Gratitude as a Conscious Practice

#DailyCalm with the Calm appToday’s meditation was ten minutes long, and was one of the #DailyCalm sessions from the Calm app.

The theme of today’s meditation was about consistency, especially in reference to one’s meditation practice.   And clearly, as is obvious by my posts, this is an issue for me.

I do try, though, and I find it tinged with a taste of irony that this is the topic of the first session as I try to get back into the swing of things.

@the_mystic_star May Tarot Challenge Prompt
I am using this challenge’s prompts as affirmation prompts for my daily card. Not exactly the intended process for the challenge, but I want to give credit for where I’m getting these affirmation prompts from.

Moonlight Tarot - King of CupsAffirmation Prompt for May 11th: Grateful

King of Cups – For me, the King of Cups often refers back to Gideon. He is the emotional floodgates that help me in managing and understanding my emotions. He is my anchor in a turbulent sea, assisting me in making sense out of the chaos.

Today’s card is a reminder of these things, and that gratitude isn’t just something you feel for another, but an actual practice. It’s something you need to consciously visit and acknowledge, and even express to others now and then.

Gideon… My gratitude for you and your love, for your guidance and your help and support and for all that you do for me is something I can never express well enough to make clear to you.  It’s depth is too deep, it’s breadth too wide.  Thank you for being mine, and for having me as yours.  Thank you for being my rock and my anchor when I’m struggling to make sense of things. I may not always seem like I need it, and in fact may seem to even run away from it at times when I fall back on old habits, but I am so grateful for your presence and influence in my life.  I love you.

DECK USED:  MOONLIGHT TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsMay2024 Challenge Prompt
Question for May 10th and 11th
:

Journey Oracle; Moonlight Tarot's Four of Cups and The High PriestessWhat are you ignoring that needs to be dealt with?

The High Priestess and Desire – For a while now you have been able to feel your small side creeping back up from deep within, but you have been ignoring your needs in this area due to your desire to stay in top space.

How can you best begin dealing with what’s being ignored?

Four of Cups and Prepare – Get back on a regular meditation schedule instead of continuing to skip it. That structure is important, especially so when you’re in that smaller mindset. Your meditation practice helps you create a solid foundation for embracing the small within you and letting go of control without it harming you in the process.

In other words, regular meditation makes you more resilient to subdrop.

DECK USED: MOONLIGHT TAROT AND JOURNEY ORACLE

Daily Self Kindness

As you can see, I meditated today for the first time in quite a long time. I also added the “happy baby” pose back into my physio practice today for the first time since my surgery.

The Slack Tide

Today’s meditation was skipped.

@the_mystic_star May Tarot Challenge Prompt
I am using this challenge’s prompts as affirmation prompts for my daily card. Not exactly the intended process for the challenge, but I want to give credit for where I’m getting these affirmation prompts from.

Vintage Japanese Print Advertisement Tarot - Ten of SwordsAffirmation Prompt for May 7th: Hopeful

Ten of Swords – Remember that every ending offers the opportunity for a new beginning.

The advertisement used to illustrate this card is selling cigarettes.  That’s what it looks like to me, at any rate.  In today’s society, we see the tide turning where cigarettes are concerned. Debates on whether it’s safe or not have faded out into an acknowledgement of its health risks, and eventually laws to minimize those risks. It’s been a long, hard road with painful lessons along the way.

And yet, people still smoke, and they still die of COPD and lung cancer brought on by smoking. Maybe we’re not quite taking things in a new direction yet, but you can see the shift.  That’s what I see in this card.  It’s a reminder that even if the ending seems like it might be taking forever?  We have the opportunity to create something better in its wake.

(Note: The advertisement used in this card is actually selling MSG aka. monosodium glutamate.)

DECK USED:  VINTAGE JAPANESE PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsMay2024 Challenge Prompt
Question for May 7th
: What do you need to focus on for self-care for this new moon?

Vintage Japanese Print Advertisement Tarot - Five of Swords, King of Wands, King of Pentacles, Three of PentaclesReading Summary: Set aside your need to be right in conflict (Five of Swords Rx atop King of Wands Rx) and focus instead on those that help you in building (Three of Pentacles) a solid foundation in your endeavors (King of Pentacles).

Take Away: Not everyone is going to be supportive in the things you want to do and the goals you want to achieve.

Focus your energy on including those in your life that are supportive in those things that are important to you, and leave behind those that aren’t.

You don’t need them, and you don’t need the roadblocks and obstacles that they present either.

DECK USED: VINTAGE JAPANESE PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

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

Raindrops and Pennies

Today’s meditation was skipped.

@the_mystic_star May Tarot Challenge Prompt
I am using this challenge’s prompts as affirmation prompts for my daily card. Not exactly the intended process for the challenge, but I want to give credit for where I’m getting these affirmation prompts from.

Mirasol and Cassie of the Year Tarot - Nine of Water, Nine of CupsAffirmation Prompt for May 6th: Fulfilled

Nine of Cups – Sometimes fulfillment comes in, simply finding the things that make you happy and taking the time to enjoy them.

Why hold back on these things? Stop punishing yourself by withholding them, and instead enjoy them to their fullest.

And don’t forget that the little things are just as important as the big ones.  Maybe even more important, because they build up over time like raindrops and pennies.

DECK USED:  MIRASOL AND CASSIE OF THE YEAR TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsMay2024 Challenge Prompt
Question for May 6th
: How could you benefit from adding more fun into your life?

Mirasol and Cassie of the Year Tarot - Five of Cups, The Moon, Four of Swords, Knight of CupsReading Summary: By actively engaging in the things that bring you joy (Knight of Cups), you give yourself a new way to renew and recover (Four of Swords) from times of dissatisfaction (Five of Cups) and uncertainty (The Moon).

Take Away: This ties into the card of the day that I did for today as well.  It’s about enjoying those things you find pleasure in or that spark a sense of joy in you.  It doesn’t have to be big things, even little things will do.

By doing so, you foster a sense of confidence within yourself, and help make the bad stuff seem just a little bit less important, and a little bit less chaotic and catastrophic as well.

DECK USED: MIRASOL AND CASSIE OF THE YEAR TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

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

The Opium Grannies

Today’s meditation was skipped.

@the_mystic_star May Tarot Challenge Prompt
I am using this challenge’s prompts as affirmation prompts for my daily card. Not exactly the intended process for the challenge, but I want to give credit for where I’m getting these affirmation prompts from.

Viola Lux Umbra Tarot - Six of PentaclesAffirmation Prompt for May 4th: Wisdom

Six of Pentacles (Daffodils and Oriental Poppy) – Balance requires a give and take.

I am reading a mystery/thriller right now where a gardening club of 58 old ladies grew poppy flowers in their gardens with seeds bought from a garden center, and then started making tea from them, only to discover… they all end up addicted to opium.  By mistake, of course. It was a sideline in the actual storyline, but today’s card brings this to mind.

These little old ladies all went in together to turn themselves in, and the police didn’t know what to do with them all.

Sometimes? You just have to forgive.  You just have to be generous enough to let something go, because that’s what’s best for you… and that’s what’s best for them too.  Note that I said sometimes. Still… generosity is important. It keeps things in balance.  So sometimes?  That forgiveness is exactly what’s needed.

DECK USED:  VIOLA LUX UMBRA TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsMay2024 Challenge Prompt
Prompt for May 5th
: Do Spread 1

Viola Lux Umbra Tarot - Wheel of Fortune, Queen of Pentacles, Six of Pentacles, Six of Wands, Page of CupsWhat positive quality do I have that others admire?

Page of Cups atop Wheel of Fortune – You are always open to learning new ways of doing things, and have a habit of collecting that knowledge to help make though good times and bad.

What positive quality do I wish I had that I admire in others?

Six of Wands – The seemingly effortless ability to make others happy and enjoy doing it. You do not thrive on people pleasing, and you are under the impression it would be less of a burden if you did.

What step(s) can I take now to work toward developing that quality in myself?

Four of Pentacles– No steps. No movement. This is not meant to be your path. Stability and security are where your focus needs to lie, and you can’t have those while pinning your sense of well-being and success on others and their opinions.

What step(s) can I take to make the positive qualities I already have shine brightly?

Queen of Pentacles – Make sure that you nurture both yourself and others from a place of grounded stability. If you don’t feel stable?  Then it’s time to focus on re-rooting into your foundation, for it’s only when you are stable that quality care can be offered.

DECK USED: VIOLA LUX UMBRA TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

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

Creating Abundance

Today’s meditation was skipped.

@the_mystic_star May Tarot Challenge Prompt
I am using this challenge’s prompts as affirmation prompts for my daily card. Not exactly the intended process for the challenge, but I want to give credit for where I’m getting these affirmation prompts from.

Witchy Magic Tarot - The EmpressAffirmation Prompt for May 3rd: Abundance

The Empress – Take care of yourself. Give yourself the nurturing that you need instead of withholding the love and self kindness that you crave.

Everything feels just a little bit better when you’re taking care of yourself and treating yourself kindly. The rain smells better, the heat is a little less, the flowers a little brighter, your troubles a little lighter.

Use self care to give yourself a sense of abundance that your normal tendency to fear scarcity often causes you to lack in your day to day life.

DECK USED:  WITCHY MAGIC TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsMay2024 Challenge Prompt
Questions for May 2nd thru 4th

Witchy Magic Tarot - The Fool, Eight of Wands, Page of WandsWhat in life lights fire to your creative spark?

Eight of Wands – The energy of active progress. You like to get so involved in a project that every step forward feels like one celebration on top of another. This is also known as Dopamine Chasing.

How can you connect more strongly with that creative spark?

Page of Wands – Have fun when exploring new things. Don’t be so worried about the addictive side of the equation, and instead tap into that sense of adventure that a new pursuit can bring.

What can you do today to assist in getting more out of life?

The Fool – Embrace the tomfoolery. It’s okay to have fun and be silly. Let yourself go there today.

DECK USED: WITCHY MAGIC TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

I took my new fox with the heavy butt that Gid gave me for my birthday with me for the ride today and napped with it in the back of the truck.

The Mask of the Untouchable

Today’s meditation was skipped.

@the_mystic_star May Tarot Challenge Prompt
I am using this challenge’s prompts as affirmation prompts for my daily card. Not exactly the intended process for the challenge, but I want to give credit for where I’m getting these affirmation prompts from.

Cat Folk Tarot - Seven of WandsAffirmation Prompt for May 2nd: Serene

Seven of Wands – Fighting the good fight does not always mean a physical fight. Sometimes it’s about finding peace and calm in the throes of conflict.

The important thing to remember is that when you find calm within yourself, you don’t then use it to ignore and avoid what’s going on around you.

Instead, use that calm as a tool to hold true to what you value and keep moving along your own path, with your sites on what matters most to you personally.

Don’t use it to ignore, but to take action instead.

DECK USED:  CAT FOLK TAROT

@Lionharts #TheMayTarot Moon Magic Prompt
Questions for May 2nd and 3rd

Cat Folk Tarot - Page of Wands, Six of Pentacles, Queen of Wands, The EmperorHow can I approach current transitions in my life?

Page of Wands and Six of Pentacles – Approach these transitions with an open mind towards exploring new passions, and a sense of generosity that allows you to make mistakes along the way without punishing yourself for them. Nobody is perfect at something new right out of the gate, and you shouldn’t be expecting yourself to be either.

How can I tap into my intuition and inner guidance to navigate this phase of transition/transformation?

Queen of Wands and The Emperor – Make sure that you are seizing on opportunities to nurture your passions and share them with others along the way. It is important that you connect these passions to others instead of just to yourself, and include them in your process, while taking the opportunity to teach them with each step forward.

Take Away – You are learning a new skill related to your creative work this month. Instead of learning on your own and teaching others later on how to do it so that they can help you, teach them as you learn. Some of their input will help you keep you from feeling discouraged, and and help find solutions to the learning process more quickly. You’re still the one in charge, but you’re taking them with you on the journey instead of making them wait.

DECK USED: CAT FOLK TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

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