In the Garden
So many
nooks and crannies
beneath leaves
and between
swaying stalks
where a heavy head
can settle
for just
a little while
and eyes close
for just a bit
of bathing in
Autumn sunlight
Month: October 2025
❤️ Self Care Saturday (On a Sunday)
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?
Earth – Six of Pentacles – Make sure you are focusing on being generous this week. Generous to yourself. Generous to others as well. Give people the benefit of the doubt, and be kind to yourself.
Air – Ten of Wands – Ambition is a healthy thing until you get too far in and become overloaded. Make sure that your thoughts and actions, plans, and strategizing all allow you for time to rest. If you overwhelm yourself, it’s going to force you to rest anyway, so make sure that you give yourself the space to do it on your own before you’re forced into it at a more inconvenient time.
Water – Ace of Swords – Don’t get so much in your head that it starts to screw with your emotions. This also reflects back to the Ten of Wands in the Air position, in that if you are too much in your head, you will also quickly become overwhelmed. New ideas are great, but give yourself a break by writing them down instead of jumping on them right away.
Fire – Death – Changes are coming with your business yet again. You saw a preview of what might be to come just last night, which is giving you the heads up to prepare for what’s coming. Don’t ignore it. Instead face it head on.
Waning – Child and Clover – The faith that everything is going to turn out great has its place, but right now what you need is empowerment, not faith. This week is not the time to just sit back and hope everything works itself out.
Waxing – Lady and House – Mind your heart at home this week and cherish the time you have there. Take this time to put things in order to suit you and your comfort zone.
Take Away – It sounds like you’re going to have some pretty great new ideas this week. Too many of them to act on all of them at once, definitely. So make sure you’re writing everything down to act on later, which will allow you to be kind to yourself by giving yourself more space and time.
That space is going to allow you room for changes, as well. Because when you get too many things going at the same time, your “wiggle room” diminishes and you’re less able to pivot when you need to.
DECKS USED: THE WONDERLAND ADVENTURE TAROT AND HAUNTED WONDERLAND LENORMAND
Curating Your Gallery
Today’s meditation was skipped.
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Daily Mental Health Prompt: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.
Today’s draw is the Three of Wands, which is traditionally a representation of the first active step in a journey, progress towards a goal, and the seizing of opportunities.
The Three of Wands has then been combined with an affirmation card from the Sinister Affirmations deck, which says, “There is no rule that says you can’t be a captivating forest pixie and an intimidating ancient hell goddess. Hecate had three forms. You needn’t commit to just one.”
Pick and choose the paths you decide to follow in life. You can be more than one thing. A mother and a boss. A boyfriend and an advocate. An entrepreneur and a nature enthusiast. We all wear many hats, the important part is to be active in choosing which hats you decide to wear.
The message in today’s cards is a reminder that the life you are living belongs to you, and the hats you decide to wear? Are your decision. If one of them isn’t fitting right? It’s okay to trade it out for something else, or even set it aside instead of continuing on with what isn’t working. Today’s message encourages us to carefully curate out lives, like a gallery of most loved artwork. Each path a piece a fit for our unique needs, wants, and likes.
DECK USED: CTHULHU MYTHOS COMICOLOGY TAROT COLOR FOIL EDITION AND SINISTER AFFIRMATIONS
#DiscordTarotholicsOct2025 Challenge
Spirits Prompt for October 25th : What guidance do your ancestors have to offer you at this time?
Reading Summary: Starting over is never easy, and can always be confusing (imagery in the Ace of Pentacles). It can be worse, though, if you allow your emotions to start overriding good sense (Ace of Cups atop Eight of Swords). Leaning on your emotions alone will blind you to pitfalls and lead in the direction of failure (Nine of Pentacles Rx).
Take Away: Learning to moderate your emotions is difficult, and it’s a long and arduous process. Now that they are set loose instead of being buried, they have a tendency to try and take the lead.
Make sure that you are staying connected to what’s going on, so that you can step outside of those emotional influences and allow other factors to come into play in your decision making, actions, and reactions.
Other elements included in this reading:
Pressed Yew Tips for Ancestral Connections
Blue Apatite for Balancing Energies and Manifestation
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy
DECK USED: TAROT APOKALYPSIS
@LightningWildflower October Tarot Challenge
Fire and Air “The Nines” Prompts for October
Nine of Wands
How have I shown resilience in past difficulties?
Judgement – You show your resilience in how you keep your eye on where you want to end up and who you want to be. This focus helps you move through difficulties while staying true to yourself, allowing you a resilience you wouldn’t otherwise possess.
What helps me tap into my determination to see things through?
The World – The knowledge that everything is temporary and an end is coming if you just persevere helps you to tap into your determination and see things through when the road becomes difficult.
Also, the understanding that there’s a journey with lessons here that need to be learned for your growth and development.
Nine of Swords
What is an area of anxiety in my life, and how can I best approach this distress?
Queen of Cups Rx and Seven of Pentacles – Your craving for emotional support from a mother figure creates occasional rises of a sort of anxious desperation within you. You need to remember to take things slow, though, and lower your expectations to see what comes out of your hard work instead of pushing for a desired ideal.
Other elements included in this reading:
Dried Rhododendron Leaf for Fostering Confidence
Black Tourmaline for Grounding and Protection
Carnelian Agate for Inner Drive and Focusing On Aspirations
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy
DECK USED: CTHULHU MYTHOS COMICOLOGY TAROT COLOR FOIL EDITION
This post is a catch-up post, and I can’t remember what my self-kindness might have been for this day.
Gideon’s Challenge – The Beech Tree
The Beech Tree
A curated garden
of trees
hundreds
of years old
stand sentinel
welcoming fall
with splashes
of color
against patches
of blue sky
as leaves
whisper
welcome
to visitors
that pass by
Photo © ZenStatePhotography
It’s an Adventure
Today’s meditation was a nine minute long #DailyTrip 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.
Today’s draw is the Five of Cups (Jars), which is traditionally a representation of pessimism, regrets, doomsday thinking, disappointments, and occasionally, failure (or at the very least, the perception of failure).
The Five of Cups has then been combined with a Halloween Affirmation card that says, “Everything is scary and you feel vulnerable but that doesn’t mean anything is going to go wrong. Anxious feelings aren’t usually indicative of reality.”
Situations that raise our anxiety usually (although not always) give us the opportunity to look at the situation in one of two different ways. One of them is the disaster scenario where you look at the situation, and everything looks like it’s gone wrong and nothing’s going to go right and there’s some eminent danger or other issue involved that makes it seem like the end of the world.
The other scenario is to take this situation as the opportunity for adventure. You pick up what’s left and you run with it. Winging it as you go, and even if you expect it not to turn out okay, you have the niggling of hope that maybe just maybe the end result might surprise you.
Today’s cards are an encouragement to go with the latter. None of the five jars on this shelf (in the card) have been tipped over or broken. Sure all those jars could be empty, but it’s just as possible that they might not be all empty. Consider approaching situations where you feel anxiety with a bit of hope, instead of despair, and you may find that the anxiety lifts a little bit… and as a result you may even manage to have a little fun along the way.
DECKS USED: PLAGUETOWN TAROT AND TWIST’S HALLOWEEN AFFIRMATION CARDS
@CrowSister #PreparingForTheDark Challenge
The Hearth Prompts
Celebrate – Eight of Hearts, The Devil, Ten of Clubs – You have the awareness and autonomy needed to identify and move away from those things that could be harmful to you in excess before they overwhelm you. This skill is valuable because you have a highly addictive personality.
In most cases, this ability to spot problems and move away from them quickly allows you to catch yourself before you go too far down any dangerous rabbit holes, keeping you from harming yourself as a result.
Ground – Queen of Clubs, The Sun, Seven of Clubs – Anchor yourself in the things that make you happy and inspire you. They are yours and yours alone to defend and enjoy. You can share them with others, but they’re still yours, and they are the rich soil in which you should dig deep with your roots and hold firm. For you, creativity is at the top of this list, as is your intuition and ability to follow your “gut”.
Abide – Three of Diamonds, The Chariot, Three of Spades atop Queen of Diamonds – Remember that although you are the one holding the reins, you are not alone. You nurture others, teaching them along the way what they need to know. This might sometimes lead to disappointment, but that doesn’t mean that the sharing doesn’t still hold value for all involved.
Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Oak Branch with Moss and Lichen for Perseverance
Foraged Ponderosa Pine Cone for Resilience and Adaptability
Deodar Cedar Ceramic Impression for Clarity and Spiritual Connection
Conch Shell Knot for Concentration and Clarity
Cream Quartz Stone for Amplifying Intentions and Mental Clarity
Banded Carnelian Agate for Inner Drive and Focusing On Aspirations
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy
DECKS USED: VICTORIAN FREAK SHOW TAROT AND GOTHICA II PLAYING CARDS DRACULA EDITION
#DiscordTarotholicsOct2025 Challenge
Skeleton Prompt for October 24th : How can you connect more deeply with your ancestors?
Reading Summary: Don’t steal your ancestor’s air time for other things (Seven of Swords/Scalpels). Be aware that they are always there, and give them the acknowledgment needed to allow for growth (Page of Pentacles/Herbs). When you ignore that they are a contributing factor, it only causes a greater rift (Five of Pentacles/Herbs).
Take Away: To connect more deeply with your ancestors, make sure that you are staying open with your awareness and your receptivity to their presence and messages that come through. Don’t write their messages off as intuition or some other source, but acknowledge what you’re being given and by who. In this way you build a stronger relationship between yourself and your ancestors, as trust and respect develop into an integral part of the connection between you and them.
Other elements included in this reading:
Pressed Yew Tips for Ancestral Connections
Japanese Cherry Leaf as a Reminder of Life’s Fleeting Moments
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy
DECK USED: PLAGUETOWN TAROT
I went and bought myself some ice cream bars, because L contaminated the ice cream in the freezer with her cold germs.
Gideon’s Challenge – Missed Opportunity
Missed Opportunity
He really should
have come home
with me
and yet
I left him behind
and regret it
every moment
since the second
I walked away
…
maybe I should call
and see
if he’s still there.
Twisting the Leaf 