Welcome back to monthly Flowerscopes. What lies ahead for your sign this October? Scroll on for messages from the flowers. OR listen to the podcast version (there’s a noisy crow in the audio that really lends a nice October quality to the proceedings). Follow the pod to get it on your app of choice every month.
Let’s begin with the Communal Reading for October:
The flower cards I pulled for the collective for October are Gentian + California Pitcher Plant + Tiger Lily, along with the Death card, 8 of Wands, and 4 of Wands. There’s a lot here, so let’s get right into it!
Gentian & the Death card
October has come bearing cooler weather along with a few curveballs, pivots, adjustments, and happy detours. A sudden exit, or a new road forward may shape the journey ahead. This is all exciting stuff, but it does require saying goodbye to how we thought things would go. In the most mundane framing, the experience feels like when you’re driving somewhere and suddenly Google Maps finds you a new route that promises to save a few minutes but looks a little…random. At first, it might feel annoying - do you bet on the new route or stick to your usual directions? Either way, you will get there, and even if it doesn’t save you any time as promised - does Google Maps ever save time? - you’ll still get there. This reading feels right on time for this solar eclipse. Life will just be a little wonky, a little exciting, a little spicy. The curveballs may ultimately be welcome innovations. You might be ready for a shakeup anyway. I won’t presume to know how you feel about it, but going with the flow will be the path of least resistance.
The flower essence Gentian to me is all about cultivating the energy of patience when we don’t want to. Life can be a tricky collaborator that doesn’t work on our timeline. Gentian helps us to flow through any hiccups and to respond, instead of trying to control all those little outcomes. I pulled the Death card in tandem with this one - Things Are Going to Change, and change is often created by things ending. Let’s talk about the Death card, briefly. It symbolizes one era ending. And a new one is on the way but isn’t quite here yet. But the door must be closed first before a new one can open. What will you learn while you wait to walk through the next door?
California Pitcher Plant & 8 of Wands
I saw this plant for the first time in person at the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam recently. It’s a fucking carnivorous (or insectivorous, to be precise) plant. Google it, it’s truly so unique and alien-like. Badass, right? The soil in its environment was too poor to get enough nutrients from, so the Pitcher Plant came up with some pretty sick evolution and ingenuity. I pulled the 8 of Wands in tandem with this one, the card of sudden change. So as Gentian said, things will change which requires some patience, some tending to the quirks and bumps that arise. And these changes will be swift, powerful, and paradigm-shifting. How is your soil not giving you the nourishment you need? How will you adapt to make a more delicious and nourishing meal out of your life? What old ways of metabolizing will you release, so that you can grow into your next amazing and powerful adaptation? It won’t be super laborious, promise.
8 of Wands is the kind of change that just happens - and therefore, adaptation becomes an absolute (and often joyful) necessity. What’s something you used to try and force yourself to do that you now do effortlessly - celebrate that now please if you haven’t - it’s that kind of vibe. One day you’ll suddenly trap a fly for the first time in your newly-formed mouth-trap. Surprise (yum)! We come up with brilliant ideas and pull new responses out of ourselves when it feels like we are at a loss, or deep in a quandary, fresh out of ideas. The old ways don’t work anymore. This is abundantly true right now on a macro scale. It’s not about tinkering or using a paper straw or incremental change. On a personal level, it’s about getting in touch with your instincts. Not your manners, the ways you were socialized, your knowledge base, or evidence of how things worked for you before. What will you do when you throw out the evidence and respond anew? How would your instinctual self organize your days? How will you bare your teeth and catch that delicious fly?
Tiger Lily & 4 of Wands
This pairing wants us to turn every day into a celebration. This doesn’t mean a month-long rager. This doesn’t mean there’s no grief or tears. We must proceed joyfully because we are F-ing here. Make some damn noise. Tiger Lily is very Wands energy, all about creating more jovial and connected social interactions, turning acquaintances into friends and friends into comrades and community through the magic of charisma, your unique vibes, and your brand of magnetism. Of letting the you-ness of you spill out effortlessly. What will you create this month when you fill your creative cauldron with things that inspire you? Feed the spirit, and see what comes out! To be lit up by your own life is a very magnetic frequency. That is some horny, potent, creative shit. People who are in the habit of making art are going to keep making more art! Creativity begets more creativity. You’re not going to suddenly paint a perfect painting if you’re scared to approach your canvas. Start your engines, and see where you go! And above all, celebrate whatever comes out of you.
I’m coming to you on the day of the Solar Eclipse, in a grief portal after weeks - months - of absolutely heartbreaking events in Lebanon, Missouri, Palestine, North Carolina, Tennesee, and beyond. I pulled the cards for this month last week, but right now, they feel right on time. Eclipses reveal clear truths and make them very plain - We are all we have. I also find eclipses give a little kick in the pants, a little righteous anger, that spurs action: We are all we have, so act accordingly.
Flowerscopes for October by Sign
Hot tip: Read the flower for your rising sign or your big three. These ‘scopes were created using the Flower Essence Society flower deck (including every Flower Essence in my kit) and Tarot cards from the Thoth deck.
Aries: Indian Paintbrush 🖌️ Wheel of Fortune
Creativity in all its forms is not linear - you cannot neatly birth a creative project, or a human, into this world. It’s a journey that will feel good, bad, confusing, right, and wrong. I believe that going to all of those places is just part and parcel of really putting yourself out there. Dare to go there this month, and see what you create! It all comes back to creativity this month as the driver of your vitality - if you’ve been feeling tired, confused, or unsure about a decision…put it all on the back burner and get excited about daily life first. Whether it’s making gorgeous meals, planting a garden, or picking an instrument back up that’s been collecting dust. The “this feels so right” feeling that comes from doing beautiful and generative things you love, will be a beacon that lights the way in all areas of life.
Taurus: Angelica 👼 9 of Cups
If you’re hunting for a meaningful sense of satisfaction, keep searching, and satisfying answers may be around the corner. Some dreams ring hollow once we grasp them - and if the meaning is tied to achievement as a placeholder for fulfillment, then that hungry ghost will quickly find a host. And so on. You’re redefining goals and your dreams. And they might look a lot different the more you unhook them from society’s expectations or timelines for you. Angelica is a flower that symbolizes the angel realm - it is a reminder that we are never alone, and are always supported by the people who love us who have passed on, and by the earth and life all around us. Freaky question time: What does the plant in your garden want for you? What would your pet say about you to their friends? What would you want for yourself, if no one was watching, and the only thing that mattered was your own happiness?
Gemini: Rue 🌎 The World
There’s a new world coming, in many ways. Culmination, completion, birthing something out into the world - and then soon enough a brand new phase one. A new start. But first, revel in the completion. Anything could happen next, but you have to be here for a while in the nebulous feeling of being done. Avoid too much advice or feedback - just focus on noticing how you feel, and building a safe internal environment to sift through the feedback and the revelations both big and small. The Rue plant causes painful blisters if you touch it - you may be in a “Back off” phase for a while. And some distance from others may be necessary while you alchemize your next phase. To paraphrase the Rue flower card by FES, your soul is both a shield and a shrine. How will you both protect its peace and let it shine this month?
Cancer: Wild Oat 🌾 Queen of Cups
Feelings are part of your life path, not a distraction from them. They’re not something to compartmentalize and access after work, or to only process when you’re off in your crab-cave, separated from the loved ones in your life. A spicy Q for you: what if some of your feelings actually were facts? Then what would you change when it comes to arranging your life and making sure that you feel supported? If you’re feeling like you want to find your life’s calling, or want to find ways to make your work life to your purpose, now is the time to explore. To pursue clarity, without rushing its arrival. Research, pros and cons lists, and check-in emails to anyone in your extended network whose brain you’d like to pick.
Leo: Pussy Paws 😈 The Devil
There may be a sense of being overwhelmed, of being on sensory overload, or super sensitive. You can go into a hidey hole and find your stasis again, by all means. But there’s also an opportunity to play with exploring your relationship to high-sensation. Get a little dirty, touch everything, and drink things in through the senses. The Devil card is all about patterns and our relationships with them - and what we do when we get triggered. Patterns are all of the things - hard to spot, entrenched, invigorating, messy! But you’re never going to undo one by hating it away - sometimes you do it by making your way partway through it and then taking a different turn. Left turn up ahead! The Devil card, like Pussy Paws, invites us to gain more evidence through the realm of sensation. And sensation can be quite sensational! The absence of sensation is not peace, it’s…not being very alive. Explore in the realm of physical sensation if you’re feeling called, just make sure to take that left turn and head home at some point.
Virgo: Morning Glory 🌼 Knight of Cups
I’m going to say something that may be music to your ears: organization, balance, and harmony are the them of the month. This month will be great for working on your daily habits, how your days flow, and revamping your to-do lists. Put your attention on all the small things in your day - with an eye to what depletes you, and what fills you up. How can you play the long game, building your habits so that they fill you up? And, I don’t mean to apply a hard-edged, dry, diet culture-y approach. This is not about optimization. The Knight of Cups functions as the opposite of a robot. How you feel should dictate the structure of your days. It’s about feeling present, and in the flow of your days. It may mean opening up more time, instead of blocking off each hour for something productive.
Libra: Red Larkspur 🌹 4 of Cups
If everything is feeling blah - or conversely if everything is feeling a little bit enticing - take a step back. No need to make decisions just yet. Plus, you’re on fire right now! People are gonna be buying what you’re selling. Allow your confidence to shine and see what your self-belief can draw to you. It’s a good time for shmoozing, networking, and making new friends that will clue you into new opportunities down the road. It’s also a good time for organizing a phone bank, a fundraiser, or a meal train. Your charisma and passion will get others on board for work, play, and service.
Scorpio: Shooting Star 🌠 6 of Swords
Shooting Star is a flower essence for the weirdo, the black sheep of the family, or the person who feels like an alien walking among humans. Most of us have some part of us that we’ve othered - sent away. And you might be on a journey of currently inviting that part back into the fold. You may not know where you’re going, or where you’re headed - but just keep moving, and make choices that are authentic to you at every step of the way. Love, support, and a real feeling of acceptance are on the other side.
Capricorn: Yerba Santa 🌿 4 of Swords
Rest, rest, rest. Go to bed! I’m serious. Please go to your calendar for October and delete three extraneous to-do’s or events. This month is not the time to push through, to muscle something into being. Change and results are coming - and so is a busy season - but now is simply the time to tend to yourself. Also, a theme of the month is another R word - Release. Part of the need for rest might be a heavy emotional burden that’s weighing you down. It’s a time to express how you feel - especially any feelings you typically hold back or self-edit.
Sagittarius: Mountain Pride ⛰️ The Empress
Pleasure is an inherently flexible principle - what we find pleasurable changes, and to fully drink in pleasure, we have to be open to its timeline. You can’t schedule it or know when it will arrive, even if you try and carefully engineer the set and setting. This month, you might want to experiment with sharing your truth as a portal into pleasure and presence. What and where do you hold back - where do you bite your tongue? It might feel really good to let it all out.
Aquarius: Garlic 🧄 The Lovers
This is a very sexy combo - all about merging and disappearing into other people, and separating and finding your sense of self again. You may be on a quest to find that balance between closeness and distance, intimacy without enmeshment, love without ownership, and a healthy sense of self while letting others in. In lore and magic Garlic has long been used to banish, to set boundaries, to bar entry (hi Vampires) - even Garlic breath communicates the message of “stay back”! It may be a time to take your space and think about all the people you’ve let in who you may want to revoke privileges to - and the people who you want to invite in further.
Pisces: Chapparal 🪙 Ace of Pentacles
I’ll never forget the smell of Chapparal in the desert after a rare rain. So cleansing, so clearing. Like last month, your card is Ace of Pentacles. A new - but first, a little more clearing out of the old dream, old plan, old structures. Fine-tuning doesn’t happen in a few weeks. But this month, it’s a cleansing and healing process - it might feel good to delete, throw away, and clear space for your next big move or project (for some, I imagine it is a literal move). Change is in the air, like the scent of clearing Chapparal after rain. And it just might feel really, really - and perhaps finally? - good.
Work with me this month:
Personal Flowerscope Want to receive a personalized reading with your flower + tarot card for the month ahead like the ones above (as an audio voice note with images of your flowers)? Respond to this email to book! $30 a flower-pop (for now) and you’ll have it within a few days.
Book a Session (Flower essences, Tarot, and more)
Crystal Shop (Just dropped a big batch of gemmy goods)
Guided Flower Essence Meditation
Mutual Aid Board
Send any links or accounts that need signal boosting and I will happily pin them on the board in next month’s letter.
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