Daily reading for February 20, 2023

Welcome friends. I hope everyone had a great weekend and you’re ready to get started on the new week. Here are our cards for today.

Our first card, the Nine of Cups, is happy—lots of yellow, which means happiness, hope, and optimism. We see a man seated on a wooden bench. He is wearing a red hat and a white robe. He looks very content and seems to be in good health and in good spirits. The shelf the cups are resting on is covered in a blue cloth, which appears to me a little like water. Cups are associated with water, and water often represents emotions. In this card, there is joy. This card represents our day. We’re in good spirits. Life is good. We have all that we need today.

Our advice card tells a different story. The Seven of Wands shows a man standing on a hill holding a wand in two hands. He doesn’t look like he’s having a good day here. Sevens are all about conflict. Wands are about action and creativity. And it seems as though he might be fighting a group of people or defending himself from a group of people. I sense we may have to protect ourselves a little today with this card as our advice card. While life is good, we’re happy and healthy, and things are great. There are always people in the world who don’t like it when others are happy. And they may try to dampen your spirits today. I’m fond of finding sayings for each card, but with these two cards together, the feeling is one: don’t let them get you down.

It might be a little struggle to get through today and keep your joy intact. But do protect your joy. As you go about your day, find times to smile. To hang on to the feeling you have at this very moment. When you are happiest, it’ll serve you like a shield or the wand in the Seven of Wands, a device to protect your joy so that others may not rob you of it.

Our takeaway card today is the Five of Swords. In this card, we see a man with fiery hair holding two swords in his left hand, a third in his right hand, and two more on the ground just behind him. Two other men are in the background; one is walking away, while another appears to have his hand in his hands. He may be crying while the man in the foreground seems to have a sneer on his face.

Fives are all about chaos and destruction. Right away, you can tell this is not a good scene. The man with the fiery hair appears to have bested someone or perhaps a group of people. He’s fought and won. Many times judging from the number of swords he’s collected. But all of this is done because of shallowness and greed. He fights because he knows he can beat weaker, smaller people. He doesn’t fight with honor or integrity. He fights dirty and takes whatever he can get because he knows you have it, not because he wants it. He is cruel and shallow. I’ve known many people in my life like this man. I could write books on people like this. But I won’t.

Swords are also about our intellect, thoughts, and conscious mind. The story told in the Five of Swords is one of our thoughts getting the best of us. Our thoughts can sometimes be our worst enemy. Sometimes we can do more harm to ourselves than anyone ever could. I know this because I’m a victim of my own self-talk sometimes. The harsh words you tell yourself are just as bad as any that others can give. This card speaks to us about how we treat our inner thoughts. Are we critical of ourselves? Do we judge ourselves too harshly? I have no answers to this card. This is for you to ponder. Sometimes this card has nothing to do with our day, and sometimes it does. Today it seems like it might just connect with our feelings of the day. How do you want to treat your inner thoughts today? Do you treat them and yourself with kindness? Or do you struggle with yourself over petty things? This is often not an easy thing to admit or combat. As I’ve said, the integral struggle can do more harm than any opponent we might face. But now that we know this, we can do something about it. The choice is yours. Whatever you do today, protect the joy you have. Don’t let anyone steal it from you. Take time for yourself and be kind to you.

Thanks for reading today. If you enjoyed this or if it resonated with you, please leave a comment and let me know. If it didn’t resonate, perhaps someone in your life might need to hear this message today. Please share it with them. Thanks again for reading, and have a great day!

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