Witches Wisdom Tarot

Staying Connected

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Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and was a quiet time spent with breathing exercises and piriformis stretching.  It was peaceful and quiet… well other than some intruding thoughts about next steps in the home organization department.

Witches Wisdom TarotToday’s draw is the Four of Water (Cups), which is traditionally a representation of apathy and withdrawal, meditation, taking time for contemplation, and aloneness (which can often also be loneliness).

Here in this imagery we have the theme of connection.  You are not alone, even in your most solitary times.  Whale song travels miles through water to reach to others and connect, serenading the sea in the process.

Today’s card is a reminder of the connection you have to others.  Don’t withdraw into yourself.  Don’t allow yourself to pull away from them when that connection is something healthy that you need in your life.

DECK USED:  WITCHES WISDOM TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsJan2022 Challenge Prompt
Topic for January 23rd: Do Spread #2
Question: Once it’s all said and done, will I be happy with the end result of the living room shelves?

Witches Wisdom TarotReading Summary: There is a connection between the vines the woman wears in strength, and the lush beauty of the Ace of Cups.  This speaks of having the strength to work through newness, especially when there is an overlap into the Page of Cups Rx.  Uncertainty in lighter greens bleeds up into a greater certainty in the Ace of Cups, while both of these cards speak of newness.

There is also a connection between the Witch of Air and the Ten of Air.  In both cards, there is flight through the braids and skirt of the woman, the wings in the crows. This speaks of the ability to use your clever mind to discard and restart… the spinning of the figure indicating that this “discard and restart” may need to repeat more than once.  Combined with this, there is a hint of connection in the background colors between the Strength card and the Ten of Air, speaking of the ability to use your strengths to overcome a journey that ends in unsatisfactory ways, to use what is learned to do better.

Take Away: Overall, emotionally you will learn to be happy with it. It’ll be new, and there will be a lot of adjustment to make along the way before you get there though.

You’re going to go through organizing, and then re-organizing things a number of times before you find that peace and contentment you’re looking for. The good part is, is that one of your greatest strengths is your sense of organization. In the end you’ll figure it out, it’s just gonna take some time and repetition to get it right.

DECK USED: WITCHES WISDOM TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

When I wasn’t feeling well, I laid down instead of trying to push through.

Appreciating Emotional Support

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Today’s meditation was just under ten minutes long and was not guided.  Instead it was simply a few minutes of peace and quiet, complete with breathing exercises and piriformis stretching.

The Pacific Northwest Tarot - King of CupsToday’s draw is the King of Cups, which is traditionally a representation of a projective alpha energy, personality, or person in the area of one’s emotions, relationships, intuition, and creativity. This often translates into themes that have to do with those with an intensive amount of emotional intelligence and the ability to use that to support and motivate others in the way that those others need.

In my life, Gideon is the King of Cups. He naturally draws others, and people naturally and easily open up to him. He is supportive and always seems to know what is needed to provide the emotional bolstering needed to help people find their way forward out of their struggles. This is not the nurturing comfort of the Queen of Cups, but a supportive strength of the hand that pulls you off the edge of the cliff or hauls you out of a snow drift.

Combined with the correllation of Gideon and the King of Cups, the connection is furthered by the turtle, which is Gideon’s favorite animal (well, that and the wolf).

The message in today’s card is all about Gideon from start to finish. It’s about appreciating him and his support. It’s about acknowledging my need for him in my life and in each day that passes. It’s about remembering that his help and support are there for me whenever I need it.  It is a reminder that we shouldn’t take these supportive people in our lives for granted, but take time to appreciate them every single day.

DECK USED:  THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TAROT

#DiscordTarotholicsDec2021 Challenge Prompt
Topic: Do Spread #2
Question: How can I best continue with reigning in my addictive tendencies?

Witches Wisdom Tarot - Goddess of Fire, Queen of Wands, Nine of Pentacles, Nine of Earth, 10 Offering, Wheel of FortuneReading Summary: There is a color corellation between the wolves in the Nine of Earth and the Goddess of Fire’s cauldron that speaks to me of the need for hard work in order to yield positive results.

The largest corellations though, are between the Goddess of Earth and the Offering.  In these cards, the background is a scene that appears to be very much the same, except in the Goddess of Earth it is night and in the Offering it is day. There is also a connection between the position of the figure in the Offering and the Crone in the Goddess of Earth.  These connections speak to me of the work mentioned in theprevious connections being something that needs constant tending and attention, as well as a little extra help from beyond (the standing figure in the Offering and connection to the beyond in both of these cards through ethereal figures and swirling smoke).

Take Away: The message here is that the goal of getting the upper hand and better balance for these addictions is possible, but it will take dedication and diligence to accomplish, as well as reaching into “the beyond” to pay respects and garner extra guidance.

DECK USED: WITCHES WISDOM TAROT

OwlandBonesTarot’s #DecemberBones2021 Tarot Challenge Prompt

The Pacific Northwest Tarot - The Emperor, Ace of Wands, Nine of Wands, Nine of Cups, and Knight of CupsWhere You’ve Been – The Emperor atop Nine of Wands – In control and building my “empire” by shoring up extra funds and other accomplishments as a protection against failure and unforseen circumstances.  That is what the holiday rush is all about.  The influx of new customers that can be turned into repeat customers, the added income that will help float the business through the slower months that are to come later next year, the added exposure, etc.  All of it pumps new life into the business and allows a “cushion” to form between any unforsee circumstances and negative repercusions they may have the potential to cause.

Where You’re Going – Knight of Cups – It’s time to switch gears and reconnect with the more creative side of things instead of the “large and in charge” business side of things. Seek out what brings you joy and don’t worry so much about the “chores” and harsher sides.  As things slow down it is now also time to reconnect with your emotions and emotional growth. You had to disconnect for a bit, but that’s no longer necessary and it’s tine to re-engage.

How To Keep Momentum – Ace of Wands atop Nine of Cups Rx – Don’t worry so much about where you’re going and long term happiness.  Instead, focus on the little joys that will make each day a little more fun.  You’ll have time to deal with the bigger picture later on.

DECK USED: THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

I spent a great deal of the day outside taking pictures in the snow. AND I took a nap.  All in all?  It was a great and relaxing day.  I had a lot of fun and it was very relaxing.

Taking A Pause

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Today’s meditation was another of the musical immersion efforts involving my synesthesia, and I just don’t think it’s going to work out.  For the second time I ended up dozing off during the process, and I have a feeling that if I am using music that creates pleasurable responses, that will continue to be the case.  I’ll have to switch back to another method tomorrow.

Tarot of the Little Prince - The LoversToday’s draw is the Lovers card, which is traditionally a representation of not just love, romance, and marriage as it is often interpreted by many, but also about choices and making positive choices that are good for you. This choices interpretation leans into the Marseilles tarot meanings, but I find it applies far more often to the Lovers card when the card pops up for me in readings than the love and relationship aspect.

What stands out to me the strongest in this photo is not one specific element so much as the overall atmosphere of the image. I see gentle warmth and tenderness that speaks of a heart connection, and a hint of wistfulness that speaks to me of nostalgia and daydreams.

The message here in today’s card is that sometimes it’s okay to pause and take a moment, to give yourself a moment to “smell the roses” and allow yourself to consider what influences your decisions and the way forward from this moment rather than leaping ahead recklessly or thoughtlessly.

DECK USED:  TAROT OF THE LITTLE PRINCE

LionHart’s As Above So Below Challenge Prompt
Jupiter Question: How can I {further} focus on the good that surrounds me, or the good that is within?

Elemental Tarot

How can I further my focus on the good that surrounds me?
Seven of Swords atop Eight of Swords, Queen of Pentacles

Don’t allow the ass hats and betrayals of the world to close your eyes to the generosity and positivity that is out there.   Sometimes, especially when wounds are fresh, it can be hard to not turn away from people and tempting to turn into yourself in order to protect yourself from further pain.  By closing your eyes to the warmth and care others can provide, though, you do yourself more harm than good.

How can I further my focus on the good that is within me?
Nine of Pentacles, Four of Chalices atop Eight of Pentacles Rx

Practice gratitude for what you have, and don’t work yourself so hard that you forget to rest and meditate.  Without rest and restoration, you can’t focus on anything, let alone delve into appreciation for what’s good within yourself.   In order to find this focus you need rest, and you need to appreciate your accomplishments and what you’ve done well.  These practices allow you to feel a sense of pride and foster a bit more kindness for yourself.

DECK USED:  ELEMENTAL TAROT

#DiscordTarotolicsNov2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: Greatest Strength / Greatest Weakness / Finding Balance

Antique Anatomy Tarot Mass Market VersionGreatest Strength – Four of Pentacles atop Wheel of Fortune – Finding stability in the chaos is one of your greatest strengths. This isn’t to say that the chaos does not affect you, but rather that you are able to ground your feet and stay centered far better than most would expect.

Greatest Weakness – King of Rods – Your excessive amount of creative spark and drive can cause a bit of a problem.  You repeatedly fool yourself into believing you have more “shoulder space” for responsibility than you actually do, and thus as that sense of creative spark and drive push you forward, you repeatedly overburden yourself trying to take on too much.

Finding Balance – Knight of Elixirs – Pick and choose the projects and responsibilities that truly speak to your heart, instead of just triggering the inspirational spark within you.  Inspiration is all well and good, but you need to involve more than that in your decision making in order to cut down on the things that you take on.

DECK USED:  ANTIQUE ANATOMY TAROT – MASS MARKET VERSION

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question: What is the best piece of advice I have ever received?

Delos Tarot

Reading Summary: Sometimes you have to look after yourself before others (Six of Pentacles) in order to build a secure (Four of Pentacles) and stable (Two of Pentacles) future.

Take Away:  Not the advice that I personally would’ve chosen as the best piece of advice I’ve ever received… and yet it is a really good one. When I was young I wanted to save the world from unfairness. If I had not been given the advice to take care of myself first prior to helping others and taken that advice to heart, I’d still be living in the backseat of an old Buick with no tires in a dark Seattle alleyway. Okay… so probably not the Buick specifically, but close enough.

DECK USED:  DELOS TAROT

It’s Not a Solo Mission

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Today’s meditation was skipped this morning because I was feeling overwhelmed by how much I had to get done and… you know what? Now that I look at that reasoning… it seems completely backwards. Shouldn’t the times when I feel overwhelmed be the times when I should be making a point to do my meditation instead of setting it aside?  Right.  So now that I’ve given myself a talking to…

Traditional Manga Tarot - Queen of CupsToday’s draw is the Queen of Cups, which is traditionally a representation of a receptive alpha energy, personality, or person in the area of one’s emotions, relationships, intuition, and creativity. This often presents itself as qualities that have to do with being a good listener that can bolster other’s emotional well-being and lead people toward healthier emotional balance.

Sometimes?  Gideon is the Queen of Cups.  It is in that gentle way he is willing to listen to me and tug at my emotions to get them to surface and get me to share them with him.  He helps me in understanding what I’m feeling, and he helps me in sorting out the tangle when my emotions become a mess.

With each day I am with him, my emotional intelligence becomes a little better, and yet the steps are so tiny… so minuscule… that they seem inconsequential.  But they’re not.

The point here?  Is that none of us learn alone.  None of us develop or improve ourselves alone.  There are always others there that help in guiding us, teaching us, and helping us to become better.  It’s important that we aren’t just aware of that, but acknowledge it… and those that help us.

DECK USED:  TRADITIONAL MANGA TAROT

LionHart’s As Above So Below Challenge Prompt
Mars Question: How can I positively overcome, or deal with, the obstacle in yesterday’s reading?

Puppet Theatre Tarot

Reading Summary:  Stop paying so much attention (imagery in the Nine of Needles) to your worries (imagery in the Eight of Needles), and focus (magnifying glass) on elation instead (imagery in the Ten of Cups).

Side Note: I love the imagery of this deck.  It doesn’t always follow the RWS symbolism, but it’s just so expressive.

Take Away:  The message here is about “feeding the wolf“. The wolf within you that wins is the one you feed.  So stop feeding the wolf of worry and desperation and struggle your attention, and continue to instead work on feeding the wolf of optimism and positivity your attention instead.

DECK USED:  PUPPET THEATRE TAROT

#DiscordTarotolicsNov2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: Advice I need to hear at this time concerning my ambitions.

Tarot of the UnknownReading Summary:  Slow and steady but keep working at it (Knight of Pentacles). Sometimes along the way you might need to make some changes (Six of Swords), but as long as you have some patience (Temperance) and dedication to what you want to work on and excel at you’ll get there (Eight of Pentacles).

Take Away: The foundation of expertise is patience. It takes time and practice to develop your skills, but the cards here indicate that as long as you stay on track and make the adjustments necessary along the way to keep from sinking into the mud you stumble upon on the path now and then?  You’ll get there.   It’s about patience and adaptability and staying focused on where you want to end up eventually.

DECK USED:  TAROT OF THE UNKNOWN

Heal & Transform November Challenge Prompt
Question: In what ways (material or spiritual) can I show myself the love and nurturing I need?

Witches Wisdom Tarot

Reading Summary: By giving yourself the rest that you need (Four of Air) and overcoming self sabotage (Seven of Air Rx) with compassion (Goddess of Water) that will lead to joy (Sun).

Take Away:  Lots of reminders to rest this week, which… if I’m honest and fair about it?  I need the bombardment of reminders so… yeah.  A little nagging now and then can be a good thing.

The other element of the answer on how I can show myself the love and nurturing I need is to make sure I’m not allowing my inner dialog create more chaos than it’s worth.  Instead, lean into being kind to yourself and positive.  Optimism and kindness towards myself is not easy, but it’s needed.

DECK USED:  WITCHES WISDOM TAROT

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question: How can I create better balance in my life?

Ride and Wait Tarot

Reading Summary: Spend less time stressing about (Nine of Swords) where I’m going and how I’m going to get there (King of Pentacles), and instead spend some time enjoying the present more (The Fool).

Take Away:  Valid… very valid point.  I do spend a lot of time focusing on the future and focusing on strategizing my way into a better future.  I stress over my business and sales and finances.  And I spend far too little time enjoying “the now” and working on having a positive outlook.

The cards here indicate that if I want to create a better and healthier balance in my life, I need to work on that optimism more, and being centered in the present more as well.

DECK USED:  RIDE OR WAIT TAROT

Take A Look Around

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Like yesterday’s post, I’m playing a bit of catch up. I can’t remember whether I meditated on the 7th or not. So I’ll leave this empty this time around as I finish up these posts that got started… but never published on the blog.

Tarot of the Little Prince - Eight of SwordsToday’s draw is the Eight of Swords, which is traditionally a representation of painting oneself into a corner, putting hurdles in your own way, and other self defeating behavior including negative inner dialogue and pity party mentality.

What stands out to me the most strongly in this card’s imagery today is that there is no swords or snakes on the other side of the large tombstone looking rock.  The boy and the fox are so focused on the snake and swords that they haven’t looked around to see that there’s another way out of their situation.

And the boy and the fox?  They are me.  Freaking out and forgetting to look at other options, allowing my worries and fears to narrow my focus.  I need to remember to stay calm and take a look around.

DECK USED:  TAROT OF THE LITTLE PRINCE

LionHart’s As Above So Below Challenge Prompt
Rising Sign Question: How can I balance the self with those around me, to achieve what I am asked to work on this month?

Witches Wisdom Tarot

Reading Summary: Focus on your new emotions (Ace of Water) and not the old feelings of scarcity that so often drive you (Five of Water Rx). You need to be able to go after what you desire and not just what you think you need to do (Messenger of Water atop Ace of Air), and you will once again light the fire of inspiration within you (Ace of Fire).

Take Away:  This is about putting more priority on the pleasure of my work and letting go of that iron grip I have on the feelings of responsibility and desperation that I often you use to push me forward.  The truth is? I’ve been using those feelings of responsibility and desperation more and more over time, and they are smothering my spark of enthusiasm and inspiration under their weight.

DECK USED:  WITCHES WISDOM TAROT

#DiscordTarotolicsNov2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: Wish for the Future / Next Step in Getting There / The Home of My Hope

Savran Forest TarotWish For The Future – The Moon Rx – Less uncertainty is a great wish for the future.  Like most people, I struggle a great deal with insecurities and the illusions they create that make my reality mine and subjective.  These insecurities create a feeling of anxiety, and encourage predictive thinking that isn’t rooted in divination but rather is rooted in fear.  To be free of the uncertainties that stir up these insecurities would make for a beautiful future.

Next Step in Getting There – The Tower atop Four of Swords Rx – Make sure that you’re not standing back and practicing restraint during the chaos to come.  Sometimes, if you step back, you can ride out the chaos in peace.  Other times?  You have to fight for what you want to keep during those moments.  In this case?  You have to fight.

The Home of My Hope – The World – I take comfort from, as well as it being the home of my hope concerning, the cyclical pattern of life. The fact that we move through a journey that spirals back upon itself on another higher level again and again as we become better people through each event and trial we work through.  It fills me with hope that this cycle moves not just through our lives, but is also the journey of the soul.  A journey of betterment through time and experience.

DECK USED:  SAVRAN FOREST TAROT

Heal & Transform November Challenge Prompt
Question: What aspect of myself am I ready to shed?

Oak Ash & Thorn Tarot

Reading Summary: I’m ready to take control (The Chariot) of my depression caused by my constant disappointment in myself (Three of Swords), and instead live in a place of contentment (Nine of Cups).

Take Away:  The cards are long-form telling me that I’m ready to shed some of my shadows that spur on my detrimental inner dialogue and create the potential for that slippery down-slope into depression.  This more generalized depression then has the ability to trigger a major depressive episode with far reaching and dangerous effects. 

The cards here indicate that shedding these shadows requires determination and control, but that the reward on the other side of having dealt with them and shed them is finding greater contentment in life.

DECK USED:  OAK ASH & THORN TAROT

#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question: What is my biggest fear?

The Mushroom Tarot

Reading Summary:  Being overtaken (Five of Swords) by my mother’s qualities and influences (Queen of Wands Rx), and turning my world into shit as a result (Wheel of Fortune Rx)

Take Away:  The cards here indicate that my biggest fear is turning into my mother.  I have many of her qualities, and this is something I do very much fear.  I don’t want to become the cold, calculating, self centered type of person that uses the world and everyone in it as their personal game of chess.  I dread the effect that allowing these qualities to take hold within myself would have on my life and those around me.

DECK USED:  THE MUSHROOM TAROT