Bibliomancy, Mercury Retrograde, and a Fallen Fig

Welcome or welcome back 🖤 I hope you’re not totally melting this summer, unless you’re into that kind of thing. I don’t know about you…but I’ve been in a very ~esoteric~ mood lately.

That being said, I’m showing you an easy way to try out the ancient practice of bibliomancy, dabbling in astrology, and divulging what a fig that fell into my lap taught me.

Feel free to hit reply to let me know your thoughts, and share this newsletter with a friend if you think it would resonate with them!

One of the biggest comforts in my life is that when things feel uncertain, I can always turn to my witchy ways for guidance. My tarot cards are typically my first line of action, but I also like to look to books for advice. Time for a brief history lesson.

Bibliomancy, or the practice of using books to predict the future or to receive guidance, has been practiced by humans for quite some. Evidence shows that as far back as ancient Greece, a type of bibliomancy called sortes was performed. In this practice, a random passage or sentence was drawn from a written work and interpreted. Today, bibliomancy is practiced by religions and spiritual practicioners all around the world!

If you’ve been following along for a while now, you know that I’ve incorporated witchy practices into my novel writing and editing process. I made a creative soulmate along the way when I learned more about the life and work of Tennessee Williams, a renowned 20th century playwright—and I even had a spooky experience connecting with him on his birthday earlier this year.

It had been a little while since I revisited his work, and I’ve been feeling like I needed an extra dose of inspiration to get through what has felt like a brutal editing process. Why not hit up my iconic deceased mentor? I lit a candle, used my palo santo to cleanse myself and my space, and opened up my box set of his collected plays with a specific question in mind: Tennessee, what advice do you have for me?

I flipped to a random page, and I just so happened to land on one of the last pages of his play The Night of The Iguana. Throughout the play, Nonno, a poet and grandfather in his nineties, is on a mission to complete his final poem. The page I flipped to is the exact page in which he finally finishes writing it, and is congratulated by his granddaughter Hannah. She tells him, “Thank you for writing such a lovely poem! It was worth the long wait.”

It was just the pep talk I needed. A nudge to keep going from beyond. Through the long days of editing, the constant questioning if my book will ever see the light of day, the sacrifices I’ve made to write it and keep showing up. It’ll all be worth it. I know it will.

En Avant!

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Rest assured, I’m not here to fearmonger about the pitfalls about Mercury in retrograde. I actually think this can be a really great time to reassess the things in our lives that could use some fine-tuning. The Cancer retrograde we find ourselves in until July 23rd also means it’s time to bring on the water works.

In all seriousness, Cancer is a sensitive and emotional sign—so consider this your reminder that it’s okay to let out a good cry every now and then. It’s also an extremely intuitive sign. Remember: It’s never a bad idea to trust your gut.

Personally, I’m taking a new look at my routines and sense of discipline, but in a gentle way. Don’t get me wrong, I get things done when I need to. But I’m ready to stop making my life harder than it needs to be and lock in (especially with the launch of my new podcast, This Might Sound Strange right around the corner).

I’m reminding myself of the small steps I can take to make each day a little more organized. For example, I spent a few minutes on Sunday evening planing out the upcoming week in my physical planner, and I was surprised by how much I was starting to feel like that girl again. It really is the little things that make a difference.

I’m curious…what will you be reevaluating this retrograde? Reply to this email and let me know! Let’s keep each other accountable 🫶

I was sitting outside under a tree at the park, and I hadn’t realized it was a fig tree. As I sat there reading, a ripe fig pelted me at full speed from above. It landed right in my lap. Well, in my hair, too. And all over my blanket. Safe to say, it demanded my attention.

It was sticky, but I couldn’t help but laugh as I scattered the gunk onto the ground around me. I remembered that Sylvia Plath wrote about figs in the context of missed opportunities from having too many choices. While I understand the sentiment…that’s not my interpretation of the almighty fig. Walk with me. This is about to get esoteric.

If everything is interconnected—like the roots of the fig tree, growing underneath the ground and up into the air—then we already are all of the choices available to us. They exist within and without. Above and below.

That’s what they want you to forget in today’s age of artificial scarcity. They want to make you believe that everything you have within you—and everything that nature provides—isn’t already enough.

I eventually moved to a different spot in the park after being pelted by the fallen fig. It led me to a new patch of grass where I saw a big fluffy dog chasing a smaller one. Two people lying down on a picnic blanket, fingers intertwined as they listened to music on shared earbuds. An elderly woman with bright red hair doing Tai Chi in the park, wearing a striped red shirt that matched her hair perfectly.

So maybe figs don’t represent wasted potential. Maybe they represent enjoying the sweetness wherever it leads you.

Recommended reading (AKA past esoteric thinkpieces):

I found Derek’s videos via Instagram and was instantly hooked. Whether he’s talking fragrances, lip balm choices, or pop divas, he’s doing the kind of research I didn’t know I needed. I mean, have you seen the gay fragrance matrix he created? He surveyed over 1,500 people to put it together. It’s everything.

Oftentimes, anything related to beauty (hint: anything feminine-coded) is written off as frivolous and silly. But Derek knows that the choices we make when it comes to how we present ourselves can say a lot about us and the way we move through the world.

Check out his Substack newsletter for the latest musings in beauty, and solidify your place in queer fragrance history by taking his survey!

That’s it for today. Want more weird?

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The Weird Girl Edit is a weekly newsletter written by Maya Rector, and it gets published every Wednesday. View past editions here. If you haven’t already, subscribe for the latest wacky musings in literature, media, and pop culture each week!