2021 guidance card, and musings on the Wild Rose

My Guide card for the year ahead is the Wild Rose
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While it can be all too easy to see this card as relationship bliss, I think it can oversimplify things.
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The suit of Summer (Cups) deals with emotions, and interactions with others outside ourselves. The number two usually indicates two forces, or two entities. Possibly a duality, or opposites combining.
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While the idea of joyous connection often conjures up ideas of lovers it is possible to push the boundaries of a bit further. This can be a connection with any two forces and extended beyond romance to platonic, familial, or even ideal work relationships.
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Wild Rose asks you to take note of what it is you’re happily connected to, and that can be yourself too. How do we nurture and care for these relationships? How to we maintain and show respect to what we love?
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When we find ourselves being overly critical it’s important to take a step back. What is it we enjoy and appreciate? It can be a rebellious act to genuinely come forward with a willingness to connect. And it doesn’t need to feel as cheesy as some “love heals all” saying, too.

Eight of Summer, Purple Loosestrife

When this card appears you may be feeling stuck and stagnant- something many of us can relate to with the current state of things.
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Loosestrife is often called an ‘Invasive’ a term I once embraced, but have found myself picking apart the actual concept and now view with a more complicated lens.
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This purple plant was introduced to North America where it quickly took hold- something that can happen with enthusiastic flora offered an ideal environment with none of its usual restrictions. This created a situation where Loosestrife was crowding out wetlands, and creating stagnant waterways void of much variation.
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The card asks us to draw attention to what it is that’s making us feel stuck. Outside factors are valid, but are there things within ourselves that are holding us back?
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Habits, expectations, and mindsets can all be harboring factors causing this stagnation. And while it may seem easier to change external ones, if you’re feeling stuck often, perhaps there’s something inward that can be addressed.

familiarity breeds contempt, the Four of Summer

It can be too easy to get caught up in any kind of routine. It can feel challenging to face things we see everyday, the people we surround ourselves with, and motivating ourselves to do routine daily tasks with vigor and enthusiasm.

Sometimes you just want to look at all that and scream. We want to blame it all for the feelings of grey monotony in our lives.

Familiarity can breed contempt.

But we mustn’t forget that we have a role in how we see the world. If we were caught up in an overwhelming slew of changes, we would crave this level of comfort and regularly.

This is the lesson of the Four of Summer (Cups), Desert Sage.

While it is easy to project our discomfort outward, and a change of scenery definitely can be a useful tool, we also can’t underestimate the power of our own thoughts. Examine what you’re dissatisfied with. Is it a thing you may have outgrown and need to move on from? Or are you assuming you’ve experienced every nook and cranny of that experience, and it’s lost it’s power of magic or wonder?

It’s these assumptions and things we “take for granted” that make things feel mundane. Perhaps it’s time to shed those preconceived notions so we can explore these grounded relationships even more.

And if it’s still not for us, yes, let go of it! Thank it for its wisdom, protection, and support. Release it with no resentment.

But we hold the power to change our interaction with what we do and see daily. Own this power within.

it is said that Lemon Balm dispels melancholy...

Lemon Balm is a unassuming little plant, but it’s subtle powers have me absolutely captivated.

It is said that Lemon Balm dispels melancholy, and in my herbal journey I was a bit skeptical of statements like that. However, for me, it holds true.

It’s nothing too earth shattering. No immediate, noticeable charge of electricity. But it does offer a gentle lift, and usually that’s all I need.

I don’t need to be rocketed into elation, but I would like to loosen the hold of despair now and again. So that I can work within that space, that mood, without being consumed.

Ten of Summer (cups) is just that- a delightful feeling of pleasantries. We’ve just been through a myriad of emotions in our journey. We feel tired, exhausted, but full of joy and light from the breadth of experiences and connections we just endured.

Ten of Summer doesn’t have to be all rainbows and puppies. This moment of joy doesn’t have to be that blatant. Listen within, do you feel that glow in your heart? It might be subtle, but if you tend to it, it will only get brighter.