I do… to avoid… (not looking forward to digging through this pull).
I do… 8 of pentacles: work hard, push myself to be better, work harder and accomplish my goals.
…to avoid… 3 of cups reversed: excess, isolation and loneliness, and I think the upright meaning too, friendship, community building and meeting new people.
Not a lot to unpack here- it is exactly this. I do it all under the guise of needing to make money to get by, but I think I could probably have a better handle on that.
Life got busy- I had a couple of full days of work so here’s a bit of a catch up
Day 8:
My fears do not…
Queen of Wands/Rods: This card keeps popping up so I have to figure out what or who it’s trying to tell me about.
My fears do not minimize me. My fears don’t stop me from being outgoing and exploring the world. My fears do not hold me back (and I think 9/10 this is true, but it usually just leads to an overwhelming burst of anxiety and the inability to really enjoy whatever it is I’m afraid of, but…)
Day 9:
My confidence needs to know that…
9 of Cups (reversed): My confidence needs to know that it may be necessary to fake it until we make it, but I need to be careful not to overdo it. I need to focus on the quality of my experience and use those to build up my confidence.
Day 10: My pain does not…
6 of Swords Reversed: My pain doesn’t mean I have to try and run and hide- it doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who can help me. It also doesn’t run and hide from me. It makes itself known, it hits me in the face and shuts me down, so I’m unable to deal with or handle anything else besides it. I obsess over my pain, letting it drag me down sometimes and this isn’t something that I need to do. Instead I can share the burden with others- the ones in my boat.
Day 11:
Even when my shadow… that doesn’t mean…
Even when my shadow… Card: Justice: Even when my shadow weighs me down with judgement- perhaps fairly, perhaps unfairly. When it chooses black or white, binary options only.
…that does mean… Card: … Justice… again. ok DAMN. It doesn’t mean that it has to be black and white. It doesn’t mean that I actually do need to judge myself with a meter stick that I wouldn’t use with someone else. I don’t need to judge myself when I wouldn’t judge someone else like that.
Well. Snap. hahaha. What do your spreads look like?
Pull two cards. If these cards were your biggest supporters what would they say to you?
Cards:
3 of Wands and 7 of Wands
Keep moving forward, don’t let the haters get you down- you can take them. Your battles are not insurmountable, you can explore wherever and whatever you want. Don’t be afraid to conquer the world.
(I was hoping I was going to get the Devil, so it would just be SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS!!!!!!!!!! Hahaha).
Cards: Success (The Chipmunk and Laurel) and Determination (The Ram and Dahlia)
Success and Determination from the Woodland Wardens Oracle deck
My anxiety isn’t going to lead to or destroy my success. It just is. It may slow me down, but in what ways can I be victorious over it, or against it. My anxiety may be determined but it will not last forever, it will not climb every mountain and bloom into every season. It can be overcome.
Being stable, being self-sufficient, being able to provide for my own needs and my own concerns. This is true. This is something I set as a sort of bench mark for myself. I want to be able to be my own sustainable person. I hope that one day I’ll be able to make it happen even more than I am already.
Card: The Magician Reversed: Stop trying to force it and just let the magic come. This might even be more of a fake it ’til you make it sort of situation… ha.
The Magician from Tarot for All Ages
It’s funny because I feel generally like my life is lacking in something it used to have but it hasn’t had that thing for a very long time, and it’s hard to explain exactly what that thing is. In part, it’s a sort of connection to nature and connection to myself. In another way, it’s also how I used to be able to creatively express myself on the regular, but how that seems like so much more effort these days. It’s a complicated situation maybe, it’s hard to put into words.
Today I was doing some free practice tarot readings, just to get back into the groove of it, after being away from it for so long, and I felt like just leaning into my intuition as much as I could. It felt great for the first reading and then it felt a little bit like it started to falter. It’s weird how when I seem to look right at it, it disappears. I can only find this feeling or this emotion when I catch it out of the corner of my eye.
I’ll try to make more of an effort to find this in the future. 🙂
I’m going to use Oracle cards for this one today. It feels right.
I can be: The Dragonfly and Pansy: Balance … and still: The Bear and Cedar: leadership.
Woodland Wardens Oracle
This is a nice one. I often feel like people in leadership feel like they have to be hard asses- they have to rule with an iron fist. They can’t be kind or friendly with the people who work under them- and I think this is bullshit. I’m sure it’s possible to lead without being domineering and unkind. I’m sure you can be a leader and show leadership while still being a human, who is accessible. Not just a company slave. This spread makes me happy because I’m going to be in a leadership role this summer, and I want to be the kind of leader that people enjoy, not the kind who makes people feel like garbage.
Day 2: I long for … and can get that with the help of…
Cards: I long for 7 of swords: I long for being able to get away with all the little secrets I want to explore. I’ve been living with my parents for so long, that I’ve begun to second guess what is and isn’t something I should be doing- a lot of the different concepts I’ve developed about morality, and what I think is socially appropriate are different from my parents. So maybe this is a little harkening to that concept.
7 of swords from Tarot for All Ages
… and can get that with the help of 7 of pentacles: waiting, patience and planning. That makes sense. It’ll be a few more months until I’ll move into my own place, and get to spread my wings again- find my own footing and rediscover what I think is important in life.
Day 1: Pull a card. What healthy qualities of this archetype do you embody?
Card: 8 of cups.
8 of cups from Tarot for All Ages
Positive qualities: moving on, leaving negative situations, moving forward, trying to start fresh.
From my previous experience, this has a negative and a positive aspect to it. I’ve been able to get up and move somewhere new, and start fresh, my whole life. It’s basically how I’ve lived for the last 12 years! I’ve moved from country to country, new workplace and new friends, and it’s been amazing in so many ways, but it’s also been incredibly difficult in ways I didn’t expect.
Something that most people don’t mention, or maybe that most people don’t speak about, is that it’s very difficult to fit in when you’ve never really stayed in the same place for very long. You have no problem getting along with people who have had similar life experiences to you- people who’ve immigrated, or lived in a different place before. They seem to understand what it’s like to have different points of reference within your life, different priorities and different values and the way they’ve changed as your life shifts. It’s hard to find people who have maintained similar goals at your age, or who value the experiences you’ve had. It can feel incredibly isolating, and I’m sure it’s not something only I’ve experienced.
Hmm. A good card for further thought!
What card did you draw? How does it reflect your life?
This is the challenge I’m going to attempt this month! The Tarot Diagnosis is a cool resource for using Tarot for self-care. They have a podcast, a symposium and a pretty interesting newsletter that they send out with spreads you can use. You can learn more about them here.
What has allowed this stress in my life to take root and grow? Ace of Wands Reversed. Confusion, miscommunications and arguments. Well…yeah… that’s stressful. lol
What is the core stressor in my life at this time that is under my control to change? Ace of cups: my emotions? Creativity, spirituality and intuition. I can control how I feel and react to things, I can control empathetic gazes and looking at things with new eyes.
What can I do right now to help ease my stress and anxiety related to this issue? 8 of pentacles reversed- chill out. Don’t worry about all the little details- broad strokes will take away some of the stress and worry. At the same time, I need to get to it and just do it and get it done.
Here’s the spread for this week. Notice how we’re looking here for similarity and patterns, which is a good way to start to read a spread- not just card by card and trying to slam them together. This is something I struggle with sometimes- I’ve seen some really great readers who connect these amazingly well!
So, no question in particular in mind, here’s my spread.
Cards: The Moon, Two of Swords, Two of Cups
Hmm ok let’s look at the similarities and patterns we can see:
I’m always drawn to colour, so what stands out to me here is the blue and the yellow. We’ve got blue mountains and a blue body of water in the moon, with a bright yellow moon in the sky. There’s a large blue background in the 2 of Swords, with bright yellow sleeves on our blindfolded figure. And the last flash of blue of a sleeve on one of our drinkers (both of which are holding yellow cups).
There’s no direct eye contact in any of these cards with the reader or the querent. In fact vision is deliberately disconnected with a blindfold.
There’s also a hell of a lot of symmetry in these cards- the 2 of swords could be cut down the middle and both sides are almost entirely even. The moon, too, has two towers, two dogs and a lobster with outstretched claws. The two of cups has two folks linked together on their side- looking rather intensely at each other.
We’ve also got two moons- a small sliver of a moon in the 2 of swords- the kind of daytime moon you see sometimes. Love it.
There’s a kind of intensity in this spread- like an intense aversion- a refusal to see something, and a layer of deception from the first card in this spread. What should I be paying attention to? What should I be looking at?
There’s some kind of difficult choice I need to make and I can’t make it/it’s difficult to make because there’s something in the way- something that I’m refusing to look at or something that I simply haven’t been able to see yet because it’s been hidden from me. This decision could be about a partnership of some kind, or there could be someone close to me who could help me see what I can’t.
What do you think? What similarities can you see? How would you read this?
Here we go folks! Another spread from the amazing Twist the Leaf/Tarotholics discord:
OK I’m not sure if my dumbass will suffer from information overload with two cards for each for extra credit, but we’re gonna give it a hook. I encourage you to give me feedback if you’re reading this- tell me if you see something I don’t! 😀
Here’s my spread:
What positive qualities do I have that others admire?
Cards: Four of Pentacles (rx) and Queen of Wands (rx): I’m generous with my emotions or at least I’ve got the spirit but I’m a little confused when it comes to action and putting plans into place- I’m generous with my time and emotions, but I can get stuck within certain pursuits and carry things forward in an intense way.
What positive qualities do I wish I had that I admire in others?
Cards: The Moon (rx) and The Devil: I wish I could get lost in excess and not regret it, that I could convince myself of some positive misconceptions that would make my life easier. I admire the way others can fully trust and empower themselves through their intuition.
What step(s) can I take now to work toward developing that quality in myself?
Cards: Ace of Pentacles and The Chariot: I should use material elements in life (maybe physical self-care, the earth) to push myself forward into tapping into my intuition. Or I should spend more money on new indulgences to obtain the excess of the Devil’s vibe? I mean, usually, this deck tells me not to do that, so I think it might be getting more in touch with new jobs/work/nature/growing opportunities that are coming up soon.
What step(s) can I take to make the positive qualities I already have shine brightly?
Cards: Eight of Swords (rx) and Nine of Swords: Surrender to what is coming and understand that the anxiety I’m bound to face in thinking I’m not good enough or I can’t provide for others or I’m not doing a good job; this is counterproductive but unavoidable. Feel it, and let it go. I am the only one who will put myself through it and also the only one who will stop myself from going through it.
I used the This Might Hurt tarot deck, which is available for purchase in a new limited edition now, I believe. It’s a fabulous deck 🙂
I liked this challenge! Let me know if you do it and what you get out of it!
Card: King of cups reversed. LMAO, yeah it ain’t looking good folks. Mankind is pushing forward coldly and selfishly, using emotions for force and manipulation, not in a controlled and helpful way. There is not emotive mastery here. The karens are winning. It isn’t geat.
I’m using a little travelling deck I got, It’s the Morgan Greer Tarot in a tin (so it’s slightly longer than a deck of playing cards, but it fits about the same in your hands). It wasn’t very expensive, and I bought it on Amazon, but I would think you can find it in any esoteric shop. It’s mass-produced. The images are nice- they connect well with the traditional RWS images, so it’s good for a beginner as well as someone more advanced. It’s borderless and doesn’t include the name for the suit, though it does include the number, which is helpful if, like me, it takes you ages to count the pentacles you see haha. I mainly purchased it because I had seen the images and liked them, and it came in a tin. I’m going abroad for the summer, and I wanted to take a deck with me- I didn’t want to take one of the decks I really love and lose it/ruin it/get it wet/have something happen to it. A little tin will protect this deck, it wasn’t so expensive that I’ll be sad if it’s lost or forgotten (though I don’t want to lose it or have anything happen to it, of course).
I’m not sure if you guys are aware, but there’s an awesome Masterclass being held online from Hay House at the moment, and tomorrow Ari Wisner will be speaking- I love his deck the Transient Light Tarot (I’ve read with it on here before), so I’m super excited to hear him speak. I highly suggest you check it out if you’re interested- it’s free (you can pay for an advanced pass sort of thing if you want to), and you can watch the videos for a full 24 hours I believe before they disappear. 🙂 I’m watching a video from Mary Greer at the moment, and she focuses on how tarot can deepen your sense of understanding of yourself and how you can help others understand themselves through the tarot, which is quite interesting.
So, I’ve shied away from these challenges in the past, because I’ve felt like they’re too challenging, but I also think that they have the potential to push me further in my practice. I’ve decided this month to take on the Tarotholics May 2023 Tarot Challenge, with the caveat that I might miss a few days here and there, but I’ll try my best.
This challenge comes from the Tarotholic’s discord server, which I would recommend joining if you’re interested in learning more about tarot. This comes from TwisttheLeaf, who has a great Instagram account and website that you should definitely check out.
Here’s the monthly challenge
Follow along, and tell me your thoughts on my interpretations!
Madame Starbeam's Tarot Journey 