Ampersand Gazette #104
Welcome to the Ampersand Gazette, a metaphysical take on some of the news of the day. If you know others like us, who want to create a world that includes and works for everyone, please feel free to share this newsletter. The sign-up is here. And now, on with the latest …
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The Fool’s Guide to Major Life Decisions
Several years ago, I stopped going to therapy. I no longer trusted myself to tell the story of my life in a way that felt forward-moving. Instead of therapy, I invested in an astrological session every few months; at about $200 a session, I saved roughly $3,000 a year.
It was a relief to have someone talk about me in new, abstract terms. I surrendered to information that felt larger than my construction of self. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one thinking this way. According to the Pew Research Center, 30 percent of U.S. adults say they consult astrology or a horoscope, tarot cards or a fortune teller at least once a year.
During the past decade, I have explored Tarot, and I have developed a new emotional language that feels rooted in something far from the Westernized psychologisms of talk therapy. With Tarot, I see life themes as symbolic, not endemic.
According to Pew, most people who consult esoteric practices like Tarot do so “just for fun,” or they say they do, anyway. It’s enjoyable to toy with fate. If we can play with it, we can control it. Or we can play at controlling it.
While in therapy, I got too good at telling one story. But Tarot is full of many stories. In that way, Tarot is a text. But it is not fixed; each time a new combination brings a randomness that complicates the narratives we think we know.
Excerpted from an Opinion Essay by Makenna Goodman in The New York Times
“The Fool’s Guide to Major Life Decisions”
November 30, 2025
C’mon, I had to read this. For the title alone, and when the author flipped from a therapeutic narrative to an esoteric one, I clapped my hands aloud. Tarot in The New York Times. Wow. Whoa. And how cool.
The tarot itself is cool. I use mine judiciously, most especially when I’m thoroughly at sea and need some help to find a next step.
The tarot is not a professional advising me. Nor a doctor diagnosing me. It’s a mirror. We all need mirrors, often just to figure out what we ourselves are thinking or doing.
The point Ms. Goodman made about therapy is a good one. She got “too good at telling one story.” I’m presuming she meant one perspective on her story. It’s this very thing that has so radically changed my own counseling practice.
I still work with the occasional person, especially those who are serious about living their lives according to their spiritual convictions. But I no longer work with anyone who is looking for a therapeutic story to settle on to tell and retell.
What I tell folks is that I am not in the business of understanding, although understanding is often the by-product of our work together. Instead, I am in the change business. If you want to change something in you or in your life, you know how to find me. Otherwise, I’m not the right person to walk with you.
I so appreciated that Ms. Goodman calls the tarot a text. It is, indeed, that. Tarot tells the story of Every Person. The first card is The Fool—the innocent, just embarking upon life. That soul is every soul. The other seventy-one cards are life’s experiences and lessons which all of us share. The only variation in them is sequence.
Using any sort of divination tool is only as good as the practitioner. The tool itself is immaterial. If you think you need some assistance with next steps in this coming new year, please use your tarot, or mine, to create the change you want to see in the world.
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This week I bought the domain name ampersandanswers.com. This is the blog that I have been attempting to gestate and birth for the past year. I was the last to know. SO typical.
The amazing thing is that once I realized it, the questions needing spiritual answers started coming. &mpersand Answers is a how-to blog—how to apply universal spiritual principles to everyday living for a happier, thriving experience of life.
The plan for the moment is to post an &mpersand Answer twice a week—on Mondays and Thursdays. Eventually, I will record them, and turn them into a podcast. First, I get to clean up the recording studio, and figure out how to configure the equipment. Never fear, I will.
For now, I’ll be posting these on susancorso.com until I figure out what I’m going to be doing for my digital presence in 2026. That’s been on the agenda for more than a year, and I’m just now getting to it.
I started out to give myself a hard time about all the delays on my work, and then I just quit it. I’ve spent six months unwell. For heaven’s sake. Be hard on yourself, why don’t you! I stopped.
I did what I could. And that’s good enough, and that seems like a really good message to get across in these last few rushed holy-days. Do what you can with what you have. That’s all that’s asked of any of us.
If you’ve hit your limit in any arena, stop. Tell yourself you’ve done enough, and let it go. It’ll feel amazing, and you’ll probably find out that you really have done enough.
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Here’s a universal affirmation. It works every time, for everyone, always and forever …
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Argh. You would think, since I’ve been writing fiction for more than twenty years, that I’d made enough version mistakes so as never to make another one, but oh, no. Tony and I sat down over the weekend and went through the remaining notes, and I was done! Until … I realized that I’d used the wrong version in which to make the final corrections. Now I have to … grrrr, get to … compare every word of the two last versions to make sure one has all the corrections.
This first title is Besieged. It takes place in 1980 at the very outset of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The series is a paranormal retelling of the AIDS crisis in which, for a change, humanity does the right thing instead of the wrong one.
I’m thinking of starting this book off in a different way than I ever have before—on my YouTube Channel, reading a couple of chapters a week. No, not the perfect of an audiobook, instead the imperfect of a bedtime story read aloud. We’ll see
Impending Decision, the fifth Boots & Boas Romance, is live as an ebook and in print on Amazon. If you’re a butch-femme romance fan, there are five of them so far, and a great binge for cozy holiday weekends, with several more in the pipeline.
There’s also a delicious Mex mystery called Christmas Presence, that you might just love.
I am excited to report that Tony is through editing the final book of The Subversive Lovelies. It’s called Jaq Direct. Once he’s done, after we finish Besieged, I’ll input the changes, and we’ll proof it aloud. Then poof! That whole series is complete.
Please make this indie author happy. Choose one of my series, and read all of them. Then review all of them. That’s the way others find books.
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Special Request:
Send me your spiritual questions please. You may do so anonymously, or I won’t print names, etc. As of now, I’m posting &mpersand Answers twice a week.
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A reminder: a couple months ago, Tony started a new writing group called Body Double for those who want to keep a monthly hand in their writing, but aren’t up to a weekly commitment yet. It’s two prompts, no feedback, just a shared writing room. People find it extremely helpful to sit in community even working on their own material. It meets Thursday nights once a month at eight EST. If you’re intrigued, write to him here.
Working through Besieged, I’ve had a huge realization, and that is that I need some real-time events, more than just actual years, to anchor the stories, and that they can’t be consecutive years. Too much didn’t happen for too long. So now I’m up to my eyeballs in research on HIV/AIDS again. Talking with Tony about it is a blast. He meets me right where I am as an author. As a result, I cannot recommend him enough. If you’ve got a book cooking for 2026, I know a guy who is an immeasurable help.
Seriously, this is the guy. He’s edited my books for more than 20 years, so I ought to know. Find him here. Oh, and here’s his substack Subscribe here.
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I finished: A Brief History of the Female Body: An Evolutionary Look at How and Why the Female Form Came to Be by Dr. Deena Emera
Here’s what the blurb says:
What if the most frustrating parts of the female body—period pain, pregnancy risks, menopause—weren't flaws, but features shaped by evolution?
In A Brief History of the Female Body, evolutionary biologist and mother of four Dr. Deena Emera blends groundbreaking science with personal insight to explain how evolution shaped the female body—and why it matters today.
Inside, readers will discover:
Why menstruation, morning sickness, and menopause exist—and the evolutionary logic behind them
How traits often seen as inconvenient or flawed are actually adaptive survival mechanisms
The hidden biological trade-offs in pregnancy, childbirth, and female aging
Accessible, stigma-free explanations of complex reproductive science
Insights that empower women to better understand and advocate for their health
Praised as "eye-opening," "life-affirming," and "a must-read for every woman and those who love her," it's more than just a biology book—it's a guide to reclaiming ownership of the female body's story.
I didn’t know it, and I wouldn’t until I found it, but I happened upon tiny clue-lettes on how I’m going to rewrite the science of HIV/AIDS even if I’m not meant to be an evolutionary biologist any time soon. We have a friend who is a big mucky-muck geneticist, and I plan to bring her my fanciful imaginings, and ask her to help me make them into real science.
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Are you waiting for a sign?
How about this one?
So here’s Peace on Earth.
A sweet black-and-white cat,
curled up on the blanket of snow
underneath the
utterly ridiculous
PINK PLASTIC CHRISTMAS TREE,
which we only
have because of her,
along with a HUGE
trunkful of Radko Handblown
Christmas Ornaments
which stay there
because between their brilliantine
SPARKLE
and that of the tinsel,
A little cat doesn’t stand a chance
Of Christmas Peace.
Or more, a little cat’s
parents don’t.
What I do for love.
And that’s why I do a lot of what I do.
For love.
How about you?
Set aside all the tradition,
and show up for your Holy-Day
for the sake of love, and only love.
The world is an ooky
place right now,
but Love is changing it.
Staying with Love
means staying with
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Not Or.
Do it.
Stay with &.
Happy, Merry, Bright to all of you & yours.
With love,
S.
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I am, without doubt, certain that And is the secret to all we desire.
Let’s commit to practicing And ever more diligently, shall we?
Until next time,
Be Ampersand