Honestly? I’m writing this standing up at the kitchen counter because if I sit down, I know I’ll just open the laptop and check that client email about the budget they slashed last week. That’s how the old me operated. A maniac. An absolute corporate psycho waiting for the next panic attack to hit me right before the 9 AM meeting.
I started doing this whole “daily card draw” thing not because I’m some enlightenment guru or whatever. I started it because my doctor basically told me I needed to find five minutes in the morning where I wasn’t allowed to look at a screen or yell at my dog. That’s it. It’s a cheap, easy trick to force me to breathe and stop being such a twitchy asshole before the sun is even fully up.
All those fancy readers out there, they make it sound so complex—cleansing the space, invoking the ancestors, studying three different esoteric systems just to figure out if you should grab a coffee or a latte. Screw that noise. I paid $300 for one of those “spiritual awakening” weekend retreats two years ago, and all I got was a $150 candle, a three-hour lecture on chakras, and the crushing realization that they were just selling stress disguised as serenity. It was a complete disaster, a total waste of money. That’s why I burned all the big books and made my own rules for this stuff. I keep it fast because frankly, I don’t have the time to meditate on the meaning of the Nine of Wands for forty minutes.
My Practice: The Quick & Dirty Daily Draw
So, here’s what I actually did this morning. This is the whole thing, from start to finish. I use an Oracle deck called the “Wisdom Keepers”—it’s got big pictures and simple keywords, which is exactly why I bought it. No confusing numbered minor arcana to worry about.
Step 1: Grab and State.
- I walked over to the shelf, grabbed the deck—didn’t bother with the cute purple bag.
- I gave the deck a heavy smack on the table. Gotta wake those things up.
- I stated the question, and this is key: I keep it stupid simple. I never ask, “Will I get rich?” or “Does he love me?” because the answer is always muddy. I ask this: “What is the primary energy or challenge I need to anchor myself in today?” That’s it. It focuses the entire reading on the now, on action, not on some fluffy future prediction.
Step 2: Shuffle Like You Mean It.
- I shuffle aggressively. None of that slow, gentle, reverent stuff. I want the card that needs to fall out to just get out. I riffle-shuffled them a half dozen times, feeling the tension from last night’s argument with my cable provider (don’t ask) flow right into my hands.
Step 3: The Big Reveal.
- When a card stuck out, or when the deck felt thin enough, I stopped.
- I cut the deck into three piles (don’t know why, it just feels right).
- I stacked them back together, flipped the entire deck over, and then pulled the top card.
The card I pulled this morning was The Sentinel. Now, here is where my “Quick and Easy Interpretation Tips” come in because this is the step where most people freeze up.
Quick & Easy Interpretation Tips (I Call It the Vibe Check)
Forget the book first. Do this immediately:
- First Reaction (The Gut Punch): Before you read the name or the little description, just look at the picture. What does it make you feel? The Sentinel is a big, dark tower on a stormy shore. It’s heavy. It’s lonely. It’s strong. It gave me a heavy, slightly rigid feeling.
- The Keyword: The keyword on the card is simple: “Watch.” Okay, heavy tower plus “Watch.” This isn’t about running around; this is about standing still and being highly observant. It’s a defensive or protective energy.
- The Action Translation: I translate that into a real-world action for my specific day. Today, I have a massive two-hour meeting with that client who always tries to slip extra work into the contract without paying for it. If I look at The Sentinel, it’s not telling me to fight them—it’s telling me to hold the line. Be the tower. Don’t get pulled into their drama. Watch what they are trying to do, and protect my boundaries, specifically about the scope of the project.
That’s it. That’s the interpretation. Took maybe 60 seconds of actual thinking.
The Recording (Closing the Loop)
I don’t keep a fancy journal. I’m not sketching the card or writing poetry. That’s too much effort. If I make it too complicated, I’ll stop doing it, and then I’m back to being the corporate psycho again. This whole practice is literally just to keep my head screwed on straight, which, frankly, my ex-boss tried his best to mess up when he decided to cut my contract loose without two weeks notice, sending me into a two-month panic spiral where the only thing I saw was red.
What I do is open the ‘Notes’ app on my ancient phone. I don’t even date it. I just create a bullet point at the top of an ongoing list, and I write three things:
- Card: The Sentinel
- Vibe: Heavy/Strong/Steady
- Action: Protect the scope in the 1 PM meeting. Be the tower, not the fighter.
That’s my whole daily reading. It took less than five minutes, and now I have a single point of focus that has nothing to do with emails or spreadsheets. It gives me a tiny bit of peace. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready to be a silent, unmovable tower for the next eight hours. Wish me luck.
