Morning Bonus Read – Understanding Others

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Relationship Tarot Spread - House of the Rising Spade Playing Cards

What will I learn from this person?

Nine of Clubs – How to create healthy boundaries. This is not something that I struggle with when it comes to my interactions and relationships with others, but it is absolutely something I struggle for myself.  I push myself too hard, I demand too much, I force myself to keep going and do more and take on more and constantly it is never enough.  This has been my life.  This person has, over time, worked to get me to see that, and is helping me in learning to change that behavior and thus, create healthy boundaries for how I treat myself and the expectations that I put upon myself.

An accurate portrayal of their personality.

Two of Diamonds – Two pennies are better than one.  Together is better.  They are focused upon that balance between what needs to be done and what is needed to be healthy and they are invested in helping me, in connecting with me, and making sure that I am acknowledging that need for balance as well.  This is about balance and finding balance, and accepting that balance is not stagnant, but a constantly moving and adjusting thing.  They are the rock you stand on for good footing as you try to find your balance, and the counterbalance that helps the scales even out.

The driving force of their intention with me.

Four of Diamonds – No one else will do. I am home.  I am what they want.  If they can’t have me, they want no one else. Although we often tease and joke about it being an obsession, it is more that I am the one that “feels right” and no others can shine as brightly or have half as much appeal.

How does this person truly feel about me?

Eight of Diamonds – They need to know everything there is to know about me. They need to be involved and invested.  They feel a need to be so invested that they are perfect in every way to what I need and when I need it.  They desire to be the perfect partner, with an “expertise” in me and providing me the home and stability I need.  For me this is not about money but about feeling secure and stable and safe.  They need to be the person that provides that for me.

A card to describe our relationship in the near future.

Three of Hearts –  *Lifts an eyebrow.*  Normally in this type of reading, I would consider this to be the “third wheel” card.  That is highly unlikely as we have already tried that and it wasn’t suited for either of us.  So that aside, the indication here is “fun with friends”.  Perhaps this means that the new RP idea that we’ve been slowly brewing up will be a success, at least for a short time.

A message passed to me from their higher self.

Three of Clubs –  Wherever we’re going, we’re going together.  Don’t ever leave him behind because he’s along for the long haul.

DECK USED:  HOUSE OF THE RISING SPADE PLAYING CARDS

Look Up… Keep Going

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IMG_0229Today’s meditation was just over twelve minutes long and was another of the shorter guided meditations on the Calm app, which I paired with an interval timer for my piriformis stretches.

The focus of today’s meditation was about how sometimes we hurt ourselves more by struggling against pain and unpleasantness than we would by just going with the flow.  It is how, for example, if you were to step on an animal trap and it went off and caught your leg. The initial pain is bad enough, but then you begin to thrash and struggle in its grip and in the process cause yourself more pain and more damage.

In this way, sometimes when we resist change or fight against experiences that we don’t like or that hurt us in some way, we end up causing more pain to ourselves than if we had just taken a moment to pause and breathe through it.

Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery and Thera-Pets Emotional Support Animal CardsToday’s draw is the Ace of Swords, which is traditionally a representation of seedling spark of new ideas, new aspirations, new educational pursuits, and new interests.

What really stands out to me in the imagery of this card is the spade on the sleeve of the arm holding the sword.  It’s such a small thing, and yet this tiny detail adds another element to this card that resonates with me.  The reason for this is in cartomancy, the Ace of Spade often represents death and the process of something in your life having to “slough off” to make way for something new.  Normally this is something I would associate with the Ten of Swords, but here we see the cycle that begins after that death is complete.  The new opportunity to do things different… to do them better this time around.

When combined with the Thera-Pets card for today, what I see here is a reminder that each day is a new day.  An opportunity.   Each day you can be better than you were the day before.  Each day you can find a different way, a new way, to approach the day and the struggles that lie before you.  Instead of looking down at the ground, remember to look up (based off the rays in the sky in the Ace). Keep your chin up and keep going.

DECK USED:  TAROT OF THE SEVENFOLD MYSTERY AND THERA-PETS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL CARDS

LionHart’s Whispering Woods Tarot Challenge Prompt
Question: In what way am I asked to nurture or replenish myself?

Whimsical Tarot

 Reading Summary:  Slow down (Empress over the Devil).  Your enthusiasm for your addictions (Queen of Rods and The Devil) are being spurred to greater heights by the reawakening of your emotions (Knight of Cups).

Take Away:  It’s time to do a bit of financial replenishment.  Although this doesn’t mean cutting out on decks entirely, it does mean that it’s time to slow down a bit.  Don’t allow emotions to drive your pleasures and addictions over the line into being unhealthy.   This isn’t just about decks, but covers the crap ass food you’ve been eating as well.  This is not good for you either in excess.

Although broken down through these four cards, this could have been communicated just as easily by handing over the Temperance card. The cards broke it down to make sure that the message couldn’t be misconstrued.

DECK USED:  WHIMSICAL TAROT

#DiscordTarotolicsMar2021 Challenge Prompt
Question: What are my strengths when dealing with others?

Tarot of the Sevenfold MysteryReading Summary: I am clever (Seven of Swords), passionate (Queen of Wands) and easy to learn from (Lady of Pentacles).

Take Away: I am extremely biased and blind when looking at myself and how I am perceived by others.  What they see is not at all what I see, and in this manner, I can’t tell if these cards are accurate or not. 

That said, what I see here in these cards is that I have a grounded energy that make me approachable to others and easy to learn off of even by those that are not in my life to learn from me.  A part of this is because I appear cunning and clever, which stirs up people’s interest, and because I am well seated in my passions and experienced in them.  The latter gives me the ability to speak on these things with authority and passion, sparking the interest and inspiration in others as a result.

DECK USED:  TAROT OF THE SEVENFOLD MYSTERY

Daily Self Kindness

I have been wanting to experiment with a new idea for reading cards, and in order to do that I needed to have some people to test out my idea on.   I’ve been putting it off because of my recovery, but I’ve been eager to give it a go.  Today I gave out a number of free readings (nine, to be exact) in order to test the readability of my idea.  Out of the nine test readings performed, I only had one that was hit-or-miss, and I think that was less about the cards and more about difficulty connecting with that person’s energy. I would consider this test a success, and I enjoyed it.

Gideon’s Challenge

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Crumbling Castle

Old and worn
battered and broken
but still functional
don’t climb
too high
falling through
is always
a possibility
Sometimes
we have to tear down
what we love
to make room
for something better

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Marketing Ploys in Tarot

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Okay so I want to do a bit of a rant today that was inspired by my use of the Harmony Tarot this month.

Although the Harmony Tarot is not the only one guilty of this. And I guess before I start, I should define just what exactly tarot is…. and isn’t.

Tarot is a specific system of card reading. This specific system has a structure of 22 trumps (called the Major Arcana) and four groups (suits) made into 14 cards which are collectively called the Minor Arcana.

Each card is numbered in this deck has a specific meaning attributed to it, and that meaning is the same across all tarot decks. The Magician, for example, is card #1 in the Major Arcana, and in all tarot decks it means the same thing. Readers can then intuit more from the cards through imagery, but the base meaning of the #1 card in the Major Arcana is always the same. That holds true for all 78 cards in the deck.

An oracle, on the other hand, does not share the same structure. Each deck is it’s own system, it’s own structure, and builds it’s own meanings on the cards. If you have the structure of tarot, but not the meanings attributed to match the tarot system, it is not a tarot deck.

It irritates me when decks are marketed as “Tarot” that are not tarot. Examples of this include (but are not limited to) the Morgan’s Tarot, Dreams of Gaia Tarot, Osho Zen Tarot, Wildwood Tarot, Merlin Tarot, Harmony Tarot, Daemon Tarot, and Jane Austin Tarot. None of these decks should have the name “Tarot” in the title as none of them are actually tarot decks. They are oracle decks with their own structures and their own system. This isn’t to say that they’re not excellent oracle decks… but they aren’t tarot decks and thus shouldn’t have that word in their titles.

I feel that the use of the word “tarot” in these decks is a marketing ploy. They know that people who read tarot are interested in new tarot decks, and that more people out there read with tarot decks than with oracle decks, and so they use the word “tarot” in their title to draw these people in, even though the deck isn’t a tarot deck at all.

And that? Pisses me off. Oracle decks are NOT tarot decks. Anyone that is making a tarot deck -or- an oracle deck should know this, or they haven’t done enough research and shouldn’t be making a damned deck in the first place in that case.

The word is not interchangeable and I feel that using the word in the title of a deck that’s not a tarot deck is false advertising. A marketing ploy. Essentially? A lie meant to fool people into spending their money.

Slow Awakenings… and Impatience

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IMG_0205Today’s meditation was was just over ten minutes long and I returned to the Calm app today for one of the guided meditations, with my interval timer added in for my pirifromis stretching.

The focus of today’s meditation was about living in the moment, even when the moment sucks. I agree that sometimes you just have to allow yourself to experience what’s happening, but I don’t think it should keep us from improving our situation when its possible to do so.   It’s a delicate balance.

Tarot de Marseille-Waite and Thera-Pets Emotional Support Animal CardsToday’s draw is the High Priestess, which is traditionally a representation of the subconscious, intuition, inner awareness, spiritual knowledge, and the possession of secret knowledge. 

What stands out to me the strongest in the imagery of this card is the curtain behind the priestess.  A curtain that hides what lies beyond.  The Priestess knows what is there, but like the beaded curtain in a fortune teller’s shop, only she knows what lies on the other side.

Combined with the Thera-Pets card for the day, what I see here is a reminder that I’m still in recovery.  During an MDE, my intuition is often stilted and muffled.  This can become really frustrating, especially now in the process of recovery, where I feel like I -could- be or -should- be fully recovered… but I’m not yet.

The reminder here is that it takes the time it takes.  My intuition isn’t going anywhere, nor does it become “rusty” with disuse during these times when I’m stuck in the MDE. Patience is needed, and it’s okay for things to move slowly.

DECK USED:  TAROT AND THERA-PETS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL CARDS

LionHart’s Whispering Woods Tarot Challenge Prompt
Question: Where am I welcomed to take a break and gather myself?

Walter & Fitzpatrick inspired Harmonious Tarot

 Reading Summary:  You don’t have to charge forward (Knight of Wands) with your eye on the prize (Two of Wands) and coming out on top (King of Swords) as you are standing up for what you believe is right. (Seven of Wands).

Take Away:  Sometimes just living your life the way that is right for you and following your own moral compass is enough. It doesn’t always have to be about saving the world or going somewhere.  It doesn’t have to be about winning or losing or conflict.   It’s okay to just live by example sometimes, and that can be enough.

DECK USED:  WALTER & FITZPATRICK INSPIRED HARMONIOUS TAROT

#DiscordTarotolicsMar2021 Challenge Prompt
Question: How can I better handle conflict?

Tarot de Marseille-WaiteReading Summary:  Take a pause (Trois de Bâton Rx). 

You need to approach from a place of stability and comfort (Quatre de Bâton) where you can then linger (Trois de Bâtons Rx) and view your choices more clearly (L’Amoureux).

Take Away: Sometimes, when conflict is upon us, we react in the moment…. even when there are times when we know that we shouldn’t.  Emotions running high and BAM, out of the blue your mouth opens and something unintended comes out, or we clam up and flinch away, or we act without thought and do something we regret as a result. 

The cards here are indicating that in order to better handle conflict, it is wise to take  a step back and find your balance and calm.  Put yourself in a place of comfort and calm where you can look at things from many perspectives, and with a level head, choose the response that will be best for you. 

DECK USED:  TAROT DE MARSEILLE WAITE

Daily Self Kindness

I made sure to structure my time so that I didn’t have to pull another all-nighter like I did Monday night.  That shit was ridiculous and I want to actually sleep tonight.

Gideon’s Challenge

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Cycles of Integration

Clinging roots
and beautiful shoots
the earth takes her time
and with every year
that passes
all becomes tangled
and the individual
is accepted
welcomed
and absorbed
until smooth stone
and small shoots
eventually become
sand and dust

Photo © ZenStatePhotography