Weekly Forecast: July 17-23
If this week has a theme it's moving from the cosmic to the practical.
We start out with the magnificant expansiveness of Ricardo Cavolo's interpretation of Temperance. The illustration does a wonderful job of opening up our ideas of balance to include all sorts of bright and beautiful possibilities. Here, balance is not about exact equality - making each side of the scale precisely the same - but the freedom that comes with living in the moment. Picture a gymnast walking across a balance beam, their ankles and feet making slight adjustments as they continue across with utter focus.
And then they launch into a stunning backflip.
That's where we are this week. Feeling a renewed sense of confidence and clarity that's fueling our ambition and desire for exploration. We're capable of great things always, but this week brings us a unique sense of alignment where our talents are free-flowing and at their best.
It's fitting then that we get a visit from the Knight of Cups, the idealistic go-getter of the tarot world. This card tells us that we're inspired by a deeper concept instead of just the action itself. External motivations like approval, success, and acceptance are all fine and dandy, but we have our eyes set on something with more meaning right now.
Is it an important cause? A beautiful insight we received when practicing the calm, centeredness of Temperance? A spiritual awakening? Identifying this seed and getting to know it will be very helpful in channeling all our energy in the days to come. Take the time to explore further so that you can charge ahead with a clear sense of direction.
If the Knights have a flaw it's one of short-sightedness, and for the Knight of Cups this comes with an idealistic twist. Ever the romantic, this card has a complicated relationship with reality. Having one's eyes to the stars can be a beautiful thing, but when you forget (or refuse to) look at the ground, things can get rocky.
There may be a tendency in the days to come to willfully or innocently avoid considering "what's on the ground," - other people, relationships, responsibilities, etc. If any cards can strike a balance between the powerful forces of idealism and practicality it's Temeprance and the Knight of Cups. A creative, beautiful, and responsible solution is ours for the taking if we put our minds to it.
And it looks like that's exctly where we're heading. The Nine of Pentacles shows us entering into a period of bountiful stability. This is where the practical really comes into focus. It looks like balance, a wider perspective, and a hanful of energetic idealism was what we needed to see a vibrant sense of well-being in our material lives. Following our hearts can lead in a materially satisfying direction if only we believe in ourselves.
Whether it's an idea coming into fruition or a literal windfall, the end of the week holds great potential for abundance and good fortune. We'll be feeling lucky and well-off and just getting started on our journey. After all, the Knight of Cups is just about to leap from his cup. Where will his energy take us next?
Before we find out, it's a wonderful time to sit back and bask in what we have at our fingertips, enjoing our lives and sharing it with our close friends and family.
Weekly Forecast: July 10-17
The full moon in Capricorn seems to have awakened some barely concealed energy. Why do I say barely? We have both the Empress and the King of Wands showing up in the first two positions of our spread. These two cards arrive on the scene completely connected to their own power, talent, and vision.
To put it simply, this is a week where sensuality and action come together seamlessly.
At the root of all the comings and goings is a deep connection to ourselves. The Empress isn't a card wrapped up in the conceptual. She lives and breathes in the reality of lived-in, daily life.
The way the Empress sees things, this is the most magical space to inhabit. To her, reality as we experience it contains all the inspiration and sacred energy we need. The realm of the senses - what we can touch, see, smell, taste, and hear - is the direct expression of something greater.
This is a time to revel in our perceptions and experiences of the world. We're being urged to pay attention to how we feel, more particularly, how our bodies feel as we interact with what's around us.
It's a delicious, stop-and-smell-the-roses attitude towards life. No moment is too small or too fleeting - the feel of the sun on our faces, the ground beneath our feet, or the sound of a bird flying by. We can find joy around us at all times and in abundance.
This foundation of awareness will grant us a wealth of self-confidence and stability. Framing our experience in our bodies - we're at the center of everything we encounter - allows us to bypass the at times anxious and stifling filter of our thoughts.
This week we're being asked to engage with the feeling of knowing rather than the thought of knowing what's right. Listening to our instincts, following the feeling in our stomachs, hearts, feet will bring us to new and exciting places.
So now that we're really feeling ourselves where are we headed? Fostering self connection and paying attention to the joys of being alive is propelling us towards the King of Wands, a proactive, powerful, and dynamic card.
When we feel at one with ourselves and the world we are able to leap forward and embrace actions that reflect innate truths about ourselves. We're going to have no shortage of energy this week, nor inspiration. I like to think of these two cards as a representation of the marriage between our wild and natural self and our creative self.
Think (and feel) about what is an important next step. What's calling to you that you'd like to leap into wholeheartedly? This is not a time for doubt or trepidation. We've got this.
Excitingly enough, it looks like we're not going to be pursuing these dreams alone. The Two of Cups shows the beginning of an important union. Someone is coming onto the scene after being attracted by our vim and vigor.
This partnership will be formed around the creative leaps and bounds we're taking and, in addition to being inspiring will also have a lovely and tender side: mutual support in the birth of a new venture.
And what a beautiful progression of images: the lush growth in The Empress moving towards the sun-like rays of inspiration in the King of Wands. All leading to the celestial expansion and companionship of the Two of Cups. We're going to be exentding all the way from the ground to the heavens, looking at a beautiful starry sky of possibility.
A Tarot Spread for Harnessing Self-Confidence
Click above for the full rundown of this new spread for harnessing all the energy we feel when we're inspired & confident.
Weekly Forecast: July 3-10
I started shuffling for this week's reading with a lot of curiosity. What would the cards have to say now that we're in the midst of summer, starting (or continuing) to stretch our wings into the extra free time and warm weather.
We tend to see time off as inherently relaxing and rejuvenating. Just look at all the commercials for cruises in the Caribbean with beaming families cavorting in the ocean. The reality, however, can be a lot different, especially since we're conditioned to value productivity above all else these days.
What happens when we stop being productive and just relax?
The reading for this week shows the more complex reality of leaving the at times comforting and at times stifling confines of our normal routines.
We begin with The Devil, a card that suggests we may be tempted to jump into some wild hedonism right out of the gate (I'm looking at you, 4th of July...) Pleasure, overindulgence, and excess are calling to us all at the beginning of this week.
This card is a reminder for us to be safe and as moderate as we can without shying away from fun completely. Yes, it can be done, though it might not match up with our usual way of cutting loose.
The Devil often refers to well-worn negative patterns. In what ways are we comfortable being careless and wild? What part of us does this behavior serve? And what can we do to step outside these ruts?
This is a card that asks us to rethink the usual and peer into why we're so attached to certain rituals.
It isn't necessarily all negative. Sometimes we need to immerse ourselves in our bad habits so that we can realize we've actually become sick of them and need something else.
The Eight of Cups shows exactly this transformation. It's a bit of a melancholy card, but one also steeped in bravery and transformation. In the middle of the week we'll be asking ourselves some deep questions and heading off to find the answers.
This is a card that highlights moments where we choose to look for new meaning in our lives. Sure, what we have could be "enough" (i.e. the negative habits of The Devil), but right now we're sensing that there's more out there. More growth, more bounty, and more joy.
Summer has a tendency to bring this out in us. It's the unspoken side-effect of free time: it also gives us the time to think more about our lives and to feel th feelings we were able to avoid when we were busy.
So after we have a jaunt in th seductive excesses of The Devil we find ourselves a bit hungover and motivated to make some healthier decisions either physically, mentally, or spiritually. Or all three.
Solitude and introspection will be immensely helpful in making sense of it all. The Two of Swords shows us making a helpful connection between our emotions, intuition, and thoughts towards the end of the week. The clarity we're seeking will be found best my removing oureselves from external distractions and focusing on our own feelings, thoughts, and perceptions.
If we're feeling a bit burnt out and maybe dragging our feet in making some adjustments to our way of doing things it might be helpful to remind ourselves that we have all the tools and all the time we need. Immediate action is not necessary right now and we can give ourselves the helpful luxury of feeling things out and letting it all percolate into coherent thoughts.
There's no rush and no pressure. Just us, time, and the beginning of a new and exciting way of being in the world.
Weekly Forecast: June 26 - July 3
When I flipped over the first card for this week I had myself a little chuckle. I love this verision of the nine of swords. Not only are the swords one of my favorite suites in the deck (I had to learn to love them when they were I all I seemed to pull as a new reader!) but they have a direct, almost dramatic way of looking at the world.
And this nine? Well, it's probably the most "metal" tarot card I've seen! It reminds me of the t-shirts an ex of mine used to wear with wild, grotesque illustrations and band names I could never read they were so ornate.
Similarly, this card throws a lot at us visually, so much that we almost want to move on without delving into what it could mean. It's off-putting and so we assume it's message is clear aka something unpleasant is happening.
If we look at the next two cards, however, we'll see that this busy, nasty nine sets the stage for some colorful simplicity. How can this be?
The nine of swords shows us how we can really get in the weeds when it comes to our thoughts. Those disembodied eyeballs? They remind us how when we're feeling extra vigilant and anxious we detach from the rest of ourselves. We're just alert, all eyes, looking for the next sign of trouble. We're not whole.
When we're feeling like this everything can look like a threat, even what once seemed comforting and benign. In a nine of swords state of mind we can't trust our first reactions. It's like when you're home alone and the sun goes down. The bright sunny house felt so cozy moments ago, but now that it's plunged into darkness any creak or motion has you thinking the only plausible cause is a serial killer on the loose.
Yet while it's not pleasant to experience, these moments remind us in no delicate terms that being all nervous eyeballs is no way to live. We've swung away from balance, lost touch with the rest of our senses, and it doesn't feel good. This week we'll be getting a reminder to step back, breathe deeply, and think of ways to look at the world differently.
We move out of the thinking suite of swords and into the protective and creative suits of wands. Not just any wands card, but the queen of wands! She is telling us to reign in our wild, fearful thinking and center again on ourselves and what is precious to us.
Far from being passive, this queen is telling us we can be alert and protective but of something truly valuable. Where the nine of swords shows protective instincts motivated by fear, the queen of wands shows protectiveness inspired by creativity and action.
We're being asked to focus on what we're fighting for rather than fighting against. And not so much fighting, but protectively nurturing. What is this snake coiled around? Three beautiful eggs and an elegant branch. What precious ideas are we keeping warm right now? What can we do to give them the perfect environment to hatch in?
We're going to be presented with many opportunities to correct our knee jerk reactions this week and reframe our thinking. In the process, we'll be forced to simplify. Three eggs and a branch instead of a terrifying melange of eyeballs, swords, and worms. Ultimately, we'll be opening up to one, unifying new possibility: the ace of cups.
I see the nine of swords as the necessary struggle we must confront in order to make the conscious edits to our cluttered lives. We can't know the value of our actions in the world without struggle to give them contrast. After wading through this with bravery, we'll have stripped away enough extras to leave us open, vulnerable, and ready to accept a new, life-expanding gift.
The ace of cups signifies an incoming energy of giving, tenderness, and relationships. We can't accept these gifts if we're wrapped up in fear and they're coming our way, so the challenge has been given to us. Rise to it and we'll be able to usher in a new phase with ease and gladness.
An Update from Durham, NC
Well, my peaches, it's been quiet over here for a while now. Where have I gone to? Am I coming back?
Yes, yes I am. Here I am!
It's been a busy time of transition for me any my family and when I find myself making big changes I often need to hermit myself away, letting everything fall back into place slowly.
What's this big change you might ask? Just last week me, my darling partner, our two hounds and one pigeon picked up all our belongings and moved into our first real home.
We bought a house! It's been quite the process full of ridculous searching during which I almost convinced myself I could live behind a Red Lobster. At the end of it all we stumbled upon a house so dreamy that I'm having a hard time waking up and accepting that it's real and it's really ours.
Change takes a long, long time to settle in for me. Until then I walk around in a daze wondering "did that really happen?" and "am I really here?" When I get in this state I develop a near-total allergy to social media. With all the adjusting going on, I like to focus on the life right in front of me and spending time on Instagram just makes me feel disconnected from myself.
Additionally, I have to get all philosophical about things. For example, can anyone explain the concept of ownership to me? It seems both abstract and pushy. Like can I really walk up to a tree and say "this is my tree. I own it." That just seems rude.
In any case, I'm now here, in Durham, North Carolina coming to terms with the fact that I am a very lucky, happy homeowner. And I'm excited to emerge from my phase of homebuying hustle and bustle to jump back into the world of Incandescent Tarot, energized and inspired.
Moving has a weird way of not only shifting your geographic perspective, but your mental perspective as well. My brain is being jostled in new directions and I have lots of new plans and projects that I'll be unveiling in the months to come.
Above it all, however, I'm excited to reenter my practice with tarot. One can only do so many real estate themed readings, and I'm so eager to reconnect with my deep tie to tarot and share it with you too.
Yes, the pond is swimmable!
Pearl figured out how to climb the stairs. Smart girl!
Oh, and you might be curious to know where I've actually landed! It's been quite the lifestyle change. We managed to find a little slice of nature and solitude within the Durham city limits. We're now happy stewards (much better and more respectful than "owners," I think!) of over 2 acres of wooded land, 1/3 of which is a lovely pond. So far we've seen herons, fish, frogs, and even an owl which came to welcome us on our first night here.
I grew up in the country (our front yard was 17 acres!) so this is a lovely return to my roots. I didn't realize how much I missed being around green and wildness until we found this house. Our dogs are having the times of their lives, even Sammy, my mysteriously lethargic border collie mix. And Pearl the pigeon is enjoying having a bigger house to strut around in.
And excitingly enough, I now have a wonderful workspace upgrade with lots of room to offer my clients tarot readings in an even more magical setting than before. I"m looking forward to sharing more with you in the days to come. Until then, it's back to lots of painting and unpacking. And don't worry, I'll be back online from here on out :)
Weekly Forecast: June 19-25
It's going to be an interesting week, to say the least. As we've all noticed by now, the reading is a study in contrasts. Two harsh-looking tens flank the lush self-assuredness depicted by the King of Pentacles.
The Ten of Swords especially dominates the reading, as certain swords cards do best (I'm looking at you, Three of Swords.) A figure is lying prone with ten - ten! - swords piercing their back. One would certainly do the trick, so why ten? This is a card that urges us to ask what message is being concealed in the excess.
Swords govern our intellectual life. Our ways of thinking, communicating, and looking at the world. It's interesting then that these are, at first impression, the most "negative" group in the tarot deck since they don't actually reflect a tangilbe reality. This suggests that what we are capable of cooking up in our own minds can cause us the most pain and suffering.
Nowehre is this more apparent than the Ten of Swords. The poor figure is absolutely, positively slain by his thoughts and beliefs. They're laid low, incapacitated, and overwhelmed.
And yet this card is a ten, the end of a cycle. If your'e thinking, "man, what a depresing way to end a cycle," I hear you. But the tarot isn't a literal system and this card doesn't mean being laid low irrevocably in sadness and defeat. Or, even more frigteningly, finding youself pierced by ten swords on a forlorn beach.
Instead, this card shows us the messy and painful catharis that comes when we are unable to avoid our anxieties, fears, and negative thoughts. There's a terrifying vulnerability when we have to contend with the fact that we can't control our thoughts 100% all the time. Irrationality, fear, and self-doubt sneak up on us and wreak their havoc. It's how we treat ourselves when this happens that matters most.
But before we go there, let's take a look at the card that sets the stage for this week, the Ten of Wands. If you remember, we ended last week's forecast with this card. Isn't it amazing how tarot can be so on point? It's popping up in the past position here to remind us that all our hustling and bustling to the finish line has worn us out.
All the overextending and hard work we've done has come at a price. We're exhausted physically and mentally, and what would you know? That's the perfect recipe for the cataclysmic thought process we see in the Ten of Swords.
Maybe now that the dust has settled we're reflecting back at our efforts critically. We didn't try hard enough, we made a mistake there. Sure, we finished what we set out to do, but it wasn't quite as breathtaking and effortless as we had hoped. In fact, it was extremely effort-ful. We had to push oursleves to get somewhere and instead of congratulating ourselves, we're heaping on the blame and criticism.
And yet who do we have here as our central card? Oh, it's the massively successful and stable King of Pentacles. That seems... odd. What's he doing here amidst all the angst of the tens?
If tens are indications of the end of a cycle they are to be celebrated, even if they bring the stress of the final push, like the wands, or the pain of negative thinking about ourslves, the swords.
The King of Pentacles is showing us that we are, in fact, highly accomplished and rooted in our lives. We have a lot to enjoy if we choose to look up from our immediate concerns.
And in addition, The King of Pentacles reminds us that it takes struggle and hard work to inhabit the powerful position of a King. We might think that in order to do this we need to avoid all struggle and flailing. In this thought pattern, any trepidation or hangups equals inferiority.
The King of Pentacles does not sit on his throne looking luxurious and put together all the time. He's experinced the ups and downs of success, striving, and all the effort it takes to manage his life the best he can. In fact, that's part of his plan.
Perhaps the key lesson he's offering us is that to be one's best self is to make room for the complicated emotions that come from existing in the world. That instead of making us less than they make us more capable and skilled in both seeing the complexity of the world and caring for ourselves in all our emotional states.
We can enter this week grounded in this message from the King of Pentacles. And when confronted with our wild and sharp feelings we can practice listening to them while remaining secure in our own accomplishments and the solidity of who we are.
Weekly Forecast: June 12-18
It looks like we have wandsy week ahead of us, darlings. This means action, action, and more action. We’ve got movement on our minds and our eyes are wide and focused. It’s a time to get at it and get things done, so off to work we go.
We’re all jazzed up, but… things start out a bit awkward. With the Five of Wands we get a less than seamless introduction to the week. Things feel at odds with each other, whether it’s with ourselves, others, or our plans. Things just don’t seem to be coming together in the way we’d like them to.
This doesn’t mean we’re not cut out of the task at hand. Hardly! We can look at the conflict depicted in the Five as part of a process that tests our skills and hones our vision. We’ll be asked to see what’s really worth our time. What is a problem we need to solve and what is simply a distraction?
Sometimes things are hard to teach us something new and sometimes things are hard because they don’t work. It’ll be our challenge to learn how to discern between the two.
The Five also sees us contending with egos, both our own and others. When everyone’s wielding big sticks there’s a high likelihood of someone getting poked in the eye, so it’ll be important for us to be mindful of how we interact with those around us.
Once we find a harmonious way to balance our tasks we’ll see the week take off with speed and clarity. The Eight of Wands shows us how we’ll be making great strides in whatever we put our minds to this week. Paired with the Five of Wands this card is giving us a hint that this is a good time to launch into something we’ve been putting off because it seems daunting.
All we need is a little push to break through to a space where decisiveness, daring, and hard work come easily. It’s a time for us to luxuriate in our skills and power at doing what we need to do. It’s a joyful rush of a feeling we’d be foolish not to savor.
At the same time, the Eight of Wands can lead us to overestimate our capability for work and tasks of all shapes and sizes. Why stop going when things are feeling so free and breezy? Well, just take look at the Ten of Wands to get a taste of how over activity can lead to burnout.
In the middle of the week we’re caught up in the rush of action. This is the suit of wands at its unbridled best. But being unbridled means being somewhat out of control, so it’s an abrupt transition when all of a sudden our bodies stop us in our tracks and tell us to hold up. Doing all that work? It’s made us tired and we’d just like to lie down!
The tasks start to feel heavier, and now we’re dragging our way to the finish line. Luckily, the finish line is approaching quickly. The Ten of Wands depicts the last slog to the end. We’ve really made our way through the second half of the wands. We might be feeling tired and burdened, but we’ll be so close to the relief of rest and the satisfaction of seeing something all the way through to the end.
Weekly Forecast: June 5-11
We’re feeling zesty this week, entranced by new ideas and feeling more than capable when it comes to experimenting with them.
It’s a time of newness that, at first glance, seems simple enough. Maybe there’s something we’d like to try and after turning the idea over in our mind we’re ready to get practical about it – taking a class about something we’ve never done before, asking someone we’ve had our eyes on out for a coffee, approaching a colleague about an idea for a new project.
Instead of being nervous or apprehensive, we’re moving forward with a lot of momentum. So much so that we’re able to steamroll over what normally holds us back. There’s a voice in our heads telling us “just go for it! It’s no big deal!”
In this case, we should hop on and enjoy the ride. Being equal parts confident and carefree is propelling us into new and fun territory.
The Two of Pentacles sees us relishing in the act of experimentation. We have a deep well of flexibility and creative thinking at our disposal. Situations that might normally seem unmovable and unchangeable quiver in the face of our dynamism. We’re cheeky and prepared to make things work through a series of innovative dance moves and nontraditional tweaks.
This is a time to embrace motion. We’ll be finding inspiration as we flit around and interact with the world. Art, nature, travel – all these things will trigger new ideas we can add to our plans, like collecting images to add to a collage. Embrace your hummingbird-like instinct to find sweetness in many different blooms. Learning through doing will be key in the days to come.
It’s important to remember that shaking things up doesn’t need to immediately result in any certainty. We move to The Fool to remind us that instead of categorizing what we’re learning we must give it plenty of room to flourish. The fun experimentation and new experiences we usher into our lives this week are awakening deeply buried parts of ourselves and sending us out on an even larger journey.
But before we think larger = more pressure! more seriousness! we should pump the breaks. The Fool tells us to embrace an innocent beginners mind. Not ignorantly innocent. We’ll be bringing just the right amount of know-how with us as we end this week – not too much to bog us down, not too little to leave us completely exposed and ill-prepared.
The one caveat? We may find ourselves contending with the difference between our expectations vs. the reality of the situation. We began with The Knight of Swords and his powerful conviction gave us the momentum and inspiration to play with new pursuits. So thank you, Knight of Swords!
However, this card also has the tendency to erase rich nuance with a somewhat insecure need for certainty. To the point where the ideas that we had coming into our new forays get projected over the actual, unpredictable result. How frustrating to have the glowing unknown of the new future presenting itself to us overshadowed by our expectations.
At the end of this week we’ll find ourselves presented with the option to turn off our projectors and let the opportunity of The Fool be what it truly is. We’ve awakened a new sense of possibility with the Two of Pentacles, practicing our abilities to move through life with joyful motion. Let’s channel this confidence and skill into turning off the pointed certainty of the Knight of Swords and letting a new approach shine through uninhibited.
Do you ever complain about something so often that you catch yourself and wonder, “If I rant on about this so much, why on earth am I still doing it?”
That was me with Facebook and Instagram. Why was I using it? What was I doing on these apps if all it took was one drink to get me to wax poetic about how disconnected, envious, and distracted I felt while using them?