to speak lovingly about the wealth we have the opportunity to amass. Do your best to use affirming language about money, instead of the messages of “I don’t have enough and I never will,” or even the messages of “I am bitter about or disgusted by the wealth of others.” This can be challenging—most of us are used to some amount of shame when it comes to money.
Card 3: Botswana Agate // Ace of Swords
There’s a new beginning for you coming up, and that’s actually the balance you need. It means balancing starting something with ending something else. So take this week to ponder: what do you need to end, or walk away from, so that you can make room for something new?
Rachel Barker's role as writer and intuitive is to facilitate the reader’s introspection, awareness, and reflection. Whether to make a particular choice or take a particular action is entirely the responsibility of the reader.
Very cool!