Day: August 3, 2025

Moments of Self-Generosity

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Today’s meditation was a ten minute long self-directed session that focused on the Finnish concept of Oleilu, which is defined as “a calm, unhurried state of simply being, not about doing, achieving, or planning, but the quiet act of existing in the moment”. ( Graphic by @aesthetic_logophile )

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Life Line Tarot's Six of Pentacles@FatMumSlim August #FMSPAD Challenge
Prompt for August 3rd : Shapes in the Clouds | #FMS_CLOUDSHAPES25
Daily Mental Health Prompt: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Today’s draw is the Six of Pentacles, which is traditionally a representation of charity, generosity, sharing the wealth, asking for or accepting help, and balancing the scales between the “haves” and the “have nots” in life.

Are you able to sit for a few moments of nothing? Are you able to take a deep breath, let it out slow, shut down your mind, and just be for a time?

If not, you’re not alone. Giving ourselves the space to do these moments of quiet stillness is difficult when life is busy and we have so much to do and so many issues to sort through. It’s easier to be generous to others than to ourselves in a world that tells us that we are never doing (or being) enough. So we push when we need to rest. Over time this push for more becomes habit, and we can’t turn it off even when we need to.

If we truly want to practice generosity, though, we need to learn how to give it to ourselves. We need to learn how to take a moment of stillness and tell our brains to shut up and butt out.

Today’s messages is an encouragement to start this process of generosity with yourself. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and listen to a beautiful song all the way through from beginning to end. Lie down and look up at the clouds and seek out shapes in them with your imagination. Sit and watch the journey of an ant going about its day. Examine and admire the intricate veins of a leaf.

Use these moments as a way to give yourself a break and shut down the litany of demands your brain is constantly running in the background. It doesn’t have to be a long pause, even just a minute or three will do. The generosity you give to yourself in these moments is in each time we try.

DECK USED:  LIFE LINE TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsAug2025 Challenge
Prompt for August 3rd : Do Spread 1 – Physical Aspects

The Elder Animals Oracle Reading

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

Elder Coyote – The efforts that you began in the spring to add more flexibility to your body through the extra morning stretches you’ve added to your physiotherapy routine have started to pay off. Although it’s slow going, this practice is beginning to allow you to identify the places that need more work, and sort them out from those that were able to recover more quickly.

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

Elder Swan – You’re never going to be 100% happy with yourself and how you look in the mirror. The scars and damage can be acknowledged as a type of strength, but are never going to appeal to the aesthetic of your eye. Your weight is always going to be a problem as well. It’s time to accept that these things don’t really matter. Those who love you love you just the way that you are, flaws and all. Work on loving yourself as they do.

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

Elder Wolf – Protect your energy. Summer is supposed to be a time of rest and recharge for you, where you recuperate from the busy time of the year and, as Fall approaches, you begin preparing for the busy season to come. Make sure that you are protecting your energy by resting when you need to rest, as well as by beginning to make those items you can make ahead of time for the busy season to come so that you will not be so stressed when the rush is upon you.

Other elements included in this reading:
Dried Rhododendron Leaf for Fostering Confidence
Cedar Smoke Cleansing Bundle for Protection
Tumbled Agate for a Mindset of Purity and Innocence
Desert Rose for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: THE ANIMAL ELDERS ORACLE

Daily Self Kindness

I cried.

Gideon’s Challenge – The Silence

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Lobelia FlowersThe Silence

How is it
in a room
full of people
we can feel
so alone
even
as they speak
and smile
touch
and hug
it only makes
that moment of
desolate
solitude
more acute
than before

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.

Self Care Saturday Tarot Reading with the Japanese Myths Tarot and Sambucus Lenormand

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

Earth – Four of Swords – Stillness is your friend. As many readings over the past week have mentioned, don’t jump the gun concerning the things you’re worried about. Your answers lie within patience, and in adaptation when adaptation is needed and not a moment sooner.

Air – Death – You have an opportunity to prepare instead of being taken completely by surprise. Changes are common and it’s okay to think them through and strategize, as long as you aren’t jumping the gun on taking action, and that you remember that plans will never be perfect and always need tinkering with in the moment.

Water – Six of Pentacles – Be kind to yourself. Self-generosity is needed to keep you from falling into the habits of old defense mechanisms. Give yourself what you need instead of withholding it these things as a form of punishment or self-destructiveness.

Fire – Justice – You get what you give, and that includes in self-care. If you don’t put in the effort in this area and take it seriously, you won’t reap the needed rewards.

Waning – Boy and Man – Don’t worry so much about being a “responsible adult” at the moment. You need a little time allowing your softness to flow freely and letting your inner child have some fun.

Waxing – Dog and Scythe – Stick to your guns with the silent treatment you’ve been giving your potential stalker. They -are- getting the message, even if a resurgence of their behaviors is eminent.  Keep your boundaries strong and don’t allow yourself to cross over into responding, no matter what bait is brought to bear.

Reading Note: I chose to leave the alternates for cards 28 and 29 in the deck due to them having such different connotations. Thus how I ended up with both 28 cards in the Waning position of this reading.

Take Away – The time to act is not now, no matter how much your anxieties try to push you into doing so. Plan, watch, listen, pay attention, strategize and plan some more.  Just don’t -do- anything yet.  Instead? Spend this time giving yourself the self-care you need, including those generosities that allow you to stay open and vulnerable instead of retreating to protect yourself.

DECKS USED: JAPANESE MYTH TAROT AND SAMBUCUS LENORMAND