Tag: mental health

Abundantly Yours

I love tarot cards. This raises a lot of eyebrows. The religious go on about the alleged evils of the occult, without really knowing what the word “occult” means, which according to Merriam-Webster is “matters regarded as involving the action or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers or some secret knowledge of them.” (In other words, pretty much every rite and ritual in every religion.) My fellow atheists go on about “superstition.” Everyone else except fellow tarot-lovers goes on about “new agey b.s.”

Well, I don’t care. I’ve said here before that tarot cards help me sort through things and bring up ideas that were bubbling in my subconscious. I also love the artwork in many decks. I don’t use them for “fortune-telling” or divination, as I don’t believe the future is either knowable or predetermined.

Point is, I find tarot cards useful and generally nice to look at barring pretty much every depiction I’ve seen of the Ten of Swords. The Three of Swords and the Nine of Swords are never pleasant, either.

But some cards are just all-around amazing because of their meanings, so I was delighted to find duplicates of some of my favorite cards in a deck that arrived yesterday, The Guardian of the Night Tarot by MJ Cullinane. All of the other cards are there, so these are extras.

Tarot cards from the Guardians of the Night Tarot deck.

When you buy anything through Amazon (yes, I know, bad billionaire supporter, BAD), there is an increased chance that whatever you’re buying is counterfeit, so I checked the author’s website. I love Cullinane’s work and already have two of her decks, the Crow Tarot and the Urban Crow Oracle, and I’d be upset if the cards were counterfeit and someone else was profiting from her hard work. However, the publisher is correct and the deck came with a guidebook in a two-piece box like her website says it should, so I think the extra cards are just a manufacturer’s mistake.

But oh, what cards they are!

Nine of Pentacles: Financial independence, self-sufficiency, a little luxury, enjoying abundance, treating yourself to a little something nice (without going overboard), enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Ten of Pentacles: Financial security, wealth that is passed through generations, permanence, accomplishment in your career that allows you to have all you need, abundance.

Page of Pentacles: Good news regarding money, business, education, career, property, or health; manifesting your goals; opportunities to create your own security and prosperity.

Knight of Pentacles: Hard work, productivity, determination, diligence, ambition, tenacity, finishing what you start, striving toward your goals.

Queen of Pentacles: Prosperity, financial security, nurturing the practical, balance between home and work, being resourceful to create peace and stability in your life.

King of Pentacles: Worldly success that is shared with others, generosity, fulfilment in creative tasks, creating a rich life emotionally as well as materially, knowing what you’re doing and having success with it.

I’LL TAKE IT. I’m in my late 50s. I’m in journalism, which is not exactly the most lucrative of fields. I’ve survived several recessions by the skin of my teeth, and fought off homelessness twice. I have a day job and freelance on the side. I’m pretty good at what I do, but grew up with a lot of financial instability and insecurity and never really feel financially secure. Plus, like many people in the middle class, I’ve had to start over a few times and am vulnerable to the effects of recession. So if the Universe wants to encourage me with a message of abundance, I’m happy to embrace it.

The timing is great, too: In a personal journal I recently whined about wondering what the purpose of my work is if I’m not even sure it’s making a difference in the world, especially with the strange and dark times that are coming to the U.S. (I cover mental health and substance use. The U.S. is not okay and I sense it will be even less okay when the new administration gets in there and starts cutting funding for mental health and substance use treatment services. Those two things have been bipartisan causes for a while—suddenly they became important when White kids started dying by suicide and overdose—but still. Something heartless and ignorant this way comes.) So I’ll take this as a nudge to persevere.

At any rate, I think this deck will be fun to work with. I’ve set the duplicate cards aside, but it’s nice to know that the extra tarot goodness of those particular cards is there. Now I’m off to manifest.

Happy Strategies

A psychologist I follow on Instagram had a post today about happiness. His point was that happiness in life depends on the quality of your thoughts, and that the quality of your thoughts is something you can learn to control. His post got me thinking about my own prompts and strategies for emotional well-being and improving my thoughts, and it prompted me to write them all down so here they are.

1. Comparison is the thief of joy. There’s always going to be someone richer, better-looking, more accomplished, etc. Happiness comes from being content with what you have, and I have a lot—friends, a spacious apartment that I love, food in my belly, peace and quiet, a job.

2. Attachment is the root of all suffering. This includes being attached to the past as well as to things, people, and ways of thinking that are detriments to well-being.

3. Yes, there are genetic, epigenetic, experiential, and environmental aspects to depression and anxiety, but again, attachment comes into play. Depression is often about too much attachment to the past, which can’t be changed, so a good part of healing is in letting it go; anxiety is attachment to what you ultimately cannot control, be it the future, other people, or the state of the world, so do what I can in my own life and sphere, and then let it go.

4. Build on your strengths. We all have some, and that’s more fun and engaging than focusing on your shortcomings. 5. Feel the feelings. The only way out is through, so I allow myself to feel what I feel and work through it, even if it takes time and effort (as with grief when Inigo and I said goodbye), so I can let it go.

6. Help others. It will take you out of your own head for a while, and it feels good for both the people and creatures I help and for me, too.

7. Go outside. Walk around in as green a space as possible. Take in nature, its sounds, its sights, the smell of trees, grass, rain, snow. I find nothing as restorative as that.

8. Practice gratitude for what you have. After the heart attack I’m just happy to be alive.

And now for tonight’s state tree, going out to my friends on the Maryland side, Vicki, Deb, Vicky, and Louise. Unfortunately, the folks who set up the state trees put Maryland and Virginia next to each other but the signs were one in front of the other, so I couldn’t really get the Maryland sign in the photo as I have with the other trees. However, it’s clear it’s the Maryland tree because of all the crabs, heh. Also, there are ornaments with the state flag on it, and the state bird, the Baltimore Oriole.

Maryland's state Christmas tree, 2023.
Maryland’s state Christmas tree, 2023. Click to embiggen.

Here’s an ornament I bought while out on a fun afternoon in Ellicott City with Vicki and Deb.  (And it just occurred to me that I don’t have a Virginia ornament. THE SHAME!)

A Christmas ornament with the Maryland state flag on it.
We had a ball, so I got a ball.