AUTUMNAL EQUINOX EDITION

Dear readers, welcome to the first edition of Alchemag, the Autumnal Equinox Edition. 

I’ve been wanting to shift Incandescent Tarot, both my practice and newsletter, away from a formal business and into something more free-flowing and joyful. A letter to you all, a space to share tarot and spirituality, and an opportunity to engage with larger cycles: their symbolism, energy, and potential for change.

In this space, we’ll be widening our lens from tarot to spirituality, creativity, intuition, culture, and more. At its core, my work is about being in relationship with the energies that surround us. We do this every day, whether we realize it or not, so let’s use this place to stretch into the seasons, mark the passage of time, and ask questions rooted in curiosity that can expand our experience of the world.

We’re going to be drawing from practice, art, ritual, and, of course, tarot. You can expect explorations of the themes of the equinoxes, solstices, and some other major yearly events; invitations to reflect through journal prompts and tarot spreads; correspondences and curiosities to spark your practice; and, of course, tarot readings.

Alchemag will be published as follows:

As always, this is a living, breathing space, so let me know what you’d like to see here! And please share your insights in the comments below. Let’s dive in!

It just so happens that I’m drawing these cards early in the morning of the equinox itself. The sun has yet to rise and my studio is glowing like a beacon in the autumn dark.

If you’ve been following my work for some time, you’ve likely noticed that I have soft spot for pairing cards. How else would you have a dialogue? Draw one and you have a single point to focus on. Draw two and a conversation begins. You have a dynamic to explore and a moment of alchemy where two substances combine to create something new.

This morning, we’re given two cards that reflect a very particular type of transformation, one that’s been active in the collective for quite some time.

The Five of Cups places us squarely in a moment of grief. Here, it’s clear that we’re engaging with the dark side of the equinox, and I’m fascinated by how each of our cards so obviously reflects the duality of this moment: Five of Cups = darkness, Knight of Wands = light.

Let’s not mice words: it’s a hard time. I played around with other words I could’ve used here: bad, tumultuous, unstable, upsetting, tragic, dire. Yet in this space I’m pretty sure we’re all deeply feeling people; these words don’t do much to match the difficulty of being here now, witnessing and experiencing the injustice and hardship of this time.

The equinox marks the moment when we teeter between light and dark. After this, we’re solidly in the descent, marching towards the darkest day of the year. Staring down this path, I can’t help but feel the anticipation of relief. We’ve all been taking so much in - how can we welcome the drop and prepare ourselves for whats’ to come? A full–fledged acceptance of shadow.

It’s as if we’re being given a mission statement. Now is the time to plumb the depths of our grief. It’s time to embrace the wisdom of darkness, indeed! So how do we do that?

This is where our reading gets zesty, and I’m glad, because in this moment I’m confident we’re very aware of the contours of our grief. Do we really need more awareness? More introspection?

Thankfully, the vibrant Knight of Wands is rushing into the darkness, bringing their fiery energy to the scene. This is a time to be bold and focus on transforming suffering through action.

I’m sensing that a third card is present here, too. The Hermit, another cloaked figure like the Five of Cups, has been guiding us through the year, and it’ll be helpful to remember this card when embracing the Knight of Wands’ daring approach. If you worry that you’re being rash, remember just how much deep thinking you’ve been doing on your Hermit’s journey to date. As we move towards the darkest point of the year, we’re being asked to trust in our preparations and act instead of remaining loyal to the stasis of grief.

What does it feel like to know it’s going to get darker? I have the feeling we’re all grappling with this sensation, facing, now, a time of immense instability and uncertainty. But when the seasons shift, an instinct kicks in.

It reminds me of The Moon card with its baying canines and goofy-yet-mysterious crawfish. When the creatures within us stir, sensing a change, they’re also responding to unknown forces that awaken instinct and intuition. Leaning into this wilderness and accepting its presence can help us, but it sure isn’t easy, either.

As we approach the equinox - a time that denotes the balance between light and dark - our awareness of both becomes heightened. As does our awareness that we’re tipping into darkness. What do we do to prepare? What do we bring with us?

Our card for 2025 is The Hermit, that curmudgeonly and stubborn figure of individual seeking. Following their footsteps, we’ve each embarked on a journey through our inner landscapes, trusting that we can navigate by a single light - the star held in The Hermit’s lantern. As we move towards the winter and its still darkness, we can see even more clearly the light by which we’ve been guiding ourselves so far. What do we know about this light after almost eight months of its company? 

As we move towards the end of the year, I’m imagining a convergence of Hermits: all of us coming together, holding up our lanterns to make sense of the world. 

This phase of the year has a huge potential for us to rewrite old scripts through present action and engage in the bravery of self-rescue. While it might be obvious to imagine the Knight of Wands riding into daily life and making moves, we can also channel this energy towards more subtle ways of seeking.

By engaging in dreamwork or active imagination, we can proactively revisit experiences and illuminate them with the power of what we know now. A practice to do this:

🌖 Before going to sleep, ask your dreams to reveal something important. Personally, I’ve found that being vague is most helpful; often, our subconscious knows just what we need to experience in the moment and will serve it up to us (though sometimes confusingly at first!).

🌖When you wake up, write down your dream, paying attention to symbols, locations, and characters. Treat your dream like a tarot reading - everything in it reflects a facet of yourself.

🌖Journal, meditate, or reflect on the dream. What does it bring up for you? What part of your life, psyche, or current experience might it be highlighting? Pay attention to anything you’d like to transform about this picture, topic, or scenario.

🌖The dream itself might be providing a correction to a belief, memory, or framework that needs editing. Metabolize this through journaling or talking to a friend.

🌖You might also find that it’s giving you an opening to revise and change - channel the Knight of Wands and re-engage with the dream in active imagination (imagining yourself entering into the dream space and doing something differently or continuing the dream sequence as you see fit) and/or find a way to symbolically enact, edit, or honor the dream with an action in waking life.

by Ralph Pomeroy

Through these green Parthenons

small birds assert their levels,

measuring their heights and heavens

in tireless flights.

Light hangs like grapes sweating in thick gloom.

Failures of sunshine abdicate the airl

give up their falling half-way down.

As I go deeper, like them, into obscurity,

all around me the light plunges and wrecks,

until even sound seems affected by darkening

and I begin to hear my being alone.

I stop to look all the way up

and suddenly feel at the bottom of someplace —

as if I’d changed places with the stones

I looked down at earlier,

watched stare up at me through

the brown, clear stream

that cuts its lifetime into

the dimming strata.

Craft DIY spells and rituals for yourself. Spellwork is, to quote the wonderful Michelle Tea, just spiritual crafting. See below for some ingredients to incorporate into your workings. Remember, you can also add personally meaningful materials and create your own correspondences. Anything’s powerful if you truly feel it within yourself.

▶ Themes: Balance, descent, shedding, renewal, bravery, transformation

▶ Direction: West - sunset, descent, ancestors

▶ Symbols: Pomegranate, scales, seeds, grain, light/flame, scythe & sickle, basket

▶ Colors: Gold, russet, deep green, brown, maroon, amber, dark purple

▶ Food: Apples, grains, mushrooms, gourds, honey, pomegranate

▶ Stones: Carnelian, citrine, amber, smoky quartz, lapis lazuli, tiger’s eye

▶ Plants: Wheat, barley, acorn, sage, mugwort, rosemary

▶ Animals: Stag, owl, crow, salmon, serpent, bear, wolf, squirrel

▶ Gestures: Celebration, hosting, illumination, gratitude, release, mourning