How Brightly We Shine

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

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

•    •    •    ◈    •    🌻    •    ◈    •    •    •

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

The Infinite Tarot of Hekate 100 - Prince of Pentacles

Today’s draw is the Knight of Pentacles (Prince), which is traditionally a representation of an active, projective beta energy, personality, or person in the area of one’s finances, resources, health, home, labors, and manifestations. This often translates into a slow moving but determinedly forward moving energy, personality, or person that has their eye on the prize regardless of the slow and steady speed they may be moving at.

The Prince of Pentacles has then been combined with the Expressing Free Will card from The Healing Mantra Deck, which says, “My choices determine how brightly I shine.”

Do you want to be a comet that shines bright in a sudden flash in the sky and is then gone forever? Or do you want to be a star in the heavens burning bright night after night for generations to come?

Both shine, but the former burns out far too fast for me personally, here and gone in an instant. The latter is steadfast, steady, and dependable… energy far more compatible to my own.

I feel that it’s become far more prevalent that people seek these days to fall into the mindset of the comet than the star, or perhaps it’s just that as I strive to embrace the mindset of the star, I am noticing the comets more and more?

Today’s Prince of Pentacles and affirmation encourages us to considering mindset we prefer, why we prefer it, and to be mindful in alighting ourselves to embrace both sides within ourselves even as we try to strengthen one over the other in our day to day lives.

DECKS USED:  THE INFINITE TAROT OF HECKTE 100 AND THE HEALING MANTRA DECK

#DiscordTarotholicsAug2026 Challenge
Prompts for August 6th and 7th

Tarot Reading with the Förhäxa Tarot and Forces of Spirit Tarot

What inner injury from my childhood needs healing?

Temperance atop The Empress; Courage

You crave nurturing mother energy because this was something you didn’t get your fill of as a child.

While the lack of this energy gave you a strength of courage and determination to be independent and fight your own battles, it has left your inner child feeling neglected and bereft.

How can I begin working on healing that injury?

Four of Air and The Return

Consider putting to rest the differences that have created a chasm between yourself and your mother.

Try connecting again with who brought you into this world. Even if the effort doesn’t work out, your inner child feels the need to try after so long separated from her.

Other elements included in this reading:
Dried Cedar Bundle for Protection from Negative Influences
Moonstone for Fostering Emotional Stability
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: FÖRHÄXA TAROT AND FORCES OF SPIRIT TAROT [oracle deck]

@lightningildflower‘s August Reflections Challenge
Prompts for August 6th through 8th

Tarot Reading with The Infinite Tarot of Hekate 100

Venus enters Libra, Venus trine Saturn – How might strengthening a boundary create relationship harmony?

Wheel of Fortune and Nine of Pentacles

There is truth in Rita Mae Brown’s adage that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”.

Success comes from changing things up and adapting your approach, not doing things by rote just because that’s always how they’ve been done.

Beating your head against stone will not break the stone. Don’t wait for that to change on its own. Be proactive. Get a hammer.

Equilibrium – Where can I practice more patience?

The Moon and High Priestess

Listen to your gut when it comes to determining when something doesn’t seem right tor feels dangerous. Don’t berate yourself as a coward or worrywart, instead seek out that gut feeling and trust what it’s trying to tell you. Pause and listen.

Harmony – How are beauty and harmony showing up in my life?

Four of Cups and Eight of Cups

Instead of ignoring the help others offer you, and as a consequence having to deal with anxieties that trigger your need to run, you are choosing to communicate these fears and anxieties with those closest you that you trust to listen and take you seriously.

Other elements included in this reading:
Tree of Life Raku Medallion for fostering Balance and Harmony
Staghorn Sumac for Connecting with Nature and the Wild Within
Foraged Wood Fern for Exorcising Negative Influences
Dried Cedar Bundle for Protection from Negative Influences
Moss Agate Tree for Attracting Opportunities for Growth
Kayanite for helping Balance and Communicate Emotions
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: THE INFINITE TAROT OF HEKATE 100
Daily Self Kindness

I shifted drinking my tea to earlier in the day today. Sometimes it’s hard for me to feel the inspiration to make a cup at night before bed. Earlier in the day might be the answer.

Gideon’s Challenge – Disquietude

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment
Wildfire Smoke

Disquietude

smoke arrives
like a stain
across the sky
as it creeps
like dirty mist
among the trees
to cover
everything
in the faint scent
of low level
anxiety
bred into us
by instinct

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Finding Treasures In the Moment

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

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

•    •    •    ◈    •    🌻    •    ◈    •    •    •

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

Soul Tarot - Death card and the In This Moment Affirmation Cards

Today’s draw is the Death card, which is traditionally a representation of gradual organic changes, loss, slow moving transitions, and letting go.

The Death card has then been combined with an affirmation from the In This Moment Mindful Affirmation Cards, which says, “In this moment, I live in the moment. I focus on the now.”

I love the depiction of a nurse log as Death in this deck. It creates for me an awareness of cycles and promise.

In the forest, when you come upon a nurse log, some only see the destruction and decay of a fallen tree. Others only see what -could- be done with the tree and the land beneath it.

Those that are open to being mindful in the moment, though, find that this dead tree is not dead at all. It is teeming with life. It’s sacrifice and thus its fallen body host and shelter an innumerable variety of creatures and plants both… including saplings that will grow tall into strong and healthy trees.

Thus, the nurse log isn’t the end, but rather the next stage in an ever continuing cycle of life.

The message in today’s Death card and affirmation is a reminder of how much richness and life there is in this moment… even in the presence of Death.

DECKS USED:  SOUL TAROT AND IN THIS MOMENT MINDFUL AFFIRMATION CARDS

@note.project August Journal Prompts
Prompts for August 5th and 6th

Tarot Reading with The Yellow House Tarot and Tree Magick Oracle

A place that makes me feel happy or at peace

The Moon and The Judas Tree

The drown (aka. subspace). Here’s the thing about my relationship with Gid. He is intense. Together, we are intense. Especially so during sex. His dominant nature draws out a need to yield and submit that I’ve never even experienced with anyone else, let alone wanted to explore. With him? It’s natural. So natural that there’s no choice to it. It just happens. In fact, the first time I experienced around him I ran scared.

Eighteen years later, I’m now quite addicted, of course. Even with the misery of the subsequent drop (subdrop), it’s something I find myself eager to experience again and again. A safe place created just for me filled with a myriad of uncertainties held at bay by him.

A tradition or little ritual I want to keep creating

The Magician and Peach Tree

I want to continue in growing into those things I enjoy. This means releasing not only those things that no longer serve me, but also those ones I just plain don’t enjoy in favor of the activities and pursuits that I do.

For me, this is a relatively new concept, as I was raised to prioritize responsibly and obligation above all else including my own safety and happiness. This change in toward prioritizing myself and my own likes is something I would like to develop into a sacred tradition of self care and self kindness.

Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Wood Fern for Exorcising Negative Influences
Gneiss Wishing Stone for Patience in Moments of Discomfort
Ferruginous Quartz Crescent for Enhancing the Evolution of Self
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECKS USED: THE YELLOW HOUSE TAROT AND TREE MAGICK ORACLE

#DiscordTarotholicsAug2026 Challenge
Philosophical Question for August 5th : Does luck (good or bad) actually exist?

Tarot Reading with the Soul Tarot

Reading Summary: Luck is far more about the energy you put into a thing (all the Wands) than about divine timing or fate (The Devil atop Two of Wands).

It’s not about planning, which can create unreasonable expectations and a mindset of pass-or-fail (again, The Devil atop Two of Wands). Rather, it’s about doing with an open mind (Page of Wands atop Six of Wands).

Take Away: Although these cards don’t deny the existence of good luck or bad luck, what they do is instead indicate that most of what people interpret as luck is actually a misidentification of consequences.

While there may be circumstances that appear like good luck, for example, much in the same way that grass always looking greener in the other side of the fence, it is far more often to be the repercussions (good or bad) of the energy and attitude you bring into the situation, path, or endeavor.

Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Oak Branch with Moss and Lichen for Perseverance
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
Yellow Jasper Acorn for sparking Interest in New Opportunities
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: SOUL TAROT
Daily Self Kindness

I wore my headphones at Ms B’s today throughout the day in order to completely avoid any political talk.

🎨 Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Line Up

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

Prompt : Shuffle your deck of choice, then pull out every ninth card.

Tarot Practice Exercise Activity with the Tarot of Colors and Light


Of the eight cards now sitting in front of you, which card do you relate to most strongly and why?

At this time, I feel like I relate most strongly to the Nine of Swords. There’s a lot of changes going on in my business right now and I’m finding it difficult to stay open to the feelings of uncertainty I’m experiencing instead of falling into catastrophizing. Although insomnia is not a part of the experience right now, constant worry and anxiety issues thrum beneath the surface.

Of the seven cards now left sitting in front of you, which card do you relate to the least and why?

I feel that I currently relate least strongly to The Emperor. I definitely do not feel like I have all my ducks in a row, nor that my influence is having much of an impact on what’s going on with my business at this time. Instead, I feel like I’m struggling unnecessarily hard due to others choices and influences that I have no control over and no agency to change.

There are now six cards left. Assign a real person in your life, a fictional character, a movie, a book, or a song to each of these six cards and then tell us why you made the choice you did for each. (I chose to use a handful of the books I’ve read so far this summer.)

Wheel of Fortune – The Storyline of How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates

Every time you think you know what’s going on in this storyline, something happens that takes things off on another left turn. No one has solid footing, not in the book, and not you as the reader. There’s a lot left up to chance, and this story tells you just how wrong (and sometimes right) things can go when there’s no solid footing with which to make a plan.

Ace of Swords – Fionn Kane in Scythe & Sparrow by Brynne Weaver

While Fionn is away overseas, he does the absolutely most surprising thing and writes numerous letters to Rose even though he couldn’t tell her where he was or when he’d be back. Through these letters, Rose (and you as the reader) get to see a side of him that he’d never shown her in person and it creates a connection over distance in a way that wouldn’t have been possible through any other means.

Seven of Cups – The donor recipients in A Killer Harvest by Paul Cleave

I spent a good part of this book, especially toward the end, wondering how it is that one donor’s personality and desires were able to out-weigh or overwhelm the other’s in young Joshua. It doesn’t feel like the fact that one of the donors was his foster father should be enough to make a difference. This might have been further explained in the book with the introduction of other characters and their own experiences, but although presented as uncontrolled, it felt more like there was definite choices involved every step of the way.

Knight of Pentacles – Louisa Halder in Wolf Worm by T Kingfisher

She took her time showing up (finally) at the end of the book, eventually appearing to step in like a knight on a white horse to provide some stability (especially in the monetary/resource/hearth and home areas) that was needed when everything fell apart.

Ten of Wands – Ash Harrington in His Cocky Valet by Cole McCade

This guy is so overwhelmed and out of his league when he’s left in charge of his father’s business, and even when help arrives, he doesn’t know how to ask for it or what to do with it. He’s drowning in his responsibilities. Part of the storyline for Ash is learning how to ask for help and how to lean on others instead of taking everything on his own shoulders until he’s ready to break.

Nine of Wands – Finlay Ashowen in The House Witch 3 by Delemhach

In the initial battles of the war, Finlay Ashowen uses his magic again and again to protect his home and those he loves and cares for, and again and again we see him beaten down and exhausted. He continues to rise up and fight again, though, finding ways to use what is not a “battle” magic in ways to protect those around him and what he values most.

DECK USED:  THE TAROT OF COLORS AND LIGHT

Gideon’s Challenge – Everything

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment
On the Water

Everything

I want to
get lost with you
in places
where
we won’t
be disturbed
and can
explore
to our heart’s
content
everything
from the smallest
freckle
to the vast
night sky
hand in hand

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Living In the Moment

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

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

•    •    •    ◈    •    🌻    •    ◈    •    •    •

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

Beatles Tarot - Ace of Swords and the Messages From the Universe Oracle

Today’s draw is the Ace of Swords, which is traditionally a representation of the seed of new beginnings in the area of one’s thoughts, intellect, education, logic and reason, ambition, or communication.

The Ace of Swords has then been combined with a card from the Messages From the Universe deck, which says, “Try not to dwell in the past, or spend too much time worrying about the future. All it does is steal your joy and sense of inner peace. Concentrate on the here and now and enjoy every moment for what it is. You are creating new memories.”

Sometimes a little rumination or nostalgia is healthy, and the same can be said for forethought and planning ahead.

The issue, though, is that many of us spend so much time with our minds in the past or future that we forget that we’re actually living in the present and to be there for it in more than just our physical presence but also our mind and attention.

The past and future have their value, but only if they aren’t distracting you from the now.

The Ace of Swords and affirmation for today are a reminder to be present in the present moment. This is where life is lived and the treasures of joy and happiness reside. Don’t allow your mind (and thus inattention) to keep you from experiencing and enjoying today… this moment.

DECKS USED:  BEATLES TAROT MESSAGES FROM THE UNIVERSE ORACLE

#DiscordTarotholicsAug2026 Challenge

Prompts for August 3rd and 4th

Tarot Reading with The Shining Tribe Tarot and Street Tree Tarot

How can I better connect with my inner child?

Speaker of Trees and Fiery Oak

Be inspired! That is to say, allow the wonder of the world around you and the curiosity rooted deep within your soul the freedom to shine. In doing so, excitement and inspiration are awakened, and so is your inner child, who revels in this sort of energy when you provide the safety of acceptance for them to do so.

How does my inner child feel right now?

The Hermit and Market Tree

Both acknowledged, and yet neglected. You touch upon your inner child enough to let them know you are aware of them, but they feel they only get the scraps of your attention and no gratitude at all. Therefore, a little more connection and care is needed and would be appreciated.

Other elements included in this reading:
Deodar Cedar Cone for Fostering Clarity and Spiritual Connection
Pressed Pansy Flowers for Hearing the Heart More Clearly
Flower Agate for Opening the Mind to New Possibilities
Rose Quartz for Gentle Kindness to Self and Others
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECKS USED: THE SHINING TRIBE TAROT AND STREET TREES TAROT (ORACLE)

@note.project August Journal Prompts

Prompt for August 4th : Something simple that has been making life feel good lately

Tarot Reading with the Beatles Tarot

Reading Summary: Instead of investing all of your attention (Ace of Wands) in the chaos of what’s going wrong (The Tower), you are choosing to invest in finding a bit of balance (Two of Pentacles) and distraction through your connections with others (Two of Cups).

Note: the way these cards fell out and landed on the table is important. The Ace of Wands atop Tower speaks of the over investment of energy in things out of your control. The subsequent landing of the Two of Cup on top of that pairing then indicates a distraction from them by an outside source (a person) close to you. The stand-alone of the Two of Pentacles that came out last is in the future position (right side) indicating a balanced result inspired by the interaction of the other three cards.

Take Away: You have been spending more time with your partner and others close to you of late, and it’s helping provide a little (greatly needed) distraction from the situation and issues you were previously spending so much time obsessing over. This distraction offers you a sense of balance that allows you to see things more clearly from a distance and not get so wrapped up in the negative aspects of your current situation.

Other elements included in this reading:
Staghorn Sumac for Connecting with Nature and the Wild Within
Foraged Silver Maple Key for Bouncing Back to Thrive
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: BEATLES TAROT
Daily Self Kindness

I took a little extra time in my seat at the reading desk today to enjoy the sunlight through the window and flowers on the balcony.