seven of pentacles

Small Steps vs Grand Gestures

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Today’s meditation was… oh hell I dunno.  I’m behind in getting my posts up by a few days and I don’t really remember what the meditation was for the 14th.  I’m pretty sure it was one of the days I skipped it though, as I seem to have skipped an entire four days in a row if my timer app can be believed (which, it can). So… yeah. 

Heaven & Earth Tarot - Seven of PentaclesToday’s draw is the Seven of Pentacles, which is traditionally a representation of delayed gratification, sustainability, and long term progress. Instant gratification this card is not, as all of the themes that this card has to do with involve waiting and the “long game”.

Again, what stands out to me the strongest in this deck is the words at the bottom of the card.   Not that I don’t find the artwork breathtaking, which I do… but the words say “Success Unfulfilled” which… seems a bit negative in connotation when the theme of this card is traditionally more about success being fulfilled over time.

Today’s card is a reminder to me that as I work through the orders that need to be done for shipping out tomorrow, I need to remember that this is the small work that growth is all about.  With every small bit of work, the progress becomes larger… and more.   And over time?  You find yourself at your goals and surpassing them.   But it takes time.   So take a breath and do the small work, and let things build over time.  Not everything has to be a grand gesture or massive action.

DECK USED:  HEAVEN & EARTH TAROT

LionHart’s Elements Tarot Challenge Prompt
Question: How can I best use my creative energy in support of my future self?

Occult TarotReading Summary: Lean your creative energy into your work (The Magician), and don’t allow yourself to be distracted by whims (Page of Cups Rx).

Take Away: When I’m not feeling particularly grounded, it’s really easy for me to end up distracted. Ideas and little side projects that catch my eye draw me away from my work, and then I struggle to get caught up with my work, etc.  It happens all the time.

The cards here indicate that if I want to use my creative energy in support of my future self, I need to make sure that I turn that creative energy back to my work again and again, taking the skills that I learn from those distractions and reinvesting them into my work.

DECK USED:  OCCULT TAROT

#DiscordTarotolicJan2021 Challenge Prompt
Question: What is a really great idea you had but then forgot about?

Garnet Witch's TarotReading Summary: Shifting how I balance my responsibilities (Two of Pentacles) so that I can let some of the weight and responsibility (Magician) die out (Death), and make way for more emotional exploration (Ace of Cups).

Take Away: I wouldn’t say that I forgot about it.  Just… that it got put on the back burner while I was plowing my way through the holiday rush.

The weird thing (and current struggle where this is concerned) is that now that I’m on the other side of the holiday rush, I can’t remember what I was doing that made it feel like I was getting somewhere on this idea prior to the rush’s arrival.

DECK USED:  GARNET WITCH’S TAROT

Conservation Through Moderation

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Today’s meditation was just over ten minutes long and ended in a short nap, as many of my meditations seem to do these days.  It was one of the harp string meditations and I must have dozed off during the last position of my piriform stretching as I was shifted over onto my left side with my legs still tangled up when I woke up a bit later.

Herbcrafter's TarotToday’s draw is the Seven of Earth (Seven of Pentacles) which is traditionally a representation of slow growth and gradual progress in the areas of one’s finances, resources, health, manifestations, and the physical world.

What stood out to me in the imagery of this card today is the acorns.  Specifically the fact that half of the acorn caps are empty, and yet you see no nuts anywhere, just acorn caps and full acorns.   To me this speaks of consumption, and specifically about regulating consumption.

When you are looking at long-term sustainable growth, it’s more than about patience.  Yes, patience is a good part of it, but so is moderation and restraint, because long term goals need to take in an element of conservation.  Continuous sustained growth in any area requires this because if you consume more quickly than you can reproduce what’s being used… you end up breaking down the cycle and everything falls apart.

The message in today’s card is about having the strength and wisdom (and this is where the meaning of the Oak comes into play for me today) to give that need for conservation it’s due.  Moderation is not easy… but it is necessary.

DECK USED:  HERBCRAFTER’S TAROT

#TarotForGrowthJuly Challenge Prompt
Topic:  I’m so overwhelmed.
Question:  Why do I treat others as more entitled to my time than I am?

Tarot of the Journey to the Orient

Reading Summary: It’s a bad habit (The Devil) that I try to ignore instead of dealing with (Eight of Swords)… that is, making choices that I know are not good for me (The Lovers Rx), and that then lead to imbalance and uncertainty (The Moon).

Take Away:  Weighing other’s needs and wishes above my own is a part of a self-destructive pattern of behavior where I use bad choices in how I prioritize my time and energy to create within my life a situation of stress and uncertainty when things start to fall apart as a result.

Ooph… okay so that really hit home, and framed things in a way that I hadn’t really looked at or considered before.

DECK USED:  TAROT OF THE JOURNEY TO THE ORIENT

#DiscordTarotholicsJul2020 Challenge Prompt
Philosophical Question:  Does learning inherently imply improvement?

New Palladini TarotReading Summary: We all come into this world with the capacity to love and thus emotional fulfillment is obtainable on its own (Ten of Cups).  Everything else takes work and the honing of skills (Eight of Pentacles) to achieve (Nine of Cups), and patience and moderation to master (Temperance).

Take Away:  Yes. Everything in these speaks of progression and improvement through experience and knowledge. Only emotional fulfillment can be achieved without this process, as we are all born with the capacity to love from the start.

DECK USED:  NEW PALLADINI TAROT

#OwlandBonesJuly Challenge by Owl and Bones Tarot
Topic:  forgive // forget

Minchiate Etruria (Anima Antiqua)Temperance – Forgive yourself for your shortcomings and have patience with yourself. As long as you are moving forward, it’s okay to move forward slowly.  Take into consideration the physical hurdles and handicaps you have to work with, work around, and contend with in order to reach your goal and cut yourself a little slack.

Ten of Swords – Forget the damage done by others and life’s misfortunes. You have the physical scars you carry with you to remind you of the lessons learned along the way.  It’s okay to forget the pain and allow yourself to move on from it.

DECK USED:  MINCHIATE ETRURIA ANIMA ANTIQUA TAROT

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question:  Pick a card for creative inspiration.

The Fifth TarotNow is a time of “percolation and planning”. Allow your creative juices to flow beneath the surface and don’t worry about output or time right now. In yesterday’s read there was a point about not being able to force creativity, and that is the message repeated here today.  You can’t force it… you have to let it rise to the surface, and just prepare to be ready for its arrival so that you can take advantage of its presence when the time comes.

When it’s time to move forward, you will feel that spark of fire within your gut that tells you its time to leap.  Right now is not yet that time.

DECK USED:  THE FIFTH TAROT

Personal Accomplishments

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Today’s meditation was just under twelve minutes long, and was another continuation of the Managing Stress series that I’ve been following over the past few days.   Today’s focus was centered upon negative self talk, and methods to catch yourself in the act so that you can curtail these habits into a more positive direction.

The method specifically that was focused upon in this meditation was when you find yourself having negative thoughts, instead of interacting with them to either agree or disagree or reason through them, simply say “oh, look, that is a negative thought” and then set it aside.  In this way, it explains that you do not give these thoughts credence or lend them power through feeding them further attention.

Seven of Pumpkins Halloween Tarot Today’s draw is the Seven of Pumpkins (Pentacles) and spoke to me immediately. It said, “Don’t discount your accomplishments and the progress you’ve made.”

This is a valuable message and one that I need to work more on.  Like many, I’m often so focused on where I’m going and what I want to accomplish, as well as on where I need to improve, that I forget to look at what I have actually  managed to accomplish and how far I’ve come.

Against staggering odds and catastrophic road blocks, I have managed to come so far in my life and accomplish much of the things that really matter to me.  I’ve grown and learned lessons from these hurdles, and adapted to find what is right for me through it all.   This is no small feat, and I shouldn’t discount it as nothing, or just “shrug it off” as without value.

I say this now as I take a minute to appreciate these things, although I know that in the future I will need this reminder again.  And again.  Because my natural inclination isn’t to give myself praise or appreciation, but to push myself harder…. always harder.

The traditional meaning of the Seven of Pentacles involves progress (especially concerning leaps ahead), the entrance of spirituality into a situation, and the unknown in the area of resources, the physical world, manifestation, and finances.  This includes themes having to do with perseverance and focusing on long term sustainability, as well as the lack thereof in some cases.

Deck Used: Halloween Tarot

Bonus Reading

Another #TarotForGrowthOctober prompt.

Question: Where is it important for me to stand my ground?

XIII Tarot by Neko Reading Summary: These cards are an intuitive hit about my values, although I’m having a hard time articulating how I drew this out of the imagery.  Something about coming up against pushy people and knowing where my values truly lie and sticking to them even when it takes me on a different path than most. It’s all about imagery, as I haven’t even looked at the titles on the cards yet to figure out what they are (and I don’t think I’m going to, because this intuitive hit from the imagery is too strong for it to be anything else).

Take Away: Sometimes you run up against people that have a very strong and persuasive presence and in the interest of wanting to align with them or “fit in”  you can sometimes lose sight of what’s of most important to you. It’s important, at these times, to take a moment and connect with your personal values and moral compass and stand behind them, even if it means you have to leave these people behind and walk your own path on your own.

Deck Used: XIII Tarot by Neko

 

The Impending Spring

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Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and focused on how it is important to take small pauses within your day to center yourself and just breathe.

This is a sort of reset, and it is something that I do on the regular.  Stoplights and moments in parking lots are my friends, as they give me these pauses in which to just take a deep breath and -be- for a moment.  To set aside everything and stretch my inner soul.   Rainy days are also wonderful for this, as I often work outside and I can take a moment just to stand in the rain, my face to the sky, and soak in the scent and feel of the world when it is being washed clean and nourished.

These times give the tight clench of anxiety and awareness a moment to ease throughout my day, letting a touch of stress and concerns slough off briefly.   I also find when I am super stressed or dealing with my depression, these times are something lacking from my days.

Today’s draw is the Seven of Pentacles (the Peacock) which is a representation of progress and the unknown, as well as the entrance of spirituality and looking outside the self in the area of resources, the physical world, finance, and manifestation.

In the guidebook for this deck, the Peacock has been assigned the keywords of rebirth, confidence, victory, patience, resilience, and devotion.

Today, I see the Seven of Pentacles as perseverance.  If you look closely at the card, you see that behind and around the peacock the world is covered in snow and ice, with hints of the green sprouting up to break free into the sunlight.

It is a message of holding on.  Of leaning into the hard times in life and the times when life feels barren and wanting, because spring is coming.   Relief and release is coming. To me, the imagery in this card represents the cusp of that change, and offers hope for the times when I am stressed and worried, reminding me to always keep in mind that such situations and mindsets are temporary.

Deck Used: The Animism Tarot

 

Don’t Be Such a Bastard

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Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and focused on our internal dialogue and the language we use.   That is to say, how we talk to ourselves (whether aloud or in our heads).   It went into detail on asking why we would treat ourselves worse than how we treat others.  Are the things you say to yourself something you would ever say to another person?

In my case?  This is a hell no.  I know I’m very hard on myself, extremely judgemental of myself and very confrontational in my language to myself.  This is not how I am with others at all, and yet when it comes to myself… I’m mean as fuck.

The meditation encouraged noticing these times and, when you do, gentling your approach.   It is about being mindful of how you are treating yourself… and it’s something I definitely need to work on.

Today’s draw is (again) a double without a jumper.  In today’s draw we have the 8th card (in some decks this is the 11th card) of the Major Arcana, the Strength card which is represented here by a bee eater bird and a lion.  With the Strength card came the Seven of Pentacles, which in this deck is represented by the peacock.

Like all cards in the Major Arcana, the Strength card deals with the “bigger picture” of one’s life rather than one specific aspect of the human experience.  This card most often represents inner strength rather than outer strength, which includes courage, skills in persuasion and influence, as well as qualities of compassion.   In this deck, the strength card depicts a lion and a bee eater bird, which in the guidebook are described as….

Lion: power, protection, courage, patience, wisdom, and passion Bee Eater Bird: unity, family, tranquility, support, comfort, and balance

The Seven of Pentacles is a representation of progress, sudden leaps ahead, and the unknown in the area of finances, resources and the physical word.  It can also indicate the entrance of spirituality into a situation, and looking beyond the self.    This deck depicts the Seven of Pentacles as a Peacock, which in the guidebook holds the qualities of rebirth, confidence, victory, patience, resilience, and devotion.

Whew… that was a long one for definitions today.

My interpretation of the cards in today’s reading boils down to that I need to spend more time lifting myself up, rather than tearing myself down.  And, in doing so, I will foster more strength within myself and a calmer, more centered outlook concerning not just my family, but the world at large.

It’s a good message, as I have been struggling a bit with being a right bastard to myself lately, and I have a visit coming up with family that will do plenty of that “tearing down” for me.   I don’t need to be so harsh with myself, instead, now is a time to foster my strengths and build myself up for what is coming. (Which, of course, I’m referring to  either visiting those family members out east, or staying here and helping my mother through her surgery, depending on what she decides she wants to happen.)

Deck Used:  The Animism Tarot