QUEEN OF WANDS, KING OF SWORDS

SALICROW

While I may have only recently been introduced to the virus known as Corona, I feel that I have been in a relationship with the shift she is ushering in for most of my life. In truth, I believe this is what I came in for—to be a light in the darkness, a forerunner, boots on the ground, a warrior princess of change—and I know I am not alone. Many of us came in with this intent.

In June of 2012 my sister Sandy and I were in a canoe on the Connecticut River, between Vermont and New Hampshire, when we first discussed what we believed was an upcoming cataclysm. Having been raised in a family with skilled psychic abilities, we understand that global happenings are a complicated thing, and that interpreting the symbolic messages and psychic downloads surrounding such events is in part much like putting together an intricate puzzle without the box for reference. That being said, we felt that humanity needed to prepare itself, for we are approaching a crossroad, a tipping point in which reality will somehow be divided for those who have the ability to adapt to the upcoming global changes, and those who do not.

Over the years this vision evolved, becoming clearer as piece by piece the puzzle came together. We saw people’s ability to shift from 3D consciousness to 5D consciousness as a factor, recognizing a person’s skill at mentally tempering the onslaught of empathic information as a key. This belief was due in large part to the rapid increase in the number of clients I was seeing who were experiencing psychic phenomena. While I first noticed this increase in 2011, the acceleration was noteworthy after the Winter Solstice of 2012 and has continued to increase to the present date. This insight pushed us deeper into our pursuit of helping others adapt as they experienced expansion of their consciousness. My sister and I began actively looking for answers through journeywork, divination, and communicating with the spirits of our ancestors and nature. We knew that while we had time, this altering of reality would take place in our lifetime, and we were here to be among those that helped others wake up.

In 2015 our work around the impending “shift” accelerated while we were partaking in a deep-immersion spiritual retreat with a few of our closest witch-sisters: women we not only do magic with but raised our children alongside of and solved both magical and mundane problems with. Through group visioning and direct-download we were guided to the components necessary for a “spell of awakening,” designed to help people feel grounded and safe while their senses opened up and they began perceiving the world in a much more complex way. The collecting of ingredients took us to caves, boulder outcroppings, rivers, waterfalls, and ice-cold pools throughout the Mount Washington Valley. My sister then crafted the ingredients into a potion, a liquid essence of our magical intent, that we then began offering to the genius locus (spirit of place) at sacred locations both locally and around the world. While we spent years doing this ourselves, we also spread our “awakening spell” through the hands of others, sending it with our spiritual friends on their sacred travels. We recognized that this cooperative magic is a foundational piece, meant to lend support, aid, and balance, for the road ahead is going to be rough.

In 2016 I did a psilocybin vision quest in a magical grove along the Ammonoosuc River in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; the grove is a sacred place of rich moss and Trolls/rock-beings that my sister and I have stewarded for years. I was looking to better understand the upcoming “shift” that was now sitting squarely in my precognitive awareness, and I got what I was looking for.

• I became aware that while quantum science talks about the infinite number of realities, the changes in the majority of these realities are individual and minor. However, there are two major realities that we are currently divided between, realities that I refer to as “Green” and “Order.”
• “Green” focuses on collective consciousness, expansion of reality through enhanced communication (empathy, telepathy, clairsentience). It has a deep connection to the natural world, with a focus on the sentience of all things, and a natural inclination to work together in harmony.
• “Order” focuses on power over, and people being cogs in a machine. In my visioning I saw this reality being run by fear, control, and the importance of haves and have-nots. It is deeply embedded in the consumer consciousness and controlled through propaganda and mass media.
• I saw that “Order” is running out of energy, as its programming runs on the theory of consumption and the belief that man is meant to have power over the land instead of working in unison with it—something plainly seen as natural resources are being run dry.
• I saw the importance of working at energetic locations on the land, places where ley lines converge, and that the land and spirits of nature are actively stepping forward to be seen/heard/acknowledged as beings and helpers through this cataclysmic shift.
• I became aware of the importance of working through the interweb and social media, as it was clear that the powers that represented “Order” were the same people who owned the media. I did not understand clearly what this meant but knew that in part it was time to speak up.
• I saw that I would meet important people who are companions/allies in this work while on my travels abroad, and that I would soon be publishing a book, and that sharing my insights with others is important.
• I knew that as we approached the “shift” we would see relationships coming to an end, civil unrest; and that people would start having spontaneous openings to spirit and their own psychic abilities; and that as a psychic and spirit speaker I would need to help people understand the expanded way in which they would suddenly find themselves experiencing reality.

I met Richard Grossinger a month later, after an introduction through our mutual friend Robert Simmons. As a result of this connection my book Jump Girl: The Initiation and Art of a Spirit Speaker was published in February 2018. The week after meeting Richard, with my book idea floating in liminal space, I went on a sacred pilgrimage to England and Wales, where I connected on a soul-level with seven of my traveling companions—all of us remembering one another from past lives and having an innate knowledge of how to work magic together, particularly in the form of geomancy and sound healing. Within this group of sacred travelers and with my witch-sisters I began creating crystal grids connecting sacred locations around the country and abroad, adding to the spell work my sister and I began in 2015.

Fast forward to two and a half weeks ago. . . .

My first experience with the Spirit of Corona happened on March 11, 2020, shortly after WHO (The World Health Organization) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. I was visiting my in-laws in Zephyrhills, Florida, and playing with the new tarot deck I had purchased earlier that afternoon at the local witch shop. As is my habit with a new tarot deck, I was getting to know it by shuffling and flipping cards rhythmically and asking random questions, focusing on how the cards told their story.

The tarot is a tool I know intimately, having read cards professionally for the last thirty years. While I am perfectly capable of performing psychic readings without tools, I like the tarot. It is a fabulous storyteller and has the ability to take my consciousness quickly to the pattern I wish to view, focusing my mind’s eye with precision.

The questions I was centering my attention on concerned my husband’s health (he had been experiencing intestinal problems for over a month, which was exacerbated by our flight to Florida) and whether we should continue with our plan to fly to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the following day or change our plans and head home to Vermont. I really wanted to carry on with our plans, as we were to meet up with the sacred traveling companions I mentioned above to do geomancy/earth healing around Santa Fe and Taos. That being said, I did not want to continue our travel if my husband was going to feel miserable the whole time. I had been doing a lot of energetic healing on him and he was getting better, but being sick away from home turns what can be generally unpleasant into intolerable. With this in mind, I decided my answers deserved a bit more focus than drawing a card here and there, and I sat down to explore the issue in depth. This is when Corona made her appearance.

At the time of her first appearance, on March 11, I was aware of the pandemic and that the United States had begun shutting down its borders, but I personally felt no fear in regard to Corona. As an empath, I could feel the fear of others and had to really up my self-care and empathic-protection, particularly in a senior living community, but I personally did not experience fear. Instead, when I saw her, I saw necessity—a powerful force, just doing its job. She showed up as the Queen of Wands, which in the “Tarot of Dreams” (art by Ciro Marchetti, book by Lee Burston) is depicted as richly dressed in shades of red and masked, hiding in plain sight. Social, expansive, hidden and mysterious, she is on a spiritual journey, and she is a queen doing her duty.

After spending the evening in divination, I found that either path I took—whether I went home or went on to Santa Fe—pretty much said the same thing. My husband would be uncomfortable, neither path held danger for us, each path had blessing to offer, but I kept having a nagging feeling that I was missing something. So I called my sister Sandy and asked her a simple question, “Should we continue on to Santa Fe or come home?” She quickly replied, “Come home—I don’t think you are in any danger of the Coronavirus, but I feel like you need to come home,” and so I did.

When I got home, I immediately recognized that we had made the right decision as borders, schools, and businesses began closing. I set about transforming my home for “spiritual seclusion,” the term I have been using in regard to the need for social isolation. I believe words have power and how we refer to situations plays a significant part in how we experience them. I restocked my empty cupboards (having expected to be away for two weeks), and I gathered things from my office that I would need to set up work from home. I worked on cross-pollinating volunteer groups in my community; as I have always been an active community member and know a lot of people, I created a private Facebook group for Wisdom Keepers—energetic healers, empaths, the folks who hold their communities together. I set about getting healers, psychics, and prayer warriors to direct their energy together, using a Rose Quartz grid to focus our love and healing thoughts. Recognizing why I had spent the last few years creating crystal grids around the world, I started organizing the gifting of Rose Quartz to local hospitals and grocers.

The first week of seclusion felt like a time warp. While I personally felt as if I were moving at a high speed, each day that passed felt like a week, and time took on that wobbly feeling familiar to the liminal. I became keenly aware that we were all existing in the betwixt and between, that space where we are no longer able to hold onto our view of familiar/normal yet are unable to perceive where we are going or what reality will look like when all of this is through. In my Wisdom Keepers group I post daily on Facebook, and on Friday, March 13th, I shared a psychic reading with that group that I did in regard to Corona. In the reading I used the “Tarot of Dreams” because I purchased the deck during the pandemic and had only used it in readings with a connection to the virus. While I do not look to a book for insight into the cards themselves, I do like to try new spreads from time to time, as asking the right questions is an important part of divination. I chose to use the spread designed for these cards, as it focused on the story or “dream” of a situation.

PSYCHIC READING (A VIEW OF COVID-19 FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE VIRUS)

SALICROW, MARCH 13, 2020

1. The story (3 of Wands): This is a time of great becoming, in which the present and future reality are not stable or on a set course. Three is the number of creations, showing the story is still being created; at present it is a sight on the distant horizon. The outcome of a global cataclysm is hard to predict. Science can give us estimates and equations, but those equations seldom factor in the power of prayer, energetic healing, and collective thought. I see that the path is actively being co-created through the minds of people and the flow of the virus itself. People are in part choosing the reality they are capable of being part of. It is a time of chaos, and chaos is fertile ground for magic! As Wisdom Keepers we must not be complacent, nor must we give over to fear. The energy we feed the virus is in part creating the outcome.

2. What we think (Queen of Wands): I believe the Queen of Wands to be a representative of the virus itself, to be Corona. In this deck (Tarot of Dreams) she is regal and composed, masked, hidden in plain sight, expansive, quietly judging her surroundings. I have been getting this card in every reading I have done in regard to the pandemic, and in each reading it has represented the virus itself. It is my belief that Corona must be approached as an entity or being. I refer to her as she, as the virus feels feminine and receptive. It is intimate, infiltrating our being through social interaction, and requiring us to go deep within, finding our strength and security within ourselves. I keep getting the image of the cocoon—that she is trying to show us that we have been the hungry, fat caterpillar, consuming everything in its sight, and now we must shut ourselves off from our indulgences, come apart at the seams, and dissolve in order to be recreated. She is a masked dominatrix pushing us to the brink of our beingness. She is neither angry nor cruel. She simply wants us to look at what we have chosen to ignore, and she seeks to shape us through the exploration of our pain and fear.

3. What we get (King of Swords): This is another card I have repetitively drawn in readings about the virus. It represents the struggle emotionally and mentally that we will be put through. In this tarot deck the King of Swords has a cage of swords around his head. I find this to be very pertinent, as we are in a sense being put into cages, quarantined, put in our cells of seclusion to truly look at what part of our nature no longer serves us, and to learn to communicate what we want to see in the world. Corona will give us the lessons of the cell. I also feel that this card represents experiencing mental/ spiritual downloads, and how such input will affect us. Again, going back to the splitting of realities, some people will not be able to handle the shift in consciousness necessary to go on living on this planet. It is a common belief that the water the psychotic drowns in is the same water the shaman swims in. What we get in the form of consciousness expansion will bring us all to the edge of our comfort zone, and some of us will fall over that edge. I believe this was already happening prior to the virus; it was noticeable in the separation, anger, and fear the world was experiencing politically and socially leading up to this event. I also believe that the cage may be for our own good, for if we were not separated from each other in this time of astral gateways and spiritual opening, that violence and oppression would grow out of hand.

4. What we feel (9 of Swords): I see this as both how we/the collective people and the virus feel. While I do not personally feel this way, I believe a majority of people currently resonate with the feeling of unease, insecurity, and nightmares. We have a fear of the unknown, and of old things coming back into being. Corona is being fueled by that fear, unease, and insecurity, and it is my belief that people who resonate in that place of fear and inability to adapt are more vulnerable to it. I believe this is shown in part by where the virus is most deadly—the lungs. The Lungs are connected to the Heart Chakra, which is connected to the feelings of love, healing, forgiveness, fear, and grief. When we are sitting with the low-vibrational emotions of fear and grief, we are denying ourselves healing and love, and simultaneously creating constriction in the center of our chest.

5. What we deserve (10 of Cups): This represents what we should get out of this experience, what Corona is offering up to us through her presence in our lives. Rest, family, community, love, and rebirth are her gifts. She presents us with a time for recharging our batteries and illuminates the importance of life’s core ingredients: food, shelter, and love. We are being forced to become conscious of that which we take for granted all too often, and given the time (albeit forced) to reexamine what constitutes happiness in our lives.

6. What she tells (Temperance): Corona is a representative of the microcosm/macrocosm relationship, as above/so below, the connection between heaven and earth, and the reminder that what we put in, we get out. I often refer to Temperance as the “witch card” as it is about manifestation, and radiating out into the world that which we are. Corona is socially indulgent, she is a consumer—moving from person to person, grasping for more as she goes, like the collective “us” that is never satisfied, always needing more. If we want to change what Corona is, we need to change who we are.

7. What she is (4 of Cups): The inability to be happy, lacking the ability to see what is offered, always looking for the next thing. The illness, Corona, is meant to help us gain focus and find contentment in what the world offers us, instead of always dreaming and grasping for more.

8. What we need (The Fool): For many The Fool represents true wisdom and faith. The first of the major arcana, it represents both the luck and innocence of one starting out on their path, believing that the world will provide, and the wisdom of the sage who has traveled the road, stumbled, and found the way back to faith. The fool as sage knows the road will be under their outstretched foot, for they believe they are connected to the wyrd web and that the universe and fate are working with them. In this way, Corona is requiring us to have faith, and to focus on the reality we wish to be part of.

9. What we can expect (The Lovers): This is about our relationships, those with god, the natural world, and others. We can expect all those relationships to become more important in our lives. We are stepping away from a world of me and mine, into a world of us and we.

In conclusion I see Corona as one of the great teachers of our time, having come into our lives to shake things up, push us to our limits, and to push some beyond what they can handle. While I do not believe that all who will suffer in her wake fall into the reality of “Order” (from my previous vision quest) and are controlled by fear and anxiety, I do feel the majority who suffer will be those who are unwilling or unable to change. I believe that for some this will show itself through refusing to take the situation seriously, and the poor decision they make in regard to safety. I also believe that some souls will see this as an opportunity to step away from a world they cannot relate to, or a life that overwhelms them. We are standing at a crossroads, at a great tipping point in which we are being asked to choose how we will approach the changes that are coming for our planet and all who live here. We cannot go on with business as usual, there is no more time for sticking our heads in the sand, Corona has come to whip us into shape. I began this year telling everyone that 2020 as a number is a year of clear focus, for most of us first think of perfect sight: 20/20 vision. In numerology 2020 breaks down to a 22/4. 22 is the number of the master builder, representing intuition, balance, diplomacy, expansion, and growth; when broken down further to the base number 4 we see that this is a time of building foundations. We need to be keenly focused during this time of transition, for we are creating that which comes next!

SPREADING LOVE, SALICROW

SALICROW is a natural psychic medium who has been aware of her gifts since childhood. For over twenty-five years she has worked as a seer, using the tarot and runes as her tools. With her ability to divine the future and revisit the past, she advises her clients with compassion and a straightforward approach. As a medium, she helps people to connect with their beloved dead, family, friends, and loved ones who have passed, as well as make connections with the guiding spirits who watch over them. As an intuitive healer, Salicrow is dedicated to helping the beings of our planet and the Earth itself. She is a Reiki master in six schools of Reiki, a sound healer, druid, and a practitioner of Rune Valdr and Seithr. She is the author of Jump Girl: The Initiation and Art of a Spirit Speaker.

Salicrow lives in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont with her husband of twenty-four years. Her children, grandchildren, and community are a big part of her life. She is a deep lover of sacred travel and has been known to go on adventures, near and far, where she can most likely be found doing healing work on the spirits of the land and on the land itself.