makespaceforspirit

[makespaceforspirit]

Divining Poets

This set of cards stretches our thinking about how we show up on the world. Pulling from the poetry of Lucille Clifton, these cards offer evocative imagery that pulls at our knowing somewhere in the deep, leading us to find ourselves somewhere in the gap of the mystery. Use your intuition to choose Card 1, Card 2 or Card 3. Then read on to encounter the mysterious message each Card holds.

Deck: Divining Poets Oracle Cards with Quotes from Lucille Clifton selected by Tracy K. Smith.

Card 1: This card evokes images of birds floating and frolicking in the open air. We all float through space when freedom is offered us, yet there are so many conditions and restrictions that limit the space we occupy in the world. When you are attracted to Card 1,, concepts of space and construction are calling your attention. You may be tempted to find fault with yourself for failing to soar, but Card 1 asks you to question: do I have the open space to soar? If the answer is no, take some time to examine what is limiting your space. What can you do to widen the areas you have to roam?

Card 2: You belong here. You were designed to breathe this air and inhabit this planet. When you are attracted to Card 2, you are struggling to feel at home in the world. Your life conditions may be an ill fit for what your soul needs to soar. You may be feeling indecisive about your next steps, unsure which way to go. Whatever decisions you are facing, this world is your home. Lean into your instinctive knowing about life. Trust your nature and your belonging in the world. Remove the blinders of fear, with the inner knowing that you can’t walk the wrong path in your own life. Your choices and challenges all lead right back to you.

For many of us, life is a carefully orchestrated series of performances in which we play the role that we believe will keep us safe. Have you begun to confuse these performances with your true identity? Respectability and correctness are cloaks we wear for societal approval. And these cloaks must be removed from time to time to let us breathe. When you are attracted to card 3, you are being asked to let some of your madness shine through. It can be divine to lose your sense of propriety and live your truth out loud. The madwoman requires no licenses from society. She lives deeply inside herself. It is time to find the wisdom in the madwoman's path and let your wild inner truths take you to the shores of new understanding.

[makespaceforspirit]

March Newsletter: Visioning Outside of the Box

[makespaceforspirit]

In the swirl of all the madness, we need anchors. We need spaces in ourselves that we can rely on for support and sustenance. Your to-do list may have you booked and busy, leaving your spirit and soul clamoring for your attention.

In the midst of chaos, @makespaceforspirit is an invitation to stop and take a breath—and the newsletter offers a monthly moment to reflect. A moment to think about where you’re headed and where you’ve been. A time when you can slow down long enough to let spirit in.

This month, we reflect on The Box from Kim Krans oracle deck, and focus our spirit writing on limitations and possibility.

Read the March newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/961f432bc31b/marchvisioning-outside-of-the-box. And if it tickles your imagination and feeds your spirit, subscribe and stay turned for April’s musings.

Be well. Be love(d).

—K. Ibura

[makespaceforspirit]

Deck: the Cantigee Oracle by Rae Diamond, illustrated by Laura Zuspan.

This set of cards encourages us to look at ourselves anew. Most of us are well acquainted with our perceived flaws and failures. More often than not, we measure our progress against other people’s success. Lean into your intuition and choose Card 1, Card 2 or Card 3. Your selection will provide reflections on tuning in to your unique path. After you pick your card, scroll for the reveal.

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Card 1: Have you been feeling a little uneasy, a little pinched in your skin? When you are attracted to A Swan in a Crowd of Crows, your unique identity is clamoring to be expressed. We all have our unique voice and spirit, yet some of us have had to squash it down to fit in with the crowd. Card 1 asks that you honor your true nature. You have a unique purpose in the great chaotic orchestration of the universe. The world benefits when you express your true unique self, flaws and all. As you commit to what’s original about you, remember: Your individuality does not separate you from others (we all have our own unique identities), it opens the way for more authentic and vibrant relationships and possibilities.

Card 2: In the face of loss of failure, most of us berate ourselves, sure that we are lacking or unworthy. Your failures and frustrations may not be the result of any flaw or failure on our part, but rather a misalignment of approach. You may be attempting to follow steps you’ve seen others follow, rather than walking your own path. Your Pinky Finger Turns into a Bird encourages you to face failure by leaning into new or overlooked skills. Your script for success may be stale, what other talents do you possess? What other skills call to you? Give them a try. Whether it’s professional, spiritual, recreational, creative or interpersonal, through developing a new skill, you may discover a new (more authentic) pathway to success.

Card 3: A Fierce Desert Flower encourages us to look at our challenges anew. When you are attracted to this card, you have likely been through a long period of difficulties. You may have lost hope and you may regard your challenges as proof that your goals and dreams will never be reached. To the contrary, Card 3 asks that you consider this: your challenges have built a resilience and a conviction that injects sturdiness into your visions and dreams. This card asks you to reframe your view of yourself and your hardships. The resilience you used to get through your challenges now becomes wisdom and fortitude as you unfurl your righteous, hard-won blossoms. Your gifts have grown from the rubble of hardship and your value is ready to be seen and supported.

[makespaceforspirit]

Deck: The Wild Unknown Archetypes by Kim Krans

After you pick a card, scroll for the reveal.

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CARD 1: As we go through life, we spend a lot of time seeking to define ourselves. We are obsessed with “Who am I?” And if we think we’ve found the answer, we harden our edges around a set identity and suppress the parts of ourselves that don’t fit that self-definition. Personality can become a mask, yet we are all more mutable than our set ways of being suggest. When you pull The Mask, it is time to support your own expansion. Talents that you’ve kept hidden, truths you’ve suffocated, expressions you haven’t allowed yourself to experiment with; it’s time to locate the fullness of yourself—and live it, out loud!

CARD 2: It’s hard not to go through life obsessed with ourselves. (Or are you obsessed with someone else?) Regardless, there is a larger entity that’s ever-present. There is the universe, god, goddess or whatever higher power animates your world. When you pull Agape, you are being asked to put spirit at the center of your life. Imagine your life in service of whatever you consider sacred or holy. What does that shift in your world? To make such a shift, you have to first recognize what is currently running your life. And then imagine the expansiveness of the sacred as your compass. How can you initiate, even in small ways, a practice of bringing honor, reverence and joy to your world. Spirit is calling you.

CARD 3: It would be amazing if life hummed along perfectly from birth, but life is not a flat line. It contains rises and falls. When you pull The Faultline, your reality is being redefined. This shift may feel sudden and intense, but it has been a long time coming. This is not a time to resist change, but to submit to it. You may find yourself trying to hold everything together, but the purpose of the fault line is to release pressure. The crack in reality is in response to systems, behaviors, and situations that can no longer be sustained. Instead of fighting to maintain your status quo, follow the lead of the fault line and reach past the break for a new reality that will serve you authentically and sustainably. This is the life you deserve.

[makespaceforspirit]

For evolution, internal sparks, and deep dives into the richness of the self.

Collage by K. Ibura

[makespaceforspirit]

A Thorn in the Paw from the Cantigee Oracle Deck

The journey through life can be drudgery. I mean, who among us is not tired of pushing, striving, working, seeking, trying. But the journey can also be discovery. One of the strange things about getting older is learning (or re-learning), discovering (or re-discovering) basic facts about yourself and about life.

The little of facts of life become CRUCIAL the older you get. The need for water and rest. The inauthenticity of doing things that don't support your soul. The freedom to make your own choices. For many of us, it becomes more and more painful to live an inauthentic life—just because we become tired of pushing down our truths and our desires.

I recently pulled A Thorn in the Paw card. The guidance of the card is to: Face and resolve issues you may be ignoring. Respond appropriately to the pain and immediate cause of a minor wound so it does not turn into a deeper wound. Then move on.

There's so much in that little message—and the image of the thorn in the paw. How many irritations, discomforts and tiny wounds do we live with? How frequently do we attempt to harden ourselves against hurt rather than remove the thorn?

My quest this year is to pay attention to the discomforts and irritations—to notice the thorn in the paw. Some thorns can be dissolved easily, others may take deep work, but none cannot be removed if they aren't acknowledged and identified.

What thorns are you just living with? What irritations are you working around? What wounds does you body want you to heal rather than ignore?

The card advises that we:

• Remove external thorns: Handling those situations that discomfit, disrespect and unsettle us.

• Remove internal thorns: Feel compassion for your upsets and emotional pain. Acknowledge the hurt and your right to your feelings.

• Drop the thorn, but keep the rose: After the first two steps, MOVE ON. Don't stay stuck in the experience. Be proud of yourself for handling it. Keep the lesson but let go of the suffering.

Amazing advice. Perhaps easier said than done. But what isn't? Lol. Removing the thorns of life is a powerful way to treat ourselves with love and care. And who doesn't need more of that in their lives?

Here's to all the thorns we will remove, all the wounds we will soothe, and all the blossoming that will become available when we let go of irritations, past preoccupations, and harmful situations that don't serve us.

Onward,

—K. Ibura

[makespaceforspirit]

Every Star Is a Doorknob from the Cantigee Oracle

A few weeks ago, I was having a moment with anxiety and stress. All my tasks for two big projects were piling up on me and they weren't being completed according to plan. I wrote in my last post that my therapist counseled me to work on trust—trust in forces larger than myself. That night, I pulled an oracle card that also counseled trust. This alignment of messaging was magical and right on time, but that wasn't the end of it. Our more deeply entrenched issues need repeated interventions for evolution. Two days later, I still couldn't shake the anxiety. So I turned to my community.

I reached out to one of my cousins. She gave me much food for thought and shared with me her practice of journaling gratitude and self-acknowledgement daily. I appreciated the share, but I didn't see a connection between my anxieties and those practices. So after I spoke to her, I pulled another card. I pulled Every Star Is a Doorknob, and it's central message is TRUST.

I love the mental support and emotional encouragement I receive from tarot and oracle cards. We all need messages in various forms from various sources so we can build a secure path forward. in Every Star Is a Doorknob, the message of trust is connected to the unknown. It discusses our tendency to fear all that could go wrong in the unknown, rather than trust in all that could go right. It says that each pathway opens to another room of possibility. There may be challenges—yes, but also gifts, resources, and new experiences.

I decided to use my cousin's journaling practice, but instead I journaled my anxieties and then what I trust to be present to manage that anxiety. It was a wonderful exercise because I had an answer for each anxiety of what I truly believe what would happen. (Spoiler alert: I did not actually believe I was headed for disaster. Lol.)

Next, I called another cousin and she noticed that I was treating all my life responsibilities in the same way that I treat my work responsibilities. The anxiety, the stress, the tension, the worry, the cycling thoughts. I'm on break from work, so what does that mean if I'm bringing those behaviors into my personal life? In talking with her, I realized there is a huge gap between what I believe and how I behave. I truly believe all is well and all will be well—but what I feel is anxiety, mistrust, and roiling doubt. Trust is my pathway to living my beliefs.

Finally, I spoke to a friend and as we talked, I realized, ultimately, all I want is a good life. I want a good life when I'm working my day job, I want a good life when I'm writing my books, I want a good life when I'm planning for the future, and I want a good life while I'm traveling and adventuring. I don't want to suffer in the present because I think that will make for a better tomorrow. Work toward the future—yes; suffer for it—no!

That last distinction took me—finally—to a place of peace. It was a journey that required one therapist, one journaling session, two oracle cards, and three conversations with my community. I truly trust that all is well in my present life and all will be well in my future life. Now it's on me to live that, to draw on trust to feel that, and to allow myself the grace to enjoy that belief.

Are there spaces in your life where your emotional reaction does not reflect your true thoughts and beliefs? What strategies can you use to ease your anxieties and rest easy in trust? It may be a challenging exercise, but it is truly truly worthwhile. Wishing you joy, delight, and grace.

🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Onward

—K.

[makespaceforspirit]

A Charmed Leap from The Cantigee Oracle Deck

As I get closer to the departure of a planned five-week trip, my anxiety is racheting up. When you have a lot of things you want to do—or significant way you want to transform, it can be easy to pile on the tasks and the "have-to's." I'm a planner. When I feel that everything is closing in on me, I get logical and I dig into logistics. It's an incredible skill because it helps me achieve so many goals. Yet, if I miss a step on that goal or don't align with the plan, it's easy for me to be overwhelmed with anxiety. The fear that looms is: If you miss these steps in the plan, the entire project is in jeopardy. Disaster thinking at it's finest!

In talking through this anxiety with my therapist, she counseled me to trust. Trust my steps, trust my instinct to rest, trust that my plan isn't the only force working for me in the universe. That night I pulled an oracle card, and what came up: A Charmed Leap. And what is the central wisdom of that card: Trust.

Rae Diamond, the Deck's author describes this card as a sign to "cultivate confidence so you can leap into the unknown, and trust that you can handle whatever you encounter once you land." Diamond further distinguishes that "this card is not about courage. It's about confidence, literally acting with faith: faith in yourself to handle the unknown, faith that the right materials and support will emerge when you need them even if you don't see them nearby, and faith in the correctness of your action."

If I'm being honest, it's not just my impending trip filling me with anxiety, it's also my novel in progress. I'm on draft five, a draft that my two editors felt would be the last draft. I'm a third into the edits and it's clear to me that we are going to need another draft. The writing is fine, but we're cutting, snipping and tightening. Removing chapters and scenes to ramp up the pacing. Is this good work? Sure. But it puts my novel back into the realm of the unknown.

One of the contradictions of being human is that we can make great decisions and then still punish ourselves for what we don't have, what we wish we had, what we don't know, what we wish we knew. In two tarot readings last week, the questioners had made excellent choices for themselves, but they were struggling to feel celebratory about it. One of them still had their fists up in a fighting posture, the other was weepy at what was lost from their decision. These are both very human responses to life challenges, but thinking about them and thinking about myself, I wonder—when do we get to feel the charm in the leap? When and how do we celebrate our successes? Challenges will always be around, but we do have to let in the sparkles of life sometimes. Revel in our successes and move with faith rather than anxiety.

So this week, I'll be working on feeling the joy of my wise choices. Noticing when I made a good choice and celebrating myself for it. When I've decided to rest, I'm going to do a trust mantra until I release the nagging feeling that there's something I should be doing. I'm going to trust my desire to rest. (That's a big one for super-productive people. We deserve rest! And when we take it, we deserve to enjoy it and not spend it beating ourselves up for what we're not doing.)

Do you have any successes or wise choices that you're overlooking or stifling through anxious thoughts and/or self-criticism? Where can you acknowledge the charm in your life and/or in your choices? Let's lift the glass to ourselves for the steps forward we have made, and allow ourselves a few breaths of contentment and peace. Trust means that we're not white-knuckling life, holding ourselves rigid as we wait for the next disaster or brace for the next task. Wishing us all moments of true rest, true downtime, true relaxation, and true self-celebration. May we trust in the knowledge that we can handle what's coming, even if it's unknown.

🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Onward,

—K. Ibura

[makespaceforspirit]

Last night I had dinner with a group of seven women. We didn't all know each other so we made introductions around the table. As evidenced by the last oracle card I pulled, I am at a Fork in the River (see previous post). Well, as everyone spoke, I heard that many people were at a fork in their own rivers.

One woman is looking for work after being a homemaker for over a decade. Another is looking to level up in her field and step away from team practice and be her own solo practitioner. A third is enjoying a new position and is going for a promotion that would include expanded duties—if she doesn't get it, her job ends.

Hearing these stories made me think of how ordinary being at a fork in the river is. A big decision or life change feels major, but it's how we navigate through life, step by step, decision by decision. One thing that surfaced in all of us, is that it is some external force that has pushed us toward these decisions. They are necessary decisions and much needed change, but we were/are all hesitant to change on our own.

The woman who is looking for work needs more income in her household due to a major illness her son is navigating. The woman transitioning to being a solo practitioner lost her employer of 10 years and didn't heed the call to transition away from the business. I had my division dissolved and was moved into another position that's more stressful and chaotic than my previous position.

For some of us, it is deeply challenging to change. Giving up on what is known—even when what is known isn't serving us—can be scary. Being "secure" seems safer than taking a risk and changing things up. But we never know what we're missing by keeping our heads buried in the sand and refusing to heed the call to change.

As for me, I've wanted a change for many, many years, but never felt empowered to make the change. Truth be told, I've had a vision of my life since my 20s. As parental responsibilities shift, that vision for my life is calling loudly and insistently. What about you? Are you in a place of satisfaction in your life or is there a change calling to you? What are you doing about that call—are you following it, planning for it, hiding from it?

Embracing change can be tough. And if you're like me, you don't want to jump into a change that ultimately sets you back. But we aren't here to dig in our heels and calcify. We're here to blossom, explore, and grow! Wishing you playful exploration of any change that may be calling to you. Evolution is core to every living being—and we, as humans, are no exception.

Onward!

—K.

All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change. God is change. - Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower

[makespaceforspirit]

A Fork in the River from The Cantigee Oracle deck

For this week's card pull, I pulled A Fork in the River from the environmentally-based The Cantigee Oracle deck. I didn't even need to read the card's explanation to know what the card was referring to. It's referring to the path I'm on right now—taking a step back from my day job to restore, rest, reset, and explore a path of healing, creativity, and expression. But as with so many cards in this deck, Rae Diamond's accompanying text has supportive messages embedded in this card's description that deepen the card’s meaning.

As I've been approaching this fork in the river, I've been thinking a lot about reality, about which choices we allow ourselves and which choices we don't; which realities we empower and which we hide from and/or ignore; what things we think we "can" do and what things we think we "can't" do.

This card addresses how we make decisions. It talks about the difference between thinking through our decisions and feeling through our decisions. It encourages us to feel what our body and instinct is telling us about the choices before us, and then to trust the path we step onto.

Diamond writes:

Trust yourself while you are making your decision, and trust in your wisdom, creativity, strength, and care to guide you through whatever unfolds along your chosen path.... If you feel your body and breath vitalized by the option that ... seems more risky, trust that there may be an unknown treasure for you along that route.

One thing I know is that thinking and logic is just one of the tools in our human arsenal. We are not all-knowing. We don't know what connections, opportunities, and options may become available to us if we step onto a path and commit to a course of action that holds powerful energy for us.

Does it make me uncomfortable to step on a path that doesn't have all the logical solutions embedded in it? Yes! Do I believe in the wisdom of working in concert with the universe and letting life rush in to support me? Also, yes! I've seen it happen in my own life, but that doesn't make "out on a limb" living easy to jump into.

With the choices forking before me, there is no question that I'd prefer to explore a new possibility for my life than continue trodding the same path—and there's also no question that my interest in this path is not new, I've been nurturing it for decades. I've just gotten so exhausted with the path that I'm on that I'm finally willing to find a way to explore the alternative path.

What about you? Is there a life path that has always called to you? One that you've turned away from out of fear or uncertainty or lack of trust that you'll be supported on that path? What is that path and where would it take you? Does anyone in your life know that this path calls to your heart? Are there tiny little things you can do in alignment with this path, even if you have no intention of actually stepping on it? Is there a small way to shine some light on that dream?

Another quote that resonated with me from the "A Fork in a River" card is "Choice indicates freedom, so let this image support you in moving toward liberation." I had to let out a verbal "Amen" when I read that line! It reminds me of a statement Dr. Pooja Lakshmin made on a Code Switch podcast in which she talks about boundaries being the first step to Real Self-Care (which is the title of her book).

When you feel that you don't have any choice, you feel that you don't have freedom. If you don't have freedom, you can't be liberated. So just the act of making a choice, can strengthen your ability to shape your world. One choice can lead to the next and to the next, until you are audaciously and authentically living a life of your own making. Are you in? Great. So what choice (large or small) will you make today?

Onward!

—K.

[makespaceforspirit]

Cactus flower at the Jardín Botánico el Charco del Ingenio en San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Many weeks ago, I pulled the A Fierce Desert Flower oracle card from the environmentally-based The Cantigee Oracle deck. I love this deck because of the beautiful illustrations and the deep explorations of various states of being. I felt fully seen and engaged by The Fierce Desert Flower card. It talked about being seen and about a blossoming that's the result of or fueled by life challenges.

My most recent life challenge was spending the first months of the year pretty close to burnout. I was shut down, worn out, and sluggish. I couldn't take real time off from work, but I could jump onto a friend's trip to San Miguel de Allende. While there, we went to this botanical garden that was more like a nature preserve. Large and sweeping, the Jardín Botánico el Charco del Ingenio is a nature preserve for desert flora that are on the verge of extinction. It was my first time hearing of the preservation of plants in a protected area. The vast diversity of cacti was stunning. I snapped this picture of this bold and brilliant desert flower.

That was in April, months later I pulled the desert flower card and spent a week diving into the card's meaning and reflecting on its message for me. Imagine my surprise when I was recently looking through my photos and found this photo. Me, I had chosen to take a picture of a desert flower on a trip that began the process of restoring me back to balance and back to life.

I have nothing deep to share about it, but wanted to stop and acknowledge the echo. These nurturing nudges mean so much to me. "You can do it," they whisper. They shore me up in the face of doubt, and give me hope that there's something else sustaining me, something or someone that has my best interest in mind.

Praying that you receive a nurturing sign this week, especially one that's embedded in an object that you already have in your life. The delight at knowing that you are naturally part of a nurturing conversation is so gratifying!

🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Onward!

—K.

[makespaceforspirit]

Knight of Wands from The Light Seer's tarot deck; Excerpt from Sun in Leo reading on the Chani app

I love coincidences, echoes, and repetition of messages I'm mulling over. Sometimes it feels like validation, other times it feels like an exclamation or an insistence that I pay attention! If you're anything like me, you need repeated signs and messages. You need guidance and follow-up guidance, you need encouragement and assurances.

Well, this week's echo came pretty quickly. I pulled the Knight of Wands a few days ago (see previous post). For some reason, yesterday, I went browsing through the Chani app—something I rarely do. (I often joke that I don't follow astrology, but I follow people who follow astrology.) I was shocked to read echoes of the Knight of Wands in the last paragraph of the Sun in Leo reading.

Let me point out the echoes. "Let the unbridled parts of you take the reins," the Chani app says. Well, the obvious alignment is in the message. The Knight of Wands us all about "allow[ing] spontaneity into your choices." But the "unbridled" and "reins" really got me. Because there's a horse in the background of the Knight of Wands and it's all about following your passions, being impulsive, spontaneity and dreams.

The horoscope states, "You'll only grow in the direction you want to grow in if you center your innermost desires." The Knight of Wands couldn't agree more.

This moment of divine echo and universal coincidence is brought to you by astrology and tarot. Hope you experience some divine echoes this week, especially those that support you in pursuing your dreams, acknowledging your desires, and following your own heartbeat.

Onward!

—K.

[makespaceforspirit]

Knight of Wands from The Light Seers Tarot deck

We don't always pull cards that reflect where we are, we also get aspirational cards—cards that reflect what's in the air, possibilities, or desired spaces we'd like to be in. They also sometimes reflect what's coming next. The Knight of Wands is about passion, spontaneity, pursuing your dreams, courage, inspired action, the pursuit of adventure. I am in fact, in the process of doing all those things, but I am in the planning stages, so I look at this card and I don't FEEL that it reflects me, but I read it's meaning and I KNOW that's the path I'm on.

I love Chris-Ann's Light Seer's tarot deck. The illustrations are beautiful, but they also capture the heart and spirit of the card's message. This woman is clearly in the moment. Playing drums, feeling the fire of the music, being spontaneous and being alive. Which is the exact opposite of the structured maze of have-to's many of us find ourselves wandering through. I'm on my way to three or four months of unstructured living, taking a break from the rat race. This used to be my regular life, before becoming a parent, I would work seven months out of the year and go away for the winter. Now that my child is a young adult, I'm finding the same desire for freedom runs through me. This card is perfect for me because it's who I'd like to be and how I'd like to live.

And although the card reflects how I'd like to live, receiving it feels uncomfortable because it doesn't reflect my current now. So rather than filling me with celebration, the card filled me with contemplation (which is one of the major reasons I love tarot, it's power to make you stop and reflect). I thought about how I am spontaneous and I do enjoy and celebrate life, but within a prescribed box. There are many valid reasons for those parameters and limits we put around ourselves, but once we put them there, we often don't go back to review them or adjust them or skip outside of them.

I found myself discussing it with friends and hearing it in other people's communications. In me pulling that card, it created a space of listening and engagement, through which I had rich exchanges on what it means to live a passionate life.

The creator of this deck, Chris-Ann writes that the Knight of Wands signals that you have the opportunity to "gift yourself with the freedom to shift your reality to match your desires." What about you, if you lived a passionate life in which your reality matched your impulses and desires, what would it look like? What would have to shift? What would stay the same?

Close your eyes and take a breath. I'll join you in visioning a passionate life that is spontaneous, vibrant, authentic, alive, and FULLY YOU! Wishing that you and I can empower ourselves to fully be the magical and creative beings we were created to be.

🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Onward, —K.

[makespaceforspirit]

Chakra painting by K. Ibura Circling back to the story of the farmer that I mentioned in my last post, both calamity and luck have the possibility of being good or bad fortune in the long run. As life continues to roll on, we sometimes find that huge wins or losses become neither good nor bad, just a point in our life story.

Yesterday during my meditation session, I felt a lot of volume and weight in my root chakra area—almost like a heavy lump of stuck energy resting in a bowl. I worked on different ways to release that stuck energy. When I attempted to move on, I was pulled to remain in the root chakra area and continue trying to clear out the weighty energy.

When I was finally released, I went up the chakras one by one, sending energy through them and envisioning their colored light shining through. When I got up to the crown chakra and reached upwards to connect to the universe, I felt a huge whoosh of energy rush through me, clearing everything out, including what was left of the stuck energy in my root chakra area.

Whew.

What a clear illustration of the limits of my human consciousness. When that huge burst of energy swooped through me, it was like a physical sensation cleaning me out, reminding me that the answers and solutions won't be found in my past or in my mental capacities or my efforts. I can soar by connecting with the larger stream of the universe, getting in the flow, and surrendering my worry.

This is not a revelation, but the reminder is revelatory. It's not a revelation because humans have been turning their lives over to a higher power since the beginning of our existence. We have so many religious systems that we use to calm our minds, soothe our spirits, and give us the faith to continue on in this unknowable, challenging journey called life. But the reminder was revelatory because we, as humans, are not even conscious where we are drawing energy from. It is seductively easy to live only from our past lived experiences. Believing, for example, that if something has never worked before, that it will never work. Believing that if you can't see the way you're going to reach a goal, it's impossible to reach it. Believing only in what your limited experiences have proven, even as we look around us and see other humans achieving first time experiences all the time.

I am not an airy person. I'm a grounded and practical person. My spirituality is anchored in my need to walk though this world as a functioning human. Without some faith that energy from the universe will, from time to time, come whooshing through and sort me out, I'm not sure how far I would be able to travel on this journey. I am grateful for all the reminders, big and small, that I can rely on myself, AND I can be sure that I'll be getting help on the journey if I let it in.

Have you had experiences where the universe gave you an assist when you were stuck? Where help came out of nowhere and/or a path that was blocked is suddenly clear and accessible to you? If you are stuck, may this be your reminder that the assistive winds of the universe are active and present. You may need to release a mindset or a belief to access them. You may need some quiet time or to take a small leap. Whatever it is, I'm hoping that you feel the breeze of support whoosh through you today—and that it points the way to a sustainable path to keep you closer to your own soul and the flow of the universe.

🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Onward,

—K. Ibura

[makespaceforspirit]

Collage by K. Ibura

Our concept of luck has a lot to do with our mental health. When we consistently get what we want, we feel we are lucky. When we don't consistently get what we want, we feel we are unlucky. It always makes me think of the story of the farmer, with turns of fortune that could seem lucky or unlucky depending on the circumstances.

Pulling the Six of Coins this week (see previous post) makes me think of how far I've come in my thinking about luck. There are areas of my life that I feel move along smoothly and others that have more friction and don't seem to bear as much fruit. But I only have a tiny view of life—what I judge as working or not working is limited by the perspective I stand in. I have no idea how my circumstances may be protecting me from harm or may be positioning me for a greater blessing.

As we age, we begin to understand that we don't always see the full value of what's resting in our laps. We sit miserable while our bodies are full of health and vitality. We sit lonely when our lives are full of community and connections. As I wrote in this poem, we tend not to even recognize many of our blessings until they are gone.

the body breaks revealing at long last how much magic was threaded through your sad little life

what you regarded as failure was after all a mercy a miracle all those times when salt was not an enemy to your forlorn heart

was there a time when knees didn't creak bunions didn't burn when you could run on less than four hours abed

all those times when you raged at god for all you weren't given you had no idea you were sitting on a goldmine

you are a goldmine

of joints and muscle skin and bone a functioning machine living this massive gift this incredible miracle of being 

Ultimately, feeling unlucky makes us feel like crap—we either feel like we're being overlooked and we're not getting what we deserve, or that we're less than and not as worthy as others who appear to be getting what they want. None of those things are true, and none of our obsessions about being unlucky fuel forward motion.

At the end of the day, we all get the same choice. We get to decide which of our mind's tricky little thoughts and games we want to invest in. We can invest in ideas that drag us down or invest in ideas that build us up. We can decide we're unlucky because of the things that we don't have or lucky because of the things that we do have. As neither negativity nor positivity are facts, merely perspectives, we each get to decide which one will run our lives.

Are there areas of your life where you feel lucky and areas where you feel unlucky? How do you talk to yourself about the areas of your life where you feel unlucky? Is there a way to make peace with that area of your life? Do you feel more empowered with or without the "lucky" narrative? Are you able to feel gratitude for the areas of your life that are working? What stories do you tell yourself about your life and the ways in which luck has shown up?

Praying that you all find powerful narratives to fuel your forward motion. We all go through rough patches and pouty periods where we feel the sting of not getting what we want. My hope for you—and for me—is that we always remember to rebalance our disappointment with gratitude for all the blessings we have received, and that we find a way to unhook any belief that we are unfavored. I for one, feel lucky that you are here and that you are reading these words. Sending blessings.

🙏🏾🙏🏾

Onward!

—K. Ibura

[makespaceforspirit]

Six of Coins from the Hoodoo Tarot

I've mentioned that I don't use tarot cards in a predictive sense. So many times a reader will say something is going to happen and it doesn't happen. There could be so many reasons for that, but rather than decide that tarot cards don't work, I have embraced tarot's power to sort me out mentally and emotionally. And I allow those predictive cards to give me hope and motivation—which keeps me moving forward.

I just pulled the Six of Coins from the Hoodoo Tarot. From a predictive lens it means money, money, money! The deck's author Tayannah Lee McQuillar lists the cards associations as charitable giving, debt repayment, loans, grants, scholarships, philanthropy, financial aid, receiving money owed, earning money, and sugar daddies/mamas. McQuillar also includes giving in a larger sense. She indicates the card can also signify equality, mentoring, helping others, and those who care about the community.

An impactful feature of this deck is the connection McQuillar makes between tarot and hoodoo traditions of the American south. In Black Southern culture, an itchy palm has always been said to signify money is coming to you. McQuillar also includes plant associations for each card. Hoodoo healers used a lot of traditional plant medicines in their practices. The plant associated with this card is the Four-leaf clover, the plant of luck.

Turning away from the predictive possibilities of the card, I lean into this card being a symbol of luck, of efforts being rewarded, of abundance flowing my way. Energetically, it gives me a lift, that suggests I will reap the benefits of my hard work. Psychologically, I draw comfort from the possibility that I am building up a bank of good luck for myself through the way I'm moving through the world.

Luck to me is not just something you sit back and receive. It's an opening of the way that is in direct response to where you have been putting your energy and your efforts. The way I think of it is the money needs a pathway to get to you and the luck needs to know where to land. So where have you been putting your efforts? The 6 of coins suggests fruit will flow from that labor. And just that mere suggestion is a release for me. I feel a wave of positive energy that my time and labor is not wasted.

If you're reading this, take a look at foundations you have laid and check to see if they are bearing fruit. If you don't have a flowering happening ask if you have been making space for your dreams and making pathways for money. And I don't mean it in an all-intensive, create a business type of way. I mean it in foundational ways, like the conversations you have, the places where you share your passions and your work, the things that you make.

Are you in the sandbox doing? Are you playing with your ideas and sharing them with the world? Are you making a space for the luck to land? It's your job to clear the space, to show the world where the things that matter to you live, and that you have the heart to breathe life into your visions. Then it's the universe's job to work in concert with you, send you bursts of support and energy—sometimes in the form of money, sometimes in the form of synchronicity, and sometimes in the form of luck. That's how you know you're on the path.

Wishing you lots of blossoming and abundance on your path, and welcoming lots of blossoming and abundance on mine!

🙏🏾🙏🏾

Onward,

—K. Ibura