Today’s Poetry Oracle is inspired by Dolly Parton. If you’re ready to honor her legacy by embracing your own, this Oracle is for you.

If you were to judge Dolly Parton based on how she came into the world, it would be hard to imagine connecting the dots and reaching the heights she achieved as an artist and philanthropist. But that’s the thing about judging a book by its cover, or assuming that we’re bound by linear trajectories defined by where we begin.

Dolly was born with her singular gifts. But what she did, which so many of us are too afraid to do, is honor them. She was brave enough to sing her song. The one only she was born to sing. And she did it despite everything. Being born into a one-room cabin with eleven siblings. Being judged and pigeonholed early on in her career based on her appearance. She just kept smiling, and writing, and singing, and giving.

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That’s why today’s Poetry Oracle comes from Dolly herself, about how she perceived her gifts, and how she lived her life as a result.

“Every dream I ever had, and all the dreams that I’ve been able to see come true in life, well, they all started with a song. Songwriting has been my therapy… songwriting has been my release, my joy. Songwriting has been a gift from God that has allowed me to touch people with words and music.”

—Dolly Parton

Dolly’s singular gift from God (or GUS: God. Universe. Source. as we like to call her if you’re new here) was literally a song. And she honored that gift by embracing it, over and over again. What is your gift from GUS? What is your song? Is it languishing inside you, always playing second fiddle to what you should be doing, or other people’s needs? Or are you nurturing that gift… privately, publicly, perhaps both?

For me, I knew early on that writing poetry, singing and making music were my gift from GUS. But like so many of us, I let my gifts hibernate for a time while I pursued a “serious” career as an attorney and hit all the milestones I was supposed to hit, like getting married and having kids… But my gift never gave up on me. It never dulled. It was ready to be my therapy, release, and joy, like Dolly said. And so when I started writing poetry again in my late thirties, it poured out. And like Dolly, reclaiming my gift and honoring it is what has made every one of my greatest dreams come true: writing and publishing four books, but more importantly, reaching and touching and connecting with people around the world. Like Dolly, I didn’t let the linear timeline stand in my way: I can revisit my true self and GUS-given gifts whenever I am ready.

In the coming year, I want to literally sing my song too, like Dolly, because that’s a part of me that has remained more dormant and needs to be woken up (beyond my monthly karaoke nights). Dolly reminds me it is never too late. And she is here to remind you, too.

So in honor of Dolly I ask you again: what is your song? And are you ready to sing it? Because I know I, and the world, are ready to listen.

If you want to hear more about my story, I hope you’ll take a moment and read this beautiful interview I did with my dear friend and fellow author, the . I talk about my own humble origins, not in a one-room house in Appalachia like Dolly, but in Tehran, Iran, during the peak of the Iranian Revolution.

Read the Interview

It doesn’t matter where we begin. All the matters is how close we’re willing to be to our essence, our truth, our GUS-given gifts, along the way. I’m grateful we get to take this journey together, as we trust GUS to always lead us home to ourselves.

I will always love you —

And because I love to incorporate music into this newsletter (a small way I honor my own gifts), here’s a Dolly song I can’t stop listening to right now.

Today’s Poetry Oracle invites you to find your power in the liminal. If you’re feeling the potency of this time between two eclipses, this Oracle is for you.

On August 12th we experienced a total solar eclipse. On August 27th, we’ll experience a partial lunar eclipse. Right now, we’re living in the liminal: a transitional space. A corridor. A threshold. Traditionally these spaces are perceived as uncomfortable ones. Untethered. Both weightless and at the same time oh so heavy. But what if embracing the liminal is actually the whole point?

You often hear that we should focus on the journey and not the outcome. We should be present. We should be rooted and grounded in the here and now. Isn’t this exactly what the liminal moments of our lives offer? Isn’t there a certain freedom that comes with not knowing what comes next… or even if we know what comes next, not being there quite yet?

Liminal spaces and times are thresholds that invite us to choose ourselves. Not the future self that finishes the project or hits the milestone, but the self that exists today. This is your Oracle for today.

The Liminal Woman by Melody Godfred

A woman once born
is already tasked with
reaching her destination,
her worth conditioned
on achieving the next step
on becoming, not being.

But what if women
claimed the spaces between
Not as purgatory, but as power?

A place to free themselves from
the weight of when?

She chooses herself and
ends the cycle of abuse.

She chooses herself and
realizes her potential, now.

She chooses herself and
instead of chasing, arrives.

She chooses herself and
no longer abandoned, is found.

She chooses herself and
emerges deliberate, untamed
complete and free.

No timeline to wrestle with.
No getting left behind.

She reclaims her integrity.
She embodies her truth.
Her fullness so vivid,
a new paradigm is born.*

As we stand between two eclipses, I offer you this invitation: choose yourself. The light, the dark, the good, the bad… all of you. Choose it all. Now.

Keep reading to learn about the $100 habit I gave up and the paradigm shift behind my decision, explore the astrology that supports choosing yourself now, and receive a ritual to perform leading up to and during the partial lunar eclipse that closes this portal on Thursday, August 27th.

I originally wrote this poem for The Liminal Issue of The Noodler by Brady Hahn and Rebecca McQuigg Rigal. Read the full piece here.

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Today’s Poetry Oracle celebrates the Hawaiian principle of Hoʻoponopono. If you’re ready to experience the profound peace no amount of boundaries can help you achieve, this Oracle is for you.

Order your GUS hat today — it’s now available in seven colors! <3

TRUST GUS

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THE DOOR IS OPEN

There is an endless sky

above our heads.

There is endless earth

beneath our feet.

As above, so below.

As within, so without.

In every moment

we stand together at the

threshold of infinity.

Walk with me.

Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation

In quantum mechanics, we learn that many possibilities can exist at once, and we don’t know which one is real until we observe it.

A grim yet helpful example is Schrödinger's cat. In this thought experiment, Schrödinger (an Austrian physicist who won the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics) imagined a cat inside a box, and surmised that until the box is opened, we can't know for sure whether the cat is alive or dead. Both possibilities exist at once.

And while this greatly simplifies a very complicated concept, the heart of it is easy to understand: many possibilities are available to us at once, at all times. Where we place our energy and attention is what shapes what becomes real in our lives.

Is the worst thing you can imagine possible? Of course.
But doesn’t that mean the best thing is also possible, too?

Today, the Lion’s Gate Portal, is a threshold for deciding what you wish to imagine and observe. Which reality will you make real? When you look toward your future, how precise can you be about what you see? Instead of letting your past patterns, limiting beliefs, trauma, or fear paint this future, leave all of that at the gate. This is our new beginning.

Know that you already have everything you need within you to usher in your dream future. It’s all in your hands — this is both the responsibility and the gift. You can have it all. But are you willing to dream big enough to have it?

A lovely new acquaintance I made this week — photographer Jesse Lirola (we’re pictured above) — asked me how I define luck. In fact, he pulled out his notebook (also pictured!) and had me write down my definition. This is what it means to me: luck is being so aligned with your truth that the universe conspires in your favor.

Every time I’ve chosen my heart over my ego, the heavens have opened up. In big ways, like major career opportunities, and silly delicious ways, like always getting parking spots when I need them. Every time I let the poet in me lead, life becomes poetry. This is what alignment has done for me.

How aligned can you be with your essence? How lucky do you believe you can be? If GUS were 100% on your side, what doors would open for you? These are the questions to ask yourself as you enter this portal. The best part is that you aren’t alone. Today, thousands of people are also affirming their most divine futures. What a frequency we get to ride together. Love, hope, kindness, joy, abundance, health, wealth, adventure, passion, fulfillment, connection, endless possibilities… this is what we’re carrying with us into our infinite tomorrow.

When nothing is certain, everything is possible.
GUS*, show us just how good it can get.

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*For those who are new here, GUS is an abbreviation for God, Universe, Source.

P.S. If you need rituals to help you lean into this moment, become a paid subscriber and revisit last week’s post here.

Because music is my lifeline, here is a playlist I put together for a Sturgeon Moon // Milestone Celebration Ritual I led yesterday. Looking for someone to lead a ritual for you? Reply to this email.

When I first came up with the idea for Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation, I knew only a tiny bit about the moons I had already committed to writing an entire book about. While I knew that there was a monthly moon, with names like the Harvest Moon or Flower Moon, I knew little about what each moon held in store for me (and us). That’s why the first year of writing Moon Garden was actually spent researching Moon Garden. I read from the Old Farmer’s Almanac, books about gardening, collections by poets like Mary Oliver and Forugh Farrokhzad. With each book that I read, the themes became more and more clear: each moon, and each season, carries its own energy. My job was simply to channel it through poetry and prose.

Each chapter I wrote awakened deep awareness and healing within myself. But it wasn’t until August that I felt like a portal to my deepest wound was being opened — and nurtured. When I learned about the Lion’s Gate Portal, it all made sense. Because while the moon cycles and zodiac astrology are related, they aren’t one and the same. And yet, there are times when they align so beautifully that it’s clear that GUS (God. Universe. Source.) has her gentle hand in all of it.

Keep reading to learn about how you can channel this month’s moon as we pass through the Lion’s Gate Portal on August 8th, with two rituals to perform this week to maximize this moment.

First, a bit about August’s Sturgeon Moon. Named after the sturgeon fish, the Sturgeon Moon rises in late summer and with it stirs seemingly calm waters, just like the fish it is named for. Sturgeon are huge, growing from 4 to 10 feet and weighing over 100 pounds. They look like prehistoric fish, and they are, with their lineage dating back to the dinosaur era (and not really changing all that much since). The name sturgeon is thought to come from the word stirrer, and that’s exactly what a sturgeon does. They stir the mud in the depths, and they also stir the surface of the water. Metaphysically, they represent a connection between the sacred and the mundane, this plane and the celestial plane. They also embody ancient wisdom, resilience, and intuition. The sturgeon, called by many a living fossil, is a survivor, and as such, provides us with many, many lessons.

So what does that mean when it comes to the Sturgeon Moon — and the Lion’s Gate Portal?

The theme of August’s Sturgeon Moon is restoration through self-integration. By reclaiming our wholeness and renouncing our shame, we supercharge our inherent magic. All the parts of you that you’ve compartmentalized? The inner separation that leads to outer separation? The otherness you shun within yourself that simply needs to be loved? This is the moon where we put down our walls and learn to love it all. Your inner monster? Love it. Your greatest shame? Love it. Like the sturgeon who stirs the mud, this moon is your opportunity to get comfortable in your own depths, and from there, experience the most transformative expansion and ascension of the year so far.

August is where we get to know our shadows: the parts of us shrouded by our fear, our guilt, our shame, our pain. Whatever has been repressed or ignored is now surfaced. And when it all comes up, how do we meet it? With loving kindness. Acceptance. Compassion. Integration. Alignment. There is no part of you that gets ostracized. No version of you, either. All the people you’ve been and will be, come together in celebration of you. In August, we merge all the timelines not through force or will, but through grace and gentleness. We stop struggling. We listen. We learn. We grow. We realize we are our own medicine.

Now layer in the Lion’s Gate Portal and this is where things get really interesting…

Before we get into the juicy paid subscriber portion of this post, I wanted to share that due to popular demand, the TRUST GUS (God. Universe. Source.) Dad Hat is now available in seven colors on my website. Can’t wait to see you in yours! Your purchase keeps this author writing.

I TRUST GUS

Subscribe now to keep reading. And to my paid subscribers, you make this all possible. Thank GUS for you.

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Me in my pleasure, dancing at the Hollywood Bowl.

When the Full Strawberry Moon graced us on June 29th, she asked us a single question: what gives you pleasure?

What amazes me about this question is how much harder it becomes to answer it the older you get. The more our responsibilities pile up, the more we commit to doing the right thing, the more we choose security and safety over authenticity and aliveness, the more pleasure recedes into the background. And this is because we are all designed for survival. Historically, the responsible hunters were the ones who came back with the bounty, not the ones who stopped to frolic in the fields. And yet — the modern world wants more for us than simple survival. And so the last month was an exercise in curiosity. What gives me pleasure? I set out to find out.

A note about this newsletter: anything that’s in blue is a link, usually to prior posts that relate.

GoldFord at Sunset at the Santa Monica Proper, where I was the lucky girl in the front row.

It turns out, the pleasures of midlife aren’t so different from the pleasures of my youth. In the last month, I was lucky enough to attend four concerts: Leon Bridges, Olivia Dean, GoldFord, and Bob Moses & Cannons. Three of the concerts were outside during golden hour, two were intimate concerts with fewer than 200 people, all of them fed my lifelong passion for music. At each, I experienced peak pleasure.

Live music is special for a few reasons. First, it is one of the rare places we get to experience collective effervescence. And second, because of the excellent (and often loud) sound systems, at live shows, we can actually hear the music through our skin. At the Olivia Dean concert, I was holding my hands up and felt like I was absorbing the sound through my skin. A little research after the fact revealed that I actually was.

Through what is known as vibrotactile perception, our skin listens, picking up the sound vibrations directly — especially at low frequencies like basslines. Loud, live music is like jumping into a pool of sound. It is totally immersive. And for me, this is the closest I get to completely turning my mind off and “let the soft animal of [my] body love what it loves,” as Mary Oliver so perfectly expressed (more on that here).

My friends, vibrotactile perception gives me pleasure. It is what my body loves. Feeling and hearing music with my entire body is now at the top of my pleasure list, alongside travel and beach days.

My first question to you for this week echoes the Strawberry Moon: what gives you pleasure? Can you start your own “Pleasure is not a luxury” list like I did in Moon Garden?

Being in my pleasure has made me feel more energized, more brave, more daring. Which was the perfect entry point into July, a month that builds up to the Full Buck Moon on July 29th. As I shared over the last few weeks, the Buck Moon is a moon that supercharges your manifestations — as long as you’re willing to relinquish your fear once and for all and instead root completely into trust.

If you’re disconnected from your essence, it is easy for your ego to take over. And just like the ego chose perfection over pleasure in June, the ego may have tried to choose fear over faith in July. But with the Full Moon on July 29th, you have the opportunity to quiet your ego once and for all and let your essence lead.

Keep reading to find out how… Rituals, a playlist, journal prompts and more follow.

Haven’t subscribed yet? Today is the day. <3

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We’re currently in the period between the new moon and the full moon, and despite the fact that we’re still experiencing Mercury retrograde, global political unrest, fires, and earthquakes, somehow the moon continues to reveal herself and we, alongside her, find a way forward, too.

In Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation, I speak about the new moon and the full moon each month, but there are other phases too that deserve note. Before getting into this week’s Poetry Oracle, I’d love to share a bit about the different moon phases, when they appear, and what they embody.

The lunar cycle takes 29.5 days to renew, and is comprised of eight primary phases, each of which tracks closely with different stages of the manifestation process. When the moon is waxing, it is growing from new moon to full moon. When the moon is waning, it is fading from full moon to new. Time and time again, this cycle continues, the most visual reminder we have that growth isn’t linear.

New Moon - Claim

The new moon is when we can’t see the moon in the sky — but trust that she is there, nonetheless. New moons are for setting intentions, planting seeds. On the new moon, we journey inward. When we celebrated the new moon on July 14th, we started our journey toward the Full Buck Moon on July 29th. The commitment we made this month was to reclaim trust on the new moon, and release fear on the full moon. Why? So we can dare to make our manifestations come true.

Waxing Crescent - Believe

During the waxing crescent phase, the one we are in right now, your task is to believe, because belief is the foundation of aligned action. You may not have proof yet, but what you do have is faith. You choose faith over fear, and believe the seed you planted on the new moon is not only capable of blooming, it’s worthy of your nurture and commitment. During the waxing crescent, you map out the first step, because during the next phase, you’ll be putting your intentions and beliefs to work.

First Quarter - Act

Although it’s called the first quarter, this moon phase looks like a half moon. It is the crossroads between what has been, and what will be, as long as you commit to your vision with relentless devotion. Under the first quarter moon, you make the choice, you take the risk, you break through your resistance, you transcend your fear. You move from the unknown into the known because you are the one creating your future now.

Waxing Gibbous - Refine

As you near the full moon, you stop and reflect. You modify the strategy, you assess the impact. You recalibrate because there’s no ego at work here. Your essence knows what is right, and you’re willing to continually shift to achieve it.

Full Moon - Release

The full moon is here to give you perfect clarity. It illuminates what is working, and also what is not. The full moon wants you to release anything that is standing in the way. The old narrative that doesn’t serve you. The friendship that drains you. The wardrobe that no longer suits you. The fear that tethers you. For your fullness to mirror the moon’s, you are called to release anything that compromises you. At the same time, full moons are also a time to gather, to celebrate, to see just how far you’ve come. The more you decide to clear away, the more energy and power will become available to nurture the seed you planted on the new moon.

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Waning Gibbous - Integrate

This is where things got really interesting for me, because in my book, I mainly focused on the period from the new moon to the full moon. But what happens during the period from full moon to new?

The first phase after the full moon is the waning gibbous, and it is a phase devoted to integration. The full moon brought tremendous clarity and release, and this moon is for integrating what you have learned. Part of integrating is sharing, as this moon is also called the disseminating moon. Perhaps during the first half of the cycle you were cultivating in solitude. Now, you integrate in community. You share what you've learned, and in doing so, allow your wisdom to deepen and your manifestation to actualize.

Third Quarter - Transform

While the full moon illuminated what needs to be cleared, the third quarter activates you to make the necessary changes. This is where you feel energized to commit to the new pattern, whether it be in your thoughts, feelings, actions, or all of the above. This is where you transform release from intention into action.

Waning Crescent - Surrender

You’ve set the vision, you’ve done the work, you’ve released the anchors, you’ve integrated the new beliefs and systems. When the moon is a waning crescent, all you need to do is surrender. Your work here is done. It’s time to receive the blessing, however it may come. Release your grip on the outcome and witness the manifestation. When you can trust the unfolding, even the impending darkness of the new moon becomes a gift.

Now that you understand the different moon phases, you may be wondering, “How am I supposed to know what to claim, what to release, how to manifest alongside the moon?” The answer is in today’s Poetry Oracle. Subscribe to keep reading.

A favor: if you haven’t already, please take a moment and leave a review for Moon Garden on Amazon. Your review transforms the trajectory of my book and career. Thank you, I love you. P.S. It’s also on sale for $14 (from $20!) if you haven’t ordered your copy yet.

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What would you choose if you knew you could have it?
Better still: what would you work your ass off to have if success was certain?

July isn’t about sitting by idly dreaming. July is when we activate both our greatest beliefs and our greatest work ethic. And with that, we experience our greatest abundance. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac (and the Native American traditions it pulls from) The Buck Moon was named after male deer (bucks) whose antlers grew rapidly every July (inches in weeks!). Bucks shed and regrow their antlers each year, and each year when they regrow they become more and more impressive.

But what is the thing that often stands in the way of our ability to dare…. to grow exponentially, like the bucks?

Fear. Fear is the tether that keeps us small. Where we are. In a perpetual state of not enough.

And what is the antidote for fear?

Trust. Unyielding, unwavering, unconditional, trust.

July’s Buck Moon is an invitation to choose faith over fear, to trust at all times — regardless of how many mounting reasons there are to fear what the future holds.

The last week, I keep noticing birds and insects and where they’ve chosen to perch. In my garden, there is a pair of dragonflies who always find their way to the tallest tip of a branch on my Mexican lime tree. A hummingbird that loves the top of the pomegranate tree. I saw a raven this week perched on a stop sign. And it felt to me like GUS was sending me a message: if you can’t see beyond your fear, choose a higher perch. Choose a different, bolder, broader perspective. Go higher, and then go higher still.

Because when I zoom out and focus on the big picture, my lingering fears have never manifested, especially not how I designed them in my darkest moments. Sure, challenging things have happened — but my fear didn’t accurately forecast or prevent any of them. When I’m in the muck of my life, fear permeates. But when I look up, often quite literally at the moon, suddenly trust returns and gives me wings. It helps me manage the muck — it doesn’t make the muck go away. And that’s the difference between what July’s Buck Moon is asking of you, and toxic positivity.

Toxic positivity: Just be happy, it’s fine, it’s FINE!
Buck moon: You were designed for this. Even if it’s hard, don’t give up on yourself.

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This moon is paying attention not just to what you’re thinking, but what you’re doing. If you’re waiting around to be saved, for a white knight to come in and make your post go viral, your bank account get filled, your health to be repaired…. this moon isn’t going to do that. But if you’re ready to put in the work, and you pair that effort with your belief it will work, this moon is ready to amplify and illuminate you.

What are you ready to commit to? Daily? Breath by breath, moment by moment?
Now is the time to get clear and commit. Stop hiding. Stop waiting. Stop rotting away. The world is ready to witness you in your fullest fruition.

Before we dive into Mercury Retrograde and the Mercury Cazimi, go out into the garden and ask yourself these four questions:

What if it will be okay?
What if there is enough?
What if it doesn’t matter?
What if not knowing is the only way?

And finally — what would you work your ass off to have if success was certain?

Keep reading to learn about today’s Mercury Cazimi, the upcoming new moon on July 14th, and the Mercury Retrograde that started on June 29th and continues through July 23rd. Deep breath. We’ll get through it all, together.

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Last week I was in Paris. It hardly feels real, the texture and taste of it already slipping away from me when it was once so vivid. Reintegration into my life was harder this time than ever before. Despite a record heat wave, despite having no concrete plan, despite traveling with someone for the first time, everything about Paris this time was just right. I wouldn’t say it was perfect — because I’ve learned thanks to the Strawberry Moon — that it’s never about perfect. It was aligned. It was easy. It was me in my most present and joyful iteration.

Now back in the hamster wheel of my life, the one I turn with equal measures of discipline and love, I’m trying to figure out how to bring vacation Melody into the fold, instead of reserving the most vital version of myself for when I’m away. As I said before, reintegration has been hard. But one thing that has made it ever so much easier is nights like Monday night, when after months of waiting, I experienced Rosalía’s Lux Tour at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. It was, as expected, a complete revelation, just like her album.

Lux is Rosalía’s magnum opus. An album inspired by female saints and mystics across history and religions, it represents sacred femininity in its most powerful expression. She sings in 13 languages, and effortlessly crosses genres like pop, opera, and flamenco while maintaining her signature tension throughout. Sacred, profane, sinner, saint, goddess, mortal, She’s all of it, all at once. The album’s title Lux, means light, and that’s exactly what the show was. As her choreography team (La) Horde described, “She wanted to offer an experience that was like museum-meets-church-meets-club meets-dance theater.” And the experience delivered.

I want to share a specific moment with you though, the very last moment of the last song before her encore. Rosalía quietly and laboriously scales a set of stairs and when she reached the top, she faced the audience, put her arms out, and fell backwards, out of sight. What was most striking about this visual for me is that it isn’t the first time I’ve seen it. I saw the same thing happen when I was in Paris, one week ago. Two cities, same image: a woman falling backwards. When GUS (God, Universe, Source) sends me the same image in quick succession, I’ve learned to stop and notice.

In Paris, the image arrived at Bourse de Commerce — Pinault Collection, an innovative collection in Paris that presents art in the round, with several floors of artwork that is deeply evocative and unexpected. The piece I’m sharing with you today is Fire Woman by Bill Viola, an eleven minute video installation on a massive vertical screen that features a cloaked woman standing in front of a wall of fire. The artist has this to say about art: “Art is, for me, the process of trying to wake up the soul. Because we live in an industrialized world that prefers soul to remain asleep.” Friends, his piece did just that: it woke up my soul.

All you hear when you’re watching the video screen is the unmistakable sound of burning. The woman standing in front of the fire is unperturbed. She stands, steadfast, facing the fire with the totality of her being, her back to the viewer. You watch her, transfixed, waiting for her to be consumed… the only possible outcome imminent. But then, in slow motion, you watch as she raises her arms and falls backward, making an unexpected splash in what appears to be a body of water. She deliberately and fearlessly meets her fate. Bill Viola was inspired by the story of Tristan and Isolde, a story of forbidden love where water represents fate and fire represents passion. In the case of our Fire Woman, she meets the fire, not by succumbing, but through her active surrender.

When Rosalia returns to the stage for her encore, the song she sings is Magnolias (on a stage littered with magnolia blossoms). A song about how she wants to be met and remembered after her death. Both the Fire Woman and Rosalia meet the ultimate threshold with power. Not by standing firm, but by being fluid.

Here are just a few of the lyrics in Magnolias, but please look it up and listen to it in full.

Gasoline and red wine, cigars and chocolate
Dancing with love on top of my corpse
Today it's all excess mocking fate
And what I didn't do in life you do in my death
Throw me magnolias
Throw me magnolias
Throw me magnolias
Throw me magnolias
God descends and I ascеnd
We meet in the middle
Me, who come from the stars
Today I turn into dust
To return with them

In her surrender, she is resurrected. In her surrender, she is remembered. In her surrender, she returns to that from which she came. Just like the Fire Woman.

Sometimes, the strongest thing we can do, is let go.
Sometimes, the bravest thing we can do, is meet the fire.
Sometimes, the only thing we can do, is allow ourselves to burn and be reborn.

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And with that, I leave you with today’s Poetry Oracle, my favorite poem from the June chapter of Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation. Today, be Rosalía, be the Fire Woman, be the phoenix.

PHOENIX RISING

I transcend my hunger
for tomorrow’s perfection
by being here—now.
I feed my heart on peace,
my soul on pleasure.
Because I am willing to fail,
I am free to begin-
again and again.
Eternally renewed,
continually ablaze.
Every dawn, I am reborn.

In July, we build to the Buck Full Moon on July 29, 2026. A moon that’s all about daring, embracing trust, and relinquishing fear. Move through the month empowered by the Fire Woman, the Rosalía, in you. Your greatest abundance awaits.

Love you,

Rosalía has a message just for you. Become a paid subscriber to keep reading for a song from Lux, question, and affirmation for each sign of the zodiac.

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Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation

Fellow lunatics, we made it to summer. This year has felt like it is bursting with things to hold: the weight of the world, on both a macro and deeply personal level, is heavy on our shoulders. And yet, today, a new season dawns with the arrival of the summer solstice. Today we get to take off our armour and put the burdens down. Today, despite worshipping the moon, we welcome in the sun. Because GUS knows, we all need the vitamin D — physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally.

How do we make the most of this solstice? What is this summer going to be about? Taking a cue from the June Strawberry Moon, the season’s wish for us is clear: we’re here to experience pleasure. Right here and now. We’re vanquishing perfection. We’re choosing presence. We’re giving a few less f*cks and enjoying a few more of our vices. We’re living as though now is all we have (because in truth, that is the truth).

Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation

What does embodying pleasure look like? It can be as simple or as complex as you make it. But for me, I like to start simple. I like to listen to a song that gives me full-body chills (most recently, Honeybee by Olivia Rodrigo). I like to take a walk to dinner instead of driving because it doesn’t get dark until after 8. I like laughing at a comedy club, or dancing in my bedroom. In truth, I like anything I offer myself that doesn’t involve a screen. That’s when I feel the most present — and that’s when I feel the most pleasure. See the connection I’m asking you to make?

So often we sacrifice ourselves at the altar of perfection. We lose the juicy journey because we’re so fixated on arriving at the final destination. But there’s only one final destination that counts, and there’s no prize for arriving there in perfect form. This summer, I invite you to beat your wild body up, like Hunter S. Thompson said. Use yourself up. Get worn out. Proclaim yourself in all your imperfect vitality.

In honor of the summer solstice and the Strawberry Moon, I’m really excited to share my ten-minute Strawberry Moon Guided Meditation that’s part of the Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation audiobook with my paid subscribers. Haven’t subscribed yet? Now is your moment.

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Les Gémeaux (The Twins), from John Flamsteed's celestial atlas, 1776

This morning, as I was calculating my daughter Stella’s pain medication schedule (she had shoulder surgery a few days ago), I simultaneously started planning my outfits for Paris. Yes, my long-awaited solo trip starts on Wednesday evening. In that moment, and in all moments lately, I find myself embracing the duality of my identity: the mother, the healer, the one who holds it all together alongside the creative, the wild woman, the one who is ready to cut every convention and nicety and be free. I am and I am. I am both. My pain, and my pleasure. Just like the twins of the Gemini constellation pictured above, they are side by side.

Early this morning, the New Moon in Gemini emerged. And while like all new moons, we can’t see her, we absolutely felt her. This New Moon is a supermoon — she’s unusually close to Earth, which makes her pull stronger than usual.

Gemini is the sign of twins. And the twins remind us we don’t have to choose. The question this new moon asks isn’t which one are you, the healer or the adventurer, the one in pain or the one embracing pleasure. Gemini’s question is: can you allow yourself to hold space for both?

Keep reading for this week’s Poetry Oracle, more about today’s New Moon in Gemini, a ritual, and a soundscape.

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The Shift: Poetry for a New Perspective, pages 150-151. Order your copy here.

Last week wasn’t my first time in the ER with one of my children.

As you can see in the poem above from The Shift, I’ve had many trips to (and thankfully back from) the hospital with my family. But when I found myself in the hospital with Stella for a re-dislocated shoulder on an unassuming Wednesday night, the energy was different. The message that came through to me, wasn’t like the times before. I knew the message wasn’t just for me — it was also for you (and no, it isn’t the poem pair above). This message wasn’t about gratitude in the face of hardship, although I did feel that, too. No. This was something else.

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Page 205, Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation

How often do we limit ourselves by setting our expectations too low? By confining ourselves to our limiting beliefs, to being reasonable, to what everyone else has done (or said we can and cannot do). This Blue Moon blows all of that away. It shatters the glass ceilings so we can dance among the stars. This Blue Moon is the breakthrough.

But it can’t work its magic without your deep and unwavering participation.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Blue Moon in Sagittarius and how you can channel her energy to expand into your juiciest possible life.

The phrase Blue Moon has an interesting history. The “once in a blue moon” phrase actually predates the use of Blue Moon to describe two full moons in one calendar month. In the 1500s, the moon being blue was a phrase circulated to define impossibility. It then transformed into something being rare, but not impossible. Finally, it was an astronomer who called the extra full moon in a season a Blue Moon — a second full moon in one month. The point of this history is that what was originally impossible, soon became rare, and then became something that while rare — happens somewhat regularly (the last Blue Moon was in 2023, and the next one is in 2028). So impossible becomes rare becomes… attainable. And with that, “once in a blue moon” becomes a roadmap for our wildest dreams.

A full moon in Sagittarius carries a distinct energy in astrology since it is one of the most expansive, forward-facing energies of the zodiac. A fire sign ruled by Jupiter, the planet of expansion, truth, and abundance, Sagittarius is all about illuminating the big picture: where are you now, and where are you meant to be? Sagittarius is that friend who pulls up in a convertible and says, “Let’s f*cking go” and doesn’t stop driving until you make it to Las Vegas and win, win, win.

This Blue Moon lands on the heels of Gemini season, and its timing is not incidental. Gemini is a collector: of ideas, possibilities, and of course, questions. Its energy isn’t about direction, but about holding many things at once without needing to resolve them. But Sagittarius, its opposite, is different. Sagittarius wants to arrive somewhere — hence the convertible ride to Las Vegas. This moon is an opportunity to take everything Gemini surfaced and start following what’s actually calling you. Not your patterns. Not your comfort zone. Not the reality you’ve built by playing it safe and small. Sagittarius wants much more for you than that.

What would life look like if you replaced your vigilance with unbridled hope? What would life look like if you allowed yourself to dream — and actually live that dream?

Page 96, Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation

Even though full moons are typically about releasing blocks rather than setting intention, a blue moon provides a special opportunity to do both: release what stands in the way, and claim the dream you’ve perhaps been deferring. Given that this is a Full Moon in Sagittarius, the manifestation potential of this moon becomes undeniable.

Use these journal prompts, soundscape, and ritual to both release what stands in the way, and to claim your most vivid future.

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Toddler Melody in her JOY era.

Today’s my 44th birthday. In honor of that, I’ve spent some time looking at old photos, revisiting the many Melodys that live inside of me. The thing I’m noticing is something I’ve also noticed before: when I was a very little girl, there was a spark. A palpable joy. By adolescence, that spark was gone. I look at my teen-ye…

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This New Moon in Taurus feels incredibly personal to me, because it marks the end of the eight-year period since Uranus entered Taurus back in 2018. In 2018, I unexpectedly became a mother again, and in many ways reset the clock of my life. By the time Teddy, my twin daughters were almost six, and wise and independent well beyond their years. Now, eight years later, I find myself back there again: on the threshold of a chapter where my kids need me just a little bit less for their day-to-day survival, and I can carve out more space for my own.

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When Uranus entered Taurus in 2018, our relationship with ourselves — our worth (material and spiritual) — shifted. While Uranus tries to push toward the future, Taurus is rooted in the past. This led to a period of strained progress: we were left straddling where we’ve been and where we’re going. This felt true for me as I worked to create stability for myself even though I was in the midst of radical change. My desire pushed me to see past the horizon, but Taurus kept pulling me back.

A few weeks ago, Uranus moved into Gemini — and the tether was severed. This New Moon, the first in Taurus without Uranus in it, is where I finally feel it. There’s only one direction I’m growing in now, and it’s firmly future forward.

Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation

Now Uranus has entered Gemini. And in sharing with you what that means, I hope to offer a new, fertile era for us both. We are both the gardener and the seed. It’s time for us to bloom.

Gemini is the sign that controls communication. While the last eight years gave us many questions, Gemini empowers us to answer them. What do we think? What do we want? You know the answers — Gemini wants you to speak them into reality.

This aligns perfectly with May’s Flower Moon, which first graced the sky on May 1st. The Flower Moon is a Moon that’s all about blooming. It finds us in peak spring, and invites us to join mother nature and experiment, play, grow, and connect. It reminds us that we deserve a life that is in full bloom — and that the only thing standing between us and the future we actually want is the belief that we’re worthy of it.

Keep reading for a manifestation ritual and breathwork sequence you can practice tonight — and the poem and soundscape to carry you through it.

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Self Love Poetry: for Thinkers & Feelers. Order up a signed copy here.

This last weekend, I had the great privilege and pleasure of taking the stage at the inaugural Girls Day LA, a full-day event masterminded by Kelly Helfman to give the women of LA a place to learn, grow, connect, and yes, also shop. Even though I was technically a speaker, I did all o…

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Today, May 1, is a day of cosmic alignment. Not only is it the Full Flower Moon in Scorpio, it’s also Beltane, an ancient pagan festival devoted to fire, vitality, fertility, and living in full bloom.

While you’ve perhaps heard about these things already, there’s also something else going on as well: tonight the moon will briefly be void of course. Keep reading to learn what this all means — and what it means for you.

Just like its name suggests, May’s Full Flower Moon is a moon devoted to blooming.

The seeds we planted throughout the winter and spring thus far are now bursting into life, and nature gives us a roadmap for not only becoming, but for blooming together. The name Flower Moon was popularized by the Old Farmers’ Almanac, but it was originated by the Algonquin native Americans.

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Right now in Los Angeles, the streets are rich with purple jacaranda blooms, and the air is thick with the smell of jasmine. Every time I see jacaranda petals littering the floor, I imagine this is Mother Nature’s version of a wedding, the petals scattered upon us and around us for good luck.

Drove by this site last week and all I could think was, there’s nowhere I’d rather be right now than sitting in that chair.

And that wedding energy: that energy of collective celebration, hope, union, love… that’s the energy that May is ushering in. May is no longer the time to isolate and reflect: May is when we grab our besties and go for it. And by it, I mean living life to the fullest.

But it’s not just the Full Flower Moon that arrives on May 1st; today we’re also lucky enough to be celebrating Beltane, an ancient pagan fire festival that celebrates being alive, fertility, the imminent arrival of summer (Beltane takes place at the halfway mark between the spring equinox and the summer solstice). On Beltane, which is very much alive and well as part of Gaelic culture, we jump over bonfires for protection, we wrap the Maypole in ribbons, we feast and dance and celebrate. It very much reminds me of the Persian New Year celebrations I shared with you at the start of spring. These varied cultures, all arriving at the same conclusion: life is always worthy of celebration. Every day can be a wedding under the jacaranda trees.

All poems are from Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation - get your copy here.

This isn’t just any full moon. It rises in Scorpio, directly across the sky from the Taurus sun. Taurus is the sign of presence, of the body, the senses, the earth beneath our feet. It’s the jacaranda petals and the smell of jasmine and the feast laid out before you. Scorpio is what lives beneath all of that. The roots. The true feelings you’ve been too comfortable, scared, or busy to name. When the sun is in Taurus and the moon is in Scorpio, the sky is asking you to do both at once: to enjoy the feast and to be honest about what you’re hungry for.

This week I also learned about something I’d never heard about before: a void-of-course moon. Subscribe to find out what void of course means for our moon tonight — and to access a Beltane ritual, journal prompts, and a custom soundscape to carry you into May.

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Join me at Girls Day LA for a full day designed to help you transform with clarity and confidence into your most authentic, empowered self.

At this full-day experience you’ll hear from incredible voices about wellness, mindset, career, and personal growth, all sharing real tools you can actually use in your life. Lala Kent, Caitlin Crosby (The Giving Keys), and event founder Kelly Helfman are just a few of the speakers you’ll experience throughout the day, alongside workshops and sessions designed to help you define and step into your next chapter.

I’ll be sharing my story and guiding a Self Love Meditation to ground you as you take in everything this beautiful event has to offer. I’ll also be there signing books, so you can take a piece of the experience home with you.

Beyond the stage, the entire day is curated for you, including a marketplace of 30+ brands, tarot and astrology readings, tattoos, piercings, color analysis, wellness experiences, and space to explore, connect, and play.

VIP guests will also receive a tote bag featuring one of my favorite poems from Self Love Poetry: for Thinkers & Feelers: “Of all the things I own, my worth is my favorite possession.”

And because you’re a The Poetry Oracle subscriber, you can use code T4TGDLA30 for 30% off your ticket.

I can’t wait to meet you there!

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PS: My book Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation is a lightening deal on Amazon right now ($8 off). Grab your copy before the deal is fully claimed and disappears.

Moon Garden on Amazon

Welcome back to the Poetry Oracle, where the universe sends you the message you need to hear right now by way of a poem or passage by me or someone I admire.

When it comes to writing an Oracle, I really do place myself in the position of being a channel. When I begin, I never know where the Oracle will end. I simply follow the tug of my intuition and by the end I’m left with this overwhelming feeling of release, of the aha moment, of understanding that what just happened here is so much bigger than just me. This week’s Oracle proved this to me yet again, but on the deepest level yet. I thought I was teaching a lesson in writing it — but in reality, I was being offered one.

This week’s Poetry Oracle is an invitation from buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön to stop running from the very thing that is trying to open you up.

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Melody Godfred, Self Love Poetry: For Thinkers & Feelers. Get your copy here.

Before you read this, put on “King” by Florence + the Machine. Let it play the whole time. You’ll understand why by the end.

Today marks the new moon in Aries. And while we are blessed with a new moon every month, this one is truly once in a lifetime. Seven celestial bodies are in Aries simultaneously: the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Neptune, and Chiron. Three or more planets in the same sign is called a stellium. Seven in one is called a revolution.

Today, what’s happening in the world, the sky, and our hearts is all perfectly aligned. And the singular theme is fire.

While I’m not an astrologer, having written a book about the moon, I’m more and more interested in the lessons the sun, moon, and stars have to offer us. I’m learning as I’m writing, and I welcome your feedback as we go on this poetic astrology journey together.

So what is Aries anyway? Named after Ares, the Roman God of War, Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and represented by the ram. It is a fire starter, a fire sign. Aries doesn’t wait for permission. It initiates. Are things feeling a bit chaotic? You can thank Aries. It burns right through formalities, and forms. Today, nothing is promised. But if we can learn to master the flames, everything becomes possible.

Each of the celestial bodies in Aries is making an impact on how we feel today, but none more than Chiron, who sits directly next to this new moon (they are conjunct, their energies interwoven). Chiron doesn’t want you to wait anymore to heal. The wound is where your magic will spring from. Your pain is your portal. Your wholeness doesn’t depend on your perfection. It depends on your willingness to lay claim to your destiny through brave action. No more waiting to be ready. No more waiting for an invitation. No more waiting to be saved.

Now is the time.

Here’s what I personally know about fire: it is the closest we get to seeing the spark of life. As a child, I was fascinated by matches, and have an extensive match collection to prove it (oh how I wish restaurants still gave them out). I remember one time I played with matches in my childhood bedroom and burned a single strand of carpet, earning a note from my mom the next day that said, “Don’t play with fire.” How she noticed that single singed strand of carpet I will never know.

I’m still blown away by the power contained in a single match: the power to illuminate, to warm, to transmute. I’m learning though, in part thanks to Aries, that a match is nothing without someone who is willing to strike it. How many fires reside inside of you, just waiting for you to bring them to be? What if the future you’re desperate for is simply waiting for you to be brave enough to burn down everything that stands in its way?

Your internal fire is potent. Take the anger, the grief, and yes of course the joy, that burns within you and channel it towards what comes next. Instead of burning to let go, tonight we burn to claim.

Pick up the match. Burn the old way down. Let your fire light the way forward.

To celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime new moon, I’m gifting a set of Moon Garden matches to a paid subscriber. Become a paid subscriber before midnight and you’ll be entered to win (USA only). All existing paid subscribers are automatically entered.

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Keep reading for a Fire Ritual and complete playlist to guide your new moon ceremony tonight.

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