Her Own First Witness. La Creída

Hotline Intro

Thank you for calling the Tóxica Tarot Hotline. Listen closely as the options can always change.

Press one if someone called you intimidating and you spent a week deciding if that was a compliment.

Press two if you backed yourself in a room where nobody else would.

Press three if "Is it okay if I sit here?" has never come out of your mouth.

If it's not your style to be asking permission, amiga, stay on the line.

In this space, we listen and we don't judge, but we do have a Yolanda Clause we do need to cover. This clause covers pattern recognition, but not absolution. This is not a hall pass to cause or endure harm.

Disclaimer

Tóxica Tarot is for entertainment purposes only. The host is not a therapist, does not offer readings, and is legally speaking just a rando on the internet.

Twenty-two archetypes, one card a week. Side effects may include cringe, compassion, and cunty self-care. Tóxica Tarot is Latina made for the girls, gays, and theys.

Audience discretion is advised.

La Creída

Hola, hola, hola.

You know that one friend that can always make things happen? Big manifestor energy. That's the Magician.

Take a look at her card. One hand to the sky, one hand to the earth. They're not asking, they're already doing. In front of them, around them, everything they need. Above them, the infinity symbol.

Glass ceiling? Where?

In Tóxica Tarot, she is La Creída, patron Tóxica of Believing in Herself. She's owning everything on that table.

But here's what the label doesn't tell you. La Creída navigated an obstacle course of people who felt threatened by the thing that made her feel secure. The threat of not belonging wears them down over time.

She learned to have her own back, to carry her own worth. But confidence unbalances armor, and armor keeps everything out, including connection.

La Creída learned early that praise and punishment came from the same place. The performance done right, executed correctly.

It was the surface. How she looked, how fast she could become the version that brought the most acceptance. The rules she inherited.

When the surface is the only thing that keeps you safe, it becomes the only proof you trust. People come for the glamour, and you often don't let them stay.

The gift. When the room doesn't believe in her, she doesn't need them to. She learned to be her own first witness. That's a specific skill of a person who cannot afford to wait for someone else to clap first.

They trust themselves in the dark, and that trust runs deep.

Tóxica Cinema · Maddy Perez

Tóxica Cinema. Tonight, we have a fun one. If you missed the show, I know you did not miss the eyeliner. Wink so sharp they could cut a man.

Glamour is more than just vanity. Glamour is a kind of power.

Maddy Perez figured out young that image is a language, and she got fluent.

Maddy did not just accept her situation, she poured into the performance. When you are dealt one good card, you learn to play it like a pro.

Maddy doesn't fall apart where you can see it. She reapplies the liner and walks back in. Her friends get the finished version. Nobody gets the mid-build one.

So when kindness comes with no strings, she has no idea what to do with it.

Mythical Tóxicas · Oshun

Mythical Tóxicas. Tonight, we're talking about Oshun from the Yoruba tradition.

Her story goes like this.

Way back when the world was still figuring itself out, the sky and the earth were connected. Rain came, rivers ran, nobody went thirsty.

Oshun was one of those deities. Her whole thing was sweetness, honey, fresh water, love. She wore brass on her wrists and peacock feathers in her hair. The ones who underestimated her called her vain, frivolous.

Then something broke. The connection snapped, and the rain stopped. The rivers went dry.

The Supreme Being called everyone together. Somebody had to go up there and fix it. The warriors went first with weapons. Good idea. They came back with nothing. The sky wouldn't open. Nobody could go through.

Then Oshun stepped forward.

The room laughed. Her? Really? What was she gonna do, bring flowers?

She didn't argue. She went home. She put on her best. Brass on her wrist, peacock feathers in her hair, and a jar of honey, and she went up.

She didn't fight her way in. She danced. She offered the honey and let herself be seen. The sky opened up and the rivers ran again.

The sweetness was strategy, and the gold was force. What they called vanity was the only thing that brought the water back.

That's our lesson from Oshun.

Three Questions

Before the Operator takes you out, three questions from the cards. You don't need to answer them out loud, just hold onto them.

When somebody offers to help, what's the first thing you say?

Who knew you before you decided you didn't need anyone?

Who have you never let see the messy mid-build version?

Outro

Thank you for calling the Tóxica Tarot Hotline. This has been La Creída, patron Tóxica of Believing in Herself.

Please call back next week when we're meeting La Silenciada, the cousin who's been quiet all night and remembers everything.

I gotta go. A man just called me intimidating, and I need to figure out who asked him.

Remember, Not Saints, Ni Tóxicas.