Sparking Inspiration and Enthusiasm

Today’s meditation was skipped.

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The @GlitterbyInk #JuneMessenger26 Challenge
Message From My Spirit Guide Prompt for June 6th
: Guidance
Daily Mental Health Prompt
: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

I Tarocchi della Foresta - Ace of Wands

Today’s draw is the Ace of Wands, which is traditionally a representation of the seed, start, or new beginnings in the area of one’s passion projects, inspiration, drive, willpower, and determination. This often translates into themes that have to do with budding new interests and new passion projects.

I’ve been getting a lot of guidance from the cards lately on how to find more joy in life and enjoy life more over all.

Here we see another one of those messages as the guidance in today’s card is that it’s the things that we find enthusiasm in and fascination with that create spark in our lives. They are the things that ignite enthusiasm and spark new ideas, new passions, and eventually new projects and endeavors… if we decide to pursue them.

The message in today’s Ace of Wands and the “guidance” prompt is a reminder to allow our curiosity, fascination, and kindling spark of enthusiasm to carry us away now and then. In doing so we make our lives more interesting and enjoyable.

DECK USED:  I TAROCCHI DELLA FORESTA

@de_tarotjuf’s De Zomer In! #detarotjufjunitarotchallenge
Prompts for June 2nd through 7th

Oracle Reading with the Unquiet Rooted In Power Oracle

What invites me to go outside today?

The Good Girl Curse, White Rose, Silk Moth

There is a wildness within you that is feeling trapped, cut off from nature, defanged, tamed, separated and kept apart. This trapped feeling, isn’t there all the time, but the fact that it’s there at all means that you aren’t listening to (let alone fulfilling) that need within you to be outside in nature.

What kind of resistance is keeping me inside?

Roles Unchosen, Wisteria, African Grey Parrot

You are carrying too many responsibilities and trying too hard to be “human”.

The heavy weight of responsibilities and obligations make it difficult for you to tap back into your “wildness” and connect with nature in the way that you could before all of these obligations became a part of your life.

This is an unexpected and unintended consequence of the responsible part of your nature taking things too far.

Which experience can change my mood?

Grace, Bleeding Heart, Mourning Dove

Gentleness. Too often, you confront challenges and struggle with a hard shell and a warrior spirit.

You can more easily change the narrative, though, if you approach such experiences, not with a show of strength, but with the inner strength to be calm and gentle, even during the harshest of storms.

The seed I may plant

Severing, Black Cohosh, Raven

Remember that the strength you have gained in life comes from the struggles you have experienced. The transitions and changes that happen in life are there to make you into a better and stronger person. Fighting against them only prolongs the suffering, but won’t change the eventual outcome or lesson learned in the process.

Seek to tap into your adaptability and flexibility, instead of standing rigid in your stubbornness to keep things as they are.

What does my body want to feel and experience?

Silence Compliance, Sweet Pea, Hoverfly

Break free of toeing the line of “acceptable” and allow the caged wildness within to come free.

This means getting out in nature more, taking the hikes you need, and communing with the trees and the soil more often. It is only when you connect to those things that you break free of the trappings of mimicry you are trying to project to the world.

Your body needs to break free of these bonds, just as much as your spirit does.

Which old belief can I let go of outdoors?

The Great Protector, Camellia, Rooster

The freedom of being in charge of no one but yourself is something you need and can only get if you pursue activities that allow you to experience it.

Despite your determination to the contrary, it’s not good for you to be in charge all of the time, nor healthy for you to be the one keeping everything together for everyone. It is too heavy a burden, especially if you are not getting any time away from it to seek out relief from these pressures.

By getting outdoors, you are able to shrug off these pressures and responsibilities, obligations and heavy burdens. As a result, for a short while you can just be responsible for yourself and no one else. This is something you need.

Other elements included in this reading:
Staghorn Sumac for Connecting with Nature and the Wild Within
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: UNQUIET – ROOTED IN POWER

The @lightningwildflower June Inner Journey Challenge
Understand Prompt for June 6th
: What am I beginning to understand about myself this month?

Tarot Reading with I Tarocchi della Foresta

Reading Summary: Your downfall (Five of Swords Rx) resides in your stubbornness and demand for stagnancy as a type of stability (Queen of Pentacles). Seeing this means that you are finally ready to make a change (Death).

Take Away: You are beginning to realize that the safety you feel like you find in stillness and stagnancy isn’t actually the stability that you crave. The stagnancy is only a facsimile of stability, but holds no true value. Instead, it merely creates a breeding ground for unhealthy festering and decay.

Trees that cannot bend with the wind will break during a storm. In discovering you are bracing too hard and ending up in this situation, you’re being given the opportunity to dig your roots deeper into the soil and allow yourself to bend more when the chaos of storms in your life come calling.

Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Purple Heather Sprigs for Independence and Luck
Foraged Oak Branch with Moss and Lichen for Perseverance
Foraged Red Pine Cone for Inner Strength and Rejuvenation
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED:  I TAROCCHI DELLA FORESTA
Daily Self Kindness

I took a nap at Ms B’s today before driving home.

Gideon’s Challenge – Sharp Edges

New Growth

Sharp Edges

Don’t
touch me
as adjustment
and acclimation
make me
vulnerable
and sensitive
and emotions
cause me
to draw
blood
without
apologies
or regrets

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

What “Rest” Really Means

Today’s meditation was skipped.

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The @GlitterbyInk #JuneMessenger26 Challenge
Message From My Spirit Guide Prompt for June 5th :
Instinct
Daily Mental Health Prompt
: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Sunlit Sprout Tarot - Four of Swords

Today’s draw is the Four of Swords, which is traditionally a representation of taking time to rest, recuperation after a trying time, and stillness for restoration and meditation on the events that have brought you to this place as well as where to go from here.

It’s a proven fact that your senses are dulled when you’re tired. If you’re not getting the rest that you need, your reaction times are lowered and your cognitive function decreases. Even when you feel like you’re firing on all cylinders, if you’re tired, then you’re missing out on providing an even better performance than the one you already are.

The thing is, sometimes getting all the rest we need isn’t easy. A part of that is because sometimes rest doesn’t have anything to do with actual sleep. The recreational activities that make you feel invigorated are also a type of rest. These activities, like sleep, take you away from your stresses and worries and allow you to focus on something that is completely pleasure based instead of anchored in responsibilities and obligations.

I think sometimes we forget that, and as a result when we feel that we need more rest, instead of following our instinct to do something we enjoy that lets us step away from our obligations for a bit, we lay down and try to take a nap or get some sleep.

Today’s Four of Swords card and the “instinct” prompt is a reminder that although sleep and naps are all well and good, we need to follow our instincts to fulfill what we truly need when we need rest and recuperation. Sometimes it’s not a nap at all, but something else entirely.

DECK USED:  SUNLIT SPROUT TAROT

One Card Tarot Journal Activity by @mariasofia_astro
Chapter 1 | Entry 2 – Self-Care and Personal Development
Affirmation : “Although I strive to do my best in every situation, I acknowledge and accept where I have let myself down.”
Prompt : Forgiveness, especially of yourself, is an important step in healing. What is the card you draw saying that you can release in order to forgive yourself for a past mistake?

Tarot Activity from The One Card a Day Journal by Maria Sofia Marmanides - El Tarot de Katrina - The World card

What feelings came up when I pulled this card?

Shame and embarrassment were the first emotions to come up when The World card showed itself in relation to this question. That dog’s eyes looking at me from the imagery just seemed like a whole lot of expectation that I have failed to live up to.

What elements of the card’s meaning resonate with me and this prompt?

I have tried many times to release my feelings around having never completed my education. I got so very close, and then life got in the way, and I was unable to finish.

This wasn’t because of money issues or work issues, all of which I feel I would’ve found a way around, but rather issues that have to do with experiences I was forced into and the trauma that I was trapped into by those experiences.

The World card is all about completion, and that judgemental dog face on the card feels like it’s all about the completion that didn’t get finished.

What in the artwork spoke to me?

I’ve already mentioned to the face of the dog and how judgmental it looks in the imagery here. This is perhaps because it kind of reminds me of my late father’s judgmental stare.

That head and stare stand out from the rest of the imagery on this card so strongly that it’s like there’s nothing else on the card except that and only that.

The thing is, though, in the background beyond the head on this card, what we see is a world of beauty and music and enjoyment. This speaks to me of what I’m missing by holding onto this judgmental viewpoint concerning my education.

My prompt response and reflections.

I find it interesting that I still judge myself so harshly for this issue, when I’ve already accepted to myself that even if I had finished my education, chances are very slim that I would’ve stepped into a career based in either of the degrees I was working toward. In fact, I’d probably be exactly where I am right now, regardless of whether or not I have those degrees under my belt.

Although the areas of study that I chose to follow in my educational career were a good fit for my interests, they weren’t a good fit career-wise. I have a feeling I would’ve been much more suited to an education and ecology, forestry, or something along those lines instead of the botany and horticulture that I pursued.

I have found a bit of closure in these realizations as I have gotten older, but I’m still working on the full forgiveness of having let go of the degrees that I had worked so hard to obtain.

Other elements included in this reading:
Amethyst D20 and D6 Gemstone Dice

DECK USED: EL TAROT DE KATRINA

The @lightningwildflower June Inner Journey Challenge

Prompts for June 1st through 5th

Tarot Reading with the Sunlit Sprout Tarot

Mercury enters Cancer: What truth do I need to speak from the heart?

Five of Pentacles – Share with those who care what’s actually wrong instead of trying to deal with the burden on your own. Those things you’re worried about and are dragging you down don’t have to be a solo struggle. Sharing with others that care allows you to ease the burden on your own shoulders.

Remember that other people do not perceive burdens in the same way that you do, just like Gideon shoulders being the dominant in your relationship as if it weighs no more than a feather, whereas you struggle under the weight of that type of responsibility. Just because you share your struggles with others doesn’t mean that they will be weighted down by them as you are.

Sun sextile Saturn: What structures will support my growth?

Six of Wands – Just because it’s unhealthy to allow others to be your validation, doesn’t mean that you can’t still enjoy their praise. Allow those around you to bolster your spirits with their input and admiration. It’s okay to enjoy being liked, as long as you’re not trying to transform yourself in order to garner that admiration or depending on it for your self-worth.

Mercury square Neptune: Where might I be confusing intuition with fear?

The Magician – You are more than capable of manifesting for yourself whatever it is that you desire. There’s no need to “fake it till you make it”. Just leap forward and do what needs done, and you’ll be happy with the results.

Pause: When am I being asked to pause before acting?

Two of Cups – When you are inviting new people into your life, even your online life, make sure that you are discussing it with others closest to you so that you are getting more perspectives than just your own. Those who love you also care about your well-being, and may see red flags that you miss.

Practice: How can I practice greater patience with myself?

Four of Cups – Resuming a regular meditation practice is a good place to start fostering a greater level of patience with yourself. As is ensuring that you are not secluding yourself away from those who care about you.

Other elements included in this reading:
Pressed Pansy Flowers for Hearing the Heart More Clearly
Rose Quartz for Gentle Kindness to Self and Others
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED:  SUNLIT SPROUT TAROT
Daily Self Kindness

I contacted my bank and put in a dispute for a charge from a tarot deck creator who was a dick to me and then cancelled/refunded my purchase, but for some reason decided they could keep the $32USD shipping charge.

Gideon’s Challenge – Overwhelmed

Vancouver BC City View

Overwhelmed

Too many
people
and too much
movement
blend
into a cacaphony
of energy
swirling in a
wild spiral
of constant
ebb and flow
until losing
the self
is easy
among so many

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Finding the Positive for June 2 – 4

Shadowhunters Tarot's The Hierophant, Tarocchi Giapponesi's Knight of Wands, and Antique Aged Tarot's Two of Wands

June 2 – Mental Health Card of the Day

Today’s meditation was a ten minute long #DailyCalm session from the @Calm app.

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The @GlitterbyInk #JuneMessenger26 Challenge
Message From My Spirit Guide Prompt for June 2 :
Echo
Daily Mental Health Prompt
: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Today’s draw is The Hierophant card, which is traditionally a representation of traditions, spiritual guidance, long standing institutions, teachers and guides, and themes that deal with conformity and social norms.

Other element in this card: Brother Zachariah is (was) a Silent Brother (sort of like a guardian monk in the Shadowhunters series) that manages, through unique personal circumstances, to retain a portion of his humanity.

Remember that following the traditions handed down through generations does not mean you have to lose yourself in the process. These echoes of the past that are repeated from one generation to the next are meant to enhance an embellished one’s life, as well as teach. They are not meant to take the place of individuality.

The message in today’s Hierophant card and the “echo” prompt is a reminder that listening to and/or adopting long-held traditions is not meant to take away your individuality or authenticity. Rather, it’s often simply an act of honoring the past and what others have done, accomplished, or valued.

DECK USED: SHADOWHUNTERS TAROT

June 3 – Mental Health Card of the Day

Today’s meditation was a ten minute long #DailyCalm session from the @Calm app.

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The @GlitterbyInk #JuneMessenger26 Challenge
Message From My Spirit Guide Prompt for June 3 :
Play
Daily Mental Health Prompt
: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Today’s draw is the Knight of Wands, which is traditionally a representation of a projective and active “beta” energy, personality, or person in the area of one’s thoughts, intellect, education, ambitions, and communication. This often translates into themes that have to do with pursuing one’s goals related to their education, actively seeking one’s goals, action and decisiveness, and at times can indicate impulsivity without thinking things through.

Enthusiasm can get you a long way towards your goal, but don’t forget that including a bit of whimsy and fun to what you’re doing helps make things go a little quicker and easier. In the process, you also help make them go in your favor.

They’re not kidding that time flies when you’re having fun. Even the crappiest of tasks can go a little faster (and be a bit more enjoyable) if you mix in a little fun and whimsy into the mix.

The message in today’s Knight of Wands and “play” prompt is a reminder that everything is a little better when we mix a little play into the process. Adding this element of play doesn’t mean you aren’t taking what you’re doing seriously, it simply means you’re enjoying it a bit more.

DECK USED: TAROCCHI GIAPPONESI

June 4 – Mental Health Card of the Day

Today’s meditation was a ten minute long #DailyCalm session from the @Calm app.

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The @GlitterbyInk #JuneMessenger26 Challenge
Message From My Spirit Guide Prompt for June 4 :
Stillness
Daily Mental Health Prompt
: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Today’s draw is the Two of Wands, which is traditionally a representation of planning, decision making, looking ahead, and themes to do with progress.

Stagnancy isn’t really stagnancy if you’re making plans within the stillness. Not every moment can be spent “on the move” towards one’s goals. It’s necessary to plan as well.

The message in today’s Two of Wands and “Stillness” prompt is a reminder that taking time in stillness to plan is still movement, as long as you aren’t allowing yourself to “hold back” for “the right time” or because of fear. After all, a prepared excursion of any sort is far more likely to succeed than one embarked upon without preparation and a plan.

DECK USED: ANTIQUE AGED TAROT

Gideon’s Challenge – Needy

Ivy - New Growth

Needy

I need you
to keep reaching
and clinging
tight
to each moment
between us
as the chaos
of the world
tries
to force
my retreat
and tear us
apart
keep loving me
through it all
and
don’t let go

Photo © ZenStatePhotography