Today’s meditation was a ten minute long #DailyCalm session from the @Calm app.

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Daily Mental Health Prompt: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Today’s draw is the Hanged Man card (which in this deck has been retitled as The Turnaround), which is traditionally a representation of taking a pause, considering alternate perspectives, relaxing into difficult situations, surrender, or letting go.

The Turnaround card has then been combined with the Outside Opinions card from the Pass Around the Smile Guided Affirmation Cards, which says, “ I don’t let outside opinions or expectations affect my happiness.”

As we move through life, we grow and change. So do the people around us. Sometimes we grow in one direction, and they grow in another. That is not a failing on your part, nor is it a failing on theirs. Instead, it simply means that you have both had separate experiences and processed them differently, and through this you have both grown in different directions until you are no longer in alignment with each other.

This type of situation is especially difficult when it comes to family members and lifetime companions. These are people that we cannot easily discard from our lives or simply stop spending time with just because they no longer align with you and your values.

In these instances, it’s often necessary to make sure that you are seeking validation from yourself instead of from others. Only you know what is right for you. They do not. Thus, even when their opinion is different from your own, it’s important to stand by your values instead of letting others tell you what you should or should not value, feel, or believe. It’s all well and good to listen with an open mind and an open heart, just make sure that you aren’t letting them tear you down and make you feel miserable in the process.

I run into this a lot with Ms B. We are both remarkably stubborn people, and we have extremely different views concerning politics and government. She often tries to bring up these topics and wants me to discuss them with her, but it always ends with tension and discord between us. The problem being is that she always wants my input, which is so different from her own that it ends up being an intense debate instead of a meeting of minds. This doesn’t mean that I stop visiting her or communicate with her less. It means that I put boundaries in place so that we aren’t hurting each other’s feelings or coming out the other end of discussions feeling like we both been beating our heads against the wall. (Sometimes that still happens, but this has more to do with me not sticking to those boundaries as stringently as I could.)

The message in today’s cards is about tolerance. It’s about allowing yourself to know what is right for you, and allowing others to know what is right for them. Just because those aren’t always the same, doesn’t mean that we can’t still love these people in our lives. It just means that we have to be secure in our own values and seek validation from ourselves rather than from them.

DECKS USED:  TAROT OF LIGHT POCKET EDITION AND PASS AROUND THE SMILE GUIDED AFFIRMATION CARDS

One Card Tarot Journal Activity by @mariasofia_astro
Chapter 1 | Entry 19 – Self-Care and Personal Development
Affirmation : “I have goals I want to achieve like [insert one personal goal here].”
Prompt : Think about something you want to accomplish–get married, write a book, finish a marathon, etc. What does the card you draw say about why this goal feels so important to you and your life’s purpose?

Goal : Nurse back to health and further improve my online business.

What feelings came up when I pulled this card?

The goal I chose for this prompt had me thinking about the mess with my business and the events that created it’s current predicament in the first place, from the changes that happened last August that delivered my business a serious blow, to the (less visible, yet no less impactful) developments that happened in February that created a second dire impact piled atop the first.

I went through a ton of hopelessness last August and September due to that first blow that hit at the end of last summer. Not only was I surprised (even with the warning signs that had been surfacing), but I felt powerless and that everything I had built was beginning to crumble around me. Even then, I managed to limp through the holiday season only to come out the other end with a second blow that stole whatever hope I had built over those months out from under my feet. The second blow was, in fact, an even bigger surprise than the first, as there were no warnings precluding it.

My first reaction when seeing this Tower card was a moment of reliving these experiences through the echoes of memory.

What elements of the card’s meaning resonate with me and this prompt?

The Tower card is about destruction. It’s about the things you have built falling to rubble due to actions or situations beyond your control. That pretty much perfectly sums up exactly what’s happened with my business over the past year.

This card connects me to that experience, and also to what comes after The Tower. The next card in the tarot after the Tower is the Star card, which is about hope; then the Moon card, which is about uncertainty; and then the Sun card, which is about success.

The presence of the Tower card in this reading tells me that I haven’t quite made it past the effects of the situation and what it has wrought upon what I had built, but that hope may be right around the corner and still lingers within.

What in the artwork spoke to me?

The lightning strike, which speaks to me of destructive situations outside of one’s personal control.

The tower itself, speaking of all I had built and how sturdy I had thought it to be. Man-made efforts, crumbling under a force not within one’s control.

The donkey on its way out the window. Political in nature, it speaks to a feeling of abandonment by the Democratic Party that may have been able to fight back quicker and more strenuously to keep the situation in August from happening or mitigate some of the negative effects of it happening… but didn’t do shit.

The surprised face in the window of the tower, bringing into focus the second surprise that happened in February, which came out of the blue and took me completely by surprise.

My prompt response and reflections.

I think the progression from the Tower through to the Sun that I mentioned above pretty much covers what I feel this card is trying to say. Not just because it focuses on repairing or rebuilding something that I had built and was proud of, but also speaks to my survivors instincts. I am stubborn by nature, and at heart I am a survivor; I don’t like to let go of those things that are important to me, even if that means needing to rebuild at some point. This isn’t the end, it’s just a crap-ass thing that’s happened and that I’ll eventually find a way to move on from, grow from, and thrive once more afterward.

Other elements included in this reading:
Petrified Wood D20 and D6 Dice

DECK USED: SPIRITUAL TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsAug2026 Challenge
Prompt for August 9th : Do Spread 2
Question : Where is the opportunity mentioned in yesterday’s Self-Care Saturday reading coming from? Where should I train my attention in the week ahead to make the most of it?

Reading Summary: There is alignment in communication, which shows between the vertical design of the Anchor card and its vertical match in the artwork of the Ace of Angels (Swords). While the Anchor card speaks of stability and home, the Ace of Angel speaks of the magic of new beginnings that can be created through communication with others. These two connect in a way that tells me that the opportunity that my Self-Care Saturday spread was speaking about will be presented to me through my home base and communication with others is the key to unlocking it’s potential.

On the left, we have the Six of Hearts (Cups), which shows no correlation whatsoever with the Anchor card. The face looks blotchy and the pentagram on the forehead almost looks to be carved into the flesh. This speaks of making sure not to allow scars from the past to get in the way of the opportunity that’s coming.

On the right hand side, we have the Two of Trees (Pentacles) who’s eye aligns with the Six of Hearts on the left, and who’s trees and canopy aligns both in structure and color with the wands and canopy in the Anchor card. This indicates a need to protect oneself from repercussions by keeping an eye on those past influences and making sure that they don’t get in the way or pollute your thoughts and feelings concerning this upcoming opportunity.

Take Away: The opportunity mentioned in yesterday’s Self-Care Saturday reading will come from others and through the conduit of communication. Pay special attention to the thoughts and ideas being expressed around you, especially during times when you are in safe and secure places where people feel comfortable sharing more freely. Make sure that you listen with an open mind, and don’t allow preconceptions or experiences from your past to naysay or otherwise hinder your thought process. Be diligent in this, for it’s important to leave those negative experiences in the past instead of letting them drag you down.

DECKS USED: TAROT OF LIGHT POCKET EDITION AND TWIST THE LEAF’S GRATITUDE POSTCARDS ORACLE

I took a rest after an arduous client reading earlier today instead of ignoring my need for a break and just moving on afterward to the next thing.