wise words
from the woodland
It’s been a while since I pulled from my Woodland Wardens deck. The other night I felt the nudge, so I shuffled, apologised for the neglect, and asked the cards for some insight into my Bali trip:
Past (before Bali)
Present (me in Bali)
Future (when I get home again)
Here’s what came up:
Past → Reversed Dragonfly + Pansy
Present → Upright Bear + Cedar
Future → Reversed Wolf + Rose Hip
Past: Reversed Dragonfly + Pansy
The dragonfly (clarity, transformation) reversed is like flapping about in fog – stuck in illusions or old stories. The pansy is about reflection and memory. Together, they summed up my pre-Bali self: replaying old crap, overthinking, and getting nowhere fast.
Basically: stuck in my own bloody head.
Present: Bear + Cedar
The bear is strength and protection. The cedar is sacred healing and cleansing. Together, they’re like a giant cosmic hug: “Oi, you’re safe. You’re stronger than you think. Stand tall and let yourself heal.”
And that’s exactly what Bali feels like – grounding, healing, remembering my strength. Less frantic dragonfly, more rooted bear.
Future: Reversed Wolf + Rose Hip
The wolf (instinct, belonging) reversed suggests doubt and wobbles with community. The rose hip is nourishment and resilience. So yes, when I get back there may be that inevitable post-trip crash: a sense of wobble, of not quite fitting back in. But rose hip promises that the nourishment is already here, inside me, to carry me through.
give it to me straight
If my cards could speak, they’d probably say:
“Pre-Bali you were stuck in your own bloody head. Now you’re grounding the fuck down, healing, and remembering you’re tougher than you give yourself credit for. When you get home and wobble, don’t panic. You’ve built the strength to carry on. You’ve fucking got this.”
Oooft!
The Mantras That Matched ✨
Here’s where it got properly magic and a bit spooky for me. The night before, in YIN yoga class, the mantras said at the beginning were:
I am worthy of being loved
I am beautiful inside and out
I have everything I need inside me
Now my instinct is to poo-poo all of this as I don’t allow myself to believe it for a second but I MUST, we all must! So I kept trying to repeat them in my head, along with focussing on my breath - I’m not very good at this and my thoughts often come in like a wrecking ball BUT I’m working on it!
So, when I pulled these cards and thought about it - I realised they aligned perfectly with what I’d been working on the night before:
Past dragonfly/pansy = stop doubting, you are worthy of love.
Present bear/cedar = stand tall, own your beauty and strength.
Future wolf/rose hip = you’ve already got everything you need inside.
That gave me chills - like the cards and the practice were singing the same song, trying to beat me with the same positive stick!
The Seasonal Spread Connection 🌻
Then I remembered something else: back in Spring, I pulled a four-season spread for the year ahead. I even wrote about it (HERE) but to save you scrolling back, here’s a recap:
Spring – Reversed Marten & Foxglove 🌸
Mischief and Opportunity: You may have been shrinking from your own potential - afraid to take up space, to be seen, to risk being “too much.” That mischievous spark in you? Still there, just tucked away. Don’t mistake stillness or self-protection for failure. You weren’t failing, you were surviving. You paused. And even pauses have power.
“You’ve not failed. You paused. And even pauses have power.”
Summer: Reversed Snail & Huckleberry 🌻
Trust the invisible: Feeling stuck, soft around the edges, out of sync with your body? This wasn’t meant to be a loud season. It was the quiet work of learning to trust yourself again. Like the snail, you were allowed to move slowly, to retreat, to listen inward. Your pace is not your worth. Healing can be invisible. Trust that it’s happening anyway.
“Your pace is not your worth.”
Autumn : Goat & Willow 🍂
Overcoming Obstacles : Your strength is returning — not in punishment, but persistence. You’ll be climbing again soon. Not perfectly, not all at once, but with steadiness. You’re learning how to bend without breaking, to meet resistance without crumpling. This is your grit season.
“You will rise again, not by force, but by resilience.”
Winter : Deer & Oat ❄️
Healing & Nourishment: After the climb comes softness. Balm and restoration. Feeling more at home in your body, less at war with it. Sweetness in movement, food, rest, and breath. A remembering that you don’t have to earn kindness — you are kindness. Healing is coming, and it will feel like home.
“Healing is coming. And it will feel like home.”
compare that to the 3-card pull:
PAST : Invisible healing
You were being asked to slow the hell down. Stop equating pace with worth. Trust the unseen work. That’s exactly what the reversed dragonfly + pansy echoed. Stuck, yes. Broken, no.
PRESENT: Strength returning, rooted persistence.
“Overcoming obstacles,” strength through persistence, bending without breaking. That’s basically the bear + cedar energy I’ve landed in Bali. Not flashy, not forced, just steady resilience and strength returning. Both spreads shout the same thing: this is your grit season, your healing in action.
FUTURE: Wobbles, but resilience.
The wolf reversed shows that yes, there may be wobbles, doubts about instincts, or feeling out of sync when you return. But rose hip - just like willow - says you’ve got the nourishment, the resilience, and the flexibility to handle it. It’s not about force; it’s about gentle strength and resourcefulness.
they’re in cahoots
So my seasonal spread and Bali spread aren’t just aligned, they’re talking to each other?!?!
It’s basically one long story in three acts - with the exact same arc showing up months apart. That’s why I’ve been getting chills. My cards have been holding this thread all along, and I’m just now walking into the middle of it.
My Takeaway 🥡
The cards, the mantras, the dragonflies, bears, wolves, goats - they’re all basically saying the same thing: get on with it, Jo. You’ve got this.
Just because I’ve been stuck doesn’t mean I’m broken forever. Healing isn’t always visible — sometimes it’s slow and quiet. Like starting therapy. Like a few sober days strung together. Like showing up to Pilates.
Strength doesn’t arrive in perfect leaps; it creeps back in steady, gritty ways. That’s the work I’m doing here in Bali, on my own.
And yes, wobbles are part of it. But I already carry everything I need. I have the strength to keep going when I return home.
So thanks to that YIN session, another Woodland Wardens check-in, and a long swim that let my brain stitch these “coincidences” together, I know this: when the wobble inevitably comes (and it will, because life), I can look back at this breadcrumb trail and remind myself —
I’ve fucking got this
✨🌿✨
