knight of cups

The Pursuit of Happiness

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Today’s meditation was ten minutes long and another fidgety meditation session.  I think that I need another hike to get out some of this pent up energy.  I’ve reorganized my decks and I went through and tucked labels into all of my swaddled decks today as well. And yet, as much as I’m feeling the need to expend energy?  I do not seem at all inclined to spend it on work.  Go figure, right?

Hush Tarot - Knight of CupsToday’s draw is the Knight of Cups, which is traditionally a representation of an active beta energy, personality, or person in the area of one’s emotions, relationships, intuition, and creativity.  This often portrays itself in a theme of going after what brings someone joy or following your imagination and creativity into new adventures.

What stands out to me most strongly in the imagery of this card today is the guy down at the lower left corner holding the spear.  How funny is it that there’s so much going on in this image, so much to draw the eye, and yet it’s that little head and shoulders and the spear that draws my gaze.

I think sometimes we all need a little prodding to get going on doing the things that are good for us, and going after your joy is definitely good as long as you aren’t… you know… going after heroin or something.  In general, happiness is important to our well being, and yet sometimes we hold back without any real reason behind why.  That spear looks like a really good prod to get things going, don’t you think?

The message in this card is to stop hesitating and just do the stuff that’ll make you happy instead of thinking about it and putting it off.   You’ll feel better and be much happier if you just do it already.

DECK USED:  HUSH TAROT

#Zentember #LovelyHealing Challenge Prompt
Question: What’s my essence?

Tarot by Alexander Daniloff 2012 IV edition

Reading Summary: Someone that teaches others (Il Papa) how to find their direction (Three of Wands) during their darkest hours (Ten of Swords).

Take Away:  This somehow makes sense to me in… okay so I relate to this because of something that Gideon said to me… has said to me.  Or maybe he was saying it to someone else and I just overheard it?   Anyway, he said that I have this tendency to tell people exactly what they need to hear, just exactly when they need it most.  Like when I told him guilt makes for a crappy relationship (can’t remember the exact words) and it was in that moment he needed to hear it to realize the truth of his situation with is ex.

I don’t usually realize I’ve done this, and yet I know it happens because Gideon has said he’s seen it happen. Others have said similar as well.   And so I understand and believe… and very much relate to what’s said in these cards.   I love that I have the ability to help people in this way, and I’m okay with not being aware of having done it in most cases. As long as I’m helping others to make their lives better, and thus the world a better place?  I’m good with being oblivious for the most part.

DECK USED:  TAROT BY ALEXANDER DANILOFF 2012 IV EDITION

#DiscordTarotholicsSep2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: What do I need to focus on for self care this full moon?

Dragon Age Inquisition TarotReading Summary: That is one hell of a Three of Staves.  Just sayin’.  This is a newer deck for me and the first time I’ve spent any quality time with it since I received it.  And.. wow on the Three of Staves… just sayin’.

Continue to move forward (Three of Staves), even if it’s done with caution (imagery on the Three of Staves overlapped on the Page of Cups), in the direction of my emotional growth and finding the balance for it in my life (Page of Cups).  Don’t allow my internal anxieties and worries to overshadow this process (Nine of Swords). I’m internally strong enough to keep these things from growing and festering into something that will become a hindrance (The High Priestess).

Take Away:  For self care during this full moon I need to make sure that my anxieties and worries are not standing in the way of getting that emotional growth to a place of pause a safety for the upcoming holiday rush.  This isn’t about backsliding, but it’s about preservation of progress.  Allow my inner strength to shine through and burn off the cloying touch of my anxieties so that I move forward instead of backsliding.

DECK USED:  DRAGON AGE INQUISITION TAROT

Lionharts #AstroTarotChallenge
Question: Generate your birth chart at astro-charts.com and scroll down to houses to learn about your zodiac signs per house.

Houses

Information on the zodiac signs through each house means can be found here.

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question: What helps me stay positive?

Haindl Tarot

Reading Summary:  My “cup overflowing” with the love of others (Three of Cups) that is fostered through clear and strong communication (The Tower and the Queen of Swords).

The imagery here in The Tower of this deck is about enlightenment destroying the Tower of Babble.  This creates a dynamic in this specific card in this specific deck where the card has the ability to represent the salvation of good communication. 

In this way, communication doesn’t just bracket the Three of Cups in this reading, but are representative of pillars of strength standing strong on either side of the card of connection and emotion.

Take Away: Communication with those I love and trust helps me to stay positive.  It is the cornerstone of any good relationship, and being open and honest with these people fosters the bonds I have built with them.  I am, in fact, unable to always bring about my own positivity and optimism. I need their help to do this sometimes, and it is with their help and love surrounding me, as well as their wise council, that I’m able to take their support and advice without fear of betrayal.  This allows my trust to flourish so that I am able to share the  deepest and darkest parts of myself.  They are my shaft of light shining into the darkness.

DECK USED:  HAINDL TAROT

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Knights

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Pull the Knights from a deck of your choice. Do you have someone in your life that fits with one of these cards? Do you have people in your life that would fit with each of them? Tell us about the connection you see between each Knight card and the person in your life it represents.

Numinous Tarot

Knight of Wands (Explorer of Candles) – Idealistic and demanding, she visits the protests each night after work. With a mask over her face she holds her sign high, she shouts her passions loud and strong as she joins the mass in the streets again and again. She stands up for her beliefs and for what’s right.  She stands up for what she feels is important, protesting and demanding change as she helps the protestors to drive home what is important and what needs done.

Knight of Swords (Explorer of Bells) – What had once been a spark of an idea has become a burning need to succeed.  She built this business from the ground up and now constantly pushes forward, ever onward, to guide the business towards growth and encourage it to flourish.  Sometimes she takes risks that seem reckless in this need to advance her cause.

Knight of Cups (Explorer of Vials) – Such a charmer, he hits the bars each night with his frat brothers and always comes home with a giggling and happy girl.  He leaves them as happy as he finds them, if not happier, but he does this naturally in pursuit of his own fulfillment.  After all?  How can he wrangle the very best experience out of them without giving them the very best in turn?  Sometimes this means they fall for him, but he’s the love’em and leave’em type.  He does his best to let them down easy, because there’s new depths to explore around the corner with another in the wings.

Knight of Pentacles (Explorer of Tomes) – Five days a week he sits at a desk in a pleated suit and tie.  He meets with clients and guides them forward, showing them how to invest, and what to invest in, sharing strategies for paying off their debts, for financing their mortgage, for creating a fund for their retirement.  His passion in this work, in helping others find their own stability, brings him to work each day and he takes his own advice to build his own future as well.

DECK USED:  THE NUMINOUS TAROT

Weekly Creativity Prompt – The Playlist

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This is a repeat exercise from back in March!

Have you ever listened to a song and suddenly realized “This song is such a Tower song!”? This week’s activity is based off the love of music and how we associate music with the world around us.

Activity: Randomly draw five cards from your deck. For each card pick (or find) a song that you feel fits that card perfectly.

Bianco Nero Tarot

Nine of Swords – X Amount of Words by Blue October
https://youtu.be/X_jY7wILH-E

Four of Cups – Only Happy When It Rains by Garbage
https://youtu.be/GpBFOJ3R0M4

Two of Cups Rx – We Don’t Talk Together by Heize
https://youtu.be/ByHNlfmmT-w

Wheel of Fortune – Everything Falls Apart by Dog’s Eye View
https://youtu.be/Maz6jFdvn2Q

Knight of Cups Rx – That XX by G Dragon
https://youtu.be/j57IzkTFnT8

Not Later… Now

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Today’s meditation was just over ten minutes long, and was the next installment of the “how to” series I’ve been listening to.  The topic of today’s guided meditation was about the phrase “you are what you repeatedly do” and how that relates to meditation.

It went into the importance of filling your life with the habits, thoughts, and feelings that you want to perpetuate in your life, including making meditation a habit in order to bring the positive qualities into your life and incorporate them into a part of who you are.

Slow TarotToday’s draw is the Seven of Wands with the Knight of Swords as a jumper.  This is all about motivation and drive and being proactive about my goals.

This week my orders doubled, which is the beginning of the rush to come.  The Seven of Wands on its own is an indication of encouragement that now’s the time to amp myself up, get my ducks in a row, and start moving.   The fact that the Knight of Swords jumped out is a reinforcement not just of these things I need to do, but of the immediacy of it all.

This is not a “get ready” message.  It is a “get your ass moving” message.

Deck Used:  Slow Tarot

Bonus Reading – #TarotForGrowthNovember

Question: What can I do to better deal with emotional pain?

Sasuraibito TarotReading Summary: (There’s that Knight of Cups again.)  In the throes of emotional pain, I need to think first of grounding (The Empress), then seek a new more positive perspective of the situation (Ace of Swords).  Use my need to feel emotionally connected with those I love (Knight of Cups) as motivation to keep myself from closing off and building up my inner walls (Nine of Wands).

Side note on the above cards… just adding in: I like how the Knight and the Empress look IN on the two center cards. It feels…. good to me. Supportive. And I like the Nine of Wands in this deck in this instance, as I feel that the imagery fits well with what it represents in this reading, because to me it looks like ribs and a spine.

Take Away:  When I am hurt emotionally, my initial defense mechanism is to close myself off and bring up the walls that I learned to build so well during my childhood.  This doesn’t serve to heal anything, or help me in any way other than to make me “feel” a bit safe.  The pain is still there, and the wounds fester behind those walls instead of healing.   The cards are indicating that that discarding this pattern to seek out the comfort that my loved ones can provide while I ground myself and look for the silver lining is a far healthier way to deal with emotional pain.

Deck Used:  The Sasuraibito Tarot

 

Casanova… or “What the Heart Wants”?

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Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and the second installment of the “how to meditate” series that I’m currently listening to.   The topic of today’s guided meditation had to do with finding your focus.   As in, the thing that you bring your straying mind back to again and again when it starts to wander.

This, for me, is often the breath.  Although I have found more recently that I get even better results if I focus, instead, on the solar plexus and that sensation of “soul” that resides within there.

Knight of Cups - Slow TarotToday’s draw is the Knight of Cups, which feels like I seem to be seeing a lot of lately. Maybe it is because I don’t have the highest opinion of the Knight of Cups, and he’s trying to change my mind.

As I’ve mentioned before, when I see the Knight of Cups, I often see a manipulator.  Not in a bad way necessarily, but one of those guys that tells you what you want to hear because it makes you feel good and, in turn, that makes him feel good.   It’s all in the motivation behind the act, and this motivation isn’t really about you at all.  It’s about them.   I am aware that this is not a traditional read on this card, but that is what this card so often speaks to me.

What the Knight of Cups can also represent is a person, personality, or energy with a go-get’em attitude about romance and relationships. There is romance, creativity, and charm.  That active beta energy of the knights means that they’re going after what tugs at their heartstrings rather than standing back to let it come to them or walk away.

Everyone needs a bit of that energy sometimes, and maybe that’s the positive for today.  Get in touch with what makes your heart sing and be proactive about fostering the presence in your life of those things and people.

Deck Used: Slow Tarot

Bonus Reading

I’ve decided that for the time being I’m going to continue with the Tarot for Growth prompts, so with the new month comes a new list of prompts for what is now #TarotForGrowthNovember.

Question: How can I increase my mental clarity?

Delos TarotReading Summary:  A lack of connection (Six of Swords) between my deep seated ambitions (King of Wands) and my emotional well being (King of Cups). For clarity focus on others instead of myself (Six of Pentacles) and foster what is important to me in that area (Queen of Pentacles).

Take Away: I’m being reminded again that there are good and bad that come with the marriage of one’s passions with one’s emotions. Creatively speaking, this is great, but it can also mean that it might be hard to get inspired if I’m too connected to my emotions.   A better path for clarity is to focus my energy outward toward others and on nurturing my day-to-day rather than digging into the murkiness that emotions, and especially emotional upheaval, can bring.

In other words?  Stop being so self centered.  It’s time to pull myself out of the self-reflective inner-focused mire that the new depth of emotions I’ve been experiencing lately swamped me with, and if I want to do that I need turn my focus to those around me rather than upon myself.

Deck Used: Delos Tarot 2nd Ed

Perfectionism

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Today’s meditation was just over twelve minutes long and the last installment of the Managing Stress series.  The focus on today’s guided meditation was about taking a step back and approaching distressing emotions and thoughts as an observer rather than as a participant.

This distancing is something I’m very familiar with and used to work for me quite well.  Over the past few years, though, as you have helped me become more and more in touch with my emotions, I’ve found that I’m not as successful as I used to be at compartmentalizing my emotions and looking at them in a purely objective way.

Sometimes I think that is a bad thing… other times I think it’s a good thing.  Maybe it’s both.

Today’s draw is the King of Ghosts (Cups), which is a representation of a projective alpha energy in the area of emotions, intuition, relationships, and creativity.  This manifests itself in areas of emotional balance and diplomacy, as well as compassion, yet can also portray a depth of inner emotions and come across as moodiness or emotional manipulation.

When  I saw today’s draw this morning, what really stuck out to me was the curl of the king’s arm around the tail of the ghost. Even when the king is looking away in another direction, the ghost is still happy.

The message in today’s card is that sometimes you have to make peace with not having everything perfect.  It’s okay to be happy and celebrate regardless of the fact that perfection is not the result.  Enjoy the imperfections.  Celebrate them.

Deck Used: Halloween Tarot

Bonus Reading

Another #TarotForGrowthOctober prompt.

Question: What is it time to forgive myself for?

Reading Summary:   Passing up potential opportunities (Ace of Pentacles) that could lead somewhere lucrative (King of Pentacles) in pursuit of new ideas and creativity (Ace of Swords and Knight of Cups).

Take Away: Okay so, I have a LOT of ideas… all the time.  As a part of my business I often spread myself too thin because I have so many creative ideas that I want to do and try, and not enough time to do them all.  I then try to do them all, and things get dropped (or delayed) as a result.  I could be focusing more on the business side of things.  On the advertising and drawing in new customers, etc.  Instead my attention is pulled again and again to those new ideas and creative endeavors. 

At times, I am really hard on myself about this, because IF I could just focus on the business side more, then I could probably draw in a good deal more profit. The truth is, though, it would feel more and more like a chore and less and less like a passion… so maybe I shouldn’t be quite so hard on myself about it.

Deck Used: Ghosts & Spirits Tarot