Today’s meditation was skipped.

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The @GlitterbyInk #MarchMoments26 Challenge
The Edge of Wonder Prompt for March 13th : Melancholy
Daily Mental Health Prompt: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Today’s draw is the Seven of Wands, which is traditionally a representation of fighting for one’s beliefs, standing up for one’s principles, and confrontations that challenge one’s values.

Find a way to get where you need to go. That is how you fight against the melancholy.

I struggle with clinical depression. The kind that comes in waves (called episodes) and brings you to your knees for weeks or sometime months at a time. And, with every episode you have, you have a greater risk of having another. At this point in my adult life, I’ve lost count of how many I’ve had.

Aside from this clinical depression that comes in waves, even during the time when I am out side of a major depressive episode I deal with something called dysthymia (or, at least that’s what it was called when I was diagnosed). This is a second type of depression that is essentially an “ever present low”. A mild depression that never goes away, putting a pall upon life and everything in it, and making it difficult to experience life in pleasurable or satisfying ways.

The word melancholy (today’s prompt) draws my mind to these things. The Seven of Wands then pulled for the day reminds me that I have learned that there are things I can do to ease the hold that these two conditions have upon me.

One of them being this daily practice. Another being getting out in nature whenever possible.

These things (and others as well) are tools that help. They may not be a cure, but they help.

The message in today’s Seven of Wands and “Melancholy” prompt is a reminder not to give up on yourself. No matter the struggles, keep fighting. Use the tools that work to give you the strength to continue on and keep going. That’s what those tools are there for, to help you keep going and growing.

DECK USAED:  SEFIROT TAROT

@lightningwildflower‘s March Reflection to Action Challenge
Prompts for March 12th and 13th

Emotional: What emotions from the past few days need space to settle?

Page of Pentacles and Memories – Your current predicament with your business puts you in a place of learning. This feels precarious and vulnerable to you.

You need to focus upon memories on how you have survived and thrived in the past in order to create a sense of confidence and empowerment in the present, rather than allowing memories of hardships long passed to strike fear into your heart.

Mars Conjunct Node: What fear must I move through in order to grow?

Nine of Pentacles Rx and Liminal – The fear of losing all that you’ve worked for and having to begin again.

The thing is? The journey wasn’t always easy and didn’t always feel rewarding. Sometimes, it was just exhausting and miserable. You fear having to go through those experiences again to reach stability once more. It isn’t doubt on whether you can do it, but rather fear of the discomfort that’s built into the process.

Other elements included in this reading:
Dried Red Maple Leaf for Adaptability and Connection
Foraged Parmeliaceae Lichen for a “Breath of Fresh Air”
Carved Rhyolite Leaf for Facilitating Calm Transitions
Bloodstone for Encouraging Fearlessness
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: SIMPLICITIES TAROT AND FELINE MYSTIQUE ORACLE

@silkandsonder’s Journal Prompts to Feel Like Yourself Again 
Prompt No. 3 : Where in my life do currently feel most natural or at ease?

Reading Summary: When helping others (The Hermit Rx) solve their problems (The Magician) instead of acknowledging and dealing with your own (Five of Wands).

Take Away: It’s not surprising that you would feel most at ease when dealing with problems that aren’t your own. It allows you to procrastinate on your worries and fears instead of dealing with them, after all.

This ease is false, though, as you can see in the Five of Wands. What happens is that this habit of procrastination allows you to -pretend- ease and comfort while internally there’s a war raging in that dark corner where you’ve tucked away your worries and fears.

This is one of the situations where “fake it ’til you make it” isn’t going to work, as you’re in the process of learning the hard way.

Other elements included in this reading:
Dried Rhododendron Leaf for Fostering Confidence
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: SEFIROT TAROT

This is a catch up post, and I’m not entirely sure what the self kindness was for this day.