Routine

When I cage my eggplants at the end
of July, I’m not done praying.

When I wake up early to pollinate
the Cucuzza and Cucumber,
I’m not done praying.

The blue potatoes look small, deformed, and ugly.
Four plants and a deep bed should’ve fared much better.
They cure in the basement, and I’m not done praying.

When the Nor’Eastern wind
shatters our pretty new birdbath,
I listen to everyone who tells me to glue the pieces
into something new. But I hesitate to do it
cause I’m not done praying.

As if in prayer, I envision myself
packing the camo jacket I got as an atheist
at the Army Surplus store.

We’re going to hike down to the waterfall for a swim,
leave our burdens in the Catskill waters.

I may need an hour to look for the shoes
that will get me there quicker. Cause
my godds, I’m not done praying.

— Tabitha Dial

Subscribe now

This example of a litany looks at the act of prayer in various lights. Each prayer is an interaction with the natural world, except for the one that “imitates” prayer. Even then, the natural world is anticipated in the lines “As if in prayer, I envision myself/ packing the camo jacket”.

Your restack means more than you’ll know.

Share

Litanies Explained

A litany is a form of expression rooted in ritual. It can be a liturgical prayer, recited by a leader, made up of a series of petitions (spiritual requests). The congregation responds with ready-made words.

It naturally fits in with poetry. Not only is it meant to be repetitive (but selective and deliberate), it can be created by a series or a list. I hadn’t thought much about the possibility of a series or lists as litany until looking up the definition of the word. This opens doors, putting a new twist on how closely we may choose to build our collected works as writers: And believe me, I love a good list poem. And have tried to build my fair share of poems in series.

Every time you write about a familiar topic, it is arguably part of a series. More on this in the first of three classes about publishing your poetry as a collection, which I’m co-facilitating in Oct through Jersey City Writers.

Poetry Prompt

While this poem came from my own examination of working with a garden and the opportunity to visit a creek in the Catskills, you don’t need a garden or mountains and creeks to write. You have your own details that needed your attention this week (or will need it this week). You have your own places to escape to, or at the very least, the power to create those places and moments with your words. Your routines are your most accessible example of a series of small events.

First,
List 3-5 items on your current to-do list or from your planner. Describe them in a poem that repeats a phrase identifying one state of mind related to those tasks:

For example, Prayer is a powerful and fitting concept to use for litany. But you aren’t limited to it. You may choose the phrase “I’m not done praying” in your poem, if you are comfortable— you are allowed to be ironic, angry, resentful, etc. No ai can write real human emotion and complexity. “I’m trying to pray”, “I don’t want to pray”, “I can not pray for”, and “I am out of prayers for” are all interesting possibilities, worthy to repeat in a poem. See below for other possibilities.

Second,
Shift your litany phrase a little as you describe preparing for a journey outside of your normal weekly tasks. Example: “Instead, I pray for”, “As if in prayer, I”

Finally,
End your poem with your original litany phrase.

Here are verbs to consider, if you do not want to write about praying:

Advocating
Dancing
Evolving
Growing
Holding
Listening
Musing
Playing
Practicing
Singing
Tending
Witnessing

Related Posts

Once a week, I share either inspiration for writers, a poem and its origin story, or Goal Guidance for Creatives, read by 300+ people.

• 📚🔮🫖 Lunar Faire Night Market: Elements, East Brunswick, NJ
  Sept 12
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5-10pm

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

• 🔭“Cheese Astrology: Retrograde, Rituals, and Saturn Return” online at StaarCon 6
  Oct 2
  Affirmation writing class about big astrological events at 10:15 am

• 📚Local Author Day in Princeton, NJ
  Oct 17
  Book Signing from 10am-1pm

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Oct 10

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor.
Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves almost 20 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Buy me a Coffee

Reflection

Prayer is the placement of mirrors
in the rooms of your house of longing.

It's the antique rectangle of reflecting glass
that's hung to the side of every front door
of the matriarch: four generations of pioneers.

It's a grandmother trusting her inner workings enough
to sleep with a mirror as wide as her bed. It faces
you both atop a polished dresser when you dream
side by side. And then: birds wake you.
You pull weeds and grow roses.

Prayer is gratitude, the friend living in the desert
who remembers you for how you write
benedictions to the Delaware Canal
and the Pine Barrens, how your first psalms
echoed across the Continental Divide, how your
praise songs never left the hollers or the honeysuckle.

Prayer pays witness among the goldfinch and sunflowers.
Prayer wants world peace, wants security, wants with good intention.

Whoever answers our prayers sleeps besides an old vanity
that has changed hands but always shows us
our unexpected blessings, our wildest selves,
our allegiances, our devotions, our audacity
to conjure pleas for protection, for prosperity;
to ask, to request, to petition.

They sleep under a quilt of roses and constellations
and dream of wings and petals.

They hear our gratitude and bargains. They wake
and plot birdhouses and garden beds.

Poetry Prompt

Welcome more of the divine into your writing with an every day item. Choose any figure from myth or faith: an angel, a deity, a sacred guide or guardian. Now choose an object that might be handed down through the generations: a quilt or a mirror, for example.

Write a poem where the figure you chose keeps this item in a space that helps them relax. The mirror might hang beside their front door, while they might sleep under the quilt. Describe how that item changes their perspective on the world outside their personal sanctuary.

—> BONUS: What kind of poem can you write about a mythic or spiritual figure when their every day object is brand new? What if the object was a gift they didn’t ask for? What if the object had to be bought to replace a different one, and your chosen mythic or spiritual figure has to deal with the emotions of letting go of the original?

If you felt inspired by this prompt, please let me know in the comments.

Leave a comment

More From the Creator

I am so grateful for the wildly warm response to last week’s poem. It was truly my first vibrant, wild, and wonder-filled Substack “collaboration”:

My personal essay on how I became a Tea Leaf Reader (it’s a cherished gift I inherited):

Enjoy this? Share it with a friend!

Share

• 📚🔮🫖 Lunar Faire Night Market: Movies & Musicals, Atlantic County, NJ
  Aug 29
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5-10pm

• 📚🔮🫖 Lunar Faire Night Market: Elements, East Brunswick, NJ
  Sept 12
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5-10pm

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

• 🔭“Cheese Astrology: Retrograde, Rituals, and Saturn Return” online at StaarCon 6
  Oct 2
  Affirmation writing class about big astrological events at 10:15 am

• 📚Local Author Day in Princeton, NJ
  Oct 17
  Book Signing from 10am-1pm

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Oct 10

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor.
Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves almost 20 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Buy me a Coffee

(After , , and )

I grew up in a time of superstition.
Cardinals, blue jays, dream bears.
Today I can not ask for better pastries,
the wild migration from
bird nest to bakery,
cub to conveyor belt,
pecking to packaging.

Artists and writers are asked
what it's like seeing their work
in the wild. Each display may trail
another copy home, to the counter,
to the table at the center of someone's heart.

Poetry is no elite club. It is nature
when you slow down to let it seep in.

Over toasted bagels and bacon and egg--
a late Saturday brunch-- a poem enters
with the local news.
The woman in red reports
a double rainbow spotted
south of the Delaware,
one day after a promise to a coffe pod
artist that you accept her challenge and
will conjure one lunch with a rainbow.

The iambic prismatic beast tracked
you in the lush valley of whimsical
synchronicity. These are the trust falls
you asked for when you made your last
birthday wish. Toss salt over your left
shoulder twice to protect the living
room where you opened the screen time gift.

Subscribe now

Inspiration for this Poem

(Poetry Prompt to Follow)

One of the primary tips I give fellow poets (and aspiring ones) is to read widely and remain open to inspiration. This past week, stars aligned— actually, the moon and the sun. We had a solar eclipse.

And I read a few things on Substack that prompted “Production”, my poem. First, Lisa Jensen's “Pine Mountain” poetry essay features a beautiful, wild walk in the woods. Her prompt encouraged me to explore cardinals, blue jays, and dream bears:

My poem playfully explores fabrication and foods. I knew I wanted to carry readers along by the imagination. But leave readers with a genuine experience. Remember: keep your eyes open for poetic moments. This one came after an interaction I had with a fellow Substacker who creates art with coffee pods:

Another poet, new to Substack, inspired my first line and the concept of superstition. This third element is key. It established believabilty (pun intended). It bought permission to trace the edge of folklore and magick, a world I love to write about.

Poetry Prompt: Play with “Production”

Here are a few poetry ingredients for you to work with:

Combine themes of birds and bears, superstition, and describe a meal with a noteworthy natural phenomenon.

Natural phenomenon can include blizzards, tempests, and thunderstorms. The solar eclipse on August 12 is a perfect opportunity. Can you remember what you ate that day?

For a bigger ecological message, the effects of climate change may be considered. This will color the mood and political weight of your work.

Please tell me what you got from this prompt in a comment.

Leave a comment

More Poems Born on Substack

I hope you enjoy these two poems I wrote thanks to on Substack:

And another inspired by :

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

• 📚Local Author Day in Princeton, NJ
  Oct 17
  Book Signing from 10am-1pm

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor.
Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves almost 20 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Buy me a Coffee

The Fellow Pisces

Mixed into my grandmother’s cooking, gardening, and oil painting was a touch of mysticism. She openly loved the horoscope section in The Daily Sentinel. She remembered birthdays and grew roses and peonies to remember the loved ones she lost. She trusted old rhymes that promised changes in weather.

Without this fellow Pisces, it's probably baffling how I got into Tea Leaf Reading.

Look. I’m an Xennial white girl, originally from a pretty quiet Colorado town. Why would I start to even think about Tea Leaf Reading early on? I wasn't connected to any famous tea houses or cozy cafes. I wasn't brought up with Pagan traditions. The Crystal Book Store in my home town broke the glass ceiling for metaphysical shopping—during my teenage years. If they had a psychic available for readings, they didn't seem to advertise. No classes. No pop-up faires. Just books and crystals and gifts.

When I decided to start reading Tarot Cards, I had no one to model myself after. No one gave me “permission” to join them in a past time. Each shuffle felt sneaky, despite all the respect for the metaphysical that I saw in my mother, aunt, and grandmother. But Tea Leaf Reading was different.

“And One Pot of the Tea”

My family had a favorite Chinese restaurant. It had Polynesian influence and wow, every dish was delicious. The lobby had a giant Buddha statue, and we rubbed his belly for good luck. Across from him, a beautiful fountain with blue tile covered in coins (and wishes, like my own). Called Far East, it was family owned.

My grandmother ordered their tea when we visited. Not every time. But we enjoyed family birthday dinners once or twice a year.

I didn't appreciate the tea. It tasted like dirty water. One of the last times I sat at a table there, my grandmother ordered it.

My memory tells me she asked if I wanted the tea, conspiratorially, before our waitstaff took our orders. I fear I made a face. I wasn't a fan, but I knew it made her happy. I hope I said something along those lines.

She ordered in spite of any response I had. She was good at allowing herself to pursue her own joy. I hope I drank a cup.

For Entertainment Only

This was 1997 or so. My grandmother peered into the leaves at the bottom of the kettle, as she did in front of me a handful of times. Her usual images and metaphors, full of promise and whimsy, soon followed.

I typically listened with awe. She always presented the readings as a casual activity, done without great flair. She didn’t act like Whoopie Goldberg in “Ghost”, rolling her eyes back, or altering the tone of her voice.

No notes were taken. No follow up questions. No matter who was at the table. “For entertainment only” is a common disclaimer for fortune tellers. This was my first example: entertainment only, without special signage, without candles and curtains. Just close family and chopsticks.

Far East has been boarded up, the parking lot overgrown. The Crystal Bookstore closed years ago. I’m so thankful my grandmother left me with memories of her peering into kettles, speaking her loving variations of encouragement. They could have been traditional, rehearsed rhymes, pulled from the pages of her beloved “Farmers Almanac”, but they weren’t. They were from her heart. For our ears. She wanted her family to give their imaginations over, to practice one of her own virtues: to live our lives with a sense of wonder about our future.

Now is Your Time

Renew your wonder about your future, or give yourself ease in any area of your life. I would love to work with you privately. Private Tarot Card, and Tea Leaf Readings are available now. Schedule a reading now.

We can unfold a few new writing prompts and Goal Guidance. Do anything with:

🌠Tarot Card Readings

🫖Tea Leaf Readings

and

🔭🧀Tarot with Cheese Astrology Affirmations

I hope to work with you soon! Spots fill fast!

• 📚🔮🫖 Mythical Creatures Lunar Faire, in West Milford, NJ
  Aug 15
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5-10pm

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

• 📚Local Author Day in Princeton, NJ
  Oct 17
  Book Signing from 10am-1pm

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor.
Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves almost 20 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Buy me a Coffee

Tarot Cards and Tea Leaves have helped me learn my life lessons, too. I’ve gone from the motto “Create your Fate” in my 20s to early 40s to “Create your Refuge”. Creating Refuge is about big wins through small goals and celebrating how imagination and intuition can motivate all of us.

My mission is to provide you with strategies, planning systems, encouragement, and accountability to keep you creating. Readings have been a trusted method to do all of the above. From Colorado to Kentucky and Ohio, and now New Jersey. From my heart to yours.

Subscribe now

What Others Say about Receiving Virtual Readings from Me

Full Tarot Card Reading Testimonial by

This was my first tarot reading - by kismet Tabitha happened to be using a deck with the art style of my favourite artist...

Tabitha walked me through what each card meant, how the art reflected the meaning and how this might connect to the larger deck and life. She was patient, friendly and even sent me further details afterwards which was great for my ADHD mind.

Her warmness was felt through the screen. She clearly has an intuitive nature as I felt completely at ease straight away.

I've recommended her on to two people since already.

--Jen Ratcliffe, Prize-Winning Nature Writer

Full Tea Leaf Reading Testimonial by

Note to self: Never underestimate a teacup.

Apparently, my future—and quite possibly my creativity—was hiding on the side of one.

Yesterday, I had my first-ever tea leaf reading with @Tabitha Dial | Creating Refuge and man alive, it was amazing.

I asked her to focus only on what my creativity looked like for this coming year. I didn’t tell her anything about what I’m planning, so I was stunned by what she saw. (Yes, after all these years, I’m still a bit of a skeptic. Oh Spirit, please forgive me.)

At first, I kept thinking, How is she seeing that? But before long, I began seeing my own images too—which felt incredibly powerful.

Let’s just say this longtime skeptic left an even bigger believer in mystery once again.

Thank you Tabitha Dial for an amazing reading! If you are wanting a Tarot Reading or a cool Tea leaf Reading, I’d totally check Tabitha out!

—Ellen Newhouse, Singer-Songwriter & Acupuncturist

Subscribe now

Full Tarot Card Reading Review by

Wow! I came into the reading looking for guidance with a specific and timely issue that’s been really upsetting and disruptive. Tabitha hit the nail on the head with each card! It was amazing how precise and clear the reading was.

I joined the session open and hoping to get some general guidance of where to go with the situation. What I left with was clarity on the situation AND how to address it. I actually left our session with the exact wording that I’d been looking for to start the conversation, and a plan on how to proceed.

Tabitha’s skill, understanding and intuition were amazing! I highly recommend anyone interested in tarot to book a session with her!

— Sirka Louca, Psychotherapist

Schedule a Private Reading

Full Tea Leaf Reading Review by

I came to my first tea leaf reading with no expectations and no agenda, just curiosity.

What I got were three images that went straight to the things I’d been wrestling with: the need to actually rest, the fear I’m running out of time, and everything I’m still working up the courage to put out into the world.

Tabitha holds the whole thing with such warmth and ease that it feels less like a reading and more like a conversation with a very perceptive friend.

— Anastasija G, Book Editor and Ghostwriter for Wellness Authors

Full Tarot Card Reading Review by

Tabitha is a gem of a person and a fantastic tarot reader. I gave her a lot of information (oversharing, neuro-sparkly person that I am 😆), and she listened with incredible patience, thoughtfulness, and care.

What stood out most was how insightful and grounded her reading felt. She didn’t just interpret the cards—she helped me connect them to what I’m currently navigating in my life, offering perspective, encouragement, and meaningful guidance along the way.

I left feeling seen, inspired, and with a lot to reflect on. Highly recommend, and I’m already looking forward to future divinations with her! 💛

— Janna Ashly, Writer & Actor

Now is Your Time

Start a project, prepare yourself for a leap forward, or give yourself ease in any area of your life. I would love to work with you privately. Private Coaching Consultations, Tarot Card, and Tea Leaf Readings are available now. Please message me to see if we are a good fit for Coaching Consultations. Schedule your reading here.

Whatever you need, I’m here. We can unfold a few new writing prompts and Goal Guidance. I opened my schedule again for:

🌠Tarot Card Readings

🫖Tea Leaf Readings

and

🔭🧀Tarot with Cheese Astrology Affirmations

I hope to work with you soon! Spots fill fast!

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves almost 20 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Buy me a Coffee

→ → Plus a potpourri of Poetry Prompts that turn your attention towards your odyssey. Take what you like and leave the rest.

Hey y’all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer and manifestor.

Especially when we show up for ourselves and each other.

Join me! And please Save this Article to help others find my work.

Oh, Substack Reader! You’re so Fine!

Let’s begin our Pep Rally for a New Job (or Gig). We’re going to create more space for you and your joy. One of the more iconic cheers, surely of my era, is “Mickey”, by Toni Basil. And Weird Al wrote a parody of it based on the show “I Love Lucy”.

Though Mickey breaks the song writer’s heart, the chorus is a chant that’s simple and straightforward. Like all the examples in this article, you are encouraged to make it your own:

Ideas for your version

Put the syllables of your own name — or the job or place of work you are about to enter — in place of “Oh, Mikey”.

(Example: Oh, Costco)

Replace “You’re so fine/You blow my mind” with the following—
If you have the job and it’s your first day:

“You’re capable/and confident”

If you want a job and you’re preparing to go in:

“You’re so fire/I’m ready for hire”

For simplicity, the pronouns remain you’re. That can work if you are cheering on yourself or a place or job.

Not your Grandmother’s Cheer

One of my favorite cheers from high school actually has its roots in the U.S. military. It was a cadence used in marching, a call-and-response of “I feel good”.

I didn’t find a recorded example I felt over the moon about, but here is the gist of it.

Hey, [your name]!
Yeah?
How do you feel?
I feel good,
Oh, I feel so good! Yeah!

The one I remember was followed by our drum line. You can follow these words with either humming, clapping, drumming on your wheel behind the driver’s seat, or creating a list of what you feel like, ie, “I feel like hyping myself up,/walking into work with swagger and style/cause I bring my spirit, and they see me coming for miles”.

Gently Committing to Going All In

This is a really nice cheer for when you aren’t just ready for good things like fresh starts. This one is great for when you want any win in your life. It begins with recognizing your power, too.

Your Strut, Your Moves

You don’t need years of dance training or a background in choreography to walk through a space like a cheerleader. And what a difference it makes in helping you breathe more deeply and shake off your nerves!

Check out both this quick cheer and this walk for inspiration on moving through your home, or to or from your car. “What you looking for? We got what you looking for!” This is great to practice on occasions when you want an energy boost. Or motivation. Or to dispel fear. Remember to put that pep in your step and keep your shoulders down and relaxed.

Subscribe now

Ten Minutes to your Affirmations, Mantras, and Breathwork

My favorite way to dip into creating your own words of empowerment takes maybe 10 minutes:

1. Try the walk and cheer in the video above for 20 seconds or more.

2. Look within yourself for “what you’re looking for”.

3. Make a list of what you are looking for/what you need.

4. Open your heart.

5. Circle three-five items that stand out to you.

6. Look out a window, if you can, for 20 seconds and focus on breathing deep — and what that feels like.

7. Craft a series of short sentences around the words you circled. State that those things exist in your present, or that they are in the realm of what you are becoming.

When you are ready to either read your affirmations/mantras silently to yourself or vocalize them, focus on your breath as you did before. Take two-three deep, slow breaths before you begin.

Related Content:

Six Little Wordsets: Creative Writing Prompts

Write a poem using these phrases. They can act as a title, end a line, be used repeatedly, or you can try to use them in your last stanza:

I Wanna See you Roar

Shining Mane

Handsome, Ruthless, and Stupid

That Tone of Voice

Eighteen Languages

Take Me or Leave Me

The last four come from Dorothy Parker quotes. She is a fabulous writer. Her birthday is Aug 22.

Royalty Prompt from “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”

Try this prompt, adapted from one of the weekly entries in my latest book:

Write a poem that explores the Archetype: “Royalty”. You can start with the Magickal Use for Stilton, the Cheese Astrology Entry for July 26-Aug 2:

“Develop your ability to demonstrate your authority.” - “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”, by Tabitha Dial (available now)

‼️Ideas: Write about a time you demonstrated your knowledge about something. Write about how your decisions for yourself showed that you are the author of your own life. Write a poem that feels like it’s getting “the final say”.

Creative Divination: Write to Develop your Personal Code

PART TWO OF THREE, adapted from the pages of my guidebook for Tea Leaf Reading:

Take your own Odyssey. Try this Tea Leaf Reading exercise from “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”. We'll finish this first exercise from my book near the end of next two month:

1. Tests and Allies — what are you being asked to work on or overcome in your life right now, and who is helping you?

2. Approach — describe how you and your newfound Allies prepare for this challenge

3. The Ordeal — what fear can your allies help you with?

4. The Reward — what reassure or treasures have your allies helped you find?

5. The Road Back — how can you bring your allies (or their lessons) home with you?

• 📚🔮🫖Tarot-themed Lunar Faire, in Middle Township, NJ
  Aug 1
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5-10pm

• 📚🔮🫖 Mythical Creatures Lunar Faire, in West Milford, NJ
  Aug 15
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5-10pm

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor.
Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Want a private reading? We can unfold a few new writing prompts and Creative Goal Guidance. I have almost 20 years of experience as a professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Reader. I opened my schedule again for:

🌠Tarot Card Readings

🫖Tea Leaf Readings

and

🔭🧀Tarot with Cheese Astrology Affirmations

I hope to work with you soon! Spots fill fast!

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves almost 20 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Buy me a Coffee

Hey y’all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone has a few good lyrics in them— every day.

Especially when we show up for ourselves and each other.

This collaboration with Kelly Jean Anderson is for the song in your heart.

Join us! And please Save this Article to help others find my work.

A Voice Sparks Imagination

“Use the talents you possess. The woods would be very silent if no bird sang except the best.”— Henry Van Dyke

The above quote was on a poster I had on my bedroom wall as a teenager. It was still there when my brother and I inherited our parents’ home a few years ago. There was no question that those who loved me knew I lived by its principles.

Still. Something had begun to change. I was living in a new part of the United States, and no longer worked in an environment that played music all day and encouraged theatrics. I struggled to sing like I used to. Random show-tunes and made-up jingles faded into my dreams. I had begun to silence my exuberance, and I hadn't noticed.

Then came a voice that sparked my imagination again. She sparked my soul, really. This June, Kelly Jean Anderson's appearance on my Substack algorithm woke my music up. Here’s the video that caught more than my ear. Turn up the sound. My voice that had gone dormant in recent years was ready to revive itself:

What an awesome lullaby! “You are safe. You are loved. And you are guided by angels”, sings Kelly Jean. Her Instagram also had a video of her singing to the ocean. I recognized my old melodic embers of love for the world. She inspired me to sing to my flowers and post the impromptu results:

Clearly, I don’t have the same talents as our friend. I don’t have access to the same musical instruments. You’ve got to see some of her work at the piano, btw. I’ll save my adoration for music, and my musical pedigrees for other posts. The point of this one is that we all have a song. We all have a song of our own for every era of our lives, sometimes for every day of the week.

Subscribe now

Kelly Jean will teach us how to overcome any fears we have about singing to the space around us. But first, let’s read about what she thinks are the three main benefits.

Benefits of Song Weaving

One of Kelly Jean's titles for herself is “Song Weaver”. In her own words, these are three benefits of singing with love to your environment.

Healing & Regulation

Singing helps me breathe more deeply, move emotion, soften tension, and return to myself. It is one of the simplest ways I know to soothe the nervous system and create space for healing.

Expression & Creation

Singing gives voice to what lives within us. Feelings, prayers, grief, joy, and longing can move through us rather than remain trapped inside. In this way, singing becomes an act of creation.

Connection & Spirit

When I sing to the ocean, the wind, the mountains, the trees, or the space around me, it feels like prayer. Like spellwork. It is communication with the Elements. It is devotional. A remembering that I AM/WE ARE connected to everything.

How We Can Start Singing: Reclaiming Your Voice

“Every sound you offer is a love song to the Earth and to your own heart,” Kelly Jean writes. Here is her advice on how we can start singing:

People often tell me they’re afraid to sing. I understand that feeling well. I like to think of nervousness as simply energy moving through the body. Pushing it away makes it feel worse. So learning to sit with it and breathe becomes the path through.

Before you begin, take three slow breaths. Inhale through your nose for five counts and exhale through your mouth for seven. Let your shoulders soften. Then, instead of trying to sing, begin to hum.

Humming is one of the gentlest ways to meet your own voice. Feel the vibration in your chest, your face, and your heart. If you’d like, cover your ears with your hands while you hum and notice how alive your own sound becomes. Your voice is your own unique medicine. It is here to comfort, regulate, and remind you that you are alive.

When you feel ready, take your humming outside. I highly recommend taking off your shoes and letting your bare feet connect with the Earth. Feel the ground supporting you as you breathe and sing. Offer your voice to a tree, the ocean, the mountains, your garden, or the birds. Nature doesn’t care if you are perfectly in tune. She responds to your presence. We are in constant relationship with the living world, and our voices are one way of participating in that conversation.

If words come, beautiful. If they don’t, let there simply be sound. An “Ahhh,” an “Om,” or a long humming tone is enough. Your voice, your vibration is exactly as it should be. Just let it be. Sing it out. It is a process of remembering who you are. Every time you allow it to be heard, you reclaim a little more of yourself.

More About our Song Weaver, Kelly Jean

My name is Kelly Jean Anderson. I’m a Pisces Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus, with an Aquarius rising that has somehow lifted me out of the deepest waters more times than I can count.

Life has been an extraordinary teacher. I’ve walked through addiction, grief, trauma, and years of learning what it means to come home to myself. Eight years ago, on a Full Moon, I made the decision to change my life. I wanted to discover who I was beneath the survival strategies, the fear, and the stories I’d been carrying. That journey has become the foundation of everything I now offer. My greatest gifts were born from the places that once hurt the most.

Today I am a singer, songwriter, musician, sound weaver, breathwork and vocal toning guide, meditation facilitator, and yoga teacher. My work is an invitation to soften and regulate the nervous system, reconnect with the heart, and remember that we belong. Through breath, sound, ceremony, and community, I create spaces where people can set down the weight they’ve been carrying, even if only for a little while. I hope that each person leaves feeling just a little more at home in themselves.

Next Track: Song Weavers Together

Not only do Kelly Jean and I both want you to create your own music, she and I will Livestream together on July 21 at 1 pm ET.

Topics Include:

🎵Singing as comfort

🎵Songs that helped shape Kelly Jean's journey

🎵Positive embodiment and singing to our environment

🎵What someone who may be afraid to sing openly can do to start today

Takeaway

Whether it's joy in exploring poetry, publication, or nourishing your intuition -- the simple act of using your voice helps you find more hope, clearer intention, and a sense of security.

"Big wins through small goals” is the Creating Refuge motto. Give yourself a few minutes every day to ground. Look deeper at what you need to express. Remember to be gentle with yourself and your impressions of progress and success. The biggest wins come from connection, healing, and gratitude.

• 📚🔮🫖Tarot-themed Lunar Faire, in Middle Township, NJ
  Aug 1
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5-10pm

• 📚🔮🫖 Mythical Creatures Lunar Faire, in West Milford, NJ
  Aug 15
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5-10pm

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22.

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

Want a private reading? We can unfold a few new writing prompts and Creative Goal Guidance. I have almost 20 years of experience as a professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Reader. I opened my schedule again for:

🌠Tarot Card Readings

🫖Tea Leaf Readings

and

🔭🧀Tarot with Cheese Astrology Affirmations

I hope to work with you soon! Spots fill fast!

Meet the Substacker

Tabitha believes creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves almost 20 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Buy me a Coffee

Read more

I was advised as a young teenager to look for a practical use for my writing talents. At 46, I have published two nonfiction books with a debut poetry collection on the way. These books contain pragmatic encouragement. Yet my identity is there — each book remains mainly whimsical, mystical, and niche.

What helps achieve writing dreams? This essay is about how I started to leverage time in a way with techniques you can use. I hope you read on and get hyped.
→Stick around for my Weekly Planner Tool and pass this along if this is music to your ears.

Hey, y’all. I’m Tabitha.

I believe everyone can achieve big wins through small goals. Mindful plans are your Magick.

Dig the vibe?

Join us. And please Save this Article to help others discover my work.

Subscribe now

Trusting What we Know

You know when creativity rescues you from a steep metaphorical cliff? You can’t get out of bed. Your feet DRAG when you attempt to move. You have a crater in your chest from someone leaving you, through either death or a breakup. Or you can feel that asteroid of “THE END” headed to your home. So you create. You create rather than continue to suffer. Creating my first book saved me.

The catalyst for creating my first book, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code” was two-fold. First, writing always gave me solace and healing during times of distress and transition. And I was in a marriage that I could feel crumbling around me. I had moved several hundred miles from my home state and my family. Second, I loved reading tea leaves and knew that my methods were uniquely inquisitive. I felt called to share my experience as a creative act, not merely as a form of entertainment that conjures or directs the future.

The momentum of working on a big win keeps us from collapse. In a time where I felt helpless, I knew that sharing my knowledge about Tea Leaf Reading as a form of play and introspection would keep me grounded. I trusted that each time I wrote another entry for my growing collection of 79 exercises for reading a cup of tea, my imagination was giving me peace of mind and content to help myself take the next best step — and that others would be able to gain their footing, however they entered my book.

My household just started signing on to AOL when I was a high school senior. I was several years from helping launch the first “community journalism” website in our country. Who could have dreamed such doors would open in their lifetime, when they didn't touch a keyboard until they were 8 or 9? One thing I wasn’t prepared for was how leaving my core family and my home state would start me on the journey of publishing my own books. And discovering how to keep my momentum and achieve more.

Following Your Bliss

Between those first days of AOL and a masters in poetry, I had a famous quote near the computer in my home: “Follow your bliss” — Joseph Campbell.

And follow it I certainly did. That’s why this Substack is called “Creating Refuge”. I followed my bliss and found myself along the way until my thirties, and spent much of my thirties and early forties encouraging others to “create your fate”. I’ve learned that not everyone is as privileged as I was in my early days, and that not everyone is treated equally or viewed equally.

The best we can do is follow our bliss by Creating Refuge. Create a feeling of safety, of belonging, and permission to explore yourself and your interests.

Subscribe to Follow your Bliss

Location, Location, Location

My bliss called me to move from Colorado to Kentucky. I felt immediate kinship when I explored a town that would be my home if I continued my relationship. I continue to enjoy strong connections, especially to the poets of Lexington.

But the one connection who made the biggest difference in my writing career came outside of local literary circles. The independent publisher who worked with me to be a twice-published book author wasn’t found among the poetry challenges, courses, open mics, and such. I met my nonfiction editor and book designer at a belly dance event where I read tea leaves.

She gave me her business card. We kept in touch. We created refuge. After awhile, she announced her forthcoming “tea reading journal” and I was torn with emotion. I had quietly finished my manuscript on that very topic. I hated the thought that this could be a competitive title, and when I felt a wave of relief that this was a blank book, I proposed that she consider what I wrote.

Even better, she suggested I send the manuscript.

Working With Time on our Side

One thing I noticed, before and after working with my publisher, Dragonfly Press Publishing, was that my designer/editor seemed to accomplish a lot of different projects. I wanted to know how.

She turned me on to using weekly planners several years ago. After my second book came out, I thanked her again for directing me down that road. She revealed her big secret. Her toolbox of time benefited from “12 Week Years”.

Quarterly Goals/12 Week Years

The main appeal for the idea of the “12 Week Year” is you can map out a significant but manageable goal in a reasonable amount of time. Therapists often want to know where you want to be three months down the road. You may surprise yourself when you design your plans around 12 week chunks.

Don’t have to tell me twice! When I learned about this concept, I created and followed a few 12 Week Goals. This example from last year illustrates my most life-changing 12 Week Year. Following through meant I completed and submitted my first poetry manuscript to my dream poetry publisher:

This plan to publish my first full length poetry collection worked. What helped? It involved a few accountability partners. It meant I had to reach out to fellow poets.

OK! MORE networking, Tabitha? I hear you. You may be panicked by the thought of asking for help from others, especially people who you think are established in their fields. Reframe the idea of networking with me. Right here. Right now. First: Please accept this as a sign from the Universe that you deserve to Create Refuge with people who share your interests — or the skills you hope to develop. Second: People almost always want to help others. It can be a lonely world, and if you ask for help with a passion that you sincerely share with another human being, that IS the definition of Creating Refuge.

It relies mostly on steps outlined in a favorite resource by my poetry publisher. “The Poet’s Guide to Publishing: How to Conceive, Arrange, Edit, Publish and Market a Book of Poetry” influenced the Poetry Book Publishing classes I am cofacilitating through Jersey City Writers starting in August. Throughout this example 12 Week Plan are many touch-points and methods for revision, both before and after trading a manuscript with another poet to exchange feedback.

So many weeks, and so many steps — and I’m just one poetry gal who speaks to the benefits. Getting clear on how to accomplish a broad goal over 12 Weeks helps you:

Takeaway

A year feels less and less appropriate for many plans. Gardens and nature trails show us exactly how true this is. A year for one goal is hard. Momentum can easily fail. Imagine instead giving yourself the opportunity to try a few goals, to take pride in three or four “New Years Resolutions” over 12 months. Instead of one monumental dream, you can approach your time with a sense of variety.

Tackling a big project like publishing a book is always easier when broken into smaller steps. And businesses run on the concept of Quarterly Reviews.

You are fired up and I won’t leave you hanging. I have a detailed, printable tool to assist you. Get going on your big dreams right now.

I believe in your creativity and my 44 Page Planner will help with your short-term goals.

Planner Includes:
✨️3-page instruction guide
✨️4 Quarterly Goal Layouts to brainstorm longer-term goals and maximize yearly accomplishment
✨️12 Monthly Goal Pages to maintain momentum and direction
✨️Weekly Planner Layout: Two pages for detailed goal tracking, plus a bonus page for in-depth planning and reflection

I Want the Planner

• 📚Poetry performance at the NYC Poetry Festival, with Jersey City Writers, White Horse Stage, Governor’s Island, 2pm

  July 19

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22.

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

Want a private reading? We can unfold a few new writing prompts and Creative Goal Guidance. I have almost 20 years of experience as a professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Reader. I opened my schedule again for:

🌠Tarot Card Readings

🫖Tea Leaf Readings

and

🔭🧀Tarot with Cheese Astrology Affirmations

I hope to work with you soon! Spots fill fast!

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes creativity and maintaining smaller goals keeps us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves almost 20 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Buy me a Coffee

So I gotta prove myself: That begins by being a big— but careful— planner. My digital calendar reminded me about a Fellowship Application two days before the New Jersey Council for the Arts sent out their email announcement.

But that's not where preparation began.

Hey, y’all. I’m Tabitha.

I believe every season is your season. Mindful, small goals are your Magick.

Dig the vibe?

Join us. And please Save this article to help others find my work.

Subscribe now

CHALLENGE: Fifteen Pages of your Best Poetry

It can be intimidating to select work samples, and this article offers habits to help you create and notice your best work.

First, I don't want you to feel you have to accomplish any big objective like a Fellowship Application over the next couple months— or by the end of the year. Success is a personal matter. Success builds gradually. Success looks different every day. Here's a little about me: I'm a heat and sun-sensitive home gardener. And I've got a few poetry projects outside of the garden and Substack. As I edit this, minding my limitations as we enter a heatwave is my primary goal. It means taking breaks. I choose to be happy about that.

I want you to feel empowered when you look down the paths you can take to get into writer’s workshops, retreats, and even higher education.

The fellowship I just applied for had a page count of 15 pages. Often, guidelines for graduate school applications, featured poet submissions, and writing workshops request a similar work sample size.

Hopefully the third time's the charm. I've sent my work in for all of the above. I've had success with everything— except the New Jersey fellowship in 2022, and a featured poet spotlight.

You're probably thinking, “Tabitha! You've had years to grow into this poet you are today!” And you are correct. Growth takes patience and humility, as I recently posted in a Note inspired by the ambitious Larkspur growing outside my home:

You've probably finished the steps I'm advising fellow Creatives to do. If you haven't, there's always time to learn something new!

Open to Submissions

🎯Tip-

When we stay active with submissions of our work, finding recent work samples should be simpler. This is what I mean—

Example Where it Almost Went Wrong:

This past April, I wrote in my planner to submit to a handful of publications.

Most I had just stumbled upon. Their deadlines were in May.

NEAR FAILURE: When May came, I had no will for the submission process: to dig into the publications, see what they like, and find poems that fit. Then I looked at my own collections. Files I intenteded to submit from. They weren't that great after all.

I almost moved on completely, but I met two deadlines for two publications I had worked with before.

WHAT WORKS: Good relationships with publications. Don't give up submitting until you discover editors and publications that resonate: I had just enough unpublished poems to send their way.

RESULT: Work you Want to be Seen

Two submissions, with about 8 poems total, still stood up to scrutiny when June came around. The early bird deadline for my fellowship was later that month. I had several recent work samples.

Work I still wanted to be seen.

The more frequently you submit, the easier it is to select your best work samples.

WHY SUBMISSION HABITS HELP: When we have favorite poems we want published, it's helpful to continue to look at them as we submit to different places. We also learn what works in our poetry, and the themes we tend to focus on.

Self-recognition goes a long way.

The Zen and Art of Writing Furiously

🎯Tip-

Don't stop writing (for long).

What I'm not telling you is that the poems I sent to my trusted publications came from “sprints” I entered a month or two before.

Writing furiously doesn't mean writing in a storm of frenzy. At least not the type of inspirational malestorm that keeps you from sleeping and functioning safely over time.

Examples of Writing Furiously and Consciously:

1️⃣A Series of up to 20 Poems on a Central Topic

2️⃣A Monthly Poetry Challenge with a Community of Writers

3️⃣A Set Number of “After” Poems inspired by any media that speaks to you

WHAT WORKS: One thing these have in common? A measurable constraint. An objective to meet for the sake of learning.

📚DIY Lessons: Create creative parameters to help yourself feel like you're in your own poetry mini-course— Read a sample form or poem and write in response to it once a week. Try that for 12 weeks. Give yourself an A for showing up!

Here are my latest Creative Writing Prompts to get you started. https://open.substack.com/pub/tabithadial/p/end-writers-block-in-july-poetry?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=17knr

RESULT: Develop New Skills in a Short Period of Time

Write a Series ➡️ Find new ways to talk about a main subject

Join a Monthly Challenge ➡️ Discover how other poets write in real time

Write “After” Poems ➡️ Borrow a title, a line, or copy a form from another writer to hit creative notes that weren't quite in your range before

🫖BONUS with the last two:

Working with other creative minds costs nothing. It can help you notice meaningful patterns in their work and yours. Someone reviewing your work for a writing workshop, graduate program, fellowship, etc will probably love that you have one piece that's written “After” a legend of American literature like Gwendolyn Brooks.

🔭ADDED BONUS:

Trying short-term writing challenges means you create more work to choose from. It might also feel more relevant. You probably turned an ember into a flame. You probably have a fresh handful of poetry, and you're excited about it.

Can't Win if You Don't Apply

I hope you feel your creativity is worth compiling for fellowships, featured poet spotlights, and more. Even if you believe you need a few months or more to challenge yourself to write new material.

The arts need support now more than ever. Showing your work for consideration anywhere keeps the arts alive.

Plus, you never know what feedback you'll receive.

It's an all-around win. Remember: I'm here to help you meet your goals by creating achievable, smaller ones.

Above: What writing a bunch of poems and putting them into one collection looks like. Photo taken at the Highlights Foundation Campus in Pennsylvania.

Submit to the Table Review

Have I convinced you? You'll submit some poems out there?

Good! Cause I'm a reader for The Table Review. We're open for submissions until Aug 15 (or when we meet our cap, so please don't wait long). Send us what you're excited about.

I wish you the best. And look forward to all you have to share.

• 📚Poetry performance at the NYC Poetry Festival, with Jersey City Writers, White Horse Stage, Governor’s Island, 2pm

  July 19

• 📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22.

• 🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ

  Sept 27
  Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that every season is your season. Creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.

Read more