This new moon, our collective cards were eager:
The Hermit
Ace of Cups
V of Cups
There's a special affinity between this sign and this moon phase, though I am admittedly biased as they are each my favorite. But both offer a space in which to reconsider the liminal: the suspension between death and rebirth, between warm and cold, perhaps between asleep and awake.
This month, three cards popped out, forming a beautiful triangle. The Hermit guides us, lending their lantern light as we try to understand for ourselves not only the differences between scarcity and abundance, but to redefine for ourselves what that means, looks like, feels like, taste like -- to redefine it the same way the Hermit redefines solitude for so many of us. So here's the question:
What is the difference between spill and overflow?
Take this season to question your definitions. Question your language. Question your narratives. Question your definitions, with the bold inquisitive Scorpio season at your back.
If you want to hear more...
Episode Transcript:
Hello and welcome to the Ecstatic Rabbit Podcast, a space for esoteric exploration, heartfelt insight, and expansive curiosity. I'm your host and the founder of Ecstatic Rabbit Tarot and Coaching, Sarah Corbyn Woolf. So I am away from my usual recording set up right now because the floors of the condo where I've been living are getting torn up. Welcome to Scorpio season. I'm recording this on Samhain, so kind of picking up some of those vibes, scooping them up and slapping them alongside this Scorpio new moon moment. I love a Scorpio new moon and not just because it means my birthday is around the corner.
I find such an affinity between the sign of Scorpio and this particular moon phase. I think because I'm biased as a Scorpio. I'm like, yes, of course, my favorite season goes along with my favorite moon phase. But there's something about the fact that the dark moon and the new moon time have-- they live in that liminal space of death and rebirth the same way Scorpio does, right? And I've talked about this before in classes and probably podcasts and like on Instagram about how it's really easy to bypass the whole death part and just skip to the rebirth when we're encountered with that sort of transformation. So for me, a new moon can provide a monthly reminder that while everything is ongoing, there is also still this moment in time where there is "nothing." And do I find that scary? Interesting? Let's investigate that. Do I find that comforting? Interesting? Let's investigate that.
So a lot of the ingredients I think we're working with are that liminal space, right? For you, it may be very much between seasons. It may be, you know, your-- I know my mental health is kind of in flux, right? Something is being put to bed and something is getting ready to rumble a little bit. This we can find echoes of in the Persephone myth and in, you know, the sort of collective millennial rediscovery of what hibernation actually is, and it's very much why I made the daily tarot challenge that I did and ran and participated in last year, that is available to you all through my website, through my newsletter, and through Instagram again this year, though, I will not be participating to the same degree.
But there's this-- yeah, this either simultaneous or, like, rapid alternating succession between awakening and releasing and sleep. These really opposing, competing, and yet waltzing energies. Something I read once that I really love is the idea that how each each sign within its element, like, has an affinity with another element, right? So Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio are all water signs, but each of them kind of has their correspondence to one of the other three elements. And that's just the sort of, like, geometrical logic that I find really satisfying. But Scorpio, you know, there's that meme of like Scorpio is like an ocean that is literally burning. So that also is a contradiction living at one time.So I'm going to send you off to an ad break and we'll come back and see what the cards have in store for us.
I-- I-- ooh, oh, God, hi, everybody. Ok. I was just going to say, I'm working with my sassy little deck. Oh wow. Ok. Yeah. Alright, so this is my one of my oldest decks that has gone with me many, many places. It's a very beat up Ace of Cups. So I'm always like, "Mm, is that really what needed to come out?" But it did. So we have three cards because, you know/ Ace of Cups. Five of Cups. And The Hermit. This is a lot of a lot. I mean, this to me is just absolutely fundamentally calling into question our definitions of abundance, of fullness, of what it means to have and to lose. The Hermit is a card I love because it does-- it does this on its own a bit, right? It does call into question what we think something means, what we think solitude means, what we think hermitude means, what we think isolation means.
So many times the hermit comes up and people will talk about loneliness, or that's, like, what the language implies to them. That's the connotation it carries. And there is a loneliness to the card, but like, not necessarily. Or if it is, it's not necessarily the loneliness that we know already. It's, like, a different kind of-- of-- kinda like that thing of, like, lonely is not the same as alone, right? That's that's sort of a nutshell approach for The Hermit in certain contexts.
So accompanied by this stark contrast between the Ace and the Five of Cups, I think that we have this-- we've got this sort of guide in The Hermit, offering their lantern to us as we try to negotiate what our narrative is around the abundance and fullness and fluidity and overflow of the Ace of Cups, and the spilled, lost, dreary grief of the Five of Cups. Which, great time for this, right? Scorpio's commonly associated with the death card. As I was talking about with this new moon, there's these questions about liminal space. And I guess part of that liminal space is not just simultaneity here, that rapid it alternating succession, but also, like, what do we mean by loss? What do we mean by grief and death and endings and beginnings and rebirth?
Something I always like to remind people of with the Five of Cups is that mourning and grief are an important part of human process. Now, it can look a bunch of different ways. And there are times when we gotta put it off, right? We don't need to skip steps. We don't need to game our own natural rhythm or cycle. But eventually, one way or another, some iteration of grief and mourning are simply part of the human experience of loss. And the Ace of Cups has a ton of, because we're working with Rider Waite Smith, a ton of Christian imagery of-- let's call it the blessings of the divine, right? And that pops up arguably in all of the aces, right? This hand coming out of the cloud.
But here we have like like a wafer and a dove and, like, lotuses, which aren't Christian imagery, but have that, like, birth up from the muck, like, out of the depths comes life kind of a thing going on here, right? So we basically have the fullest cup imaginable, the holy grail full of waters of the divine. Side by side with an almost pragmatic card depicting loss and grief. So here's my question for you. What spills? What is in that cup? Whatever comes to mind for you right now as you're listening is worth investigating. And then my next question is, what is the difference between a spill and an overflow? What's the difference between a spill and an overflow?
Intentionality? Purpose? Abundance or scarcity? What if a spill is just an overflow that we didn't ask for? And what if overflow can be spill depending on the context? So in this Scorpio new moon, as we live in liminal space and explore limbo and simultaneity and mystery and a season where we are offered the opportunity to dive deep into the mysteries and the unknown, we are also living, I think, in this arena of redefining what we know. Maybe it's as simple as redefining our language, right? Finding different words. Maybe it's as complex as redefining our entire conceptions of ideas, narratives etc. I'm going to leave you with that.
Thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you for your patience with the sound quality. I'm doing my best. And housekeeping, you know, there's this-- like I mentioned, this daily tarot challenge happening on Instagram. If you want to go check that out. Gift certificates are available if you're trying to get a jump on your holiday winter gifting planning. And as always, there will be a moon zoom on the full moon that'll be on November 19th this month, two days after my birthday. So I hope the season treats you well. I hope you treat yourself well and I'll see you next time. Until then.