I've always wanted to do a video series that is sort of advice column-like. They're something magically disarming about listening in on a one-on-one conversation. Listening to Jessica Landyadoo's, Ghost of a Podcast, is a weekly ritual of mine. The first half of her podcast she answers a listener's question using their astrology chart. I may not have the exact same question. My chart my look nothing like theirs. But the insights I get listening in are gold. I wanted to make an offering that would do the same for my followers. Behold, "dear misterwitchboy"
In this first episode I answer a question posed by one of my close friends. However, from now on I'll be drawing questions from my newsletter subscribers. So if you would like to be featured on the next "dear misterwitchboy," sign up for my newsletter!
A quick outline of the video.
Question: Dear misterwitchboy, I’m really curious about if I can receive guidance on how to accept or grow from people who get on my nerves and always bring me to a negative place. I feel like there’s certain people or certain things about people that constantly trigger me and I get very stressed or anxious. #boundaries #selfcare #imadome
The High Priestess-
An invitation to sit silently with those nerves and negative places. They are vital message. You aren't overreacting. Your nervous system is trying to tell you something. Listen.
The Hermit-
An invitation to take a step back before responding. There is no need to rush. Take some time to process. Focus on validating and understanding your reaction before you think about their actions.
Page of Swords-
An invitation to be clear in your communication with yourself and with others of how you've been affected. Cut to the chase. Both you and they need to know where you stand.
Page of Chalices-
An invitation to choose logic first, vulnerability second. Clear the air to make space for holding each other's emotions. Vulnerability will only come if you feel safe first.
Friend, I hope this reading is a good reminder that you have the guidance you need already inside of you. It may just take some time and silence to hear it.
Other friends, I hope this offering is exciting and insightful to you! As always, if you'd like to book your own reading, you can do that HERE!
From me and my cards,
Aaron
FULL TRANSCRIPT: Dear misterwitchboy, I’m really curious about if I can receive guidance on how to accept or grow from people who get on my nerves and always bring me to a negative place. I feel like there’s certain people or certain things about people that constantly trigger me and I get very stressed or anxious. #boundaries #selfcare #imadome…like a dome?
Hello hello! I’m Aaron aka misterwitchboy and this is “dear misterwitchboy” where I take your questions and give you a little mini reading that will hopefully help you remember yourself, your desires and your beliefs, when you sometimes forget. I wanted to start doing this so ya’ll can see what it’s like to be in a reading with me and so I can open up my practice to people who for whatever reason can’t get a reading with me. umm yeah!
This particular question was from a friend, but if you want a chance to be the next question in the next “dear misterwitchboy”, probably like in a month or so, be sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter which you can do at misterwitchboy.com because my next question is going to come exclusively from one of those newsletter friends. So go do it!
Alright. let’s get into this question. I first want to thank you for sharing that with me and with us. it sounds like you’re coming already from a really self aware place, which is great. knowing yourself and knowing what gets on your nerves is only going to help you, help protect you, help take care of you. It sometimes feels selfish or self centered. but you have to take care of yourself. and of the things you can control, acceptance and awareness is a great place to start. So let’s see what story the cards…have to say about this.
So I pulled three cards. The first card I have is the High Priestess. The second card is the Hermit. And the third card is the Page of Swords.
So if we’re using these cards as a past, present, future thing. I always like to in my readings say that these aren’t cards that are telling you what happened, or what is going to happen, or what is happening now, but lenses to look at those type periods with. We have a lot of stillness in these first two cards. A lot of lessons of stillness. a lot of lessons of introspection, and looking not actually at anybody else or at what somebody else is doing, but looking at yourself, which sounds a lot like the place that got you to ask this question in the first place. You didn’t ask the question in a way that’s like, how do I fix somebody else, or how do I change some certain situation. You wanted to know what you can do for yourself.
If you start with the High Priestess in the past, there are messages that are coming to you from inside to tell you that something is not right. And those are small. The High Priestess is just like the small, still voices in you that you can only hear when you’re quiet that are sort of like tugging at you and trying to get your attention. The High Priestess is the card for the Moon and that’s just like your emotional life, the subterranean places, the body, the nervous system. And so to start from a place where you’re asking this question because something is not aligned, something is not right, that’s already coming from such a beautiful place. And so I think this card in the past is encouraging you, when those other voices come and say, “Why are you even asking this question? Why are you getting so upset about this thing? Why are you letting this get to you?” I feel like this card is assuaging that and being like, “No there are reasons.” Listen to these voices you have. Listen to your nervous system when things get like, you want to run, you want to shut down, you want to lash out. All of those things are important to be aware of in yourself. And it’s important to, before you can even think about doing something about them, it’s important to be aware of them first and knowing that, okay, whatever I am at this moment programmed to feel, have been programmed by my past, by other things that other people have said to me is okay. It’s like valid. And so pausing there and being like, okay I know something’s going on. Let me take a second before I respond, before I do something, before I say something.
If you move to the Hermit, the Hermit is Virgo. The Hermit has been coming up a lot for me recently. And so in this, that still again is some stillness, some retreat. I mean, retreat might be a good tactic to deal with whatever is happening. I feel like those two cards too, these major arcana cards, these big lessons are calling you to pause before you respond to whatever is getting you very stressed and anxious and first take care of yourself. There can be a tendency to put the other person’s needs before yours. In some cases, like in the heat of battle that may be good. But you have to come back to yourself. And you have to make sure that you are not giving things that you are not getting back. Giving yourself the time and the pause, if you can, if you have the luxury, if you have the time, to step away from a situation is I think what these cards are saying. Noticing, okay, this thing happened, you said this thing, this person’s acting a certain way…what is it doing to me? What is my body—the moon is your body—what is happening? And then stepping away from the situation and before you even go into, “Oh, maybe this is why they’re feeling this way, or maybe this is their story,” And trying to make, not excuses, but trying to understand them, giving yourself a second to first understand yourself. Because then too, that makes it so that they can be held accountable for how they just acted. You can make space for, “I know that you were doing this. I know that you were stressed today. I know that work was weird. I know that blah blah blah blah blah.” And also, you did this thing and you said this thing and you’re acting in a certain way and it’s affecting me and so just so you know, those things have consequences, and so yeah.
And then you end up with the Page of Swords at the end here, which is this figure who has cut—the rest of this is a bird—and this figure’s cut the bird and instead of blood, instead of something scary and vicious coming out, it’s butterflies. And so the Page of Swords is a figure who, they are so curious and want to uncover things and want to find the true nature of things. And if you cut into something that is scary and then you realize inside it’s actually beautiful and there is softness inside of that harsh thing. That can give you some breath. That can give you some clarity. So that, moving into the future, if you come from a place that is a little more centered, a little more grounded—the Hermit is Virgo and so it’s an earth sign—so you move into your body, the Moon, and then you’re like, okay, practical, let’s see what’s happening. That earth, and you get on solid ground first. And then you communicate—swords are communication and thinking—and then you move into that place…that will actually…it will be more effective and you’re able to come from a less cloudy place maybe. You can ask the questions. You can communicate with your partner, with your work people, with your family, a little more clearly because you know and you figured what you need to ask and what you need from this person and what happened to you.
Now I recognize that not everybody has the time to do that, to figure all that out. And so I think I want to pull another card, just one more card. I didn’t even finish my sentence and this is the next card. The Page of Chalices, which is a card that I love and think of as the misterwitchboy card. You have these two Pages which is so interesting. Pages are students. They’re like seekers. They are so curious and so pure, but also so wise, I feel. They’ve gone through ace to ten and they want to go back and get even deeper. And so what this says to me, start to first do the Page of Swords and then do the Page of Chalices. To move from heady, sharp communicating and being like, this is what this is. Or was this this? Talking like that. What was this? You came in. It made me feel this way. You did that thing. What…what is it? Before you move into Page of Chalices where you’re a little softer and you’re like, so what were you feeling? Let me hold this for you. I have now some space, now that we’ve cleared—I think of the swords as this air element blowing things, blowing this…blowing, blowing, blowing. And then you can hold those emotions. And then you can hold space for either the other persons or yourself. And how can you be the Page of Chalices for each other? You have all of the elements except for fire here. And fire is very passionate, very in your face, very do the thing. And so I think it’s very indicative of how you can approach the next situation like this, or how you can be thinking about it, where you’re like, action is not going to be the thing. Let me act in a way that takes care of myself first and in—from a grounded place first. Then I can ask the questions. Then I can hold onto your feelings. But I’m not going to hold on to your feelings until I’m clear about what happened. Okay?
I hope that that is helpful. I hope that these cards, you’re able to—and these two Pages—you’re able to think of them the next time something happens, the next time you feel something. There’s not hard…There aren’t harsh cards here. Maybe the harshest one is this, but even as a Page, it feels soft. It feels nurturing. It feels take care of yourself. Again, no fire, so the answer is never going to be to burn the whole place down. But it is going to be to take care of yourself. Like you said, #selfcare. Alright, thank you so much for joining me for the first “dear misterwitchboy”. Again, if you want to be in the next one, I’ll probably pull from a bunch of questions that come through my newsletter. So make sure that you are signed up for that. You can go to my website, misterwitchboy.com. And if you do, you’ll get a free, actual PDF guide to the major arcana. So if you do tarot hopefully they’ll be able to—those questions and prompts— can give you some new ways to look at those cards. Alright I will see ya’ll next time! Bye!