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Episode Description October continues the intesnity of September’s cards, but this time on a broader stage. The theme of the month is the chaos of The Tower. As structures crumble, we’re being asked to focus on our core values while cultivating the calm awareness we need to withstand the collapse and gather strength for rebuilding via the Four of Swords. Our challenge is to avoid being swept up into big picture overwhelm and fatalism in our card of 2026, the Wheel of Fortune. Meanwhile, on the ground things are much more constructive as the Three of Pentacles illustrates the potential for ongoing collaborations to take root. There may even be a head start available when it comes to rebuilding after The Tower has finished its collapse, but only if we commit and keep going, together. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

Welcome to Elemental Explorations, a podcast and practice following water, fire, earth, and air through the seasonal shifts of the equinoxes and solstices hosted by Bethany Carder of hAfhAAA and My Resonant Frequencies and Gina Wisotzky of Incandescent Tarot and Alchemag. Together, we move with the elements as living guides — through breath, sound, movement, image, myth, and deep listening. Gina brings the wisdom of tarot as an embodied and intuitive language, helping us listen to the symbols, archetypes, and relational patterns moving through the Fire Body. Bethany brings astronomical astrology and stellar somatics as a way of attuning to the living sky, the solar rhythm, and the body’s relationship with Earth, season, and cosmos. Episode Overview This episode moves from dialogue into embodied integration, poetry, and a listening meditation on the Earth body. The integration practice begins with three minutes of alternate nostril breathing, followed by humming. A gentle laugh is gradually brought into the hum until it opens into ridiculous, full-bodied laughter. This sequence draws inspiration from teachings by Vickie Dodd and Laraaji, using breath, vibration, resonance and laughter to move energy through the body and prepare the field for deeper listening. From there, we move into poetry from Ursula K. Le Guin’s Always Coming Home before entering a listening meditation on the Earth body. The meditation moves from beneath the Earth toward the surface and into the home: seismic activity → soil → tree → insects → birds → food preparation → voice → rest We begin with a sonification of seismic data from the September 27, 2014 eruption of Mount Ontake, Japan, a steam-driven eruption in which hydrothermal fluids moved upward through rock toward the surface. The meditation begins at the meeting place of the elements: water moving through rock, transformed through heat and pressure, and emerging through the Earth body. From there, we move through a contact-microphone recording within a compost heap and upward into a willow tree. Listening through the contact mic, we hear the fluid nature of the Earth body: the internal activity of the tree, water moving from roots toward leaves through xylem, sugars moving through phloem throughout the living tree, and wind moving through its body. The sound field opens outward into terrestrial life through crickets and cicadas, and then upward into birds. From there, we enter the home: spinach being sorted, food sizzling, water boiling for ramen, and the metallic rhythm of two forks separating noodles. Earth, water and fire meet through the ordinary act of preparing food while the outside world remains present through the open window. The meditation closes in the kitchen, singing with the crickets while cooking: voice, insects, food preparation and the surrounding environment sharing the same sonic field. The underlying noise floor is composed from field recordings gathered while meditating with the Earth body through the seasonal cycle between the June solstice and the September equinox. The approach to listening, recording and composition draws inspiration from the work of Hildegard Westerkamp and Annea Lockwood, including ideas from Westerkamp’s Music, Sound and Conflict, and from practices of attentive environmental listening in which field recording becomes a form of relationship rather than simply the collection of environmental sound. Credits Abram Morphew — piano; sonification of seismic data from Mount Ontake, September 27, 2014; production and mastering. Gina Wisotzky — field recordings of crickets, cicadas and birds; sorting spinach and cooking sounds; recording in Durham, North Carolina. Bethany Carder — field recordings of crickets and cicadas; cooking, boiling water and metal utensil recordings; seasonal Earth-body field recordings and noise floor; voice, poetry and meditation introduction; editing and mixing; recording in Portland, Oregon. Recorded by Gina Wisotzky and Bethany Carder on August 25, 2026 at 6:00 AM PDT / 9:00 AM EDT, in Durham, North Carolina and Portland, Oregon. Text Ursula K. Le Guin — Always Coming HomeExcerpt from the Second and Third Houses of the Earth, pp. 84–85 in the edition used for this episode: Come among the unsown grasses, bearing richly the oaks, heavy with acorns, the sweet roots and unploughed earth. Come among the deer on the hill, the fish in the river, the quail in the meadows. You can take them. You can eat them. Like you, they are food. They are with you, not for you. Who are their owners? This is the puma’s range. This hill is the vixen’s. This is the owl’s tree. This is the mouse’s run. This is the minnow’s pool. It is all one place. Come take your place. No fences here but sanctions. No war here but dying. There is dying here. Come hunt. It is yourself you hunt. Come gather yourself from the grass, the branch, the earth. Walk here, sleep well on the ground that is not yours but is yourself. References + Influences John Cage + Merce CunninghamChance Conversations: An Interview with Merce Cunningham and John Cage LaraajiLARAAJI: Playing as the Field Laraaji’s teachings also inform the use of laughter as an embodied energetic practice within the episode’s integration sequence. Vickie Dodd / Sacred SoundworksTeachings on sound, vibration, resonance and the body inform the use of humming within the integration practice. https://sacredsoundworks.com/ David Abram + Merlin SheldrakeOn the Anarchic Proliferation of Earthly PerspectivesA deep-ecology dialogue between cultural ecologist David Abram and mycologist Merlin Sheldrake, originally published by Emergence Magazine. Shared by Gina as part of the inquiry into what it is to be Earthling and how we understand ourselves within the wider field of earthly agencies.https://emergencemagazine.org/conversation/honoring-the-wild-proliferation-of-earthly-perspectives/ Hildegard WesterkampField-recording and soundscape-composition practice, including ideas from Music, Sound and Conflict, informing the use of environmental recording as attentive encounter and compositional material. Annea LockwoodField-recording and environmental listening practices informing the approach to listening to, recording and composing with the Earth body. Freesound Sources Soil Listening - Woodlice and Ants - 20 minutes - 06.05by Mark_Taylor_Echophora_https://freesound.org/s/734779/License: Attribution 4.0 wind in willow 02 contact mic 150426_0644.flacby klankbeeldhttps://freesound.org/s/272322/License: Attribution 4.0 Research Links EE Practice Note - breath - movement Please honor your body throughout the breath and movement practices. Nothing should feel forced, strained, dizzying, painful, or uncomfortable. If anything does not feel right, return to your natural breath, pause the movement, and rest as needed. For alternate nostril breathing, keep the breath gentle and do not hold or force the breath. If you are congested, feeling lightheaded or short of breath, pregnant, or managing cardiovascular or respiratory concerns, you may choose to breathe naturally and simply listen instead. Move only within a comfortable range, and choose stillness whenever that better supports your body. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

Episode Description September marks a forceful transition into a new phase. Thankfully, this force is self-generated as we embody the decisive determination of The Chariot. This is a month to focus on our unique paths and what we can bring to the world. While the environment around us is full of opinions and distractions as shown in the Five of Wands, we’re being asked to learn from the feedback we get while also filtering out the noise that doesn’t speak to our larger objectives. While it may be tempting to hide behind lofty concepts and spiritual practices, embodying a less-helpful version of The High Priestess, we’re instead being asked to learn to step back in the face of new information - to take a moment like The Hanged Man - and to immediately rejoin the fray once we’ve seen what’s happening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

In Episode 7 of Seeing Tarot, artist Anna Rose Stabler and tarot reader Gina Wisotzky continue their card-by-card exploration of the tarot, arriving at the second court card in the wands suit. Rather than defining cards through fixed meanings, this podcast explores what happens when you live with tarot over time: through art-making, daily life, season, conversation, and sensory experience. This month’s focus: The Knight of Wands Here, we dive into the element of fire as expressed through the questing, impatient, and energetic Knight. Listen in to learn all about the process of creating the Knight of Wands, the card’s connection to getting things done, and why axe body spray may encapsulate this card’s charm and dingusry. About the Hosts Gina Wisotzky The founder of Incandescent Tarot, Gina has been reading and practicing tarot and the intuitive arts for over two decades. Her work weaves tarot, writing, seasonal practice, and somatic inquiry through readings, classes, and audio reflections. Incandescent Tarot / Alchemag Anna Rose Stabler Anna Rose Stabler is an illustrator whose work centers symbolism, still life, and narrative imagery. Her practice explores how meaning forms through visual language, material, and seasonality. Website / Instagram / Tumblr About the Series Seeing Tarot is a collaborative podcast documenting the creation of a tarot deck from the ground up. Through ongoing dialogue, Anna and Gina explore symbolism, artistic process, intuition, sensory experience, and the evolving language of tarot. Rather than offering definitive meanings, the series approaches tarot as something lived: relational, interpretive, embodied, and continually unfolding through attention and conversation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

Episode Description August continues the themes of presence, attention, work, and dedication brought into focus last month; this time, however, we’re feeling less self-conscious, directly immersing ourselves in the busy complexity of the Ten of Pentacles. In doing so, we’re accessing new layers of peace and healing, including some surprising insights and epiphanies, as we practice embodying The Star. We might be tempted, though, to tip a little too far into reverie, fantasy, and wishful thinking as the Seven of Cups tempts us to distract ourselves from the realness in front of us, whether as an escape or act of self-protection. The Three of Wands is our opportunity card, a direct next step from our opportunity last month, the Two of Wands. So we’re gifted with some linear growth! How exciting. Note where you’re secretly committing to budding projects, plans, and self-directed visions for the future. We can enjoy this time in-between vision and structure by exploring, experimenting, and remaining open to inspiration. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

In Episode 7 of Seeing Tarot, artist Anna Rose Stabler and tarot reader Gina Wisotzky continue their card-by-card exploration of the tarot, arriving at the second court card in the wands suit. Rather than defining cards through fixed meanings, this podcast explores what happens when you live with tarot over time: through art-making, daily life, season, conversation, and sensory experience. This month’s focus: The Knight of Wands Here, we dive into the element of fire as expressed through the questing, impatient, and energetic Knight. Listen in to learn all about the process of creating the Knight of Wands, the card’s connection to getting things done, and why axe body spray may encapsulate this card’s charm and dingusry. About the Hosts Gina Wisotzky The founder of Incandescent Tarot, Gina has been reading and practicing tarot and the intuitive arts for over two decades. Her work weaves tarot, writing, seasonal practice, and somatic inquiry through readings, classes, and audio reflections. Incandescent Tarot / Alchemag Anna Rose Stabler Anna Rose Stabler is an illustrator whose work centers symbolism, still life, and narrative imagery. Her practice explores how meaning forms through visual language, material, and seasonality. Website / Instagram / Tumblr About the Series Seeing Tarot is a collaborative podcast documenting the creation of a tarot deck from the ground up. Through ongoing dialogue, Anna and Gina explore symbolism, artistic process, intuition, sensory experience, and the evolving language of tarot. Rather than offering definitive meanings, the series approaches tarot as something lived: relational, interpretive, embodied, and continually unfolding through attention and conversation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

Episode Description All the emotion from June gives way to abundant growth. We’re invited to sit securely on the throne of the King of Pentacles, trusting that we’ve learned enough to tend to what’s coming into full bloom in our lives. Those lives, meanwhile, are bustling with activity, work, and connections that need all of our attention and resources, as shown in the maximalist Ten of Pentacles. Our challenge, however, is to not take this intensity as a reason to reinvent the wheel - charging into fresh ideas, systems, and investments of all sorts like the Knight of Pentacles. That would be a surefire way of avoiding the newness that’s on the horizon along with the abundant goodness we’ve been working so hard to cultivate. Instead, the Two of Wands asks us to look for a spark that’s not directly tied to our day-to-day life right now. This isn’t some practical edit or innovation, but a new and likely creative offshoot that could take us someplace considerable, though for now it’s just time to dream and envision what could come while enjoying whatever it is we’ve discovered that's lighting a fire within. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

In Episode 6 of Seeing Tarot, artist Anna Rose Stabler and tarot reader Gina Wisotzky continue their card-by-card exploration of the tarot, arriving at the first court card in the wands suit. Rather than defining cards through fixed meanings, this podcast explores what happens when you live with tarot over time: through art-making, daily life, season, conversation, and sensory experience. This month’s focus: The Page of Wands Here, we dive into the element of fire as expressed through youthful energy: vigorous, vibrant, and awkwardly enthusiastic. Listen in to learn all about the process of creating the Page of Wands, the importance of beginner’s mind, and why Paul Atreides is the ultimate PofW in fiction. Page of Wands Moodboard About the Hosts Gina Wisotzky The founder of Incandescent Tarot, Gina has been reading and practicing tarot and the intuitive arts for over two decades. Her work weaves tarot, writing, seasonal practice, and somatic inquiry through readings, classes, and audio reflections. Incandescent Tarot / Alchemag Anna Rose Stabler Anna Rose Stabler is an illustrator whose work centers symbolism, still life, and narrative imagery. Her practice explores how meaning forms through visual language, material, and seasonality. Website / Instagram / Tumblr About the Series Seeing Tarot is a collaborative podcast documenting the creation of a tarot deck from the ground up. Through ongoing dialogue, Anna and Gina explore symbolism, artistic process, intuition, sensory experience, and the evolving language of tarot. Rather than offering definitive meanings, the series approaches tarot as something lived: relational, interpretive, embodied, and continually unfolding through attention and conversation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

Welcome to Elemental Explorations, a podcast and practice following water, fire, earth, and air through the seasonal shifts of the equinoxes and solstices hosted by Bethany Carder of My Resonant Frequencies and Gina Wisotzky of Incandescent Tarot. Together, we move with the elements as living guides — through breath, sound, movement, image, myth, and deep listening. Gina brings the wisdom of tarot as an embodied and intuitive language, helping us listen to the symbols, archetypes, and relational patterns moving through the Fire Body. Bethany brings astronomical astrology and stellar somatics as a way of attuning to the living sky, the solar rhythm, and the body’s relationship with Earth, season, and cosmos. In this episode, released on the Summer Solstice, we turn toward the Sun and the Fire Body — the heat that animates, clarifies, transforms, and calls us into motion as we cross the threshold from spring’s waters into the fullness of summer light. Episode Overview Moving from the Moon-Water Body into the Sun-Fire Body, this episode uses astronomical astrology, stellar somatics, and tarot to explore solar vitality, digestion, radiance, and expression. At the Summer Solstice, the Sun illuminates this Taurus-Gemini threshold, where embodied earth meets breath, voice, curiosity, and exchange. The fire body is our internal hearth: warmth, circulation, metabolism, expression, and the capacity to turn experience into energy. Through breath, humming, laughter, and deep listening, we work with the body’s rhythms directly: Breath of Fire awakens heat and alertness, humming organizes the system through vibration and the vagus nerve, and laughter gives activation a pathway into expression, release, and rest. Fire becomes not force, but the body’s capacity to metabolize experience without burning out. Brief Safety Note These solar practices alter respiratory and circulatory rhythms. Breath of Fire, or Kapalabhati, is not recommended during pregnancy or while navigating high blood pressure, cardiovascular conditions, vertigo, hernias, gastric ulcers, epilepsy, or severe respiratory concerns. If you feel dizzy, strained, or overwhelmed, return to natural breathing. Your autonomy is central to this practice; pause, soften, or rest at any time. Closing Practice In the spirit of Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening, we open to fire as teacher and living guide. Our closing soundscape follows a simple elemental arc: solar winds, sunrise, cicadas, fire crackle, lava flows, seismic rumble, and sunset fire crackle amid the hum of crickets, and Koshi fire chimes. We invite you to honor your own fire body through simple acts of attention and tending: step into morning sunlight, cook with presence, sit near a candle or hearth, listen to cicadas or crickets, feel warmth on stone or skin, hum into the chest, laugh from the belly, breathe with rhythm, and rest before the fire becomes too much. Notice how fire lives in your place: in heat, dryness, growth, combustion, electricity, digestion, decay, repair, and renewal. Learn who tends fire where you live — on the land, in the home, in community, in ceremony, in ecological care — and consider how your own vitality is connected to that wider tending. We honor Indigenous fire tenders whose relationships with fire have shaped and protected living landscapes across generations. This threshold invites us to learn how Sun and fire shape our own places, and who is tending the ecological health of the lands we call home. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

Episode Description In this episode of the Incandescent Tarot Podcast, Gina Wisotzky speaks with philosopher, creativity researcher, and tarot scholar Georgi Gardiner about tarot as a tool for thought. Together, they explore tarot beyond prediction: as a practice of inquiry, cognitive flexibility, visual literacy, self-reflection, and deep conversation. Georgi shares how a life-changing tarot reading led her to develop a philosophical framework for understanding the cards, and how she now uses tarot, image interpretation, and even games like Dixit in university classrooms to teach creativity, question design, and critical thinking. This conversation moves through epistemology, AI, ritual, attention, introspection, community, visual culture, and the role of play in meaning-making. Rather than treating tarot as an oracle that delivers fixed truths, Georgi offers an expansive vision of tarot as a conversational space: one that helps us examine assumptions, develop self-knowledge, and imagine new ways of relating to ourselves and others. In this episode, Gina and Georgi discuss: * Tarot as a tool for thought rather than a predictive system * How good tarot questions deepen inquiry instead of demand certainty * The role of cognitive flexibility and “flipping interpretations” in tarot practice * Why tarot can help develop creativity, visual literacy, and conversational skills * Teaching philosophy and creativity through tarot and image interpretation * The relationship between tarot, AI, and critical thinking in the age of generated information * Tarot as an antidote to shallow conversation * The social and communal dimensions of tarot, astrology, and ritual * How visual symbolism shapes perception and meaning-making * The value of introspection, self-knowledge, and questioning one’s own assumptions * Using Dixit cards, nature, and other image systems as tarot-adjacent reflective practices * The importance of playfulness in ritual and philosophical inquiry About Georgi Gardiner Georgi Gardiner is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Gender & Sexuality Studies at Tulane University, where she also teaches creativity. Her work explores epistemology, self-deception, attention, language, sexuality, ritual, and contemporary uses of tarot as a reflective and educational practice. Gardiner develops interactive philosophical workshops and installations focused on “scholarship through art, play, and adventure,” incorporating tarot, games, visual culture, and collaborative inquiry into both teaching and community-building. She also runs experimental arts and gathering spaces centered around creativity, ritual, and play. Find Georgi’s work, tarot resources, essays, and workshops at:georgigardiner.com and on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/georgi.gardiner/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

Episode Description June arrives on the heels of a surprisingly intense May. Last month brought us the triumphant momentum of the Six of Wands paired with the profound transformation of Death, a combination that proved both productive and very demanding. For many of us, success and change arrived together, asking more of our hearts and nervous systems than we may have anticipated… This month brings us back into the realm of the Minor Arcana, but don’t mistake that for a lack of significance. June asks us to pause and process what has happened. The Five of Cups centers the reading with themes of grief, loss, and acknowledgment, while the Ten of Wands reflects an environment that still feels overloaded and demanding. The Three of Swords challenges us to relate differently to pain, and the King of Swords offers a powerful opportunity to bring perspective, leadership, and discernment to our emotional lives. This is a month of witnessing rather than resisting. June asks us to honor what has been lost, edit what is no longer sustainable, and carry forward the wisdom rather than the burden. Key Themes for June 2026 Honoring grief without becoming trapped in it Making space for emotional processing Recognizing overload before burnout arrives Editing commitments, projects, and responsibilities Using perspective as a form of self-care Carrying forward wisdom rather than burden Allowing endings to become turning points 🎡 Wheel of Fortune Context June feels like the emotional aftermath of May’s transformation. The Death card may be gone from the table, but its effects are still rippling outward. The Five of Cups suggests we’re now processing what changed, what was lost, and what new reality is emerging in its place. The Wheel continues to turn, but this month asks us to take refuge in the still center of our own experience where we can pause, witness, and integrate. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

In Episode 5 of Seeing Tarot, artist Anna Rose Stabler and tarot reader Gina Wisotzky continue their card-by-card exploration of the tarot, arriving at the final ace of the Minor Arcana: the Ace of Pentacles. Rather than defining cards through fixed meanings, this podcast explores what happens when you live with tarot over time: through art-making, daily life, season, conversation, and sensory experience. This month’s focus: The Ace of Pentacles Here, we dive into the element of earth: cultivation, embodiment, material reality, labor, pleasure, systems, resources, and the strange human tension between structure and freedom. The conversation moves between orchards, agriculture, productivity culture, tarot structure, perfume, ducks, bees, home renovations, and the rhythms of seasonal living. The Ace of Pentacles emerges as a card about participation in the world itself: the place where spiritual insight becomes lived experience. This episode also marks the completion of the aces and the beginning of a new phase in the project, as Anna and Gina begin considering a move into the court cards and the evolving structure of the series itself. In This Episode * The Ace of Pentacles as the grounding point of the Minor Arcana: where “things get real” * Agriculture as both technology and existential tradeoff: planning for survival versus living in the present * The garden as representation of the emergence of humanity in the tarot landscape * The relationship between structure, discipline, civilization, and spiritual life * The tension between optimization culture and cyclical, sensory, embodied living * Anna’s artistic process creating the Ace of Pentacles illustration: orchards, orange roses, guinea fowl, and pastoral abundance * Cyclical versus linear understandings of tarot structure and personal growth * Perfume, musk, gourmand fragrances, and the sensory world of Pentacles * Bees, ducks, chickens, home renovation, spring labor, and the deeply earthly experience of tending land and home Scents & Sensory Correspondences Ace of Pentacles Fragrance Anna’s PickDzing! — animalic, hay-like, gourmand inspired by the circus. Gina’s PickKiehl’s Musk — as earthy as it gets! a musk for the ages. Additional Pentacles fragrance associations discussed include bread accords, gourmand perfumes, amber, vanilla, and patchouli. Natural Material * Orchard soil * Fresh bread * Hay and straw * Mossy garden walls * Animal musk * Beeswax Environment * A cultivated orchard bordered by mountains * A busy garden full of creatures * Spring abundance tipping toward summer References & Influences * Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack * Tarot Deciphered by T. Susan Chang and M. M. Meleen * Fortune’s Wheelhouse Ace of Cups Moodboard About the Hosts Gina Wisotzky The founder of Incandescent Tarot, Gina has been reading and practicing tarot and the intuitive arts for over two decades. Her work weaves tarot, writing, seasonal practice, and somatic inquiry through readings, classes, and audio reflections. Incandescent Tarot / Alchemag Anna Rose Stabler Anna Rose Stabler is an illustrator whose work centers symbolism, still life, and narrative imagery. Her practice explores how meaning forms through visual language, material, and seasonality. Website / Instagram / Tumblr About the Series Seeing Tarot is a collaborative podcast documenting the creation of a tarot deck from the ground up. Through ongoing dialogue, Anna and Gina explore symbolism, artistic process, intuition, sensory experience, and the evolving language of tarot. Rather than offering definitive meanings, the series approaches tarot as something lived: relational, interpretive, embodied, and continually unfolding through attention and conversation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

This reading surprised me when I turned over the cards. After a period of (relative) calm in our readings with no majors in sight, May brings us two powerful archetypes to work with: the deeply transformative path of Death and the placid surrender of The Hanged Man. If you’ve been feeling a change building, this month is when it comes into focus - perhaps in a glaring way that has us instincitively shrinking away from the spotlight - and require us to keep going, dare to openly celebrate and continue what’s working well and rapidly, and to also balance all the fire and movement with wise practical decisions in our everyday lives. Listen in and see how these cards might shape your May. Episode Description We’re moving out of April’s grounded, contemplative Pentacles landscape and into something much more immediate and alive. Last month asked us to tend, to wait, and to notice what emerges when we don’t rush. And now, suddenly things are happening. May brings a rapid shift from possibility into reality. The Six of Wands signals momentum and visible success, while Death reveals the deeper transformation fueling it all. The Hanged Man introduces a tension between movement and retreat, and the Four of Pentacles offers a grounded way to navigate the intensity. This is a powerful and slightly surreal month. May asks us to accept what is working, trust the depth of change unfolding beneath it, and move forward without abandoning our center. Our Cards Theme: Six of Wands Things are moving—and fast! What was contemplative in April now becomes real. The Six of Wands brings visibility, success, and a sense of arrival that may feel sudden or even surprising. This is the moment where ideas take shape and results begin to show. Let yourself be seen, supported, and celebrated. You’ve done more preparation than you think and the feedback isn’t just kindness. Environment: Death Beneath the external successes of the month lies a larger path of profound transformation. Death reveals that what’s unfolding externally is rooted in something much deeper. A cycle is ending, a new facet of ourselves is emerging, and the shift is both inevitable and meaningful. It’ll be feel intense AND aligned. Make room for all the feelings and keep going, paying attention to your instincts and intuition. Challenge: The Hanged Man Amidst all this internal and external movement, a part of us wants to shrink back and hide behind a facade of “wise caution.” This moment, however, calls for us to show up and participate. It’s not the time to turn back, look for perfection, or get abstract when things get real. Opportunity: Four of Pentacles Stay grounded, keep it simple, and maybe avoid big financial moves or radical changes in your everyday life! The Four of Pentacles offers a stabilizing path through the intensity of the month. This is about tending to your resources - energy, time, money, and attention - with clarity and care. Key Themes for May 2026 Rapid movement and visible results External success rooted in deeper transformation Learning to receive recognition without minimizing it Navigating the tension between action and retreat Grounding through daily ritual and routine, the senses, and a practice of enoughness Sustaining yourself through change rather than overextending 🎡 Wheel of Fortune Context May marks a clear shift out of the Minor Arcana lull of March and April. Major Arcana energy is back! The Wheel has started to spin faster, calling on our endurance and trust in larger patterns. What was quietly building over the past few months is now becoming visible, tangible, and undeniable. Buckle up! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

In Episode 4 of Seeing Tarot, artist Anna Rose Stabler and tarot reader Gina Wisotzky continue their card-by-card exploration of the tarot, moving through the aces of the Minor Arcana. Rather than defining cards through fixed meanings, this podcast explores what happens when you live with their energy over time: through art-making, daily life, season, and conversation. This month’s focus: The Ace of Cups In this episode, Anna and Gina discuss: * Water as a fluid, transformative element that dissolves the hardness of Swords and Wands into something tender and ineffable * The shadow side of Cups: beneath the softness, what is sinister, soporific, and hidden * The Grail legend as tarot mirror: the holy fool, purity of heart, and the quest for impossible wholeness * How the five streams in the card’s imagery connect to the senses and the facets of being alive * The upside-down M on the chalice and its possible allusion to the Virgin Mary * Rachel Pollack’s framing of the Ace of Cups as “an emblem of love underpinning life” * Psychedelics, blue lotus, and states of perception beyond language * The Cocteau Twins as the ultimate Cups band * Gina’s March forecast and how the Eight of Cups, Ten of Cups, and Six of Wands illuminate the art of following the flow * Anna’s illustration process: gray skies, a sun-sized wafer, and a Medieval-style border * A preview of the Ace of Pentacles and the turn toward earth The conversation moves freely between the mystical and the grounded — from Arthurian legend and Gnostic Christianity to perfume and Pokémon. The Ace of Cups emerges the place where the full spectrum of emotional life gathers: seeking, melancholy, beauty, and the underlying unity beneath it all. References & Influences The Grail Legend by Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley Elaine Pagels and the Gnostic Gospels The Cocteau Twins Ace of Cups Moodboard Scents & Sensory Correspondences Ace of Cups Fragrance Gina’s Pick Parfum de Thérèse by Frédéric Malle — created by Edmond Roudnitska in the late 1950s for his wife, who wore it exclusively until Frédéric Malle later brought it to market. Notes of melon, green violet, and moss that together evoke a secret shaded pool with water lilies — romantic, melancholy, and quietly watery. Anna’s Pick Un Jardin sur le Nil by Hermès — light, aquatic, luminous. Anna’s mother’s signature fragrance. Natural Material Still water and lily pads Rain on a gray afternoon Violets Blue lotus (flagged for future Cups exploration) Environment A shaded garden pool, secret and still Clouds heavy before rain The surface of things — and what moves beneath About the Hosts Gina Wisotzky The founder of Incandescent Tarot, Gina has been reading and practicing tarot and the intuitive arts for over two decades. Her work weaves tarot, writing, seasonal practice, and somatic inquiry through readings, classes, and audio reflections. Incandescent Tarot / Alchemag Anna Rose Stabler Anna Rose Stabler is an illustrator whose work centers symbolism, still life, and narrative imagery. Her practice explores how meaning forms through visual language, material, and seasonality. Website / Instagram / Tumblr This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

Episode Description We’re coming back down to earth in April after practicing honesty and clarity with the King of Swords in March. This month brings us fully back into the body, the home, and the material world, while giving us a new perspective from which we can plan our next steps. With a strong two pentacles at the center of its reading, April emphasizes stewardship, presence, and participation in daily life. The Queen of Pentacles leads us into a space of care and attentiveness, while the Ten of Pentacles reflects a rich, busy, and interconnected environment. The Nine of Swords challenges us to notice old patterns of retreat or overwhelm, and the Two of Wands opens a quiet but exciting space for creative dreaming. This is a full and fertile month: April asks us to tend what is already here, trust the stability we’ve built, and allow new visions to emerge without rushing to act on them. Our Cards Theme: Queen of Pentacles April is rooted in care, presence, and grounded stewardship. After March’s King of Swords clarity, we now come into the body and the senses. This is a month of tending: to your home, your relationships, your environment, and yourself. Rather than speaking or analyzing, the Queen of Pentacles asks: how are you showing up? How are you creating a space where you and your community can feel supported? There is a quiet confidence here, so trust that you know how to care for what matters. Environment: Ten of Pentacles Life is rich and full! The Ten of Pentacles reflects a world of many moving parts—people, responsibilities, relationships, obligations, and opportunities. It can feel like a lot, but it is also a sign of abundance and interconnectedness. It just might make you feel a little dizzy. This is not a spacious month externally, but internally, you are being asked to cultivate steadiness. Notice just how capable you’ve become in navigating complexity. Challenge: Nine of Swords Old patterns of worry, overwhelm, or retreat may resurface. The Nine of Swords suggests that moments of busyness or abundance could trigger familiar emotional responses such as rumination, anxiety, or the urge to withdraw. Yet this card feels slightly out of step with the rest of the spread, hinting that these reactions may be echoes rather than current truths. Where might you be defaulting to old coping mechanisms that no longer fit? Opportunity: Two of Wands A gentle and exciting opening. The Two of Wands invites you to dream, explore, and imagine what’s next without pressure. This is not a month for major action or overhaul. It is a time for curiosity, possibility, and low-stakes creativity. Let yourself expand your vision. What if the best thing could happen? Key Themes for April 2026 * Grounding into the body and daily life * Stewardship of home, resources, and relationships * Navigating abundance and busyness with presence * Recognizing and releasing outdated emotional patterns * Making space for creative dreaming without urgency * Finding stability within complexity 🎡 Wheel of Fortune Context April continues the grounded phase we entered in March, with no Major Arcana cards present! This suggests a sustained period of integration where the dramatic shifts of earlier months are being metabolized into daily life. The Wheel is still turning, but now through routine, responsibility, and embodied presence. This is a time to build, tend, and stabilize while quietly sensing what may be emerging next. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com