Cladonia Macilenta
Tiny and delicate
oh so sweet
fructose lichen
watch your feet
a little growth
on a fallen
tree stump
bright red apothecia
catches the eye
but only for those
seeking the sight.
It’s Good Not To Be King
Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and was one of the guided meditations with interval timers for my piriformis stretches.
The topic of today’s meditation was about taking time to let in the beauty and the majesty of the world. To take it in and appreciate it, and allow it to calm you. It was about how sometimes? Even when we feel like we need to act, and act right now, that it’s better to wait and watch, and allow things to unfold at their own pace.
This can be really hard, yeah? But the key in today’s guided meditation was that if we can find beautiful and peaceful things to focus on, it can help us in allowing that space instead of jumping into the fray.
Today’s draw is is the King of Wands, which is traditionally a representation of a projective alpha energy in the area of one’s inspiration, passion projects, drive, and that inner spark of curiosity and invention. This often translates into themes that have to do with authority figures or leadership energy that leads the charge, stirring up those beneath them to lead them into the fray of whatever passionate interest is the focus of the time.
What stands out to me in the imagery of this card today is the pumpkin that is impaled upon the wand that the skeleton king holds. The pumpkin as the drawing on a sugar skull on it, and reminds me of a head on a pike.
What I see in this imagery is that sometimes? Sacrifices have to be made for progress to happen for the greater good. Sometimes? Things or people get left behind. Not because it’s fair or even right… it’s neither. But when you’re the king? You have to think of the greater good. Sometimes that means that things aren’t fair for everyone, and sometimes it means that things that feel wrong happen just to make sure the greater good thrives.
Today’s card is a reminder of why I despise being leader and try to avoid that when I’m able. It’s a reminder of how happy I am not to be those things, and how much comfort and relief I get from that fact.
DECK USED: MADAM LYDIA WILHELMINA’S TAROT
LionHart’s #TheOctoberTarot #SeasonOfTheWitchChallenge Prompt
Question: How can my inner magick support my journey?
Reading Summary: You are the ruler of your own domain (King of Pentacles) and are skilled at the running of it (Eight of Pentacles) because your inner compass keeps things balanced (Justice).
Take Away: I recently came to realize just how unique each home and household is. How in the ecosystem of a home and those that live within it, certain knowledge that is unique to that ecosystem is spread between it’s members. Things like preferences in foods and brands, differences in bathroom times and daily ablution periods, how quickly things run out and how they deal with these things.
How smoothly these things are run and how well this information is shared is dependent upon those involved and whoever the “head” of that ecosystem is that keeps things running smoothly. In my home, that person is me. My need for organization and desire for a sense of security is a part of the magic of who I am, and applying this to my home and those within it helps us all move more comfortably upon our journey, and feel more safe with each step that is taken.
DECK USED: GOTHIC HORROR TAROT
#DiscordTarotholicsOct2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: Forgive / Accept / Honor
Forgive – Nine of Pentacles – Forgive myself for wallowing in a sense of security. It’s been really nice to feel like everything’s taking care of itself for a while and like it’s not on my shoulders to push myself hard as I can. It’s hard to feel like it’s okay to feel that way, though. I have a lot of guilt around letting myself wallow in it for a bit, especially as I try to get myself back in gear now to prepare for the busy season ahead.
Accept – Knight of Wands – Accept that it’s now time to get your ass up and get a move on. Unfortunately, that more relaxed time I’ve been enjoying has come to an end. It’s a bummer, because I’ve just started to enjoy it, but now it’s time to accept that I need to plunge into my work. My creative business will not run itself, and requires a certain amount of preparation to function properly and run well during the holiday rush.
Honor – Ten of Cups atop Jack of Wands – I need to honor what I have learned through how I’ve invested my time over the spring and summer. I’ve put a lot of time and focus on exploring my emotional intelligence and growing my understanding of my own emotions over the spring and summer. I’ve found that I need a bit of rest to find emotional fulfillment, and just how important emotional fulfillment really is. These things that I have learned are very important lessons that I want to honor by carrying forward into the future with me.
What does it mean to honor what I need in order to feel emotionally fulfilled?
The Five of Swords indicates that you need to appreciate how far you’ve come, how much you’ve done, and protect these things.
This protection is not about building walls or anything so stagnant. It’s important to remember that emotions do not thrive when closed up and walled off. So using that type of method that you have often used in the past is not going to work this time around.
Instead, you need to look at a more active style of defense and protection by carrying these things that you have learned with you as you move forward and holding them close as you without suffocating them.
DECK USED: LUIS ROYO’S LABYRINTH TAROT
#MysticStarChallenge October Challenge Prompt
Question: How does my Spirit Guide card relate to my card for the month?
Reading Summary: With the emotional growth that I have been exploring over the spring and summer (Ace of Cups) has also come lessons about how stepping back from pushing myself so damned hard (Temperance) can lead to a stronger sense of emotional fulfillment and completion (Ten of Cups).
The Sun of my Spirit Guide and the Hierophant of my month’s card are providing the path forward (Two of Wands) that will allow me to preserve and foster what I have learned so far on my journey of emotional growth.
Take Away: It is an indication that my Spirit Guide is trying to support me and the growth I’ve managed thus far, as well as the perseverance of what I’ve learned as I move into what is hands-down the most stressful part of my year each year.
DECK USED: TRIONFI DELLA LUNA, TERRESTRIAL TAROT, CARNIVAL AT THE END OF THE WORLD TAROT
#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question: How can better connect with my spirit guide mentors?
Reading Summary: Tap in to what you know and are skilled at (Eight of Pentacles), combined with your childhood experiences (Six of Cups). Examine how you can see this connection differently (The Hanged Man).
Take Away: The message here is about looking a gift horse in the mouth. The thing is? Many of my greatest skills come from those in my past. The experiences and the skills passed down to me that I have utilized to get myself where I am? These are also from the same individuals in my past that I have spent a good deal of time resenting and avoiding. My guides are, in some cases, a piece of my past. They were there then, either in living form or in the ethereal plane… they’re here now too. They have always wanted what is best for me… so maybe it’s time to let go of some of those resentments and discomforts.
DECK USED: GOLDEN AGE OF HORROR COMICS TAROT
Gideon’s Challenge
Together Time
So odd
that sitting on a lap
seems like
such a childish thing
and yet
with you
it is not childish
at all
but rather
feels like
coming home.
I love you so much. I’ve missed you so much.
Yours always.
Photo © ZenStatePhotography
Morning Bonus Read – My Creative Business
Draw Your Focus Here
King of Swords
Strategize the way forward. Take control of your on inner dialogue and take the lead in moving forward. Give those under you direction and purpose toward the goals you set forth to achieve.
Become An Expert At This
Ace of Swords and Queen of Wands
Motivating others through your words and intent. Although you may not feel like your conversational skills are the best, what you possess is passion and the ability to light a fire under others and inspire them. Use this to your advantage… and their benefit.
Encourage Play In This Area
Nine of Pentacles
When you have alone time at home? It’s a good time to settle in and explore ideas and have some fun. Don’t waste this time dawdling in a nap or blow it on the drudgery of daily chores. This is the time to delve into the playful exploration of creation and really have some fun with it.
Embrace Failure Here
Ace of Cups
Once you get really engrossed in the creative process and holiday rush, a little bit of backsliding in your emotional growth is going to happen. That’s okay! Don’t freak out about it, because you’ll resolve that issue later on. Having already walked the path will make finding your way a second time just that much easier the next time around.
Explore Competition Here
Four of Wands
You know how competitive L can be. It could be a good idea to exploit that competitive edge she has going on to your advantage. How many chains can she make in an hour vs how many you or Z can make. Things like that turn the experience of work into not just work but also a game, and gives a little competitive incentive to do better and get more done all at the same time.
Connect With These People
Three of Pentacles
These are the people that are here to support me and help me in my creative business. Connecting with those I collaborate with, specifically my sister and Z, are here to help me in both my creative business and other creative endeavors. I have only to ask for their help, encourage their participation, and give them things to do… and they’ll be there for me.
Travel To A Place With This Energy
Queen of Cups
This is not so much about traveling to a physical place, as it is about getting myself into a place mentally and emotionally, where I’m able to connect with both my own inner emotions, as well as with those of others. It’s about finding a grounding, nurturing place within myself that I can them settle into and be influenced by in positive, self-affirming ways.
Brainstorm On This Concept
Nine of Cups
While play is encouraged during times of fulfillment in hearth and home, it is emotional fulfillment that needs to inspire deeper thought and ideas. The Nine of Cups in this position indicates that finding that emotional grounding is extremely important to finding a comfortable and fulfilling place within myself. The restlessness and shaky ground I’m feeling needs to be settled, and this might take discussion with others and contribution of ideas from many corners in order to find the right path forward here.
DECK USED: TAROT DE MARSEILLE PAR POLE KA
A Nest Egg Reminder
Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and was a combination of a guided meditation and interval timer for the switching positions of my piriformis stretching. I haven’t done my piriformis stretches in a few days, and I can definitely feel it today. The pull up into my spine and along my internal scar tissue was pretty intense, but it wasn’t so bad that it didn’t release with time.
The focus of the guided part of this meditation was about magic in the every day. The thing is that there are times when repetitive actions and the mundane can sometimes feel very boring. You walk the same path to and from work every day, and after a while it feels like there’s nothing new to see, yeah?
The meditation today encouraged listeners that that’s when it’s time to really start paying attention to the details around you and sinking into the experience. Pay attention to the patterns of leaves on the sidewalk, the smells in the air, the feel of the breeze, the whisper of tree’s branches or the blooming and fading of flowers. Become invested in the nuances and details, and you soon find that no two days are alike, no to walks are alike. Everything changes, even those things we feel bored with or stagnant.
Today’s draw is the Four of Pentacles, which is traditionally a representation of stability and security in the areas of finance, resources, hearth and home, health, and manifestations. It’s about conservation of resources and creating a sense of security by having what one needs.
This is my second favorite card in this deck, and it is so funny that it came up today because when I shuffled the cards, I saw it on the bottom of the deck and specifically thought “God I love that card. If it’s meant to come up, it’ll come up”. And then? It popped right out of the deck for my pull during shuffling.
Poppets are used for a variety of different purposes. Curses and hexes are what is most commonly known since they were made familiar through works of voodoo. And yet? That is not the only way these magical artifacts are used or the only thing they are used for. Here in this picture? You see a money poppet. A boon spell for drawing in good fortune. Specifically good fortune in the area of one’s finances and resources.
The message in this card is to “tend to your garden” and foster it’s growth. Through that growth. Through focusing on collecting and saving and creating a “nest egg” of a cushion, you create a sense of stability in your life that allows for shit to happen and life to continue on in some semblance of “normal”, even when times are at their hardest.
DECK USED: TAROT OF HAUNTED HOUSE
LionHart’s #TheOctoberTarot #SeasonOfTheWitchChallenge Prompt
Question: What can I do to honor the magick within me?
Reading Summary: Hold tight to the faith (The Star) that you have the skills, abilities, and capability to deal with (The Magician) all of those things that you’re worried about (Nine of Swords).
Take Away: To honor the magic within me, it’s important to accept that I have all that I need to deal with all the issues and all the worries that plague me. It’s about having trust and faith that everything is going to work out, because no matter what life throws at me? I can deal with it, adapt, and in the end? Find a path of positive growth forward beyond it. These worries? They’re just a distraction. Set them aside and trust I can deal with what comes, no matter what it might be.
DECK USED: ANNE STOKES GOTHIC TAROT
#DiscordTarotholicsOct2020 Challenge Prompt
Topic: Do Spread #1
Question: How can I shrug off this feeling of blah and ineptitude?
Reading Summary: Both sevens RX. Stop looking at all the choices (Seven of Cups Rx) and make a dive for what you want (Knight of Cups) and do it now. No time like the present (Seven of Pentacles Rx).
There is a connection between the Seven of Cups and the Knight of cups in both coloring and theme. This goes beyond the “Cups” suit correspondence and into how the two cards flow together. Pick one cup. Just one. And go after it full force.
There is also a connection between the Seven of Cups and Seven of Pentacles that goes beyond the fact they are both Rx and both sevens. This has to do with the clusters in both cards. Many cups. May pentacles. Choices and selections and abundance that has turned against you, indicating a need to downsize.
Take Away: Stop allowing everything that needs to be done overwhelm you and set you into a stagnant paralysis. Pick one thing. Just one thing… and do it. Then pick another. Don’t worry about all of it at once, and don’t worry about if you’re going to get it all done or not. You can’t eat an entire cake in one bite, and you can’t get the prep done all at once. Work at it one piece at a time instead.
DECK USED: CUTE AND CREEPY TAROT
#MysticStarChallenge October Challenge Prompt
Question: In what way do I embody the ______ card?
My Card – Ace of Cups – The seed of beginnings of new relationships, new dynamics within existing relationships, new creative ideas, and new emotions.
In what way do I embody the Ace of Cups card?
Page of Cups, Five of Pentacles, Three of Cups
I’m doing my best to expand my emotional intelligence, and sometimes that is going to cause me to feel negative emotions, but I understand that these things are temporary and there is renewal ahead which means there is always hope.
DECK USED: SKELE-TAROT
#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question: What are my magickal influences?
Reading Summary: In my life right now I am at a place where I struggle to lift the blindfold and see clearly my path forward (Eight of Swords). For a time, this caused me to lose faith in my abilities to ride out what may come and turn it around in my favor (The Magician). Beside the cards that represent this struggle reside a card indicating the two prominent aspects of my life at the moment. The Nine of Pentacles speaks of my goals and my current feelings of security and comfort. The Ace of Cups represents my efforts at that new level of emotional intelligence and the growth I’ve managed so far this year… which is truly just the beginning of a much longer journey.
Take Away: My magical influences at this time are being blocked. The influence that helps me the greatest is my ingenuity and my adaptability, but with my current state, I am muffling it and drowning it beneath feelings of overwhelm that cloud my vision.
DECK USED: SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN TAROT
Gideon’s Challenge
Aren’t You Home Yet?
Every day
that you’ve been gone
has been a day
of dips and turns
and
topsy turvy
tumbles.
Only you can
set my world back
right side up.
I miss you so much. You are not at all the only one that struggles when vacation time comes. I just usually hide it so much better than I have this time around.
