Hi.
...and we're back! With some news.
Hi!
It's been a minute. (Approximately 59,000 minutes, but who's counting?) I hope the last several weeks have treated you well.
During this time away, I’ve done a fair amount of pondering, ruminating, and realigning. Unsurprisingly, I didn't manage to solve the riddle of art and late capitalism, nor how to navigate it in a healthy, sustainable way. (If you have the answers, let me know.) But I did have a couple realizations:
I missed this space — the act of writing it, and especially you, dear readers — very much.
It was time for a refresh.
This newsletter began as a personal practice in a very different climate. It was a way to show up every week, explore the questions that plagued me, and incorporate my love of tarot as a reflective tool into my writing. (In essence, to create the kind of unstructured pieces I longed to write but would’ve had a tough time pitching to traditional outlets.) The name, Between a Rock and a Card Place — a play on the idiom "between a rock and a hard place" — was chosen off the cuff because it made me laugh. As its unwieldiness may suggest, there was zero strategy behind it.
But after years of everyone getting it wrong (“The Card Rock Café” stands out as a favorite), having no idea what the newsletter was about, and the moniker always getting cut off in preview lines, the path forward was clear.
To that end, I'm excited to welcome you to The Magic Hour.
If you've been reading for a while (thank you), I can assure you that the DNA of this newsletter will remain the same. My hope is simply that the new name a) is more clear and aligned with the mission of what we do here, and b) allows for a bit more flexibility in what I can share.
Magic gets a bad rap. Too often condemned to the realm of hocus-pocus and abracadabra, I believe true magic is innate and available to us at any time.
There is magic in a song or a certain turn of phrase. There is magic in the way these words are shepherded from a screen, to your eyes or ears, to your mind, where they blossom with meaning. There is magic in connection.
There is magic in being a person, no smoke or mirrors required.
The magic hour is an everyday occurrence — that stretch of time when the world, with all its heartbreaks and challenges, feels a little softer, if only for a while. It invites us to stop, breathe deeper, behold the sky, and wonder after the mystery of existence and our place within it.
In a world that’s inundated with marketing cosplaying as narrative and robots masquerading as people, this newsletter celebrates the power of our stories, ideas, and lived experiences. The magic of being human.
The Magic Hour goes out on Sunday evenings (Eastern Time) to help soothe Sunday scaries and usher us into the week.
As regular readers have come to expect, letters typically include a personal essay paired with something reflective, uplifting, or inspiring — a card reading, recommendation, short feature, or found treasure.
My aim is to provide a soft landing place, a warm community, and the occasional spark of humor, hope, and understanding.
I take an intuitive approach to the newsletter, and will do my best to strike a balance of keeping some writing accessible to all, while honoring the work that goes into it and ensuring value for paid subscribers.
To that end:
Free subscribers are guaranteed one issue a month.
Paid subscribers receive it every week.
Paid subscribers also get access to Magic Hours (like office hours, but better) — virtual meetups, live communal card readings, and workshops. This is included in the price of a paid subscription.
Last but not least, paid subscribers get first dibs on 1:1 tarot readings and creative consults. (A handful of appointments are posted each month and shared via the newsletter. They typically sell out within 24 hours.)
As I value your presence, and wish to create a positive reading experience, most paid letters will be sent only to the paid list — I cannot in good faith assault anyone with paywalls week after week, even if that’s what drives subscriptions. For the full experience, and to never miss a post, please consider upgrading.
In a world where every human, brand, and entity seems to have a newsletter (seriously, I just subscribed to an otter) I’m deeply honored to have a place in your inbox, and in your week.
Thank you for being here. Let’s make some magic.
As of June 2nd, paid subscriptions will be unpaused. (Subscriptions will pick up exactly where they left off — the pause did not count toward your monthly or annual billing cycle. No action is needed on your part.)
Paid subscriptions mean the world and make this possible. If you’d like to join (or re-join), you can do so here. ❤️
All back issues of Between a Rock and a Card Place will live on in the archives.
In celebration of where we’ve been — and what’s to come — here’s a look back at seven favorite moments from the past few years…
7. Reasons to Keep Going
I wrote this after getting upsetting news, on a day when I didn’t have a proper essay in me. Most of the time, a newsletter comes from a place of seeking rather than knowing, and such was the case with this one. “If you look closely enough, inside every flower there is a story about the winter that came before it.”
(This one features an audio voiceover of me reading the post, if you prefer to listen to it like a pep talk.)
6. Twelve Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started This Newsletter
If you’ve spent any time in the Substack universe, you’ve no doubt been accosted by seen someone promising the secrets to “growth.” This post is…not that. Four years in, it can still feel like throwing spaghetti at a wall. But these points continue to serve me, not just with a newsletter, but as a human person putting my work (and self) out into the world.
5. They Can’t All Be Hits
This is a perfect example of how the internet is a dirty, dirty liar. I wrote this post — so one might think I know what I’m talking about — and yet its message is one I need to learn, over and over again.
“They cannot all be hits. That’s just basic math.
A ‘hit,’ after all, is a very narrow definition of success—critically acclaimed and commercially successful. And sure, that sounds like a dream. But trying to reverse engineer one is like trying to make a meteor shower or a thunderstorm—really not our business.”
4. The Places That Save Us
Though it didn’t break the internet, this might be my favorite post. It speaks to a feeling I ponder all the time, more so with every passing year.
“There comes a time when visiting places has less to do with touring space and everything to do with touring selves. When driving through a stretch of town or walking down a forgotten street becomes a pilgrimage to who we used to be.
I spy ghosts all over this town. All of them are me.”
3. Life’s Not a Race, It’s a Party
Sure, there are age limits in this world — I’ve missed my chance to be an astronaut, FBI agent, or air traffic controller, to name a few — but I’d like to believe that one can live an expansive, courageous life at any juncture. As these spirited individuals show, it’s never too late to change your mind, to try something new, to arrive.
2. I Watched a Guy Eat a Barrel of Cheeseballs (and I Will Never Be the Same)
Some might call it gluttony. Others, performance art. Others still may deem it a desperate cry for attention. You know what I call it? Magic. That’s the best word for what I witnessed when hundreds of strangers gathered in a public square to cheer for a dude with a dream of consuming a tub of neon orange snacks. May wonders never cease.
1. Everything I’ve Ever Learned
It seems only fitting to end this list…with a list. This is a compilation of multiple year-end, anniversary and birthday posts — 62 pieces of found wisdom — and may truly be everything I know. May it meet you wherever you are.
If you’d like to help me make this relaunch a success, you can hit the heart button (which encourages the robot overlords to show it to more people), and restack/share this post, or any of the posts I’ve linked above.
As always, thank you so much for reading. x
I know I’m not alone when I say my Substack experience just hasn’t been the same during your hiatus. I’m glad you took out time for yourself AND I’m so glad you’re back! 🫂❤️🔥 love the new name ✨🔮 Thank you for making life cozy again.
No pressure but you kinda are the best thing about this place.