The100DayProject: Day Five - Happy Passover!

The100DayProject: Day Four

Another photo offered without much comment since it's Passover Eve and Seder preparations are in full swing.

The100DayProject: Day Three

Due to work overtime, Barre class, and our anniversary, the following is offered ever-so-slightly late and without comment.

The100DayProject: Day Two!

This morning I laid out the same spread I used yesterday (yes, I shuffled, and since I still used the "stir the cards in a big face-down pile and then grab some with your eyes closed" method, forgetting to do so wouldn't account for the return of the Emperor.  Heh.) 

Today was about being energized by being decisive (yes I'm going to change the headlight bulb on my car, no I'm not going to get that gorgeous journal that's on sale (bills are due), yes, I'm going to go to the grocery store on the way home instead of stopping for fast food.)  I also pushed through the next step of the Desire Mapping process even though it felt overwhelming and kind of made my head spin.

The Ace of Wands, meanwhile, is meant to indicate new projects and new ideas.  Kadollan and I talked, albeit briefly, about the idea of doing some kind of "planner summit" (by which we mean geeking out about our planners around her kitchen table with coffee and washi tape, and quite possibly cake) and what that might look like.

The thing to calm me down is the Queen of Wands, which made me think that the best way to stay steady today would be to just do the things I need to do rather than worrying about mulling over them first.  I think I did okay at that one, although along with dynamic action I got a solid dose of the "restless antsy" thing going on.  I think for quite a bit of the day I felt like I was around five or six years old and being told I had to do write-offs instead of going out to play.  

The Queen of Pentacles in the "Dregs" position, though, gave me fits trying to figure her out.  Ultimately, I decided that she was there in her "business woman" persona, and realized that the best and healthiest option for me this afternoon was to leave on time, make sure to get groceries on the way home, and let go of pushing myself past my limit just so that the paycheck would be a little bigger.

And in the end? The trick to keeping it all together, it still seems, is organization.

I'm working on that bit: 

The planning "system", deconstructed. Some days, when I'm stuck at my desk at work on the phone, taking my entire planning system apart and then putting it back together again is oddly soothing.

The other way that I've been coping at work this week?  I've started really utilizing my desk space as an altar and shrine.  I figure, I'm spending the lion's share of most weekdays there, and that's where I tend to be the most focused and productive, so why not?  I mean, I won't be burning incense or candles there in the middle of the office for everyone to see, but something like this goes unremarked upon: 

Why yes, fox is my primary animal energy, why do you ask?

See you tomorrow!

The100DayProject: Day One

Welcome to my #the100dayproject.  I have no idea what I'm doing here, but at the last minute, I decided that my "thing to do" for the next 100 days is blogging.

(That's one way to get started, at least.)

This is going to be *really* loose in the form department, rambly and random.

If I do something that you enjoy and would like to see more of, please let me know!

For lack of anything better to report today, I present this morning's Tarot spread.  The spread itself is the "Morning Mug Energy Spread" that I found on Pinterest (unfortunately, the link to the original post it references seems to be broken. :/ )

My current working deck is the Dreaming Way Tarot, which is a really fantastic, emotive deck.  It's almost a Rider-Waite-Smith clone, but with a sort of wonderland-esque whimsy that I adore.  Monday morning's spread had produced the Two of Wands, which is a card of beginning and planning out new actions, and this morning it was the card that "jumped" out of the deck as I started shuffling it.  I took the hint and set that card aside as a kind of anchor card for this morning's spread.

(I prefer the term "anchor" in this context, I think, because the card is less representing "me" than it is the specific situation that I'm doing the reading about - thus anchoring the context of the reading into a specific aspect of my reality.  It's a subtle distinction, but an clarifying one.  And that's the point, right?)

Then I stirred the cards up in a big pile (I'm playing with different ways of selecting cards this week) and pulled out the five cards for the reading.

The spread is very clever, and is set up so that the card positions are themed around morning beverages and an overall mug shape.

1. Black Coffee-What will energize me? (6 of Cups)
2. Earl Grey-What will inspire me? (The Empress)
3. Chamomile Tea-What will calm me down? (9 of Wands)
4. Last Dregs-What will I put to rest? (Page of Cups)
5. The Handle-What will hold everything together? (The Emperor)

This deck has made it clear since day one that it doesn't particularly care for the little white book that it came with, and has continually found ways to remind me that it's primarily an intuitive deck.  I do look up traditional meanings after the fact to get some additional illumination, but the cards are definitely coming up for me based on the messages from the images and my own personal associations rather than their primarily traditional meanings.  

This time, looking at the reading as one about taking action in plotting out my path and potential goals (I'm currently working through Danielle LaPorte's Desire Mapping process), this is what I got:

1. What will energize me? The Six of Cups: for me this card is all about happy, innocence, uplifting kind of love.  It's about surprising someone with a bouquet of daisies or a spontaneous hug.  It's about optimism and a childlike wonder at the world, which is definitely a state I can draw a lot of energy and joy from.

2. What will inspire me? The Empress: Over and over again, this Empress comes up for me as an indicator of stillness and serenity, particularly the content, calm serenity of knowing that you'll know exactly what to do.  It's not the deep, archetypal intuition of the High Priestess, but the natural unconscious intuition of the Mother.  And a deeply needed reminder that I need to give myself more space to be still and silent.

3. What will calm me down? Nine of Wands: A job well done.  Completed work. Being surrounded by the evidence of your productivity and action.

4. What will I put to rest? Page of Cups: This one took me a minute, but ultimately I decided that she's representing a combination of my hesitant, passive, stuck-in-a-daydream tendencies and that it's time to move from imagining doing things to just jumping in and doing them.

5. What will hold everything together? The Emperor: Getting shit done, having a plan of attack, planning in general, to do lists, outlines and instructions.  Doesn't this guy just look like someone that's got it all together and planned out?

So, today was all about some detailed time-tracking, working on my Desire Mapping process, some overtime at work, and finally jumping on this #the100dayproject adventure.