The Storm, the Moon, & the Cards...

ahhtherapy ~newsletter ~september 2026

Living Better. Living well. It begins with the exhale ~"Ahh"

The Questions with No Easy Answers

Hi love,

The Northeast got walloped this weekend. Saturday, Sunday, and today isn’t much better. I can’t speak for every storm across the country, but I can tell you what it was like from here.

When a storm keeps us home, we have to put our plans on hold and stop, much as we did during COVID. I live on a peninsula, and the road in and out often floods, especially during high tides. Sure enough, it closed this weekend. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared; in years past, it has stayed closed for days. Living here, you’re always aware that the road could close at any moment. When it does, there’s no choice but to pause.

And there’s also this: a storm loves a moon, or maybe a moon loves a storm. With the full moon this weekend, everything felt intensified, and the only way through was to roll with the rising tides. So you turn inward and get quiet. You might spend time with family, a joy for some and a challenge for others. Maybe it's a chance to reflect on what the year has held and what you're ready to release. These gentle, nurturing moments are yin by nature, and they suit the season: now that the autumn equinox has passed, we've entered the darker half of the year.

A Quick Word On Yin And Yang

The concept of yin and yang comes from ancient Chinese philosophy, which teaches that the source of all things (Spirit, God, Goddess, Energy, the Creator of All, whatever name feels true to you) divides into two energies. Everything we perceive carries a percentage of both. Some things hold more yang, some more yin, but nothing exists without the two. It's the contrast between them that creates the energy holding the universe together.

Yin and yang are opposites, two energies always in relationship. Yang is light, warmth, openness, and forward motion, the sound of laughter and singing. It's the conscious mind, the extrovert, the seed reaching toward the sun. Think Fourth of July fireworks and picnics.Yin is dark, cool, and quiet, the pull to withdraw and rest. It's the subconscious mind, the introvert, the seed resting underground. Think a small fire, a cup of tea, one or two people you trust, and the feeling of a blanket in winter. Yin asks us to slow down, feel what we're feeling, and listen for what becomes clear in stillness. Yang brings expression, action, and the courage to do something with what we've learned. We need both. There are seasons for resting and receiving, and seasons for speaking up and moving forward.

If you're here, so you probably already sense these concepts or have heard of them before, but maybe there's a quiet comfort in knowing people have watched these patterns since the beginning of time.

Reading Energy and Deciphering Mysteries

When we go inward, especially this time of year, we tap into our inner energies and start to decipher more of life's deeper meanings and mysteries. Life is full of them, isn't it? A mystery might be who put the cookie jar on top of the fridge, or it might be a complicated homicide case with the culprit still at large. Whatever it is, if you sense it, it’s a mystery for you; and often it’s the questions with no easy answers that hold our attention the longest.

This is the same energy at work when I read tarot. A story, a mystery, unfolds in the layout of the cards. No card is only one thing. Every card holds light and shadow, yin and yang, and its meaning shifts with the question asked and the cards around it.

This is what first drew me to tarot, and why so many people turn to the cards: they show us where our energy is flowing, where it may be stuck, and what might bring us back into balance.

What Is Tarot?

Tarot is a specific sequence of 78 cards. The earliest surviving decks date to the 1400s, though some believe tarot’s roots go back much further. By the 1450s, hand-painted decks were being made for wealthy noble families, including cards famously attributed to the work of court painter Bonifacio Bembo. At first, tarot was played as a card game. Over time, people began using the cards for mystical and predictive readings. With printing and mass production, tarot became accessible to more and more people, and today it’s enjoying one of its all-time peaks in popularity.

Some of my fondest early memories of tarot go back to my godfather, whose photograph appeared as the Magician in The New York Tarot. Photographer Giani Siri created the deck in the late ’80s, drawing on the iconic people and famous faces of downtown NYC at the time. That early connection made me feel a bit closer to the esoteric world of tarot and opened the door to my curiosity around its mysteries.

I got my first deck in 1993, when I was in college, at a funky music and occult shop in Poughkeepsie. Thinking back on it still makes me smile. I saw the Aquarian deck and thought, Well, I’m an Aquarius. This must be my deck. The Art Nouveau artwork drew me in, too. I was an art major and loved that style.

My college friend David had read my cards a few times and explained what they meant. He taught me a little, and then I started reading on my own. Some readings were startlingly accurate. Some were total mysteries. Both kept me coming back.

Part of what makes a good reader is simply having lived. Some cards only reveal themselves after you've walked through them, and at nineteen I wasn't there yet. That understanding comes with time, and with doing the work, work which never really ends. The cards are a map of stages we all pass through in one form or another. That's why thinkers like Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell spent so much time on archetypes and the hero's journey. Archetypes are universal mirrors. They reflect the roles, instincts, and emotional patterns we all recognize, and they turn complicated feelings into stories we can understand.

The cards speak to one another across a spread, sometimes showing us where we need to soften and sometimes where we're ready to act. The four suits make up the Minor Arcana, the cards of everyday life. For me, Cups and Pentacles carry a more yin energy: Cups lead us into our emotions and intuition, while Pentacles bring us back to the body, our resources, and the life we're tending. Wands and Swords feel more yang, the spark of an idea, the clarity of a decision, the momentum to take the next step. Then there's the Major Arcana, the larger passages of our lives, which can feel like meeting ourselves at big thresholds: The Fool taking a chance, The Hermit asking us to turn inward, Death letting something end so something else can begin.

Of course, no card is only one thing. Every card holds light and shadow, and its meaning shifts with the question and the cards around it.

Maybe that’s why we’re drawn to tarot, especially now, in the yin half of the year. Like a storm, it asks us to stop what we're doing and pay attention. It gives us a way to sit with our own mysteries and notice where our energy is flowing, where it feels stuck, and what might bring us back into balance.

Over the next few months, I’ll be talking more about tarot here, highlighting one or two cards each month. Think of them as prompts for journaling, healing, and learning more about ourselves as we walk through this life. You don’t have to know how to read tarot to begin. Just bring your curiosity. I'd love to have you with me as we explore the cards together.

Join Me This Sunday!

Since the storm had other plans, our art and tarot evening in West Hempstead has been rescheduled! Come create a glass mosaic piece and have your cards read, too. It’s going to be a magical evening!

📍 DeeSign By Me, 45 Cherry Valley Ave, West Hempstead, 2nd Floor inside Cherry Valley Sports
🕕 Sunday at 6:30 PM
💫 $65.

Tickets are still available! Call the studio at 516-439-3099 and ask for the art and tarot ticket:)

Whether you join me on Sunday or spend a quiet evening with a deck and a journal, I hope you give yourself a little room to listen. You don’t need a perfect question or to know what every card means. And you don’t have to start with tarot. I tend to like tarot cards because they’re a bit more specific, but oracle decks offer beautiful insights too and might be an easier way to begin using these forms of intuitive guidance. It doesn’t matter which you choose. Sometimes all you need is a moment of stillness and the willingness to notice what comes up.

That feels especially fitting after this storm. The roads open, the water recedes, and eventually we move forward again. But while we’re here, in this quieter season, maybe we can let ourselves stay a little longer with what’s asking for our attention.

With Wisdom And Wonder,​
​Shana​
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