Daily Reflection: Such Is Life
Today my mind is sitting with a couple of paraphrased verses echoed through Wardruna’s Helvegen, and through the older wisdom behind it: songs sent onward, deep wells, ancestral pledges, cattle dying, kin dying, the self dying, and yet reputation remaining after the body is gone.
There is something blunt and grounding in that.
Seasons change. Plants grow. Plants wither. Plants die back. Then, in their own time, they return. The plant does not ask my permission. The plant does not require my approval. The plant does not need me to stand over it, worrying whether it will become what I think it should become.
And such is life.
Life moves whether I choose it to or not. People change. Places change. Communities change. Some changes are good. Some are not. Some I understand. Some I never will. But the truth remains the same: I do not control the seasons. I do not control the roots. I do not control what grows after I have stepped away.
Maybe that is the lesson sitting in front of me today.
No. Not maybe.
It is the lesson.
I need to let go. I need to let these things become what they are going to become, because I do not have control over them. And if I am honest, I do not want control over them either.
All I can control is how I carry myself, what I say, what I build, what I leave behind, and whether my name is attached to bitterness or to something steadier.
So today, I turn to the cards.
Four-Card Daily Spread
Past — Five of Cups
The Five of Cups speaks to grief, disappointment, and standing too long before what has spilled. This card does not deny loss. It does not say, “get over it.” It says, “yes, something mattered, and yes, something has changed.” But it also reminds me that not everything has been lost. There are still cups standing. There is still a road. There is still something worth carrying forward.
Present — Death
Death is not only an ending. It is the season turning. It is the plant dying back. It is the old form no longer being able to hold the life that is trying to move through it. This card fits today’s reflection almost too well. Something is ending, or has already ended, and the work now is not to keep digging up the roots to see if they are still alive. The work is to accept the turning.
Future — Six of Swords
The Six of Swords is movement away from troubled water. It is not a triumphant march. It is not a dramatic victory. It is the quieter decision to leave the noise behind and move toward something calmer. This card suggests that peace will not come from winning the conversation. Peace will come from no longer needing the conversation to resolve in my favour.
Querent — The Hermit
The Hermit represents me today: solitary, watchful, still carrying a lamp. Not cut off from the world, but no longer demanding that the world gather around the flame. The Hermit does not chase the crowd. The Hermit tends the light. That may be enough. In fact, today, that may be the whole lesson.
Invocation
Brigid, keeper of flame and craft, guide my words so they warm rather than burn.
Skadi, steady one of snow, distance, and hard clarity, help me stand cleanly in my own ground.
Ratatoskr, messenger between worlds, remind me that not every message needs to be carried, answered, or amplified.
Fir Tree, evergreen and enduring, teach me resilience without clinging.
And to the ever-present land spirits, seen and unseen, rooted and wandering, may I walk respectfully upon the ground that holds me.
Closing Reflection
Things change whether I bless the change or curse it.
People move. Places shift. Communities become something other than what they once were. I can grieve that. I can name it. But I do not need to hold it in my hands until it cuts me.
What remains is how I walk.
What remains is what I build.
What remains is the reputation of the one who lived, spoke, stood, released, and kept going.
That is enough for today.
Godspeed.
Unplugged Pagan 