Why we need to stop talking about energy vampires

***Please note if you are a victim of any kind of abuse or dealing with someone who is harming you in any way, please reach out for help and get yourself out of that situation as soon as you can. Those people are not energy vampires, but abusers. Look after yourself and get the help you need. This post is intended for people who are struggling with day to day energy issues.***

I’ve said it before, and I’m pretty sure I’ll say it again - we need to stop talking about “energy vampires”.

This is something I’m super passionate about and you can find a podcast episode on it here.

In my humble opinion, “Energy Vampire” is basically a derogatory term for someone who’s pain is manifesting in ways we find energetically uncomfortable.

I get it. Sometimes it can feel like we are being personally energetically attacked.

It feels like our energy is being drained and sucked dry and we are so exhausted at the end of a meeting, day at work, dinner with a friend that all we want to do when we get home is sleep or cry, or complain about it.

I’ve been in that situation too, and I used to use this phrase to talk about people I worked with. It made sense to me because that’s how it felt.

But then something magical happened.

I started taking responsibility for my own energy and everything shifted.

When I stopped seeing it as an attack from the outside, that I was a “victim”, I took back my power.

When I remembered that you can’t change other people, but you can change the way you respond to them, my relationships improved.

Instead of seeing people as being out to get me, I started to see what was really going on. The people I found it so hard to be around? They were unhappy, disconnected and hurting. They weren’t trying to leech me dry of my good shiny vibes. They were just energetically reaching out for something that might make them feel better and I just got in the way.

Being on the spiritual path is not just about new crystals, decks and connecting with your spirit guides (although that stuff is all great too!). It’s about living a life aligned with love and compassion.

Being on the spiritual path means sifting through and taking responsibility for your own junk. (Also known to some as shadow work!)

Every single person reading this has at one point or another been the difficult workmate or the friend that doesn’t stop complaining and brings someone else down.

We’ve all been on both sides.

As spiritual people we are lucky to have the tools to navigate through our stuff. Not everyone has this, and while it’s tempting to roll our eyes at those who are still sleeping, we’ve been asleep too, and sometimes we still go for naps every now and then!

OK, so, how do you do you shift this? Here are some tips that I use when I’m faced with energetic challenges:

Stop making it about them and make it about you

Bottom line is we can’t change anyone but ourselves. Instead of blaming and complaining ask: what can I learn from this? How can I be more compassionate? What can I do to get through this day/meeting/dinner with strength and ease?

We have the choice to see ourselves as the victim of someone taking our own power or we can step into our own power and hold onto what’s ours.

Protect your energy

Take responsibility for your own energy and protect it. You wouldn’t go out in the rain without an umbrella, so don’t go into that meeting without some kind of energy protection.

If you’re brand new to energy protection check out my free e-book How to Stay Shiny. To go even deeper with your energy work check out Woo Woo 101.

Have good healthy boundaries

If you have a friend who always calls with their problems, or a family member who always expects you to come running, set some better boundaries. Be firm but kind with people. Turn your phone off, don’t be so available. That doesn’t mean cutting people out or not having time for them at all, it just means being clear about when you’re available and when you’re not.

So often empaths and lightworkers run into energy issues because we are sooo available! Setting some boundaries with others and yourself can be life changing!

Compassion

Compassion is one of the best ways to protect your energy. When you stop seeing other people as the enemy and start seeing them as people who have problems, challenges and hurts we begin to realise that we’re maybe not so different.

Send love to the people in your life who are energetically closed off, the people who you find it hard to be around, the people who push your buttons and exhaust you. Send them love and pray that they find some peace and healing.

When you do this, next time you go into that meeting you won’t see them as the enemy, but someone who needs love, like we all do, and that will change everything between you energetically.

Know when to go

Sometimes we just need to let people go, leave jobs and move on. All the energy protection in the world won’t help if it’s time for you to go.

There are times when someone is deliberately trying to hurt us, and when that happens we can skip right to knowing it’s time to go. You never have to stick around if you are being harmed in any way.

I’d love to know your thoughts on this. Comment below - what do you think of the term “energy vampire”?

With love and light,

Vix

x

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Tarot or Oracle Spread

If you’re a bit witchy and you have Netflix, you’ve probably been binging Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. If you haven’t, go and do it right now. It’s bloody brilliant!

As a 90’s teenager I was a huge fan of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I had blonde hair back then and I pretty much thought I was Melissa Joan Hart. And although I miss talking Salem, I’m loving this super dark and creepy update!

I created this spread to help you tune into your own witchiness, your inner Sabrina and to help you balance both light and dark within.

When I did the spread for myself it was epic! I got all majors and some powerful messages! :o This isn’t just a quirky pop culture tarot spread, this really works to help you tune in!

So go grab your deck - Tarot, Oracle, Angel, whatever, and let’s get reading!

1. Your spiritual abilities that are awakening

What natural spiritual talents are surfacing? What spiritual superpowers are ready to be uncovered? What’s awakening within you? Maybe it’s not your sixteenth birthday, but there are always new spiritual abilities to develop!

2. Protection message (who/what has your back?)

This could be a message about protection - e.g, how to protect your energy, your home and your magic, or it could be a message about who or what has your back. Sabrina has many good friends but there are also some peeps out there who maybe don’t have her best intentions at heart. This card can help you see clearly who has your back and how to protect your magic.

3. What are you resurrecting?

What in your life is feeling a little slate or dry that needs some love and attention? What parts of yourself have been hidden? This card could mean so many different things for you, but this is not about literally resurrecting a body, K Sabrina?

4. What needs to stay buried?

What in your life is finished? What are you releasing and letting go? What is done and buried? What is definitely not ever coming back? Remember no good can come from digging up the past.

5. How you can you balance the light and dark within you?

Luckily most of us don’t have to choose between the path of night or the path of light and we get to explore both dark and light aspects of ourselves. This card can give you some guidance on how to balance both the light and dark parts of you.

6. How can you balance the spiritual and the mortal aspects of yourself?

It’s hard being half witch and half mortal sometimes. This card can give you some insight into how to balance the spiritual and the 3D human aspects of ourselves so we can navigate our lives with more ease.

If you share your readings on Instagram please tag me so I can come say hi!

With so much love, light and witchiness,

Vix

x

If you dig this spread you might want to check out my totally free e-book Tarot Spreads You Can’t Live Without!

Tarot + Oracle Reading for Yourself | When your reading is negative or scary

We’ve all experienced it.

You turn over the Tower, or the Devil, or the Ten of Swords and you have that little (or, OK, sometimes big!) freak out.

Your heart starts beating, your head starts spinning with possibilities about what this means, what bad thing is going to happen, and from that place it’s virtually impossible to bring yourself back into an empowered state where you can look at your cards from a higher perspective.

Recently I’ve had a number of people contact me about readings they have done for themselves which haven’t felt good.

And because I know this is a thing that happens to many of us when we read for ourselves, I thought I’d sit down and let you know some of my thoughts on this.

My work is all about helping you to tune into your own guidance and so I hope this post can help you empower yourself and use your cards as a tool to help you move into the life of your dreams!

Your intuition + guidance is never going to “scare” you

Most of the time when we get that scary feeling during a reading, it’s not our Higher Self, Guides, Angels or inner knowing we are connecting with. It’s plain old ego-fear.

It’s thousands of years of conditioning that make us see images like the Devil (which is an image of the Pagan nature God Pan that the church made “evil” BTW) as evil, bad, negative and scary. We’ve been conditioned to fear Death. We live in a society (here in the west anyway!) where we rarely talk about or think about what happens after we die. We put it out of our minds and go about our days ignoring our own mortality. So it’s no wonder that when Death comes up we freak a little! Other cultures and people who are on the spiritual path find the Death card less scary, some people have no problem with it all! But generally, we fear change and we fear the unknown, this is deeply ingrained into us on a collective level.

So if you find those images scary, take a deep breath, you’re just the product of thousands of years of control, manipulation and disconnect from the spiritual.

OK, where was I? Yes, your guidance isn’t going to scare you.

If you are working with Angels or Spirit Guides or Ascended Masters or any other beings of light, they are literally never going to give you any guidance through a reading that would make you afraid. They are here to support you, to help you move through your physical human life with as much ease, grace, love and abundance as possible. Why the heck would your guardian angel pop in and freak you out? If it’s scary, it’s not from them. Same goes for your Higher Self and any other beings you work with.

Scary = not from your Guides and Angels

Usually the fear stuff is created in our own mind. Those cards bring our subconscious fears to the surface. We can choose to look at this as an opportunity to learn from and move through those fears when this happens. Or, if you’re not ready for that, or if you’re too freaked out in the moment, put the cards back, go do something else, smudge yourself if you like, and try again later.

Very occasionally negative energies can come through in our readings. I had this happen once and it was kinda creepy, but a good learning opportunity! You can avoid this by learning how to ground, clear and protect your energy.

Death from the Cosmic Tarot

Remember you have free will and create your own fate

We have been so programmed to believe that tarot and other forms of divination are “fortune telling tools”. But the only future the cards can show us is a potential one.

I only ever read for potential outcomes. In a reading I will say to you - this is potentially how this could go. But you have free will, you have the power to make changes to this if you don’t like the way things are looking.

You don’t need to be a psychic to work out how things are probably going to go. If you keep messing around with that guy/gal who’s treating you badly, what do you think is going to happen? If you hate your job, but you make no attempt to make things better or get a new job, what do you think is going to happen?

Most of the time predictive readings give us an opportunity to consider the path we are on, and they actually can, if we let them, empower us to make better choices for ourselves.

Predictive readings do however have the danger of becoming self-fulfilling if we don’t see them as simply one potential outcome.

There are of course some things in life we can’t control. It’s at those times we are called to look within and make our own choices for how we handle those things.

An empowered version of the Nine of Wands from the Moonchild Tarot

Reading “negative” cards in positive ways

This is something that comes up a lot for people. I had someone just last week ask me about a card in a reading using the New Year Spread. This person had pulled the Five of Swords as her theme of the year.

You can look at this in two ways - first off, that this is going to be a shitty year. There’s going to be lots of people around who want to take your stuff, take advantage of you, you’re going to lose, be a loser and end up crying on the beach. OR you can look at this is a message about standing in your power, not taking any shit, having strong healthy clear boundaries. That’s much more empowering right? This could be the year you begin to stand up for yourself, speak your truth (swords are all about truth!) and really stand in your power. Boom!

You can do this with any of the cards you feel are “negative”. Flip them to the positive of that card. Ten of Swords? The worst is now over! Two of Swords? Surrender and trust! Five of Pentacles? Finally see the truth of your financial situation, paying off debts and getting your money stuff sorted! See how that feels different?

Those are just some examples, make up your own! It may be a fun activity to go through your deck and write down a positive word or phrase for each card, especially the “negative” ones.

From the gorgeous Guided Hand Tarot

What to do next

So if you’re having a freak out, or feeling like your reading is negative and feeling bummed, here’s a couple of things you can do:

• Journal. Journal out all the feelings your having about this reading, you may find that actually it’s helping you see something really important or that it’s not so negative after all!

• Ask a friend for a second opinion. If you have card slinging friends send them a WhatsApp. Or come into the free Spiritual Journey Pitstop group and share your reading for some advice from a bunch of high vibe souls.

• Put the cards back in the deck, shuffle and pop it on your altar, under a crystal, out in the sunlight, moonlight or whatever feels good. Give it and yourself a smudge or a spray with some essential oils and go do something else that will lift your spirits. Watch your fave TV show, play some peppy music or make tea.

• If you are reading on something quite big and it’s knocked you for six, get a professional reader to take a look. You can get a reading with me or any other reader you vibe with and see what they can pick up for you. Sometimes we are just too close and too emotionally connected to see clearly.

• Give yourself a break. I’ve been reading professionally for years now, but there are still moments I turn over a card and gives me that moment of “urgh, whyyy?” But the more I’ve worked with my cards, the more I know now how the universe speaks to me. Most of the time when I pull the Tower it means clean the office, sort out your closet, get to inbox zero. When I pull the Devil it can just mean I’m not eating well enough or checking my phone too much!

It’s time we started reading our cards in a more empowered way, take back our power and create our own fate.

I hope this post helps you to feel more confident in reading for yourself. Let me know in the comments if you have questions, I always check these weekly so I will get back to you. :)

With so much love, light and empowered reading,

Vix

x

And if you’re looking for Tarot Spreads to practice with they are all around this blog, and you can also check out my free e-book Tarot Spreads You Can’t Live Without! :)

New Year Tarot or Oracle Spread

Happy new year gorgeous souls!

In spiritual circles we often put a lot of emphasis on the solstice as the point of transition in the year. Or if you’re witchy you might feel like Samhain or Halloween is your new year!

But we can’t deny the power of the collective energy around the new year!

I created this spread to help you move into the new year with zero anxiety, resolutions or pressure. This spread is all about helping you to see where you’re at as you move into the new year, connect in with some of your dreams and desires and get some guidance on how you can live your purpose and best and highest life in this new year!

You can use any deck you have, tarot, oracle, angel, whatever!

And if you stumble upon this spread and it’s not the new year, there’s no reason you can’t do it anytime at all to help you on your path!

If you dig this spread come on over to Instagram and tag me in your pics so I can blow you some new year blessings!

And if you’re looking for more spreads check out my free e-book Tarot Spreads You Can’t Live Without!

OK, grab your deck and your journal and let’s do this! :D

1. What you bring into this new year

This card shows you where you’re at as you move into the new year. What gifts, knowledge, strength or other awesomeness are you bringing with you? What is the foundation you’re going to build this new year on?

2. Lessons from the last year

What have you learned? What soul growth has occurred? Own your learning, own your growth and use it as a stepping stone to move forward on your journey!

3. Blessings from the last year

What has blessed you in the last 12 months? When we count our blessings it makes it easier for more of them to appear.

4. Word or theme for this new year

This card can help you see what one of the main themes will be for this year. If you want to you can choose this card from the deck yourself!

5. Your true dreams and desires for this year

Here you’ll get some insight into what you really want for the next year. It’s easy to get off track and think we want what everyone else wants. What do you really want?

6. How to manifest these into being

And this is a message for you about how to start to manifesting some of these true desires and dreams!

7. A message from your higher self

Your higher self is the soul self, the part of you that travels through lifetimes, dimensions and realms. Here you’ll receive a message from this part of you.

8. How to align with your life purpose this year

What do you need to do to make sure you’re living in alignment with who you really are and what you came here to do?

9. How to live your best and highest life this year

It’s all about living your best and highest life! This card will give you some messages about how to live in that energy as much as you can this year!

With so much love, light and happy new year!

Vix

x

Solstice Tarot Spread for Transformation

Wherever you are, whether you are moving into light or dark, the solstice is a powerful time for transformation.

The solstice marks the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next. It’s a time when the earth shifts, and when the planet you live on is in shift, it’s going to have an affect on you too!

I love the solstice as a time of reflection, of looking back at the cycle that was and honouring my journey from there to here. I think about what I want to let go of, what I want to release and what I want to call in as we move into the new cycle.

The solstice is the in-between, we are no longer in the energy of the old cycle and we have not yet started the new, and that’s a powerful time to consider your own transformation, to honour who you’ve been and who you are becoming!

You can use this spread at the winter or summer solstice and you can use any cards you have, tarot, oracle, angel, Uno, whatever! :)

Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram if you share your reading so I can come say hey and if you want to share your readings come join us in the Spiritual Journey Pitstop group on Facebook!

Oh, and if you dig this spread, check out my free e-book Tarot Spreads You Can’t Live Without! :D

Here’s one I made earlier with the Moonchild Tarot x

Card one: You are here

This card is a check-in point for where you are as you move into the energy of the solstice.

Card two: Challenges overcome

Here you’ll see what challenges you’ve overcome in this last cycle. Honour how far you’ve come and the work you’ve done!

Card three: What is now complete

This is a message about what is finished, what is done, what is fully laid to rest and won’t be coming with you into the next cycle.

Card four: The key to your transformation

What is the thing that will help you unlock this transformation and move into the new?

Card five: Inner transformation

What within you is transforming? This could be anything from mindset, beliefs, old ways of being and seeing yourself, or it could be something else shifting in your energy.

Card six: Outer transformation

What outer transformation is taking place? How will others see you differently? What is changing in your outside world?

Card seven: How to embody this transformation

Going through a big transformation is not easy, and you may need to take some time to adjust to the new energies. This card will give you some insight on how you can begin to anchor this transformation and all it brings with it into your being.

With so much love, light and solstice blessings for transformation!

Vix

x

What does it mean to show up and do the work?

This week on social media I posted about “showing up and doing the work”.

A lot of people resonated with the post and I had a bunch of DMs from people saying things like - “thanks for the reminder, I haven’t been showing up like I want to”, and I also had a few asking me what it actually meant to show up and do the work.

Good question!

It’s one of those phrases that’s thrown around a lot in spiritual and self help circles, so I thought I’d throw my two cents in and let you know what it means to me (because this stuff always means something different to each of us!) to show up and “do the work”.

As someone who does spiritual work (and writes YA indie novels!) for a living, it’s kind of my job to tune in and pass on information that comes through. Whether that’s in a one on one session, or through something I feel called to share on social media or on my blog.

When I say something like “this came through in my meditation” or “my guides have been telling me this” people often ask how they can receive the same kind of downloads and intuitive hits.

The answer is - show up and do the work.

This is what showing up and doing the work looks like! From the #MoonchildTarot x

For every one time I go into meditation and fly off to the Sirius star system and get some download that gives me a huge insight and majorly shifts things for me there are 100 times I show up and I just stay on planet earth. (Which is still cool btw, and sometimes very much needed!)

the more I show up and do the work the easier it gets to chat with my guides, hear what they have to say, know what my spreads mean, visit higher dimensional realms and know what my next steps are!

Someone sent me a DM and said that they were worried they would show up and still nothing would happen. The thing is though, showing up is the reward in itself.

When you are the type of person that shows up for yourself, for your heart, soul and spiritual journey, when you show up for your dreams, you can’t lose. Even if you don’t get exactly what you wanted, becoming that person, that’s a huge reward in itself.

Here’s a simple of list of practical ways you can show up and do the work:

• Develop a consistent spiritual practice

• Meditate every day!

• Journal

• Live consciously

• Help other people

• Do shadow work (look at your own “stuff” and work through it!)

• Pull your own cards daily to help you tune in

• Read spiritual books

• Take workshops and courses - Woo Woo 101 is a great place to start!

• Create some routines and structure

• Practice self-love on those days when it’s all too hard to show up (practising self-care is part of showing up!)

• Join The Circle for resources to help you and support on the path!

• When your guides give you a nudge or some guidance, follow it!

• However you show up and do the work, do it regularly!

Most of all, make sure you are showing up and doing the work in the way that works for you and your life. There is no right or wrong way to show up. You know if you’re doing it or not!

If you’re still not sure how to start showing up check out my classes and The Circle membership to help you get on track! Or come and join the totally free Spiritual Journey Pitstop group and chat to like-minded souls about the spiritual path!

With so much love and light,

Vix

x

PS - I always reply to comments so if you have questions just post below! :D x

New Mercury Retrograde Tarot Spread

Happy Mercury Retrograde gorgeous souls!

And yes, I do mean that!

We live in a fast paced world where we hustle and grind ourselves into the ground on a daily basis.

While Mercury Retrograde can put a spanner in the works, it also helps us to ease off the gas pedal, review what we’ve been doing with our energy and our life.

It’s a time to withdraw, go within, do some of that inner work, think about what you really want for your life moving forward and without the opportunity to do that, we can spend our whole lives hustling for we don’t even know what!

In my experience bitching and moaning at the planets doesn’t make anything easier. Letting yourself go with the flow, following the call of Mercury when it asks us to slow down and think about things, there is big magic in this!

So my lovelies, pick up a deck (tarot, oracle or whatever you have to hand) and take some time to slow down, go within and consider what’s in alignment with your life and what isn’t any more…

1. The energy you bring to this MR

This card will tell you where you are at as you move into this Mercury Retrograde. This is a chance to identify if you’re bringing some negative vibes in which could be transmuted into something more positive, or it will let you know you are ready to do the work!

2. How MR will potentially affect you

I say potentially here because we always have the power to change how we see things. If this card comes up negative you have the power to change it!

3. Inner work that needs doing

MR is a great time to focus on going within. Let this card show you what you most need to focus on at this time.

4. How to rest + slow down

How can you rest and slow down, not just during MR but in life in general?

5. What to re-evaluate

This card will show you what you need to re-evaluate in your life right now.

6. What to re-think

A chance here to see what you may to re-think. Sometimes our goals and dreams are no longer in alignment and this card can give us some insight into that.

7. How to navigate through this time with ease + grace

And here’s a message for you about how you can best move through this time with as much ease and grace as is possible. x

If you find this spread useful please feel free to tag me over on Instagram and check out my totally free e-book Tarot Spreads You Can’t Live Without!

With so much love, light and Mercury Retrograde blessings,

Vix

x

Halloween Tarot or Oracle Spread

Happy Halloween gorgeous souls!

Halloween is a beautiful time to connect with your ancestors and honour those who have passed. It’s a very witchy, wonderful, powerful time to see through veils of illusion.

I hope this spread serves you as a way to work with your guides and those in spirit at this time.

Card one: How to honour this night

This card will show you how you can best honour and work with the energies of Halloween night.

Card two: Protection message

This card will give you insight into how and/or when to protect your energy tonight and always.

Card three: Spirits to guide your way

Here you’ll find a message about which guides are with you right now and anything they want you to know.

Card four: Ghosts of the past to release

Got any ghosts hanging around who are ready to go to the light? This could be literal ghosts or figurative ones!

Card five: A message from your ancestors + those passed

Halloween is a powerful time to connect with your ancestors and passed over loved ones, here they will give you a message.

Card six: How to see through the veil all year round

Seeing through the veil and connecting with spirit is not just for Halloween! Here you’ll find some info for how you can stay connected year round.

If you find this spread useful please share on Instagram and tag me in your pics so I can find you!

And if you liked this spread be sure to check out my 5 Tarot Spreads You Can’t Live Without free e-book!

Right, I’m off to watch Hocus Pocus!

Halloween Blessings! x

New Age Hipster Radio | Episode 20 | Vegan stories, tips, info and inspo with Momoko

OK, here’s one for all you vegans and vegan curious out there!

I went vegan in January 2018 and it has been one of the best things I’ve ever done.

When I thought about doing a vegan episode on the podcast there was only one person to ask to come on the show - Momoko Hill!

Momoko is a gentle vegan activist, an ocean conservation activist, a co-host of the Chickpeeps podcast, the founder of the GLO Vegan Community and she runs a business called Oh Momoko which revolves around the sacred art of crystal energy and healing.

On this episode we talk about:

• Our vegan stories - why and when we went vegan

• The unexpected benefits of veganism

• Gentle activism

• The relationship between veganism and spirituality

• Judgement towards and from vegans

• Hufflepuff vegans

• Amazing vegan food

• Giving up cheese - the struggle is real

• Spiritual awakening

• Conscious consumerism

• Tips for transitioning

• Our fave vegan resources

Hang out with Momoko here:

Instagram

GLO Vegan Community Facebook Group

New Age Hipster Radio | Episode 19 | Spiritual Paths + Podcasting with Brandy Glows

Me and fellow podcaster, grad school student (she’s studying to be a clinical social worker!) and guidance counsellor Brandy Glows are chatting all things spiritual paths and podcasting on this episode!

Brandy shares her podcasting journey, we talk about making the woo accessible for people who aren’t so woo and then we get really woo, talking about our spiritual journeys, our experiences with religion, past lives and we touch on a whole bunch of other spiritual topics too!

So go grab a tea, and come hang for a bit! :)

Connect with Brandy here:

Instagram

Throwing Light Podcast