The Impossibility of Choice (Messages of Divine Love)
July 8, 2025/Fantastical Tarot
The Messages of Divine Love offer intuitive insight, weaving together tarot wisdom through the lens of channeled messages from Mother Earth, who grounds and nourishes us; the Ancients, who walk beside us with their guidance; the Guides, who propel us toward growth; Mother Mary, who holds us in unconditional love; and our Future Selves, looking back on the signs we see today, urging us forward with clarity and courage.
Rooted in my lived experience as a bisexual, disabled Chicana and shaped by my work in trauma-informed care and public policy, these readings are offered weekly to the public for free. May they inspire you to foster collective care, creative connection, and a vision of compassionate justice that honors us all💛
INTRO NOTES TO THE DECK & READING
It will come as no suprise that the big, batshit bill has redirected the focus of my energetic strategy. Too many of the communities I serve will be impacted by this. Sadly, I saw this one coming, but we came so much closer to defeating it than it would have been…But not enough.
A mass movement is coming, per my guides. Momentum is building, but it won't ever be on the timeline we expect. And it definitely won't look like anything we've seen. With Uranus transitioning into Gemini yesterday, the cycles of revolution are converging on this space in time, and Gemini tells us we have a choice to make. Which side of history do you want to be on?
This will become some of the last of the binaries we will have to choose from - whether to untangle ourselves from the constructed monstrosities committed in the name of dominance. Winners are still losers, and the stories of the rejected are now emerging triumphant from the shadows. All that we've understood about the divide between light and dark is about to get blurred - or rather, the blurred reality will finally be revealed once the walls of the heart come down.
Dualities are breaking apart, but with it, we are left with an impossible choice: Will we grasp the raw opportunities presented to us, not knowing where it will lead, or abdicate control to the same forces that punished our ancestors, tortured their neighbors, and coerced inhumane actions in the name of security and conformity? There will be some openings to start constructing the reality you want with the people you want. But you have to act fast. Don't hesitate, and don't let the naysayers get you down. Only you can make this impossible choice for yourself, but when you do, the whole story will come into focus, and you'll take off like you have wings on your feet.
Where We Are This Week
The Hanged Man (R)
Third Eye Chakra
It is easier to see manipulation if you’re no longer dancing with the denial of how it’s shown up in your life prior to this. However, if you’ve been avoiding your shadow self, this awakening will be even harder. That part of yourself that has been hiding in the shadows and whispering lies of separation will be out in force this week. Those who have already had those mirrored conversations with themselves will be annoyed but relatively unscathed. Whereas those who haven’t will have a feeling stirred that they will misdirect in their haste to be a know-it-all to prove that they’re the good guys they claim to be.
From Our Guides
Three of Cups (R)
Sacral Chakra
This past July 4th holiday was a great example of this card and the ennui we are feeling about our separations. Loneliness doesn’t feel good to anyone, especially right now. Yet, everywhere we look…even though “we have friends everywhere”, it’s hard to feel like we have many people who have truly got our backs and will be in our corner when we need it most. The friendships we most relied on to get us through the hard times have either been corrupted by political brainwashing we can’t overcome or have been so soured by superficiality that we can’t continue without hurting our self-respect. Do not be afraid of these solo moments. Transform it into a chance to become your own best friend for once. Whenever you feel alone, focus on the one relationship that will be with you throughout your entire life: yourself. I promise that’s ultimately what will magnetize the right people to stand by your side.
Messages from Lady Gaia/Mother Earth
Four of Cups (R)
Throat Chakra
Look, there’s few good things that come out of the four of cups - it’s either complacency or it’s complaining. Either way, it gives off “meh” energy that isn’t very useful right now. So Mother Earth asks us to transform that “meh” feeling into gratitude. Praise the lessons in humility that come along the way to bring in better ones. I’m getting a sense that you’re not feeling very rewarded for the effort you’ve put forth - but the point wasn’t in the recognition it was in building the muscle memory to make the good deeds a habit, not an exception. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how true your intentions are; sometimes, you just have to roll with the practice rounds before you get to claim your prize.
Messages from the Ancients
Temperance
Crown Chakra
I always view the crown chakra as our highest leadership potential. This is where our knowledge and experience combine with intuitive understanding and collective awareness to forge a longer-term strategy for our highest selves. The ancestors, after sending us warning signs for the past two weeks, have now entered the chat with moderation. Urging us to think before acting, to plan before striking. The need to “do something” can be overwhelming, but if it is not more carefully aligned with the outcomes we need, then we’re simply replicating the same experiments of the past. Study the methodology of what has come before so you replicate the right outcomes and not the dark side effects we’ve already experienced as a society.
Messages from Our Future Selves
The Chariot
Solar Plexus Chakra
Energetically in this spread, we have a lot of swift action coming at us very soon. So consider this the final check before you head out the door for your next adventure. Do you have your keys, your ID, your itinerary, your compass? Review your destination and expected route, but be ready for anything along the way. Soon, we won’t have a choice - we’ll be moving at light speed. So get all your gear together now and be ready when the call comes.
Messages from Mother Mary
Page of Swords
Throat Chakra
Mother Mary suggests that the best way for us to move from our past selves, here represented by the Crown Chakra/Temperance card to our future selves (Solar Plexus/Chariot energy), is to engage in the attitude of the eternal student. Become a seeker of knowledge, thirsty for skills that you can add to your repertoire. You are already skilled as it is, but this is a way to distinguish your talent so that it can spread a little further, and go a little deeper. For example, learning a different language makes you a more useful volunteer at the food bank. Learning how to write grants helps your neighborhood when they apply for state resiliency funds to help backyard gardeners. You never know when that skill will be useful, so just follow those threads and acquire knowledge to diversify the impact of your presence in any space.
Undercurrents
Ace of Cups (R)
Heart Chakra
The last card we had in the undercurrents was the ten of cups reversed. For the collective that has meant a collective heartbreak over a country that is now outright courting fascism. But personally, it’s also meant a lot of emotional dreams going unfulfilled and opportunities for connection that have been poisoned by complicity or harm. So it’s understandable if we want to stick to ourselves lately, to not risk opening our hearts to people. The world itself is untrustworthy right now, so we are even more reserved with our love - the sense of betrayal is thick with fresh hurt from our failing institutions. However, if we’re going to achieve the world we want, all of us are gonna have to start making some bold choices about love. Because we can’t build a world of love from suspicion and judgment, but rather from understanding and acceptance. Take time this week to consider what it will take to trust your own love again - and let that become part of the inner compass that guides your next steps when the Chariot hits.
Final Advice
Eight of Wands
Root Chakra
Last week’s post was called “Cracking us apart” for a reason - the last tethers of hope for old systems were snipped - from disastrous Supreme Court decisions to the “Big Beautiful Bill”, to the Diddy verdict, we have watched patriarchal cruelty get the parade it’s always wanted. But friends, this is Uranus in Gemini time, patriarchy isn’t being handed a win, but rather a poisoned cup. The momentum is rising, and the anger is building. A movement IS rising - but for now, I don’t want them to know. Keep it under the radar, but keep steadily building up from right where you are. Call in your people, shore up your defenses & gather in because soon we won’t be able to tell left from right, and you want to be sure you’re rooted into the communities that will care as much as you do about holding people safe. The days will be getting faster from here on out. Buckle in kids, we’re comin’ in hot.
PARTING WORDS FROM A GEEK EMPRESS
Did you know that I went to Space Camp as a kid? Twice! True story. I first went in 4th grade, around the same time that Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home came out. I was obsessed with space travel, especially as a future career. When I came back, because I was in the newspaper, I was sent to schools all over the region to talk about my experience, revealing one of my more important talents - connecting to audiences with my personal stories. I would go again in 7th grade - this time connecting with a classmate to design a space station that earned us awards from the American Air Force Association.
That I went from space nerd to trying to join a gang the next school year is less of a testament to who I am, but more to the pressures that we feel in adolescence to abandon what is inherent to us, a true passion and love, in favor of a desire for belonging, to be cool enough to be accepted. It’s that classic experience that all of us go through - one of the biggest attempts to create conformity, to stifle authenticity. The power of social pressure to make us be someone we’re not is part of what we’re fighting today: these are the choices most likely to be manipulated from within and the ones we need to be the most vigilant to protect against.
I’m not sure if I can convey how big of a nerd you’ve got to be to spend most of your 7th grade year researching space station design and sustainability (while also pursuing that calling I mentioned last week)…but if you needed my geek bona fides, that one is the biggest indictment. When I was working StarFest (which was also my first Star Trek convention in the early 1990s), I loved working Sunday mornings, which was when all the science lectures were. I mean…I sorta have a big ol’ crush on Dr. Erin MacDonald, one of the science advisors for Star Trek. And because I was in charge of mics, I got to sit backstage to watch the lectures, which made me even happier than the celebrities I met backstage (of those, Roger Cross was my favorite - he wrapped me in a hug and sang Sinatra to me *swoon*). But when I was a kid, I masked all of that geeky enthusiasm because it made me stand out in ways that subjected me to rejection, not connection.
This week's reading is all about the choices that are manipulated from within - the ways we avoid responsibility or abdicate control in times of crisis. The people who keep pivoting into excuses for the concentration camp that has been created in Florida or the ones tested abroad, are the people we have to be aware of. It is the real people who prioritize loyalty to a pretend king over the wellness of their neighborhood that you need to keep an eye on. It will be they who sell us out before we can create a new foundation.
That foundation is critical right now. We are living in systems that are not designed to sustain life (like my space station could💅🏼) but are designed to maximize profits, a losing game of dominance set up by binaries that can never be lost. The only positive of the breakdown of these systems is that it frees up some of the raw talent we need to build connections that exist outside of those systems. People like NASA scientists who have spent their lives studying sustainability on alien worlds (and have ideas about sustainability for our homeworld, too). People like healthcare analysts who know what it would take to get to universal health care. People like environmental engineers who know how to fix water systems when they break. All sorts of talent have just been released into the wild of our backyards - isn’t it time we make friendlies with each other?
Part of the reason I gravitate toward basic income, food justice, and disability policy is because it’s similar to the systems I designed for my space station back in the day. I’m pulling from a lifetime of interest in the social fabric between us to build that very thing today. Basic income provides a financial floor to empower freedom of choice. Food justice seeks to equalize and humanize the process of getting fresh, culturally appropriate, nutrient-dense food from farm to table for all. Along with disability policy, all three of these focus on choice as a foundational concept: one of the most important pillars of trauma-informed care. There are more, of course, housing, health care, environmental sustainability, educational advancement, and even artistic expression, but overall, liberation is grounded in a foundation of choice.
But to work in those arenas means to be in a space of always seeing humanity's most vulnerable take the shockwaves first. This is why it is so critical that we are reaching out with networks of care, integrating new talent and skills so we can construct a healthier, more interdependent society. That means using your time, talent, or treasure to support your local and close-knit online communities. That means kicking over a donation to your favorite nonprofit (particularly immigration, health care, or food groups, especially this month).
That also means getting the fuck over any hesitation we feel over meeting new people. And rejecting the demands for conformity, especially along binary lines - refuse to align with anything other than the truth of who you are, and you give others permission to do the same. By standing in your authenticity, your story gains the power to unlock an impervious heart or call in a kindred soul. Own your space and don’t give up your nerdy passions, your special interests or particular proclivities. Someone, somewhere, needs to see you exactly as you are in order to unlock their potential as well.
It was always going to come down to this, especially for Americans. The pandemic was but a dress rehearsal - but it didn't have to happen quite like this. But now that we’re here and fascism is moving in, we have a choice before us - recognize our inherent strengths are best utilized by combining a diverse array of talents into an interconnected weave of protection, or abandon all hope and go back to the days of every man for himself?
We will each have to choose whether we are an Ameri-can...or an Ameri-can't.
As always, may blessings follow you throughout the week to remind you that you are never alone: We are all connected 💖