Each month under the darkening light of the Waning Moon, I pull cards from The Storm Cloud Oracle to guide us through the coming weeks. After the Dark Moon, a time of dark skies, rest and reflection, the next lunar cycle begins afresh.

For each Dark Moon reading, I pull one card for the collective, a theme for the month, and another for each Zodiac sign. Together they offer insight, wisdom and guidance for the curious and the questioning.

These are your messages from the storm.

The card for all

The Three of Swords

May arrives with The Three of Swords, one of the most striking cards in the tarot, and there is no softening what it means. Three blades through a heart. Heartbreak. Grief. The sharp, necessary lessons of sorrow.

But here is what this card also carries: transformation. Your heart is pierced, not destroyed. You may be suffering right now, but you will come through this fortified, changed, more resilient than before. Things may not ever be the same again and that is not always a loss. The darkest moments are where clarity is forged. All the best songs, the most meaningful art, the most poignant poetry are born from the vulnerability of the human heart.

Taurus - The Number Thirteen

Reading: Thirteen has long been feared, but not by those with a different perspective. Taurus, this month The Number Thirteen asks you to examine what you have decided is unlucky, cursed, or working against you. Paired with The Three of Swords, any pain you are carrying right now is being filtered through that lens and if you have decided that means the world is against you, you will feel it twice as hard. Your thoughts are spells. Speak kindly to yourself. Think yourself lucky. Expect magic. The universe tends to agree with whatever you've already decided.

Gemini - The Fallen Teeth

Reading: Dreaming of losing your teeth is one of the most unsettling nightmares the human mind produces — and for good reason. Gemini, The Fallen Teeth arrives this month as a nudge you probably already knew was coming. There is something you have been avoiding, a gnawing feeling you keep pushing down like a dreaded dentist appointment. Paired with The Three of Swords, waiting will only make it hurt more. You don't need to fix everything today. But you do need to stop ignoring it.

Cancer - The Hourglass

Reading: Sand doesn't race or stutter through the hourglass, it flows, grain by grain, in its own rhythm. If you have been feeling like you should be further ahead by now, or like time is slipping and you are somehow behind, have patience Cancer. Paired with The Three of Swords, that feeling of time running out may be sharpened by grief - for time lost, for paths not taken, for a version of your life that looked different in your head. But everyone's hourglass runs differently. What's meant for you is not late. Trust the flow.

Leo - The Pentagram

Reading: The pentagram is one of the oldest protective symbols in existence - five elements held in balance, a circle drawn around the self. Leo, this month it appears in your reading as a clear instruction: draw that circle. Something or someone is draining you, leaving you scattered and overexposed. Paired with The Three of Swords, you may have already felt the cost of giving too much to the wrong place. Anchor yourself. Preserve your energy.

Virgo - The Dagger

Reading: A dagger is a weapon of close combat - silent, swift, easily concealed. It is the blade of betrayal, but also of protection and hidden strength. Virgo, The Dagger arrives this month asking you to look carefully at those closest to you, and at yourself. Paired with The Three of Swords, there may already be a wound here, and it's worth asking honestly how it was made. But be careful: are you seeing genuine threat, or gripping the hilt defensively where there is none? Not everyone is your enemy. Not everyone is your ally. Trust wisely this month, but do not stop trusting altogether.

Libra - The Moth

Reading: The moth doesn't escape its cocoon easily, it's not supposed to. The struggle is what gives it the strength to fly. Libra, you are in the thick of something hard right now, and The Moth wants you to know that is not a sign you are failing. Paired with The Three of Swords, the resistance you are feeling is real and it hurts. But you chose this path because you chose to grow, and growth has a cost. Don't give up now. What you are struggling with is exactly what will strengthen your wings.

Scorpio - The Coffin

Reading: Across cultures, the coffin marks a sacred threshold - not just of death, but of passage to what comes next. Scorpio, you of all signs understand this. The Coffin arrives this month to tell you that something is ready to be buried: a relationship, a belief, a version of yourself you have outgrown. Paired with The Three of Swords, you already know what it is and you already know it has been hurting you. Close the lid. Say your goodbyes. The road ahead awaits. 

Sagittarius - The Wilted Rose

Reading:  The wilted rose has its own kind of beauty - crisp faded petals, a musky perfume, the allure of something that has moved beyond its first bloom into something more enduring. Sagittarius, The Wilted Rose asks you this month to look again at something, or someone, you may be overlooking because it doesn't match the idea of perfection you had in mind. Paired with The Three of Swords, there may be grief here, for what something was, or for what you hoped it would become. But dead roses outlast the first bloom. Are you asking too much of someone? Or perhaps, even of yourself?

Capricorn - The Skull

Reading: Capricorn, The Skull is not here to scare you, it is here to focus you. Paired with The Three of Swords, any pain you are carrying this month is also a reminder that you are alive, that you are feeling, that time is moving. Are you spending it wisely? Are you truly living, or merely existing? One day all that will remain is bones. The Skull asks you to embrace the strange, the fleeting, the fully human experience because this life, exactly as it is, may be your only one.

Aquarius - The Pigeon

Reading: The Pigeon is overlooked, underestimated, and quietly extraordinary. It finds its way home across impossible distances using senses we don't fully understand. Aquarius, you have been feeling overlooked this month - perhaps dismissed, perhaps undervalued. Paired with The Three of Swords, there is a real hurt here that deserves acknowledgement. But The Pigeon also asks you to trust your own navigation. You know the way home. You always have. Stop waiting for someone else to recognise your abilities before you use them. 

Pisces - The Little Apple of Death

Reading: The Manchineel tree bears fruit so toxic that a single bite can blister your mouth and burn your throat - and yet it looks, for all the world, like something sweet and harmless. Pisces, The Little Apple of Death arrives this month with a simple warning: look before you leap. Paired with The Three of Swords, there may already be a sting you didn't see coming, or one still ahead if you don't pause. Check the contract. Read the small print. Examine what you are about to commit to carefully. Maybe, like Eve, you already know the consequences and are willing to take them. Just make sure you actually know what you're getting in to.

Aries - The Black Cat

Reading: Black cats don't care what you think of them. Famously indifferent, they choose their own path and let the whispers follow. Aries, The Black Cat arrives this month with a simple message: what others think of you is none of your business. Paired with The Three of Swords, there may be a hurt tied to being misunderstood, judged, or talked about - but that is their business, not yours. Stay in your lane. Trust your instincts. Know your own mind and don't be swayed by flattery, gossip, or fear of being left out. Let them.

The first edition of The Storm Cloud Oracle deck is now sold out, but will be back in September with a revised edition available in major bookshops.