In the cards this week: Self-examination and apathy

Don't worry, you can handle it!

This week's Minoan Tarot cards:

Youth of Labryses: Examine your values and the way you enact them in your daily life. Life isn't perfect; people aren't perfect. Look for solutions that are realistic while still upholding your basic values. Stubbornly clinging to visions of the ideal will get you nowhere fast.

Four of Rhytons: Dissatisfaction with life crops up every now and then for everyone. To avoid that happening, or to relieve it if it's already happening, make sure you're being sufficiently challenged and are putting in the needed effort. This applies equally to the work world and to personal relationships.

I created this deck; this is my art. Details and more card pix here.

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This week’s cards reflect the weariness that many of us are feeling as we slog through life with the Big World looming over us, as well as the desire to have things be very different.

One of the things we can do to get our bearings in times of chaos is identify our values, the ideals that we consider to be most important. This isn’t “Who am I?” but rather, “What do I stand for?”

Knowing what you stand for is valuable in terms of making decisions and handling whatever life throws at you. But holding too tight to those ideals, being entirely inflexible, can also be a problem.

Life isn’t perfect (far, far from it these days). People aren’t perfect — this includes each of us, though of course we may strive for perfection.

But demanding perfection in every situation we encounter, stubbornly clinging to our highest ideals and judging every individual and every problem by those high ideals, is a recipe for frustration and, ultimately, failure. We can’t reach the ideal in a single giant step. Life doesn’t work that way.

The Youth of Labryses reminds us to find the balance between what is desired and what is possible, between the ideal vision and the reality that’s right in front of us.

Judging people and situations by your highest ideals and demanding that they meet those ideals right off the bat is unrealistic, at best. It will push people away who might otherwise be helpful and supportive. And it will fail to find solutions that actually work.

Instead, try asking this question: What are the first few steps we can take, in this situation, toward that highest ideal? How can we turn the situation in the direction of those best values, so that as we go forward, we can move closer to the ideal?

Turning the path in the right direction can be incredibly valuable, especially in chaotic times.

All that chaos can also wear us down until we’re too tired to respond. Our mental and emotional systems will eventually just turn off if they’re subjected to Too Much. Then we become apathetic and bored, ironically due to overstimulation.

Also ironically, the solution is to find something that challenges you. Not the kind of challenge the Big World offers, of constant bombardment with Too Much Information. Instead, a more focused challenge, something narrow and directed: a project of some sort.

This could mean a hobby activity as a relief from everything Out There. But it could also be a focused project you take on at work, or even the dedication to work on a personal relationship.

As my spirit kin have repeatedly suggested in Times Like These, pick something and do it.

Give yourself something to focus on, to pour yourself into. Allow yourself to become enthusiastic, vital, and energized about whatever you choose.

Then you’ll have an anchor point to hold onto in the greater storm.

My anchor point right now? Making the art for my upcoming Minoan myths book.

What will you choose to focus on, to anchor onto?

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About Laura Perry

I'm the founder and Temple Mom of Ariadne's Tribe, a worldwide inclusive Minoan spiritual tradition. I'm also an author, artist, and creator who works magic with words, paint, ink, music, textiles, and herbs. My spiritual practice includes spirit work and herbalism through the lens of lifelong animism. I write pagan / polytheist / magical non-fiction and fiction across several different subjects and genres. My Minoan title in the Moon Books Pantheons series is now available for pre-order and will be released on 26 August 2025. While that process percolates along, I’m finishing up the illustrations for a book of modern Minoan myths which will be released on 21 June 2025. I’m also an avid herb and vegetable gardener and living history demonstrator.