I started working at Wolverine Farm Letterpress Publick House in June of 2019. My good friend Beth hired me just as they happened to be looking for another bartender/barista. She knew I was sorely lacking in summer income and that I could pour a beer while shooting the sh*t with customers pretty good. Originally, working at Wolverine was only supposed to be a summer job but I quickly fell in love.
The space is a two-story wood and steel building resting between a car mechanic shop and recently built modern apartment complexes. The patio space seats around 20+ with a small green grass patch for outdoor games/Prettiest Chicken Contests, a couple raised beds for tomato plants, and some typical native Colorado landscaping along the sides. Upon entering the front doors, a small two-person table greets you a tiny bouquet of ever-changing dried flowers while a flight of stairs beckons up to the event hall. The downstairs area ushers your eye to the Makers Market, a large white cupboard with unique, homemade goods created by community members on consignment. In the eastern corner of the building stands a beautifully, handcrafted bar overlooking a small kitchen space. The sturdy, long table in the middle and storefront window seats give the impression that you are invited to sit alongside your fellow patrons; a nudge perhaps, to make some friends whilst you rest your weary feet. The back corner of the downstairs hides two large letterpress machines and storage space with things like a button maker, scrap paper, sidewalk chalk, or letterwriting club supplies. If you’re visiting in the late morning, there’s a good chance you’ll see Jes, the resident letterpress extraordinaire and maybe even her angel-baby, Ruth.
As previously mentioned, I tumbled into the story in June 2019. I’ve known Todd, the owner of Wolverine, since I moved to Fort Collins in 2013. My first barista position was at Cafe Ardour a few blocks from the eventual Wolverine Farm. My boss at Cafe Ardour, Heather, and coworker, Meg, became my instant friends. Meg and Todd are a powerhouse Fort Collins couple known throughout the community and Heather has worked with Todd on various projects and boards throughout the years. Meg, Heather, and Beth (my other boss mentioned previously) are the infamous trifecta. Small town roots run deep in the Fort Collins community. Once you know these three, you know most everyone, or most everyone that matters. I consider myself lucky to have a path that opened up to Cafe Ardour and to each of those women within the first few months of me living in my brand new home 7 years ago. Since then, so many things have changed but I’ve always had these three women to rely on.
Beth, The Good Witch of Willow Street (as we lovingly refer to her) and I became closer as I picked more shifts up at Wolverine. She ran the resident Wolverine tarot club as well as her side hustle (turned fully fledged bossbabe business), Beldamia candles, all the while managing all us goons and numbers at The Farm. It would be fair to say that Beth was more than Todd’s right-hand gal. She held big ideas in one steady palm and carefully weighed the feasible options in the other. She made things possible, as Libras seem to do.
Beth’s tarot club was an absolute hit with many community members. Unfortunately, I was never able to attend the group but she privately rekindled my love for magic and the unexplainable. It wasn’t long before I bought myself my first tarot deck and began practicing with her guidance and words of encouragement. It was astounding what opened back up to me within the first couple spreads. It was not necessarily life-changing knowledge or fear-inducing future proclamations but rather another perspective left up to energy, intuition, and fun. The more I dug in the more beautiful knowledge appeared.
Recently, I’ve developed a sort of moon phase based practice that involves astrology and tarot work on the full and new moons. Planetary movements overlap greatly with those who also study astrology.
My coworkers, Joe and Ana have both given me excellent resources to begin my study. Ana recommended the book The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life by Jessa Crispin. I use this primarily for my burgeoning work with tarot. So far, I absolutely LOVE this book. She guides you through historical information and her personal opinions, while not burdening her readers with loads of information. The other book I haven’t even cracked open yet is The Astrology of Personality by Dane Rudhyar. This was highly recommended by Joe and will hopefully open some doors for me and my practice with astrology.
Yesterday, there was a beautiful full moon in Scorpio which led me to try and create my own personal tarot spread. I read a bit about the full moon in Scorpio and combined it with what I already knew about full moon tarot practices in general. Then I found an interesting website that included some interesting info about the Vesak Moon Buddhist celebrations based on Buddha’s path to enlightenment (FULL MOON in Scorpio https://www.mysticmamma.com/astrology-full-moon-in-scorpio-may-7th-2020/). I decided to try and make a cohesive connection between all of these aspects in my spread.
At first I didn’t really know where to start. I have not studied Buddhism and was not sure how to set up my spread. The more I read, the more I was geared towards choosing 7 card placements. I discovered there are 7 Factors of Awakening in the Buddhist practice: mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy/rapture, relaxation, concentration, equanimity. These would eventually help me to discern my open ended questions for each card.
- Mindfulness: What can you do to be present in the next 6 months?
- Investigation: What truths are you seeking?
- Energy: Where can you give more energy/enthusiasm in your life?
- Joy: How are you feeding your inner wellspring of joy?
- Relaxation: What do you need to let go of in order to be present?
- Concentration: How can you reach your future goals?
- Equanimity: How will you bring a mental calmness to the eye of the societal storm?
After creating the spread here is what I drew/my conclusions:
- 9 of Wands Reversed: find the balance between outside criticism and self-reliance
- 10 of Wands Reversed: invest in your passion but seek it with pure, grounded intention
- Page of Cups: inspiration is in your lap, answer the call
- Knight of Pentacles: you’re in it for the long haul, set achievable goals
- 5 of Cups: feelings inadequacy are keeping you from full potential
- 9 of Swords: separate yourself from emotional battles, make mistakes, find flow
- Death: bid farewell, start a new chapter, don’t mourn too long
Overall, The 7 Factors of Awakening helped this spread come to life for me. I still have a tendency to flinch at the sight of reversed cards but Ana, Beth, and Jessa Crispin have guided me to the understanding that a reversed card is not necessarily the opposite of an upright card. It feels better to think of it as an imbalance or a call for some inner work to be done.
I am still SO new at this practice that I feel uncomfortable asking others to use it. However, I will insert a picture below of the crazy spread I drew with some colored pencils I had to whittle (how Northwoods of me). Feel free to give me feedback!!!!
See you at the New Moon on May 22nd!
A Homegoing 