consider community with court cards.

hello, friends. we're halfway through five days of offerings, and i sincerely hope that you've found these writings, spreads, and discounted resources supportive. if you missed the other emails from this week, you can still explore the writings (and offers!) on hope and ritual now.

today we're going to be talking about community and archetypes, and so today's special offer is for a combination of two substantial lecture-based resources: archetype medicine for working with the major arcana archetypes, and order in the court for working with minor arcana archetypes. these resources will empower you to find yourself and your magic within these cards, as well as to work with them intentionally when you could use support, inspiration, activation energy, or a companion and guide for your adventures.

this is a $177 combo, but for the next 24 hours, when you buy order in the court you can add archetype medicine to your purchase for just $22 more. no code required, just look for the option to add on at checkout!

now take a big breath, and let it out slowly. let's talk about community and court cards, with the help of the brand new magic pantry tarot from cedar mccloud.

community can be kind of a vague catch-all kind of word, so let's start by defining it. community is an intentional collective of people, first and foremost. in particular, popular definitions of community emphasize that this is a group with a shared identity marker or characteristic, something that they have in common either by choice or by chance.

if you think about communities that you've been a part of in the past, or are currently part of, this distinction might become more clear with examples: your graduating high school class (shared location), people who attend the same gym as you (shared interest), neighbors who show up for park cleaning each week (shared intention), folks you consistently run into at protests (shared values). if you're queer, or disabled, or trans, or chronically ill, you are part of those communities by virtue of shared identity. and regardless of the color of your skin, your race makes you part of a specific community of shared heritage (or several shared heritages), and perhaps a shared culture or two.

we are all part of multiple communities, based solely on who we are, where we live, and how we spend our time. how actively engaged you are in each of those communities, and how welcome you feel participating in those communities, is a different story entirely.

community can be hard to come by, in large part because takes significant time, energy, and intention to build and sustain. but the communities that you feel should be easy for you to engage with aren't always ultimately the ones you ultimately want to invest in or feel safe in. and when we feel that we've been intentionally rejected from a community that we want to be involved with, it can be very painful.

here's the uncomfortable part: i think sometimes that when people talk about being lonely and craving community, what they really mean is that they want friends: people they have history with, people who love them for who they are, people that they can have fun with and rely on, people that they can be messy with. and to be clear, that's not a bad thing! being loved and cared for and respected and chosen by friends who have seen us at our best and our worst is one of the most powerful, beautiful things in this life.

though they can exist in the same groups or with the same people, community and friendship are not necessarily the same thing, and do not serve the same functions. and especially right now, when so many people are seeking out community through a lens of mutual aid and activism, and when many are being told to build community in order to better survive the world we live in, it's really important to know the difference.

if you show up to a community action or organization with the sole purpose of extracting friendship, you're likely to leave feeling lonely, frustrated, or rejected. but if you arrive already knowing what you have to offer, prepared to generously serve and humbly listen, ready to make a long-term commitment to the people you're working alongside, you'll likely have a much more positive experience — and may find it easier to build real relationships, ones that could very well blossom into lasting friendship.

i love a definition of community shared on tiktok by a user named ogui: that community is people that we have chosen to trust and humanize. not necessarily people that we know inside and out, or people who like all of the exact same things that we like, but simply people that we recognize as people.

perhaps that sounds overly basic. but if you've been witnessing the nonstop dehumanization of palestinians, if you've ever seen someone's eyes slide right over a hungry person asking for spare change, if you've quietly opted to stop wearing a face mask in public spaces because disabled people "mostly just stay home anyway," this definition may hit home in an unexpected, or uncomfortable, way.

at its core, community is about humanization and care and respect, about working towards a common goal or vision, through the lens of a shared value. when we humanize and respect someone, we care more deeply about making sure that their basic needs are met: safety, housing, food and water, sanitation, healthcare, support, comfort. in letting someone into our community, we allow them dignity, value, sovereignty. they become part of our team. and we work with our team to ensure that all of us are taken care of, that we have space enough to dream bigger and strategy enough to work to accomplish our collective dreams.

but all of that means that sometimes, we might disagree with people in our community about the best strategy, the right first step, the most logical way to accomplish something. it also means that sometimes, even if we've humanized them, we still might find ourselves in community with people that we don't particularly understand.

practicing getting to know people who may approach the world differently than we do takes time. but fortunately for us, the tarot has an entire section of cards that can help us do just that.

by far, the section of the tarot that i get asked about the most is court cards: cards i define as the archetypes of the minor arcana. the major arcana trumps get a lot of press, and the minor arcana pips feel deeply connected to daily life. but the court cards, often depicted as human beings, are messy, confusing, layered, complex, and often hard to pin down. just like people, court cards can offer advice we didn't ask for, resources we aren't sure how to use, or energies we find uncomfortable.

and if you are interested in getting involved with a new community or organization, whether in person or online, working closely with the court cards can help. i'm being so serious, y'all.

think about the sixteen figures of the minor arcana courts. if you like, literally grab your tarot deck and pull them all out. which ones do you relate to, connect with, see yourself in? which ones do you feel represent you? which ones do you love to see, that feel comfortable or affirming or supportive?

and: which cards confuse you, frustrate you, are upsetting to see in readings? which ones are harder for you to connect with or understand? which figures activate feelings of discomfort? which ones bum you out, irritate you, offer personality traits that you don't particularly like?

we might not want to be best friends with everyone in our community. that's okay! we just have to remember that they're humans, and that they are worthy of dignity and respect. in the same way, the court cards represent all kinds of people and energies: some that you may love, and others that make you roll your eyes or groan. but each of them have inherent worthiness, along with valuable skills and talents and perspectives that serve different functions. just because the page of wands isn't the king of pentacles doesn't mean that their gifts aren't impressive in their own right, or that their energy can't be helpful somewhere.

consider: what can each of these court archetypes, these different figures, teach you about yourself, your personality, your needs, your challenges? which talents do they celebrate, and what blind spots do they illuminate? what can these cards reveal to you about the kinds of people you like to be around, and the kinds of people you might struggle to work alongside? take the time to journal on these questions, to work with the court cards more closely, to talk to them like real people, and you might start to discover your answers.

if you are hungry for community but aren't sure where to start, if you're ready to contribute to a larger action but don't know what you have to offer, grab your tarot cards and let's do a quick reading. shuffle them well, take some deep breaths to clear your head, and pull three cards, one for each position:

card one: what i'm craving from community. what are you really seeking? what do you feel that a healthy community could offer or satisfy for you? what are you longing for, dreaming about, that community might be able to provide?

card two: what i have to offer community. what do you bring to the table, that you're willing to contribute? what resource, skill, ability, vision, or talent do you have that could make the community you want to be a part of even stronger?

card three: a step i can take right now to find community. what is something you can do to discover a new community, or deepen your connection with an existing one? what's some practical advice from the tarot about finding the community you're craving?

we all have places that we can belong. and we all have gifts that we can offer to our communities. what are yours? and how will you show up for the people you love, and for the people you haven't even met yet?

for more on the sixteen figures of the minor arcana courts, don't forget that you can pick up order in the court right now — and snag archetype medicine, which can be used for both major and minor arcana archetypes, for just $22 more. give yourself the gift of deeper connection with these powerful figures, and learn how to connect with them in your daily life.

watch your inbox because i'll be sending you another essay on navigating community tomorrow 🖤