#oksana astankova

You’ve got this strange effect on me… and I like it

The Two of Cups is always a welcome card. In this image of lovers coming together, there is no mistaking that romantic adventure is the order of the day. One tenderly reaches for the other, and both are already so dizzy with limerence that they appear to be totally checked out…. If the Two of Cups has come into your sphere, you are very likely in love…. You will learn something from this love affair (or one-sided, desperate crush), and it will change you. Even if you end up among the one percent who feel keen pain from this card, ultimately you won’t regret it. You are learning something valuable: that you can love. You can hit emotional highs (and lows, yes). You finally understand what all those songs and movies and books are about. Welcome to the club, and when I say, enjoy it while it lasts, I’m not trying to be a killjoy. It’s just that you never know with these things. So stay in the moment, take it all in, love your heart out…. These relationships are destined to last a long time, so only sign on with people who fill your heart with joy or certainty.

-Excerpt from ModernTarot by Michelle Tea

The Hanged Man represents all situations in which you’ve put yourself somewhere on the spectrum between slight discomfort and deep pain, and you’ve done it consciously because you know at the end of your bondage a new and improved reality awaits you. The card can represent undertaking a yoga regimen or any new physcial endeavor that puts your body through the ringer but does something for your spirit in the process…. When the Hanged Man shows up, retreat is recommended. Perhaps you have come to a point where the only way for you to get what you truly want is to give up something else. You’ve weighed the choices, you’ve made your choice and decided it’s worth the effort, and you’re settling into your self-imposed purgatory. Aspire to do your time like the Hanged Man does his: relaxing into the discomfort of it (look at the lax bend of that leg!), not dwelling on what you’ve lost but anticipating what lies ahead (a peek at his facial expression shows a radiant acceptance). Sometimes what you need to give up are assumptions, or ways of thinking…. Whatever it may be, the discomfort you feel will be proportional to your inability to let go of it. The heart of the Hanged Man is surrender, letting go. If you’ve accepted that there is no way around letting go of what you need to let go of, you’ll be ready to endure the deprivations and discomfort of your sacrifice with his egoless charm.

-Excerpt from Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea

The Lovers card also comes up for people in long-term relationships, often when the choice to leave or not to leave has arisen. More than just a ticket to ride the hot sex high-way, the Lovers is about making choices. An important aspect of this card speaks not of love but of building up your personal value system and figuring out who you are and what you believe in. It’s interesting that such a theme would be paired with the Tarot’s major love card, but it makes sense. If anything has the power to challenge our personal ethics, it’s the lure of attraction. In recovery circles, the biggest threat to a newly sober individual is said to be “romance and finance.” If the Lovers card has come up for you, you may be trying to make a romantic decision using the barometer of your morality. Is the person you are intrigued with already committed? Are you? Is it an office or academic situation, with a host of potential problems, that has piqued your interest? Is the object of your affections somehow off-limits—perhaps a close friend? Maybe you know the person you’re drawn to isn’t good for you, or maybe isn’t a good person at all, and you’re trying to figure out how you can indulge your powerful attraction without really letting this person in. Romantic complications present endless possibilities. What the Lovers card always wants you to do is take the high road—which is challenging. In fact, science has shown that obstacles placed before lovers only increase the brain chemicals that make them want each other so badly.

-Excerpt from Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea

When the Eight of Swords arrives, you are so deeply stuck that you have given up any hope of fixing the situation. Or maybe you delayed fixing a situation until it swallowed you whole and now you’ve lost hope. Either way, here you are: bound so loosely that you could totally escape, but you don’t; imprisoned by a half-assed fortress of swords you could actually walk right out of; and blind-folded, but making no effort to pull the blindfold off your face. If you did allow yourself to see, you’d have to acknowledge that this miserable situation is at least partly your own doing. You have tremendous personal power, but for some reason you are choosing not to use it, or you have handed it over to someone else. The reality is that you got yourself here and only you can get yourself out. If you are waiting for a rescue, an apology, or an about-face from someone other than yourself, you’re going to be stuck down here in gloomy Swordsville for a lot longer. At this point it hardly matters who else was involved or what drama or circumstance got you here. The problem is, regardless of how you got here, you chose to stay here. It’s now up to you to quit the job, end the friendship, file for divorce, offer an apology, begin to make amends, or stand up to your parents. However, the Eight of Swords is shaking down in your sphere, and it’s time to claim your power and get on with your life.

- Excerpt from Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea

Villanelle by Rachel Hicks

Artist:https://instagram.com/rachel.l.hicks?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Villanelle/Oksana Astankova by Hayley

Artist:

https://instagram.com/hb0m8?utm_medium=copy_link