Today’s meditation was an eleven minute long #DailyCalm session from the @Calm app.

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Daily Mental Health Prompt: Seek a positive message to carry with you throughout the day and offer perspective.

Today’s draw is The Lovers card, which is traditionally a representation of love and relationships, long term contracts, harmonious unions, and making choices that are geared toward what is best for you.

Has then been combined with a card from the Affirmators! Morning Mantras deck, which says, “Kindness is magic. So today I’m gonna make like a drunken wizard and cast ‘Friendium to Strangerus!’ spells all over the place.”

How many friends do we really need in our lives?

This brings to mind for me something that a true friend (that has since sadly passed on) taught me years and years ago. He said that the word “friend” is a cherished and sacred title that should not be handed out willy-nilly to everyone. Instead, most people fall into the “acquaintance” category.

You can have general acquaintances, trusted acquaintances, and all different kinds of acquaintances. None of these adjectives attached to the word “acquaintance” make this person a friend.

Furthermore, naming these people as acquaintances instead of friends does not negate their importance to you in your life. It’s just that the “friend” title should be reserved for those in your life that you would help hide a dead body if they needed it. It holds within it an unconditional quality that is usually related to (and sought after in) romantic love.

With this in mind, how many friends do we really need? I think under this context, as long as we have at least one, we’re doing better than most of the population.

The message in today’s cards is to encourage us to look at our relationships with other people through a more practical lens, and be discerning with who you let into your closest circle.

DECKS USED: THE GREATER SECRETS TAROT AND AFFIRMATORS! MORNING MANTRAS

The Aries Season Spread
By @onyerbroom

Frustration rising?

Shaman of Foresight – You are not used to being unable to see where things are going in life. The ability to predict trajectories, as well as surprise deviations within those trajectories, is a lifelong skill that you are used to practicing regularly. Unfortunately, at this moment in your life, there are a lot of things going on that you are unable to get a grip on the trajectory concerning and predict with accuracy.

Confidence needed?

Spirit of Challenge atop Dancer of Friendship – Lean into support that is offered by your friends and loved ones when you are feeling challenged by life. These moments of unpredictability and challenge make life feel as if it is far more difficult than it has to be. You can gain more confidence by leaning into your friendships for not just measurable support in the physical sense, but also emotional support and encouragement.

Impatience showing?

Dancer of Inspiration – You’ve been struggling under a lack of creative inspiration lately, and you are starting to display a good deal of impatience with yourself concerning this issue. Remember that stagnancy causes rust and decay… if you want inspiration to spark, then movement is needed.

Action calling?

Shaman of Song – You can’t dance without music. Make sure that you are communicating with those that can encourage you to do things instead of languishing. Their encouragement has the ability to guide you to a healthier place within yourself.

This doesn’t necessarily mean they have to push you to do the things that they want to do, but accept that they are doing their best to get you moving… which is the first step in creating the spark of enthusiasm.

Direction now?

Spirit of Destruction – The cards above are encouraging a change towards movement in order to spark enthusiasm, confidence, and motion that will help you move forward instead of sitting stagnant. If you do not take this advice and continue upon your current path, more in your life is going to fall apart, and you will continue to struggle with drowning in the mire of your inaction.

Other elements included in this reading:
Staghorn Sumac for Connecting with Nature and the Wild Within
Foraged Oak Branch with Moss and Lichen for Perseverance
Foraged Scotch Pine Cone for Purging Negative Influences
Pine Tips Ceramic Impression for Longevity and Sustainability
Green Jasper and Tiger Eye Turtle for Confidence within Progress
Carnelian Agate for Inner Drive and Focusing On Aspirations
Desert Rose for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: THE SHAMAN’S ORACLE

@silkandsonder’s Journal Prompts to Feel Like Yourself Again 
Prompt No. 5

What parts of my personality have I put on the back burner?

The Tower and Three of Swords – Your pessimistic attitude and inner narratives; or, at least you’re trying to put this on the back burner.

You’ve always had a tendency to be very pessimistic and see the worst in any situation, as well as have an idea where these situations might go that could make the situation even worse. In this way, you’ve always somewhat protected yourself from disappointment by anticipating the worst to come from the start.

Over the last few years you have been working towards establishing a greater sense of hope and optimism into your life. It’s not easy, but you’re working on it. This process involves setting pessimism and negativity to the back in order to allow yourself to focus on your more positive efforts.

What interests have I put on the back burner?

The High Priestess and Knight of Swords – Practicality has really taken the wheel of late, perhaps to the point where it’s a bit out of control. This means that you’re not listening as closely to your intuition as you could be lately, because you’ve been prioritizing reason and logic over that inner whisper.

As the Self-Care Saturday reading for this week mentioned, perhaps now is a good time to change this and begin to once more start leaning into your intuition, setting the logic and reason side of things on the back burner, reducing it’s position in the hierarchy of priorities.

Other elements included in this reading:
Pressed Pansy Flowers for Hearing the Heart More Clearly
Black Spruce Needles to Boost Self-Confidence and Positive Thinking
Dried Rosebuds for Potential and Beauty Waiting to Unfold
Dried Purple Heather Flowers for Independence and Luck
Rose Quartz for Gentle Kindness to Self and Others
Selenite for Purification and drawing in Positive Energy

DECK USED: THE GREATER SECRETS TAROT

I finally got all caught up on all the blog posts and social media posts that I’ve been alternating between struggling to catch up on and procrastinating on catching up with since March began. (Just in time to fall behind again as I travel for a few days.)