Success At What Cost? – Monday Oracle 4 May 2026

 

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”
— Lao Tzu

Hello, Lovelies!

For this quarter, I’ll be working with This Might Hurt Tarot by Isabella Rotman – a bold, honest, and deeply compassionate deck that doesn’t shy away from truth, but holds it with warmth, humour, and a fierce belief in your ability to grow through whatever life is asking of you.

Our card to guide us for the week ahead is the Ten of Wands – which speaks to the success you have or can bring to fruition now, but also about the price of that, and the load you’ve been carrying.

2026 is a profoundly intuitive and creative year, encouraging adaptability, flexibility, and new beginnings that are both practical and sustainable.

May Energies

May is a month of Self-Leadership. It’s time to understand yourself more deeply; your motivations, your patterns, your habits. And the choices and actions in your life that may be pushing yourself beyond what is sustainable.

This is a month to take a long, honest look at your life and ask:

👉 Is this actually working for me?

Not just in terms of outcomes — but in terms of how it feels to live it. Because you may be achieving things. You may be showing up, pushing through, getting things done. From the outside, it might even look like success.

But underneath?

You might be tired. Overextended. Carrying an impossible weight, and yet… still carrying it.

May brings an invitation to change that. To begin aligning yourself with:

• work that feels meaningful and sustainable
• relationships that support rather than drain you
• creative paths that energise rather than exhaust you

This is also a month for moving out of stuckness through recognising the patterns that keep you:
👉 overcommitted
👉 overwhelmed
👉 saying yes when you mean no

Because once you see those patterns clearly, you can begin to make different choices, and that’s where true Self-Leadership begins. Not in doing more, but in doing what actually matters — in ways that honour and protect your energy, your values, and your wellbeing.

🌿This Week’s Guidance

The Ten of Wands arrives with a very clear message:

You’re doing a lot.
But you’re also carrying too much.

This is the card of responsibility, effort, and follow-through. I know you’re going to recognise this in yourself…

It often shows up when you are capable, committed and reliable – and because of that, you’ve become the one who carries everything.

There’s no question here about your strength. You can do it. The real question is: Should you be doing it this way Because this card speaks to a kind of success that comes at a cost. The kind where everything gets done, everything gets held together, and everything keeps moving forward but you are exhausted in the process. And over time, that cost becomes unsustainable.

Pay attention to your thoughts and actions this week. You might notice:
👉 feeling stretched too thin
👉 saying yes when you really want to say no
👉 taking on things that don’t truly belong to you
👉 pushing through fatigue instead of honouring it

These are signs of the kind of overextension that leads to burnout which is the deeper layer of this card. Please remember that not everything you’re carrying is necessary. Some of it is habit, some of it is expectation (yours or other people’s) and the way you have crafted your identity (or accepted the identity that was thrust upon you). Also watch for unhelpful beliefs like “I have to do it all”, “If I don’t, everything will fall apart”, and “No one else will handle it properly.”

May’s energy is asking something different of you. It’s asking you to lead yourself better. That might look like putting something down, asking for help, doing less, but doing it more intentionally, or choosing what truly matters — and letting the rest go. Because real strength isn’t just about how much you can carry. It’s about knowing what is yours to carry… and what isn’t. You don’t have to drop everything. But you also don’t have to keep carrying it all.

Sometimes, the hardest part isn’t recognising the weight, it’s giving yourself permission to put something down.

📖Journaling Prompt

What am I currently carrying that feels heavy — and is it truly mine to hold?

Where could I create more space, support, or simplicity this week?

🌟 Top Tip of the Week:

Lighten the load—just a little.

Choose one thing this week to:
👉 delegate
👉 delay
👉 simplify
👉 or let go of entirely

Not everything has to be done by you. Not everything has to be done right now.

Small shifts can create real relief.

Crystals to support you this week – Moonstone, Pyrite, Citrine, Hematite, Labradorite, Smoky Quartz

And while this week is only just beginning, I seem to have jumped the gun on these energies…

🌿A note from the Treehouse

Here in the Treehouse, I’ve already been taking a hatchet to the old ways I’ve been doing things—streamlining, simplifying, and clearing things out like a woman on a mission.

Turns out, less really does create more—especially when it comes to creative energy.

It’s been a hard start to the year for me, and this past little while I’ve been looking honestly at everything I’ve been carrying.

Not just the practical things but the expectations, the habits, the annoyingly persistent “I should be doing more” stories that creep in when my life is already full. I’ve started asking myself  Is this actually mine to carry?

Some things are, of course.

My health. My writing. My closest relationships. My work that genuinely matters.

But a lot of the rest? Not so much.

So I’ve been simplifying.

Letting go of things done out of habit or obligation, reducing the noise, making space for what actually fuels me instead of draining me.

And the result has been… immediate.

Not perfect. Not magical. Not “everything is suddenly easy.”

But lighter.

Slowly I’ve created more space in my days. More room to think. And most importantly, more energy for creativity. Because when you’re not carrying everything you can finally pick up the things that matter most.

I’ve been putting that energy to good use.

I quietly crossed a milestone this week – 500 subscribers on Substack, which feels both surreal and deeply meaningful. Thank you, truly, for being part of that space with me.

I shared more of this slower, more reflective space in my latest Substack piece My Medicine Bag – Part 1 which is a very personal reflection on the objects, people, and moments that have shaped my spiritual journey. 

On the fiction front, I’m now sitting at around 30,000 words on my new novel, which is encouraging too. It’s early days, but the story is moving and more importantly, I’m showing up for it. Not perfectly, not in huge bursts every day, but consistently enough that it’s beginning to take on a life of its own.

One other thing I’m loving? Autumn has finally arrived. There’s a softness in the air now, and the nights are cooler. A gentle shift that feels like the world is exhaling after the intensity of summer.

I’ve been leaning into it.

Making soup.
Cooking simple one-pot meals.
Enjoying the comfort of slow food and warm evenings.

We’ve also been getting down to the beach most days for a short walk. Nothing strenuous – just time for us to get that hit of salt air, movement and water.

There’s something deeply satisfying about the recalibration that’s happening in my life right now. I highly encourage you to try it, and this week’s energies will help you get there.

Sending love, soup and crusty bread, and a gentle salty breeze, Nicole 😊💖🐳🍲✨