Month: March 2023

Watch For the Quiet Ones

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Today’s meditation was skipped.

The Likely Tarot - Five of SwordsToday’s draw is the Five of Swords, which is traditionally a representation of conflict, tests, and trials in the areas of communication, intellect, education, thought, and logic. This often translates into things that have to do with arguments and misunderstandings.

What stands out to me in the imagery for this card is not the feathers hanging in the sky, but the flowers that gather at the bottom and the promise of danger that they pose.   It feels that they are a reminder that there are two different types of people when their angry.  There’s the type full of flash and fire that will confront you head on, and the quiet type that will simmer in silence but is far more toxic and dangerous in the end.

The message in today’s card is a reminder that when it comes to conflict, make sure that you pay attention to the quiet ones.  Everything is not as okay as it might seem, and when they go quiet? It’s time to put in a little more effort to finding common ground.

DECK USED:  THE LIKELY TAROT

@Lionharts #TheMarchTarot Wander Lust Challenge Prompt
Question for March 5th: How can I embrace and use my natural environment to help me with my current journey?

L'oracle des MurmuresReading Summary: Balance in life (center card) requires a balance of both work (left card) and play (right card).

Take Away: Not allowing yourself enough balance between play and work creates an imbalance in your life that makes it harder for you to communicate with others, and also harder for you to connect with your intuition.

You need to get out in the green, even when there might not be as much green around as you’d like. Take an easy path through the forest, if needed.

Just making sure you’re getting out there at all will help you in balancing out your life so that you can enjoy your work more, and other elements in your life will feel less disjointed as a result.

DECK USED: L’ORACLE DES MURMURES

#DiscordTarotholicsMar2023 Challenge Prompt
Prompt for March 5th: Do Spread 1 – With spring approaching, it’s time to start cleaning out the old energies of hibernation and stagnation that winter can often bring. In this spread look for those thoughts and things that need to be let go in order to allow you to flourish this spring.

The Likely TarotWhat do I need to let go of to…

Ease My Mind – Ace if Swords and Two of Wands – New plans and new aspirations need to take a backseat as you move into spring this year. Let yourself just live in the moment and enjoy yourself instead of always looking forward to what new opportunities may be just around the corner.

Lighten My Heart – Justice Rx and The Hanged Man – You have a choice when you make a decision on how you look at things. You can look at them from a balanced and more forgiving perspective, or as a punisher meting out consequences. Choose the former and allow an attitude of forgiveness to rise up the spring, rather than leaning into harsher viewpoints.

Free My Creative Spark – King of Wands and Knight of Pentacles – You don’t always have to be top dog on every passion project. Allow yourself to drop the ball every once in a while, and see how quickly others move to pick it up.

DECK USED: THE LIKELY TAROT

@lucet.in.aurora.tarot’s #lucetinauroraMaartTarotChallenge Prompt
Prompt for March 5th: These cards were “besties”.

Hanson Roberts Tarot and The Herbal TarotAlthough not my first deck (which was a complete disaster and only worth mentioning in discussions about owning decks that don’t work for the reader and/or are unsuitable for learning), these two were the second and third decks I ever owned, and the first that I ever connected strongly with.

The Hanson Roberts Tarot (left) and Herbal Tarot (right) traveled together from living situation to living situation, from shelter to couch to car to cardboard box, and eventually from home to home throughout my mid-to-late teens.

They are the best of friends, and will always be connected in my mind through the bond from those years in my life.

DECK USED: HANSON ROBERTS TAROT AND HERBAL TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

I ordered pizza and made chocolate chip cookies for myself today.

Gideon’s Challenge

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IMG_0676Winter Warmth

The ground
is frozen
and as
snowflakes drift
tiny and light
you warm
my heart,
and as clouds
linger among
mountain tops
and your lips
brush mine
I find that it’s
no longer cold
and my soul
smiles

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

❤️ Self Care Saturday (On a Sunday)

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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 Tanya Teibtner's Tarot de Marseille and the Green Glyphs Lenormand

Earth – The Hanged Man – Sometimes it’s okay to hang back and see what everybody else is doing before you make up your mind. It doesn’t make you one of the sheep to do this, but rather allows you to have a larger scope of perspectives to be informed by.

Air – Page of Cups – Make sure you’re using your words to express your emotions this week. Now is not the time to keep things pent up and to yourself.

Water – Judgment – Keep your judgments and negativity to yourself. Be the man you want yourself to be instead of the man that’s trying to “escape out your mouth”.

Fire – The Sun – Smooth sailing and success are easily in your grasp this week. Play it to your greatest advantage and have some fun in the process.

Waning – Lady and Letter – Let go of the shit she says that she doesn’t really mean. Even if she does mean it, it really doesn’t matter.

Waxing – Key and Garden – Jer’s going to be back to his social self again this week. Have some patience, and he’ll come to you.

Take Away -DECKS USED: TANYA TEIBTNER’S TAROT DE MARSEILLE AND GREEN GLYPHS LENORMAND

Let Them Learn

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IMG_E1670Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and was a Daily Calm session from the Calm app.

The topic of today’s session was non-contention.  That is, how life can move a bit smoother if we choose to allow the struggles and obstacles in life to flow around us and us go with the flow… rather than fighting against the current.

Not everything has to be a fight, and being oppositional all the time holds a great deal of unnecessary struggle and strife.

IMG_E1671Today’s draw is the Justice card, which is traditionally a representation of repercussions and other themes that have to do with cause and effect, and can often indicate the involvement of law enforcement or the legal system within a situation.

I like how the sharp edges in the artwork of this card match so well the theme of Justice as a whole.  That knowing look and the sharp edges of the woman make it clear that there is no mercy here, only repercussions.

Today’s card is a reminder that it’s okay to be harsh now and then.  Sometimes, for people to learn their lessons?  A little harshness is needed.  You cant sugar coat and carefully pillow things forever, or they’ll never learn.

DECK USED:  THE ALCHEMIST’S BOOK OF SHADOWS TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsMar2023 Challenge Prompt
Questions for March 3rd and 4th

IMG_E1672Caregiver Appreciation Day – What caregiver in your life is in need of loving care in return?

Cat Alice – It’s Z.  I can’t even pick out why in this card I see her in the imagery, but I do.  Not just in the pose of the Cat Alice, but even in the transposed shadows on the wall.  It’s her.

How can I provide that person the loving care that they need?

Unseen Dangers atop The Way Up – Offer her a life line. Remind her that you’re there, hand out and willing to help lift her up when she needs it.  Sometimes, that fact gets lost in murky waters and she begins to feel far too alone.

Hug a GI Day – Service comes in many forms, what service can you do for others today?

Decluttering – Give others a hand up by talking with them sincerely and helping them to sort out what is working for them from what isn’t.  This goes beyond just the sorting process, as these people in your life might also need a bit of encouragement to actually leave behind those things that aren’t working instead of keeping it all as litter in their lives.

DECK USED: THE ANSWER IS WITHIN METAPHORIC CARDS

@Lionharts #TheMarchTarot Wander Lust Challenge Prompt
Questions for March 3rd and 4th
And @lucet.in.aurora.tarot’s #lucetinauroraMaartTarotChallenge Prompt
Prompt for March 4th: A reading by candle light.

IMG_E1673What part of me am I encouraged to show, express or share more?

Six of Cups – It’s important to connect with good memories. When you share history with others that know you and were there, they help you to not just see the good, but see the past more clearly as a whole.

Where am I to use my instincts and follow my intuition?

Four of Cups – Keep going with your meditation. It’s only been a few days, but you know that in keeping up with it, it will allow your intuition’s voice to speak more loudly.

Why is this important for me?

Ten of Wands atop The Emperor – In order to make good decisions for yourself and others, and not feel overwhelmed by it all, you need the balance that meditation provides as well as the stronger connection it provides you to your intuition.

DECK USED: THE ALCHEMIST’S BOOK OF SHADOWS TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

I didn’t sleep much last night, so I gave myself license to take a couple of naps today to work at catching up on some of the sleep I’d missed.

Gideon’s Challenge

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IMG_1598The Last Snow

It falls
in large flakes
with wet plops
melting
even before
it lands
turning the world
into a slush
of mud puddles
and white patches
that everyone
walks around
and I
tromp through
with laughter
in my heart

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

The Threshold

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DailyCalm with the Calm AppToday’s meditation was ten minutes long, and was one of the Daily Calm meditation sessions from the Calm app. The topic of today’s meditation was the humanity based philosophy of Ubuntu which, in my understanding, is in many key ways very similar to Confucianism (interesting article comparing the two was found here).

The session spoke of our happiness being reliant on the happiness of those around us, and  how connecting with others we can grow a more happy environment and life than by selfishly keeping all joy and happiness to ourselves and leaving others out of it.

Nigel Jackson Tarot - The World cardToday’s draw is the World card, which is traditionally a representation of completing a journey and the potential that comes from growth, which can allow us to then begin a new journey (note, that the World is not about the new journey, but rather the end of the old and the potential for what’s next).

When the figure steps through the laurel wreath on the card, it the symbolism of a new beginning. As they step through the wreath, they leave behind the old, and look forward as they cross the threshold into the future. The key in this card is in the fact that this figure is not behind the laurel wreath about to step through, nor in front of it, already having crossed the threshold.  Instead, the figure is in the process of crossing, one foot in the past and the other in the future.

In this liminal space between the past and the future, there is a huge amount of potential, and that is what today’s card is about.  The message in this card is all about potential go after what you want… to make the future what you want it to be. Make sure, as you cross out of the past into the future that you keep your eyes forward and know what you want for yourself, who you want to be, and what you want to become.

DECK USED:  THE NIGEL JACKSON TAROT

@lucet.in.aurora.tarot’s #lucetinauroraMaartTarotChallenge Prompt
Prompt for March 3rd: Your significator (the court card that “is” you)

Nigel Jackson Tarot - Queen of CoinsQueen of Coins – I mentioned this card in this exact same question just the other day, but I figured I’d expand a little bit on my answer this time around.

The Queen of Coins is often about balancing responsibilities with an effort towards nurturing multiple themes in one’s life at once. Home life and work need equal attention to grow and be healthy, and the Queen of Coins seeks to do just that. In fostering both themes, there is a need for balance and a strong and grounded foundation from which to work from.

This figure works best when rooted in stability, and in turn provides stability to others both at home and at work.

This is the stability and balance that I strive to create each day for both myself and for those around me.  Through that endeavor I seek always to put home and work in harmony and balance, rather than at odds.

DECK USED: THE NIGEL JACKSON TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

I took a nap. A much longer nap than I intended to, but I feel much better now.