lessons from dolly

Oct 1

3 min read

First of all, if you don't know that I love all things Tarot, now you do.

The day I found out that Dolly Parton had passed was a hard one. It's so hard to grieve in front of your children. They just don't get it. Our own big feelings can sometimes feel scary to them. I told my kids I was very sad, and not to take Mommy's bummed-out-ness personally.

My love for Dolly has always been in her idealism, tenacity, and unrelenting passion for what she believes in. I started supporting and volunteering with the Imagination Library a few years ago. It's amazing what Dolly did in order to secure monthly books for children 0-5 in underserved communities. Please go check this out and contribute if you can. My youngest two participated in the program and absolutely loved it. Each month they got a new book in the mail to keep. Many of the books are bilingual, and are age-appropriate for each child. We got so many wonderful books and I am so grateful for it. Our town lost our funding in 2025, so I had been showing up when I could to table events and dream up new ways to fundraise.

I never met Dolly in person, I am very aware that no one gets out of here alive, but her death came as a shock to me.

At the end of the day, I did some reflection and went to my new Tarot deck I found on vacation. I did a compass spread (4 cards either representing north / south/ east/ west or the four elements). While I shuffled, I asked, "what now?" "What can we learn from such a brilliant woman? How do we honor and continue this legacy?"

Here is what I got:

4 card tarot spread on my children's puzzle table.

If you are unfamiliar with Tarot - each card has their own meaning. (This is a travel tarot deck - hence the pictures of places of the world. I've seen Disney decks, flower decks, you get it.)

Some readers will go off of the pictures. I read the actual meaning of the cards, but these images blew me a away.

Hard work (note the rural mountainscape)
Stepping into your light (noteable country vibes)
Reflection (see a child reading)
and finally,
Pink Stardust. The ten of Swords.

The ten of swords encourages a collective unity, conversation, and spiritual inspiration. Pictured is a dark sky park - a preserve to honor the great night sky in defiance of light pollution. Pink sparkles and holding on to our values? Very Dolly.

Your affirmation for this card:

"By gazing into the night sky, I foster a sense of hope and inspiration for the future".

Here is what I take from it. We all have our beginnings. No matter how grand or how deeply we needed to escape. Commitment to hard work will get you wherever you want to go. The six of Wands represents a need to be wholly ourselves, despite what anyone else thinks. Dolly embraced what she imagined to be the most beautiful look when she was a young girl, even if that meant she was cosplaying the town hooker. Hold on to who you are, and own ALL of it. The affirmation for this card is:

" I shine brightly, embracing my unique light."

The Air/ East card is the young girl reading, or 4 of cups. The Cups symbolize reflection, and abundance. This is going inward. I have been seeing so many interviews with her after her passing. I had no idea she ever wanted a child, and couldn't have one. So she gave each child the gift of reading, in honor of her illiterate father, instead.

If you are reading this, trust that there is more out there for you. Trust in your own intuition, embrace your weirdness, don't ever quit on yourself early, and dream big dreams.

In other words, be like Dolly.