Various Paganism, Tarot, Etc

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Playlist

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

This is a fun repeat exercise that I’ve now used a few times and resurrect every couple of months!

Have you ever listened to a song and suddenly realized “This song is such a Tower song!”? This week’s activity is based off the love of music and how we associate music with the world around us.

Activity: Randomly draw five cards from your deck. For each card pick (or find) a song that you feel fits that card perfectly.

Sasuraibito Tarot

The Devil – Criminal by Taemin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFQL7BS6lrs

Knight of Wands – Firestarter by Prodigy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmin5WkOuPw

Judgement – Split Down the Middle by Leo Xia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zyTHx6ZSbo

Five of Cups – Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd23UVID7k

Seven of Swords – Hug & Kiss by Dress (feat miso, fka, sogumm, lydia paek)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvnTQrKTwdc

DECK USED:  SASURAIBITO TAROT

Morning Bonus Read – WTF

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment

The prompt for this reading came from one of my Discord servers and is as follows:
“I found this on Pinterest this week, and loved it, therefore this is your prompt for this week!! Pick a topic, and apply this spread!”

WTF Tarot Spread - Corvid Romantic Playing Cards

Chosen Topic:  My unfounded feelings of trepidation concerning the upcoming holiday rush.

The Face of My Challenge
Six of Feathers

Change.  The face of my challenge is change and the shift of things from one situation to another.  I’m feeling a good deal of discomfort and a need to fall back on old habits.  These old habits are unhealthy and do not serve me at all, but are simply what is familiar.  Instead, I need to make sure I continue to move forward instead of backsliding.

The Crux of What Hounds Me
Ace of Roses

Concern over undoing all the new progress I’ve made this year.  I’ve grown so much over the year, and I am aware that that new emotional growth I’ve been fostering for the past few months is still tenuous and new. I worry that the new beginnings I’ve been fostering are still too delicate to withstand the savage storm of the holiday rush.

What is real about this?
Three of Crystals

I have people to help me and collaborate with me when I need them.  I am not in this alone.  I have the support I need and I need to include them in the process from the beginning, not pull them in later when things are chaotic and a mess.  Allow these people in my life to help so that everything doesn’t rest solely on my shoulders.

What is wrong about this?
Two of Roses

My discomfort and struggle with leaning into those that love me and want to support me.  As mentioned above.  They want to support me.  They want to help.  This discomfort and guilt is useless and is completely unfounded. I understand that this is one of my shadows, and one I will have to deal with over time, but for now I need to keep in mind that these feelings come from within and are not reality.

Where do I need more info?
Six of Crystals

It would be a good idea to delve into in what ways others are willing to help me and be proactive about getting that help… Rather than waiting until I need it and sticking them with tasks that they would prefer not to deal with.  This is about even distribution of the work load so that the help that they are offering is used to its best advantage, and it is a suggestion that has recently come up in a previous reading as well.

What can I do?
Ace of Crystals

Focus on the task at hand, and accept that it’s going to be different this year… and that’s OK. It can lead to better things.

DECK USED:  CORVID ROMANTIC PLAYING CARDS

#31DaysofWitchcraft Prompt 20 (non)VR to Heather Carter

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Heather Carter on YouTube put together a series of prompts titled #31DaysofWitchcraft that she’s been working her way through since the beginning of May. I really like this idea, but I can’t handle the responsibility of any more daily posts, so I thought that for the next few weeks, I would do one (or a few at a time) for the end of week “My Pagan Perspective” posts and work through them a bit at a time.

witchyfunk

20. What do you do when you are in a witchy funk?

“Witchy Funk”.  That is such a weird term to me when I read it and I’m not sure why.  Maybe it is because my spirituality and my witchcraft are so wrapped up into one?

The thing is, witchcraft is an act.  It is an activity.  You do not have to be Wiccan or Pagan to practice it.  There are Christian witches, Hindu witches, Atheist witches… there’s all kinds.  It is not a spirituality, it is an act… a tool.

Paganism, is not an activity.  It is a faith.  A religion.  A spiritual path.  It is a path of belief.   How someone walks this path may vary from person to person.  Some Wiccans, for example, do not practice witchcraft.  Some Pagans don’t either.   And others do.

For me, these two things were interlaced and so very woven together that they grew together like gemeis, two trees that grow together into one. The inosculation in this natural phenomenon between trees is a good comparison how witchcraft and my spiritual path have grown together over time until there is no clear separation between them any longer.

So when I see the words “witchy funk” it feels strange.  How does one have a “funk” from their belief?  From their faith?  From how they believe the world works and how we interact with it?   I’m… not sure that’s possible. I mean, maybe during major depressive episodes and I essentially retreat from every little single thing in the world?  But I definitely wouldn’t call that a “funk”.

Are there times when I am more active and engaged than others?  Absolutely, but we can say that about anything in life, can’t we?  Everyone goes through phases and cycles.  Sometimes our attention gets drawn away to this or that, and then we slip back to center again when the newness wears off or we accomplish what we’d been distracted by.   I also don’t consider these a “funk”, but more of a natural cycle of interest and curiosity balancing out with just how much time there is in each day.

So I’m left wondering… do I even have witchy funks? What exactly -is- a witchy funk anyway?   I’m not sure.

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Last Dandelion

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Pull (at least) three cards use them as the foundation to tell us about a natural and/or fictional creature’s greeting of the Fall season.

Wonderland Tarot (Majors Only)The Bloom – When the season first changed (Death), I felt like I was on top of the world (The Emperor) and all of my usual uncertainties (The Moon) and inhibitions were set aside for the enjoyment of the new season (The Fool).

The Tuft – But soon my inner dialogue started coming in and nitpicking at every little silly thing I was doing (Judgement) and telling me that I had to make a choice for a more responsible path (The Lovers).

The Seeding – I did what it said and I threw away my joyous celebration of the season in the process (The Chariot).

The Empty Bud – Now I feel like I fucked up (The Tower). I need to retreat and reevaluate (The Hermit) and delve deep into my own inner secrets of why I did what I did (The High Priestess). Hopefully my progeny will do it better and differently (Wheel of Fortune).

DECK USED:  WONDERLAND TAROT (A MAJORS ONLY DECK)

Morning Bonus Read – Fulfillment, Gratitude, and Joy

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

The prompt for this reading came from one of my Discord servers and is as follows:
“This week, let’s look at the flip side: fulfillment, gratitude, and joy. Did you know that one of biggest tools against burnout and stress is gratitude? (You know, apart from needed mental health treatment and care.)”

Alchemy England 1977 Playing Cards

Where in my life am I experiencing fulfillment?
Ten of Spades

I’m actually feeling pretty good about myself lately.  It’s about that whole “survival” thing.  The fact that I have been through so much, dealt with so many devastating hurdles, and not just survived them but thrived in their wake.  Remembering this gives me confidence, and a feeling of fulfillment that comes from a sense of accomplishment.

What is something in my life this year that I’m grateful for?
Nine of Diamonds

See, the thing is?  Even though the pandemic has sucked ass, and even though I lost all but one of my part time jobs for a good part of the spring and summer… and have only really picked back up half the work load (working for others) that I had pre-pandemic?  I have been able to adjust my finances to take the brunt of these changes without damaging anything other than the amount of time it will take to pay off my mortgage.

Yes, I want it paid off… but I’m relieved to have spent so much time busting my ass to pay the highest amount possible per payment because it prepared me for what’s going on now… when I need to pay less. Because of this, my situation is still stable… and I’m so grateful for that.

What is something in my life this year that brings me joy?
Seven of Clubs

I’m kickin’ ass, baby.  Building off the previous question in a way, what has brought me (and brings me) joy this year is that I have been able to support not just my lifestyle and those that I love with my efforts, but also continue to keep my business thriving during this time when so much has swung out of sync and is not the norm.

What is something in my life this year that I am succeeding at?
Six of Spades

I am succeeding at finding a better way.  A new path. It has taken a good part of this year to work through the psychological process of letting go of how I have done things in the past.  It’s a struggle not to push myself beyond my limits, and actually allow myself the healing rest and recuperation I need.  Walking away from that highly abusive dynamic I had going on previously is not an easy task, not a quick one.  But I am succeeding at it, one step at a time.

DECK USED:  ALCHEMY ENGLAND 1977 PLAYING CARDS

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Winner

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Pull up to three cards use them as the foundation to express and/or describe someone’s (real or fictional) reaction to winning the lottery.

The Astro Tarot

When the ticket turned out to be a winner, he couldn’t believe it.  He’d never had a bit of good luck in his entire life, and then the numbers were called and he’d won.  He’d really won!  He’d been buying the tickets so long that it was more habit than hope any more, and then his world changed in a moment’s stroke of luck that made up for all those unlucky moments that had come before it. (The World)

The funny thing about habits, though?  Is that even when your dreams come true, habits don’t die.  They live on and continue to influence us no matter what circumstances change in our lives.   And so even though he’d won the lotto he continued to play it anyway.  The one percent of his income he’d put toward it for so many years continued… but now?  That one percent was so much larger.   Having never learned to manage money, over time that one percent started to eat into his winnings… of course so did the indulgences he couldn’t help but purchase now that he had the money to do so. (The Devil)

In the end, he ended up back where he’d been all along.  The winnings gone, they had taught him a valuable lesson, but one that he’d learned too late. He knows now that it’s important to spend money wisely, no matter how much of it you have.   His bank now empty once more, the wisdom will carry on regardless.  (The Hierophant)

DECK USED: THE ASTRO TAROT