A series of unfortunate melt-downs led to something good. It normally does 🙂 but it takes a while to get there. I had a mini-breakdown and lost my shit *almost* completely one evening after a pointless argument with the hubby. When things settled down and we all managed to collect ourselves again, Hubbles made the suggestion that had me jumping with joy; why not take time out on Mondays to be creative! Hooray for being married to someone who gets me sometimes. The only condition was that I was not allowed to blog, because that I can do after work when the kid’s asleep.
So we started three weeks ago and things are really looking great. I finished another three paragraphs of my novel (don’t judge me for taking it slow!), I completed the-more-than-ten-years anticipated painting for my sister and I completed the first character of the tiny human’s crew.
What’s really nice about the Monday-thing is that – apart from it giving me inner peace, allowing me to be creative and completing almost-forgotten art projects – it really makes the week start off on a high note. I know now that when I start something over the weekend it won’t be another week before I can work on it again, and that gets me super-amped to get shit done. I plan in advance what I will be working on, so I don’t sit around pondering what to do.
This, in essence, means that I will be able to share more with you! Is that not something to look forward to!
I have to admit, I am subscribed to a weekly tarot newsletter with personalised readings. How personalised can a computer-generated reading be? It depends which way you look at it, I suppose.
From my knowledge, setting up a site that like will take some above-average coding and probably some algorithmic something something that makes something say something or the other. Right? Right. Let’s pretend for a second we know how the system works and decide that every 78th person gets the same card reading, since there are 78 cards in the Tarot deck. Surely these 78th persons don’t have the same issue at the time? Or even have the same intentions when it comes to reading their Sunday-afternoon (in SA timezone) and deciding what they want to get out of it.
I subscribed for one reason: Confusion. At a very troubled phase in my life, I desperately needed a yes/no quick-fix with a brief explanation of the answer. Nothing else. Not a “Yes. No. Maybe. I don’t know. Can you repeat the question.” I needed a solution right now. After flipping coins and clicking yes or no a couple of times with the guarantee “that this truly random answer will be correct at least half of the time” I found this website. Trusted Tarot has been in my inbox since then.
Long story short, let’s get down to the question: do I believe in online Tarot readings? I don’t. I do. (Returning the yes no maybe I don’t know 😉 ) I believe messages come from strange places, you just need to look for it. I believe that readings like these (or the “your week in stars” in the newspaper) gives you a guideline. Any sentence in the world can be applicable to you if you interpret it to be. Everything can be relevant. So that’s how I perceive online (and any other) readings: I see it as a map and not as a road.
One particular Sunday, 21 October 2019, I spent the entire Sunday working yet again. I was tired, irritated and down right miserable for having to spend a lovely day behind my computer while the hubby gets to play with the tiny human all by himself. Then my Margaret Wells email notification came through. For five minutes I minimised all my programs and read through the mail. I have unfortunately not written down every part of the reading nor can I remember the general card that was drawn, but that day I handpicked the Nine of Wands. The sentence that really jumped at me was this:
So if you feel that you can’t continue, now is the time to make a graceful exit.
I just had to laugh (and cry a bit) for that very wise sentence that changed so much in me at the time.
I don’t work on Sundays anymore. Not often in any ways. I get to spend the afternoon either playing or sleeping while the kid’s passed out or drawing pictures or doing something for me.
I recommend signing up for her newsletter. You may not believe in any of it, but there may be a sentence that will open up a door for… even if it is towards a graceful exit.
I have been trying this new thing for the last couple of days and I believe it has made a significant impact on my life. Generally, I am a happy person. I enjoy an inappropriate joke at the most inappropriate time, I appreciate the laughter coming from the school grounds a house or two away and I love embracing little moments as they pass me by. So yes, I guess that makes me a happy person.
But…Am I thankful? Sure I am. And very much so. But am I saying it enough? No. Not even close to enough. Over the weekend we adjusted the tiny human’s diet slightly. We went with our gut feeling as opposed to instructions. Nothing major, but to a two-year-old diabetic even the slightest change can be a disaster – or a great thing as in our case. As we took the measurements even more paranoidly than before, closely documenting the results, I came to realise that every time it was a good reading, I’d say: I am so happy for this! Of course I am happy. What is there to not be happy about? I mean, we went from a couple of rollercoaster weeks to a slightly more constant, above-average, stable reading. Two days in a row! Two days might not sound that impressive, but when you are at the verge of pulling your hair out, two days of stability is something to down a bottle of bubblies for.
What I realised was that I was not only happy about it, but also thankful. So, along with our kid’s diet, I changed something in myself too. Instead of saying “I am so happy about it!” I started saying “I am so thankful for it”. The difference in me as a person is miraculous. You should try it for a day or two and see how your inner-peace levels stabilise 😉
For some time there has been an overflow of smudging and “not enough sage in the world” and why you need to smudge posts in my Pinterest feed. Of course, repetition makes things stick (no pun intended) with you for longer. So, I read up on this whole smudging thing, and last weekend, I gave it my first attempt.
What is Smudging? According to Spiritual Traditions, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. 2001, smudging is originally a Native American tradition used for purification of the self and sacred spaces. Smudging is the use of sage rolled up into a stick that is lit up until is starts smouldering. You then spread the smoke through the sacred space you are cleansing or around yourself or another person. Using a feather is optional. Sage – or Sacred Herb as known by the Romans – is, apart from a culinary herb, a medicinal herb known to treat infections, clear headaches and heal wounds. It is also believed to be a mental stimulant. (Aromatherapy an A-Z, The C.W. Daniel Company Ltd, Patricia Davis, 1988)
How did I do it?
Well, not that Hubbles has a problem with my spiritual traditions, it is somewhat awkward performing them when he is around. So I took a gap when himself and the tiny human went grocery shopping. (Yeah, I know. Our household and chores are somewhat twisted.) There is this lovely little shop called Kaleidoscope I recently came across that sells smudge sticks. I am not sure where else in Port Elizabeth you can find these, though. So, there I was all by myself walking through the house with a burning stick that smelled a bit like dope. Chanting is a bit weird, so I just smudged every room in the house thinking of the stuff that I’d like to go away. Here is an article on how exactly to do it. I let the last part of the stick burn out in my studio and placed my crystals on the plate to clean them too.
Will I do it again?
Another article I read on smudging (I did not bookmark it!) started off with saying something in the lines of “you know how your coffee tastes funny on a certain day?”, which is an indication of bad energies being in your house. I don’t like it when my coffee tastes funny. And, since I smudged our house, my coffee has been tasting just fine. So yes, I will carry on doing it. What I would change though are the smudge stick herbs. Aromatherapy an A-Z states rosemary and lavender both have healing properties and numerous articles suggest these two herbs can also be used to smudge. I feel if you don’t like the smell of your smudge, make another plan.
