Rebecca Scolnick's Blog, page 12

August 2024: Fog Meets Form

What’s up, swimmers?! I cannot believe it’s August.

Earlier this year, we looked at the eight year through the lens of four keywords—Powerhouse, Embodied, Ordeal, God—and at the beginning of July, we checked in with how that energy has expressed so far. Little did we know that we’d see so much eight action in July, not only in the political sphere, but also in the Olympic arena via assassination attempts, shifts in power, endorsements and momentum, continued pushes for progress, unbridled creative expression, triumphs and defeats. But these experiences only came as a result of having moved through the community-based love in action of the number six, and the explorative curiosity and commitment of the number seven, our ruling numbers for July (7, and 7+2+0+2+4 = 15, 1+5 = 6).

So what can we expect this month?

August this year has an extra boost of eight energy because it’s not only is August the eighth month of the year, but 2024 is an overall eight year. And as your know by now, eight rules all kinds of big shit—confidence and efforts, money and resources, karma and the infinite, power and tension and energetic dynamics, debt, loans, business and legal, taxes, death, rebirth. These are not shallow topics. We’re in the deep end of the pool.

However, the pattern I’ve observed this year is that our core number of the month is one step behind the numeral of the overall month. We’re always being asked to look at mutliple numbers at once, but these monthly numbers show us that we still have some learning to do from the previous month. We're getting the opportunity to observe, experience, and play with what it means to really live with these numbers in all kinds of same, same, but different positions. So this August, things may still feel a bit foggy, as seven is at its core (8+2+0+2+4 = 16, 1+6 = 7).

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Seven rules questioning, and it comes before eight. There might be a push-pull energy this month between what you want to move forward with, and what you still don’t know. This is an uncertain and sometimes stifling energy. Feeling held at the starting line, waiting for the pistol to ring out. In short, August could feel a little heavy. In the Northern Hemisphere, August can hold some of the hottest days of summer. Fall is approaching, the spirit is weary and ready for renewal. But we’re not quite there yet.

In a perfect world, we’d be able to relax into this slow, foggy energy. We’d be able to grab a cool beverage, take a nap on a blanket underneath the shade of a massive oak tree, and slip into another world that’s been crafted with care on the bound pages of a book. Trail our fingers down the cheek of a lover. Bite into a ripe piece of stone fruit and feel the juice drip down your fingers and chin.

Photo by Taras Chernus on Unsplash

And especially in an eight year, why shouldn’t we at least attempt to live in a perfect world? Our ability to dream and scheme is also our contribution to the larger move away from systems and structures of exploitation, violence, and oppression, and towards a more loving, equitable, and nourishing world.

This August, stay hydrated. Stay connected to your body. This is not a month to disassociate, but rather to feel into the sacred weight of being alive. Being embodied, being in a body. Seek pleasure as often as possible and do not spend your precious time and energy feeling guilty for how good it fucking feels.

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I also understand that not everyone is in a body that allows for much presence or pleasure. Pain intensifies under eight energy. If you have unanswered questions around an illness or diagnosis, August might not bring answers. But it could absolutely still bring options and opportunities to take action. So maybe the test results are inconclusive, but your doctor’s office just started offering acupuncture, which is ultimately supportive.

(I’m also writing this to you on the one-year anniversary of receiving the steroid shot that would poison my entire muscular system, leaving me debilitated and without answers for more than six whole months. If you’re in a similar place of uncertainty around health and the body, I am sending you so much love, healing, rest, and will to survive!)

The combination of seven and eight energies is ripe for overwhelm, so before you make any magic in August—and don’t sleep on the New Moon in Leo, it’s one of my favorite lunations every year—make sure to cleanse all of your tools and maybe even perform a consecration spell or two.

Photo by Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash

In The Witch’s Book of Numbers, I share ideas for consecration magic that include using symbolic items for each of the elements, noting that this type of interaction will bring your tools back to their neutral and natural state: “I like to use a bowl of moon water, or tap water with a splash of Florida Water or other aligned oils, to connect to Water; sea salt for Earth; my own breath or a smoke stick like tjärved wood, a smudge tool from my own ancestral lineage, for Air; and a candle for Fire.”

But you can also leave your tools out on a windowsill during the Full Moon or in the sunlight for a natural clearing. Always use safety when working with fire, and be sure to research the materials of the tools you’re using to see how they respond to heat, light and/or water.

NOTABLE NUMEROLOGY IN AUGUST Photo by Nick Hillier on Unsplash

NEW MOON IN LEO

08/04/2024

8+4+2+0+2+4 = 20/2

Check in with your gut. Make logical decisions that are rooted in emotional understanding. Hold a New Moon circle or check in with a friend of family member. Go on a date with yourself or a lover. Practice protection magic. Open your heart and stay soft. Experiment with intuition exercises. Do something for which the future will thank you. Sit for a loving-kindness meditation. Try to see a situation from another perspective. Forgive yourself. Hug yourself. Touch yourself.

EIGHT EIGHT EIGHT

08/08/2024 (8)

8+8+8 = 24/6

Move slowly, in ways that feel good. Sit at your altar and say your prayers. Make magical offerings. Make mundane offerings. Make monetary offerings of mutual aid. Say yes to something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. Have a cup of tea or coffee with your fears and hear them out. Then, gently remind them of the beauty in the unfolding. Thank them for their concern, and refill their cup. Take a walk outside and feel the sun on your skin and the stretch of your legs. Eat a vegetable. Take shrooms. Practice gratitude for all that is and all that will be.

PS. I don’t personally feel connected to the New Age concept of the Lion’s Gate Portal, but I absolutely feel the power of 8/8, especially this year! Block out definitions that don’t speak to you, but do make aligned magic! And if you love the Lion’s Gate, feel free to email me and let me know why :)

FULL MOON IN AQUARIUS

08/19/2024

8+1+9+2+0+2+4 = 26/8

Release! Celebrate! Harvest! Re-connect and commit to love and pleasure! Acknowledge all of the patience and perseverance you’ve no doubt shown this year. Have the little treat. Spend time basking in your own energy. Gaze upon yourself in the mirror and know that you are God incarnate. Call a friend and make a vulnerable share. Don’t take it back once you’ve done it, and don’t judge yourself for an emotional reaction. Banish! Protect! Ground! Have an orgasm!

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If you’re looking for support, clarity and guidance this month, my books are open for 1-on-1 numerology readings, tarot readings on Moonlight, and I’m also teaching the last of The Road Trip workshops on August 24th, What If I Hate My Life Path?, a virtual workshop on disappointing digits. If you’d like to take the whole trip and receive the replays of the first two workshops, email me for the new package rate of 50% off at $111. I hope to work with you soon!

Until next time, just keep swimming!xx, bee

Staying Grounded and Weird through Collective Chaos

What’s up, swimmers?! Happy almost full moon in Capricorn—the second in a row! Even if you’re not an astrology girlie (gender neutral), let yourself consider what this cosmic moment of repetition could mean for you.

Earlier this week, I pulled my personal card of the day before hopping into the inaugural visioning session for ’s new online writing group Landscapes (which you can also join). I’ve been using The Gay Marseille Tarot by for my daily pulls, which immediately struck me as a deck that would be for me, and only me—no clients, no parties, not even my wife (Sorry, Stacey!). And it’s been very, very good to me while my faith is still a bit shaky; my channel rusty when it comes to reading for myself. It’s gifted me daily, private moments of safety and support.

But today, I’m breaking my own rules. I want to share this pull with you because even though it was first-and-foremost for me, it engages with the external world, and therefore has wild, collective resonance.

I pulled the 5 of Swords.

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The 5 of Swords from the Gay Marseille Tarot by Charlie Claire Burgess

In the guidebook, Charlie writes that the 5 of Swords represents Mental Disruption, Force, Fighting, Cruelty, Pyrrhic Victory—one that is not worth the sacrifices made in battle. They tell us that the 5 of Swords may bring breakthrough, but it “does not come organically from within, as with the 3 of Swords. It comes forcefully from without, shattering perceptions” and “destabiliz[ing] preconceived notions of reality.”

The 5 of Swords was a completely different vibe than the hope I was bringing with me to the visioning session, so I put the card aside and joined the Zoom.

Then, hours later, news broke that Trump had been shot at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and feign shock or upset about those just waking up to the horrors of necropolitics, nor am I going to further ram down your throat how terrifying it is to see people slip deeper and deeper into the cult of far-right fear and control.

Rather, I want to speak to the realities of trying to ground and re-center after the 5 of Swords comes in and fucks shit up, especially when it comes to artists, witches, and other creative, queer spirits. Because, baby, we need all of the peace we can possibly find, and I refuse to allow our victories to be pyrrhic.

Thank you for reading swimming in the soup. This post is public so feel free to share it.

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We continue to live through nonsensical, chaotic times, which is the antithesis of the flow and focus many of us need to touch in with our most expansive, creative selves.

AND THE WORLD NEEDS OUR MOST EXPANSIVE, CREATIVE SELVES RIGHT NOW TO DREAM UP AND LIVE OUT SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM THIS HELLSCAPE WE’RE LIVING IN GODDAMMIT

But to do that, we must be wise, discerning, centered, connected, and acting in imaginative faith for the good of all, or at least as many as humanly possible. We cannot stop seeking pleasure and joy. We cannot disappear. We can not let them disappear us. We cannot stay small and meek aka someone who’s promised a future sky kingdom so they do not raise hell in this present earthly one. We must continue to go after what we want. We must love ourselves and each other.

It’s hard, I know. I’m coming atcha as someone who has spent the last few months weathering personal and collective storms by making things harder on myself! I’ve spent my precious time and energy belittling my work and doubting its power and potency! I’ve ruined my own joy, flow and orgasms by saying, this is silly and not worth my time. How could books about numbers or kissing ever change the very real dangers that are circling overhead???

Magical breadcrumb moment — I’ve pulled the 5 of Swords before in my time with The Gay Marseille, but I was shocked to see the phrase in the guidebook because I’d just looked it up after seeing it in a fandom-related context. If you’ve been my inbox pal for a while, you may already know I’m a fanfic junkie, but as I’m hosting a writing workshop next Thursday on mending your relationship to creativity through fanfiction, I’ve been sharing about fandom love more publicly on social media! It’s been nerve-wracking and juicy!

Dear Reader, don’t be like me!!

But if this rings true for you, here’s how to make magic with the rest of July:

Check-in with the cosmic weather, which can lend support to your current selves, but can also help you access a bigger picture — July is ruled by the number 7, The Seeker, The Chariot, The Tower, which brings up themes of questions & analysis, faith & mystery, internal vs. external, evolution through spiritual knowledge. It’s my favorite number, one of deep and sparkling curiosity, like moonlight rippling on the surface of a lake after dark. But its potential pitfalls include confusion, foggy energy, distrust of the unknown, losing oneself down the rabbit hole, spiritual crisis or doubt. This energy will be with us through August too, so be generous with your considerations here!

Get really honest with yourself about what you can and cannot handle — July 2024 is an overall 6 month. Six is the number of The Nurturer. The Lovers. The Devil. It’s a gentle and expansive energy of blossoming and blooming. Six represents the fragile buds of growth, which can be touch and go at times. Remember that breaking and building habits take a lot of time, energy and patience. Take care, and take your time. Slow down. Don’t baby yourself, but do have the little treat. There’s tenderness this month, especially while the Sun is in Cancer. Soften, soften, soften.

Call on your people! Get involved! Be a part of something! — Yes, it’s vulnerable. Yes, it feels awful. Yes, it’s true that even though your people love you, they still might say no or not be available to help. But ask anyway! Call your friend and say you need to talk. Say hi to someone online. Volunteer your time. Join a hobby group. Ask and ye shall receive. But with this seven fog, be clear when making requests for support, especially if feelings are involved! We want to grow, but we’re not always equipped to handle constructive criticism. Our skin is as thick or as thin as it is at any given moment, and you deserve to be met where you are. Train people how to treat you.

Stay curious and creative — Experiment with forms and methods of making • Pray to whoever you pray to • Lean on spiritual supports • If you like to get readings, July is a great month to ask questions and engage in reflective activities that support and promote growth • Pick up a new book that you’ve been meaning to read • Put down a book that hasn’t been tickling your fancy • Finally listen to that lecture that you bought two years ago • Write down your every idea, question, thought, inkling, and don’t tell yourself to take action on anything • Gather, gather, gather

🌟 LOUD, BUT GENTLE, AND FINAL REMINDERS 🌟

HAPPENING LIVE TOMORROW IN LA — Numerology 101: Know Your Numbers! Join me at Open Eye Crystals on Saturday July 20th for a one-hour, salon style teach-in on the basics of Pythagorean Numerology and how to put it into practice in your life.

HAPPENING SUNDAY ON ZOOM — Where the F*ck Am I? (The Road Trip #2). On Sunday July 21st from 9-11am PST, I’m hosting a virtual workshop on various numerological timing techniques to help you figure out exactly where you are on the larger map of your lifetime.

Until next time, just keep swimming!xx, bee

Midway through 2024, an Eight Collective Year

Happy July!

Regardless of how the first six months of this year have gone, or not gone, congratulations! You have survived. Take a deep breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth, roll your neck around on its axis, and with your eyes closed, say, Good job, you brilliant creature, you.

No seriously, say it. Out loud or silently, but really give that recognition to yourself. You deserve it, no matter what your blasted brain says.

2024, a collective eight year, has been one trial after another. It’s shown us how quickly things can move and how some things never change. It’s tested our resolve, our faith, our ability to harness our emotional energy into supportive action, and it will continue to do so for (at least) the next six months.

In January, I made predictions about, and offered magical medicine for, 2024 through the lens of four keywords: Powerhouse, Embodied, Ordeal, God. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend doing so as here, at the halfway mark, we are checking in with these topics and themes, as well as some tips and tricks that can help us venture further into the murky, fertile darkness of the Underworld.

To be totally honest with you, I feel just as in the mud as you might. I’m having a hard time juggling what’s realistic with what’s fearmongering with what’s possible. But if I’ve learned anything along my eight life path, it’s that we always have options and opportunities for aligned action. We just have to dig a little deeper, and believe a little harder.

The only way out is through. We’re all in this together.

Eight is the Powerhouse

When reading over my predictions at the beginning of the year, one thing about eight’s domain of power, karma, resources, and abundance that really stuck out to me was how it rules over big picture constructs that have tangible impacts on our daily lives.

Corporate restructuring and lay-offs, industry-wide slow downs, and the rise of AI technology, have all created conditions for an abysmal job market. Despite reports of a continued rise in available jobs, many job seekers on public forums are sharing that they’ve sent out hundreds of resumes with an incredibly low response rate, and are competing against an increased number of qualified candidates. Recent analyses of pay rate trends also “suggests that the pendulum has swung slightly more in favor of firms and away from workers.”

No matter your working situation, take this opportunity to check in with your resources and finances. The reality of a changing system is that there are more chances to get caught in a bureaucratic trap. Are your taxes filed? Have you made payments on time? If you set budgets or goals, how are you doing with those so far? What sober changes do you need to make? If you’re proud of where you’re at, how can you treat yourself to something meaningful? If you’re in survival mode—which is awful and you’re not alone—can you breathe into this moment and, as Pema Chödrön suggests, abandon hope in a way that reminds you to be alive with or without the ground beneath your feet?

(Unfortunately, my own household can corroborate these stories, so if you’ve been thinking about booking a reading with me , or attending a summer workshop , now would be a meaningful time to support my work!)

Everything shifts. This too shall pass. (Next year, in the nine year… *winks*)

Thank you for reading swimming in the soup. This post is public so feel free to share it.

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2024 has seen big political actions around power and money.

While the Biden Administration continued to send weapons to Israel, pro-Palestine protests swept through the nation’s college campuses. In April, police and other pro-Israel groups led violent campaigns against these settlements, and with the support of campus administrations, most were dismantled and the protestors arrested. Then in June, Pro-Palestinian, New York congressman Jamaal Bowman was defeated in the primaries by George Latimer, who received millions of dollars from AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

As of writing this, Former President, and current Republican nominee and front-runner, Donald J. Trump has been found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsification of business records. Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, has began restricting political information, while charging loyal users for verification and other important business tools. And the (largely bought and paid for) US Supreme Court has made major rulings around government powers and oversight, including granting broad immunity to official Presidential actions.

In January, I also mentioned that the average age of historical empires is 250 years. Last week, on July 4th, the United States celebrated its 248th birthday.

If you’re a person of color, a member of the queer community, a woman or femme, disabled, living under systemic poverty, or part of another marginalized group, you may be more familiar with having your power stripped from you by laws, judgments, and other official means. But privileges aside, I think we can all relate to the helplessness and rage these injustices inspire.

As the Empire crumbles—or solidifies, depending on what side of the coin you’re looking at—I fear that, unless we can take empowered, collective action, more and more will know what it’s like to have the political tide turn on them.

🌟📚 JULY WORKSHOP SCHEDULE 📚🌟

In addition to opening my books for private readings, I’m teaching three workshops this month! Whether it’s in person or on Zoom, I hope you’ll join me for:

Numerology 101: Know Your Numbers

LIVE at Open Eye Crystals in Los Angeles, CA, on Saturday July 20th from 1-2pm PST

Where the F*ck Am I? (The Road Trip #2)

VIRTUAL on Sunday July 21st from 9-11am PST

Healing Your Creativity with Fanfiction

VIRTUAL through Ophelia’s Books on Thursday July 25th from 5-7pm PST

Eight is the Embodied

What do you want? Do you even know?

Flipped on its side, the symbol for 8 becomes ∞, the lemniscate, the infinity symbol, which reminds us that we are here to experience a brief, physical moment in the ever-churning gyre of Time. There literally is no time like the present to get clear on what it is that you desire outside of oppressive institutions and systems. If you’re not sure, it’s time to get a little closer to the answer.

In case you forgot, eight is a sexy number! It wants you to feel yourself (and others)! Especially now, knowing and embodying your deepest desires is a revolutionary act of resistance against the dominant powers! This is vulnerable work that will take you to the very edges of your shame. Press on anyway!

With the collective energy this chaotic, focusing on what we want may seem impossible. We’re almost to a collective nine year—the end of the cycle we’ve been in since 2017. So of course, we’ve been through it, honey. Take a drag on that weed pen because we’ve seen some shit. Maybe there’s a large part of us that is crispy and no longer firing on all cylinders. Maybe zero cylinders. Maybe the sparks have even stopped sparking and the engine is dead. That’s okay. Eight reminds us there are other sources of energy.

The eighth house in astrology rules over shared resources, and energy is absolutely a resource. Gathering in crowds of people—no matter how you feel about that experience post-pandemic—can inform our behavior, amplify our experience, and boost or deplete our personal stores of energy. A crowd is an organism that builds and grows until it pulses with it’s own intelligence and desires. There we are, back to the wanting that eight brings. Don’t be afraid to bring others into your explorations, or grab a body double to help you focus.

Want to explore embodiment and expression work in radically accepting community? You may remember my confession from January about creating fanworks, which has now turned into an upcoming, virtual workshop called Healing Your Creativity with Fanfiction, hosted by Ophelia’s Books. This class is for writers of all genres and skill levels, as well as those who are scared to call themselves writers. Fandom, just like creativity itself, is for everyone. Come play in someone else's sandbox!

Keep calling your energy back to you, stay grounded and centered, and watch out—it’s easy to get swept up in the current this year. Your bones and belly hold so much more power and magic than you think.

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Here are some questions and fill-in-the-blanks for you to muse on for the remainder of this eight collective year:

I embody:

I feel purpose through:

I desire:

I value:

I am transforming:

How do I connect my desires and my values? How do I turn them into action?

What are the practices that allow me to move more easily through feelings of insecurity?

When was the last time I felt like I couldn’t do something and what ended up happening?

How do I invite more love and pleasure into my everyday life?

Who are the people or spiritual entities that I’ve worked with and what have they offered?

Eight is the Ordeal

In Welcome to 2024, an Eight Collective Year, I wrote that 2024 can offer you a chance to find your faith again. Eight helps us to clear out what is no longer working, which can be a vulnerable and traumatic process. But it also holds us while we dare to dream about what will be built in its place. It offers us a malleability that’s necessary for radical action, as well as a gentleness of spirit, which comes in handy when holding tightly to hope.

Earlier, I looked to Chödrön’s notions of abandoning hope as a means of releasing us from suffering. However, organizer and author Gloria Steinem told Vogue before her 90th birthday, “Hope is a form of planning. If you don’t imagine what could be, you’re already defeated. We need companions in hope because we are social animals. But hope is practical and necessary.”

At the midway mark of a really tough year, I hope you know that you are not alone. Not in your fear, and definitely not in your yearning for more. Now, more than ever, we need to be grounding into and broadening our communities, which is a lengthy and complex process of showing up authentically, building trust, and taking action that’s rooted in love in action, mutual aid, and community care.

When things fall apart, it can also help to go back to basics. Touch in with the people, places and things that allow you to feel into hope and optimism. Eight is pain, yes, but also pleasure. How can you spend more time each day doing something that you love? That makes you feel good, no matter the amount of money in your bank account or the waves of anxious fear churning in your gut? Eight reminds us that it’s not over until it’s over.

Want to revisit and deepen your understanding of the basics of numerology? Join me for either Numerology 101: Know Your Numbers, live in LA, or online for part two of The Road Trip: Where the F*ck Am I? A workshop on numerological timing techniques.

Commit to showing up for your passions in ways you’ve been avoiding or putting off. Preparedness is important, but don’t deny yourself joy, rest, and the opportunity to create a life you love due to the ever-changing nature of an external reality.

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Eight is God

After leaving the church, it took me years to find comfort in the word God again. Truth be told, I’m still not totally comfy with it, and often use words like divine, Source, or creative energy instead. It wasn’t until reading the Gnostic Gospels that I realized just how deep my God-wound actually was, and how much of it had to do with the ceaseless weaponizing of divinity by those who are ignorant to its, and their own, truths.

A few weeks ago, I wrote to you about Louisiana, the Ten Commandments, and the Truth About Religious Freedoms in the US. What’s the aforementioned truth, you ask? Well, there’s a direct link from the oldest code of laws to Biblical laws to American laws! So while we are inching closer and closer to a theocracy in the United States, it’s important to keep in mind that we are deeply Christian nation, even though we say we do not want to hold onto those roots.

People with large platforms like Doreen Virtue, Russell Brand, Daddy Yankee, Kat Von D, and others, have all publicly repented their old lives and beliefs, and pledged themselves to the Biblical Jesus Christ. There’s also been a spotlight on the New Age to Christianity pipeline, which has also been bobbing and weaving with the conspiracy group QANON in the last handful of years. As external structures continue to breakdown before our very eyes, religion offers a surety and a sense of belonging that’s enticing. Whether it provides enough protection to save one from the realities of the world, however, is another question and story.

If you live in the intersection of spirituality and social justice like I do, do yourself and your tarot practice a favor by pre-ordering 78 Acts of Liberation: Tarot to Transform Our World by Lane Smith (with a foreword by Maria Minnis, author of Tarot For the Hard Work ), which examines the structure, history, and components of Tarot through the lens of power, helping us better understand power dynamics in our life and in society. If that isn’t a perfect book for an eight year, I don’t know what is!

The remainder of 2024 is going to require discernment in spiritual and religious spaces, even more so than you may already employ. Who are you listening to and what are their values? Do they align with yours? What are your spiritual practices and traditions, and how do you put them into action in your life? Are they appropriated or stolen? If yes, can you reconnect with a decolonized ancestral tradition?

I’ll leave you with a few bullet points from the beginning of the year, when everything was ahead of us and we were hoping for the best! While some may seem farther away than ever, I think we can all stand to pull ourselves back towards the core of eight energy and all that it offers.

2024 wants you to integrate and embody

2024 wants you to get back to going deep

2024 wants to resource you so you can keep going

2024 wants to pleasure you

2024 wants you to pleasure yourself

Otherwise, what’s the fucking point?

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Until next time, just keep swimming!xx, bee

The Blessings of Going Back to Basics

LA Honeys, wanna meet IRL this weekend? I’m doing mini “Holy Trinity” numerology chart readings at READERS X HEALERS at Open Eye Crystals on Sunday 6/30 from 12-6pm PST. RSVP for free, bookings are day-of, first come, first serve. Hope to see you there! ✨🔥👁️‍🗨️

What’s up, swimmers?!

Last weekend, we kicked off The Road Trip—a series of three workshops geared towards using numerology to help us figure out what road we’re on, how to navigate it, and where we are in the current map of our lives—with a workshop on the Life Path and Public Persona numbers.

To be totally honest with y’all, I almost canceled the workshop the night before.

I’ve been teaching numerology for almost five years now, and I’ve had the great fortune of working with so many incredible seekers—a handful of whom have graciously agreed to join me again this summer. But the night before the class, while finalizing my slides, I was paralyzed with fear that I wouldn’t actually be offering anything new to these beloved students.

How many times can I go over someone’s Life Path number until they realize I’m a big ole phony with nothing new to say?

Thankfully, this isn’t my first rodeo. It’s not the first time I’ve wanted to cancel class, and it’s not even the first time I’ve actually gone ahead and done it (RIP Math Magic: Winter Session 2022, or whatever it was called LOL). So I know my brain well enough at this point to know that these feelings are largely rooted in fears of vulnerability and/or being a disappointment, and self-sabotage.

I also realized that the answer to my question was already in my class—What do we do when we’re up late at night, activated and upset, and ready to throw in the towel? Well, seven energy would say that we’re never going to know everything, or feel certain all the time, but instead of wrecking our plans, maybe we just need to go to sleep? Wake up the next morning, and come back to things with fresh eyes.

So that’s what I did. I woke up and grounded myself in the fresh soil of a liberated thought—

You don’t have to say something new, just say something true.

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How often do we not speak, not share, not take up the space we want to take because we’re worried that someone else has already said what we have to say? Even worse, they’ve probably said it better and with more wisdom and flourish than you ever could?

But also, how many times have you heard the same concept and walked away with new insights and discoveries? How many times have you read the same book, with the same plot or cast of characters, and still enjoyed the hell out of it? How many times have you written the same mantra or the same affirmation in your journal or grimoire, and found power and magic in speaking it aloud to yourself in the bathroom mirror?

There’s a card in the Morgan’s Tarot that says, DO NOT MEDDLE IN THE AFFAIRS OF WIZARDS FOR THEY ARE SUBTLE & QUICK TO ANGER. The guidebook reads, “Put another way, do not attempt to take advanced calculus before mastering elementary arithmetic.” Now, of course we’re always learning and growing and challenging ourselves to expand beyond what we think is even possible. Still, when things are chaotic either above and below, or within and outside of ourselves, one of the best things we can do for ourselves is go back to basics.

So that’s what I did. And you know what? Class was great! We had the best time!

July 2024, which we’ll talk about further next week, may not offer all of the answers that you seek. But it will offer you opportunities to further evolve through tender love and care. It will push you to ask for support where and when you need it then most. And it will require that you get specific in these asks, so that you may receive what you want and need.

We’re over the hump. Halfway through 2024: A Collective Eight Year. How can you relinquish the need to be, do or say something new? How can you rest and reflect, right here, right now? How can you further root into basic truths and reasons to live?

How can you resist the urge to remove yourself from the game before you’ve even started playing?

Thank you for reading swimming in the soup. This post is public so feel free to share it.

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FREEBIE ALERT 🚨

If you’d like to join The Road Trip, you can still sign-up for July and August’s workshops—Where the F*ck Am I? and What If I Hate My Life Path?—and as a huge thank you for supporting my writing here on Substack, I’ll throw in the replay of the first workshop for free!

That’s right. Once you’re enrolled in both a la carte workshops, I’ll email you everything you missed in June—on the house :)

Where the F*ck Am I?

What If I Hate My Life Path?

LIFE PATH LIFE HACKS

Numerological tips + tricks for a Smoother Ride

Find your Life Path Number by adding the month + day + year of your birth, reducing until you reach a single digit. (For example: July 7, 1992 — 7+7+1+9+9+2 = 35, 3+5 = 8)

Take Your Time — Ideas are instant, but plans and processes take time. Patience might be a virtue you have no time for, but releasing notions of control around timelines will put creative energy back in your pocket. Instead of worrying, make something new.

Know Thy Self — Dolly said, "Find out who you are and do it on purpose." But do it without input from others. While they may truly have your best interests at heart, they won’t ever know the longings in your heart or the primordial gurgling in your gut.

Regularly Re-Write Your Stories — Be careful around prolonging stories. Everything has a natural beginning, middle and end. To hang onto perspectives and narratives until they rot is to chance allowing sickness into your system. Let it go.

Define Enough For Yourself — Safety and security can be their own traps if you aren't clear on your personal definition of "enough." Be just as aware of holding too tightly to material gains as you are of playing it safe to keep yourself small. Fear comes with us.

Change Your Behavior to Change Your Life — If you want something to be different, you have to do things differently. Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” and he was right. Inaction leads to restlessness and frustration. Take action towards your future.

Do Not Rush Growth — Do not rush through growth, for after expansion comes accountability to and for what you wanted. Just as you cannot pour from an empty cup, you cannot hold water in a cup with a hole in it. Take good care of yourself. Sustain your expansion.

Enjoy Your Findings — Seekers gonna seek, but don't forget to enjoy all that you find. Staying in the question is a beautiful commitment to exploration. and also this world has a lot to offer if you can pull yourself up to the surface long enough to taste it, touch it, know it.

Make A Joyful Effort — If it doesn't get your juices flowing, it may not be worth your efforts. being capable is not a reason to put yourself out. When you begin to value your energy and flow is when you will begin to make choices rooted in the desire to make a joyful effort.

Try, Then Teach — Knowing when to retreat and when to offer is an equilibrium worth finding. Some lessons are just for you to learn. in fact, they all are at first. you’ll know when you are ready and feeling called to share. But don’t make a habit of teaching what you haven’t yet attempted to master for yourself. Try, then teach.

WORK WITH ME THIS SUMMER!

LA CUTIES— Join me again at Open Eye Crystals on July 20th for Numerology 101: Know Your Numbers, an IRL workshop on the core numbers of your chart.

If virtual is your jam, or we’re geographically separated, I have options for virtual 1-on-1 numerology readings and tarot readings through Moonlight.

Last, but certainly not least, I’m hosting a potentially spicy virtual writing workshop called Healing Your Creativity with Fanfiction on July 25th through Ophelia’s Books. More details on this soon, but sign-ups are open!

Please pass along these links to anyone you think could benefit from or enjoy this work, and I hope to see you IRL or on Zoom this summer!

Until next time, just keep swimming!xx, bee

Louisiana, the Ten Commandments, and the Truth About Religious Freedoms in the US

Earlier this week, Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public classrooms.

According to AP News, “Proponents say the purpose of the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance. In the law’s language, the Ten Commandments are described as, ‘foundational documents of our state and national government.’”1

And you know what? That’s true; they are.

In January 2021—right on the heels of the Great Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction in Aquarius—I released an episode of Discourse of the Stranger, a podcast about mythology, religion and critical thinking, on the Biblical book of Exodus. In it, I re-told the story of Moses, the Pharaoh, the Passover plagues, the titular escape from Egypt, and yes, the Ten Commandments, from the Gnostic perspective. This completely flips the Judeo-Christian canon on its head because it casts the Biblical God as Yaldaboath, the manifestation of Ignorance.

Culture Club / Contributor / Getty Images

The whole thing is fascinating, so I’ve uploaded the audio to this email for your listening pleasure. You can also listen to this episode, and thirty-five other ones, on Spotify.

But—Too Long; Won’t Listen, here’s what you need to know…

Thank you for reading swimming in the soup. This post is public so feel free to share it.

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There once was a Babylonian king named Hammurabi, who received a set of laws from the god Shamash, who ruled over the Sun and justice. These laws would become known as “Hammurabi’s Code,” and were carved onto a giant, black phallic obelisk, which is now housed in The Louvre. It’s one of the oldest and most extensive legal codes on record, and predates the birth of Moses by about a thousand years. So by the time the Ten Commandments came onto the scene, these were already well-established laws of the region.

© 2009 GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Franck Raux

When put side-by-side, the laws handed down by that-which-Christians-call-God in Exodus are incredibly similar to Hammurabi’s Code.

In fact, the differences between them lie with the severity of the Hebrew laws, which were far more brutal than then Babylonian code. For instance, where Hammurabi’s Code would call for a trespasser’s hand to be cut off, the Biblical laws would have them killed.

Scholars debate why this change was made, but the version of me doing research in 2021 linked this to a familiarity with regional laws, which greatly influenced the surrounding nation states, including Palestine, which is where the Israelites ended up after their infamous stint of wandering. So it was essentially an adoption of local laws with greater consequences, infused with a new contract of social and religious laws.

This is very interesting when looking at our modern justice system—and now specifically this ruling to put the Ten Commandments in Louisiana schools—for two reasons:

Hammurabi himself is one of the inspiring lawmakers carved into the wall of the U.S. Supreme Court building!

The founding of religious freedoms in the United States was largely due to one sect of Christianity wanting to separate from another sect of Christianity, and the European Catholic Church.

While we may think religious freedom means something else in modern times, constitutionally, it really did just mean freedom for Christians (although there is a lot of support for the Founding Fathers being deists, who weren’t so dogmatic about their religious practices).

For all of the people saying, No, we are not a Christian nation, we should not have this Christian iconography in schools—that in and of itself is a bit ironic because the Ten Commandments, the Hebrew Laws, came from the Code of Hammurabi. So we now have this timeline of Hammurabi’s Code directly influencing Hebrew laws, directly influencing Western laws, directly influencing American laws.

So yes, in essence, American laws are Christian laws. We are deeply, deeply a Christian nation, even though we may not want to hold onto those roots.

swimming in the soup is a reader-supported publication. to receive access to all posts, the archive, and fun bonuses, please consider becoming a paid pal!

What really incenses me about this decision is just how many steps Republicans have taken to strip schools and students of any and all support. Agendas for political action in 2025 include ending universal school lunches, which would create food insecurities for countless kids across many states.2 Some, like Project 2025, would see the Federal Department of Education eliminated completely, in order to give educational responsibilities back to the states.3

Why is this a terrible idea? Well, as the below tweet from CBS News Contributor, David Begnaud shows, states like Louisiana are already rank close to last in areas like health care, infrastructure, and overall state of the economy. Especially after this Ten Commandments ruling, it’s inane to think that if given the chance to take over the education system, it wouldn’t slip like the rest of the state’s statistics—not to mention devolve into even more religious and state propaganda.

David Begnaud, on X.

Another thought, since we’re already in the weeds:

The Louisisana ruling states that posters must be on display in all classroom that receive state funding by 2025, but no state funding is being offered to pay for the posters themselves. This means that private companies will profit off of this ruling, and feels very much like the American flag and the Pledge of Allegiance, which was written by Francis Bellemy as “a marketing gimmick, [for] Youth’s Companion… the country’s largest circulation magazine… [which] offered U.S. flags to readers who sold subscriptions.”4

Another instance of American Capitalism at its finest, folks.

What a tangled mess.

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THE ROAD TRIP STARTS TOMORROW:

Today’s the last chance to sign-up for the live session of What Are the Rules of the Road, a 2-hour virtual workshop on the Life Path and Public Persona numbers. Replay available for those who cannot make it live, and you’ll receive a small discount for signing up for the whole 3-course trip.

ONE WAY TICKET

TAKE THE WHOLE ROAD TRIP

WORK WITH ME THIS SUMMER!

LA HONEYS—I’m psyched to be offering IRL mini readings on your numerological “Holy Trinity” at Open Eye Crystals’s READERS X HEALERS event on June 30th. RSVP for free! Then, join me again at Open Eye on July 20th for Numerology 101: Know Your Numbers, a workshop on the core numbers of your chart.

If virtual is your jam, or we’re geographically separated, I have options for virtual 1-on-1 numerology readings and tarot readings through Moonlight.

Last, but certainly not least, I’m hosting a potentially spicy virtual writing workshop called Healing Your Creativity with Fanfiction on July 25th through Ophelia’s Books. More details on this soon, but sign-ups are open!

Please pass along these links to anyone you think could benefit from or enjoy this work, and I hope to see you IRL or on Zoom this summer!

Until next time, just keep swimming!xx, bee1

“New law requires all Louisiana public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments” (Associated Press, June 19, 2024)

2

“House Republicans Want to Ban Universal Free School Lunches” (The Intercept, March 21, 2024)

3

“Project 2025: The Trump Presidency wish list, explained” (BBC, June 11, 2024)

4

“How the Pledge of Allegiance Went From PR Gimmick to Patriotic Vow” (Smithsonian, 2015)

Summer by the Numbers

What’s up, paid pals?! Happy Summer Solstice! Happy Cancer Season!

Phew, I feel like so much has changed since our last forecast on March 20, the Spring Equinox. How did your season unfold? I’d love to know.

Today, we’re chatting about the next season of life—summer—through the lens of July, August, September, and the digits at their monthly cores. We’re still following this funky pattern of having the core number of each month equal one less than the numeral of the month itself—for example, July is the seventh month

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In defense of magical case notes ✨✍🏼

Last night, I grabbed the notebook I’ve been using during magical workings (to cast written spells like: MY ART IS IMPORTANT. MY WORK IS IMPORTANT, and other phrases that scream I’m a professional!) to note a massive personal cycle coming to a close. The journal was a present from a longtime family friend, gifted at my hometown release event for The Witch’s Book of Numbers in the fall of 2022. The front says Smart, Strong, Fearless, Resiliant, and it came with a really nice set of ballpoint pens with a map pattern on the barrel. It’s exactly the kind of inspirational cheese that works on me. When I first took it out of the bag, my body buzzed, like I was holding a sacred scroll, but better. It was one that I would fill with my words of wisdom.

EVIDENCE OF VERY PROFESSIONAL SPELLS

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’ve taken the title of eclectic witch a little too far. My creativity and my magic might need more structure in this new chapter of my life. I need to commit myself to routines that last longer than a few weeks, and relish in methods of organizing my thoughts that more closely resemble a carefully kept catalogue than a stack of sticky notes on an already haphazard desk.

Some of this experience has to do with my upcoming birthday and the shift of yearly cycles it will usher in. I’ve been playing around with when our numbers of the year truly roll over—is it in January, when the Gregorian calendar starts anew? Or can we track the years of our lives based on when we breathed our first breath and came onto the earthly scene? What about other common new year markings, like the spring equinox, the start of Aries season and the spinning of the zodiacal wheel, or Samhain as October becomes November and the witches rejoice?

I don’t know that I have a definitive answer about any of it yet, and maybe I never will. But this year, I’m feeling all of the complex layering of timelines, thresholds, and “new” years. The collective numerological shift into this eight year felt potent and powerful, and has continued to be impactful. (Brush up on this energy be revisiting Welcome to 2024, an Eight Collective Year, which I wrote in January. I’m going to write more on this soon, now that we’re halfway through the year.) A massive ending ripped through my life on the final day of Pisces season.

Message received?

And as I crawl closer and closer to my next trip around the Sun—moving from a personal three year of magic, birth in all of its gory forms, and tossing spaghetti at the wall, to a four year of diligence, getting my literal and figurative house in order, and exploring enoughness—I see new and desired endings already overlapping long-awaited beginnings.

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After I finished writing my personal case notes, I flipped back to the beginning of the Fearless journal and found a few pages of notes I took on a reading I received in late 2022 from a practitioner I follow on Instagram. It took place over the phone, and I was honestly so nervous! But he was so encouraging and the reading was jam-packed and potent.

Per my notes, he mentioned that hummingbirds would be a strong universal sign for me. He had no way of knowing they already were, that my mother and I think of my great-grandmother when we see them, who was warm and loving and drank Fuzzy Navels until she passed at the ripe old age of ninety-four. But he was right! Hummingbirds have continued to show up for me—they’re in abundance in our backyard in LA and I even wrote about a book on hummingbirds that I was led to at an estate sale earlier this year.

Some signs and messages are for a moment. Some are for a season or a cycle. Some for a lifetime, or depending on your philosophical framework, an infinite number of lifetimes. But if you don’t take the notes, future you will never be able to look back and put new puzzle pieces together. It was also quite affirming to see those notes and reminder myself that even the messiest of organizational systems can still be magical! Spells are stories, and stories take time to be told.

How do you take notes on readings and other magical workings? Do you keep a physical or digital grimoire? Are you a Post-It Notes Queen? Tell me all about it!

May the systems we build be supportive and fruitful. May the containers we craft hold space for our memories, our dreams and our most fervent longings. May the schedules we set be a cherished commitment and a source of flexible freedom.

swimming in the soup is a reader-supported publication. to support my work, consider becoming a paid pal 💸

THE ROAD TRIP STARTS NEXT WEEK 🚘 🔢 ✨🗺️

Saturday, June 22nd - What Are the Rules of the Road?

In this 2-hour virtual workshop, we’ll calculate and dive into the Life Path number — the world map at the beginning of your very own fantasy novel — to get a bird’s eye view of the overall experience in this lifetime. Then, we’ll use the Public Persona number to reveal what’s in your travel bag: the tips, tricks, gifts, and skills you brought with you to navigate the trip. We may not always be able to see what’s ahead, but we can look to these numbers to help us chart the course forward.

Use code ANGELS444 to snag 20% until June 20th!

Take the Whole Trip

Book a One-Way Ticket

THE FRIDAY FIVE

Currently Watching: “Love Island USA” on Peacock (still rooting for Kaylor and Aaron!) and “Perfect Match” on Netflix. Trash TV Summer has begun!

Currently Reading: The Divine Rivals x Ruthless Vows duology by Rebecca Ross. These books are technically YA? But they’re beautifully written books that are giving Dramione (Fuck JKR) meets Hadestown.

Currently Listening to: I’ve been living for the “Handsome” podcast, hosted by comedians Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin. Every episode has made me laugh out loud and are based on a celebrity’s question.

Currently Learning About: Time is a very wibbly-wobbly concept to begin with, but have you heard of queer temporalities or heterochronology? They both describe differences in time and timelines between straight people and queer people. For example, since queer folks tend to come out and into themselves later on, our timelines are expanded and our experience of time varies from the dominant culture’s. Still researching, but so fascinating!

Currently Hyping Up: If you’re looking for an opportunity to learn about yourself through the lens of multiple spiritual modalities, my love Christine of Zen Wellness Space is hosting a three-week Cosmic Wisdom Summer School that digs into astrology, numerology, and Human Design!

Until next time, just keep swimming!xx, bee

ICYMI: What's the Deal with Repeating Numbers?

What’s up, swimmers? I’m absolutely buzzing after yesterday’s free workshop on repeating numbers and wanted to make sure you had access to the replay!

Another huge thanks to those who came live—as you’ll no doubt see when you watch, we had a raucous time :)

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The image above or the button below will take you to a folder containing:

The video replay of What's the Deal with Repeating Numbers?

A 44-page PDF of the slides show in class

The chat transcript from class, which is full of actual angels

ACCESS THE REPLAY HERE

You might also notice in the workshop that I introduce new ways to work with me this summer — in a three-course series, The Road Trip, or by booking a private reading with me. I’ll be sending out additional information on the courses soon, but for now, check out my website for descriptions and calendar links.

YEP THAT’S RIGHT - MY BOOKS ARE NOW OPEN FOR SUMMER!

And as mentioned, feel free to use code ANGELS444 to take 20% off any workshop or reading! This code will expire on the Summer Solstice (June 20th), so no need to act fast, but something to keep in mind.

It's so wonderful to be reconnecting over this work and I can't wait to make magic with you in the next few months.

this post is public, so if you have any buds that you think might get a kick out of this material, please send it there way! thank you for reading and supporting, i cherish you so much! xx

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Until next time, just keep swimming!xx, Rebecca

swimming in the soup is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

FIRST DIBS 🔥 - Readings + Workshops for Summer 2024

HEY PAID PALS! I LOVE YOU PAID PALS! Happy Wednesday. Happy post-Venus Cazimi. How are we feeling?

I’m coming atcha with goodies, presents, and links galore! If you’ve been wanting to work with me, today’s a big day! And you get first dibs and promo codes.

In this email, you’ll find:

The Zoom link for WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH REPEATING NUMBERS? my free workshop taking place tomorrow, Thursday 6/6, at 4pm PST. I really want you to be there, and it’s free, so let’s just bypass the whole sign-up system, eh?

An introduction to and sign-up links for THE ROAD TRIP—Three Months and Three Workshops to Clarify Your Earthly Experience which is taking place June-August 2024. This one starts with beginner material, but quickly escalates to intermediate in ways that I hope will prove accessible and exciting to all. Plus, the third workshop is brand-new material that I’ve never taught before, but have always wanted to explore!

Booking links for PRIVATE NUMEROLOGY READINGS with me! I can’t wait to teach again, but I absolutely cannot f*cking wait to meet with y’all 1-on-1 again! There are two readings available right now (as well as my tarot offerings on Moonlight), but if you have other ideas about what you need right now, feel free to email me and we’ll make it work.

Let’s get into it! xx

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Which "Dandy Digit" Are You? 🌈🥳✨

What’s up, swimmers?! HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! YAY FOR BEING GAY!

This morning, I woke up and felt like making some silly number memes about being queer! Keep scrolling to find out which “dandy digit” best describes you, and don’t worry—if you’re straight, you can still play! Perhaps you’ll discover something about yourself… 😉

A little homo-housekeeping:

1️⃣1️⃣1️⃣ — This coming Thursday, June 6th (6/6), I’m teaching a FREE WORKSHOP ON REPEATING NUMBERS! Have you ever been curious about “angel” numbers? Do you love catching 11:11 on the clock, but aren’t sure what to make of it? Have you ever wanted to hang out with me on Zoom? Come to this hour-long class (from 4-5pm PST) and have some questions answered!

📚🌈✨ — If you’re looking to read something queer this month, check out my PRIDE PICKS on Bookshop.org! There’s a little bit of everything—romance, historical fiction, fantasy, memoir, YA. Lemme know what speaks to you, and feel free to send over any recs that you think I might like!

🍎🧺🃏 — Want to support a queer creator and snag a super rad new tarot deck? Back THE MAGIC PANTRY TAROT by Numinous Spirit Press on Kickstarter! It combines deck creator Cedar McCloud’s personal experience as a home cook who loves food with their signature brightly hued watercolor paintings and thoughtful, multicultural approach to Tarot symbolism.

🤔⁉️📈 — Who doesn’t love a good poll, amiright? I’m dreaming and scheming on a new course series for this summer, and I need your help! Please answer below and feel free to email me if you’d like to propose a secret third option.

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WHICH TYPE OF QUEER ARE YOU?

Learn numerology and hurt your own feelings this pride month!

Calculate your LIFE PATH number by adding all of the digits of your birth & reducing until you get a single digit (i.e. July 7, 1992 is 7+7+1+9+9+2 = 35, 3+5 = 8) OR OR OR for a more playful & performative option, check out your PUBLIC PERSONA number by adding just the month & date (July 7 is 7+7 = 14, 1+4 = 5).

Let me know your “type” in the comments, share with your queer crew & please know these are all in good fun! I’m hurting my own gay feelings too 😉🌈😂

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ONE — The One Whose love of the divas—Babs, Judy, Celine—gave them away at an early age

TWO — The One Who had a close-knit, complicated & confusing “friendship” with their high school “bestie”

THREE — The One Who has spent an incalculable amount of hours writing horny gay fanfiction

FOUR — The One Who owns a Subaru & has recently gotten into native plant gardening

FIVE — The One Who uses “summer” as a verb, especially when it comes to Fire Island and P-Town!

SIX — The One Who plays the parental role in their chosen or found family & always has a hug & some sage advice

SEVEN — The One Who almost drowned in teenage angst & yearning, but now runs a popular tarot account on Instagram

EIGHT — The One Who is known for buying a round of drinks for the entire bar & then hooking up in the bathroom

NINE — The One Who was raised by librarians, guidance counselors, English teachers & Drama Club directors

WHICH ONE(S) BEST DESCRIBE YOU?!

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Until next time, just keep swimming!xx, Rebecca