Otherfaith in the Desert

Today it felt like a storm was coming, but it just blew by What can I do to break these toxic habits? Ace of Wands, creativity, branching out. I read somewhere that this card can sometimes be about finding your own voice, and that speaks to me in the way of speaking up for myself I have to use my voice, my personal language to be most effective, not someone else's. 

Today was pretty fun overall, but kind of tiring. What harmful patterns do I keep repeating? 6 of Pentacles, generosity. So I think its stating that I'm too giving, I want to say it leans more towards finances or material goods given the suit, but it can also apply emotionally which I fall into that trap.

Did yesterday's read but forgot to put it up. How can I overcome the challenges listed in day 5? The moon, intuition, illusion, dreams, imagination. This one is a little harder for me, is part of why I postponed putting it up here because the interpretation isn't as solid as some of the others. I can best interpret it as I can use my intuition and imagination to help me past my running out of stamina, but I can't be caught up in my imagination, or too in my head.  

Today a monsoon is on the horizon. I can smell it and see it. Today's question:  What is my biggest obstacle for me this month? II and IV of wands, I thought I pulled one and the four of wands was hiding behind the two.  I read it as my determination as waning as i get to my goal later this month. I need to recharge and make it to the finish line. 

Today pain is making it hard to focus and hard to be motivated to do anything. What is the most valuable thing I can do this month? Daughter of cups, creativity and emotional. I'm guessing that using my emotions to help me creatively is the idea here. 

I'm struggling staying away today, between the heat and the soreness from yesterday's workout, I'm ready to hibernate myself. Today's question: What should I do less of this month? Six of Wands, rising up, victory, success. I see this not as "Don't be successful" but more of a "don't look back". I'm experiencing good things right now and I need to focus on the present not the past. There isn't much I need that is in the past, its here or it will be here. 

I woke up this morning groggy and overwhelmed from the remains of yesterday that came crashing down faster than I had realized. So without further ado, here is today's question. What should I do more of this month? Three of wands, envisioning the future. For the last couple of months, my path has been difficult, and I've been focused on the present, but this month my path is evening out, which means I can start to look at the horizon, and not at my feet. In someways this is a relief and kind of scary. I've gotten used to the anxiety of the last few months, and not needing to focus on it anymore feels vaguely foreign, but I've done it before, and I can do it again. 

It is the first day of Hell Month and according to accuweather.com its only going to get to 102 degrees today. But during this month,  I figured I'd do a tarot card a day and interpret the readings here as the Darren is less active until fall and I have some time learn tarot now versus later where I may have less time. So today's question was: What is the theme of my journey this month? Three of cups, frriendship, community, network. The way I read it is simply that I am building a relationship with my deck, as well as hopefully with other Otherfaith and pagan followers. As for the picture, I find the sunrise/sunset ambiguity interesting which can show both beginnings and endings, but I think for this its a beginning.

I live in Tucson, Arizona and monsoon season has officially begun. I awoke at 6:48 am to a heavy downpour, and booming thunder, I fell back asleep shortly after to the continued sounds of rain. When I woke up the next time, it was still raining off and it continued throughout the day. Now to those of you that live in damper areas, you may be wondering why I'm calling some rainfall magical. Well because in Southern Arizona, the last few days have been well over 100 degrees farenheiht, and the rain through the day has dropped it into the 70s and 80s. The air feels crisp, not scalding, animals of all types are enjoying the weather. And around here, everybody treats it as a religious experience to an extent. Everyone feels the heat taken off, if only for a day. So today I thank the Four + for the brevity from the heat, the running streams, the cleaning of dust, and the magic us Arizonans feel from rain and thunder that grace us every so often.

So I realized before I dived head first into lessons that it would be wise to lay some guidelines about my take on practice regarding The Otherfaith. These are just my thoughts in the possible ways to practice and what I have found so far to be an effective and relatively simple guideline for my practices The Rule of Three The Rule of Three goes as such "Ever mind the Rule of Three, Three times your acts returned to thee. This lesson well thou must learn, Thou only gets what thee dost earn" For those confused by the old-timey sounding words it basically means that things are circular, so tread lightly on what you chose to do as it will come back. Intention This guidline is basically my view point of the meaning you put into it matters more with some things than the fine details. For example, when putting an offering on an altar for the Clarene, she prefers finer teas and drinks. But if you do not have the money for such frivolities, then regular tea is fine, but if ...

So my makeshift devotional is a notebook and I use Glad Day Daily Affirmations to use to meditate with primarily the Darren, or even just basic grounding and affirmations. And use the notebook to reflect on the session, was it helpful, what insight did I get from it, or did I struggle that day? Any major changes to his offerings or set up for knowing how to set the altar in the future are also sometimes recorded when I can remember. It has some really good affirmations, click the pic if you want to buy it on Amazon . Today's affirmation was "Today I will have patience with path I have chosen". It was a little on the nose at the moment. It talked about doubting and fear regarding the new path taken.  Here's the context that made me think at first: I didn't choose to be laid off. It just happened one day, I received a call and I no longer work at my job I was at for almost 3 years. It hurt. I left with dignity, and started trying to pick up what pie...

Hello, my name is Sam and I am making this blog as a way to share both my understanding of the Otherfaith and my learning experiences as a newbie in the Otherfaith.