Archive (Page 3) • west of the moon. • Buttondown

wednesday, twenty-eight july: four of cups

The description for today's card is very direct: it basically says that my life is very good but I don't see it that way, and that I should stop taking my...

tuesday, twenty-seven july: ace of cups

I swept all the little flowers off the patio and paths yesterday, which I think doesn’t reduce the number of bees, it just displaces them. (Relatedly, I...

monday, twenty-six july: four of pentacles

It’s Drunk Bee Season in the backyard. There’s a tree in the neighbor’s yard that drops these little yellow-green flowers. It drops a million of them–in the...

sunday, twenty-five july: the magician

“The Magician is a card of boundless, expansive energy … this card is all about action, action, action.” It’s been inaction on my mind lately, though–this...

saturday, july twenty-four: the moon

Drawing a single tarot card a day is an interesting exercise; drawing a single tarot card on my birthday feels like it’s supposed to Mean Something. We are...

friday, twenty-three july: the lovers

The whole morning routine was disrupted today by the Olympics opening ceremonies, and then there's this cake. There is a reason I prefer to make chocolate...

thursday, twenty-two july: the empress

I swear to you I shuffled this deck. I started to shuffle, then realized a few shuffles in that I was distracted thinking about birthday cake. I’ve always...

wednesday, twenty-one july: the empress

Today’s card looks like a tree on fire, red-tinged in the night. The guidebook says it represents either an actual maternal relationship or “the side of...

tuesday, twenty july: father of swords

I am not sure how it happens, but I’m sitting here at six-thirty on a Tuesday morning, middle of the summer, my only real responsibility today is to go to...

monday, nineteen july: nine of pentacles

The guidebook says that the nine of pentacles represents a “happy, healthy home” and the result of loyal hard work and dedication. Worked at that, haven’t...

sunday, eighteen july: the hermit

The Hermit, again! As befits my total inability to engage with other human beings. The struggle right now is Declan's birthday, all of his friends are out of...

saturday, seventeen july: justice

For contrast, a typical-of-my-mother conversation. It’s Friday morning, she’s just made us some breakfast–I offer to cook, every time, but she turns me down...

friday, sixteen july: cards absent.

“Now my father’s brother,” my dad says, “he was nothing like that. He took after his mother all the way. He was nothing like his father. Nothing. That was...

thursday, fifteen july: daughter of cups

On the card, the daughter of cups is a duckling casting a rainbow shadow. The guidebook says she represents a creative and emotional person, distressed by...

wednesday, fourteen july: the world

Yesterday’s expedition was the New York Botanical Garden. It was my first time at the NYBG, but as Declan reminded me several times, it wasn’t his first...

tuesday, thirteen july: the hermit

Summers with Declan, I try to have a Thing for us to do every day. I mean, sometimes he's in camp, but usually only when we need camp as childcare. Sometimes...

monday, twelve july: son of pentacles

So the tarot thing. I used to do a lot more tarot, like, twenty years ago. (I am so old. This is a theme lately, I am so old, I am not used to that....

sunday, eleven july: starting over.

Morning routines just kind of crop up--I stopped drinking coffee, mostly, sometime during the pandemic year. Not because I don't like coffee, I don't know....