Various Paganism, Tarot, Etc

📆 Transitioning from September to October

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Month End Check-In Tarot Reading with the Cats Rule the Earth Tarot and the Glowwood Oracle

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

The Magician and The Beech – Your energies and those around you are on the ascent, and you have all the tools at your disposal that you need to make sure that everything goes just the way you want it to. Have confidence in your tools and your ability to use them to achieve your goals as things begin to speed up and the holiday rush begins to crowd out everything else.

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

Judgement and The Stag Beetle – Make sure that you are not judging yourself harshly for the transition period that is coming. Change is hard, and of course there’s going to be a little bit of struggle involved as you move from a time when you can focus on yourself to a time when every shred of your focus needs to be towards your business and it’s growth.

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

King of Wands and The Mistletoe – Lead those with you through the long haul forward with strength, and make your passions their passions. Inspire them to transition with you into this new, temporary reality that the approaching holiday rush presents.

Limitations – Negative influences, opposition, or ill will.

The Devil and The Fumewort – Fairweather friends have no place in your life right now. They will become a hindrance that weighs you down and chokes out your enthusiasm. Don’t let your self-destructive tendencies convince you to try to hold onto these people right now. You can revisit these friendships in January if they’re still around at that time.

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

Three of Swords and The Aphid – Focus on the little things right now. There’s lots of little things you can do to prepare for what is to come. When working on these little things you can advance far quicker and far more than you expect you could because all these little things pile up if you let them. If you are looking for things to make you feel good about yourself during this time (connection between the Aphid and the Stag Beetle) make sure you are doing these little things, and writing them down so you can see the progress you’re making.

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

The Moon and The Firemoss – You need to take time to confront the feelings that stemmed from your time of homelessness and abject poverty. Although it is a long time in the past, there are still issues that linger in your mind and your heart from this time.

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

Ten of Cups and and The Glowworm – This refers not to one specific positive past experience, but rather on remembering the good times as a whole and releasing the bad. It’s okay to keep the lesson and let go of the rest, in order to encourage focusing more on the positive than the negative.

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

Five of Wands and The Lambsquarters – An effort from outside sources to come in and try and take over is coming. Make sure that you are aware of what’s going on around you and prepared. They could be useful and even beneficial, but not if they’re given free reign.

Empowerment – A future opportunity to work toward.

The Hierophant and The Oak – Put on a display the strength, structure, and stability that your presence provides for those around you. You will be given the opportunity to further your influence towards stability in future weeks, and provide guidance to those that are in need of that stability.

Notation:  Skipping the “Three Realms” section of this reading today as a part of my self-kindness.  I’m just too tired, and I don’t want to hold back posting this post, for I know it’ll just sit there in my “almost ready” list of posts and make me feel guilty.

DECKS USED: CATS RULE THE WORLD TAROT AND THE GLOWWOOD ORACLE

Weekly Creativity Prompt – Relating and Relations

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Prompt:  Shuffle your deck of choice, then pull out every ninth card. Of the eight cards now sitting in front of you, which card do you relate to most strongly and why? Of the seven cards now left sitting in front of you, which card do you relate to the least and why?
Extra Credit: There are now six cards left. Assign a real person in your life, a fictional character, a movie, a book, or a song to each of these six cards and then tell us why you made the choice you did for each.

Cirque du TarotCard I Relate to Most Strongly – Ace of Wands – So much inspiration and so little time. There are so many things I want to learn and explore, but there’s never enough time.  Every single day, more new ideas and new interests stir to live inside my mind and heart, and I want to explore every single one of them.  Picking and choosing between them is hard when they all old so much potential value either monetarily, or through the pure enjoyment of discovery and exploration.

Card I Relate to the Least – The Fool – I am too cautious a thinker to relate well to this card.  Although I often move at lightning speed to seize opportunity or get things done, there is no carefree abandon in this speed. Instead it is controlled precision. Tossing all cares to the wind and being carefree and innocent just doesn’t feel like it is a part of my nature.  In fact, about the only time it ever happens is when I’m playing in the liminal spaces within the rainforests here in the PacificNW.

The Empress – I often think of Z when I see this card. As my mentor growing up and throughout my adult life, she has often held the place of nurturer in my life.  Sometimes The Empress and nearly always The High Priestess… it turns out that it’s her mother that has stolen the Empress role from her of late.  Now they seem to somehow share this role together in my mind.

Two of Wands – This card made me think of the second episode of the Rings of Power on Amazon Prime. It’s all about direction, planning, and the course of actions we plan to take in our lives.

Seven of Wands – Drive by Incubus
https://youtu.be/fgT9zGkiLig

Three of Wands – Time to Pretend by MGMT
https://youtu.be/B9dSYgd5Elk

Two of Cups – It is the timeless friendship between Morpheus and Hobs in the series The Sandman on Netflix that this card reminds me of. An immortalized human and the god of dreams strike up an unusual friendship by meeting once every century at the same tavern again and again.  It’s an unlikely friendship, and yet it shows how such relationships can grow from just the seed of companionship between two people.

Four of Wands – At the end of Ambrose Ibsen’s book “The House of Long Shadows” the main character, possessed by a myriad of spirits, is walled up into the home he had been renovating in order to keep all those entities trapped within that place.  The book then takes a look at the man’s spirit life afterward, and how the tree he’d thought smelled so disgusting all this time throughout the book now smells sweet and “like home”.  He found peace in the house, even if it was after the horror of how he died, and the scent of the callery pear tree now is a celebration of that peace and home he’s found.

DECK USED: CIRQUE DU TAROT

🌑 New Moon in Libra – September 2022

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Tomorrow is the new moon, and like all new moons and full moons, I did a spread aligned to the moon’s current themes as a part of my recognition of the moon’s cycle and influences upon us. Today’s spread is about the medicine within, and brought to you by Ethony‘s Tarot by the Moon series.

New Moon in Libra Tarot Reading with the Sacred Sisterhood Tarot

What is my sensual side craving?

The Tower – Disruption. Intensity. The tearing down of self for the chaos of being overwhelmed. My sensual side is craving the take down dynamic and the resulting drowning in all that intensity that is a part of the process.

Where can I be more romantic?

Queen of Coins – Make time for more than your work. Home (aka Gideon) is also in need of your attention. Only when you give him what he needs will things feel more balanced again as a whole.

What needs rekindling?

Two of Coins – This reflects back to the previous question and speaks of a need to reestablish balance. In the previous question it has already been pointed out that in order to find that balance you need more time with Gideon.

How can I be more tender with myself?

Ace of Coins – You spent the summer avoiding grounding with the earth and the connection that you have there due to a myriad of inconveniences. Your body craves a new beginning in this area, and you need to dig your toes into the soil already.

New Moon advice from the Minoan Goddess Amalthea.

Four of Wands – Reconnect with those things that you enjoy and that “call you home” to a sense of completion, inspiration, and stability.

DECK USED: SACRED SISTERHOOD TAROT

Second Harvest 2022 – Autumn Equinox

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Today is the Autumn Equinox.  This is considered by many to be the first day of Autumn, and is one of only two moments in the year when the sun is exactly above the Equator, and that day and night are of equal length.  Like Halloween is a time when the veil between the land of the living and the realm of the dead is thin, this holiday (as well as its cross-point in the spring) are times when the veil between our world and that of the Fae is at is thinnest… and it is when I personally experience more interactions with them than any other time of year.

mabon

In my path, the Autumn Equinox is also known as the Second Harvest (also called Mabon), and is a day that marks the transition of the growing season into full harvest.  After this day, the darkness of night begins to overtake the sun’s reign in the sky as the days continue to grow shorter and shorter, and the nights longer and longer.  The earth is winding down its abundant generosity and beginning to close up shop for the year.

Like with new moons and full moons, I usually do a spread to check in with myself and give myself some direction for the next couple of months for each solstice, equinox, and other Sabbats. This spread is an adaptation of my Self Care Saturday spread, so there are sure to be  some similarities in how it is read. The focus of this spread, though, is not about Self Care, but rather about progress and my path. The time period is also longer, reaching through the next handful of weeks until the celebration of the upcoming third and Last Harvest of the year (aka. Samhain, Halloween) at the end of October.

Sabbat Themed Art Card, Pagan Underworlds Tarot, Compendium Of Witches Oracle, Healing Herbal Cards Vol 1 & 2

Theme of the Season – The Thinning Veil Art Card, Waning Crescent, Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)

The Thinning Veil art card shows a depiction of a fox in a forest with the veil represented by the sparks of light in the air, and as he stands and looks through the veil, he sees the ghost of another fox on the other side. Mabon is a time when the veil begins to thin between us and the dead, but what is thinnest at this specific time of the year surrounding the Second Harvest is the veil between us and the Fae.  This is what I see in the imagery of this card, that veil.  The connection that can be found in the forests and woods where the liminal spaces between the Fae and our own world are already thin, and now become nearly non-existent.

The Waning Crescent Moon is all about finding balance through letting go, release, banishment, and atonement. It is a time when we seek to exhale the dregs of energies used, so that with the new moon we can then inhale fresh energy into our lives that will stir up creative juices and invigorate.  Now is the time to make room, cleansing away those last lingering leftovers and releasing what is finished and needs left behind.

Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) is harvested for its roots, which are used most often to treat coughs, skin irritation, and digestive problems as it is excellent for forming a protective layer within the throat, on the skin, or within the digestive tract that can soothe inflammation and upset and in turn calm these ailments.  Metaphysically, it is often used in spellwork that involves gentle protection, love, fertility, and/or connecting with benevolent spirits.

When looking at these three cards together, the personal theme that I see here has to do with letting go of the “staying away from nature” bullshit that has been going on this summer and taking this time while the veil is thin between our world and that of the  Fae to get back out into nature.  Shed self restraint and the parts of you that are holding you back from getting out into those liminal spaces and getting what you need. Connect with the entities you know so well and spend time with them.  This is a part of your practice that has been sorely lacking this summer, and now is the perfect time to return to it.

Earth – Queen of Wands Rx – You have not been connecting with the earth in the way that you need of late, and now that energies are shifting and the temperatures are starting to cool it’s time to get back into the habit of getting out in nature on a regular basis. Don’t allow this disconnect to become a problem.

Air – Temperance – You have a tendency at this time of year to allow yourself to get locked into a mentality of deadlines. This is overwhelming and holds you back, so make sure that you aren’t dipping into those thought processes again this year. You still have plenty of time for the things you love before the holiday rush starts.

Water – Three of Coins – Finding balance is going to be a community effort this year. You don’t have to do it alone, and a lot of the things that you want to do alone you’re not going to get to do alone. Don’t let that hold you back.

Fire – Six of Cups Rx – Train your gaze on the present, not the past… and not the future either. Enjoy this time while it’s here instead of allowing yourself to be distracted by other things.

Waning – The Companion and Shell – You don’t need to protect yourself so very vehemently from others. Your vulnerability is not as obvious to them as you think, and only those you trust are going to see it for what it is.  Your walls are to high and built too thickly due to defense mechanisms you no longer need.

Waxing – The Crossroads and Hare – Dive into those liminal spaces you crave, but stay alert and aware of your surroundings as you do so.  Enjoy the present without worry about the future or casting your gaze back at the past.  It’s in the now that you need to be in order to savor the bonds this Mabon encourages you to reconnect with.

Take Away – It’s time to make reconnecting with nature and the liminal spaces that the forests have to offer a priority.  Enjoy what free time you have left before the holiday rush starts. Soon enough the time will come to deal with all that…. not yet tho.

DECKS USED: SABBAT THEMED ART CARD, PAGAN UNDERWORLDS TAROT, COMPENDIUM OF WITCHES ORACLE, HEALING HERBAL CARDS VOL 1 & 2

Coffee Cup Lenormand Reading

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Coffee Cup Lenormand Reading with the Eastern Ink Lenormand

What do you have a good grip on?

Clover and Stars – You have a good handle on your success and progress, and you have your eye on the prize.  Between determination and a large dose of positive expectations, you have this well in hand.

What should you fill up on?

Dog and Ring – Make sure that those you hold near and dear know just how much you cherish them and just how important they are to you, and that you take the time to truly enjoy and “fill up on” their love as well.

What is sitting that needs to be poured out?

Whip and Cross – There are things from your past that continue to pollute your present.  Wounds that need poured out and released, let go of and set free.  It can be hard to get to that point, but each day can be a step closer to getting there.

DECK USED: EASTERN INK LENORMAND

Seasonal Changes Cartomancy Reading

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The prompt for this reading came from one of my Discord servers and is as follows: “As the seasons are starting to change, what are some changes we can start making in our lives?”

Notorious Gambling Frog Playing CardsSix of Clubs and Three of Diamonds – It’s time to start leaning into collaborating with other people, and allowing them to have a say in how things go and what they look like moving forward. The busy season is coming, and it is through their collaboration and input that you will find positive progress.

Ace of Diamonds and Seven of Hearts – Pick and choose your battles. You can only take advantage of so many opportunities at once, so you need to make sure that you’re taking a close look at what is on offer and making the choices that you can handle instead of trying to take on everything.

Five of Diamonds and Nine of Clubs – Begin doing those things needed to protect against the scarcity issues that you struggle with. Whether they’re reality or just in your head, it really doesn’t matter, as the solution is the same either way. You need to take steps to protect yourself and those around you, so that what is imagined cannot creep into reality and become a real problem.

DECK USED: NOTORIOUS GAMBLING FROG PLAYING CARDS