Happy Year of the Hermit from our Tarotvan
Solo... Soul Ohhhh
Hello from Tumut, NSW. This is where I grew up from the ages of about 6/7 to 17/18. It’s at the foot of the Snowy Mountains and has a population of 6,665. It was a beautiful country town to grow up in, and still is. The population was 6,000 when we were living there - it’s kind of refreshing that it has stayed a quaint country town.
We left Varsity Lakes, Qld on the Sunday 7th of December 2024 and made our way down the Queensland/NSW coast and meandered inland where it’s much easier finding spaces to park and friendly RV towns.
After Byron, we stayed the night in a little rest stop called New Italy. It was a stinking hot day and night so I left the Life in a Bubble Fly Screen up for as long as I could before I went to sleep (Tachi was already snoring in dreamland). Later, as I closed the sliding door (and woke sleeping beauty) the fly screen got caught in the door and jammed it! That was it… I couldn’t open it. I still had the two front doors but lifting Tachi’s 26kg frame over my shoulders onto her seat was a workout that I wasn’t really prepared for.
"Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you will keep digging" - Marcus Aurelius
Fast forward to Coffs Harbour where we parked for the night. I spoke to a local van guy and said if where I was parked would be ok. He said, yea sure. You’ll be fine. I park over yonder, they give me a key to the toilets so, you could park there too. It was a much smaller parking area so I stayed where I was.
I woke up the next morning and took Tachi for a wee walk then googled a car repair place to see if they could fix the side door jam. Success! They were so accommodating and told me to come straight around (at 7.30am) and they would see what they could do.
Turned out they did more than just help, the owner was waving me into his workshop and was giving my left front tyre a kind of deep and meaningful look and then calmly said “Your tyre is a bit flat, you’ve got a nail in it … Tony can fix that for you.”
Thank goodness I hadn’t taken off on a long trip as it would have blown the tyre out for sure, or made it dangerous to drive, or maybe I would have pulled over if I felt the tyre going flat … who knows. What I do know is that someone, I’d say James and Shine, were looking out for me.
There was a white council looking…type ute parked behind me when I drove off that morning from our overnight park, and I swear there was a dark aura around it. He was just staring. I really wanted to take a photo of him but decided not to. I’m not saying that he put the nail there, but my intuition nudged me a bit.
It turned out that the building next door was Tony’s place. Half an hour later they repaired the tyre and about an hour after that my side door was fixed.
It was a great morning! I threw money at Tony and thanked him profusely and went in for a hug with the sliding door man and he said, ahh Nup. So I just threw him extra cash and hugged Tachi instead, if there was another person around I would have gone in for the hug with them too!
We travelled down the highway thinking about all the different ways that it could of gone and I keep reminding myself that…
Nothing is a problem until I make it one.
After Coffs Harbour we travelled down the coast to Coopernook Forest Camp and then Hotel Coopernook. Check out the Motherships to the left of us (below). That’s a truck towing a caravan, with a boat on top! And you need a ladder to climb into the Blue Merc to my left!
If you buy a meal or have a beer, you can camp here for free. I had meals and they were delicious. I haven’t had a drink in a long time thanks to a mushroom experience. That’s for another day :)
All of the pink dots on the mud map are overnight stays. Four nights in the Coopernook area, five nights in Oberon, NSW, out near the Dam where we had the whole place to ourselves. One and Two nights in the other places. The two stops that we paid for parking were Gumma Reserve - $22 and Cowra Showgrounds $25.
Staying in our friend’s driveway in Tumut, NSW is like coming home. The weather is in true Summer mode with loads of vans and caravans around town. We are laying low and catching up with friends that I have known since we lived here.
Thanks Paul for introducing me to Jones’ bridge campground AND for showing me how to change a tyre on Nelly. Up until then I had no idea how to access the spare wheel from under the van. Bev and Ian, David and Paul, you are family, always will be. I loved catching up with you all x
Fast Forward to here and now…
We are parked in Highton, Victoria, at my sister’s office carpark - Thanks Jodie and Michael! It’s so cool waking up with the cafe across the road, making the best coffee. It’s great to see Mum and Dad who keep asking me if we will sleep at the house. I assure them that Nelly is as home as I’ve ever felt and as comfortable as I’ve ever been. We catch up during the day and make the most of our time while we’re here. Plus I have some maintenance to do.
We find parks around town and do readings as usual. This is our van life. No matter where we are, we’re home. We have some friends to catch up with over Summer and then we will head off to Adelaide and across to Perth for our next stretch I think.
HAPPY HERMIT YEAR TO YOU!
The Hermit card is ruled by Saturn in Virgo, although some say it’s ruled by Mercury. But let’s stick with Saturn. Saturn is the planet of responsibility, seriousness and authority. Saturn is also known as Cronus in Greek Mythology. He is our inner woundedness and the God of Time.
The art of being solitary and learning how to be alone (but never lonely)
How you spend your time.
What you choose to pay attention to.
Who you spend your time with.
How you spend your money.
How you invest your time and energy.
We can sabotage the above with our inner wounds that haven’t been felt or brought into awareness.
My tarot card is the Hermit, so this card resonates wholly for me. (Add your full birthday to find your tarot card number eg: 1+3+1+0+1+9+6+6=2+7 = 9). What’s yours?
Spending more time in nature.
Being more independent.
Focusing on what’s important and follow up with what you whole heartedly feel is your true alignment.
The Hermit understands that everything outside of us is our own inner reflection. Being kind to ourselves and using the skills and knowledge that you have been building over the years. Using this as a catalyst to feel the abundance of all of your hard work. Rest here, take time, appreciate how far you have come. You can choose now whatever you feel is right for you.
You are braver than you know, wilder than you imagine, more originally you than ever before and you have everything within you to make mindful choices. Big or small choices. They are all important. Trust yourself. You no longer need to seek approval from others. Your inner knowing thrives because your Soul Awarensss is your true nature.
My commitment this year is to focus on what is in front of me and appreciate it fully. If it’s a song, I’ll listen - not check a message at the same time. I’ll spend time wisely and mindfully. When I’m writing, I’ll commit to finishing what needs to be done, rather than getting side-tracked in procrastination. I’ll commit to my work with James and Shine - my daily practice has intensified and so has my connection to the cards and coaching clients.
What’s your commitment to self for the year? I’d love to hear it x
GUESS WHAT!
Meg and I have finished 78 CARDS!! We have completed the entire tarot deck “Tell Me a Story Tarot”! Meg has hand painted every single one and I have guided her with my insights of the cards - together we have done it! They are truly Wonderful, words just don’t express our excitement enough! We have some tweaks to do and some printing and boxing details to figure out. But we are currently in our 4 of Wands and celebrating this milestone. We can’t wait until you are doing your readings with our cards :).
We will let you know more when we figure out our next steps.
Love,
Tania and Tachi xx
Thank you to everyone for being here. And a special thank you to our Substack Vanlifer/financial supporters.
We appreciate you taking time out to read my writing and sharing in our travels. It means more to me than you know.
Welcome Toni T - Thank you for being here x
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So nice to read of your travels. My number is 6 for this year and I’m finally writing a book! much love to you xxx
This update is wonderful Tania… wow!!
I can’t wait for the cards you’ve designed to be available 🙏
So to work out which is my own Tarot card
I add all numbers in my date? It comes to 37
Do I then reduce it further to 10 or 1???
With love from Oli xx