Emotional Subjectivity

Today’s meditation was eight minutes of ten minute long #DailyCalm session from the @Calm app. (I got interrupted.)

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Maroon Tarot - Four of Cups

Daily Mental Health Prompt: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Today’s draw is the Four of Cups, which is traditionally a representation of dejection, refusal of assistance, contemplative moments, meditation, and feelings of apathy.

The Four of Cups is then joined by the “Abduction of Psyche” card from the Because Art Heals deck, which says, “Grief is the echo of love’s intensity. My grief is love enduring.”

You’re allowed to be sad. It’s okay if others can’t relate to your pain or experience; that doesn’t make it any less valid or any less yours.

Just as everyone grieves differently, so too do people process their emotions differently… and I’d venture to say even experience them differently.

I have an elderly friend that lost her husband of 40 years just a few years ago. She often comments on how it seems like other widows have “gotten over” their loss far easier than she is, and worries that bringing up her husband “too much” will be seen as annoying or uncomfortable. (In my opinion? It keeps his memory alive.)

Today’s cards are a reminder that we all experience our emotions differently, even when we share common ground with others. There’s no set time-limit on how long you love someone or how long you mourn their loss. We all have to take these things at our own pace… and that’s perfectly okay.

DECKS USED: MAROON TAROT AND BECAUSE ART HEALS

@ambitiouslyalexa’s February Journal Prompts
Prompt for February 25th
: What connection looks like for me

Tarot Reading with The Magical Realism Tarot

Reading Summary – New opportunities (Ace of Pentacles) to get to know others and integrate them into your life (Two of Pentacles) in healthy ways through mutual interests (The Lovers).

Take Away – At first glance, this looks very self serving. As if meeting others is simply opportunities to use them. That’s definitely true in some cases, especially in a work environment.

The Lovers card, though, turns this into an opportunity not to -use- others, but to find a good fit with others for companionship and mutual benefit.

That means that although you see connection as opportunity, it’s not just one-sided and you don’t expect it to be. Instead, you seek connections where both benefit equally in a balanced way.

Other elements included in this reading:
Deodar Cedar Cones for Fostering Clarity and Spiritual Connection
Foraged Oak Branch with Moss and Lichen for Perseverance
Foraged Acorn for Protection during New Beginnings
Carved Rhyolite Leaf for Facilitating Calm Transitions
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: MAGICAL REALISM TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsFeb2026 Challenge
Philosophical Prompts for February 25th
:

Tarot Reading with the Maroon Tarot

What is love? 

Nine of Wands and Wheel of Fortune – Love is knowing what it is you truly value, and the willingness to protect and defend it no matter what comes.

You can’t protect what you don’t acknowledge. Love requires acknowledgement first of all. In acknowledging it, you acknowledge its importance to you. This allows love to be more than an idea and become something solid and real. (as per these cards, of course)

Is love ever logical?

Four of Cups and Page of Cups – These cards indicate that love is an emotion, and like all of emotions, it’s not based in logic.

You can instill logic upon it to help better understand it, but it is an entity all its own independent of reason and logic.

Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Purple Heather Sprigs for Independence and Luck
Foraged Ponderosa Pine Cone for Resilience and Adaptability
Labradorite for a Focus on Mental and Emotional Healing
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: MAROON TAROT
Daily Self Kindness

This is a catch up post, and I’m not entirely sure what the self kindness was for this day.

Opening Up to the World

Today’s meditation was a self-guided ten minute long session spent visualizing the patterns of sunlight through a canopy of green leaves.

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Daily Mental Health Prompt: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Anima Mundi Tarot - Eight of Swords

Today’s draw is the Eight of Swords, which is traditionally a representation of willful ignorance, self-imposed restrictions, turning a blind eye (especially when it can be harmful to self), and entertaining a victim mentality.

The Eight of Swords is then combined with Edouard Manet’s The Plum card from the deck Because Art Heals, which says, “The pause is part of becoming.”

When we pause, we are given the opportunity use this time to connect within, then open our eyes to reality.

Often this time is used to awaken our defense mechanisms and try and build a shield between us and the world. Shutting out experiences and awareness of what’s going on around us. There’s opportunity here, though, to center ourselves and open up instead, if we allow it.

The message in today’s cards is a reminder that taking a pause gives us the opportunity use a moment in time to take a deep breath and open our eyes. These cards encourage us not to hide from the world, but instead take these momentary pauses to soften and open up instead of closing yourself off.

DECKS USED: ANIMA MUNDI TAROT AND BECAUSE ART HEALS DECK

@ambitiouslyalexa’s February Journal Prompts
Prompt for February 22nd

Oracle Reading with the Renais Tarot Oracle Deck

How I respond to stress

Moon – You have a tendency to respond to stress emotionally. This is because stress usually involves your fears rising to the surface and lighting the fuse on your anxiety. This feeds into reactivity, instead of rational thought.

Thus, the more uncertainty involved in the stressful situation, the harder it is for you to find stable footing.

How to improve upon how I respond to stress

Euterpe – Don’t sit and stew in the fear, anxiety and stress. Instead, channel your energy, emotions, and anxiety into creative endeavors. In doing so, you are using this energy in productive ways, and giving your mind something to focus on that doesn’t exacerbate your emotional reactions, allowing for both energy dispersal and distraction at the same time.

Other elements included in this reading:
Dried Rosebuds for Potential and Beauty Waiting to Unfold
Dried Purple Heather Flowers for Independence and Luck
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: RENAIS TAROT (ORACLE)

#DiscordTarotholicsFeb2026 Challenge
Prompt for February 22nd
: Do Spread 3
For each position, pick the card from your deck that you feel fits the question best for you, then explain why.

Tarot Reading with the Anima Mundi Tarot

Which one card do you feel sums you up best?

Two of Pentacles – I feel like I am constantly struggling with balance these days. There’s no stable footing, and I understand that that’s how it’s supposed to be. Balance is a dynamic situation, after all, always shifting and changing… but that lack of stable footing means I feel like its a constant struggle. A hamster wheel I can’t escape.

Which one card do you feel represents your strengths?

The Hanged Man – I like that I have the ability and desire to see other perspectives beyond my own. Not just see them, but to strive to understand them as well. It’s a quality that I don’t see very often in others, and I like that I’m able to pause in this way and find a larger view point than the singular one through my own two eyes.

Which one card do you feel represents your limitations?

Queen of Swords – I can be extremely harsh in my thoughts, judgements, and words. Both when directed toward myself as well as toward others. I have expectations about standard level of common sense and intelligence, ownership of one’s actions and responsibility. Sometimes when others don’t meet those expectations, my reprisals can be harsh (especially when I personally fall short of them).

What kind of issues do you feel that you need to work on?

Wheel of Fortune – The more that I delve into learning about my emotions and experiencing them instead of burying them, the more I struggle with the unpredictability that is an inherent part of life. Adaptability to shifts and changes in life seems to be becoming more difficult as I get older, and I feel that this is something I need to work on.

What message do you want to share with the world?

Two of Cups – Find your people. Stop trying to impress those people that aren’t a good fit for you. Instead, be authentic in putting yourself out there. Although it might attract backlash, it will also attract those to you that will appreciate the real you.

Other elements included in this reading:
Foraged Parmeliaceae Lichen for a “Breath of Fresh Air”
Scotch Pine Cones for Purging Negative Influences

DECK USED: ANIMA MUNDI TAROT
Daily Self Kindness

I stayed in bed most of the day due to a migraine instead of trying to push myself to function anyway.