Tarot in the Treetops

Dear Reader,

If you weren’t here last week, I introduced Threads and Thresholds, a free guidebook of prompts, rituals, and poetry for discovering tarot.

Choosing to weave tarot into my public as well as private creative practice is a slight pivot I’m making, and a part of me is nervous and a little self-conscious about it, knowing that getting more specific will inevitably push people away but hopefully draw more of the right people in.

I’m looking forward to continue sharing my tarot rituals with you.

If you like the guidebook and want to go further, I’d love to invite you to become a paid subscriber to this newsletter and get access to The Tarot Treehouse—my floating studio amongst the stars dedicated to tarot exploration through poetry, journaling, and art.

On the first of each month, you’ll receive a bonus email with poetry and a writing prompt inspired by a single tarot card.

And if you sign up for the annual subscription, you’ll also receive these bonuses:

• A handmade thank you card in the mail

• $10 off the Solstice Circle (my seasonal snail mail club)

This space is still a work in progress, but I wanted to give you an example of what the dispatches from The Tarot Treehouse will look like.

One thing I’m not entirely sure of is whether I’ll always draw randomly or just go with the cards I’m most interested in now. Initially I was planning on always drawing randomly, but now I feel like just letting myself choose intuitively which card I’m going to explore next. Maybe occasional random draws to spice it up.

My card of the year is The Hanged Muse, but the Magician is my secondary card and its energy has felt the most prominent recently. It’s also one of the archetypes of 2026, along with the Wheel of Fortune and the Sun.

So, it seemed like a good one to start with.

Now with the hands of a helper
a seamstress, a carpenter
knit me a cloak made of fire
the threads of the earth
they give death, they give birth
and see me trip over a wire
i’m made from the ocean
a blind fractured notion
buried and burned on the pyre
i’m under an oath
i’m a curse, i’m a growth
and i’ve always been a crier

I might start to experiment with other rituals like including a playlist for the card or a collage or painting, but the poetry and prompts will be the two constants.

The first paid post will be published on August 1st.

Entry to the treehouse is $5/month and you can choose to pay monthly or annually. If you sign up before July 31, 2026, you’ll be able to purchase the annual membership for just $40.

After that, the price will be increasing to $50/year. For those who are already paid subscribers, there’s no need to do anything on your end. If you have the yearly membership, the price will automatically increase on your next renewal date, so until then you can decided whether or not you want to stay. No hard feelings if it’s not for you anymore.

There’s also a Founding Members plan for $200+ for those who want to be primary patrons of the tavern and help keep the treehouse growing.

If you’re already a free subscriber, here’s how to upgrade:

1. Go to your Substack account Settings page

2. Under Subscriptions, click on the publication you want to update. Search for “Unfinished Alchemy” if you don’t see the name right away.

3. Under the Subscription section, click “change”.

4. Select the plan you want to switch to and click “change plan”. You should receive an email shortly after confirming your upgrade.

If you’re not already a free subscriber, then just click on the “Subscribe” button at the bottom of this email.

Hope to see you in the treehouse next month.

With love,

If you’d like to support my work but don’t want to commit to a paid membership, you can buy me a one-time “coffee” over on my Ko-fi page! Every little bit helps me to keep creating. <3

Kofi