There was a time I would have told you, “I’ve never had issues with anxiety. I’m just not an anxious person by nature.”
I would have said this despite chewing my nails to jagged daggers and scratching myself bloody in my sleep—waking up looking like I’d battled feral cats. The pacing, fidgeting, hand-wringing until I had blisters? Just spacey and absent minded, I told myself. All those weird ‘quirks’ never even once hit my radar as being symptomatic of anxiety. I mean, sure, weird that it shows up more when I’m stressed, but hey, people are just weird, right?
It wasn’t until I started acknowledging these things aren’t normal, and looking at them in more detail, that I started making connections and hence, progress. And I’m not a dumb person. But even the smartest among us can talk ourselves into some fancy rationalizations for why we don’t have to address things that are uncomfortable.
The point is, disconnection from your feelings frosted with a big layer of denial is a really powerful thing. The cards this week address that phenomena. So let’s dig in.
Coming up in the Cards
Rider-Waite mini deck here for today’s peek at the energetic weather.
Outlook, Seven of Wands
Now, a Seven of Wands isn’t super cryptic as an outlook message. It speaks to knowing what’s real for you, and sticking by it despite sometimes significant pressure otherwise. Admittedly, this is trickier if you grew up getting gaslit. Because when you’ve been trained to question yourself over everyone else, standing firm in your own perceptions feels almost impossible. But the meaning is still clear, even if the path to it can be obscure.
As an outlook, I would be expecting that many people–maybe even you and I–will not be content to go along with the group right now. We may feel driven to declare or at the very least live by our personal perspective of truth and right, no matter what the infamous ‘everybody else’ has to say about it. And that’s not a bad thing at all.
Advice, Nine of Swords
The advice threw me at first. Worry, guilt, agonizing? So I pulled clarifiers, and two cards tumbled out together: Seven of Swords and Page of Pentacles. Then it clicked.
In this case, the Nine of Swords is telling us to face up to whatever we’ve been not seeing, including perhaps uncomfortable truths that we’ve been avoiding. This may be our role in a situation or the level of denial we’ve maintained, either. That Seven of Swords specifically points out that which has gone unnoticed, under the radar. And the Page of Pentacles says get the message, look at it directly.
Bottom line: face what you’ve been avoiding—your role, your denial, whatever. Stand up for what’s true, even when it’s uncomfortable. Get the message already! But don’t beat yourself up over it. How you got here matters way less than where you’re going.
Now for You
Is there anywhere you’re feeling called to take a stand? And if there’s any fog around it—any vagueness or avoidance when you think about it—could it be your cue to look a little closer? Maybe there’s something you’ve been frosting over with a little denial.
