flora healing cards

Taking Stock of Personal Boundaries

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation was ten minutes long and was a guided meditation from the Calm app. I did not include my piriformis stretching because the meditation was done at my aunt’s house. (I also had a nap after.)

The focus of today’s meditation was about criticism and how to better deal with it when it’s offered.  Some people are assholes, and others just don’t know how to deliver criticism in a constructive way. Neither of these mean you have to take criticism personally when it’s directed your way.  Just listen and hear what they have to say, and if there’s a seed of something useful in there, use it and let the rest just fall away.  The insult, whether intended or not? Isn’t worth worrying over, only the info and lesson are worth consideration.

TV Series Tarot and Less Anxiety Affirmation CardsToday’s draw is the Knight of Pentacles, which is traditionally a representation of an active beta energy, personality, or person in the area of ones resources, finances, home, health, work, or manifestations. It is about actively pursuing ones basic needs and work related endeavors.

The imagery in this card, with the close inspection of the coin the man holds, speaks to me of examining ones foundations and values.

This process is especially important when one is dealing with their own personal boundaries that are mentioned in the affirmation card for today. Personal boundaries are not about restricting you, instead they’re about ensuring others respect your space and energy.

I am often quite rigid in my boundaries as a good majority of them are set by my moral compass … but not all. The message within these two cards combined is that it’s important to look at your boundaries and make sure that they have value and are working for you.

It doesn’t matter if they are working for other people, but rather if they hold value for you and why. Looking at your boundaries in this way helps reinforce them, and also helps in sorting out the ones that you’ve grown beyond or are no longer working for you.

DECK USED:  TV SERIES TAROT AND LESS ANXIETY AFFIRMATION CARDS

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question: What takes me out of my comfort zone?

Fantastic Being CardsThe Stars (Aspirations) – Stepping away from what’s comfortable and familiar to try something new and different. Letting go of things that aren’t working so that these new and different things can flourish and fill in the gaps.

Sphinx (Awe & Wonder) – When I need to self-appreciate it creates a sense of discomfort for me. I’ve slowly learned to take compliments and even appreciate them, but directing such sentiments toward myself is much more difficult and… awkward.

Axolotl (Regeneration) – Loss.  I can deal with a myriad of different painful experiences, but loss is not one of those that I handle all that well. The feeling of powerlessness makes picking up the pieces after loss and finding a way to reform and move forward feel a bit like fumbling around in the dark.

DECK USED:  FANTASTIC BEING MANIFESTATION CARDS

#DiscordTarotolicsJun2021 Challenge Prompt
Topic: Draw or write something free form inspired by the card(s).

TV Series Tarot(Knight of Cups) Alfred is a brave turtle owned by Miss Maggie Penelope Tweedman. He lives in a spacious glass house where he watches over her while she sleeps at night, and each morning he comes out of his little log shelter to greet her good morning and have his bath in the bathroom sink, where she scrubs his shell til it gleams.

(Queen of Cups) She changes his water in the pond beside his shelter before she leaves each day, and before he’s left alone, she gives him lush, yummy leaves to munch on all day.

Each day it is peacefully quiet other than the ticking that is a part of every hour of every day. Each day  is the same, and he goes about his life well cared for by Miss Maggie, who comes home in the evenings every day with a cricket treat for him to eat and play time outside his home where he’s taken on great adventures to other realms.

(The Tower) Then one day, Miss Maggie did not come home at the end of the day.  The light sky became dark and he was left alone for much longer than usual.  His glass home sat in the dark with no lamp to shine light upon him and no cricket treats to eat.  Surely the world is coming to an end!  Surely someone has forgotten about him, and Miss Maggie is gone, and his old soul wept at the sudden change of events.

For two days no one came and his water became dirty.  He was so hungry, and so alone.  He emerged from his shelter each morning seeking his lovely Maggie to come care for him, but she didn’t come. Nor did she come in the evenings any longer to bring him treats.  And then someone that was not Miss Maggie showed up and peered into his home. He was lifted out, poked and prodded.  Examined. And he knew this to be the end.  Of course, Alfred could not read.  For the uniformed human with the yellow emblem on his shirt that slipped him into a dark safe place that Alfred thought for sure was the end of his time, was actually simply packing him up to take them to Miss Maggie’s new home.

DECK USED:  TV SERIES TAROT

CoffeexTarot’s Self Love For The Summer Prompt
Question for June 15th & 16th

Flora Healing CardsWhat does self-love mean to me?
Foxglove (Convincing), Aloe (Restore), Delphinium (Amend)

Self-love means to me that there are things I can do for myself to help me recover from working too hard, and adjust  how I do things so that I don’t have to work quite so hard going forward.  It is also a topic that requires a bit of nudging and pushing for me to participate in and keep up on. I do not always feel that I deserve these kindnesses and gentle but restorative acts.  Sometimes I don’t feel that I have enough -time- for them, which means fitting them in and getting them done can often require a bit of coaxing and a lot of nudging.

A self-love message for my future self.
Lily (Whorl) and Hyacinth (Waves)

Be less rigid and lean into those skills, abilities, and tools in your arsenal to take you forward when things feel hopeless or out of control.  Everything in life is an ebb and flow, and nothing is ever truly still.  Do you want to ride out the shifts of life’s currents? Or stay still and sink?

DECK USED:  FLORA HEALING RESTORATIVE CARDS
Daily Self Kindness

I took along not just my sister, but also both Z and J with me when I went to my aunt’s house today.  The two extra guests to feed and entertain kept her so distracted that she didn’t have an opportunity to be rude or snide.

Self Care Saturday (on Sunday)

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

SCS627

So, I’m thinking maybe I need a little bit of accountability on my Self Care Saturday spread.  For the next month, I’m going to try adding it here, as although I’m doing the spread and reading it in the moment, I find that my motivation to write it down seems to be a bit lacking.   I’m hoping that by adding it here that possibly I will be able to get myself motivated into writing it down rather than just reading the spread in the moment and moving on.

These readings are (not usually) bearing down onto any one thing or event in my life, as the question used is asking for a more general outlook.  This is a self care exercise, and not meant as a predictive reading.

The question is… What do I need to focus on in the week ahead?  (Boring, I know, but helpful in pointing out where I might not realize I am neglecting or not realizing needs my attention.)

Body – Page of Wands – Be sure to approach caring for your body’s needs this week with a spirited and youthful mindset that is open to learning new methods and taking in new ideas.

Mind – Knight of Swords & The Death Card – Being aggressive in one’s thoughts and their expression will lead to endings and change that has perhaps been building for some time.

Emotions – Seven of Wands – Be willing to take some risks with your feelings and emotions.  Just be sure (and careful) of what comes out of your mouth and take the repercussions of speaking your mind into account first (see Mind).

Inner Spark – Two of Cups – One on one collaborations will feed the soul this week and keep the inner spark kindled and burning bright.

Moving Away From – Sedum / Discomfort – Testing limits and learning tolerance.  Last week I had a bit of an issue with tolerance where the helper was concerned.  Working through that may show to have created lasting change in how I see things and set in place good (new) methods to use again in the future.

Heading Towards – Cardinal / Authenticity & Aloe / Restore – By embracing my unique qualities and characteristics, I will be able to both foster my own store of energies, be refreshed from within, as well as better seated within my own skin.

Decks Used: Luminous Void Tarot, Flora Healing Cards

 

#MyTop5Faves a (non) VR to The Hermit’s Cave

/ Twist the Leaf / 2 Comments

This is a reply to Simon’s newest hashtag over at The Hermit’s Cave on YouTube.   His question was what are your ultimate favorite Tarot, Oracle, Lenormand, and Playing Card decks… plus a wild card number five.   For his wild card, Simon introduced his favorite crystal, and I will be using that as my wild card as well.

Please keep in mind that some of these will change over time.  Others have been the same answer for years and years.

So, here we go….

Tarot of the Hidden Realm Favorite Tarot Deck — The Tarot of the Hidden Realm by Julia Jeffrey and Barbara Moore. This became my favorite from the moment it came out of the box.  It was much different than any tarot I’d owned to date, and when I ordered it, I wasn’t entirely sure how I would click with it.   As soon as the deck arrived and I opened the box and got the cards in my hands, though, all those worries disappeared.

I connect in a deep and profound way with the artwork in these cards.  The deck feels perfect, from the way they shuffle and fit in my hands to the artwork on the cards, and even the accompanying guidebook, which I see as more of a book of short stories than a guidebook.  I just love them.  In fact, I just recently bought a back-up set in case anything ever accidentally happens to the set I currently use.

Favorite Oracle Deck — For oracle decks, I’ve really found that it changes regularly. I have a “primary deck” for both tarot and oracle that I change out each month.   I might use others during the month as well, but these decks are my “deep dive” type of decks where I spend the majority of my time with them specifically.   I’ve found that whatever oracle deck I’m using during this time?   That ends up my favorite… at least until the next month comes along.

Flora Healing CardsCurrently, I’m combining the Flora Healing Cards and the Fauna Inspiration Cards (both by Phoebe Hunt and Rebecca Lefebvre) into one deck and using that as my oracle for the month of July.  These are beautiful cards filled with flora and fauna in watercolor imagery and include the elemental affinities on the top of each card as well.  On the back of the cards is a paragraph that explains the significance and guidance for the fauna or flora represented on the front.   I really like these.   They are not the normal gloss card stock, but something softer, which means you have to be a bit more careful with them than most decks, but surprisingly I don’t mind it with these decks, in fact…. it sort of “fits” really well.

1889 LenormandFavorite Lenormand Deck — This was difficult, but I think my favorite of all time is the 1889 Lenormand by Jennifer Sager.   I like the earthy colors and the artwork that is both soft and yet very clear at the same time.  It has that “old time” feel of the Lenormand decks I grew up with, but with a hint of modern style.

I have a feeling this will change if I can ever get my hands on a copy of Kelly Fitzgerald’s Story in Color Lenormand.  I’ve yet to get this deck into my collection, and it is not traditional imagery for the Lenormand by any means, but there is something about the images that I’ve seen that makes me think it will end up being a favorite for me.

Favorite Playing Card Deck — The Daydreams expansion pack of the Dixit Cards. They are not a regular playing card decks, but they are game card decks, which I personally use as intuitive oracle decks.  So maybe these should have gone up in the Oracle section?

Faunae Playing Cards Playing cards as in poker decks?  This one is slated to change very, very soon… but at the moment it is the Aqua and Creme playing cards put out by Bicycle (and are notoriously difficult to photograph), which I think might be out of print now, but can still be found on eBay from time to time.  I like them because I find the colors (as well as the distressed look of them) very soothing.   I say that they are is slated to change very soon, though, because I have backed a Kickstarter deck called the Faunae Playing Cards, and I have a feeling once I have them in my hands I am going to be enamored.

Labradorite Palm Stone The Wild Card — Favorite Crystal — Labradorite has been my favorite crystal for as long as I can remember.   I connect really well with the energy of this stone (at least, as long as I avoid putting it on my forehead during meditation).  I find labradorite to be very soothing for me, and often meditate with a piece resting at my solar plexus, which can ease anxiety when I’m having issues in that department.  I’m a big fan of the large palm stones in particular, as I like that sense of “weight” with this stone, more so than any other.