tarot Archives

Retreat within to find approval with yourself as the best guide

May 14, 2018

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

Marcus Aurelius via The Art of Life Tarot – The Hermit

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: retreat within to find approval with yourself as the best guide for creativity + life

Theme for the week beginning 14 May

The underlying theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Lisa McLoughlin’s Life Design Cards deck – #46 Find approval with yourself before turning your eyes to the world.

This week we are reminded to retreat within and look inside to find approval. We can so often measure ourselves against arbitrary external measures. It might be someone else’s website, career, latest offering, lifestyle, Instagram feed, family, friends, writing – anything really! There are limitless ways we can measure ourselves against the metric of another’s life. This week, it time to halt that and go within for approval and wisdom. A little personal retreat is a wise way to proceed with this week’s energies.

Advice from the Life Design Cards Guidebook is:

Don’t get hooked upon social approval. Let integrity and personal essence guide your way. Get to know who you really are by spending time alone.

Today’s narrative, led by this theme card, encourages us to retreat to channel our creative and personal energy wisely. Listening to our inner wisdom is only possible when we quiet the external noise. Then we can hear the small still voice of our intuition in a much clearer way.

This is what Quiet Writing is all about! Self-leadership through listening to yourself and letting your wisdom guide you. Prepare to retreat this week – a little or a lot – to access that inner wisdom to guide you on a clearer path.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 14 May

Tarot Narrative:

Are you feeling scattered because of unfinished business and all that you want to achieve? You might be feeling restless as you strive to do all the things. Taking some time to retreat within for clarity is advisable now. Setting your own pace, knowing your own best priorities, discerning procrastination from the need to gather yourself, can all be sourced from listening within. Moving ahead is just a matter of pausing to listen to ourselves and our own wisdom sometimes.

Cards: Knight of Rods (Wands) and The Hermit from the Morgan-Greer Tarot and #10 Unfinished Symphony in protection (reversed) position from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Book notes:

To engage in disciplined action first requires disciplined thought, and disciplined thought requires people who have the discipline to create quiet time for reflection.

Raymond M.Kethledge & Michael S.Erwin, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude (p. xiv). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Today’s theme is all about taking time to retreat for solitude and reflection. Through this, we can create disciplined thought. We might go about this in creative ways, opening up our options first to distil them down. But it’s all about pausing and taking a kind of personal retreat to review and be still so we can hear our inner guides.

This fabulous book, Lead Yourself First, is all about how self-leadership through solitude and retreat can be a source of wisdom and insight. The book has numerous case-studies of how leaders have used this form of retreat to guide wise and disciplined action.

Wholehearted self-leadership

I have written extensively about the book in a guest post for Worksearch: How to become the heart of successful leadership: this is what you need to know so you can read more there. Also in this post on Quiet Writing. Here are a few thoughts from the latter explaining how wholehearted self-leadership is key to Quiet Writing:

Two key threads underlie Quiet Writing: one is being wholehearted and how we create our stories; the other is self-leadership and how we work towards being wholehearted through taking personal action. The key to taking action and knowing which actions to take are:

knowing ourselves and what we value and desire

learning to listen to our inner knowing

understanding our innate personality, including its strengths and what is challenging for us

seeking out, incorporating and acting on influence and inspiration from others.

Pursuing passion and creativity

The Knight of Rods (Wands) focuses our attention on pursuing our passions and creative projects. But the energy of the Knight of Rods can be a bit restless and impulsive. On the positive side, this type of energy can help us break through barriers and be more creative. On the flipside, we can also be trying to do all the things and all at once. It’s a great energy to work with though if we can harness it. The Robin Wood Tarot describes it as “practical action in spite of distractions.” The trick is to find a way to channel that energy in a sustainable and disciplined way. And to find a way to negotiate the insistence of multiple of ideas and the noise of numerous distractions.

Retreat and going within to find clarity

The Hermit comes along to beautifully remind us of the value of retreat to find approval with ourselves. This card symbolises that it’s time to value the need to retreat for clarity and inner listening. As The Fountain Tarot guidebook reminds us for The Hermit, “Silence leading to clarity” is key here.

Quiet Writing is all about this process of retreat to find wisdom and self-discipline. We can get so caught up in comparisonitis, measuring ourselves against others. Or it might be some pace or goal we have set ourselves which has no real rationale. With the energy of the Knight of Rods being ignited, we might be trying to achieve too many things at once.

We are encouraged to go within, to retreat into our own inner knowing so we can access the discipline of thought and intuition to proceed. It can all get so complex and multifaceted, especially as creatives, as we have one idea and then another. Stopping to gather our thoughts, make lists, mind-map, distil, make a plan, unravel, walk or free write can all be valuable ways to use this time of retreat.

Sometimes we might just need to nap or rest altogether, freeing our mind of all the thoughts running. A few days of mental rest however that manifests can mean we can see afresh and listen anew to ourselves. In ‘Lead Yourself First’, we can see a variety of ways leaders access solitude for self-knowledge including running, walking, flying, laying bricks and writing. Leaders intentionally and systematically “build pockets of solitude” into their lives. An example is Bill Gates who:

during the rise of Microsoft, set aside entire weeks to just go away and read and reflect, what he called “think week.”

Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude (p. xv).

Through this process we can work out what matters, however we might choose to do this individually.

Unfinished business

The Wisdom of the Oracle card Unfinished Symphony steps in with wisdom around working out what is procrastination and what is real work. Our unfinished business can be a key to where we might be operating out of fear or putting things off. Being clearer about this can come through retreat and stepping back to listen within.

But we are encouraged not to stall:

Don’t overthink things or let yourself get distracted – just tie up any loose ends and deliver the results. (p39)

I am in a Coffeeshop Writers’ Group coaching program with Caroline Donahue to support reaching my writing goals. In a group call, I shared my thoughts about feeling stuck with so many projects not going anywhere or as fast as I want them to. It’s very Knight of Rods with so many projects on this ‘To Do List’ next to me. Taking some time out this week for clarity along with a little mental rest will help me reorient. It’s ironic that sometimes we need to stop to move forward more productively.

Part of us wants to run on and get out there with all of the ideas racing through our minds. Another part of us realises the wisdom of retreat to reorder and assess our ways of working. Stopping to listen within to work out priorities and in that, addressing any unfinished business, is valuable work now.

Honouring the need for retreat

How good does that image of a comfy bed, blanket and a book look to you right now?

It looks perfectly dreamy to me and I can hear my soul saying, “Well do that then if that is what you need.” With an eye to working out what is procrastination versus a real need to rest, retreat and rejuvenate, it’s time to seek a little quiet now. It’s time to listen to our soul and our creative longings and how they want to be expressed.

How might you do this? You will know your own ways to do this but here are a few ideas:

work with tarot and oracle for intuitive guidance and free write about what comes up
walk along the beach or in the city or on a quiet country road and see what surfaces
make a list of unfinished business that is troubling you so you can reprioritise
rest in bed with a good comfort read and empty your mind a little
make a visual collage to see what messages emerge
journal about what’s important to see what comes through
go on a self-guided writing retreat
practice yoga, meditate, swim or do whatever works to clear your head
declare a few days of retreat to concentrate on planning the next six months ahead
take a few days to clear your head with good food, yoga and walking to reset a new way of living
think about all the reasons to go on a writer’s retreat and then plan one!
sign up for a retreat like this one later this year in Vietnam, led by my friend Kerstin Pilz, to carve out times of retreat in your life more generally
identify the self-leadership practices in your creative tool-kit

Honouring the place of retreat in our lives is key to moving ahead productively. Take some time to journal to quell the noise and listen to your quiet inner voice this week.

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to how this message of retreat to listen, check in and find approval with yourself resonates with you this week.

All best wishes for a week of untroubled retreat, embracing your hermit and connecting with your soul’s voice.

May you find inspiration in listening to your inner wisdom and knowing what matters. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

You can work with me to help tap into that inner wisdom and magic guidance. Free 30-45 minute coaching consults chats are available so please get in touch at terri@quietwriting.com to talk further. I’d love to be a guide alongside to help you conduct creativity and magic with spirit and heart in your own unique way.

You can download my free 94-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story – just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below. You will also receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Shining a quiet light – working the gifts of introversion

Finishing on a high note – closure, letting go and moving on

How to make the best of introverted strengths in an extraverted world

Being a vessel – or working with Introverted Intuition

creativity transcending

Opening your heart to inspiration of a different kind

May 7, 2018

In each loss, there is a gain as in every gain there is a loss. And with each ending comes a new beginning.

Shao Lin via The Art of Life Tarot – Eight of Cups

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: opening your heart to inspiration of a different kind

Theme for the week beginning 7 May

The underlying theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Lisa McLoughlin’s Life Design Cards deck – #19 Design from patterns to details

We’ve hard this card before not so long ago! Last time it reminded us of the value of strategy and the higher order of connections. This week the message is similar but with a particular focus on moving through and not letting details get the better of us. We are reminded to look at ideas, patterns and getting our ideas and feelings out without getting stuck.

Advice from the Life Design Cards Guidebook is:

Are you concentrating too much on the details whilst missing the bigger picture, or vice versa?

Today’s narrative, led by this theme card, encourages us to step back a little and see the whole. Looking at patterns rather than flaws or minor issues will serve us well at this time.

It’s about being positive and macro focused rather than micro. We are encouraged to reflect on how working at a higher order of life design can serve us and others well now.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 7 May

Tarot Narrative:

Moving on from the tyranny of details, you open your heart to inspiration of a different kind. You want to take your ideas forward but get stuck on the pieces which breaks your movement. So focus on higher order things: patterns and designing from a higher place. With spirit as your guide, work on manifesting your ideas in form and flow without obsessing about every small thing. It will all find its place.

Cards: Daughter (Page) of Swords and Eight of Cups from The Wild Unknown and #40 Co-create from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Book notes:

It is the same with our minds and hearts. For our very self is the one window we have into this life. And so often, we suffer the mood of a dirty window, believing the brilliant world gray.

Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening (for May 7)

Mark Nepo reminds us for today’s reading in ‘The Book of Awakening’ of ‘The Ordinary Art’. This is about keeping our minds clear and not seeing life through a dirty lens. One way of keeping things murky is to get caught up on the detail – the one piece of dirt on an otherwise clear window, the one thing that is not right. So much can get lost in obsessing about detail before you even make a start or begin opening your heart.

Mark Nepo goes on to say:

Perhaps the purpose of authentic relationship is to help each other keep our minds and hearts clear. Perhaps inner work is the ordinary art of window washing, so that the day is fully the day.

Opening your heart

The Page of Swords can often represent “a great idea with no outlet” according to Jessa Crispin in The Creative Tarot. It can remind us that it’s “time to grow up and see a project through to completion for a change.”

Do you have a project that never seems to get going or even make it through to the draft stage? Do you close your heart down before you even start as the details cloud over you?

This reading starts with the Page of Swords as a weather report card telling us to get on with our work or relationships. Too much focus on the detail and the tyranny of perfection can stop us from even starting work or communicating.

One way of opening your heart is embracing the overall pattern of your work rather than obsessing with the details. Just as Mark Nepo reminds us, seeing our work or loved ones through a dirty lens is just not going to be helpful.

Inspiration of a different kind

The Eight of Cups reminds us to let go of what doesn’t serve us. It might be painful but letting go and leaving things behind can be positive. We might, for example, let go of an obsession with detail to finally get our work done. Walking on the beach, we might see the one stone or shell that speaks to us instead of being overwhelmed by many. We might let go of a way of thinking, a person, a job or an attitude that stops us achieving higher order goals like love, creativity or connection.

The Wisdom of the Oracle card Co-create also reinforces this message by encouraging us to see our life as art co-created with spirit:

Connections of the heart serve to inspire you, opening you up to new ideas you would never have had on your own.

This Tarot Narrative work I do is an example of that. I never know what these weekly posts will focus on until I do this intuitive work in partnership with spirit. It is a unique practice of mystery and manifestation that is larger than me. The tarot and oracle cards are tools for me to connect with my intuition. For this week and beyond, focusing on higher-order patterns and a clear view of my work and relationships will serve me well. And I share this in a spirit of co-creation with you.

Details, endings and beginnings

As the Art of Life Tarot Eight of Cups reminds us, endings and beginnings and losses and gains are often intertwined. Especially when big life transitions or events happen, it’s easy to lose the larger picture in the details. We feel hurt by small things that feel magnified. It’s easy to dwell on these upsets. We are encouraged to see the cyclical nature of life and to move beyond getting stuck through an obsession with detail.

Working with our intuition, seeing the bigger picture, working with patterns, choosing to see through a clean window can help us. It is as if we need to erase the details that can trip us up or hold us back. Defining ourselves or others by small events or a few words said can be limiting. Just as not developing the unique creative ideas that come to us because of a fear of not achieving our ideal will limit our productivity.

“Done is better than perfect” is a maxim I have embraced more this year. There is no point having such high expectations of ourselves or our work that nothing gets started. Or ever sees the light of day.

It’s a great week for opening our hearts to inspiration of a different kind.

How are we embracing our creative ideas rather than stifling them?
Where are we be generous in our relationships rather than fault-finding?
What have we learnt about the ways we stop ourselves from moving and how can we action this?
How can we find a higher order pattern to work from rather than getting stuck on details?
What can we do to invite inspiration in and take it through to completion?
Where can we work in partnership with intuition and spirit and the spirit of others to further our work and relationships?

Walking away from practices that no longer serve us can help us feel more inspired. Take some time to journal on how you can lift your eyes to see the positives without the details becoming a barrier this week.

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to how you are working from design and a different kind of inspiration this week.

All best wishes for this week of seeing the big picture to guide us in moving forward.

May you find inspiration in opening your heart and seeing new beginnings. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Finishing on a high note – closure, letting go and moving on

Gathering my lessons – a wholehearted story

Coaching goals and the value of being a healthy creative

Your body of work – the greatest gift for transition to a bright new life

Grief and pain can be our most important teachers

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creativity transcending

Weathering seasons of life with skill and balance

April 30, 2018

Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.

Oscar Wilde via The Art of Life Tarot – Four of Pentacles

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: weathering the seasons of life with skill and balance

Theme for the week beginning 30 April

The underlying theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Lisa McLoughlin’s Life Design Cards deck – #49 Connect with Nature whatever the weather.

Again we seem to be building on the recent weeks’ themes of the essential matters of life and the value of simple pleasures. This week we are reminded of the value of weathering seasons and connecting with nature to help us.

Advice from the Life Design Cards Guidebook is:

Connect with Nature no matter what your internal or external season is.

I drew this card immediately after writing in my morning pages:

Monday morning, wet, windy, rainy, but off for a swim soon because I like to keep moving and I love it. I love all the conditions and changing circumstances. Reflects my life really, moving through different weather and changing circumstances.

This week’s guidance is about weathering seasons of life and how we choose to move through them. Even the conditions that are out of our control.

It’s about connecting with nature and other practices that keep us grounded in changing times. Remembering that different weather, seasons and change are all a natural part of life helps us to flow with it all rather than fight it. Another aspect of wholehearted living, we can choose to live in the moment of whatever season we are experiencing. We can also make choices to help us navigate challenging times more consciously and with skill and balance.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 30 April

Tarot Narrative:

It’s time to remember the value of weathering the seasons and circumstances with skill and balance. All you have been through, the changing times are full of lessons and learning. Focus on the broader canvas of shifting from one season to another. Remember the larger scale, the deeper riches, and the cycle of the month, the year – how life moves through highs and lows, successes and challenges. Weather it all with skill and grace and work on yourself, your projects, as an anchor through changing times.

Cards: Three of Pentacles and Four of Pentacles from The Art of Life Tarot and #38 To Be Fair from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Book notes:

But it is in the present–not in the past, and most certainly not in the future–that we are able to see the landscape, to feel the range of our humanity, to travel every uncomfortable mile.

Dani Shapiro, Still Writing

Seasons can be actual, physical times of the year or they can be seasons of creativity and life. Whatever season we are moving through, a key element of the art of wholehearted living is to be present. As Dani Shapiro reminds us, it is about being present to our experience that helps us weather circumstances.

We often can’t control what happens to us. All we can control is our response and attitude to it. And a great way to manage that is to be present and mindful. Connecting with nature helps us do that. Practices like swimming, walking, yoga, writing, running – all help us do that. Working out what can support you to be in the moment is an important part of weathering seasons of life and creativity.

Weathering seasons of life and creativity

The Three of Pentacles is a favourite card here at Quiet Writing. I referenced it when I launched Quiet Writing Coaching where I talked about coaching as co-creation. Today it pops up again to remind us of the work we are doing over time. As Ralph Waldo Emerson says on The Art of Life Tarot Three of Pentacles card:

The reward of a thing well done is to have it done.

The Three of Pentacles focuses on mastery, craft, long-haul creativity, teamwork and weathering circumstances to get our larger work done in the world. I think of it as the “building a cathedral” card as Jessa Crispin suggests in The Creative Tarot. Many versions of the card show a major building undertaking, taking measurements, working out the architecture and structure, bringing the pieces together.

It makes me think of weathering seasons in larger creative projects or life practices. Examples that came to mind are:

Completing NaNoWriMo and writing 50,000 words in a month
Swimming and learning to swim in different weather and circumstances
Tarot work and learning this skill over time, sharpening my intuition

Any aspects of life really where we are digging deep to weather seasons and circumstances, get projects done or deal with major life issues like grief and illness.

Jen Carrington is also a proponent of wholehearted living and talks about living and working in seasons of hustle, struggle and rest. I love Jen’s thoughts on this and how we can make choices and modulate our way through, whatever season we are in.

Connecting to what matters

The Four of Pentacles card reminds us to connect with what matters, echoing last week’s message. Just as the quote on The Art of Life Tarot card reminds us (from Oscar Wilde above), the real riches are more than the material things of life. We are reminded to loosen up, let go, not get so focused on the material. We can worry so much about these things and lose joy in the process.

The Wisdom of the Oracle card To Be Fair also reinforces the message of the changing circumstances of life:

Life is a pendulum swinging between all of these states…remember all experiences have their place.

As Jen Carrington reminds us, there are times of hustle (eg working on big projects, moving forward), struggle (eg facing challenges, overwhelm) and rest (eg slowing down, pausing projects). We can be mindful of these seasons and we can mix them up a little. And we can find practices to help us navigate these seasons more successfully, whether they are of our choosing or not.

Weathering or living by seasons

The big learning for me has been to honour nature as a great leveller and teacher at times of challenge.

I know I mention swimming a lot, but that’s because it has been such a mainstay at a time of challenge. It helps me notice the seasons, the weather and reflect on moving through, being present. I meditate as I swim, noticing the fish and sand, letting all the jumbled thoughts settle as I breathe and move.

Likewise walking on the beach or in the bush enables us to interact with the weather but also reflect and be present. Being present to how we are living and choosing to live helps us to weather seasons of life and creativity in a calmer way.

And I’ve learnt that the tougher the going gets, the more I need to swim, walk, read and write, the anchors of wholehearted self-leadership in my life. It’s so easy to give them up when times get hard. But that is exactly what we need to be doing as a form of self-care. Your particular loves and skills will be different but whatever they are, honour them to keep present, fair and balanced in your life.

It’s a great week for reflecting on weathering seasons in our life and creative projects.

How are we moving through, how are we nourishing ourselves, how are we staying present in the midst of challenge?

Building the big works of our lives takes all seasons and learning to manage them. Take some time to journal on your weathering of seasons and creativity and see where you can strengthen your response to changing times.

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to how you are weathering seasons in your life and creativity.

How are you taking the longer and larger scale view and building a cathedral?
What practices make a difference in weathering seasons of different types in your life?
How are you staying present to enjoy life’s riches even if there are tough times around you?

All best wishes for this week of weathering seasons by focusing on navigating change and conscious choices in how we respond.

May you find joy in the richer dimensions of life that may take more time to build and withstand. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Coaching goals and the value of being a healthy creative

Your body of work – the greatest gift for transition to a bright new life

Grief and pain can be our most important teachers

Endurance – going the distance with truth, patience and strength

Seeking wisdom in water and elsewhere

Umbrella image via pexels.com

love, loss & longing transcending

Simple pleasures can make a world of difference

April 23, 2018

In the midst of grime and despair, the smallest act becomes unspeakably beautiful.

The Steampunk Tarot, Six of Cups

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: simple pleasures and acts make a world of difference

Theme for the week beginning 23 April

The underlying theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Lisa McLoughlin’s Life Design Cards deck – #38 Discover simplicity through the senses

This week builds on last week’s theme of the essential matters of life and of the heart and remembering what really matters. This week, we focus on the value of simple pleasures – through the senses, memories, remembered joy or gifts and thoughts from the heart. Often ephemeral and fleeting, we are reminded of the power of simple pleasures like laughter, sunshine, flowers, music and play. Engaging with our senses to heal, connect and ground ourselves is especially highlighted this week. And we reminded that these simple pleasures can make a world of difference to us and to others at critical times.

Advice from the Life Design Cards Guidebook is:

Though you are infinitely complex, find serenity and peace through simple things.

Challenging times can make us get overwhelmed. But how many times do we find that it is simple pleasures like hearing a song we love, a gift of flowers or a walk on the beach can be just what we need to connect with ourselves and settle.

This week’s guidance is about remembering the value of simple pleasures and how they activate our senses. Music, scent, candles, feeling our feet on the ground whatever the surface, remembered joyful moments and the connecting value of simple pleasures and gifts are all highlighted this week.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 23 April

Tarot Narrative:

In the space between endings and beginnings, in the space between darkness and light, there’s an opportunity for simple pleasures to light the way forward. Remembered joy, getting back to what you love, a smile, a small word or gift, flowers, the pleasure of the senses being fired by an offering. Where you or someone else is vulnerable, simple pleasures, moments and memories can light the way to a new cycle.

Reading notes:

Cards: Six of Cups and The World from The Steampunk Tarot and #33 Chaos and Conflict in protection (reversed) position from Wisdom of the Oracle.

(Love The Steampunk Tarot deck – not a new deck but new to me and deck interview coming soon here!)

Book notes:

I’m reading Liz Fenwick’s The Returning Tide right now. I’m linking this book here because the experience of reading this novel is one of finding joy. This is through the act of reading, losing myself in a novel and also in my mind going to lovely Cornwall where it is set. That remembered joy of being in Cornwall is stirring as I read. It’s a special place for me and even the names of places – Helford, Falmouth, Boscawen – all create strong feelings. I would love to be there for a long time to explore its joys. Unfortunately, I can’t get there right now. But I have my memories of going there and this story which brings them alive.

The story also is one of how simple joys get complicated in life as events overtake. In this case, wartime experiences make life and especially relationships challenging. Liz Fenwick takes us through the journey of a family where joy and simple pleasures seem buried in layers of circumstance. It’s powerful to reflect on in the light of our own story and how we respond to what is happening.

So this story and the simple, sensual pleasures of reading a much-loved author in the warm sunshine of a balmy Sydney autumn have been sustaining and joyful of late. And if you haven’t read Liz Fenwick, do read her fabulous novels.

Simple pleasures and remembered joy

In last week’s tarot narrative, the Five of Cups reminded us it’s helpful to feel any pain fully as we move through it. If we don’t, we can miss valuable lessons.

The Six of Cups steps in to remind us of some practical tricks in moving through challenges. This card speaks of the value of small acts of beauty – gifts of time, thoughtful acts, flowers, moments of simple pleasure like reading in the sun. We are reminded to engage our senses – to feel, see, hear, taste and smell.

The Five of Cups focuses on sorrow, lost opportunity and regrets. The Six of Cups dwells in the hope and peace of life’s simple pleasures now and as positive memories.

The World card reinforces this via the World Dancer surrounded by symbols of the four elements: air, fire, water and earth. The world is open for us to engage with if only we lift our eyes from our pain or circumstance. There is joy in simple pleasures, even if life throws up some curve balls we hadn’t anticipated.

The Chaos and Conflict card says there is an opportunity for simple pleasures to become moments of real insight. The guidebook says:

Even in the seeming chaos, there is a kind of Divine order, a complete re-sorting of the elements.

We need to open ourselves to this.

Last week’s message was: We can focus on the dark clouds or we can focus on the light coming through. This week’s message is to seek light in simple pleasures and allow solutions and healing to evolve through these spaces.

We so often want to fix situations for ourselves and others. But often the simplest acts of self-care like reading, taking photographs or a walk on the beach at sunset can create answers.

Engaging in simple pleasures to heal

One of the big learnings for me going through extreme life experiences in the past 18 months has been the power of self-care and simple pleasures.

It’s important to know what lights us and others up and to do this. Here are a few of my favourites:

reading a great book – a novel by a favourite author or non-fiction book in an area I love
a cup of tea
a walk on the beach especially at sunset
a swim in the ocean
taking photographs as I walk and notice
flowers especially natives growing amongst wildness
green ferns and mosses
water flowing – fountains, rivers, cascades, waves
succulents and their quirky ways
listening to favourite songs, revisiting songs I’ve loved (this week: ‘State of Independence’ by Donna Summer!)
the feel of our companion animals’ softness as they sit close by
being inspired and learning through listening to podcasts (today, Discussing Jung’s Studies in Astrology by Liz Greene)
the smiles and laughs of special friends and family members
seeing healing occur in loved ones
breathing in and out and really feeling it move inside me
remembering the joy of holidays and places I love even if I can’t be there now
working with tarot and oracle cards
writing morning pages, feeling my hand move across the page
handling crystals, enjoying their texture and energy

What simple pleasures work to bring you joy even if life is tough?

How can you bring joy to someone else through the simplest pleasures of life?

It’s a great week for steeping ourselves in self-care and care of others through simple pleasures. Filling our well through our senses and remembering joyful moments can be the passport to healing and the bridge to new insights.

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to hear what is working for you as you focus on the simple pleasures of life this week.

All best wishes for this week of moving through challenges by focusing on self-care and care of others through celebrating simplicity, the senses and remembered joy.

May you find joy in the simple things of life and may this make a difference for you and yours. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

You can work with me to help tap into that inner wisdom and magic guidance. Free 30-45 minute coaching consults chats are available in April for a May coaching start so please get in touch at terri@quietwriting.com to talk further. I’d love to be a guide alongside to help you conduct creativity and magic with spirit and heart in your own unique way.

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If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

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Essential matters and feeling your way through pain

April 16, 2018

The cups will fill again and the storm will pass. Feel the pain, and keep one foot on solid ground.

The Fountain Tarot, Five of Cups

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: essential matters + feeling your way through pain

Theme for the week beginning 16 April

The underlying theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Lisa McLoughlin’s Life Design Cards deck – #44 Make those essential actions matter.

This week is about essential matters of life and of the heart and remembering what really matters. In this, we might be feeling pain and turmoil, but it’s a time of washing away the inessential.

Often the toughest and most painful of circumstances remind us of essential matters to focus on. We need to take the time to breathe through them and learn from them, as hard as this can be.

Advice from the Life Design Cards Guidebook is:

Let nothing be hidden behind walls of fear. Try to feel what you want to do right now. Clarify your priorities as if every minute matters.

Certainly, the more painful the time, the more we realize that indeed every moment does matter. The gift of challenge is to sharpen our awareness and help us identify what is essential and what is not essential.

This week’s guidance is about experiencing the pain and full feelings of challenging situations so we can learn from them. We are reminded to tap into the power of instinct and intuition as we move through difficult times. It’s as if we need to feel our way in the true sense of this phrase, letting feelings be our guide. This might mean going through pain and upheaval to get to the other side. Being grounded and learning as we move through is key.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 16 April

Tarot Narrative:

Change is often painful, it’s true. Spilt cups, falling towers, grey skies, stepping between worlds. It all points to the loss and transformation of something, life becoming different in essential ways. You can lose yourself in this loss, focusing on what is spilt, becoming paralysed. Or you can step into the dark clouds and feel them, know their energy and know too that the blue sky and calmer times will come again.

Reading notes:

Cards: Five of Cups and The Tower from The Fountain Tarot and #3 Between Worlds from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Book notes:

You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.

Pema Chödrön

via Rick Hanson’s

Resilient: 12 Tools for transforming everyday experiences into lasting happiness

What a fabulous quote from Pema Chodron and what an amazing book ‘Resilient’ is. I have listened to it as an audiobook the past few weeks as I have driven in and out of my little village. I’m facing challenging times yet again after supporting my mother through her terminal illness last year. In the final stages of my mother’s life, as I drove in and out of town to the hospital, I focused on the essential as I listened to Greg McKeown’s Essentialism.

Both books sing of essential matters, moving through the inessential and gaining clarity. Tough and painful times sometimes simply have to be moved through. But feeling the pain and learning from these times gifts us with powerful lessons we can take forward. We develop psychological resources we can gather if from dark clouds, to face difficult times with grace and strength.

Dark clouds and what they teach us

If there’s one thing you notice from each of the three cards for this week’s tarot narrative, it’s the prevalence of dark clouds.

The Five of Cups reminds us that it’s helpful to feel any pain and loss fully as we move through it. If we don’t, we can miss valuable lessons. It is as if we need to feel the pain to move through it. ‘Befriending Grief’, as the Fountain Tarot interpretation puts it, can be a source of moving through any loss.

The Tower can be a fearful card to pull with its top-heavy energy drawing things down. It reminds us of the pain of moving through change. But as the Fountain Tarot reminds us, it can be about ‘The Inessential Destroyed’ and getting through to what matters.

Between Worlds reminds us:

What is essential now is to admit not knowing. There is great freedom and power to be unleashed.

All of these cards especially in the light of our theme card, “Make those essential actions matter”, bring us into the realm of clear, essential, resilient actions.

We can focus on the dark clouds or we can focus on the light coming through.

The photograph above was taken this evening as dark smoke fills the sky from bushfires not so far away. It’s been a sobering time lately in many respects and my thoughts have been with those battling the fires and trying to keep their homes and loved ones safe. The fight is not over. But whatever we are battling, light and optimism will help shine out the dark and keep us focused, even if we must acknowledge the challenges at hand in very real terms.

Essential matters and resilient practices

I shared some learnings from my reading of ‘Resilient’ last week in my post, Creative healing in times of sorrow and challenge. This week’s focus on essential matters continues this theme and highlights these practices.

The two practices prompted by reading ‘Resilient’ that have helped me the most these past few weeks have been:

1 Honouring my psychological resources

Sadly, I have been through a lot of pain, challenge and loss in my life. On one side, I can focus on this and let it get me down. Or I can see that I have had the opportunity to build psychological resources to be more resilient and strong.

Everything we go through teaches us if we are open to the lessons. At times, I have had to dig deep and be reflective, talk to special friends and professionals. I’ve learnt to know when to spend time alone, when to practice self-care and how to balance my needs with others. Tough lessons all and with more challenges stretching me, I can dig into my learning and bring all of myself to bear to get through. For example, I am much better at contacting people and talking when I need it now rather than battling on alone.

2 Feeling the beauty in small everyday joys as well as feeling pain

A big learning over time for me has been that it is okay to feel the beauty and joy of everyday things – the full cups – even as we feel immense pain.

We can tend to make it an either/or, saying to ourselves either I feel grief or I feel joy. I cannot feel both. It can feel like a terrible tension or betrayal of the feeling of pain if we feel good in any way.

Rick Hanson reminds us we can take an approach of gratitude:

Thankfulness is not about minimizing or denying hassles, illness, loss, or injustice. It is simply about appreciating what is also true: such as flowers and sunlight, paper clips and fresh water, the kindness of others, easy access to knowledge and wisdom, and light at the flick of a switch.

I have found special joy in swimming, reading, writing, sitting in the sun, cups of tea, coffee and connection with special friends and family at this time. The simple act of getting these tarot narratives out each week is a blessing and wisdom I learn from.

What are your essential resilient practices?

So take some time to identify your essential matters and resilient practices:

Where are you feeling pain and can you acknowledge it for what is?
What beautiful and special things have you enjoyed or witnessed lately?
How can this light you up even if feeling pain?
Where have you felt darkness descend and why?
What have you focused on or done to take you there into that darkness?
When have you lightened up and what helped you to do that?
What psychological resources have you developed over time and how can you honour this and build on them?

Take a moment to list:

Your psychological resources, learning and supports and what helps you get through
The blessings and joys that bring light into your life even if there are still dark clouds and if only for a brief moment.

This is a great week for honouring our psychological strengths, appreciating any pain and blessings and getting to the essential matters of life.

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to hear what is working for you as you reflect on the essential matters of life.

All best wishes for this week of being clear on the essential, removing the inessential and developing resilient practices.

May you find strength and resilience in the clarity and peace of essential matters. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Grief and pain can be our most important teachers

Endurance – going the distance with truth, patience and strength

Seeking wisdom in water and elsewhere

Alchemy and conducting magic with spirit and heart

Your body of work – the greatest gift for transition to a bright new life

creativity love, loss & longing

Creative healing in times of sorrow and challenge

April 9, 2018

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.

C S Lewis

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: creative healing in times of sorrow and challenge

Theme for the week beginning 9 April

The underlying theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Marcella Kroll’s Sacred Symbols oracle deck – Medicine Man Eye.

This week is about being creative healing especially in times of sorrow and challenge when we can feel so helpless. We are reminded to see higher magical powers, the way of miracles and medicine of different kinds.

Advice from the Sacred Symbols Guidebook is:

Healer – A Healing in its highest form – Prophecy – Natural Magical Abilities

Meditate when wanting healing on the physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual plane.

The Native American Medicine Man Eye symbol reminds us of the “magical powers of spiritual healing and seeing the future. All seeing, all knowing, all uniting.”

This week’s guidance is about tapping into that spiritual, creative healing energy now. Especially when faced with situations where we feel we can do nothing, we are encouraged to reflect on and access higher forms of healing for ourselves and others. As Albert Einstein reminds us:

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

This week we are reminded to tap into the power of miracles, of creative healing, of spiritual energy and higher forms of magic. Call it or make it what you will: prayer, meditation, channelling, energy healing, writing, art therapy, mandala work, tarot, crystals, poetry, chanting. We are encouraged to access and honour our own creative healing forms at this time.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 9 April

Tarot Narrative:

Creative healing in all its forms calls you now as a way of energy or power. You might feel helpless but know that you have creative ways to make miracles. They might be hard to see and even know the effects of, but channel that energy into healing as you know you can. Write, create art, weave, knit, draw deep. Manifesting miracles and creativity out of the deepest resources and from sorrow is called for now as you and others heal.

Reading notes:

Cards: Queen of Water (Cups) and the Nine of Air (Swords) from The Nomad Tarot and #31 Why? in protection (reversed) position from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Book notes:

The waves echo behind me. Patience––Faith––Openness, is what the sea has to teach. Simplicity––Solitude––Intermittency…But there are other beaches to explore. There are more shells to find. This is only a beginning.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea (p120)

Today’s card echo together in various ways about creative healing approaches. It might be how we find solace in challenging times to heal our own troubled mind by walking on the beach. Perhaps it’s learning to channel our creative healing energies in different ways such as through reiki, energy healing or intuitive writing.

I know many of the wholehearted stories featured here on Quiet Writing highlight art as a form of creative healing. For example, Jade Herriman writes about embracing a creative life and art as a form of healing that she now extends to others through her practice of art therapy. Lynn Hanford-Day likewise found the creative healing practice of art central in her move from breakdown to breakthrough. Lynn now works with sacred geometry and the divine feminine, crafting a multi-faceted career as artist, coach, facilitator and therapist working with women in transition and organisations going through change.

The beautiful Queen of Water from The Nomad tarot with its single elegant shell reminds us via the guidebook:

The most successful and harmonious of all the Water cards, the Queen shows us the possibilities unleashed by blending imagination and creativity with action and social usefulness….This can speak specifically to artistic endeavours or any creation manifested out of what life has presented us with.

Creative healing from what life presents

The Nine of Air (Swords) represents what life can throw at us especially the darkest sides of life. As The Nomad Tarot guidebook says:

In this moment, we are incapable of seeing the world as anything other than full of endless sorrow.

Life can be challenging and it’s easy in these moments to feel helpless. It’s important that we feel and acknowledge emotions like sorrow, grief and pain as real and as guideposts in life. And it’s what we then do with these emotions that matters.

So here are some questions to reflect on:

Do we get bogged down in these dark emotions, Ten of Swords style?
Or do we work through them and try to balance them with appreciating the beauty and blessings in our lives?
How do we seek to learn from them and heal ourselves and others?
What creative healing practices do we engage in to help us work through tough times?
How are we upskilling and learning new skills for creative healing and energy channelling?
Where can we share this knowledge with others?

Writing has been a creative healing force for me as I have worked through challenges. As described in 36 Books that Shaped my Story, books, blogging and returning to writing poetry have been creative healing arts for me. And in healing and caring for ourselves, as selfish as it might feel at times, we are better able to support others. Shalagh Hogan, in the most recent wholehearted story, shares how she turned darkness into creative projects and gathered lessons that help her and others feel positive and engaged in Creative Soul Living.

The Why? card from the Wisdom of the Oracle deck also reminds us to look at our whys at this time. We are encouraged to look at intentions hidden from awareness. Sometimes when we are made vulnerable by sorrow and pain, we can find new insights. In another form of creative healing, recognising true motivations can be eye-opening and lead to clearer paths.

Resilient creative healing

I’ve been reading a fabulous book, Resilient: 12 Tools for transforming everyday experiences into lasting happiness by Rick Hanson, listening to it as an audiobook. It’s full of rich wisdom on resilient creative healing approaches to life. Hanson doesn’t deny that tough times happen but he encourages us to do the best we can in any situation with the psychological resources we have developed over time.

There are so many positive examples of practical, resilient creative healing to be used day by day. Here are just a few:

Find refuges:

In the flow of your day, find refuges such as time to yourself in a morning shower, the friendly camaraderie of people at work, listening to music on the way home, or thoughts of gratitude as you get ready for sleep.

Let be, let go, let in

In other words, getting good at coping, healing, and well-being is a matter of getting good at letting be, letting go, and letting in. Mindfulness is necessary for

Be aware of your needs

So try to be aware of needs, or aspects of needs, that have been unmet. Listen to the longings of your heart.

The HEAL process

1. Have a beneficial experience: Notice it or create it.

INSTALLATION

2. Enrich it: Stay with it, feeling it fully.

3. Absorb it: Receive it into yourself.

4. Link it (optional): Use it to soothe and replace painful, harmful psychological material.

See the jewels around you

Each day is like a path strewn with many little jewels: the small ordinary beneficial experiences of life. It’s easy to overlook these and step right over them. But then we get to the end of the day and ask, “Why don’t I feel richer inside? Why does it feel like I’m running on empty?” The jewels are already there. Why not pick some of them up?

I highly recommend this rich and practical book for increasing resilient resources and creative healing in the context of experience. One of the ways of being creative with healing is practising it in the everyday.

This is a great week for digging deep into miracles and creative healing practices of all kinds. With Mercury retrograde around until April 15, it’s a great time for self-reflection and growth amidst the chaos and anxiety.

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to hear what is working for you as you engage with these energies around self-care and supporting those around you

All best wishes for this week of creative healing and developing resilient practices.

May you express yourself and find healing through the creative arts and your psychological resources developed over time. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Endurance – going the distance with truth, patience and strength

Strategy, patterns and the higher order of connections

Seeking wisdom in water and elsewhere

Alchemy and conducting magic with spirit and heart

Your body of work – the greatest gift for transition to a bright new life

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tarot

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

Marcus Aurelius via The Art of Life Tarot – The Hermit

Theme for the week beginning 14 May

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 14 May

Book notes:

To engage in disciplined action first requires disciplined thought, and disciplined thought requires people who have the discipline to create quiet time for reflection.

Wholehearted self-leadership

Pursuing passion and creativity

Retreat and going within to find clarity

Unfinished business

Honouring the need for retreat

Love to hear your thoughts!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

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In each loss, there is a gain as in every gain there is a loss. And with each ending comes a new beginning.

Shao Lin via The Art of Life Tarot – Eight of Cups

Theme for the week beginning 7 May

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 7 May

Book notes:

It is the same with our minds and hearts. For our very self is the one window we have into this life. And so often, we suffer the mood of a dirty window, believing the brilliant world gray.

Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening (for May 7)

Opening your heart

Inspiration of a different kind

Details, endings and beginnings

Love to hear your thoughts!

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Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.

Oscar Wilde via The Art of Life Tarot – Four of Pentacles

Theme for the week beginning 30 April

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 30 April

Book notes:

But it is in the present–not in the past, and most certainly not in the future–that we are able to see the landscape, to feel the range of our humanity, to travel every uncomfortable mile.

Dani Shapiro, Still Writing

Weathering seasons of life and creativity

Connecting to what matters

Weathering or living by seasons

Love to hear your thoughts!

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In the midst of grime and despair, the smallest act becomes unspeakably beautiful.

The Steampunk Tarot, Six of Cups

Theme for the week beginning 23 April

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 23 April

Book notes:

Simple pleasures and remembered joy

Engaging in simple pleasures to heal

Love to hear your thoughts!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

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The cups will fill again and the storm will pass. Feel the pain, and keep one foot on solid ground.

The Fountain Tarot, Five of Cups

Theme for the week beginning 16 April

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 16 April

Book notes:

You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.

Pema Chödrön

Dark clouds and what they teach us

Essential matters and resilient practices

What are your essential resilient practices?

Love to hear your thoughts!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

Share this:

Like this:

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.

C S Lewis

Theme for the week beginning 9 April

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 9 April

Book notes:

Creative healing from what life presents

Resilient creative healing

Love to hear your thoughts!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

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