Steps In Manifestation

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

Today’s meditation was skipped.

•    •    •    ◈    •    🌻    •    ◈    •    •    •

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

Sigil Arcanum Tarot Spectrum Edition's King of Swords and Pass Around the Smile Guidance Affirmation Cards

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 Perfect Timing card from the Pass Around the Smile Guided Affirmation Cards, which says, “Everything is working out how it’s supposed to. Divine timing is on my side and I am able to relax and have fun while my manifestations materialize.

Manifestation and success are not all about pushing every moment of the journey towards the end result you want. Nor is it about sitting back with a wish and a dream, and expecting that wish to be given to you.

Instead, it comes from strategic planning, and from setting things in motion and then allowing them to move on their own with occasional nudges from you along the way.

The process of manifesting the things you want in your life comes from a series of steps. There is the discovery and dreaming aspect, the want and desire aspect, the strategy aspect of thinking through how to make it happen, and then the physical push to get things started.

Although some goals in manifestation may need more hands-on effort than others, it’s going through this process of steps that you get to a point where you don’t have to meddle with it as much as you otherwise would.

The message in today’s King of Swords and affirmation card is a reminder that the things you want to happen in life don’t happen on their own just because you want them, but neither do you need to sacrifice your happiness and joy to their altar in order to make them come about.

DECKS USED:  SIGIL ARCANUM TAROT SPECTRUM EDITION AND PASS AROUND THE SMILE GUIDED AFFIRMATION CARDS

One Card Tarot Journal Activity by @mariasofia_astro
Chapter 4 | Entry 10 – Career and Finance
Affirmation : “I am proud of my accomplishments.”
Prompt : What do you consider to be your greatest career achievement? What insight can the card you draw show you about this moment?

Achievement : For over a decade I built from the ground up and ran a (at times overwhelmingly) thriving creative business where I made and sold my jewelry designs online.

Tarot Activity from The One Card a Day Journal by Maria Sofia Marmanides - Wonderland Tarot - Temperance

What feelings came up when I pulled this card?

The Temperance card and I have a bit of a contemptuous relationship. While temperance and moderation is one of the things I strive to instill more of in my life, at the same time it is also something that I am often very frustrated with and would very much like to throw out a window.

In light of my current situation with my online business, though, this card definitely fits.

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

Even during the years when I was fully invested up to my eyebrows in building this business, it didn’t happen all at once. This is proof that even if you put your everything into something, instant gratification is not always going to be the result. You have to wait and work and build and work and wait some more and work some more. It takes time to create success in something; it takes patience.

What in the artwork spoke to me?

The White Rabbit’s expression and posture make it clear that he’s not particularly thrilled with the viewer as he proffers the watch. Combined with the meaning of the card, it makes it clear that he is telling the viewer off for being impatient while at the same time holding their heart’s desire between the fingers of his other hand.

That heart is chained to the clock, making it clear that to obtain one’s heart’s desire they’re going to have to acknowledge and deal with the patience involved in getting there.

My prompt response and reflections.

Over the past year, my business has been struggling. Between the political atmosphere, trade hurdles, tariff issues, economic strangulation, etc.… my business is taking a extremely hard blow.

Although it hasn’t sent me back to square one, it has definitely knocked down my business’ success more than a few pegs.

The Temperance card is a reminder that it didn’t become a success all at once, and it won’t recover from this blow all at once either. Patience is needed; diligence too. Recovery is possible as long as I’m willing to put in the work (although not so much work that it becomes an obsession) and be patient with how long it takes to get there.

Other elements included in this reading:
Prehnite D20 and D6 Gemstone Dice

DECK USED: WONDERLAND TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsAug2026 Challenge
Prompt for August 16th : Do Spread 3
Focusing on the EMOTIONAL aspects of your life and growth this season

Tarot Reading with the Sigil Arcanum Tarot Spectrum Edition

Seeds Sown: What seeds for my emotional health & growth planted in the Spring have flourished and grown strong?

Page of Swords atop Three of Wands – In the spring you recommitted yourself to delving into and learning more about your emotions and advancing your emotional intelligence.

This has been a long journey for you, filled with uncertainty and distractions along the way. This re-commitment provided you with direction when you were feeling like you were stuck spinning your wheels.

The Chaff: What seeds have not flourished and need to be let go to encourage healthy growth in other areas?

Four of Swords Rx – Efforts towards separating yourself and your emotions from your battles of the previous year have not panned out well.

Instead of sitting with and giving the emotions your time and attention, you tried to run from them. It’s time to let go of that avoidance and allow yourself to feel and thus process your feelings.

The Harvest: How can I best prepare now to reap the benefits of a positive and healthy harvest in the Fall?

Seven of Swords Rx – Dig in your heels. Be stubborn. This story is not about loss or giving up, but about determination and persistence.

Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Oak Branch with Moss and Lichen for Perseverance
Conch Shell Knot for Concentration and Clarity
Gneiss Stone for Patience in Moments of Discomfort
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: SIGIL ARCANUM TAROT SPECTRUM EDITION
Daily Self Kindness

I made herb crusted chicken for dinner, and added a bit of butter to it for extra flavor.

❤️ Self Care Saturday (On a Sunday)

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

These Saturday readings are (not usually) bearing in on any one thing or event in my life, as the question used is asking for a more general outlook. This is a self care exercise, and is not meant as a predictive reading… although that, too, happens on occasion.

The question is… What do I need to focus for self-care through the week ahead?

Self Care Saturday Tarot Reading with the Tarocchi Piacentini Anima Antiqua and Golden Flowers Lenormand

Earth – Nine of Cups – Help yourself find the comfortable and grounding energy that you crave right now by doing a few of the activities that foster this feeling within you. Take a walk in the woods or spend some time barefoot in the grass. Dig your hands into the soil or wander among the flowers. You need this grounding right now in order to feel the stability and contentment that will get you through the week ahead.

Air – The Empress – Lean into nurturing energies this week when it comes to your inner narratives. You have a tendency to be extremely hard on yourself, to the point where it’s no longer helping, but just holding you back. For true abundance to take place you need that nurturing energy present in your thoughts to keep things going in a positive direction.

Water – King of Pentacles – With being in the middle of a subdrop and feeling a bit off kilter, it’s important to continue to connect with those things that keep you grounded as suggested in the Earth position of this reading. Tell others what you want to happen and it will allow them to assist you in making sure that it does. Sharing what you need with others can help in delegating efforts, even when that’s not your intent.

Fire – Knight of Pentacles – Don’t discount what you’re getting done just because it’s not as much as you think you should be getting done. Slow progress is still progress. Beating yourself up over moving slowly doesn’t help, so don’t let those negative narratives take control where they will slow you down even further with their distractions.

Waning – Coffin and Man – Don’t allow defeatist thinking to run the show where your responsibilities are concerned. There is nothing happening this week that is going to be the end of the world as you know it.

Waxing – Birds and Heart – Take comfort in those around you and don’t close yourself off. It’s important to remember this week that you are not alone.

Take Away – A little extra TLC is needed this week, and that includes in the inner narratives you allow to circle around in your head. Lean on others that you trust and don’t let those inner narratives convince you that you’re alone when in actuality you’re far from it.

On the whole, it’s looking to be an uneventful week. Not in that nothing will happen, but that none of what happens is going to be half as big as it feels like it is. Use grounding techniques and activities that you know work for you to help keep yourself from getting carried away in those feelings that want to blow everything out of proportion.

DECKS USED: TAROCCHI PIACENTINI ANIMA ANTIQUA AND GOLDEN FLOWERS LENORMAND

Gideon’s Challenge – Tangled

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment
Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta), Knotty Pine, Shore Pine, Twisted pine, Contorta Pine, Western scrub pine,

Tangled

skin feeling
too tight
for what lives
within it
as teeth
clench
until jaw aches
and irritation
makes
everything
a little more
difficult
to handle
as chaos
reigns
not in reality
but residing
within the mind
alone

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Riding the Shifting Currents

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

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

•    •    •    ◈    •    🌻    •    ◈    •    •    •

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

Holly Black's Faerie Tarot - Eight of Moths, Eight of Wands

Today’s draw is the Eight of Wands, which is traditionally a representation of action, speed, alacrity, fast paced events or change, or having a target goal in your sights that you are charging towards.

The card has then been combined with a Breathing Techniques card from the Rethink 120 Learning Cards For Mindful Daily Life deck, which says, “Hold a feather close to your nose. Inhale slowly and deeply, trying to keep the feather floating in the air with your breath.”

Sometimes when changes are thrust upon us we can take them in stride. Sometimes, we lose our footing and need time to adjust. Other times we are able to spread our wings, catch the air currents, and keep up with cheerful alacrity.

There is no set and steadfast response, though. We all go through times when we’re prepared, and times when we’re so taken by surprise that we’re knocked on our ass. The key is to focus on adapting to what’s going on around you. This adaptation and flexibility will allow you to often dodge the painful parts of the process, and move with the flow instead of getting stuck in fighting against it.

The message in today’s Eight of Moths and Feather Breathing card is a reminder that adaptation is the key to riding out change with grace, no matter if that change is sudden, fast paced, a surprise, or tortuously slow.

DECKS USED:  FAERIE TAROT AND RETHINK 120 LEARNING CARDS FOR MINDFUL DAILY LIFE

@thewitchstherapist Understanding My Parts Spread

Oracle Reading with L'Oracle de l'Essence Sacrée

Card to represent a part of me to explore.

Le Choix de Perception

This card speaks of my negative inner narratives and the efforts I put towards balancing them out with a more positive outlook.

I was trained to see the negative. It was something ingrained into me from my earliest memories, and probably before them as well. The theory being that when you stay pessimistic you are not taken by surprise when things go awry, and when you are negative in your perceptions you see flaws more quickly and thus can fix them before anyone else notices.

This makes pessimistic thinking and negative perspectives a valuable tool, but when we prioritize these qualities, it’s also harmful to ourselves and our well-being. Thus the need for a counterbalance such as tools that help foster positivity, optimism, and hope to keep the negative from taking over and permeating everything.

What does this part struggle with the most?

L’étreinte de la Nuit

Authenticity. The you beneath all the damage and training.

It is hard to separate yourself from the demands and influences of the past and freely embrace the self beneath them you’ve been unable, thus far, to become acquainted with.

Stillness and silence occasionally give you peeks at the person that lies hidden behind the veil of influences from your past, but these glimpses are fleeting.

How does this part express its needs?

La Voix Unique

This part of yourself asks you to not focus so much on harmonizing with others, but instead pursue those things that are interesting to you.

Each person is unique. Each voice is unique. It’s in our diversity that we create the beauty of the world around us and how things come together to “just work” instead of being forced.

This authentic part of yourself seeks to communicate through these unique interests that spark your curiosity and enthusiasm. It’s when you march to the best of your own drummer that you most closely get in touch with that authentic part of yourself and hear them most clearly.

What does this part need from me?

La Forêt de Rêves

Let go of the demands and expectations of the past, and listen more closely for those moments of genuine interest and curiosity that whisper within you.

Your past and its training, thoughts, opinions, and expectations are loud. They shout, roar, and bluster. That inner place of authenticity that your past has not broken or buried is quiet, but still there. It needs you to be quiet as well, so that you can listen more closely.

Card to represent something this part needs to hear.

La Beauté de l’Ombre

“I hear you. I understand you. I support you.

You are not lost, and the abuses of the past are just that, in the past. Although the echoes still have a voice, each and every day I seek to bolster your voice as well, to lift you up and give you priority over that which is dead and gone.”

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
Rose Quartz for Gentle Kindness to Self and Others
Raw Clear Quartz for promoting a Sharper Mind
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: L’ORACLE DE L’ESSENCE SACRÉE

@note.project August Journal Prompts
Prompts for August 15th and 16th

Tarot Reading with Holly Black's Faerie Tarot and The Familiar Magic Pocket Oracle

A way I want to move my body that feels enjoyable

Four of Toadstools; Mouse and Oats

It is in the stillness and grounding of nature where you will find what you need. Sometimes it’s not about pushing harder, but instead in connecting deeper.

Spend some time among the trees and moss connecting with the roots beneath the earth. In doing so you will be stronger, steadier, and more grounded than ignoring your needs for more “productively active” pursuits.

Something my body has been needing more of lately

The Star; Rabbit and Dandelions

Stop avoiding the “work” involved and dive in to explore and create. Look at this time of productivity as an adventure instead of a chore. Seek ways to turn your sense of duty and responsibility into positivity, play, and eager anticipation.

Other elements included in this reading:
Staghorn Sumac for Connecting with Nature and the Wild Within
Foraged Parmeliaceae Lichen for a “Breath of Fresh Air”
Dried Cedar Bundle for Protection from Negative Influences
Conch Shell Knot for Concentration and Clarity
Rose Quartz for Gentle Kindness to Self and Others
Gray Agate for Instilling Gentleness, Calm, and Stability
Desert Rose for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: FAERIE TAROT AND THE FAMILIAR MAGIC POCKET ORACLE
Daily Self Kindness

I took some time out in the back of Ms B’s property taking photos of plants today.

Gideon’s Challenge – Uncertainty

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment
Wildfire Smoke Sunset

Uncertainty

split second
moments
of normalcy
are slipped
between heartbeats
like illusive
grains of sand
sliding
between fingers
lost
no matter
how desperately
grasped
until nothing is left
except empty hands
and the erratic beats
of an
unpredictable rhythm

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Connecting With and Savoring Life

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

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

•    •    •    ◈    •    🌻    •    ◈    •    •    •

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

Tarocchini Mitelli - Fortune card

Today’s draw is the Wheel of Fortune card, which is traditionally a representation of luck (both good and bad), changing circumstances, the ups and downs of life, and the cyclical nature of life and the world.

In the Tarocchino Mitelli deck, this is called the Fortune card, and is one of two cards in the deck that represent human destiny, the other being Death.

The Fortune card has then been combined with a card from the Art From the Heart Affirmation Cards, which says, “I trust my inner voice and intuition. Slow down, quiet your mind, and go within. Only in the stillness of your beam can you recognize the soft ripples from your wisdom.”

My meditation today was also about stillness, and how in touching upon stillness we find moments of centering within ourselves and a resulting moment of peace. The session guided the listener in taking a a beat to savor moments of stillness and silence prior to disrupting those moments with music or other distractions.

In these cards, I see a reminder that life is about what we do with our moments. Whether good luck or bad, our gift is in life itself. It is in the situations and experiences that we go through, and that we get the most out of the life we are given.

The message in today’s Fortune card and affirmation encourages us to savor that life. Not just the good moments, but also the bad. To find the boon, to enjoy what we can, and to be mindful that someday it’s all going to be over. Thus why it’s even more important to find and enjoy whatever good we can while we can.

DECKS USED:  TAROCCHINO MITELLI ANIMA ANTIQUA AND ART FROM THE HEART AFFIRMATION CARDS

@note.project August Journal Prompts
Prompts for August 13th and 14th

Tarot Reading with the Slow Holler Tarot and The Lantern Oracle

A dream or wish I still carry with me

Six of Vessels and Donuts

The tea house. Ever since I was very little, I have always dreamed of owning and running an apothecary and teahouse. One business split in half but connected. An apothecary on one side where natural remedies are dispensed to those who need them, and a teahouse on the other that sells house blend tea and a selection of delicacies to sit and enjoy with your cup.

I’ve even played this out in writing role-play at one point, although I never actually let anybody know that it was my dream business that I was playing at at the time.

I don’t think that at this point this is a dream that I will ever be fulfilled, and that’s okay! It’s still one that I daydream about quite often, though, and sometimes visualize in my meditation practice.

Something I want to learn or explore more deeply

Traveler of Branches and Graveyard

I would like to delve deeper into my mediumship work. Like most things that I’m curious about and enthusiastic about, it’s difficult for me to go slow in this area no matter how much I feel like it’s important that I do so.

I am delving deeper into this area a little at a time, though. It just somehow always feels like I could be doing so much more. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that I’m holding myself back on purpose, and at those times I end up feeling restless.

I think the slow speed is important, for it will keep me from trampling over things that I don’t yet understand, or charging past things that are important to the learning process.

Other elements included in this reading:
Pressed Yew Tips for Ancestral Connections
Dried Lavender Bundle for Calming and Comfort
Rose Quartz for Gentle Kindness to Self and Others
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECKS USED: SLOW HOLLER TAROT AND THE LANTERN ORACLE 1 BY LAND EDITION

@lightningildflower‘s August Reflections Challenge
Prompts for August 14th and 15th

Tarot Reading with the Tarocchini Mitelli

Clarity – How can I allow myself to pause and gain more clarity?

King of Cups and Six of Swords

Stop trying so hard to protect yourself from your emotions or to control them. Emotions work differently than thoughts, and you won’t be able to deal with them in the same manner or treat them in the same way as you do your thoughts and inner narratives.

In order to gain more clarity, you have to allow your emotions to have the space to express themselves openly and clearly, consulting with those that know better than you in this area when you are able to. Running away just makes things all the more clouded and confused.

Mercury conjunct Jupiter – Where am I ready to start thinking bigger?

Ace of Cups atop Ace of Coins

Retail therapy is not working out for you of late, and you are looking for new and different ways in which to get that taste of dopamine without spending the coin needed to do so through the retail therapy route.

Some people eat their emotions, other people spend them or spoil them. There’s all different sorts of ways in which people seek out a “self-medicating” path where their emotions are concerned. You are looking for one better suited to your current situation than what you’ve previously been using.

Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Lodgepole Pine for Resilience, Growth, and Renewal
Dried Purple Heather Flowers for Independence and Luck
Yellow Aventurine Dragonfly for Confidence During Change
Calcite for Gently Calming the Mind and Stimulating Insights
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: TAROCCHINO MITELLI ANIMA ANTIQUA
Daily Self Kindness

I begged off on a shift at the salon today. My stomach was bothering me and I just felt like crap (I know some of the latter part is subdrop), so I begged off on an extra shift and just stayed home instead.