Starmoth Press

a diary of words, paper and other ephemeral things

Tag: writing

  • Creative cycle diagram, and a creative co-working video for body doubling

    This is an expansion on the creative cycle model that came through earlier this summer. I am on week seven of the artists way, this came through during a morning pages session and I had to create it in procreate. Would anyone like a free printable?

    Watch process video

    Creative co-working video

  • I love a finished journal

    This is six weeks of morning pages and journal prompts (and a little bit extra).

  • Journal Explorers Club Quest


    Go for a walk
    Find a landmark
    Draw or describe it (yes outside)
    Ask it for advice on your quest
    Write what comes to your mind first
    Repeat until you feel you have enough data

    Stay tuned

  • The Tarot Diaries: four of wands

    Sunday, September 28, 2025

    I’m happy to report my birthday was an ordinary day. The whole week was jam packed with different activities that kept me rather busy. I felt myself reaching for my phone a lot. When I get busy with daily minutiae, my body longs to escape. I want pretty pictures and art to aspire to. I want inspirational quotes and photos of other people’s highlight reel.

    When I look at the four of wands this morning, I see the gate of the four staffs as a threshold. I see the celebration invites us into presence. It reminds us that the moment, the here and now of it, is the true threshold we are constantly standing at. If we decide to stay engage, if we push back against the impulse to pick up our phone and escape, if we decide to reclaim our attention, it is a threshold we can walk through again and again.

    Daily rituals are good anchor points throughout the day for this. My altar practice, where I clean two cups to refill with water offerings, where I read my artist’s prayer, where I read from my daily readers, and I remind myself that everything is sacred…this is a pivotal anchor for me.

    As some may know, I am currently working through The Artist’s Way, closing out week 5. Morning pages are also a daily ritual. Making coffee is a morning ritual. Making my nightly tea before I sit down in the evening is a ritual. All of these things pull me back. Filling the kettle. Preparing the coffee grounds, or the tea bags. Filling the cup with steaming water. Adding the honey, the coconut milk, stirring. If I can be there, in my mind, in that moment….I have crossed the threshold to presence and am reminded that this, too, is something to celebrate.

    A collage done on an index card. It includes an image transfer of a woman’s back shoulders and head, she wears an ornate pearl necklace. Beneath this, two images stand out: colorful flowers behind a black and white circle, and a black and white anchor. There is red thread stitching throughout the piece, mostly in rows of four. This collage was done meditating on the four of wands. 

    Collage and stitching are two methods that help me to re-enter my body. This was made on Saturday after my morning pages. I found the process to be very therapeutic. I kept the four of wands card upright on my desk, following my desires intuitively for how I wanted this to turn out. Another collage I did Tuesday while meditating on the card is below.

    This is a collage done on an index card. There are markings on the card, which show through the vaguely see-through image transfer on the bottom. The image is of two geese (honestly a guess) which to me symbolize the two celebrating within the card. The top portion of the collage is divided into sections, primarily black and white…except a portion between which has four vertical lines in red and outlined in black. This piece was done while meditating on the four of wands. 

    This piece, which I technically completed first, was done right after my first entry on this card on Tuesday. I can feel the undertone of anxiety when looking at it, but it also gives me little sparks of hope. Perhaps that is the whole point. Our practices bring us back to presence and help us feel a sense of hope again. Hope is a feeling we all should strive for during these times.

    In honor of reclaiming my attention, I am trying to spend less time scrolling social media (especially while outside) or even listening to audiobooks or podcasts. It is difficult for me to admit that sometimes these distractions help me to complete tasks I have always felt resistance to.

    Being outside is often an invitation to observe for me. Observation has taught me so much over the last few years living in the country. I believe this is a blue jay feather, a bird that has come to have some spiritual significance to me. I left it on the ground, as that’s where it decided to land, but did snap a photo. I was standing on the steps of our patio while the dog walked through the backyard, and I looked down for this little gift…a wink from god, the universe, happenstance, whatever. It made me smile. Gratitude swelled in my chest. That is easily a reason to celebrate.

    So, I try to find balance. I see balance in the four of wands as well. We can make space for practice but also acknowledge that sometimes, at the end of a hard day, listening to a podcast while doing the dishes may be warranted. I want to think less in the way of all or nothing. I’d prefer to remember that everyday is a spectrum of our experience. Yes, we can choose our attitude and approach to life, but also circumstances can and do SUCK sometimes. Repressing the emotions that come up in these instances is not helpful. It will inspire our nervous systems to shut down, or distance themselves from the situation.

    No, we can give ourself grace. We can ask for grace from god (insert whatever higher being or spiritual belief you have here — I believe all are valid). We can celebrate how far we’ve come when we allow ourselves to wallow in self-pity, then we stand up, dust ourselves off, and move on to the next thing.

    There is always a next thing, another moment, a new threshold. It builds itself as we step forward. We can choose our perspective in these moments. It can be pessimistic, realistic, it can be the perspective that whatever waits on the other side is worth celebrating simply because that moment is there. And that is a miracle.

    Shop my Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/starmothpress

    Sign up for my newsletter: https://starmoth.substack.com

  • The Tarot Diaries: The Four of Wands

    The four of wands is a quintessential happy card. I pulled it on the wrong week. It’s my birthday tomorrow. I can’t help but see the people, happy, celebratory, heading off to some stable future they seem to feel very certain of. The past couple of days I have been a ball of anxiety, specifically today.

    A card lays on an altar. It’s yellow, with four large staffs in the foreground. They are decorated with greenery. There are two people dressed up and look to be celebrating in the middle ground. In the background is a castle, and people heading in that direction.

    My life is probably the most stable it’s ever been…but on my birthday, I feel the tug of lack. This is a very silly thing, as I have more than I ever thought possible. I am very grateful for my life…my family, the kids, our health, our home, our pup. 2013 Rikki could have never visualized anything, especially a way into this beautiful life.

    My birthday was a time of celebration. The people in the card are celebrating. It used to be an excuse for me to throw a party (I rarely needed an excuse, but still). Birthdays as an adult in recovery with two small children are…ordinary.

    There is beauty in ordinary. There is still a yearning there…to be known…to be seen. To be truly seen by our fellow humans is surely worth celebrating.

    Inevitably, I end up getting rather grumpy as we get closer to the day (i.e. me yesterday and today), and end up crying at some point because I feel let down. I don’t feel the glamor and excitement I used to around this day.

    This is not a bad thing. First off, the kind of partying I was doing was hardly glamorous. The excitement was simply anticipation for my next drink. My logical brain knows this. Second off, we grow as humans and priorities change.

    My birthday was one of those times I rarely had to explain my voracious drinking. I usually had to coax others to partake. My birthday gave me the confidence to demand people notice me, spend time with me, drink with me.

    I am richer in my life, now. I have two little humans who love every moment we spend together (for the most part, at least for now). I have a partner I am so grateful to…the understanding and love there gives me the ability to stand my ground.

    When I see the four wands in the card now, I think of home. I think of the balance that enables us to build our lives confidently. I think of my creativity, that has granted me mental bandwidth and better self-esteem. I think of my body, a long-neglected vessel that I am trying to tend to with more love and care. I think of my family, truly my everything. They are threaded through my being and my everyday in a visceral way I can hardly describe. I am so so lucky, even when I am too stubborn to see it. I think of my spiritual practice, which has led me to know witchcraft, and Catholicism, contemplative Christianity, Zen Buddhism, animism, and ultimately, that everything is god.

    Perhaps the people in the card are celebrating not a new adventure or abundance recently won. Perhaps they are sharing praise for the beautiful lives they’ve already co-created with the universe. Perhaps the invitation is to see all that’s there.

    • What helps to hold you up?
    • When you are having a day where you are feeling too reactive or overwhelmed, what is one practice that could help you zoom out and see everything as it is?
    • What do you feel needs celebrating in this moment? It can be any thing, big or small. Who are you celebrating this with?
    • In the card there is a castle indicating some type of future. What does that look like for you? What is the future you would find worth celebrating? What goodness are you wanting to call in for you, for your loved ones, for the collective?

    Shop my Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/starmothpress

  • The Artist’s Way

    The Artist’s Way Week 4 check-in

  • The body is sacred: a poem


    There may be meaning to taking quick steps; walking in circles; making loops again and again.
    Our cells beg, they want acts of devotion radical care for the complex systems which make up a body.
    Our brain may resist, asking for stimulation, crying for satisfaction.
    For so long, you caved.
    Now you see light at the end of the tunnel. You know wisdom comes from your chest…your beating heart…your pumping blood. It’s drumbeat that sounds the call of your soul; you’re never-ending vibration.

  • The Tarot Diaries: Three of Cups

    I’m not going to lie, when I pulled the three of cups it felt like a slap in the face. ESPECIALLY because I just finished week 3 of The Artist’s Way and struggled with this week. Ya’ll, I don’t have a lot of friends. Like IRL, call at the drop of a hat type friends. The card shows friends celebrating together. And I haven’t cheers like the people in the image since I was still chugging beers and taking shots of Everclear. 

    In week 3 of the Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron talks about Reclaiming Your Power, and one of the tasks was reaching out to a friend who makes you feel amazing and is fun to be around. It’s not that I don’t have friends like that — many don’t live near by and we’re all so busy that a random call like that may cause alarm.

    Since getting sober, I’ve kept my circle small. Celebrations are often with me, my husband and the kids. Sometimes we invite extended family along for certain things (such as the kids birthdays). I receive support in spirit from folks. Family is sparse and everyone is busy with their own lives. My creative work, which is usually my main focus outside of running the house, is just…not a priority.

    This card makes me realize that perhaps people don’t take it seriously because I don’t. And that hurts. I’ve sort of stumbled my way along the path to where I am now. It seems I am collecting all of my breadcrumbs and trying to put together a career. And…well, I’m a bit embarrassed about it.

    And I don’t know why. But I like to envision myself in this card.

    Or perhaps gathered at a table, surrounded by good friends. We hold space for our happy moments, and hold each other during moments that leave us wrung out, distraught. Children run freely through the home, all playing together…talking about whose house to stay the night at this week where they can build forts and tell ghost stories. And we can all trust that our loved ones are cared for together because we are kin. It’s a place I have in my mind, with people who’s faces I can’t quite see…and I don’t quite know how to cross the chasm and find myself building relationships with people again.

    So, I did the other exercises for Week 3, and will move on to Week 4 (video incoming, looking for the time/space to film). I will spend a week walking with the three of cups and learning to be more open. I did go to the gym for the first time in years today. My whole body was hesitant, but it feels vital to start caring for my body. That is a relationship that deserves to be tended as well.

    While meditating on this card today, I finished a painting. It’s quite the colorful watercolor painting, and sort of an abstract floral. It felt good to fall into flow with water and pigment and just move.

    Fun story, when you scan in work with neon watercolor — the color is all wonky. Look at the difference. 

    The flower feels reminiscent of the card, a collection of color and particles all coming together. The flower pushes out of the seed and up through the earth, searching for sunlight. It is held by all of the little pieces of the puzzle that fall into place before, during, after. This makes me think of those we may rely on. Nature as community, celebrating each other through the act of life, death, rebirth. Another representation of the three chalices held by three people.

    For now, I will walk with this card and attempt to keep my heart open. I will use my headphones less. I will try to make small talk more. And I will always remember that we all start somewhere…right?

  • This project is a weekly walk with an individual tarot card. I will analyze the card. I will connect it with personal anecdotes. I will make art that represents the card. I will try to embody the spirit of the card (or allow its’ spirit to embody me). I will look at the days of that week to see how the chosen card shows up in my day to day life. It will be a practice of getting to know myself, getting reacquainted with the tarot, and coming back into my life. Tune in for status reports daily-ish, or get the full week’s work in a delivered newsletter. 

    This weeks card is strength

    This morning I pulled the tarot card strength, which is card 8 of the major arcana. At first glance, I see the figure attempt to open the lion’s mouth. This is done in a tender way, but also forceful. It makes me think of walking my dog. She is constantly trying to eat things I don’t know that she should eat. I am consistently trying to open her mouth to spit out a bug or a plant I haven’t identified, or a piece of garbage left on the street.

    Ultimately, this practice of walking our dog, who we got a year and a half ago, has been the natural force to get my feet moving and my eyes open. Admittedly, I am still on my phone more than I would like, sometimes while walking her. Even if I tuck the phone away, I still struggle when I think of walking without music or an audiobook or podcast. But, since about midsummer, this has changed.

    Walking has turned into a meditation. It’s an act of presence. I have paid more attention to my surroundings. I have paid more attention to nature. I have learned a lot about my environment. I have met more people. I have written poems. I have gotten downloads for creative project ideas. I have felt…in flow.

    This comes back to strength because it brings me back to myself. Much like the infinity symbol above the person’s head in the card, I am reminded of forever returning. The daily minutiae used to be the bane of my existence…now it is an act of worship. I still struggle to pick up a dishcloth everyday. Laundry remains in the washer too long. But I am gentler. I am a buoy that gently rocks back and forth, back and forth. I may stray from the practices that help to keep me aligned with my body, my values, my soul…but I find my way back, each time a little bit quicker.

    It also makes me think of the forever-ness of living this creative life. What does it look like to start a project, to walk away without berating yourself or feeling like a failure, only to return when the time is right? There is often artwork I share because the art of sharing is an instant gratification I LOVE. I make things, and immediately want to show them to every person I know. This includes you, dear internet friend. I want to show you too. Strength is holding some projects back, tenderly, forcefully. It is knowing that some things require incubation. Not everything must be birthed immediately.

    I am learning this in my art practice. I will often tune in with a medium, work in it, and end up unfinished and unsatisfied with the end result. BUT…but…but, when I let it simmer. When I let the magic bake into it completely and then return to it? Usually it takes new shape, and ends up as something whole. I’m thinking this is what will be required of me as I continue writing. Some things are perfect for that immediate satisfaction. There are other projects, the big, scary projects I have been avoiding because of “insert favorite excuse here” that require patience.

    I think strength and patience are perhaps sisters. Or at least cousins.

  • I finished a sweater and update on the artists way (week two)

    freehand crochet sweater done, using lots of yarn from the first fiber festival I went to earlier this year 💚 my creativity takes many forms. 🦋

    I am on week 2 of the artist’s way, where I saw more struggle and reward.