Author: Twist the Leaf

Adventures Away From Home

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Today’s meditation was skipped.

Golden Age of Romance Comics TarotToday’s draw is the Sun card, which is traditionally a representation of happiness and joy, success, fun, and taking pleasure in the little things. In the tarot, the Sun card is the awakening to light’s reassurance after the confusion and uncertainty found in the Moon card.

The imagery in today’s card reminds me of the exercise that I did after the holiday rush this year. Not the whole romanticism in the card’s imagery, but the fact that these two have stepped -away- from the world of responsibility and normal life to do something fun and different, without those influences to push guilt upon them.

The card pulled today is a reminder that it’s okay to cut loose and have a little fun sometimes… and there are times when it’s especially important to do so -away- from your day-to-day environment.

DECK USED:  GOLDEN AGE OF ROMANCE COMICS TAROT

@the_mystic_star February Tarot Challenge Prompt
Questions for February 8th thru 11th

Price of Love OracleWhat card symbolizes the love I have for myself?

Know Your Worth – It is through knowing your own worth that you find the value and confidence needed to love yourself.  You have been taught you must earn love, and even in yourself there are many times when this pattern continues.

How can I increase the love I have for myself?

Detachment – Disconnect with past lessons that have devalued you in the past.  You’re seeking new ways forward and in order to invite them into your life, you have to let go of the past mistreatment.

How can I improve my relationship with myself?

Sparks – Give yourself the chance to have a bit more fun, and to do things that make you smile and spark a feeling of excitement for you. You spend far too much time serious.

How can I reduce the barriers to loving myself?

Follow Your Heart – Instead of putting up roadblocks to your happiness and the love that you can connect with in others, allow yourself to open up.  It’s okay to be vulnerable.

Advice on this topic from Amalthea.

Grief & Sadness – Take this advice to heart, even when you’re not feeling at your best.

DECK USED: PRICE OF LOVE ORACLE

Daily Self Kindness

This is a catch-up post, and I cannot remember what I might have done as a self-kindness for the day.

The Gratitude Postcards Oracle Set

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The Gratitude Postcards Oracle Set

I had someone ask me the other day what the “Gratitude Postcards Oracle Set” is that I sometimes use in my readings. I figured it was something others might find interesting. So here it is!

Essentially, this is a collection of postcards, art prints, and other thank you notes that I have collected over the years from kickstarter deck campaigns, indie deck purchases, etc. It bothered me that they were all just sitting around and not being used in some way, and I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away.

So now, I cut them all down to the same size, round the corners, and put them all together to use as a deck of cards for readings. The deck is ever-expanding as new thank you cards and prints come in.

The Gratitude Postcards Oracle Set

The box is currently just a handmade box, but I’m looking for something more permanent and fitting. I just haven’t found it yet.

I currently have about 200 of them, perhaps a bit over that now. I often use them in a type of reading that I call an “anchor card” reading, where I use the postcard as the anchor, and use connections in the imagery between the post card and the other tarot or oracle cards I pull to do the reading itself.

The Gratitude Postcards Oracle Set

Gideon’s Challenge

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IMG_0224The Surprise

Subtle surprises
hidden
among the reeds
and the dried
swamp grasses
not seen
with ease
and then
a misstep
and there it is
a forgotten statue
among the mud
quietly waiting
for water to rise
and it will
be hidden once more

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 Cats of Aux Tarot and Lovely Lenormand

Earth – Six of Wands – Pay attention to urges to please others this week. You need to make sure you’re thinking for yourself when decisions are being made.

Air – Three of Cups atop Page of Cups Rx – You may have a few setbacks in the growth and development of your emotional intelligence this week. Don’t be too hard on yourself about it.

Water – King of Cups – Seek out and lean into those who support you emotionally, especially when you start to feel down on yourself and need the extra support.

Fire – Wheel of Fortune – Ups and downs happen in business. Just breathe and go with the flow instead of allowing yourself to get all tied up in knots over moments of “bad luck” and other misfortune.

Waning – House and Birds – Too much chaos in house. Look forward to having a housekeeper again at the end of the week when you will finally have someone to help you get the chaos back in to order.  That inner chatter in your head will then have the opportunity to shut up and stop picking on you about the things you aren’t doing around the house.

Waxing – Crossroads and Clouds – In order to make good choices this week, you need to seek more information. You don’t have to sit with the confusion, nor do you need to make these decisions right away.  If you can’t get clear of the clouds, just wait instead of choosing a direction.

DECKS USED: CATS OF AUX TAROT, LOVELY LENORMAND

Providing Comfort and Stability

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Today’s meditation was skipped.

Cats of Aux Tarot - Ten of PentaclesToday’s draw is the Ten of Pentacles, which is traditionally a representation of accomplishments and abundance, and sharing that abundance with those around you.

The image in today’s card feels like a reminder that sometimes providing stability doesn’t come from providing for others. It doesn’t have to be about rent or money. Sometimes it’s about comfort and environment, contact and care.

Support and stability comes in all kinds. You may not be able to always give great gifts or help out financially, but you provide a sense of comfort, safety, and stability to a lot of people. Sometimes, that’s even more valuable than anything you could accomplish with monetary means.

DECK USED:  CATS OF ARX TAROT

@Lionharts #TheFebruaryTarot Queen of Cups Challenge Prompt
Questions for February 10th and 11th

Romantic Tarot, Fated Oracle, and Voie de la Découverte IntérieureWhat are my three best personality traits?

Seven of  Swords – Your ability to know what’s right for you. Peer pressure and indecisiveness are very rarely an issue for you because you follow your gut on what’s right for you, and leave behind what isn’t.

Nine of Cups – Your constant seeking of satiation. This trait often pushes you too hard, but at the same time? It ensures that you are always moving towards something good and seeking out what will make you happy.

Knight of Pentacles – Your determination to keep going. Your willingness to try new things, and keep trying, even when it feels like it’s taking longer than you’d like to get where you want to go.

How am I guided to use them?

All three of the cards in this part of the exercise speak of your romantic relationship with your partner and how to use these qualities in that relationship. (My brain was on him and it skewed the reading, and I decided to just go with it.)

Sexual Chemistry – Just as mentioned above.  You found what works for you and go with it, discarding what doesn’t as nothing more than things that aren’t of interest.  There’s no pressure to do things you don’t, and if there was, you wouldn’t stand for it.

Karmic Relationship – So many times, people think of “karmic” as being something bad, and yet in your case it is just the opposite. Through your skills at appreciating what works for you and willingness to seek it out. You are also willing to share that goodness with others, and through sharing, you also receive.

Sacred Friendship – Others are here to support you so that you do not have to push yourself so hard. They can assist you in staying at a steady pace instead of constantly trying to force yourself to move faster and get more done on your own. These friendships are sacred, not for what they can do for you… but for the caring and support that goes both ways in the process.

How can I nurture my passions today?

Don’t hold yourself back from the things you want (Résistance). Instead, allow them to fill you up (Lumière) and sate you from the inside out (Amour). You hold yourself back as a form of self-punishment.  Instead, nurture your passions by leaning into those things that light you up, warm your heart, and make you happy.

DECK USED: ROMANTIC TAROT, FATED ORACLE, VOIE DE LA DÉCOUVERTE INTÉRIEURE

#DiscordTarotholicsFeb2023 Challenge Prompt
Questions for February 9th thru 11th

Cats of Aux Tarot - King of Cups, Five of Cups, Five of Wands, The FoolWhat is one of your most positive qualities?

Five of Cups – This card encourages you to see your natural inclination towards pessimism as a positive quality. It allows you to not be taken by surprise when unpleasant things happen, and helps you in being prepared for the future.

How can you help the positive quality flourish in your life?

King of Cups – In order for this quality to remain positive, you need to have the guidance of somebody who can identify when it is going into a negative space and effecting you emotionally, and is there to help keep you on a more positive track in its usage. Gideon often fills this role for you.

What is one of your least positive qualities?

The Fool – Sometimes you enthusiastically dive into things without thinking them through first. This often ends up with you feeling overwhelmed when you later find yourself with too much on your plate at once.

How can you utilize the least positive quality to your benefit?

Five of Wands – That enthusiasm has the ability to stir others up into a passion, if you share it with them, instead of putting it all on your own shoulders. They may go about adding their help and energy to the cause in different ways than you’re used to, just make sure you’re open to those differences.

DECK USED: CATS OF ARX TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

This is a catch-up post, and I don’t remember what I might have done as a self-kindness on this day.

Gideon’s Challenge

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IMG_0154Afternoon Delight

Fuzzy bits
of bedding
fly in the air
like tufts
of feathers
as we dive
into the sheets
and roll
together
in a tangle
of limbs
and low chuckles
blend with
loving whispers
of love

Photo © ZenStatePhotography