Earth Archives < Arwen, Professional Joy Seeker

The Future Is Cancelled

#affirmation There’s a difference, I feel, between being a realist and being the person who stomps on your own dreams. I think this card shows that difference.

In this card from the new (and gorgeous) Japaridze Tarot, the suit of earth/pentacles/coins is represented by Gardens. That’s an easy translation for me.

Traditionally the 7 of Coins is the card that shows a man resting while his garden continues to grow. He has been doing hard work but he is taking a much needed break.

Some of us would poo-poo the idea of needing to take that moment. Surely there is something else that can be done. Finished hoeing? Well get to the beans to see if any need harvesting. No? What about the shed? Wouldn’t your time be better spent organizing your tools so you could be more productive?

And so it goes. There is always something else that needs doing. Always one more task you cross off your list.

But what about the dreams? What about the expectations? What about the future?

[Tweet “Future won’t come if you don’t keep working!”]

Really? Stop working and see what happens. Tomorrow gets here as surely as today fades into the past.

I’m not saying don’t work at all. I’m not saying don’t cross things off your to-do list.

I am saying that it is critically important to give time to dreaming.

Maybe you should put that on your to-do list?

Today’s affirmation:

Dreaming brings me joy. Downtime is good time. I allow myself space between the busy busy moments to dream. I honor the dreamer in me. Today I take time to dream a little dream of joy. Today I honor the emptiness so that it may be filled with dreams. Loved and loving, I love each of you.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Seven of Gardens, Japaridze Tarot, U.S. Games

Respond Or Stay Seated?

When is it time to respond and when is it time to stay seated?

[Tweet “When is it time to respond and when is it time to stay seated?”]

#affirmation Today’s card reminds me to look forward. It reminds me to keep my seat for just a bit longer. Even when prodded and poked, I need to hold my position.

The Fenestra Tarot’s Queen of Pentacles looks out from her throne. She has a soft look on her face but a determined one. This lady has learned that to keep her home and family safe, she must make sacrifices.

Sometimes those are sacrifices of money, of time, but sometimes they are sacrifices of self.

However, she’s also learned not to make those decisions impetuously. Her vision must remain on the goals she has set for her family and for herself.

I think that we all have made sacrifices of self. I think that many of us could look back and say that some of those sacrifices might have been done for the wrong reasons.

Now I try to remain seated. I try not to leap up offering soul, heart and self until I am sure it is what is truly needed from me. It wasn’t an easy lesson–and it isn’t one I always succeed at either.

What about you?

Today’s affirmation:

I am confident. I do the right thing by considering before responding. I hold my peace to learn the truth of a thing. I am a beautiful, strong, honorable human. Loved and loving, I love each of you.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Queen of Pentacles, Fenestra Tarot, U.S. Games Systems Inc.

Blank Walls

Discussion of the Ace of Pentacles from the Crystal Visions Tarot

[Tweet “What is the potential of a blank wall?”]

Crystal Visions Tarot Ace of Pentacles — Crystal Visions Tarot

Today’s card reminds me of empty spaces. It makes me think of what is coming to those empty spaces. I guess in a way this is the potential of a blank wall.

Here we see the Ace of Pentacles from the Crystal Visions Tarot by Jennifer Galasso. And yes, that is the Stevie Nicks song she is referring to.

A pentacle is woven between two trees with vines growing around it. Beneath it are crystals, gems and more of the vine. It is what is beneath that calls to me in this picture. The potential of the crystals that grow there.

I must tell you that I’ve had and used this deck since it came out. I’ve just now seen two women in this deck. Ha! Tarot never fails to surprise me.

So here’s to growth and empty spaces and surprises. Just like an empty wall in a home, this card waits to be filled. It’s an offering to us…a promise of good things to come.

Today’s affirmation:

I am open to abundance. I walk into prosperity. I fill up my world with beauty and joy. I am strong. I am light. I am love. Loved and loving, I love each of you.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Ace of Pentacles, Crystal Visions Tarot, U.S. Games Systems Inc.

Of Gods And Aces

Of Gods And Aces — A god, an ace and a bone walk into a bar. What’s next?

[Tweet “A god, an ace and a bone walk into a bar. What’s next?”]

#affirmation Sticking with the Wooden Tarot, today’s card is another of the ones that gives me pause. Actually it is one of four that give me pause for the same reason.

Aces, to me, are seed energy. They are the potential of the suit. A.L. Swartz has chosen to rename the aces to god. So we have the God of Bones today rather than the Ace.

Of course, as I write it out, as usual I come to an understanding. The all seeing eye in the triangle (a nod to the Illuminati I think) floats above a generic figure where hands float with a bone between them.

Seed energy. Beginnings. Potentials. This is the Earth suit in this deck. I would call it Coins or Pentacles in a more traditional deck.

I am reminded of the Christian story about God creating Eve from Adam’s rib. While that’s not a rib bone (unless I miss my guess), there is a magic waiting to happen here.

So many cultures use bones. My friend Fiona Robinson at Open Roads Coaching does bone readings even today.

Okay, A.L., I think I understand why gods are aces in your deck. Well played, sir. Well played indeed.

Today’s affirmation:

I am potential. I am possibility. I am the beginning of my own next great event. I breathe in ability. I breathe out creativity. I begin again today. Loved and loving, I love each of you.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

God of Bones, The Wooden Tarot, SkullGarden.net

NOTE: I have added a (c)A.L. Swartz to the images to protect the artist’s rights.

The Joy Challenge: Day Five

Wait. Day five of the joy challenge includes yelling at your mother???

Day five is here. It’s a bit grey here in Texas, but OH the temperature. I haven’t seen 70 in the morning in ages. It’s bringing me a lot of joy right now.

Have you looked yourself in the mirror yet to say this, “I am a joy seeker. Joy finds me. I am a joy magnet.” ??

I did…sort of. I looked myself in my reflection in the laptop screen. Hey! That counts.

Tell me some little joys that have come to you. One of mine was a pair of house wrens on my back porch. One of them wanted to make a nest in the can holder on my camp chair. The other one was obviously not impressed. I laughed at their antics.

You?

Oh! Today is Tarot Blog Hop day so the monthly Tarotscopes will be up tomorrow.

Oh SHUT UP Mom! is my discussion on the Queen of Pentacles. It includes an original spread.

[Tweet “Wait. Day five of the joy challenge includes yelling at your mother???”]

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Joy Mum White, Stephanie Arwen Lynch-Poe, 2014

Work, Work, Work

Yeah. You know. Just do what needs doing. Make it pleasant or make it fast, but get it done.

Art of Life Seven of Pentacles — Art of Life

Today’s card is the Seven of Pentacles from the Art of Life Tarot. This is a rather unusual deck. It takes famous pictures then combines them with meaningful quotes to invoke the traditional message of the card.

The Seven of Pentacles is the card I call the gardener’s card. It is a reminder that hard work is rewarded. In this particular interpretation I also come away with the meaning that we all work. Even the Empress of China is doing manual labor here. Okay, so it’s pretty easy labor. Probably it is some ceremonial labor, but nonetheless, she’s doing her work.

[Tweet “I am of the mind that you can do the work in one of two ways.”]

You can bitch, moan, kvetch, whine, snivel about how awful it is to have to work.

Or…

Yeah. You know. Just do what needs doing. Make it pleasant or make it fast, but get it done.

Today I work. Today I work with joy. Pleasure in the doing carries me through the day. I acknowledge my place in the world. I am blessed to be breathing. Pain reminds me that I am alive. I seek joy in all things and in all ways. Loved and loving, I love each of you.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Seven of Pentacles, Art of Life Tarot, U.S. Games, 2011

#dailyaffirmation
#affirmations
#seekjoy

Music, Boundaries and Petunias

Today’s card is a reminder that I create my own music.
[Tweet “By setting boundaries that work for me, my song has a place to be heard.”]

Boundaries and borders can be scary things. We set them but then allow others to wander all over them–trampling our petunias as it were. I’m better these days about being firm about protecting what’s important to me. One of those things is my right to allow and or disallow those who bring disharmony into my world.

Every orchestra has discordance. It is what makes a song interesting. But no conductor will allow another conductor to change the way he or she conducts. It is, after all, their interpretation.

I’ve run headlong into an interpretation I do not agree with but I do like the conductor. So for now, I will play as part of that orchestra. When the song is done, I will quietly pack and leave.

This Ace of Pentacles from the amazing Paulina Tarot (U.S. Games) reminds me to focus on my own notes for now.

Today I play for me. Today I reset my personal boundaries. Today I want to be at peace with my own choices. I set fences to keep things in as well as out. I am the conductor of my own song. Loved and loving, I love each of you.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Ace of Pentacles, Paulina Tarot, U.S. Games 2009

#dailyaffirmation
#affirmations
#seekjoy

Why Hula Hoops Beat Procrastination

Thoughts on hula hoops helping beat a really bad habit.

Today’s card reminds me that hula hoops are an important metaphor in my life. This goes back to something my sister told me. I can’t remember who told her but the saying goes like this.

I can only control what is in my own hula hoop.

So stand up. Now hold your arms out as if you were holding a hula hoop about yourself. Swing your arms to the front and back and to the sides. Get a feel for how much space that is.

You control everything inside that hula hoop area. It’s all yours. You are mistress or master of your domain. Anyone inside that circumference must bow to your wishes.

Anything outside of that circumference?

Repeat after me…not my circus, not my monekys.

If we all focused less on the trauma-drama of others, how much happier we would be. If we simply provided space to listen them and let go of trying to fix them, we could get to the real meat of our day.

Our own stuff.

Yep, it’s a really highly developed procrastination technique. The more I can worry about your shit, the less I have to work on my own.

[Tweet “So which will it be today? Useless worry or meaningful work? It’s your choice.”]

Today I focus on my own needs. Today I listen to others and let go of any misguided notion of fixing them. I am in charge of my own experience. I can only control what is in my own hula hoop. Loved and loving, I love each of you.

Ace of Pentacles, Crystal Visions Tarot, U.S. Games 2011

#dailyaffirmations
#affirmations
#seekjoy

Cookies, Horns + Thank You

Hell, you resist a 7 year old with green eyes, curly hair and a box of sugar. Not. Happening.

Today’s card makes me stop and think about how difficult it is to give me a compliment. I invariably insult the person trying to be nice to me. I blow it off. I ask them if they are meaning to talk to someone else.

[Tweet “In a nutshell, I’m graceless when it comes to saying, “thank you.””]

Why is that?

Is it because a lot of our raising is based on humility? On not tooting your own horn?

I still feel weird when I tell y’all about stuff I have for you. Even the free stuff weirds me out some days.

And I’m a pretty damned good sales person all in all. In fact, when I was a little girl, I got in a lot of trouble for my Girl Scout cookie sales.

Why?

Well, they told me the sales were to help us go camping more. Y’all, I loved (and still do) camping. So I humped those cookies from door to door selling them for .30 a box. I did a great job too.

Hell, you resist a 7 year old with green eyes, curly hair and a box of sugar. Not. Happening.

Then the boom came down. Neighbor lady asked my mama why her niece was selling the same cookies for .25 a box.

BUSTED.

I had to go return every nickel. lol

But now, when I know I have a super product with a great price point and folks raving about it, I cringe and have to make myself remember to tell you about it.

I cringe in the same way when someone tells me I look nice or did good or whatever. I want to ask them who they really meant to say that to or what they really want from me.

When did we lose our ability to just say, “thank you, I worked very hard on it so I appreciate your kindness” or just, you know, “thank you.”

Journal prompt for today is, “What’s the hardest compliment for you to hear? Why?”

6 of Coins, Efflorescent Tarot, Katie Rose Pipkin, self-published

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Perserverance, Finishing + Now

You can’t stop now. You must just roll over those bumps and plot holes and “what the hell did my character just say” moments. This isn’t about editing.

Today’s card is a reminder of keeping at it. If you are doing any of the month events–be it knitting or writing or hooping or what have you, perseverance is key.

In today’s Wisdom News from Lissa Coffey, I pulled this nugget of fabulous!

Perseverance is stick-to-it-iveness! It’s having that vision that success is not only possible, it is inevitable. It’s having the fortitude to navigate the bumps in the road, and not let those bumps become road blocks.

-Lissa Coffey (www.coffeytalk.com)

And isn’t that the truth. Anyone who is doing #NaNoWriMo knows that the key is to keep writing. You can’t stop now. You must just roll over those bumps and plot holes and “what the hell did my character just say” moments. This isn’t about editing. No, not now. .

And I have something that can help you. It’s a thirty three day eCourse. That means it comes to your inbox. You get to read it, work through it, tackle it on your time.

Use my years of writing experience (eight books as Marilu Mann with two more under contract) to help you get your book finished.

Ready to start? Are you a NaNoWriMo 2013 participant? Learn how you can use Tarot to .

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With over eight books (written as Marilu Mann), I can show you how to . Let your imagination run wild while guiding your voice down the path of the Hero’s Journey.

You will receive handouts that include many original spreads designed by me to use in developing your character and story.

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Is it time to set your book free?

8 of Disks, Mary-El Tarot, Schiffer Books