Find more information about the Prairie Divination Deck, including photographs, at https://www.megankaminski.com/prairie-divination.
Antennaria plantaginifolia and Antennaria neglecta
Sometimes it feels like winter will never end. When looking out into a frost-lined field or down at frozen puddles curbside as you cross the avenue, the wintery chill can easily spread from your bones into your mind. While this cold clarity makes room for reflection and restoration, the first green sprouts of spring signal the promise of new beginnings. Prairie pussy toes, also known as “early everlastings,” are one of the earliest blooming wildflowers in pastures and meadows. When they arrive in a field, others are close to follow.
Pussy toes’ spoon-shaped leaves are covered in silver-gray hairs, and the white or light pink puffy ovals of their flowers resemble the tender paws of cats. The pussy toe provides pollen for bees and is a host for the American Painted Lady Butterfly caterpillar.
When this card comes into your life, it signals that new growth is on the way. Maybe you’ve been experiencing a period of dormancy or are ready for a change. Keep faith: something is about to begin. This is also a reminder to treat your new starts tenderly, nurture them and welcome them into the world. How can you hold space for this growth? What bright new things are about to bloom within you and through your care?
About the Prairie Divination Deck
The practice of divination has been and continues to be used by cultures throughout the world to help people navigate difficult futures. The Prairie Divination Deck turns to the plants and animals of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem as a source for knowledge and inspiration as to how to live in the world (and to re-align thinking towards kinship and sustainability). How might thinking with plants and animals allow us a different lens through which to see our present world and histories–and help to imagine futures?
