Today’s meditation was skipped.

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

Today’s draw is the Five of Wands, which is traditionally a representation of conflict, tests, trials, and struggle in the area of one’s passions, drive, determination, principles, values, and willpower.

The Five of Wands has then been combined with the Pearly Ammonite card from the Lavish Earth Crystal Affirmation deck, which quotes Anais Nin to say, “ Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

Not all conflict is external. How many times do we misinterpret what we see in our head? Once a week? Once a day? Once an hour or a minute?

In tarot we have a thing called the “stalker card”. This is a card that repeats again and again throughout a person’s personal readings because we are missing the message. The card keeps coming over and over until we find a way to interpret the message that gets across what’s trying to be said. This is because just because you got “a message” doesn’t mean that you have gotten “the message”.

The mind does this too. It will repeat patterns of thought and bring up certain subjects over and over until we find what it is our brains are trying to tell us that we’re missing.

The message in today’s card is a reminder that sometimes those repetitive thoughts continue to play us because we haven’t found the meaning in them yet that’s waiting to be discovered. Don’t shove them away, but pause and listen instead. What is being said (or not said) that you’re missing? What message in a meeting is seeking getting your attention?

DECKS USED:  INTERIM TAROT AND LAVISH EARTH CRYSTAL AFFIRMATION DECK

One Card Tarot Journal Activity by @mariasofia_astro
Chapter 1 | Entry 16 – Self-Care and Personal Development
Affirmation : “I accept with grace that certain events have led to feelings of regret or disappointment.”
Prompt : Think about an event that didn’t turn out the way you wanted or expected. What does the card you draw say about why that event happened, the way it happened, and how you can release any negative associations you have with this outcome?

What feelings came up when I pulled this card?

I’m not sure what the name of this feeling is.

It’s when all eyes are on you and there’s a moment of surprise, and then something similar to shyness. Your head dips and your stomach stinks a little bit as you retreat slightly from all those gazes pointed your way. Trepidation, maybe, with a hint of embarrassment? That’s not quite right, but I don’t have the words for it.

What elements of the card’s meaning resonate with me and this prompt?

The Judgement card is often about our lifelong path, as well as who we are and want to become. It can also, quite literally, be about judgements; our own or that of others.

The meaning of this card begs the question… Through whose eyes are you viewing this event, and through whose judgments are you perceiving it? Are you really disappointed in the outcome? Or is that disappointment because you feel someone else would be disappointed?

What in the artwork spoke to me?

The artwork for me (today, at least) is all about those big black open eyes, inscrutable and all staring out of the card in my direction. The figure on the throne looks out at me, but so does the throng below and around her.

My prompt response and reflections.

A lot of the harsh judgments and disappointments you direct toward yourself are bred through unreasonable expectations of your performance. These unreasonable expectations are not yours, but are usually spurred on by what you learned from others in your past to be “acceptable”.

When thinking of these disappointments and failures, then, it’s important to get in touch with and examine how you truly feel about them, rather than connecting with what you believe you’re supposed to feel about it.

Other elements included in this reading:
Metal and Enamel D20 Die
Banded Agate D6 Die

DECK USED: HOLLOW KNIGHT ESSENCE TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsJan2026 Challenge
Philosophical Prompts for January 21st and 28th

Is it true that pleasure is the root of all true evil?

Mice, Four of Cups, Dog – Good and evil are counterbalances that often lie in subjective perspectives, rather than in grounded definitions.

Evil is its own entity, and although its roots are often fed by pleasure, evil does not originate from pleasure.

Are all emotions irrational?

Bear, Ace of Wands, Moon – Although often arbitrary and capricious, sometimes emotions are a rational response to what is going on around us and what we value.

This means that although our emotions can often be irrational, there are certain situations where they are rational as well.

Other elements included in this reading:
Scotch Pine Cone for Purging Negative Influences
Foraged Parmeliaceae Lichen for a “Breath of Fresh Air”
Bloodstone for Encouraging Fearlessness
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: INTERIM TAROT PETITE LENORMAND DELVINIA

I’m going to bed early tonight instead of fighting to stay awake, in the hopes that I can possibly catch up on a little sleep.