tarot for growth

Feed the Seed

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Today’s meditation was just over eleven minutes, and the next segment of the ‘how to’ series that I’ve been working through.  The focus of today’s guided meditation went back to finding your focus during meditation, and encouraging looking outside of the breath to try out different things to focus on to see if there is anything you personally connect to more strongly than the breath.

For me, this focus is the solar plexus.   The solar plexus is where a lot of my emotions and intuition spark from.  And, there is a reason that we call it the seat of the soul.  It is within that spot I can feel a constant inner kaleidoscope of sensation and sentiments living and breathing within me.

Ace of Pentacles - Tarot of the Unknown Today’s draw is the Ace of Pentacles.  The aces in the tarot a representation of new life that resides within the smallest of seeds, and potential for that life to spark and grow and break free of the seed’s shell and flourish.  In the Ace of Pentacles, this expresses itself most commonly as new beginnings and new opportunities in the area of manifestations, the physical world, and in finance and resources.

I will be having a bit of an influx of new money coming in over the next few weeks and I need to make some choices on what to do with it and where I want to direct it.  Responsible choices.   This card is a reminder that there is an abundance of opportunity out there, but if I want to encourage that new green to grow into something good, I need to both foster its source as well as respect where it comes from.

Deck Used:  Tarot of the Unknown

Bonus Reading – #TarotForGrowthNovember

Question: How can I reduce negative self-talk?

Tarot of the Cat People Reading Summary:  Take control of your mental chatter (King of Swords) by paying closer attention to what I do well (Knight of Pentacles) and appreciating what I have (Ten of Cups) rather than cutting myself and my acumen down every chance I get (Three of Swords).

Take Away:  The cards are reminding me that I need to focus more upon the good in my life and upon what I do well, and listen less to the slave driving asshole that lives in my head constantly demands for me to do more and do better.

Deck Used:  Tarot of the Cat People

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

 

Down Time is a Good Thing

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Today’s meditation was just over eleven minutes long, which is Day 4 in the ‘how to’ series, and focused on what the narrator called inner smoothness.  I’ve never really seen it that way, and I view “smooth” as being something solid with a surface that does not contain irregularities.    What he was speaking of in his narration is, to me, not smoothness, but rather transparency… like a window screen.  There, but transparent.

Essentially what this meditation was about was concerning how we react to the world around us.  Do we react and cringe from everything?  Or do we practice acceptance and allow the sensations (such as sound, for example) to flow around us and through us as we become part of the environment rather than separated from it?

In meditation, this sense of being “at one” is a key part of the practice.  Instead of being reactionary, you focus on being calm and at ease, no matter the distractions that may be present at the time.

Two of Cups - Tarot of the Unknown Today’s draw is the Two of Cups, which is in direct relation to me scolding myself for loafing off yesterday.  I just plain didn’t work at all once I got home yesterday, which means that I didn’t work in my home business for two days in a row.   Instead, I spent them playing with you.

This is really unheard of for me, as even when we play I often multitask and work on the side.  Today’s card is a reminder that it’s OKAY to need to spend time with you.  It’s OKAY to want to direct all of my energy and time and focus on you now and then.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it builds good energy and good relationship by doing so.   It’s good for me, and it’s good for us as a couple.

So I need to take a breath and just relax and stop being so hard on myself for not being as productive as I absolutely, positively could be.

Deck Used:  Tarot of the Unknown

Bonus Reading – #TarotForGrowthNovember

Question: How can I be more decisive?

The Distant Past Tarot

Reading Summary:  Use a more stable energy (Queen of Cups) in reaction to my struggles (Five of Pentacles), and keep in mind when I’m dealing with uncertainty (The Moon), that turning inward isn’t always the answer (The Hermit).  Sometimes you have to remember to ask for help (back to the Five of Pentacles) and let other people’s input influence your decision (Four of Cups).

Take Away:  If I want to be more decisive, it helps to look outward rather than always depending upon the self alone. These cards are a reminder that there are an infinite amount of other perspectives out there to consider when making a decision, and the more information you have, the easier it is to make the right choices for yourself and the situation.

Deck Used:  The Distant Past Tarot

Value and Balance

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Today’s meditation was just over twelve minutes long, and was a continuation on the theme of managing stress.

Today, the guided meditation explored how a moment focusing upon your breathing, and on a careful body scan from head to foot where you train your attention on relaxing each body part individually one at a time, can assist in easing the physiological response to stress and anxiety.

That is to say that stress and anxiety cause physiological responses.  Your blood pressure goes up, your breathing shortens and shallows, your heart beats faster, your brain feeds your body a trickle of adrenaline, etc. These physical responses can be managed by taking a moment to do some deep breathing and focus upon the moment and relaxing your body.

Halloween Tarot Today’s draw is the Knight of Ghosts (Cups) which is a representation of an active beta energy, personality, or person in the area of the heart, emotions, relationships, and intuition.

What I saw when I pulled this card is a message about value.   Specifically, that those who manipulate others through use of emotion also have their value.  Maybe they are entertaining, or maybe they help in distracting those that would be in your own path without realizing that’s what they’re doing.

But the fact is.  Everyone has value.  Even those who follow a different code of ethics and a different moral compass than your own.  Sometimes it’s easy to look down on these people, but it’s important to remember that they, too, have a place in our lives, and in live in general.

Deck Used: Halloween Tarot

Bonus Reading

Another #TarotForGrowthOctober prompt.

Question: How can I better balance personal time with the time I spend with others?

Carnival at the End of the World Tarot Reading Summary:  I need to inspire a time of reckoning and self examination concerning what’s important to me and what isn’t (Judgement).  Doing this will inspire me to better preserve those things most important to me (Seven of Wands), and let go of the rest in order to create space for what’s important to me to grow.

In other words, I need to do some trimming and weeding.

Take Away: I’m focusing on too many different things, and spreading myself too thin.  Sort of like trimming a tree in order to allow it to sprout new growth and produce a healthier dispersion, some serious evaluation of what I value is needed in order to par down the sheer amount of crap on my plate and create space in my life for what I need to be in it to dig deeper roots and flourish.

Deck Used: The Carnival at the End of the World Tarot

 

Ethony’s 10 Questions Every Tarot Reader Should Answer

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On Ethony’s website, she has a list of the ten questions every tarot reader should answer.  I don’t think I’ve done this one before, so I thought I’d go ahead and add it into the other tarot quizzes that I’ve done on here.

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1. Were you mentored, or were you self-taught?

Both? I’d say it is both.   Lenormand has been a part of my life throughout my entire childhood and upward.  I did not start working with RWS until my early teens, and I have alternated between help from Z and doing my own research in all the years since then.

2. Are you a psychic or a Tarot reader?

Again… Both?  I don’t really consider it being “a psychic”, but I read the tarot intuitively 96% of the time.  BUT, I have a foundation of book learning behind beneath my feet, and I tap into that in my readings, even when reading intuitively, if for no other reason than to compare what I’m getting intuitively from the cards to the traditional meanings.

3. Are your predictions accurate, and is accuracy important to you?

I don’t usually set out to do predictive readings, although it does happen.   I find that accuracy isn’t something I really concern myself with in predictive reading, though.   Reason being is that even just being -aware- of what might transpire can change the future, and thus what -could- happen that’s read in the reading is averted/diverted due to the knowledge gained IN said reading.   It’s a Catch22.  Is it accurate and you changed your future?  Or was it inaccurate all along?   Unable to know one way or another?  I just don’t worry about it and read what I see.

4. Is there anything you can’t predict in a reading?

Can’t?  Lotto numbers.  Also, absolute certain, set in concrete predictions of events or situations that cannot be changed or diverted.  This is not really how things work in my experience.  Yes, sometimes things happen just as predicted. Sometimes you take action to ensure a different outcome.  The future is fluid until the moment it becomes the past.

5. Do you use only Tarot, or are you multi-disciplinary?

Okay…. so lets see if I can manage a complete list.   Lenormand, Oracle, Playing Cards, Tarot, Charm Casting, Pendulum, Stick & Pebble Casting (which includes not just sticks and pebbles, but also items such as tiny acorns and cones, tree nettles, thorns, etc found in nature), Runes… hm, I think that’s it.   I would also like to try orb scrying, but the only sphere so far I’ve found that speaks to me is a bit out of my price range at the moment.

6. Is the message in the cards, or in your head?

In my…. in my…. hm.   The messages  are in my solar plexus and delve inward and upward to emerge in the hollows of my collar bones to travel just beneath the skin up to the spot just behind my earlobes, then forward into my mouth.  My brain finds them there and translates them into something I can understand and communicate.

7. Are you a priest or a fortune-teller?

Neither.   I’m an intuitive that uses the cards to find the inner voice I just can’t hear well enough without them.

8. Are you a fixer or a looker?

Both.   Sometimes I’m just looking.  Sometimes, I’m looking for a reason.  Sometimes?  That reason is because I want to help, heal, or fix in some way.

9. Do you read for free, or for fee?

In the past I have read for money.  It was a good supplement to my income at the time.   Since my change in ability to communicate, I have only read for myself and for free for loved ones.  I am open to the possibility of trying remote readings using writing as a medium to communicate, although I’m not sure how interested people are in something like that considering how many other options for readings are out there.

(Edit: I did some face to face for-hire readings while away on my recent trip, and it wasn’t too bad, although the communication was definitely a hurdle to work with.)

10. Is there anything you won’t predict in a reading?

Death.  Nor do I do mediumship, as it’s just not in my wheelhouse.  I don’t give readings on shit that the querent should be going to a licensed professional for either.

 

Messages of Empowerment

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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