an inner strength, alone day

So as much as I do love my Sun and Moon, the fact that I've pretty much committed to working with the Thoth steadily for the foreseeable future means that I want to mix up my second working deck (if I haven't clearly stated here before, that's my way of doing things these days - two working decks at any given time) at decent intervals. Before putting away this one, decided to do one more day draw...pulled these cards this morning but ran out before thinking about them too much. Returning to the reading this evening, I found that they were a quite apt description of my day...

I really like this take on the Strength card, I must say. I like that it is a wolf she is riding (again the Thoth influence, and I've already discussed why I like Thoth idea of riding the beast) rather than the traditional lion, and that it is a wolf howling at the full moon, no less. To me, with the associations that the Moon itself has, this really ties together the idea of compassion and self-compassion and over-coming both inner and outer obstacles, which for me especially often have to do with mental issues and lack of clarity and indecision and whatever else. This deck is a pretty simple/minimalistic one, really, and yet there are the little touches that just really catch my eye - the snake wrapped around her leg, another butterfly...

Anyway, yeah. Today was a free day for me, no work or class, and I used that inner-strength kind of idea to get myself out the apartment and actually doing productive stuff despite not feeling my best, physically or mentally. Didn't manage to call that dentist yet, but I did get myself to the cherry blossoms at the Washington memorial and Tidal Basin and took a bunch of really nice pictures (I might go again tomorrow with a friend, but the weather is supposed to be rainy and today was so sunny, so I figured I might as well take advantage...). I really enjoy photography, and it was also a nice long walk for me as I walked all the way there from my apartment. I also ran some smaller errands I'd needed to run, (including finally getting myself an umbrella!) and then got to the school library to return some overdue books and start catching up on school-work/get started on those MASSIVE papers I have due very soon and just...yeah.

So definitely a day spent alone, hermit-like, contemplating things, seeing things, getting things done, even the whole studying alone thing. But it was nice, and it was a much better use of my time than I've been known to do other days when I have all day unstructured like this, and I got quite a few things on that To-Do List done and...yeah. Strength and Hermit make for a rather good combination, for me. Hermit at his best, as it were. And I really really do connect with the moon-influence in this card specifically...