Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic: Tarot for the week of July 28th, 2025
How to slow down and move forward when you find yourself bouncing from aspirational thoughts to utter paralysis.
Hi friends,
Welcome to the very first installment of Every Little Thing You Do is Magic: the Substack series. I’m your pal Moorea, co-author and artist of Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic, the tarot deck and workbook, as well as the 52 Lists journal series and various other books on self-care, empowerment, and self-exploration.
I’ve been reading tarot cards for over 15 years now—first for myself and friends, then offering readings to customers in my former eponymous retail shop in downtown Seattle, WA. Amidst the tumultuous COVID pandemic and cultural shifts of 2020, I began offering virtual tarot readings for folks needing direction, inspiration, and hope. From that desire to offer care and support, I found myself dreaming of creating my own tarot deck.
After four years of writing and creating massive amounts of art, my dear friend, co-author, and multidisciplinary artist Callie Little and I published our tarot deck and workbook through Clarkson Potter + Penguin Random House in 2024.
Now, I’m hungry to keep sharing resources with you—to bring you joy, clarity, and connection.
So let’s get into our first tarot reading in this new Substack series! 🎴
Oof—my cards are stiff. Or are my hands stiff? Or is my practice just… out of practice? I’m shuffling my tarot cards, and they’re feeling sticky. Not icky—just a little stuck, like they’re waking up from a dormant period. And if you’re feeling something similar, this card reading is for you too.
I shuffle three more times. Each one is smoother, more graceful, more full. This is the state of being we’re aiming to manifest through this reading.
I split the deck in half and meditate on the thought:
“What does my mind’s eye need to fixate on this week so that I can regret less and feel more fulfilled?”
Hold that question as you scroll down and I flip the card…
Temperance, Reversed – The Pulse
Before you wince—some people assume reversed cards mean “bad news,” but not I—let me assure you: this reversal is more of a recalibration than a reprimand.
How you might be feeling:
A little off-kilter.
Like you're pouring from an unsteady cup—
fragmented, overextended, spun out.An offering to reset:
Slow the swirl.
Let rhythm find you again.
Be gentle as you return to yourself.A resource for reflection:
Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic workbook (pages 58–59)
Let the page hold you while you recalibrate.A gem to hold close:
Copper—a metal of alchemy and transformation.
It conducts healing through conflict.
It opens channels where energy once stalled.A song to press play on:
“Los Ageless” by St. Vincent
Let it move through you. Let it say what you couldn’t.A scent to ground you:
Bonfire. Ash and ember.
The memory of warmth. The ritual of release.A number to sit with:
Fourteen—the sacred chaos of redistribution.
(1 + 4 = 5)
The five points of the pentacle: earth, air, fire, water, spirit.
Balance your elements. Let none be forgotten.
Ok ok ok… What is Temperance, really?
In the Major Arcana’s “Epic Quest to Enlightenment,” Temperance is the bridge between Death and The Devil—both of which deal in truth, transformation, and shadow integration. Temperance is the card of alchemical synthesis: finding meaning and flow through what once felt like contradiction.
So let’s return to the question we asked earlier:
“What does my mind’s eye need to fixate on this week so that I can regret less and feel more fulfilled?”
Well, my friends, it’s exactly that: finding the middle path between regret and fulfillment.
We’re so quick to see things in black and white—good vs. bad—vacillating between two extremes. But what if you actually have nothing (or at least far less) to regret than you think? And what if utter fulfillment is a pipe dream so idealized that it launches you straight back into regret?
Do you see the way you’ve been bouncing back and forth like a regretful ping-pong ball, hitting the wall of false fulfillment—never satisfied, always returning to where you started?
Don’t get more mad at yourself for doing this silly dance we all do.
Just sloooow down, babe.
Temperance in My Deck + Workbook
In the Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic workbook, my co-author Callie and I describe Temperance as the friend who reminds you to pause—to gather the wisdom of your past without rushing into the next fix.
When upright, this card offers balance.
When reversed, it asks: What’s out of sync, and how might I lovingly adjust?
“You’ve recently indulged to the point of imbalance, perhaps from a place of discontent or anxiety. Now that it’s come to the surface, trust your ability to make necessary adjustments to your habits.”
— Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic, p. 58
Here’s the adjustment I want you to visualize:
Your floaty little ping-pong ball self is going to test out what it feels like to become a heavy-ass, slow-rolling, gorgeous, shiny bowling ball, headed straight and steady toward what you truly crave.
The Reversal: A Soft Alarm
In Tarot for Change, Jessica Dore reminds us that Temperance isn’t just about calm—it’s about holding multiple truths at once, without collapsing into either/or thinking. When reversed, it flips our perspective and shows us where we’re trapped in old mental loops or disoriented by overstimulation.
“At the root of our dualistic thinking is a fear that we don’t know ourselves.”
— Jessica Dore, Tarot for Change
Have you found yourself ricocheting between extremes lately?
Overworking, then zoning out. Caretaking, then withdrawing. Hyper-planning, then ghosting your to-do list?
Yeah. Me too.
Temperance reversed suggests we may be trying to self-soothe through intensity, when what we actually need is intentional integration.
As a Gemini, I feel this deeply. Intensity is my nature. It’s comfortable. It gives me BIG evidence of the changes I’ve made. But big changes aren’t usually the ones that stick.
It’s through practice that habit is formed. And when habit becomes heartfelt, ritual blossoms.
Ritual—that’s the destination we’re aiming for as we begin this weekly Tarot rhythm together.
You Are Not Alone in the World:
Community, Conflict, and the Power of Both/And
Lane Smith’s 78 Acts of Liberation reframes Temperance through the lens of collective growth. They write about the Harlem Renaissance as an act of radical Temperance—not moderation, but expansion through contrast and multiplicity.
Now, this may sound contradictory to everything we’ve explored so far. But actually, it’s integrated. When we try to establish consistency in our thoughts, feelings, and ways of being, we inevitably face external disruptions. Conflict between what we seek and what the world throws at us is inevitable.
And still, we roll on like that slow and steady bowling ball.
The world outside is the one throwing ping-pong balls our way. We just keep moving forward, smooth and strong.
“Temperance asks that we accept that not all conflicts find resolution…
It’s about achieving polyphony, as in jazz.”
— Lane Smith, 78 Acts of Liberation
Polyphony is the musical term for the simultaneous combination of multiple, independent melodies that harmonize with each other.
This Week's Reminder
You don’t need to fix everything.
You don’t need to reorient completely.
This is a steadying.
You’re not the kind of bowling ball that crushes everything in your path.
You’re focused. Composed.
You stay on your personal journey while life intersects with the lives of others.
Hellos and goodbyes. Interruptions and harmonies.
Try celebrating the small, melodic moments.
You're not a problem to be solved. And neither is the world around you.
So come back to yourself and ask:
What harmony already lives inside the dissonance I’ve been avoiding?
An Additional Mini Spread – Rebalancing Ritual
Pull 3 cards:
Center – How Temperance reversed is showing up for me
What supports my reintegration
What disrupts it
Optional 4th card (if drawn reversed):
4. What helps me hold both/and gracefully?
A Playlist to Keep you Grooving Through the Week
Tarot Mixtape #1: Rebalancing Ritual
Inspired by the Temperance Reversed Tarot Card
A moody, magical blend of sounds to help you shake it out, slow the swirl, feel your edges, and find your rhythm again. Inspired by the Temperance card in reverse—this is music for realigning your feelings.
Find this mixtape on Spotify >
So, What’s Next?
This first Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic session is fully free—just a little taste of what’s to come.
Starting next week, the first 40% of each post will remain accessible to all readers, but the deeper exploration of the card of the week, along with additional resources, will be available to paid subscribers only.
Why? Because this is my life’s work—and your financial support keeps me going in this collapsing, capitalistic world.
If you ever want to barter or trade a paid subscription for something you make, I’m very open to that! Just shoot me a message. 🙂 And if you don’t have anything to trade, a $5 monthly subscription is a kind and meaningful act of support.
Paid subscription options:
Monthly Subscription: $5 monthly
Annual Subscription: $50 annually
Founding Members: $100 annually.
- Founding members receive a hand painted miniature landscape painting in the mail.
Paid subscriber benefits:
Subscriber-only posts and full archive
Discount codes to my shop mooreaseal.com
Full tarot readings, music playlists, printable downloads, and other goodies
Thank you for being here. Let’s stay curious together.
With love,
Moorea 🌙
Citations & Thanks
Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic by Moorea Seal (thats me!) & Callie Little
Tarot for Change by Jessica Dore
78 Acts of Liberation: Tarot to Transform Our World by Lane Smith