A living archive of Fires of Alchemy.
I spent years working inside hospitals, community health, mental health, and telehealth settings — watching people move through crisis, recovery, and reinvention. I've had my own run-ins with mental health too, so this has never been purely professional territory for me.
What I kept noticing was that the things causing the most suffering were almost entirely preventable. Not easy to change — but not mysterious either. We have decades of solid research into why people fall into certain patterns, and increasingly good evidence on how to move through them.
The Scrolls are where that knowledge lives. Neuroscience, psychology, lived experience — the research layer and the practised layer, held together. It's the same body of knowledge that underpins the tarot work, the courses, and everything else Fires of Alchemy produces.
Begin wherever you feel pulled. 📜
— Nick 🔥
Recent Posts:
Upon That Which the Algorithms Feast 🍽️
There's a particular kind of apathy the modern media diet produces — and research suggests it isn't accidental. Studies show that heavy media consumption measurably distorts perception of the world as more dangerous than it actually is, and that consuming six or more hours of news coverage following a traumatic event produces higher acute stress than being physically present at the scene. This post maps why disturbing content, doom scrolling, and algorithmically-curated feeds cost more than most people realise — then goes further. There are two algorithms running your life: the one on your phone, and the older one running underneath your conscious thought. This covers both, and what you can actually do about either one.
Magic Is Real (You're Already Using It) 🧙♀️
Your phone contains quartz crystals vibrating 32,768 times per second. The process that powers every plant on earth runs on quantum mechanics, confirmed in the journal Nature in 2007. Your heart generates an electromagnetic field measurable several feet outside your body, and research shows couples who share a bed synchronise their sleep architecture. Science keeps confirming what older traditions already knew — the world is layered, relational, and stranger than most of us were taught. This post moves through the physics, the biology, the frontier science, and the oldest human agreements about what the world is made of — and what that might actually mean for how you live in it.
The Quiet Practice: What Meditation Actually Does to Your Brain, Your Body, and Your Life 🧘♀️
Most people have tried meditation and quietly decided it isn't for them. What they were never told is that the wandering mind — the thing they thought disqualified them — is actually the practice. This post covers what meditation genuinely does to the brain (the structural changes are measurable, and they're significant), how much you actually need to do for it to work, and what to try if sitting still with your breath hasn't clicked. It also maps the differences between meditation, mindfulness, stillness, mudras, journalling, and gratitude practice — because knowing which tool to reach for changes everything about how you use it.
The Neuroscience of Self-Talk: How the Stories You Tell Yourself Rewire Your Brain 🧵
Research by psychologist Ethan Kross found that the way you talk to yourself — not just what you say, but the person you address — produces measurably different outcomes for emotional regulation, performance, and clarity. Combined with Donald Hebb's neuroplasticity principle and Susan Nolen-Hoeksema's findings on rumination, the evidence points to something most people never consider: the inner voice isn't a neutral observer. It's a system built from repetition, shaped before you were old enough to evaluate it, and still running scripts you didn't write. This post unpacks the science — and what you can actually do about it.
🕵️ Chapter 1: The Roots of Fear and Anxiety
🥹 Chapter 2: Recognising & Feeling Patterns
🏋️ Chapter 3: Reconnecting Mind & Body
🎮 Chapter 4: Technology, AI & External Support
🙏 Chapter 5: Tuning Into Intuition & A Higher Calling
📰 Chapter 6: Zooming Out to the Bigger Picture
🧑🌾Chapter 7: The Creative Rebellion & Alternative Systems 🎭
There's a message that's been trying to reach you. You've felt it. Your angels, your ancestors, whatever guides you — they've been saying the same thing for a while now. Yet somewhere along the way, you swam the other direction. This reading is about what happens when you stop running from your own knowing and actually let yourself focus.
Hi angels 🕊️
There's a message that's been trying to reach you. You've felt it. Your angels, your ancestors, whatever guides you — they've been saying the same thing for a while now. Yet somewhere along the way, you swam the other direction.
This reading is about what happens when you stop running from your own knowing and actually let yourself focus. Not in a punishing way — more like: you've been spreading yourself across a lot of open tabs, and it's costing you more than you think to keep them in active memory.
This reading is for you if:
⚡ You have a long list of things you "should" be doing but none of them are moving
🌊 You've been going with the flow so long you've lost your sense of direction
🐋 You know what the next step is — you just haven't taken it yet
🌀 You keep starting things and stalling before they're finished
🌱 You've been in receive mode for a while and something in you is ready to build
Themes in this reading:
🐳 Focus and the misuse of your power
🐳 Indecision as a slow energy drain
🐳 The "should" loop — and how to finally close it
🐳 Inspiration vs execution — you've got enough of the first one
🐳 Leaning back into structure after a season of flow
🐳 Divine guidance you've been deferring on
~
🃏 Book a Personal Reading with Nick
~
📱 Build your own Tarot Reading App (Free Course)
~
🪷 14-Day Unblock Your Life Kickstart (Free)
~~~~~
For more insight into my style of readings, the history of tarot and more - see my post below:
https://www.firesofalchemy.com/blog/tarot🃏
---
Support my work including future readings and expanding the FoA Multiverse 🤝
https://firesofalchemy.com/support
—
Disclaimer: readings are provided for entertainment and personal insight purposes. Readings are not predictions of the future. This is not medical, financial or legal advice. Always use discernment to feel intuitively if the message resonates with you, leave it behind if you're trying to make it fit your situation for too long.
~
💫 🏕️