A POSTCARD IN THE POST AND A STORY WAITING TO BE HEARD.
Every month a card comes through your letterbox, and on the back of it is a magic word that opens a door to an exclusive story.
WHAT ARE THE "STORIES FROM ARCANA"?
Gift yourself with a break from the noise.
Once a month a post card arrives from me. On the front with a picture made for this month’s story. On the back, some personal words and the magic word that allows you to enter a hidden story world.
Follow the card’s link, type in your magic word and you’re in the back room at „Arcana“, a whimsical curiosity shop with books, candles, herbs and secrets. This month’s story is waiting there, told out loud, about half an hour long. Listen while you walk, while you cook, while you lie in the dark and let somebody else do the talking.
We start in October as a small closed group. Three months, three stories, three cards.
*Full transparency: I write one card by hand and have it printed, so every card carries my handwriting. And I read the stories myself, in a German accent, which I’ll come back to further down.
"What are you looking for?"
When the little brass bell announces a new customer at Arcana, the owner, Sophia McMillan, already knows what they’re looking for. Especially in the figurative sense.
She has a habit of giving small gifts that make very little sense at first, and whose worth only shows itself later.
Each month tells the story of one person who came through her door, and what it set in motion.
A LOOK INSIDE
HERE'S WHAT ARRIVES
A CARD
Hand-written, sent from Germany, with a picture made for this month's story. It's a real thing in a real letterbox, and it's the only way in. No card, no back room and no story to hear.
A WORD
On the back of the card is one magical word that the shop owner Sophia chose for the story. Beeswax. Lavender. Cookie dough. Whatever Sophia has been thinking about that month. It's the key to the door, and it changes every time.
A STANDALONE STORY
The story of the month, read aloud by me. Around half an hour. Listen straight from the page or download it and take it with you where there's no signal.
They're about inner healing and the slow work of growing into yourself: living on purpose, loss, the quiet habit of abandoning yourself to keep everyone else comfortable, and what it costs to chase the thing you actually want. They just leave the shop with something they didn't come in for.
A TAKEAWAY
Sophia never lets anyone leave empty-handed. Some months that's a page to print and keep, some months it's a short guided moment to sit with. Whatever it is, it's built to send you back to your own life with the month's question still open, so you're not only hearing about somebody else's turning point. What it is depends entirely on the story and is a surprise.
Real letter
Exclusive postcard
Inspirational, uplifting short story
Journaling prompts or other cards that fit the month's theme and inspire you to reflect on your own life.
TIME LEFT TO JOIN THE FOUNDING GROUP
€9.90
Pay €9.90 monthly, or €29.70 once for the whole founding round. Prices include VAT. Roughly £8 / $11 per month, depending on the exchange rate on the day.
Starts: 1 Oct 2026
Your first card goes out in the last days of September and should reach you in the month of October.
Ends: 31 Dec 2026
Three months, three stories
Limited joining
There are joining deadlines to ensure a punctual delivery.
Sent from Germany
Everything is written, made and packed in Germany and sent by Deutsche Post. Allow 7 to 21 days for delivery, depending on where you are.
More questions?
The FAQ section below should cover them. If not, contact me!
WELCOME TO ARCANA
(click the images)
SOPHIA MCMILLAN
ARCANA
PORT MORRINGTON
MORE THAN A SHOP
Sample
5 minutes from October's telling
If my voice isn't for you, better to find that out now than in October. There's no hard feelings in it. 😬
The dragon opens its jaws and comes straight at me. I dodge sideways, neat as anything, and swing round for the counter. Just as I raise my sword, I hear footsteps thumping up the stairs. I snap the console shut.
My room comes back. Flat-packed boxes have been leaning against my bed for days. I haven’t put together a single one. Clothes are gathering dust all over the floor, hanging off the desk chair, lying on my duvet. Under the keyboard and the mugs and all the odds and ends and the monitor, you can just about make out my desk. The three shelves on the wall are spilling over with stuff.
More footsteps, getting louder. The way Mum’s stamping about, this can’t be good. She flings the door open with the energy of a stampeding rhino. She’s got three more sheets of cardboard under her arm. „Where do you want these?“
I shrug and look round as though there might still be a free surface somewhere. „With the others?“ I nod towards the boxes leaning against the bed.
She presses her lips together, sets them down next to my bed and has a look round. „Lysander, love, I very much hope you’re in the middle of packing this lot up.“ She stares at the console in my hand as if it’s personally offended her. Half an hour ago I meant to put the thing away, and then I got caught up.
„Course I am,“ I lie. I make a show of putting the console into a clear plastic box that already holds charging cables, an old keyboard, various games and an old controller with a left stick that doesn’t work any more.
„Is that going in the bin?“ Mum asks.
„Er, no?“ As if I’d chuck out the console.
„We agreed you’d sort things out before you started packing. Have you actually thrown anything away?“
I hold her gaze. „Yes.“
„What?“
„Magazines.“
„And?“
My fingers twist the keyboard cable sticking out of the box, just so they’ve got something to do. „And socks with holes in them.“
Mum sighs like she’s trying to teach algebra to a toddler. In the afternoon sun coming through the window, dust is dancing about. Almost looks like fairy dust. „Sweetheart, you’re moving out tomorrow, and your new room isn’t nearly as big as this one. You have to throw things away, so your sister can get out of that little box room and have somewhere decent. Here.“ She picks a long fabric sausage up off the floor, holding it at arm’s length. „What’s this?“
„A draught excluder.“ My mind is still on my sister. Obviously I want her to have a proper room, but it’s a very strange feeling all the same, knowing that my room is going to be wiped out as if I’d never existed.
A monthly card and a monthly story, from a shop that doesn’t exist, in a Cornish harbour town you won’t find on a map. Each month brings:
- ✨ A seemingly hand-written card with a picture made for that month’s story
- ✨ A word on the back that opens the back room at Arcana
- ✨ The story of the month, told out loud by me, inspirational and healing
- ✨ Something to take away, which changes with the story
No. A podcast is public and it never ends. This is more like in the early days, when you sat in front of the radio and didn’t move because the story was on.
Three stories for a small group of people who have a card in their hand, and each one lives on its own page that nobody else can reach.
Yes. A card is a card, and it goes anywhere Deutsche Post goes. Allow five days to three weeks. There’s no customs, no duty, and nothing for you to pay on arrival.
Every telling stays open for you, so a card that takes three weeks costs you nothing but patience. If a card goes missing altogether, write to me and I’ll send you the way in by email (plus a new card).
Yes. Every telling comes with the story as plain text, so you can read it, skim it, or use it alongside the audio (in case you don’t speak my accent of Gibberish).
Check the countdown timer. If spots are remaining, you need to sign up before the 15th in order to get your card (15th of each month is printing day and spots are closed).
The founding round is a fixed threee-month term, so it can’t be cancelled early. Your statutory right of withdrawal is unaffected. Your subscription ends automatically in December.
Registration for the founding round closes on 14 September 2026.
Physical card, digital story.
Yes, absolutely! You’ll get the return address with your first letter and I would absolutely love you to write back!
„Arcana“ is Latin for „secrets“, and that’s what Sophia McMillan called her shop in the invented harbour town of Port Morrington.
The shop sells homeware, stationery, and everything you might want for a ritual: candles, crystals, essential oils.
The unusual thing about Arcana is Sophia herself. She has a way of sensing what a customer needs before they’ve worked it out. So she might send one woman home with a certain tea, another man with a strange book, and somebody else with a letter opener, a hair clip, or an origami crane. And it will turn out to be the thing that made the difference.