Lonely Ice Tarot

Survival Tactics

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation was just over twelve minutes long and was (for once) not a guided meditation.  Instead I meditated to some new music that I came across (or, well, new to me anyway), with the interval timer added in for my piriformis stretching. The meditation was relaxing and the music felt like it went through a seasonal shift that was really nice, flowing from spring to summer to autumn throughout the length of the track.

Lonely Ice Tarot and Thera-Pets Emotional Support Animal CardsToday’s draw is the Seven of Swords, which is traditionally a representation of taking off with that which is not yours, leaving behind that which you cannot carry, strategy and cunning, betrayal, and other themes to do with deception or subterfuge.

There isn’t really a lot to go off of in this card and yet what’s depicted here looks a whole lot like seagulls, which I feel is the perfect bird for this card because they are absolutely sneaky as fuck.  Ride enough Washington ferries and you learn not to take your food outside.  Any type of food. Or anything shiny, for that matter, either.

They will steal from you at the first opportunity and they are as slick as snot about it too.  They can hover silently in the air just out of sight behind you then dip in and swipe what they want without a sound. Over a lifetime of riding the ferries, I have watched them steal french fries, hamburgers, sandwiches, cookies, ice cream (that one was interesting), hair clips, key fobs, and more.  Although this makes them thieves, this also makes them very cunning and great survivalists.

And that carries us over to what is said on the Thera-Pets card today, which is that above all else? Survival will happen.  When we fall, we rise.  We don’t stay on the ground forever, melt into the pavement and rot away right there on the ground.  We get up.  We move on.  The scrapes on our knees heal up and we learn from the experience and move on.

Tripping and falling on pavement is not the only way in which we fall… in which I fall.   Depression. Pain. Dropping a knife to run clean through my foot.  All of these things make me feel fractured sometimes.  But as fractured as I might become…. I will rise and I will heal.  I will survive and find a way forward… because I’m a survivor and it’s what I do.   We are all survivors… and we do what we need to do to survive, to learn, and to grow from each bump, scrape, and fall that we experience along life’s path.

DECK USED:  LONELY ICE TAROT AND THERA-PETS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL CARDS

LionHart’s Mercury Retrograde Tarot Challenge Prompt
Question:  What have I learned or has come to my attention during this Rx?

Cosmic Slumber Tarot

Reading Summary:  Everything (The Universe) doesn’t have to be perfect (Ten of Pentacles Rx atop Ace of Torches) in order to make time for self care (Queen of Pentacles).

Take Away:  I have a habit of putting off self-care until I ‘feel like it’ or until it feels like there’s time for it. I will go from project to project, from task to task, saying “I’ll do this self care thing next… just after this is done” and prioritize my responsibilities and drive above the nurturing of my self over and again.   Over the course of this Mercury Rx I have been stuck within the depression, and through my experience with my depression this time around, I’ve caught myself in this habit again and again… and come to realize that putting it off isn’t doing me any good.  Instead?  It’s just making it impossible to include my self-care into my day at all.

DECK USED:  COSMIC SLUMBER TAROT

#DiscordTarotolicsFeb2021 Challenge Prompt
Question:  Who in my life needs extra attention at this time?

Lonely Ice TarotThis is me.  The Queen of Swords is the “mother’s son” that I am… and the King of Swords is the “better” I want to be.  It is about taking what I have been given and becoming more.  About not being my mother, but my own man and using those shared skills in better and safer ways.   The Knight of Coins is my desire to continue my growth forward, and determination take my own path based on what is right for me rather than the one others might try to lay out for me.

The person in my life that needs extra attention at this time is me.  It’s in the cards, but even more specifically, it was in my gut the moment I saw these faces, and the eyes that stared out from them in the Queen and the Knight as if piercing the soul.

DECK USED:  LONELY ICE TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

I’m staying up late to get some Gideon time, because today sucked and I wasn’t able to spend time with him earlier in the day.

Rest Is Allowed

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

IMG_9226Today’s meditation was just over eleven minutes long and was a guided meditation from the Calm app with added interval timer for my piriformis stretches.

The focus of today’s meditation was about Shamatha, which is a form of Buddhist meditation where you focus your mind upon a single point and use that focus to clear and calm one’s conscious thoughts.

This is the sort of meditation that I am most familiar with and the talk concerning it’s practice and benefits really didn’t say anything new or anything I wasn’t already aware of.  I found myself instead tuning out the woman’s voice and listening, instead, to the water drop like background music as I often do.

Cosmic Slumber Tarot - Four of CupsToday’s draw is the Four of Cups, which is traditionally a representation of creating distance due to apathy or disinterest, meditation, or taking time to reevaluate one’s situation or emotions.

The thing is?  This card was far more literal in its imagery than normal today.  I very much just napped my day away, just like the person lying on the beach, toes tickled by waves as they doze in the sand.  So too did I sleep… and sleep… and sleep.

It’s not surprising, since I pulled an all-nighter last night and didn’t get to bed until 5:30 in the morning. The message here, though, has to do with allowing yourself that rest more than the rest itself.  Everyone needs a break now and then.  Today’s card points out that my sleeping all day had far less to do with hiding from my depression and retreating from the world… and everything to do with the need for some sleep.

Therefore, the message in today’s card is about sometimes rest being about self care, and not retreat at all.  And that’s not something to feel guilty about, but a natural biological need.

DECK USED:  COSMIC SLUMBER TAROT

LionHart’s Mercury Retrograde Tarot Challenge Prompt
Topic:  A reminder of why I deserve the good (I want) in my life.

Lonely Ice Tarot

Eight of Coins – You are a good and dedicated worker. Over time you have used your time and focus to hone your skills into an expertise (or three) that can be used to help in ushering in those good things you want out of life like stability and security.

Six of Coins atop The Moon – You reach out to help others through their times of uncertainty, providing an ear or a shoulder for their worries, and help in finding ways to overcome their uncertainty and fear and turn these things around into a direction that is authentic to them and their own path.

Page of Swords – You are always seeking a better way to understand and communicate with others. Better strategies to try to reach your aspirations. This constant openness to learning how to find a better way allows for good things to come to you more easily as you are erecting less hurdles and blocks to get in the way.

DECK USED:  LONELY ICE TAROT

#DiscordTarotolicsFeb2021 Challenge Prompt
Question:  Over what part of my life do I need to release some control?

Cosmic Slumber TarotReading Summary: Responsibilities and strategy toward my aspirations (King of Swords) need to be set aside. You don’t get to control this (Strength Rx). Just let I the crappy shit happen for right now (Ten of Swords).

Take Away: This is called being given a talking to by the cards.  I softened the message above, but it is pretty clear and blunt that at the moment I need to just let myself be in the depression. I have no control here and scrabbling for it isn’t helping anything.  Pretending you are in control is also not helping anything.  

It doesn’t mean wallow, but it does mean letting go and accepting that things will begin to get better at their own pace, not at whatever pace I want them to or try to set for them to move at.

DECK USED:  COSMIC SLUMBER TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

As mentioned in the COTD section of this post, I consciously made the choice to not beat myself up after spending a good deal of my day asleep rather than up and being productive. Normally, regardless of not getting to bed by 5:30am, I would have made myself get up and stay up through the day instead of accepting that I needed the sleep and allowing it to happen guilt-free.