Side Notes
by Rita Sotolongo
A Busy Bee Who Researches Tarot, Astrology, Art, History & More
From her Armchair
The thoughts that don’t make the main text—but matter anyway ♥️
All Side Notes
Helios and Heliotrope: Connecting Myth and Nature
As Helios—the Greek sun god—showers (pelts?) us with his radiant energy, the fiery element to Leo Season (July 22-August 21) is unmistakable. And it's because this is the time of year when the sun and the lion beckon us to tap into our Herculean power.
Understanding Gemini's Duality Through Myths and Tarot
So in honor of it being the season of the twins, one that is near and dear to my family's hearts, let’s indulge in some mythological musings about the constellation Gemini, shall we?
A Story About the Milky Way
Today, my folklore studies led me to read a beautiful tale from South Africa. I found it in Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters by Kathleen Ragan through a Fairytale Heroines course I'm taking with the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.
Winter Solstice: Traditions and Tarot Spread
A group of spectral riders led by Odin—known as the "Yule King" in Germanic-Norse versions—conducts a supernatural hunt during the Winter Solstice. This event was seen as an ominous sign that foretold wars, plagues, or death.
Witnesses weren't merely spectators, either. Legend has it that the ghostly riders might snatch them away, never to be seen again.
The spread is based on the concept of these ghostly riders—who I believe symbolically represent the past coming in to haunt us, possibly taking us if we don’t protect ourselves from their force, or leaving us to begin anew.