tarot and psychology

Rest and Recovery

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation…. turned into a nap.  It wasn’t intentional, but that’s how it went.  It was just a really stressful and very long day, and once I managed to stay still and quiet my mind, the sandman cracked me on the head and sent me to sleep.

Today’s draw was the Ten of Zephyrs, which is a representation of endings, restoration, and resurrection (among other more negative connotations) in the areas of intellect, the mind, logic, education, and instinct.  Some of the more negative meanings include resisting closure, painful endings, deep wounds, and betrayal.  The other side of this coin, though, is that it is also a card of recovery, healing from said wounds, and moving on.

What I saw (and see) in this card today is not a predator looking over prey, but rather that the vulture is watching over the birdboy as the boy rests and recovers from whatever has washed him out so egregiously.   It reminds me of you, and of our current situation as you watch over me and care for me while I not just recover from the drop, but work at bolstering myself for the trip coming up at the end of the month.

I know you are there.  I know you are watching.   You make me feel safe enough to let my guard down and work on myself, even with that keen gaze upon me the whole time.  For you?  Vulnerability is okay.

I love you.

Deck Used: Stolen Child Tarot

Bringing Inner Wisdom Into Battle

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and focused on making sure that you do not get swept up into the fray of things to the point that you forget to take a step back now and then and some time for yourself.

I think this is a good reminder, as I know that I am guilty of this.   I had a little mini-rant earlier because the message in my tea this morning was similar (although badly phrased in my opinion) and that will post later this evening, but as a general rule?   I know that I need to have some balance.

I may forget now and then.  I may need constant reminding (as is the reason so many of my card pulls and readings for myself are always pointing in that direction…. but I know it’s important.  I understand its importance.  It’s just something I struggle with regardless of that knowledge.

Today’s draw is a double without a jumper, and one of them is a repeat of yesterday’s card.  (This is after 7 rifle shuffles and then multiple overhand shuffles until the cards fell out.)  That is to say, I drew the Five of Flame along with the second card in the Major Arcana, the High Priestess card.

The fact that the Five of Flame came up again today, and as the topic card instead of as the “details” card, makes it clear that the cards are trying to provide me with some guidance to get to that inner strength that it spoke about in yesterday’s draw.

The “how” of thing is where the High Priestess comes into this equation, and what I see in this card is more than just the High Priestess, but also the Empress.   When I view this card today, what I see is a nurturing directed to what is unseen and beneath the shell.  The High Priestess is the one that has access to what is beneath the shell, the nurturing of the Empress energy is what is needed to be directed there.

I also see this card as a very clear indication that I need to bring one of my decks with me on my trip.   The Five of Flames again speaks to me of a time in which I need to be strong.  The High Priestess card in this case speaks of being in touch with my intuition as a part of that strength.   That by being in touch with my subconscious and intuition during the time when I need that strength, it will only make me stronger.

And so, for the first time (other than that one trip to mom earlier this year) I will, in fact, be traveling with a tarot deck, rather than just a playing card deck.  I have been considering it, but have continued to be uncertain.  I think it is time to commit to that decision and set the indecision and lack of surety aside.

Deck Used: Stolen Child Tarot

 

Messages of Empowerment

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation was fifteen minutes long, and was not a guided meditation.  Instead, I visited my safe space for a time.  It was very relaxing and calming.  Since I woke up with a bit of an anxiety issue this morning that has chosen to ride me for most of the day, I thought the visit to my quiet place was in order.   It helped, but I think I would have been better off going for a hike after the farm instead of coming straight home, and then meditating.

Today’s draw is the Five of Flames, which is a representation of tests and trials, struggle, strife, and conflict in the area of one’s ambitions, passions, and drive.

When I look at this card, I hear it telling me to stand up and be strong.  The hyena-boy’s fist on that bone is a clear indication to me of it being a time to feel my power.   This really goes along very well with yesterday’s Self Care Saturday spread that will post later today, and with a brief reading done by Dee and R on YouTube this morning.

As with these other readings, today’s card is a message of empowerment.  “Stand Strong and Conquer”, it says.   As I ease  from the drop, this is important to keep in mind.  I need to build myself up now to prepare for what is coming at the end of the month, as well as to prepare myself and the business for the holiday season ahead.  In both cases, I need to be feeling stable, strong, and in my element.

Deck Used: Stolen Child Tarot

Bonus Reading

I did the #TarotForGrowthSeptember prompt today from Instagram.

Question: Where am I not guarding myself enough?

Reading Summary: There was once a large and diverse family that existed with the constant threat of violence always just lingering in the eaves.  They were constantly trying to talk over each other and making lots of noise.  The only one of them that was ever happy was the one that found a way to get a bit of solitary time to rest and relax.

Take Away:  If I want to prepare for the visit out east at the end of the month, I need to work on my inner calm and find that place within where I can weather the storm without the constant bombardment of outside influences.

If I can find my inner peace and get well seated and comfortable within it, whatever abusive behavior and words are tossed my way during the week I’m away won’t make such an impact.

Deck Used: Dixit Pack #6 Memories

 

Project Strength

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation was ten minutes long and focused on getting in touch with one’s compassion for yourself and for others.

To be entirely honest?  I wasn’t listening.  I was drifting on my breath and very much in my own space throughout the meditation and I missed the message entirely other than a few snippets about projecting compassion first upon yourself, then out into the world.

Today’s draw is the Six of Flame, which is traditionally a representation of vitality, cooperation and harmony as well as “humanity issues and limitations” in relation to one’s ambitions, passions, drive, and willpower.  This card often comes up in relation to success, both private achievements and public recognition, self confidence, and at times, over confidence and ego.

That is not so much what I feel from this card, although there is a hint of it in the above.  I see a lamb in wolf’s clothing, tail tucked between the legs as they move through the night. I see the moon smiling.  I feel that today this card is more about taking time for yourself and watching your back as you show the world a display of strength regardless of how vulnerable the insides may feel.

Sometimes in life you have to put on the wolf’s clothing just to make it through the day, and sometimes you have to do it to get through what’s coming.  That is what I see here.

I am coming up on a trip that is going to be somewhat unpleasant.  I know this.  And I know I need to be in a place of strength when I go.  This card is telling me that even if I feel small, I can still project that powerful outer shell.

There has been a creeping trepidation coming in as the time to go gets closer and closer.  Today’s card is a reassurance that I am strong and I will make it through.  I may need a bit of adaptation, I may need to present a bit of a facade along the way… but the moon smiles in the sky and I will make it through.

Deck Used: Stolen Child Tarot

 

Wear Waders and Keep Climbing

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation was ten minutes and twenty two seconds long, and dealt with healing from shame.

I want to say that the only time  ideal with shame is the kind that comes during my ultra vulnerable moments of the drop, but that’s not entirely true I don’t think.  This is because the meditation today made me wonder if that feeling that I describe as “discomfort” that I still experience concerning the scar on my face isn’t, in fact, shame.

Muffled shame.  Partially healed shame.   But still…. shame.

I’m not entirely sure, to be honest.  But this is the second time in as many months that I’ve wondered this, and so I think it’s something to consider.

I do not agree with the quote given in today’s guided meditation, though.  I do not thin that sharing your shame with a sympathetic and empathetic ear will miraculously make it disappear.  Shame, especially that caused by trauma, just doesn’t heal up that quickly or that easily.  At least, not in my experience.

Today’s draw is the Page of Flame, which is a representation of an receptive omega energy in the area of one’s passions, drive, ambitions, willpower, and inner spark.  This is a card of learning and development, and often comes up in relation to the spark of inspiration, the limitlessness of potential in a person or situation, and sometimes the unnecessary limits we put upon those people or situations.

In my mind, I always see the Page of Wands (Page of Flame in this deck) as a boy with a huge and infectious smile standing proud on a hilltop with a bonfire behind him and sparks flying up into the air around him in all directions.  I’m pretty sure this isn’t from any deck I’ve seen but is, instead, simply my own mental image of that card’s energy.

That said?  I think this deck’s card is a spectacular representation as well.   In this card I see the transformative power of life and positivity.  The caterpillar, the chrysalises, the butterflies in his hair.  The new buds of growing rack reaching up from the top of his head.  The lush carpet of new green sprouts.   All of it speaks to me of a time of newness, transformation, and growth.

I’ve been feeling my inner self trying to shut down and shut itself in over the past few days.  That vulnerable space is starting to get to me.  Perhaps too many drops too close together?   This card points out very clearly that shutting down is happening, and encourages me to keep up the good fight and not to let myself sink into the suck of the mud and muck.

Deck Used: Stolen Child Tarot

 

Unpacking the Chest

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

Today’s meditation was twenty-five minutes long, and was not a guided meditation.  Instead, I did a retreat into my “mental safe place” for a time.   I will do a post about this in the future to fully describe it for you.

Essentially, though, what this meditation entails is immersing yourself into a daydream.  Specifically, a daydream that you use to find peace and calm.  Your personal paradise, to be exact.      You then spend the time exploring this place, including touching in with all of your senses in the process.

Today’s draw was (instead of IS, because it’s now the very end of the day today) the King of Brine (aka the King of Cups).  This card is traditionally a representation of a projective alpha energy, personality, or person in the area of emotions, creativity, relationships, and intuition.  It follows along the themes of authority, as all the kings do, but in the flavor of diplomacy and emotional balance. Among other things, it can also indicate a time of inner work on the self or that emotional manipulations are afoot.

When I looked at this King of Cups card this morning, what stuck out to me was the baby crocodiles and the delicate shells tucked in the upper and lower corner.  When you think of the crocodile, thoughts of tenderness and nurturing are not usually a part of that equation.  And yet what you see here is delicateness that is existing alongside the “brute” of the full grown croc.

Like most King of Cups cards, the representation in this King of Brine card makes me think of you.  Your power  and your dominant nature, and the tenderness underneath that allows for me to learn and grow in the area where my knowledge and experience is at my weakest… my emotions.

I met you when I was just 19 and when most are just starting out at life.  I’d already been on my own for just over three years and was very much getting my ducks in a row.  But I was emotionally stunted, as I spent the majority of my life closing myself off to my deeper emotions.  You held the key that opened that box I had buried so deeply.

I did not understand the depth of this card when I saw it this morning.  But since then, I’ve done a reading that clarified it much better.  I will include a summary of that reading at the bottom of this post, but suffice to say that the appearance of the King of Brine today is a reminder that your support is there for me whenever I need it, no matter the depth of that need.

The Reading:

I did the #TarotForGrowthSeptember prompt from Instagram.

Question: Where may it be beneficial for me to ask for help?

Reading Summary: There was once a very hard working man that thought he knew everything, but he really still has much to learn in the area of his emotions.

Take Away: This is pretty much the story of me when I met you. I worked hard, and I thought I had everything worked out and under control. Then you arrived and showed me that there was an entire aspect of myself that I’d buried and ignored. Eleven and a half years later, and I’m still unpacking that chest I’d once buried so deeply… and I still need your help to work through it all.

With the series of drops that I’ve been going through lately, and the family matters that are coming up at the end of the month, I’m sure I am very much going to need help emotionally in working through what comes up and learning how to deal with it and balance it all into the rest of my life.

Decks Used: Stolen Child Tarot, Morgan Greer Tarot