The Passing of Unrealized Rewards

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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.

In2it Tarot Contra Versa Classic Edition - Queen of Cups

Today’s draw is the Queen of Cups, which is traditionally a representation of a receptive alpha energy, personality, or person in the area of one’s emotions, relationships, creativity, and intuition. Among other things, this often translates into themes to do with emotional support and advice from a trusted party that is easy to talk to.

The Queen of Cups has then been combined with an affirmation card from the Art from The Heart Pastel Affirmation Cards, which says, “I am capable of achieving anything. I set my mind to, and limitless opportunities are available to me. Life is full of possibilities. The power is within you already, it’s just a matter of using it and directing it to prioritize your goal. Dream, believe, and take action.”

It’s the journeys that have no end that are of the greatest value. These journeys are the journeys of life and the journeys of growth.

That doesn’t mean that our other goals are without value, but it does mean that we need to be able to differentiate between the two and not confuse them. Goals have an end point, a place set in stone that we strive for in order to find accomplishment. This is different than a journey of growth or the journey of life, where the end is not the accomplishment but simply an ending, and instead it’s the journey itself is where the value and accomplishment lie.

This contrast is brought to life today between the Queen of Cups and today’s affirmation card, and it’s this contrast that today’s message lies. Today’s cards are a reminder to pay attention to which things in life are a journey where the journey itself is the reward, and which things that are goals where the reward lies at the end of the journey. These cards encourage us to know the difference and be mindful of that difference in our own efforts and endeavors, so that we can get the most out of life, rather than letting the rewards pass us by unrealized.

DECKS USED:  IN2IT CONTRA VERSA TAROT CLASSIC EDITION AND ART FROM THE HEART PASTEL AFFIRMATION CARDS

Taurus Last Quarter Tarot Spread
by venus_seafoam on Discord’s Tarotholics

Tarot Reading with The 9th Dimension Tarot

What part of my identity has become outdated?

Five of Pentacles – The mindset of scarcity. For a good portion of your life, you have used a mindset of scarcity to motivate yourself into getting done the things that you need to get done and fulfilling the obligations that are a part of your responsibilities. You are getting into a point now in your life, where that fear of scarcity is unfounded, as the repercussions of scarcity are far less likely these days than they were when you were younger.

What have recent experiences revealed about my true values?

Two of Swords atop Page of Pentacles – You are always going to lean into the potential for long-term security over the guarantee of fleeting pleasures or gains. You value security enough that you are willing to learn new things just to preserve it or foster it in your life, rather than indulging the chaos of fleeting pleasures and pursuits that might put that security at risk.

What am I holding onto simply because it is familiar?

The High Priestess (tipped left) – You have a tendency to limit your intuition and divination abilities specifically because you’re more comfortable with them limited. For example, although you have opened yourself up to mediumship over the past few years, you’re uncomfortable with growth in this area going quickly, and thus still hold onto blockages that are limiting your potential in this area.

What stable quality or foundation should I continue building upon?

The Hierophant – Not only do you respect, value, and search out old traditions and the old ways of doing things, but you seek to carry some of them forward into the future, as well as create your own. Just because you don’t have any family to carry your traditions and passions to the next generation doesn’t mean that they won’t be carried forward by others. Be open to sharing what you learn so that those around you can experience their value and can carry them forward for you.

What identity is naturally emerging as I let go?

Death Rx (tipped right) atop The High Priestess and Five of Pentacles – You are learning that stagnancy is not your friend, and as you let go of your need to see stagnancy as a form of stability, you are being opened up to an adaptability that will serve you well moving forward in times of struggle.

Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Parmeliaceae Lichen for a “Breath of Fresh Air”
Dried Rhododendron Leaf for Fostering Confidence
Dried Cedar Bundle for Protection from Negative Influences
Septarian Stone for Physical and Mental Healing
Gray Agate for Instilling Gentleness, Calm, and Stability
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: THE 9TH DIMENSION TAROT

@note.project August Journal Prompts
Prompts for August 7th and 8th

Tarot Reading with the In2it Tarot Contra Versa Classic Edition and Resurrection Oracle

Something I appreciate about this season of life

Five of Coins atop Champion of Swords; Feast or Famine

You’ve gotten to the point in life where you know exactly what you don’t want, and it motivates you to go after what you do.

You’ve come to understand that life is a series of choices and the consequences of those choices. Thus, you better understand how important it is that even the small choices we make in life are made with mindfulness towards where we want to go and who we want to become.

A part of myself I want to reconnect with

King of Coins and The Departure

There was a time in life where your responsibilities couldn’t keep you away from finding your own sense of stability in the things that provide this for you (such as alone time among the trees). In turn, by finding your own sense of stability, you were then able to share that with others on your return from these wild places you visited.

You want to reconnect with that part of yourself that was uncompromising in giving yourself what you need, because in giving yourself what you need you are better able to give others what they need. This requires stepping away from your responsibilities in ways that you have become resistant to in recent years.

Other elements included in this reading:
Yellow Aventurine Dragonfly for Confidence During Change
Dried Red Maple Leaf for Adaptability and Connection
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: IN2IT CONTRA VERSA TAROT CLASSIC EDITION AND RESURRECTION ORACLE
Daily Self Kindness

I snacked throughout the day today instead of sticking to my normal eating schedule. I just felt the need to sample and graze my way through the day.

Gideon’s Challenge – Dystopian Sun

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Wildfire Sun in Red

Dystopian Sun

August arrives
with a red sun
in a dirty sky
like a dystopian
apocalypse
breathed
into being
by the smoke
that fills the air
and makes
each breath
scratch
and burn
on the way in

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

How Brightly We Shine

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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

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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

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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

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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