Empath Editor

Have you *heard* my tarot spread? 😮 I'm still amazed that the Herb Oracle podcast spent a whole hour chatting through the Indecision Spread. Go take a listen to episode 221 and read my recap blog! 🌻
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The Herb Oracle's Sadie Marie Cherico is a self-taught herbalist and tarot reader offering plant medicine insights and inspo to the world through two info-packed podcasts. She's so fun to listen to, and the advice she builds for herself and shares with her listeners as she works with the cards is golden.
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Here's a few things I've learned from her time with the spread:
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• I'm adopting the phrase "shoot the shiitake" 🍄
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• Tarot spreads are less work when others do them for you 👏🏼
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• Comfrey is all about unity, personal power, and healing 🌿
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• Ditching perfectionism means being ok with forgetting to put your logo on an IG post that gets shared around 😅
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Sadie is an absolute delight to listen to, and I'm so relieved to find another down-to-earth oracle and tarot lover who has real wisdom to share. Keep those podcasts comin'. Listen to the episode, read the recap blog, and try your hand at the spread in my walkthrough blog—and then let me know what you think: https://empatheditor.com/2020/06/14/herb-oracle-plants-positivity-imperfect-intention/

What exactly is self-empathy? 🦋 Can we really have for ourselves? And how is that different from self-love or self-care?
Self-empathy is step one. It's the seed that grows true self-love and healthy self-care. It's being able to:
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• Respect ourselves for who we are
⠀And not put ourselves last
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• Forgive ourselves for our mistakes
⠀And not beat ourselves up
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• Stay curious about our emotions
⠀And not judge our feelings
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• Notice our needs and wants
⠀And not detach from our bodies
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• Feel taken care of on our own
⠀And not make a home in others
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• Understand our behaviors
⠀And not find comfort in guilt or pity
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• Love ourselves completely
⠀And not feel selfish or undeserving
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I'm sure you've noticed that these are big asks. No one does them perfectly or does them all. Self-empathy is something we can all work on. There are so many obstacles—obstacles that can come from loved ones and society and history and surroundings and more—that make it difficult to accept who we are and form a deep connection with ourselves.
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But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. To be our own:
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🖤 Best friend
🖤 Soulmate
🖤 Home
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Because the only person here with you on this planet who can love you unconditionally for the rest of your life is you. 🌎

Look back and be proud. 🎉 We don't give ourselves nearly enough credit for the things we do for ourselves and others over the years. For the love we give, for the jobs we do, for the stories we bring to life moving through the world in these bodies and minds.
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As I combed through pages of a freshly printed ARC, the words of a writer determined to share his voice with like-minded readers, I saw the scene in front of me with the eyes of a young woman from ten years ago.
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Scrunched up on the gray Ikea couch, a thick five hundred pages lying on my lap with a comforting weight, pencil swimming through the story line by line and pausing at a suspicious-looking hyphen.
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She watched through me in silent, smiling awe and thought, I get to do this?
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💭 Don't look so far ahead that you forget there's a breathing body and a complex mind that deserve your attention now. A body and mind that you are blessed to have and hold and care for, even in the times when they give you pain and stress and discomfort. A body and mind that have given you so much and will continue to give you more if you let them.
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Pause to look how far you've come. ✨

Hi! I wanted to put a face to the page so you can get to know me a bit beyond the words I weave. I'm Alyssa, a writer, editor, and empath here to help everyday womxn build greater self-empathy to write and edit their own fulfilling lives. Through Empath Editor, I'll be sharing my own ups and downs in the hopes of helping you with yours. I write about mental health, self-help, , (in a non-spiritual way), , and other feel-good bits and bobs. Learn more about my philosophy and feel free to say hi: https://empatheditor.com/about/

Need a little help interpreting ? In this two-page cheat sheet, find a simple question guide for gathering insights from the cards and handy reference notes on common meanings of colors, numbers, and more. Use it as a refresher when starting a spread or consult it after your initial interpretations for more takeaways: https://empatheditor.com/tarot-interpretation-cheat-sheet/

Tarot Interpretation Cheat Sheet Need a little help interpreting the tarot cards? This two-page cheat sheet provides a simple question guide for gathering insights from the cards and handy reference notes on the common meanings of…

The latest post in my for series is on the Six of Wands. Need a self-empathy boost? Take a peek for my woo-woo-free reading of this card, questions to ask yourself, healing affirmations, and easy keywords for learning this card: https://empatheditor.com/2020/06/16/tarot-for-empathy-six-of-wands/

Tarot for Empathy: Six of Wands Visit the post for more.

I created the Indecision Spread to help me feel like less of a mess. And it makes me so happy to see this tool help other people give themselves grace in indecision—Sadie Marie Cherico (aka Herbal Marie) being one of them. On a Tuesday episode of her Herb podcast, Sadie worked through a to-do list and left with some great guidance from her morning with the spread. Read my recap and listen to the episode: https://empatheditor.com/2020/06/14/herb-oracle-plants-positivity-imperfect-intention/

Herb Oracle: Plants, Positivity & Imperfect Intention Visit the post for more.

I'm working on a blog series that moves through all of the cards in a standard deck with a lens of self-empathy. What messages can we receive from the cards that help us edit poor self-empathy habits or reconsider our self-care efforts? In each post, you'll find an empathy reading, questions to explore, affirmations to hold close, and positive and negative keywords to keep in mind for those learning tarot alongside me. The first is on the Nine of Wands: https://empatheditor.com/2020/06/12/tarot-for-empathy-nine-of-wands/

Tarot for Empathy: Nine of Wands Visit the post for more.

How easy is it to draw up a list of to-dos and let it sit on the coffee table all day? Very easy. We all want to get things done at work and home and still carve out time to tend to our basic needs (and maybe find that elusive self-care routine). But we can’t always do that, can we? In a brilliant moment of procrastination, I developed a quick little spread to help get over the hump of indecision in desperate times. Although I’m sure I’ll be using this one pretty frequently. Take a peek at the spread and guided walk-through of how to use it: https://empatheditor.com/2020/05/25/tarot-spread-indecision-to-do/

A Simple Tarot Spread for Tackling To-Dos Visit the post for more.