Prickly
Here it comes
once again
the consequence
of my actions
taking senses
usually smooth
like river stones
and creating
upon them
sharp edges
ready to
draw blood
at the slightest
provocation
Gideon’s Challenge – Prickly
Stability Upon Stormy Seas
Today’s meditation was skipped.
• • • ◈ • 🌻 • ◈ • • •
Daily Mental Health Prompt: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.
Today’s draw is the Four of Pentacles, which is traditionally about stability and gratitude (sometimes to excess, which can turn miserly) for what you have. This is a stagnant sort of appreciation that speaks of not reaching for more, but instead being focused on what you have in the now.
The Four of Pentacles has then been combined with a card from the Messages From the Universe Oracle, which says, “It’s never too late to start over. You have to trust in the magic of new beginnings. They are waiting for you. Notice them, seize them, and appreciate all that you have. Just relax and trust.”
I have mentioned before that I have a tendency to mistake stagnancy and stillness for stability and security. It even shows in my speech. I say things like “brace for impact” or use the word foundation in the context of a “stable” and stationary base.
This is a perspective that I just recently realized is inaccurate, for it turns out true security and stability is created not through stillness and stagnancy, but through awareness and adaptation.
The message in today’s Four of Pentacles and affirmation card is a reminder that freezing in place or bracing for impact doesn’t create stability… it just makes you an easy target. Lean into awareness, observation, and adaptation instead, and you will find stability is more about “developing your sea legs” than it is about refusing to sail in the storm.
DECKS USED: THE LOST CODE OF TAROT AND MESSAGES FROM THE UNIVERSE ORACLE
#DiscordTarotholicsAug2026 Challenge
Prompts for August 11th and 12th
What do I need to focus on for self-care for this month’s new moon?
Nine of Pentacles and Peppermint
Allow your past successes and accomplishments to inspire and motivate you.
You have built a life for yourself, and a business all your own that has thrived for over a decade before the hiccups of this past year. Don’t let current obstacles convince you that you can’t do anything you set that formidable determination of yours to do. Bolster your flagging confidence with your past successes, and allow them to spark your motivation.
Philosophical Question: Which is more real, mind or matter?
Seven of Pentacles atop Eight of Cups; Mint
Matter is more real. Each person’s thoughts, like their emotions, are malleable and can be influenced. That means our perceptions and perspectives are flexible (and personal) and with this, so too is our perception of reality.
Matter, by contrast, is solid. A rock is a rock is a rock. It’s the same rock (and the same hardness) no matter who bangs their head against it. Thus, this is why matter becomes the anchors of reality.
Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Oak Branch with Moss and Lichen for Perseverance
Dried Red Maple Leaf for Adaptability and Connection
Gray Agate Druzy Slab for Stabilizing Energies and Expectations
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy
DECKS USED: GAME OF THRONES TAROT AND HERBAL WISDOM ORACLE
@lightningildflower‘s August Reflections Challenge
Mercury opposite Pluto & trine Neptune, Venus trine Uranus
Prompt for August 11th : Where am I being asked to look beneath the surface of a situation?
Reading Summary: Why are you consistently choosing (Seven of Cups) to prioritize other’s expectations above your own (Seven of Wands)?
Just because you are pandering to them won’t create stability (Four of Pentacles); you can only do that by making choices that better align with the goals you want to accomplish (Ten of Pentacles).
Take Away: The dissatisfaction you feel in your relationships with others, and stability you seek in that area, can’t be created by pandering to their wants, needs, and expectations. It can only be accomplished by prioritizing yourself and your goals, choosing to put these things first above the expectations of others.
In doing this, you create a space of authenticity where your own values and aspirations have room to grow instead of being smothered by the demands of others.
Other elements included in this reading:
Black Spruce Needles to Boost Self-Confidence and Positive Thinking
Dried Rosebuds for Potential and Beauty Waiting to Unfold
Dried Purple Heather Flowers for Independence and Luck
Calcite w/ Conichalcite for Amplifying Intuitive Messages
Carnelian Agate for Inner Drive and Focusing On Aspirations
Honey Calcite for Optimism and Motivational Boost
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy
DECK USED: THE LOST CODE OF TAROT
I had absolutely no interest or drive to work on orders today, so I took some time early in the day to rest and relax. This allowed me to get past my moment of resistance and “restart” my day with a better attitude.
🌑 New Moon & Solar Eclipse in Leo – August 2026
Tomorrow is the new moon, and like all new moons and full moons, I did a spread aligned to the moon’s current themes as a part of my recognition of the moon’s cycle and influences upon us. Today’s spread is courtesy of @daisydazzleddreams
What is it time to focus on beginning that requires boldness, bravery, and/or visibility?
Dragoyle – In your work to try and revitalize your business and re-create the steady foundation you once had in this area, you have been playing it safe. Now is the time to experiment and explore. You will not discover (or build) that new foundation of stability by tinkering from the sidelines. Lean into thinking outside the box.
How can I more comfortably express my love, joy, and creative passions?
Serpopard – Instead of directing these energies towards strangers or those you only know on a superficial level, direct your love, joy, and creative passions towards those that have been with you the longest, and that you trust as a part of your inner circle. Here is where the most comfort can be found in sharing your vulnerabilities… which is what you sometimes consider these qualities to be.
Which leadership role in my life needs me to step up and stand strong at this time?
Tigerfolk – You are the safeguard of those things and people that are important to you. Stay vigilant about predatory behavior during this lunar cycle, and step forward quickly and decisively in times when it is spotted in others.
How can I best work with and balance the Crown, Solar Plexus and Heart Chakras at this time?
Ravagon – Historically, it is through your connection with nature that you find the peace and balance that you are unable to sustain on your own without this connection. Be proactive in “touching grass” whenever you can and connecting with the life and energy of the forest and its creatures. Your friends among the trees are waiting for you to return to them.
What is needed to assist me in reconnecting with my creative potential?
Grificorn – Enjoy the activities that sunshine and good weather allow you while you can, because you’re going to miss these things later. Summer isn’t your favorite time of year, it’s true, but it is something you miss in the dead of winter. Just as you miss the dead of winter in the middle of the summer. Make sure you are appreciating your time in the present, so that when the cycle turns to more unpleasant things, you will have joyful and positive memories to look back on and encourage you.
New Moon advice from the Minoan Goddess Amalthea.
Peacock Draconis – Make sure that you are pausing for gratitude in your spiritual practice and self-care. In doing so, you allow your self to see the beauty in life that you would otherwise let pass you by.
Other elements included in this reading:
Goat Figure as Sympathetic Representation of Amalthea
DECK USED: STRANGE AND UNUSUAL HYBRIDS ORACLE
Gideon’s Challenge – Welcomed
Welcomed
clusters of
delicate blooms
offer a splash
of cheer
as long as
you remember
not to touch
or get too near
for these aren’t
the flowers
you’ll want
to pick
nor will you
witness
animals
that want a nip
Photo © ZenStatePhotography
Hatred Closes the Mind
Today’s meditation was skipped.
• • • ◈ • 🌻 • ◈ • • •
Daily Mental Health Prompt: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.
Today’s draw is the King of Swords, which is traditionally a representation of a projective “alpha” energy, personality, or person in the area of one’s thoughts, intellect, education, ambitions, and communication. This often translates into themes that have to do with someone that has a way with words and is able to use those skills to lead others to their way of thinking, as well as those that are in authority on intellectual topics such as professors, doctors, etc.
The King of Swords has then been combined with the Vision card from The Oracle of the Soul Healing Messenger Cards, which says, “Break free from traditional thinking and embrace, open-mindedness and inclusivity. Explore different angles, gain deeper insights, and understand complex issues comprehensively.”
Yesterday we had a (brief) visitor to the Tarotholics server on Discord that had me thinking about the closed-mindedness of hatred. This person’s particular hatred was Christianity, and to be even more specific… Christians.
Now to be clear, I am not a Christian. I have never been a Christian, and I have very minimal experience and exposure to that religion compared to most of the North American population. Regardless of this fact, I know that there are good Christians out there, just as I know that there are bad ones. I know that not all Christians believe homosexuality is wrong, or that being trans is wrong, or are hypocrites about right and wrong in general.
This person did not know this apparently, or had closed themselves off from listening to and understanding these things. They were rude and abusive to Christians in the same way that bad actors in Christianity are to Pagans and individuals of other ideologies.
How is this okay? In my opinion? It isn’t, of course. They were removed from the server for their abusive rhetoric. But, it got me to thinking about hate, and how hate closes us off.
The message in today’s King of Swords and affirmation card is a reminder that hatred makes people look stupid and closed minded. It makes people unable to see beyond the narrow scope of their own perspective. Hatred isn’t progress, it isn’t strength, it doesn’t heal, and it isn’t cool looking or tough looking. It’s ugly and isolating, and diminishes one’s potential and power. It’s self abuse even as it fosters the potential for also doling out abuse on others. These cards remind us to look at any hate we harbor closely and seek out understanding instead of closing oneself of. Don’t generalize… dig deeper instead.
DECKS USED: EGYPTIAN TAROT AND THE ORACLE OF THE SOUL HEALING MESSENGER CARDS
@lightningildflower‘s August Reflections Challenge
Prompts for August 9th and 10th
Mercury enters Leo – What truth do I need to passionately express?
Eight of Wands Rx atop The Star; Freeze Up Moon
When I am forced to go slow and bide my time, I worry I will lose the opportunity to grow things in the direction I want them to go. Hope does not feel like enough to sustain me during these moments.
A large part of the reason I tend to feel the urge to move quickly and decisively on those things and opportunities that matter to me is the fear that if I don’t, they will be taken away from me.
I’m not sure I’ve passionately expressed this truth, but it’s open and honest, and clearly needed to be out in the open.
Venus trine Pluto, Venus opposite Neptune – What deep desire is coming up for me?
Temperance; Rest and Cleansing Moon
You want to spend time with others, but on your own terms and doing those things that you want to do and enjoy. You would be far more enthusiastic about spending time with others if it could be about you once in a while, instead of always focused on everybody else’s needs and wants. You want those that you know love and care about you to try putting you first now and then, instead of always expecting you to put -them- first.
Other elements included in this reading:
Pressed Pansy Flower for Hearing the Heart More Clearly
Labradorite for a Focus on Mental and Emotional Healing
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy
DECKS USED: IGNIS ARCANAE THE FIRE TAROT AND SPIRIT OF THE WHEEL MEDITATION DECK
#DiscordTarotholicsAug2026 Challenge
Prompt for August 10th : What can I do to help my inner child feel more protected?
Reading Summary: Offer an olive branch (Queen of Pentacles), but don’t expect it to be quickly or easily accepted (The Hermit Rx). Take your time and practice patience with them (Eight of Wands Rx).
Take Away: You’re inner child has a lot of defense mechanisms in place in an effort to protect themselves not just from the world at large, but from you as well. [Don’t try to protest, you know that negative inner narrative, not to mention the self abuse, punishment, neglect, and self-sabotage tendencies of yours are a thing. They have every right and reason to be wary.]
Offering acceptance and security will help them let you past these defenses to feel safe with you, but only if you’re willing to take it slow and have patience with the time it takes… regardless of how long that is or how incremental movement is in response to your efforts.
Other elements included in this reading:
Dried Rhododendron Leaf for Fostering Confidence
Foraged Silver Maple Key for Bouncing Back to Thrive
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy
DECK USED: EGYPTIAN TAROT
I didn’t really have the time to take a nap today… but I did it anyway.
Gideon’s Challenge – Cloud Spotting
Cloud Spotting
wispy details
among plump fluff
snags my attention
as I look up
and all I can think
is what I see
is a dragon
soaring
above the trees
with maw open
and hungry eyes
and that I stop
to linger
is no surprise
Twisting the Leaf 