My cup runneth over!

Cancer 1 & 2 // on introverting in the summer time

Oh Summer, how beautifully full of life you are! The milkweed is standing guard like sentinel in front of our house, the bees are humming from cone flower to bee balm to butterfly bush in a drunken dance. Cheeks are flush with freckles and popsicles have become their own food group. I can hardly remember the cold days of winter!

Lol, of course I can. Which is part of the reason I am desperate to spend as much time as possible outdoors so we can soak up the sunshine and humid air that we will be so desperate for in December.

Flowers on the table & clothes on the line. Sweet summertime.

I’m finding all this activity and sunshine and socializing both joy-giving and overwhelming. As

Stephanie Ascough

wrote last week, summer is both lazy & frenetic! My inner introvert just wants to float in the lake by herself and then sit by a quiet campfire and watch the stars come out. But instead I have been crowned the GRAND HIGH CALENDAR WIZARD and spend the majority of my day planning fun, prepping/packing for fun, making snacks, driving to and fro, and participating in said fun with my kids.

It is joyful and it is a lot.

2 & 3 of Cups (hearts) from the Illuminated Tarot

The sun is in Cancer and the first two decans of this solar journey take us through the 2 and 3 of cups. These are cards of togetherness and community and joy. The esoteric titles of these cards are actually Lords of Love and Abundance. So appropriate for these busy, sunshine-filled days! The 2 of cups is traditionally a card of romance, but more modern readers will tell you it can represent any relationship that brings you deep connection and love. Twos often call us to reciprocity. The two cups pour back and forth in a joyful giving and receiving. It reminds me of having coffee with a dear friend just a few weeks ago. We hadn’t connected in nearly a year, but we picked up right where we left off and filled each other’s cups for the hour we were together.

The 3 of cups is usually depicted as 3 friends standing in a circle raising their glasses in celebration. Enjoying cold drinks from coolers overflowing with ice when the air is heavy and hot is a perfect image of abundance! My July has been filled with peach margaritas, hop tea, chilled glasses of wine, watermelon seltzer, and of course popsicles! Even ordinary dinners feel festive when the sun is shining and meals are shared on a patio instead of the dim indoors. Cheers!

Absurdly, all of this connection can leave me with an uncanny sense of detachment. I think it’s because my mind requires time to process and absorb the fun I’ve had. If you exhale for too long, you can find yourself breathless.

Sometimes I feel like I need to cast a wide net out into the ocean of my mind and see what comes back. I need to take the shells and driftwood of feelings and impressions and turn them over in my hands, appreciate them, sort them. After a few days of planning and meet ups and play days I need to sort through it all like detritus in the ocean and organize it into meaningful patterns. Like making a mandala on the beach with the most beautiful stones you’ve collected.

The image of 2 cups, pouring gently back and forth between each other has been a grounding one for me this month. Giving and receiving is an inner journey too. I can let my cup fill and refill, overflow and deplete. The water never runs dry! It also reminds me of the 10 of cups and it's beautiful imagery of wholeness, loving and being loved.

May I remember, “Life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom¹.”

10 cups (from Gentle Tarot) - Cheers to filling our rainbow cups!

A few books we’re reading (or attempting between summer gatherings):

• Veg Forward // every photo in this cookbook will makes you salivate and inspired you to get out to the farmer’s market immediately.

• Firefly Summer // this has been our bedtime read aloud and we are all enjoying it!

• Lightfall (series) & Sunshine // since I have no time to sit and read a novel right now, I’ve been chipping away at the list of graphic novels my kids have been recommending me the last few months. These two are my current favorites - the first is a light hearted fantasy, the other a memoir about summer camp.

So many people commented on my altar last week, I thought I’d show you my summer one too! Full of beach treasures, stones from a dear friend, shells from Florida, and Lake Michigan sand.

1. Louisa May Alcott