Dec 27, 2025 3 min read

Week 9 - The Inner Mirror

I’m creating this series to guide your reflections (and my own) during the period from Samhain (October 31/November 1) to Imbolc (February 1/2). Each week I’ll share my thoughts as we descend into the longest nights of winter and provide a prompt to encourage your connection with the ancestral wisdom and earthy quiet of winter. I’ll close with a mantra and simple meditation practice to support your personal weekly journey. If you’ve been feeling drawn, as I have, to live more aligned with the turning of the season, then I invite you to travel this path with me.

The final few days of December are typically focused on resolutions and goals for the coming year, as well as a look back at the previous twelve months. The darkness is a mirror perfect for reflection.

We process the world around us through our own unique filter, based on our environmental experience, as well as our genetic makeup. We see the actions of others and the resulting situations as a reflection of our inner landscape. If someone annoys us, it's usually because something about them reflects an aspect of ourselves that we don't particularly like, or try to repress. Likewise, when we feel comfortable with a person it's because we're connecting with the comfortable parts of ourselves - the parts we like. It might be easier to gravitate towards the favorable parts, but it's important to recognize the difficult ones as well. We may not be able to completely modify them, but knowing and understanding ourselves and how we typically react to various situations can help us navigate more smoothly.

Practice the exercise below to become familiar with your own reflection, and ultimately more comfortable with what you see.

Mantra: “I see myself with clarity and compassion.”

Meditation Exercise: Using a black mirror, usually made of polished obsidian or painted glass, but your dark phone screen works just as well (what a great reason to turn it off!), light a candle and reflect the flame into the darkness. Use your mind's eye as a screen to project a current situation that makes you uncomfortable. Repeat the mantra softly or silently and allow your subconscious to guide you to the part of yourself that is resistant to the energy of the situation. When you feel 'there' ask your reflection for advice and clarity to identify a resolution.

Additionally, draw a tarot card and consider how this card mirrors what you believe to be true about the world.

I drew The Lovers.

The Lovers reflects inner alignment, not just attraction. It asks you to examine values, choices, and integrity. Are your decisions guided by desire or truth? This card mirrors harmony between mind and heart, urging conscious commitment, honest communication, and responsibility for the paths you choose, within yourself, without external validation.

This is pretty on-point for me right now, given I've been writing this 'off the cuff' without any pre-planning. I'd love to hear about the mirror in your cards. Please contact me via email or any other messaging connection we have, if you're so inclined.

Until next week,
Mary

If you would like to know more about my ancestral connection work, my Daoist path, or my other offerings such as tarot readings and classes, spiritual guidance, and mindset mentoring, you can find more detailed information by using the drop-down menu on my website: https://the-mystics-parlour.ghost.io.

In January, I’ll be contributing to the TABI Midwinter Conference with a presentation entitled: Less is More – Complete Readings in Three Cards. The conference is free to TABI Members and you can join at https://tabi.org.uk – dues are approximately $30US per year.

This coming February, I’m presenting a workshop for the Tarot Association of British and International members (TABI). The topic is: Romantic Archetypes of the Tarot. The fee is very reasonable, with a recording of the workshop if you can’t attend the live session and all proceeds will be donated to the animal sanctuary The Misfits Coven in Pennsylvania. More information will be available on the TABI website soon and you learn about the work they're doing at Misfits Coven here: https://misfitscoven.org/

I’m also one of the 2026 WitchCon Online presenters, offering my talk on Tarot for Ancestral Connection. No special divination kits or tools are needed. Just your favorite ‘go to’ tarot deck! Register here for over 120 presentations with unlimited rewatch capabilities: https://www.witchcon.com/presenter.php?presenter=mary-du-plessis

You can also contact me via email at themysticsparlour@gmail.com and I’m @themysticsparlour.bsky.social on Bluesky and @the.mystics.parlour on Instagram.

I appreciate your continued support and encouragement.