Efflorescent Tarot (Color Edition)

Don’t Look Back

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Today’s meditation was skipped.

Earth Tarot Overgrow EditionToday’s draw is the Death card, which is traditionally a representation of organic change, slow moving transition, and occasionally, death… although not always death of a person or animal.

What stands out to me the strongest in the imagery of this card us that the figure faces into the past. It speaks to me of the need to leave the chaos of change behind you once the transition has completed.

Today’s card is a reminder not to keep looking back, but instead set the past behind you along with the discomfort of the transition period, and move forward with openness to embrace the new.

DECK USED:  EARTH TAROT OVERGROW EDITION

#DiscordTarotholicsNov2022 Challenge Prompt
Questions for November 3rd and 4th

Efflorescent Tarot Color EditionWhat do you want from your inner circle?

Three of Pentacles – Help, even when I’m horrible about asking for it. I want to know that they are there for me when I need them, and that I am able to depend on them for assistance… even during times when I might not be all that graceful in asking for it.

The Emperor (on its side) – Tolerance for when I’m a bossy ass.  I’m stubborn and often lean hard into taking control of situations in order to assure a positive outcome. I need tolerance from my inner circle during these times, as I know that I am often aggravating when this tendency rises to the fore.

What do you hope for?

King of Swords atop Queen of Cups – I hope to instill more emotion into my life without it making me feel “weak”.

DECK USED: EFFLORESCENT TAROT COLOR EDITION

@The.Journey.Well ‘s Friendship & Community Challenge Prompt
Question for November 4th: Advice I need to hear at this time concerning my friendships.

Earth Tarot Overgrow EditionReading Summary: Those friends that are consistently with you through thick and thin (Strength), and supportive of your efforts to improve yourself and your self-treatment (Queen of Cups) are the friendships to focus on. Don’t give attention to the takers and those always demanding more from you (The Unattainable), as they will never be what you need and will just suck you dry.

Take Away: Don’t take those that are true friends through thick and thin for granted. New and shiny “friends” can’t take the place of those that are tried and true. Sometimes we forget this and take them for granted as a result.  Awareness of this tendency can help in making sure that your friends don’t -feel- as if they are being taken for granted, even if you don’t always act as grateful as you could.

DECK USED: EARTH TAROT OVERGROW EDITION

Daily Self Kindness

I had the most miraculously good sleep on my new bed last night, then I spent a little extra time wallowing in it when I got home from work.

Generosity

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IMG_1991Today’s meditation was just over twelve minutes long, and was a meditation on fostering loving kindness for both yourself and others, including those that you don’t particularly like.

It spoke about how the practice isn’t so much used as a benefit for those that you dislike for whatever reasons, but helps us in our own feelings and in letting go of negativity through projecting of positivity upon ourselves and others.

I really enjoyed the practice, and it seemed to actually release a couple of tightly wound knots within my chest.  It’s definitely one I will revisit again.

Four of Coins - Efflorescent Tarot (Color Edition)Today’s draw is the Six of Coins, which is a often a representation of harmony in the area of finances, resources, the physical world, and manifestation.   This can often translate into themes of generosity, charity and acceptance of charity when needed, and the balancing of scales in the areas of wealth and fortune through sharing.

I think that the message of today’s card goes really well with today’s guided meditation. Although one is more of an emotional and spiritual theme, and the other based more on the earthly plane, they both speak of generosity.  Together they are a reminder that generosity is not just something that benefits others, but also that benefits the self.  It is healing to the inner self to give to others, and healing as well to be on the other side as the recipient of such gifts.

DECK USED: THE EFFLORESCENT TAROT (COLOR EDITION)

#TarotForGrowthJanuary Challenge Prompt
Question: How is the universe inviting me to express gratitude for that? (Built off of yesterday’s reading.)

Golden Art Nouveau Tarot

Reading Summary: The King of Swords is bracketed on either side by resistance to change.

Take Away:  Don’t be such a stick in the mud.   Yesterday’s read on this topic was about going with the flow of my emotions rather than trying to close them out and allowing the more negative aspects of my addictions to take a step forward as a result.   The cards in today’s reading make it clear that expressing gratitude for the realization of how to go about this path isn’t in thinking about it or saying anything about it, but rather walking the walk and doing the hard parts like a boss while embracing this change.

DECK USED:  GOLDEN ART NOUVEAU TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsJan2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: How can you take advantage of it? (Built off of yesterday’s reading.)

Wheel of Fortune Tarot by Ivy Feng

Reading Summary:  I shouldn’t worry so much about my creative spark having been stolen away and going dormant as it was forced into submission by the fears and worries I was battling (Ten of Swords atop Seven of Swords).  It’ll come back stronger than ever (King of Wands) and with a vengeance (Eight of Wands) once I find my footing and my confidence starts to bolster once more (Nine of Pentacles).   Oh… look.  I read the cards backwards (realizes it after he’s typed it out).

Take Away:  That letter I received in the fall caused an internal mess that I didn’t even know was festering and growing under the surface all this time.  Over the past few weeks, it had gotten to the point that my creative spark suffered as a result and my creativity in my business became a bit of a chore rather than a joy.   These cards indicate that in having realized this process, to heal from this I need to recognize that things are stable and going to be okay.  I need to reestablish that sense of security, and by doing so my creative spark will find roots with which grow and flourish again.

DECK USED:  WHEEL OF FORTUNE TAROT BY IVY FENG

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge Prompt
Question: How can I treat myself with compassion?

Prediction Tarot

Reading Summary: Take the time to celebrate (Four of Wands) my accomplishments (Seven of Pentacles) with others (Two of Cups) now rather than putting it off until later (The Chariot).

Take Away:  Yesterday, while I was working my ass off on the overflow of unexpected orders, you reminded me to take pride in my work.  Although I didn’t realize it until you  said something, it was something I really needed to hear.   It’s something I need to hear more, because although I have a very hard time accepting anything I do is “good enough”?  Hearing it from someone I love and care about helps.  A lot.

DECK USED:  PREDICTION TAROT

Forward… No Backsliding

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Today’s meditation was just over ten minutes long, and focused on encouraging reflection upon one’s thought process and how it can create self-fulfilling prophesies.

It used a story known as The Two Wolves as the basis behind the guided meditation, and spoke on how when you focus on the negative, it gives that “wolf” energy and strength.  And the same when you choose to feed the positive “wolf” within as well.

I have always loved this story, although I think sometimes I have a habit of misinterpreting it.  It’s easy to take the moral of the story to mean you should ignore negative things, and that by starving them of attention they will die.   In truth?  You can’t always ignore the bad things.  Yes, sometimes they will starve and die… but other times they will fester.  The trick is in knowing which is which.

Page of Swords - Efflorescent Tarot (Color Edition)Today’s draw is the Page of Swords, which is often a representation of learning from the mistakes and challenges of the past, and moving forward with those lessons in hand to step into the future.

The Page of Swords in today’s draw is a reminder that today is a new step forward. After our talk last night, it would be easy to slip my way back into that fog of fear, but today’s card has stepped in to make sure with a new day that I stay on this new path.  The Page of Swords says, “Don’t fall back into the habits of the past, don’t sink back into the sludge, take care not to return to what came before. You don’t want to go back there. Move forward instead.”

DECK USED: THE EFFLORESCENT TAROT (COLOR EDITION)

#TarotForGrowthJanuary Challenge Prompt
Question: How can I nurture those seeds? (Build off of yesterday’s reading.)

Textured Tarot

Reading Summary: Gratitude (Ten of Cups) and rest (Four of Swords), and don’t allow for wallowing in uncertainty (Eight of Swords) because that breeds bad things (Nine of Swords).

Take Away:  I need to make sure that I’m taking the time and effort to be grateful for what I have instead of always looking for something more or better, as well as make sure I am resting when I need it instead of constantly pushing myself beyond my limits. Allowing myself to stand stagnant in the sludge of confusion and fear I’ve been trying so hard to ignore the last few months has not helped me in rising above anything, but only creates more stress and more opportunities for bad shit to overtake the good and turn my addictions against me.

DECK USED:  THE TEXTURED TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsJan2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: What is something you have never considered doing that would improve your life?

Lost Forest Tarot

Reading Summary: This is about delegating. It’s about when new ideas spark and instead of holding them all to myself to execute on my own, taking them to a helper (once I get a new one) to have them do the “fleshing out” while I oversee the process.

Take Away:  Okay so this idea makes me squirm… just sayin’.  I’m pretty sure it’s the control freak aspect of my make-up that makes it hard for me to be comfortable with the idea.  But, it’s probably a really good one.  

The suggestion here is that when I have an idea for new products and I really want to move on it rather than putting it in my “ideas for later” book, I bring my helper into the design process from the start and have them do more of the physical labor part of my new design ideas while I keep a close watch and guide their hands, rather than pushing myself to do it all on my own.

DECK USED:  THE LOST FOREST TAROT

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge Prompt
Question: How can I ask for the help I need?

Field Tarot

Reading Summary: Take my head out of my ass and abandon my pride (Six of Wands). Sometimes you just have to do it what needs doing. (The Chariot) Don’t hesitate. Don’t sleep on it. Those things aren’t going to help. (Nine of Swords)

Take Away:  Damnit.  I hate to admit it.  But the truth is that sometimes it really is just pride holding me back.  It’s that assumption that I shouldn’t need help, or forcing myself to say “I can handle it” when I really can’t… or maybe I could, but it would be healthier for me if I didn’t handle it on my own.   At those times, I procrastinate asking for help and it creates a low thread of stress and anxiety in the background that then builds and builds on itself so subtly that I don’t notice until it’s too late.

These cards indicate that the better path is to set my expectations of myself and pride aside and just reach out for help from the start, and I can then circumvent those negative repercussions of not having done so.  They also suggest that in order to motivate myself into reaching out from the beginning, I need to remember just how messy both mentally and emotionally that things can get when I don’t seek out help.

DECK USED:  THE FIELD TAROT

The Good Stuff

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Today’s meditation was just over ten minutes long and focused on spending more time and attention on the people in your life and less time and attention on consumerism.

This is a good reminder.  I think we all get a little caught up now and then in that drive for “more” and “I want”.  Maybe it’s just a part of human nature.  Today’s meditation was a reminder that there is so much more to life than that, but it takes a choice to focus on those people that enrich our lives and truly appreciate their presence to find the true joy of their presence there.

Nine of Cups - Efflorescent Tarot (Color Edition)Today’s draw is the Nine of Cups, which is a representation of satiation in the area of one’s emotions and relationships.

I think this card goes really well with the message that was presented in today’s guided meditation, to be honest.   It’s important to know when you have enough.  Being someone with an addictive personality, I can attest first hand that sometimes?  That line is a difficult one to identify, let alone toe.

To balance out those traits, it’s important to appreciate what you have before you already.   Family, friends, and loved ones are an important part of life, and shouldn’t be forgotten or swept under the rug.   I see each of the cups in the imagery of the Nine of Cups in today’s draw as a cup that is filled.  Filled because it represents a person that has enriched and enhanced the life of the person appreciating them.

DECK USED: THE EFFLORESCENT TAROT (COLOR EDITION)

#TarotForGrowthJanuary Challenge Prompt
Question: How can I face that truth this year? (Build off yesterday’s read.)

Spirit of the Flowers Tarot

Reading Summary: Spend more time getting in touch with my needs and the needs of those around me (Empress) so that I have a better chance of having more “your cup is half full” experiences (Nine of Chalices).  If I don’t want to be held back by my own ignorance of the issues (Eight of Swords), I need to try approaching them from a more optimistic perspective (The Sun).

Take Away:  This is… not the answer I was expecting, to be honest.  But it’s right on the mark.  Part of the reason I set aside issues I don’t want to deal with is because I see them in a pessimistic light.  This causes a systemic lack of enthusiasm to deal with them as a whole.  The cards indicate if I approach from a place of nurturing optimism, I will have better success in the future at avoiding the problems that arise when I choose to ignore those issues instead of deal with them.

DECK USED:  SPIRIT OF THE FLOWERS TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsJan2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: What luck is coming your way, and how can you foster it into fruition?

Tarot Cats

Reading Summary: Someone’s deception is going to play to my advantage (Seven of Swords). I just need to sit back and wait and stay detached (Four of Cups), and make good choices when some difficult options are eventually presented to me (Two of Swords).

Take Away:  This is interesting in having followed the Tarot for Growth reading above.  But, it deals with a specific situation that is coming, not an overall change (or lack of change, as the case may be in this instance) in how I do things.  I’ll need to remember this advice when the moment of betrayal comes so that I remember to sit back and wait rather than acting rashly in the moment.

DECK USED:  TAROT CATS

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge Prompt
Question: How can I find positive mentors?

Ethereal Visions Tarot

Reading Summary: Over the next year (Wheel of Fortune), if I want to seek out a positive mentor I will need to listen closely to my intuition (High Priestess) and keep myself open to the possibility of new emotional bonds (Page of Cups) and new ways of doing things (Page of Pentacles).

Take Away:  The cards just called me out on being a stick in the mud. Laughing. I am often very rigid in how much I am willing to put myself out there, and although I’m often open to learning new things, my guardedness can be a hindrance to that. If I decide over the next year that I want a mentor, I will need to ease up on that guarded restraint and let people in.

DECK USED:  ETHEREAL VISIONS TAROT

Double, Double Toil and Trouble

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Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and was a guided meditation that focused on how it’s okay to be kind to yourself about missing meditation practice now and then… and how it is important to not look at your meditation practice as some kind of chore or task.

When it is looked at as a chore or task, then it becomes something you “have” to do, and something you can then more easily resent or get burned out on.  If we instead seek to see meditation as a moment of kindness to ourselves and a “break” from the world at large, then meditation becomes a reprieve and a retreat… something that we feel eager to experience each day.

I needed this advice, and I like the idea of looking at my meditation practice as a retreat and a reprieve from the everyday.

Efflorescent Tarot (Color Edition)Today’s draw is a double without a jumper, which means that both cards jumped out of the deck together as one.  The cards in today’s draw are the Nine of Swords and the Three of Swords.   Both of these cards themes deal with agonizing over different aspects, and it is that theme that I feel is the message in today’s draw.

The appearance of these cards in today’s draw is a message about being too much in my head and allowing that to take over.  The whole water issue in my building has really got me stressed out and I’m trying to stay calm about it, but especially after the collapse yesterday and the kid getting caught under the debris…. I’m just not dealing well.

Hell, I dreamed about her dying last night and me pulling her dead body out of the debris instead of a live and bawling little girl, traumatized and with broken arm, but otherwise okay.

I’m so lucky that the water didn’t really spread that far into my unit, just a bit in the kitchen, but it seems that the worry over what’s going on next door is really getting to me and I need to relax and let it go.  Everyone is okay… and it’s going to be okay.

DECK USED: THE EFFLORESCENT TAROT (COLOR EDITION)

#TarotForGrowthJanuary Challenge Prompt
Question: How can I manage or release those expectations and leave room for growth?

Fey TarotReading Summary:  Connect with and rely on others (Two of Cups) rather than trying to “fight this battle alone” (Seven of Wands).

Take Away:  The expectation from yesterday is that working with that new depth of emotion discovered last fall should be easy for me.  It’s not an expectation of the work, but rather an expectation of myself that I should be capable enough to deal with it without issue or problem.   It’s unrealistic, and I know that.

The cards in this read indicate that in order to release those expectations and leave room for growth, I need to accept it is not something I’m going to be able to do on my own, and I need not just be willing to ask for help… but actually do the asking instead of pushing myself to say “I’ve got this” and trying to struggle through it alone.

DECK USED:  FEY TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsJan2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: Do Spread #4

Golden Art Nouveau Tarot

Reading Summary:  OOPS CRAP… I did Spread #5  So I will interpret this one for today, and then do Spread #4 next week in place of the one I’m doing today.

Card 1 – Too much focus on my business and the focus upon my goals concerning stability and financial independence.

Card 2 – I need to take more time in meditation and personal reflection, so that I can connect deeper and move beyond surface and/or superficial focal points. The tarot has more to offer me than it can provide when limited to those topics.

Card 3 – I try to hard to empower my client during their reading, and that can sometimes cause the message to become diluted and thus do the opposite of what was intended.

Take Away:   When reading for myself… look deeper. Use my meditation as a tool to find those deeper threads and follow them into deeper waters of my life and psyche.  The cards are essentially saying that I’ve fallen into a bit of a rut.

When reading for others, remember that sometimes the message being conveyed needs to be blunt and/or sharp in order to really drill down into the mind of the client.  Sometimes providing explanation does not assist in empowerment, but is a detriment to it.

DECK USED:  GOLDEN ART NOUVEAU TAROT

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge Prompt
Question: What do I need for a successful year?

Lighteater's Tarot

Reading Summary: Impassioned focus upon my goals (Princess of Staves) will overcome adversity (Five of Swords) and allow me to find a more stable center for pursuit of my ambitions (King of Staves), even in times of struggle (Five of Coins).

Take Away:  The things that I want to accomplish this year are going to require going through a good deal of strife and struggle along the way.  In order to succeed and move through these issues, I need to hold tight to my exploratory spark in relation to my passions and work at keeping that spark not just lit and alive, but also stable and controlled.

DECK USED:  LIGHTEATER’S TAROT

Steady As You Go

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Today’s meditation was ten minutes long and again was incorporated into my yoga practice.  I know that I don’t get as much out of it when I do it this way, but sometimes it’s just easier, and better than not doing it at all. It’s a good compromise for those days when I probably would have otherwise skipped the meditation practice all together, or tried to put it in at the end of the day, where I get far less from it than doing it with my yoga.

King of Swords - Efflorescent Tarot (Color Edition)Today’s draw is the King of Swords, which is a representation of a projective alpha energy, personality or person in the area of thoughts, logic, intellect, and communication.  This often presents itself as dominance and authority with a side of mental clarity and strong intellectual power.

The King of Swords appearance in today’s draw is a reminder that even with the sense of chaos that new emotions and a new depth of emotions brings with it, I am still capable of being level and grounded in my thinking.  It is a reminder to not allow the emotions to run away with my brain, because I need a balanced center to help me work with and learn from those emotions rather than just experience them without benefit and growth.

DECK USED: THE EFFLORESCENT TAROT (COLOR EDITION)

#TarotForGrowthJanuary Challenge Prompt
Question: How should I approach failures and roadblocks in pursuit of my goals?

Jeremy Miranda Oracle Cards

Reading Summary:  These cards are about security (First Card) and comfort (Second card), and remembering to keep an undercurrent of warmth (Fourth Card) in the face of jagged cold (Third Card).

Take Away:  Road blocks and failures always feel cold to me.  The cards here are a reminder that when you come up against these obstacles in pursuit of my goals, I need to remember to stay grounded, and take comfort in the familiar.   Don’t allow myself to fall into a mindset of degradation against myself, as is so often my first response when things feel like they are falling apart.

DECK USED:  JEREMY MIRANDA ORACLE CARDS

#DiscordTarotholicsJan2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: What is a negative thing in your life that you don’t need to stress over?

Vindur Tarot

Reading Summary:  I worry about delving headlong (Knight of Wands) into the new emotions and depths of them I’ve been discovering since last august (The Fool atop the Six of Cups) and how this may change my values in the long run (Ten of Swords atop Judgement).

Take Away:  To be fair, this is more of an intuitive hit off the cards than at all associated with traditional meaning.  It has to do with that depth of emotions that I discovered in the fall, and a worry that in exploring them it might change my values into something more difficult to discern or follow.   Emotions are tricky and unstable things and I don’t particularly want them to have an influence on my moral compass and values.  Considering the question for this reading, the cards are saying that that isn’t something I need to worry about.

DECK USED:  VINDUR TAROT

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge Prompt
Question: What do I need to know to make a change for the better today?

Circle - Inner Animal Tarot

Reading Summary: I am stronger than I think (Strength).  I just need to remember to stay grounded within my pursuits (Knight of Pentacles) and “count my blessings” (Ten of Cups).

Take Away: Even as I push myself to always do better and better, I underestimate myself all the time.  It’s a contradiction instilled within me by my parents.  Perfection is not good enough… you have to do even better.  This read is a reminder that perfection lives within imperfection, not despite of it.  I am strong and capable, I just need to remember not to let things get out of hand when I’m pursuing my goals and to practice gratitude and appreciation for all that I currently have.

DECK USED:  CIRCLE – INNER ANIMAL TAROT