Episode 139: Candles, Oils, Tarot, and Shit: the 2025 review of stuff

We all know Hilary’s the best at unboxing and reviews. However, we all love sharing which decks stood out to us this year. And if you’re strapped for cash this year, you can purchase gift cards from your favorite divination readers. All links in the Resources go directly to the Cardslingers Bookshop at www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc, where we earn a small commission from each sale. Homework: Let us know your favorites of 2025, either on the socials or via our email.   Melissa now has a Patreon! Check it out at https://www.patreon.com/cw/Melissacynova. She's teaching classes and regularly checking in through Patreon live streams. It's a hoot! Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.   Shoutouts Shoutout to Catland Books in Brooklyn, NW. We miss you. Thanks to the publishers, artists, and authors of all the tarot decks that get released year after year. The Jamber’ee #1: Life with Symbols featuring Tarot Disassembled   Resources Mentioned #128: Waiting to Scream in Your Face with the Four of Swords  Fairytale Tarot by Jaymi Elford and Giulia Francesca Massaglia The Essential Tarot by Chloé Zarka Grinsnir The Verdance Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law  The Witch’s Guide to Animal Familiars by Madame Pamita Memento Mori by Red Wheel/Weiser  A Grieving Tarot by Sarah Kathleen in the UK Lorenzi Tarot by Irine Lorenzi    Do you like what you hear? Please send feedback to us at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes. Coming in 2026, we will do weekly content here. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc.

Hey, look, it’s another episode of Melissa reading us to fifths. She’s made a pack of cards using everything up to the fives, with her newest beloved Cosmic Wastes Tarot. While our questions are private this week, we advise you all to dream on and create fanfiction of us (#cardslingersfanfic). Homework: Read yourself, or others, with cards up to the fives and see how it goes.   Melissa now has a Patreon! Check it out at https://www.patreon.com/cw/Melissacynova. She's teaching classes and checks in regularly through Patreon live streams. It's a hoot! FYI, Melissa has changed her rates to help those who are not baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/ Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow both of them and get a quick reading.   Shoutouts Joe’s Mom, thanks for listening. Courtney Weber, friend of the cast and IRL.   Resources Mentioned Cosmic Wastes Tarot by Junkyard Prints Tarot for One by Courtney Weber is an excellent way to learn how to read cards for yourself.    Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc. Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.

Past Cardslingers coming at you from Mercury in Gatorade. And Hilary is in Gatorade hell; she thinks the Five of Pentacles is Mercury Retrograde personified. It’s the worst-case scenario manifestation where everything has gone wrong. We discuss the traditional symbolism of the card of prejudice, and how we delve into the self-fulfilling prophecy.  However, it’s in the act of questioning what we’re lacking and asking for help to meet basic needs that the magic of this card shows up. Homework: Be the light reflecting off the snow. Help someone in your circle of concern.   Melissa now has a Patreon! Check it out at https://www.patreon.com/cw/Melissacynova. She's teaching classes and checks in regularly through Patreon live streams. It's a hoot! Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow both of them and get a quick reading.   Shoutouts Momma Dragons Group to help queer kids in need Decks Mentioned Hilary: The Tarot Coloring Book by Theresa Reed Jaymi: Tarot of Oneness mini by Robyn Voisey Melissa: The Little Monsters Tarot by Peony Archer and Olivia Mercury Pepper   Resources Mentioned Margaret Mead, “a healed femur is the earliest true example of civilization.” The Trevor Project   Do you like what you hear? Please send your feedback to [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store helps us cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc. Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.

Explicit Warning: This episode deals with some non-traditional meanings of the Five of Swords. It is spicy and not safe for kids: much cussing and sexual references.    Ah, the Five of Swords, usually seen as a card of deceit and failed mediation. People who get this card are often seen as people caught in the middle of a conflict. Or needing mediation. It’s a bullying card we often associate with conflicts of interest.  We then amplify this meaning by sharing a few additional unique perspectives. Hilary’s Llewellyn Tarot shows a Welsh mythology portrayal, while Jaymi shows how the Tarot of the Holy Spectrum has a more modern interpretation. And, as usual, Melissa’s decks give the card’s meaning a more off-the-rails interpretation. However, as Melissa shows in her two card depictions, this card deals with fucking. In the Sassy Burrito deck, we see finger claws that are used in the kink community for pain/pleasure. While the Mystic Garbage tarot has bunnies literally fucking. And boy does one of those bunnies give off "mind your fucking business" vibes. Homework: If you have difficulty differentiating meanings from the fives and sevens, take these cards out and compare and contrast their vibes. Where can you pull your attention away from?   Melissa now has a Patreon! Check it out at https://www.patreon.com/cw/Melissacynova. She's teaching classes and checks in regularly through Patreon live streams. It's going to be a hoot! Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow both of them and get a quick reading.   Shoutouts Thanks, Erin, for sharing the Tarot of the Holy Spectrum with Jaymi! Decks Mentioned Hilary: The Llewellyn Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson Jaymi: Tarot of the Holy Spectrum by Chase Voorhees Melissa: Sassy Burrito Tarot by Stasia Burrington Mystic Garbage Tarot by Junkyard Prints Co.  Link goes to a YouTube video showing the cards (sold via 3rd party now, so search online for it) Resources Mentioned The Omega Institute's Master's of Tarot weekend The link takes you to Omega's main page. Search tarot for more content. NSFW: These are the items in one of Lis’s cards Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc. Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.

We gather today to “celebrate” the Five of Cups, aka the grief card. The traditional card depicts a darkened figure staring at cups that are spilled, while other full cups are visible on the other side. At the time of recording, the Cardslingers had to deal with personal grief, as well as the country's collective grief. Jaymi discusses the power of emotional grief. Melissa expands on the need for memory and meaning. Hilary reminds us that this card contains a bit of the “what if” game and how nothing good comes from playing that game. The past is not our home. Honor the things we’ve lost and remember what we still have. Feel your feelings fully. We've still got a long way to go! Homework: Create an ancestor altar. A bowl, a container, a box, a shelf, and add the names of your beloved dead to it. You can also add items to ease the soreness.   Melissa now has a Patreon! Check it out at https://www.patreon.com/cw/Melissacynova. She's teaching classes and checks in regularly through Patreon live streams. It's going to be a hoot! Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.   Shoutouts Dylan for being a special being. We honor you. Shoutout to Hilary and Jaymi’s dads. Shoutout to Melissa’s grandma.   Decks Mentioned Jaymi: Triple Goddess Tarot by Franco Rivolli and Jaymi Elford Melissa: The Black Violet Tarot by Heidi Phelps Hilary: Wild Messengers Alchemical Tarot by Lola Pickett, Tanya Casteel, and the graphical talents of Tigre Pickett (Sadly, this deck is out of print.)   Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc. Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.

Cranky, McCranky pants here, talking about the Five of Wands. Get your ass outta my face. In the RWS, it’s five people with five sticks attempting to build a tent in five different ways. It’s a lot of fire combined with the action and passion of the wand suit—what is your will behind doing something? This card brings the chaos and confusion of any situation. Homework: What fires did you start, and which ones are you getting burned by?   FYI, Melissa has adjusted her rates to help those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/ Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.   Decks Mentioned Jaymi: Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and Barbara Moore Melissa: The Visionary Woman Tarot by Kristine Gorman Hilary: Meraki Tarot by Kerri Snook of Bouchette Design    Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc. Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.

We’re swimming in gratitude today. To battle the dystopian hellscape, we want to take the time to uplift each other. Thank you all for listening and being at our tables. Thank you for being clients, and for sharing your stories with us. We’re delighted you’re here and proud to see how much you’ve all grown.   FYI, Melissa has changed her rates to help those who are not baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/ Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.   Shoutouts To Robin for being a long-time client and listener. To Erin for being a fantastic friend.   Resources Mentioned Episode 57: “Bunch of Queerdos”   Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc. Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.

Don’t you have a ban button? Today’s topic is about those folks who come at us and have an expectation of familiarity. Listen as we discuss how we deal with this “best friend” energy, love bombing, and overfamiliarity. Tarot is a service industry, akin to hairdressing, and we do our best to provide objective information on your issues. Boundaries are essential, and we want to give you a service first.   FYI, Melissa has adjusted her rates to support those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/ Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading. Shoutouts Shout out to Dr. Erin Baker for the memories in Detroit. Thanks to Theresa Reed, the Tarot Lady.   Resources Mentioned Episode 23, “Fire that Freaker” Episode 64, “Love, Light, and Toxic Happiness” Single White Female, the movie  The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker   Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc. Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.

This week, your Cardslingers get the opportunity to chat with author and friend Charles Harrington. Charles Harrington has been reading, teaching, and loving tarot for more than 25 years. He has written several deck guidebooks and given keynotes and workshops at conferences, hosted podcasts, and led meetups in the San Francisco Bay Area. He loves to find new and strange ways to use the cards in pursuit of wisdom, fun, and the occasional free cocktail. He is the author of Tarot and Oracle Card Readings for Dummies, Tarot of the Vampires, the Murder of Crows Tarot, the Odyssey Oracle, as well as the forthcoming Llewellyn Tarot Calendar for 2026. Charles popped on the YouTube channel to chat with us about his new book, Tarot and Oracle Card Reading for Dummies, which was released this year by the Wiley brand. We gush over his book, the process of writing, card reading in general, and get a glimpse of the desk he purchased from Elvira.   Melissa adjusted her rates to support those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/ Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.   Shoutouts Charles shouts out to Nicole and Nina, the Wiley editing team. Melissa shouts out to Taylor in Chicago. Catiara Marie and NWTS  Elvira and all the excellent books she wrote on the desk that Charles now owns.   Resources Mentioned From The Book of Tarot by Fred Gettings, “Tarot is a machine, you put a question in and an answer pops out.” Episode 13: Reversals: Flip That Shit (our reversals episode) The Odyssey Oracle by Charles Harrington with art by Paolo Barbieri   Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc. Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.

Welcome to Episode CXXX! And thanks to Eighteen Wheels on a Big Rig, we’ve got all the Roman numbers covered. Melissa reads Jaymi and Hilary to filth with her The Ink Witch deck. Jaymi receives some valuable advice on her upcoming trip (now complete by two months) to Michigan and her experience at the Great Lake Area Diviners Experience (GLADE). Hilary gets some personal advice. We also discuss the notion of doing readings without knowing the topic. Hilary forces Melissa to read for herself, and it’s rather poignant. Homework: Try doing a reading with your deck up to the fours. What did you come up with?   FYI, Melissa has adjusted her rates to help those who are not at the baseline. So, visit her website and sign up for a reading now. https://melissacynova.com/services/ Catch Hilary and Melissa on Instagram for live readings. Follow them both and get a quick reading.   Shoutouts "Eighteen Wheels On A Big Rig" Shout out to Heatherleigh and The Boston Tea Room. Shout out to Dr. Erin Baker for the lovely time! Decks Mentioned The Ink Witch by Eric Maille (link takes you to where you can buy the 2nd edition)   Do you like what you hear? Send feedback to us at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/cardslingerscc. We also have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/@cardslingerscc. Eventually, we will back up the episodes and have more live content. Support our podcast with books or decks. We’re adding all the books from each episode to our Cardslingers CC bookshop.org store. Each purchase from this store gives us a percentage to cover our costs! www.bookshop.org/shop/cardslingerscc. Reminder: We will NEVER DM you for a reading on any social media site. We schedule all readings and conversations through our personal websites.