Saturday, August 22, 2026
Welcome, everyone. Many people associate eerie, spooky things with wintery scenes. However, for me, they go with the hazy heat of summer. If me being that way that seems unlikely to you, maybe it’s because as a child my sister died not long before the beginning of August. (I’m not looking for sympathy, just explaining.) Afterwards, other children thought that meant I should be good at telling them ghost stories. I did my best to pretend to be okay and entertain them in a dark garage, with August sunlight beaming around the edges of the big door, which we all found spooky enough.
Now, on this particular hot August night, rather than ghost stories, I have readings for you — a few different types of readings.
First, this snippet from the prologue of Brother Love: A Crossroad
This time you’re doing the reading, in the usual way. The first characters we meet are Jinx and Brother Love (here called “the musician”). Jinx loves blues music.
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On a moonlit night, a dark figure sat on the corpse of a fallen tree. He touched the narrow brim of his Trilby style hat, pushing it back from his brow. Patiently he tuned a guitar. Long fingers deftly twisted the tuning knobs. Wooden pegs would have been typical. These were made of ivory.
No, they’re not just ivory, they’re made of bones, Jinx silently reminded himself. I wonder if they came from one of the old graves here?
Any grave stones were long gone, if there ever were any in the first place. Only the town’s oldest residents knew the clearing near the crossroads had been a graveyard. Even they wouldn’t have been able to say whether it was a potter’s field or an old Choctaw burial ground.
With head tilted, Jinx waited eagerly for the music he hoped to hear.
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Secondly, here’s (a very rough, spontaneous) audio recording of me reading what happened a little later in the written scene above. It’s also a nod to Nina Simone and “Sinnerman” (song writers Les Baxter and Will Holt, 1956). I’m certainly not trying to compete with Ms. Simone — I couldn’t begin to come close. I recorded this on a whim years ago, just for fun.
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Finally, a completely different kind of reading.
The Energy Oracle Cards
Intention plays a large part in card readings. That’s why you can find them done online or on blog posts, directed at large groups of people. My intent in this reading is that it be for each person here. To do that, I simply take my focus yes, to include myself, but mostly projected in a much broader way, as I think of everyone while I focus on general need and randomly draw the cards.
I prefer quick three-card reading layouts. This card layout asks three questions that lead to the answer for our query.
Our “Query” is rather general, but suitable as we near the transition period of kids going back to school, and/or the end of August. It is simply:
Moving Forward
1: What is unknown about the current issue or problem?
The Door to Personal Healing and Happiness is a harbinger of personal change — most suitable for our query “moving forward.” In this case it represents the issue of personal things we’re confronting. That might be an outer change, like finding a new place to live, or coping with a special food plan. Or it could be an inner change like breaking a bad habit or even an addiction, or dealing with a loss — any kind of inner healing.
Now, as we go forward into this reading, remember that each card ties back to the other two.
2: What is blocking you?
The Fourth Chakra, Archangel Raphael represents love, compassion, and self-acceptance. How, you may ask, can that be an obstacle? Well, it certainly can be if one needs to work on having more of any of those things. This time, I’m pulled toward the self-acceptance part. Consider our query, moving forward plus the first card’s inner/outer healing. This second card tells us that however far we have (or maybe haven’t) come, we need to keep working on some of those issues. They aren’t done yet, and they’re making an obstacle to our moving forward.
3: How to proceed for best results?
Appreciation is a card that reminds us to choose gratitude. Gratitude isn’t always just sitting there waiting for us — sometimes we have to make a choice to actively choose to feel it. Look closely at the background in the artwork. Those aren’t flower bushes. They’re meant to be thorns and brambles. The woman is surrounded by them, yet she stopped to enjoy the wonders of a single rose. This card tells us to congratulate ourselves for every moment that we choose appreciation.
Summary of Reading
Now… we’re moving forward. (1) We’re working on inner and/or outer change, hardship, or healing. BUT the Door to Personal Healing and Happiness also tells us that the changes on which we’ve been working are ready to blossom (we just can’t see it yet). So make sure to see your intentions through and stay optimistic.
(2) The energy at your heart center (the fourth chakra) is probably low but your work isn’t finished. The Archangel Raphel card encourages you to have compassionate self-talk. Beating yourself up will block you from moving forward and get in the way of (1st card) achieving change, breaking habits, or healing the hurts within.
(3) How do we get the best results? Genuine gratitude, especially for simple things can carry us through the obstacles of our unfinished healing and/or the changes we’re in the process of making.
To conclude this reading, here’s an affirmation from the Energy Oracle:
“I choose to see and appreciate the beauty and value around me. I increase my gratitude every day, and I am attracting even more to be grateful for.”
I have one caveat about this reading. Yes, gratitude can be a choice. Yes, it attracts even more appreciation. But it has to be genuine. Do NOT try to force gratitude on yourself. That can lead to even worse thoughts about one’s self. If the gratitude is not there, then it simply is not there. Don’t force it. Just take a little peek now and then and look for it. It will show up eventually, if you’re open to it.
Now, before you think I’m being all holier-than-thou, I want you to know that following the above advice will be at least as much of a challenge for me as it is for any of you. Wishing you a splendid weekend and week ahead.
Friendly comments are welcome. Hugs on the wing!
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Naturally, the obligatory shameless self-promotion must be included. It’s the book that produced the first part of this post.
Brother Love – a Crossroad
Strange things abound in 1950s Parliament, Mississippi. Jinx the magpie can fill you in on the details.
Universal Purchase Links
Kindle: relinks.me/B07V25SXFR
Paperback: relinks.me/107952309X
Audiobook: By Virtual-Voice. Click here for a four-minute sample.
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Copyright © 2026 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene
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