Morning Ritual — Fir Roots, Squirrel Feet, and Keeping My Words Clean

Monday, February 2, 2026

By Kevin McLaughlin / Lugh Sulian

Well, welcome back. This is our morning-ritual part of the day, and we’ll do the deeper journal entry later — I’ve got a trip into the big city today for a nerve conduction test.

Coffee is on board. Medication is down. I’ve bumped my magnesium a little, hoping it helps my blood sugar behave. I’ve had a couple higher readings, but most have stayed in the “okay, we’re still steering the ship” lane — I’ve been seeing numbers ranging from about 6.3 up to about 9.7, so yes, a little high, but still not “panic stations.”

Today’s Horoscope (Cancer / “Moonchild”)

Emotions may be high today — not just with me, but with people in my inner circle. Somebody may drop a viewpoint or news I don’t agree with. The warning is simple: watch my reaction. Conversations that are already volatile could spark into an argument and even an estrangement.

So here’s the question I’m putting on the table for myself: Is it really that important… or will it blow over if I let it go?

Fir Tree Check-In

Today I’m pulling in the Fir energy — evergreen, steady, built for harsh weather. The Fir doesn’t win by “being loud.” It wins by staying rooted, staying honest, and surviving long enough to see spring come back around.¹

That’s the vibe I want: resilience without drama. Strength without the performance.

Spirit Animal: The Squirrel (Ratatosk)

I’ve also been sitting with the squirrel as a spirit animal — specifically Ratatosk: the runner on the world tree, carrying messages up and down between forces that don’t exactly love each other.²

And that lands like a hammer today, because when emotions are high, we all get tempted to become a messenger for heat: to pass along the sharp comment, the screenshot, the “can you believe they said…”

Ratatosk can be clever and resourceful… but Ratatosk can also become a courier for conflict. Today I’m choosing the clever part.

Hávamál — Words of the Wise One

“Each man should be watchful and wary in speech,
and slow to put faith in a friend…”³

That doesn’t mean “trust nobody.” It means: don’t hand my throat to the room. Don’t speak like the moment is permanent.

Tarot Reading (Rider–Waite)

As always: tarot isn’t a courtroom verdict. It’s a mirror. A way to get my subconscious to stop whispering and start speaking in full sentences.

• Past: Eight of Wands
• Present: The High Priestess (reversed)
• Future: Ten of Cups
• Me (Querent): The Sun (reversed)

Past — Eight of Wands

This is speed. Momentum. Things moving fast — messages, decisions, news, consequences. The “arrows in the air” card. It’s the part of my life that’s been shifting quickly, whether I like it or not.⁴

Present — High Priestess (Reversed)

This is the warning light on my dashboard: intuition is there, but it’s muffled. Either I’m not listening, or I’m letting stress talk over it. Reversed, it can point to shallow signals, hidden motives, or me second-guessing what I already know in my gut.⁴

Translation: today is not the day to let noise replace wisdom.

Future — Ten of Cups

This is the picture of emotional stability — the “home base” card. It doesn’t promise a perfect life. It points to harmony, belonging, and the kind of peace that comes from being aligned with the people who actually have my back.⁴

So the future isn’t “more chaos.” The future is “more coherence.” That matters.

Me — The Sun (Reversed)

This reads like: the light is still there, but I’m under cloud cover. Not “doom.” More like reduced clarity, reduced optimism, temporary interference. The danger is that I start interpreting a cloudy day as proof the sun is gone.⁴

And that’s exactly when I’m most likely to overreact to somebody else’s comment, tone, or hot take.

Socio-Psych Lens (Because I’m Not Doing This Blind)

1) Emotion regulation (psychological)

When emotions spike, the best leverage is early: choose what I walk into, adjust what I can, shift attention, change the story I’m telling myself, and only then deal with expression (what I say / send). If I skip straight to “expression,” I get conflict, not clarity.⁶

2) Conflict style (social-psychological)

If something volatile shows up today, I’m choosing my mode on purpose. Sometimes the strongest move is to postpone and cool the room. Sometimes it’s to collaborate. Sometimes it’s to hold a boundary. But I’m not letting my nervous system pick “compete” just because it’s loud.⁵

3) The bigger frame (sociological)

I keep reminding myself: personal trouble and public issue braid together. My life isn’t happening in a vacuum, and neither is anyone else’s. If I treat every interaction like a private moral failure (mine or theirs), I’ll miss the real structure underneath it.⁷

4) Front stage / back stage (interaction lens)

I don’t have to perform my whole inner weather in public. I can be “front stage calm” while I process “back stage honestly.” That isn’t fake — it’s skill.⁸

One Rule for Today

Rule for today: I will not be Ratatosk for anybody’s anger — including my own. If I feel heat rise, I pause, write it down, and wait before I speak or send.

Two more copies of the book sold since the last time I checked in — and yeah, I’m taking the win. Every little bit helps.

As always: thank you. Godspeed.

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Footnotes

1. Ailm / “Fir (or pine)” in Ogham tradition; modern Celtic symbolism often treats Ailm as a sign of endurance, inner strength, and resilience. ↩
2. Ratatosk (Norse myth): a squirrel running up and down the world tree carrying messages between beings above and below. ↩
3. Hávamál, stanza 65 (translation commonly attributed to Henry A. Bellows). ↩
4. A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (Rider–Waite–Smith divinatory meanings), including reversed meanings for The High Priestess and The Sun, and suit meanings for Eight of Wands and Ten of Cups. ↩
5. Thomas–Kilmann Conflict Mode framework: competing, accommodating, avoiding, collaborating, compromising. ↩
6. James J. Gross (1998), process model of emotion regulation (regulation can happen at multiple points in the emotion-generative sequence). ↩
7. C. Wright Mills: “sociological imagination” as the link between personal troubles and public issues. ↩
8. Erving Goffman: dramaturgical framing (front stage / back stage) for everyday interaction and self-presentation. ↩