23. The Happy Squirrel
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Welcome to Soulchology’s worksheets, your starter-kit into an intuitive self-enquiry using tarot and astrology. I write these in my usual dry humour, which reflects the tone of my sessions too, because learning is intense enough without stripping it of humanity. A little wit makes the wisdom easier to digest!
Anyway, while full sessions include numerology, Lenormand, and therapeutic layers, these worksheets are your solo starter kit designed to get you going without frying your nervous system.
Grab your deck, take a breath and don’t overthink it. No altar required. You can read these on your lap, mid-commute, or in bed with questionable lighting. If you know current transits, great, add them in. If not, the cards still work because they’re generous like that.
And, if you shuffle really fast, they love to fling out like you’re live in an episode of Ghosts and Trevor is standing next to you.
Each sheet prompts you to connect the cards with your real life, that is, not your aspirational, one-day-when-I-journal-daily life. Pay attention to the artwork, colours, symbols, and emotional tone because tarot is layered, not linear. Study only what leaps out, don’t go looking for clues.
This isn’t about mystical perfection, it’s about noticing yourself. Your thoughts, your choices, your patterns. If you’re new to tarot and feeling twitchy about it, you might want to read my piece on Substack that gently dismantles the pressure.
My advice is to pull (or fling) your card at the end of the day, not first thing. That way, you’re reflecting and not pre-loading your brain with vague forecasts. It’s a faster way to build intuitive confidence and a more honest way to learn what the cards actually mean to you.
i. The Nutshell (no pun intended)
Originally introduced as a joke in The Simpsons and later adopted into a handful of irreverent decks, The Happy Squirrel has evolved into a postmodern tarot in-joke that turned into a legitimate archetype - like the Fool’s eccentric cousin who stumbled into a secret level of the game. In the Linescape Evolution Gold Tarot, card 23 stands alone as a meta-commentary on the journey itself, reminding us that after all the meaning-making and shadow-surfing, sometimes the universe just hands you a squirrel.
Upright
Welcome to the interstellar blooper reel. The Happy Squirrel doesn’t replace the Fool or follow the World - it’s hopped, skipped and jumped into its own space with a smirk and a wink. This card wants to acknowledge all the shadow work, healed lineage, integrated lessons… etc.. and voilà - surprise! There’s still absurdity, still randomness and still an acorn with your name on it with absolutely no instruction manual. This card is mischief and it wants you to play with it.
Think of this card as spiritual Dadaism: an invitation to laugh, reject the reason, favour the nonsense, loosen up, and find joy in the unexpected. The Happy Squirrel wants you to get weird, stay curious, be resourceful, and remember that the divine can have a wicked sense of humour.
Keywords: Cosmic absurdity, sacred play, unexpected wisdom, energetic, meta-awareness, spiritual mischief, resourcefulness
Translation: Make like a squirrel.
Reversed
When reversed, The Happy Squirrel warns of taking it all a bit too seriously. You may be gripping your path so tightly that the mystery can’t breathe. You’ve turned your spiritual journey into an appraisal, and the universe is politely throwing a nut at your head.
This reversal pokes at the ego that creeps in after all that "inner work" - the part that wants to arrive somewhere and tie it up with a golden bow. But The Happy Squirrel knows that arrival is an illusion. Where are your existential teeth gnawing on the wrong branch by mistaking complexity for depth, or irony for insight?
This reversed card may also point to disillusionment: the moment you realise the big answers you were chasing were just acorns in a squirrel’s stash and you’re seeing it as failure. The only way forward is to laugh, recalibrate, and remember that going a bit nuts is often the purest form of our human nature.
Keywords: Over-seriousness, spiritual ego, disillusionment, uninspired, overly-abstract
Translation: The fact this makes no sense is the wisdom.
ii. Illus-traits
A symbolic glance at The Happy Squirrel in the Linescape Evolution Gold Tarot deck:
Golden Squirrel Line-work - Two airbourne squirrels drawn with unbroken gold lines, as if someone asked the divine to doodle enlightenment. A single line is the symbol of wholeness with every detour belonging to the same design.
Two Squirrels in Flight - A duet in motion enjoying their higher perspective - whether it’s the joy of soul family who mirrors your madness, or the mischief of dancing with your shadow instead of running from it.
Rainbows - Two rays of light twist colours into a rainbow of possibilities. Is your joy at the golden end, or held within the prism you pass through?
Winding Hillside Paths - Curvy trails that purposely avoid the direct path. Is this to slow you down so you see what you’d otherwise miss? To take your time and avoid shortcuts? Every nutty path has purpose and to follow the path might actually mean to leave it.
iii. Influences
Planetary
The Happy Squirrel might be a rogue cocktail of:
Uranus - Rebellious energy consisting of disruption, surprises, and "did that really just happen?" moments.
Mercury (retrograde, probably) - Fast, slippery, and unpredictable; genius or gibberish? Yes.
Neptune (but high on its own incense) - Mystical confusion with a glittery finish. Dreams, illusions, and divine nonsense.
Natal House(s)
The Happy Squirrel is nesting somewhere between the attic and the cellar of your birth chart, leaving esoteric crumbs everywhere. If you had to narrow it down:
3rd House (Communication, Curiosity) - Especially the hyperactive, tangential kind. Squirrel-brain meets divine downloads.
9th House (Philosophy, Higher Wisdom, Weird Beliefs You Swear Are Real) - This card laughs at your personal dogma and then hands you an acorn-shaped truth bomb.
12th House (Mysticism, Memory, Madness) - Where archetypes reconvene with dry humour. Think shadow integration with a bushy tail.
Astrological Sign(s)
The Happy Squirrel squats in the margins of your ephemeris:
Gemini - For the mental hopscotch and clever tongue.
Pisces - For the dream logic and ability to make meaning out of a stick.
Aquarius - Because this card is doing its own thing whether you get it or not.
Taurus - Because - food hoarding. ‘Nuff said?!
Numerologically
As card 23, The Happy Squirrel sits outside the usual major arcana arc and leans into the enigma of the 5’s changeability. Embrace freedom to explore every opportunity and experiences that life offers, and ensure you’re being flexible and adaptive to change by growing through personal experiences. Be resilient, enthusiastic and adaptable. Manage irresponsibility, inconsistency, and restlessness.
Elements
The Happy Squirrel belongs to the ether as it’s breaking the fourth wall of the Tarot itself. However you could consider it as being the breath before the insight of Air, the wink after the emotional transformation of Water, the wild leap of Fire, and the echo of Earth’s “WTF?!” when you forgot where you buried your nuts.
iv. A Day in the Life of The Happy Squirrel
Well That Escalated Quickly
You woke up… or did you? Everything looks normal, but nothing feels quite real. You're staring at your to-do list wondering if any of it matters or if you dreamed it during an overnight reboot. You’re trying to decode signs from your coffee froth, but all you get is "¯\_(ツ)_/¯" and your shadow self just sent you a meme. You’ve cycled through three identity crises before breakfast and can’t tell if you're avoiding your purpose or living it sideways. You’re buffering, have several emotional tabs open and no idea who’s driving.
Adjusting the Knobs
You’re feeling mildly unhinged but in a charming way. You’ve embraced the weird and stopped trying to give it any other name. You’re holding your plans like acorns in your pocket - loosely. You now see that squirrels plan ahead, and even if you're unsure of where this is going, you're fine with going along for the ride. When things don't go as expected, you smile and say "classic," feeling pleasantly confused.
Unsubscribed from Self-Sabotage
You've recognised that some lessons are recurring, but now you treat them like seasonal allergies instead of identity crises. Self-awareness has become your favourite party trick and you’ve developed the uncanny ability to detect deja vu. People think you're eccentric, but you're actually just tuned into a frequency where the bonkers of it all equals enlightenment.
Writing the TED Talk
You’re telling your own story with humour and curiosity. You can hold all your WTFs in one hand whilst stirring a cup of tea the other. You know life isn’t a straight line; it’s a squirrel-shaped sky-travelling leap of faith. You’re approaching life with a positive outlook, sense of humour and an appreciation for the unexpected whilst embracing your inner squirrel by adjusting awry plans with “Que Sera”.
v. Working with these Energies
Wisdom in buried acorns
The Happy Squirrel mischievously reappears when you thought the credits had rolled, pointing at the survival that often begins after the main event - a bit like how you really learn to drive after you’ve passed your driving test.
Instinctive Intelligence
More than a playful interruption, this card highlights the value of adaptability. The squirrel’s real magic lies in strategy as well as mischief; knowing when to store energy, when to leap, and when to wait.The Self That Endures
Pause the upgrades. There is wisdom in the version of you that has survived: resourceful, observant, and intact.From Awareness to Integration
The Happy Squirrel suggests letting your upgraded nervous system guide your decisions: attuned, alert, and informed by healed experience.Your Presence Is the Proof
You don’t need another rehearsal because survival is its own legacy. Show up to life as the result of your capacity to adapt, notice and move with intentional curiosity.
vi. Building Skills
The Happy Squirrel is your inner improviser. It wants space to play, pivot, and persist with meaning. Resourcefulness makes room for everything whilst still moving toward what matters. The Happy Squirrel knows that life rarely goes according to script, nor does it expect it to. Resourcefulness is psychological flexibility: using what’s in front of you to stay in the game, move with your values, and create meaning - even when circumstances are weird, wild, or plain nuts.
Resourcefulness: Playing the Hand, Not Folding the Game
1. Defuse the Drama
Catch your thoughts, name them to loosen the grip, then choose how you respond.
2. Presence, Not Perfection
Resourcefulness lives in the now, not in some distant ideal version of yourself. Practice showing up as-is, with what you have. Ask: What’s one small move I can make in the direction of my values right now?
3. Values as Compass
What matters most to you in this moment? Kindness? Curiosity? Integrity? Let the map override your mood.
4. Creative Willingness
You don’t have to like the uncertainty in order to work with it. Resourcefulness says: This is hard, and I can still choose my behaviour. Flexibility is giving yourself room to move with life’s memes.
5. Mine the Mess
Instead of waiting for better conditions, ask: What’s available right now that I’m overlooking? That mistake? Feedback. That delay? Breathing room. That emotion? A signal. Turn your raw experience into relevant action.
vii. Embodiment
The Happy Squirrel trusts its instincts. This is the stage where survival becomes stability, and instinct matures into embodied wisdom.
Smell
What Does Curiosity Smell Like? Is it the sharp green of snapped stems? The trace of spice on skin after cooking? The quiet musk of a room you haven’t explored yet? Let that scent of what you haven’t named yet bring you to presence.
Body
Where in your body does "I’m good now" live? Is it in your hips, or jaw - no longer scanning for conflict? Place your awareness there and let your body teach you what flexibility feels like.
Soundtrack
Play something with a tree-leaping tempo - light, nimble, unhurried - for tail-twitching and branch-hopping. Let your body move because it’s wired for agility.
Action
Mark your trail. Stash the insight like an acorn in a safe space to remember. Bury the notes that don’t feed you. Delete the self-doubt chatter. Make it matter and something you want to come back to.
Nature Cue
Press your back against a tree and listen for the slow rhythm of enough - that’s good enough for nature, and good enough for you. You’re on squirrel time: alert, present, and perfectly placed.
Notice What Makes Your Tail Flick
Squirrels use mid-air recalibration - a rapid adjustment of their body and tail position during a leap, whilst locking onto their target to maintain balance and ensure a precise, controlled landing. Point being, they justify before they leap, but sometimes they fall, and recalibrate mid-air. So can you with self trust.
viii. Your Impressions
Look at The Happy Squirrel card in your deck or the image above and notice where your gaze lands without overthinking.
What draws your eye first? The golden lines forming something halfway between something cute and a paradoxical revelation?
The sleepy glow of dawn? How does the energy of the squirrels in motion affect your sense of calm or alertness? Do they feel playful, focused, or something else?
Notice the space around and between the squirrels - does it feel like movement, pause, or something in between? What might that say about the rhythm of your own situation or journey?
ix. Intuitive Meaning
If The Happy Squirrel keeps popping up in your readings, take a moment to ask yourself:
Where am I ready to settle into my stash with no need to hide or explain?
Which buried acorns of my story have I already stored, but I’m still scrambling to gather?
What old trails of success am I running down that no longer match the squirrel I’ve become?
What subtle truth about my willingness to dance with wonder and welcome joy am I ready to hold, without hesitation?
Applied Insight: A Three-Card Spread for a Quiet Landing
Where have I already landed safely on the branch but hesitate to pause and honour the moment?
What part of me is ready to flick its tail proudly and step fully into my own beam of sunlight?
What steady trust, like a squirrel’s mid-leap recalibration, is quietly guiding me to adjust and move forward into the unknown?
Pull or shuffle-fling three cards and let your Happy Squirrel story guide you with curiosity.
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x. Closing Reflection: Track Your Evolving Lens
Your relationship with each card will grow over time because it’s meant to shaped by your life. Consider the prompts below to revisit and reflect.
What I thought this card meant when I first pulled it: —————————————————
A recent experience that changed how I see it: —————————————————
How I feel about it now, in my body or life: —————————————————
What surprised me as this card kept showing up: —————————————————
One way this card is living in my life right now: —————————————————
If this card visited me today as a guide, what would it want me to remember? —————————————————
Revisit these after a week, a moon phase, or a meaningful moment. Let the card evolve as you do.
If you feel a quiet sense of recognition, curiosity and want to explore it, browse the sessions page for what feels right.