The Sapling Oracle - Pride Glimmers 2024
some rainbow sparkles to round out pride month
This month’s glimmers are all of a rainbow hue, although I’ve been slacking on the ol’ content myself, I’ve been relishing all the gorgeous queer folk in my community who continuously show up for all of us.
Collective Liberation - None of us are free until all of us are free
Cwtches To Gaza - Mutual aid supporting Palestinians in Egypt
Queers for Palestine - Direct Action for Palestine
BDS Movement - Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for Palestinian liberation
Creators
Activist Witch - Ysha is an incredible tarot reader who offers sliding-scale, Italian-style, email tarot readings via their ko-fi page. All money made through tarot readings is going to Cwtches For Gaza for the foreseeable future. They also publish weekly YouTube video essays about activism and witchcraft and run an Etsy shop providing international indie decks for UK shoppers (more about that below!).
Kelly Bear - Kelly is a wonderful tarot creator on YouTube who makes the most beautiful tarot pouches you’ve ever seen. Kelly’s eye for detail and colour combinations is abundantly clear whether in her gorgeous crafts or in the curation of her tarot deck collection that she shares online.
Mina Arcana - Mina is a gorgeous tarot reader from Edinburgh who shares her card pulls and thoughtful insights on Instagram. She does both online readings and face to face readings around the Edinburgh area.
Tarot Magpie - Not only does Sylvie make some of the most visually pleasing videos on YouTube (and wow can they curate a deck collection), they also offer incredibly insightful email tarot readings via her Etsy shop - and while you’re there be sure to pick up at least one of the tarot zines, they are absolute staples in my tarot practice!
AB’s Witch Journal - AB makes wonderful videos and Instagram content, chronicling his journey through witchcraft. He also hosts incredible interviews with different authors and creators on his YouTube channel
Froggybones Tarot - Parker is a fab tarot reader in Margate, UK who also writes a brilliant substack with their musings on tarot and everything relating to it, whenever I get a notification I drop everything to read their thoughts.
Tarot Shops
A Coven of Two - Ysha (activistwitch) saw the need for international indie decks to be available at a more achievable price for UK customers, so she made it happen! You can find a gorgeous curation of international tarot decks alongside witchy supplies and candles.
Little Red Tarot - Beth Maiden is an absolute icon in the British tarot community for curating an incredible selection of indie tarot and oracle decks and books from wonderful creators, and also writing a brilliant blog (RIP, but find it archived here).
Art
*(this is your nsfw warning)
*Fyodor Pavlov - Described as art that “inhabits a palace of old-world aestheticism with a cock-shaped summerhouse”, Fyodor Pavlov is one of my favourite artists. He made a tarot deck (that is slightly tamer than his usual style) and it’s one of the most gorgeous in my collection.
*Felix d’Eon - An incredible Mexican artist who explores a huge spectrum of queerness and desire in his artwork in a beautiful and often very tender way.
Hagstone Art - A Norwich, UK based duo of queer artists and crafters that sell prints, stickers and all sorts of other beautiful goodies on their Etsy shop.
Bonus Babes
Emma Cownley - Incredible writer and music editor for Witchology magazine, Emma writes a fab newsletter called Copy Coven which combines really useful tips for freelance tips with a wonderful sprinkling of witchy goodness for good measure!
Rowan Ambrose - If you’re a longtime subscriber, you might remember that Rowan used to write the nature notes in the early days of my newsletter. With an absurdly broad skill set, Rowan both helps people create the low-effort (energy, cost, space) gardens of their dreams and also writes the most glorious sensory rich copy.
Sio Robertson - Have A Nice Day Studios in Edinburgh is simply the only place to go if you want the perfect combination of silly goose antics and the most beautiful nails you’ve ever seen. The whole team is incredible, so creative and welcoming and alongside the incredible nails, they also offer a range of other adornment from tooth gems to permanent jewellery.
My queer themed offering this month is a look at the representation in my deck collection, along with some musings about the history of queerness in tarot.
If you’re in or around the Glasgow area, you can catch me at The Queer Agenda for Glasgow Pride on the 20th July.
I hope you all had a glorious Pride month, and you’re taking care of yourself, and I’ll catch you next time!
Thank you so much for the shoutout, Imogen! Also, yes, Fyodor Pavlov!! His art is superb 👌