Day: September 1, 2026

Cutting Fears Down to Size

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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.

The Cat's Tarot of Wondrous Journeys' Queen of Cups and card from the Create Brave Cards

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 the Brave card from the Create Brave deck, which says, “ I take action despite my fears.”

The thing about fear is that it’s an emotion, right? That means it’s not always going to be logical. This shows itself most often in the fact that when we fear something, the longer we choose not to confront it, the larger that thing we fear becomes.

It starts off small, but the more we avoid it the more it grows until it feels completely insurmountable, even though in reality it’s size or scope hasn’t changed at all.

The message in today’s Queen of Cups and affirmation card is a reminder that it’s when we confront our fears that we bring them back down to size. By being nurturing and supportive to our emotions, we give ourselves the confidence to deal with our fears and take action despite them, rather than allowing them to control us.

DECKS USED:  THE CAT’S TAROT OF WONDROUS JOURNEYS AND CREATE BRAVE DECK

September Prompts by @forgotten.dumpling & @ml.mecham
Prompt for September 1st : your fingerprints on my future

Creative Writing and Cartomancy with the Peacock Playing Cards

When we first met, I was young and filled with an eagerness to build a life for myself of comfortable solitude. I wanted to believe that I had no need for love, and was busy building a future of stability and comfort… a nest for one. (Two of Diamonds atop Four of Diamonds)

The first time I saw you, my stomach fluttered. My insides felt liquid and unstable, and each time we were in the same room, it happened again and again. You made me feel vulnerable and uncertain in ways I didn’t understand. (Jack of Hearts)

You never promised me everything, as if instinctively knowing that’s not what I wanted. Instead you moved from day to day, encounter to encounter, giving me slivers of happiness and comfort until I couldn’t imagine happiness existing without you as a part of it. (Ten of Hearts)

You became a guiding light, someone I can depend on. Someone I need in my life for things to feel secure and stable. (King of Hearts)

You created for me a safe place I could open up within, be accepted within, and find a love I never realized I wanted, let alone needed. You marked my soul in the process, and placed your fingerprints indelibly upon my future in the process. (Four of Hearts)

I love you. Always.

Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Parmeliaceae Lichen for a “Breath of Fresh Air”
Honey Calcite for Optimism and Motivational Boost
Rose Quartz for Gentle Kindness to Self and Others
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: PEACOCK PLAYING CARDS

@lightningwildflower‘s September Self-Talk Challenge
Mars square Saturn, Mercury sextile Mars Prompts for September 1st

Tarot Reading with The Cat's Tarot of Wondrous Journeys and Schamanische Seelen Medizin

What action feels blocked?

The Emperor and Geburt

The Birth card in this deck proposes that the conditions of your birth are a predictor of the type of life you will lead. For example, if you had an easy birth as a child, your life will be easy, whereas if you had a lot of struggle and had to be pulled forth with forceps, you may find your life fraught with obstacles.

I’m not sure how much I buy into this idea, but when joined by the Emperor card, this card combination speaks of difficulties from the past during formative years holding you back from the healthy leadership you could be demonstrating.

That is to say that unhealthy defense mechanisms and expectations that were drilled into you as a child have a tendency to hold you back in your adulthood, creating unnecessary blockages between you and your goals.

What will help me move through this resistance?

Six of Cups and Engel

To help you move through this resistance, take choice out of the equation when you’re able to do so. Trust, instead, in divine timing and that things will work out how they are meant to without your meddling in the process. Accept that not everything has to be under your control to work out how you want (or in some cases even better than your expectations).

Other elements included in this reading:
Pressed Pansy Flowers for Hearing the Heart More Clearly
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
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: THE CAT’S TAROT OF WONDROUS JOURNEYS AND SCHAMANISCHE SEELEN MEDIZIN
Daily Self Kindness

I ordered pizza for second supper. It’s been forever and I just didn’t feel like having anything I have on hand.

📆 Transitioning from August to September

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Monthly Check-In Oracle Reading with the Spirits of the Hedgerow and Shadows of the Hedgerow

Here and Now I Exist – Who you are now, in your entirety.

Deaths Cap – It’s okay to not be okay. You are masking heavily right now instead of being honest about how you’re feeling, and beating yourself up for your mistakes using the excuse that the punishment will “make the lessons stick”, when in actuality it’s just self-abuse. Hold on tight to the temporary nature of moods, emotions, and the stages of mental health struggles.

The Slough – What is to be left in the past as you move forward.

Hemlock – Weed out those in your life that are only there to use you. Their roots need to be thoroughly excavated, and a watchful eye trained on making sure once removed they don’t try to resurface and settle back in.

What Lies Ahead – An ideal state or ideal self you are seeking at this time.

Rosehip – It’s time to pay particularly close attention to your health. Make sure you are eating right, taking your meds as directed, and moving your body. Do what’s needed to keep yourself healthy and hale.

Limitations – Negative influences, opposition, or ill will.

Lords and Ladies – Perfectionism is not your friend. Holding yourself to unreasonable expectations doesn’t motivate for a good result, it just gives your inner narrative something to kick at while simultaneously setting yourself up to fail. Let go of impossible standards and unreasonable expectations. They are hurting your progress.

The Boon – Positive influences, higher guidance, or divine intervention.

Hensbane – Your pain is valid, whether that pain is physical or emotional. Seek out those that are empathetic to you and your needs, open to you expressing them as best you can, and supportive even in those times they might not fully understand your suffering.

The Wound – An unpleasant past experience or event that is ripe for some support and healing.

Cyclamen – Take time to reflect on the obstacles that you have overcome in the past and work on letting go of the ones that you failed to overcome. They also hold value, but only if you dig for the benefits they have to offer you. If you don’t, these wounds never fully heal.

Nostalgia – A positive past experience or event to acknowledge, reflect upon, and enjoy.

Daisy – Look at the positive benefits you’ve experienced from adding a positivity practice into your daily routine. It’s time to re-familiarize yourself with what this practice and other wellness practices offer you, instead of looking at them as just another chore or otherwise taking them for granted.

A Warning – Something coming that can be prevented or overcome.

Imbolc – You are running the risk of falling into darkness (depression). Make sure you are focusing on the light with your attention trained on positivity and optimism, rather than on the familiar pull that feels seductively comfortable but is anything but.

Empowerment – A future opportunity to work toward.

Blackthorn – Check in with yourself and what really matters. Let the minor inconveniences go instead of allowing them to pile up into a potential explosion.

Message from the Spirit World – Take care not to use positivity to cover up the pain. That makes the positivity toxic. Instead, use it as a tool for checking in with yourself when you’re blowing things out of proportion and catastrophizing.

Message from the Mind’s World – Use those times when you’re not okay as a tool to suss out those that don’t have your best interests at heart. Their true colors will show in their apathy toward your struggles and well-being.

Message from the Physical World – Your perfectionist tendencies makes it hard to take joy in the activities you don’t complete perfectly. It’s time to let go of that mindset and instead celebrate even your small accomplishments. Ex: You may not have completed the trail you chose to hike, but you still got yourself out in nature and you made it to the half way mark before turning back.

Other elements included in this reading:
Pressed Pansy Flower for Hearing the Heart More Clearly
Dried Red Maple Leaf for Adaptability and Connection
Foraged Oak Branch with Moss and Lichen for Perseverance
Gray Agate for Instilling Gentleness, Calm, and Stability
Moss Agate Tree for Attracting Opportunities for Growth
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECKS USED: SPIRITS OF THE HEDGEROW ORACLE AND SHADOWS OF THE HEDGEROW ORACLE

Gideon’s Challenge – Determined

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Withered Blackberry Leaf

Determined

the incline
so steep
my hands
touch earth
alongside
booted soles
and muscles
tremble
with the strain
as lungs
struggle
and sweat
beads
but with
each step
I’m closer
to the paradise
of rest
that awaits

Photo © ZenStatePhotography