Weekly Forecast: April 23-29

This week is all about ease, expression, and unfurling. We're full of energy and passion that's being directed by a calm sense of wholeness. This is not a time to question, poke, or prod the good that's arriving. Deep down we know that we've been working hard  to invite this kind of energy into our lives. Now that it's here all we have to do is embrace it and let it work its magic.

The World appears as our first card, setting the stage with its visionary, harmonious nature. Here we're being asked to believe that we belong wherever we are. The World invites us to look beyond all the hats we wear as we shift through the many areas of our life. We do a lot navigating our responsibilities, relationships, and goals. What lies underneath all these roles? The World speaks to the deeper parts of ourselves that are always present in our lives. With The World we are at once wholly ourselves and wholly apart of everything around us. 

Having this awareness is no small task. Balanced on our ever-spinning globe we must come to the realization that life is always changing and we are always changing. What, then, remains constant? This is an excellent time to explore our true nature. What have we been learning about ourselves? What traits, beliefs, and ideas populate the center of our being? This card also suggests that we've been doing a lot of rewarding and difficult work. Now all the spinning parts are coalescing into something much more stable. It's worth taking a moment to acknowledge just how far we've come. 

The World also asks us to take a larger perspective and in doing so, liberate ourselves from any limiting ideas of who we are. Are we acting mostly as mothers, fathers, partners, helpers, workers? Which roles have been the most comfortable and which have chafed at us?

The World asks us to look beyond the labels we've accumulated. Perhaps there is something we've rejected that needs to find its way home and perhaps there's parts of our personalities that are ready to be shed, becoming part of ourselves only in the sense that they're now in our past. 

Having a good understanding of our shifts is allowing us to appear with pure and clear intentions. Awareness, not judgment or control, allows us to be truly human, seen as a wonderful whole.  All The World asks for is gentle awareness, an open mind, and openness to what's appearing before us.

From this position we can accomplish so much and the Six of Wands sees the harmony of our self-understanding and acceptance manifesting itself in our actions. This week is an incredible time to reveal what we've been working on and to allow what's been inspiring us to have its time in the sun. Because we're clear on who we are, allowing our self to be seen is no longer quite as scary. We may find ourself possessing a level of confidence beyond what we imagined was possible. 

The Six of Wands carries with it all the energy, excitement, and intensity of being in the spotlight. Sometimes this experience can be overwhelming. We'd rather retreat into our safety zone, hold our projects and passions close, rather than deal with some of the discomfort that comes with being openly celebrated. This week, however, The World is guiding us, acting as a lesson we can return to: We belong here. The ease we're experiencing this week, including the praise and attention, is a natural part of our unfettered self-expression. We're coming from a beautiful place. It makes sense that others can see this beauty, too.

Plus, it would be a shame not to follow this happily illuminated path. The Ace of Wands concludes our reading for the week, holding a promise of further growth and good fortune. I like to see this as a hand reaching out to us, bearing the gift of inspiration and motivation. We're uniquely able to inhabit our full potential right now, and doing so is allowing our hard work to continue with ease and success. We get to arrive in every situation with just ourselves and this week we're diving into the core of who we are, allowing this self to guide our actions. With The World in our corner, we can sashay up to any situation, fully in the moment and ready to engage as the beautiful, specific beings we are. 

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Tarot Tip: Making a Sentence with Your Cards

Have you ever felt pulled in multiple directions when you first turn over the cards? You might find yourself debating what to process first: the Major Arcana cards vs the minors? Court card pairs? Numbers? Suits?

It's easy to get sucked into the details of a reading before you get a chance to articulate your first impression. Lately I've found myself creating a sentence from the cards before diving into the details. It's been such a wonderful breath of fresh air that I thought I'd share the practice with you.

It all started with the Weekly Forecasts. I love writing these, and whenever I turn the cards over I take a moment to digest the overall feeling of the reading. When I started to write, a lovely single sentence would emerge, stringing all three cards together. As I wrote more, I'd look back to this "tarot thesis statement" to guide my interpretations. 

Reading tarot can be a wild and winding experience. It's heady stuff! Each card relates to the others and the web can get tangled quickly. I've found that making a sentence gives me something to look back on, guiding my reading and providing a point of reference as I work through the details. 

It's as simple as it sounds, and I've found that going with my first impression is the quickest path towards something that sounds clear and true. Try to avoid any second guessing, hemming and hawing, or desire for perfection. Let your inspiration flow freely!

I tend to start with an action or description of each card, followed by the general meaning - the theme that ties all the cards together.

For example, let's look at the reading below:

First things first, let's look at each card and find a theme for each:

The Empress: Emotional stability and plenty

Eight of Cups: A journey for more

Ace of Wands: Receiving inspiration and new creative opportunities

Now, let's use the descriptions above to uncover a unifying theme. Think of this as the story you're telling with the cards:

Emotional stability inspring and allowing for a journey towards exuberant growth. 

And that's it! As the reading progresses, we can dive into the details of each card more thoroughly, tackling, for example, the bravery inherent in the journey of the Eight of Cups or the power behind The Empress' motivations. 

And whenever we feel lost, we can return to our sentence to guide us back to clarity. 

How about you? How do you look at the cards as soon as you flip them over? What ways do you use to focus your readings? Please share in the comments below - I'd love to hear from you!

Exploring the Minor Arcana: The Tens

In this series we'll be diving into the world of the Minor Arcana. Each segment will group the cards by number where we can engage in their themes and differences. For all the posts in the installment, click here.

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I can hardly believe we've made it to the end of the numbered cards in the Minor Arcana! It's been an illuminating journey, and what better place to conclude this portion than with the bustling, detailed tens? 

These cards signify the conclusion of a cycle, event, or undertaking. Because of this they represent both an end as well as the early stages of a new beginning. (I love the image of this in the number ten itself, with one being the singular accomplishment and zero being the seed that's yet to sprout.) It's already a lot to pack into one card, but as we can see from the images above, the tens are full of happenings and meanings.

I like to think of the tens using "the 3 C's" (and, yes, I do realize that's imminentely cheesy!): culmination, completion, and complexity. Tens represent the maximum expression of the suit - all the events, experiences, and lessons in one card. This can be heavy and overwhelming, like in the wands and swords, or joyous and full like the cups and pentacles. 

Let's dive into the details for each suit. Click on each for the full card meaning page.

Explore In-Depth Minor Arcana Meanings

The  Ten of Wands illustrates the overwhelm that comes with a pile-up of work, obligations, and tasks. Struggling forward with ten sticks obscuring your view is both difficult and disorienting. This card can either be a breaking point - where one or more tasks must be put down in order to continue - or a final push to the finish line.

For the Ten of Swords shows us how it's impossible to avoid our feelings. Hurt, fear, overwhelm, and doubt will catch up with us, not matter how hard we try to run. This goes for personal issues and external events. In occupying this dire-looking space we also acknowledge an end and with that comes the rising sun - a new day - to begin anew.

The Ten of Cups shows us how family, commnity, and romance can bring incredible amounts of joy into our lives. This card, a picture of domestic bliss, shows good energy radiating outwards. Caring for and celebrating connection bring even more good fortune our way. This card also illustrates the happiness that comes from domestic stability rooted in emotional connectedness.

Finally, the Ten of Pentacles gives us a beautiful depiction of the richness that comes from creating and caring for our physical world. This card speaks to the work and understanding that goes into creating a space meant to foster our growth and the growth of those close to us. Life explodes in a riot of color, connectedness, and complexity. It's rich and wild, deep and meaningful, and uniquely our own.

How do the tens speak to you in your tarot practice? Which ten do you relate to most? I'd love to hear your takes, so share away in the comment section below! And stay tuned for our next section of card meanings - the court cards! I'm excited to dive into these sometimes tricky, always illuminating cards with you. 

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Weekly Forecast: April 16-22

I'm tickled that we're getting such a harmonious reading just as mercury stations direct. This week has a clear path for growth opening up in front of us. Better yet, that path is lined with good times, focus in work, and the promise of adventure .

Sometimes happiness is the most difficult emotion to describe. We have a lot of training, after all, waxing poetic about hardship and struggle. Just look at all the songs about the agonies of love or films built around miscommunication and conflict (I'm looking at you, romantic comedies that would be 2 minutes long if people would just communicate normally!). These heightened feelings suck up all the oxygen in our lives, demanding attention and sometimes giving us lots to hide behind. It's easy to go on about existential struggles, but what about the positive - our success, growth, and happiness?

I suspect that a lot of this has to do with feeling fearful. We don't want to appear boastful, full of ourselves, or greedy. And we also don't want to tempt fate. Fully embodying our happiness makes that happiness visible which in turn makes us feel vulnerable to criticism or rejection. 

So there's more to this reading than meets the eye. We start things off with the Three of Cups - we have a lot of celebrate, indeed! Hiding or downplaying what's going well in our lives would cheat both us and the people around us out of a necessary and important good time. It's worth pushing past any feelings that we might be tempting any lightening bolts from emerging from a cloud to knock us back into our place. That seems unlikely when you put it that way, doesn't it? 

Letting our  happiness flow freely  is also a way of reaching out. How can we make lasting relationships based solely on suffering? This card is showing us that there are many people around us ready and willing to raise their cups to toast our achievements and their own. Collective celebration lifts us all up and builds positive experiences that bring us together and that we can draw on in trying times to come. For now, however, all we have to do is show up as our beautiful, flourishing self, welcoming anyone else who comes to join the party.

The Eight of Pentacles centers our reading around the idea of work. This card reminds us that happiness is a practice we must commit to over and over again. Far from being simple or effortless, happiness takes work. Like anything, it's easy at times and hard at others. The illustration on this card shows us just how much strength and abundance we can bring into our lives when we prioritize and commit to cultivating our happiness. I see this Eight as a reminder of how much stands behind our achievements. It's not blind luck or purely good fortune. We stand behind our accomplishments, willing to guide our progress and tend to all the little facets of life that need care. Now all those little practices have grown into something quite big and majestic. And that is worth celebrating for sure.

We move from the hearty tree in the Eight of Pentacles to the sprouting branch in the Ace of Wands. Taking our happiness seriously and celebrating it wholeheartedly is bringing good things our way. Instead of a hand popping out of a cloud and throwing a lightening bolt at us for being too cocky, we have a hand holding the promising start of something new. All we have to do is reach out and grab it. With a crowd of supporters cheering us on, I have a feeling we will. We just can't do it by making ourselves small or hiding for just how far we've come. 

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Weekly Forecast: April 9-15

It's easy to feel like we have to go it alone. I'm picturing a solitary, determined hero, squinting into the sunset before galloping off into the wilderness. We have a bit of a cult of self-sufficiency at work in our culture. It sure comes with its own rugged allure, but it can also become exhausting. When we act like our world is shaped only by us it's easy to buckle under the pressure. We can see success as ours and ours alone, and unfortunately the same goes for failure or shortcomings.

But what happens when we bring our unique talents and skills together as a collective? Isn't the sum of our parts greater than any individual skill? What can we accomplish when we ride into the sunset together?

This week we're primed to reach out and find support, solace, and inspiration in the connections we have with others. In fact, we're enjoying it right now. Our communities are blossoming and what might at first seem like pure enjoyment and fun is actually a precursor for some serious (and seriously magical) accomplishment.

The Three of Cups shows us the richness of connection we're enjoying at the moment. It's a truly special thing to be able to celebrate our successes and struggles with others. This is a week to reach out and share your growth with those around you and in turn hold space for their victories. There's a lot of good work being done right now and it's our job to make space for its splendor instead of rushing past it towards more work. 

The toast shown in the Three of Cups is turning into a powerful alliance for practical growth, as we can see in our next card, Three of Pentacles. Think of sharing laughter, good times, and celebration as planting seeds. We never know what will sprout up from the joy we share with others and building partnerships and collaborations can be lighthearted and freeing.

We often look at connections as binding. They tie us to a place, a way of being, or a plan of action. Ties, of course, can give us structure, but they can also be constricting. This week is asking us to consider a different metaphor: friendship and collaboration as a solid foundation that gives us great creative freedom. Working in conjunction with others (and benefiting from each person's diverse skills and abilities) expands our horizons radically. We're no longer limited to what we can accomplish by ourselves.

The Three of Pentacles illustrates the burgeoning energy that arises when we find like-minded co-conspirators. Many exciting plans are in the works and this is the perfect week to assemble your dream team, envision all the goals you'd like to accomplish, and think big with fellow visionaries. This space can act as a sanctuary, injecting a sense of satisfaction and meaning into our already busy lives. Giving ourselves the time to talk about our dreams with others and hatch plans that bring our skills together is allowing us to engage with the usual barrage of responsibilities, bill paying, and, yes, tax season, with refreshed energy and purpose.

The Seven of Wands shows us how we can feel empowered to tackle the multiple facets of everyday life when we have a solid team behind our backs. We're all in this together and the strength of our relationships, both personal and professional, are propelling us towards some serious productivity and mindful action. 

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Learning Tarot: "When Will I Memorize All These Cards???"

So you've just started learning tarot. The images and symbols are fascinating and you're captivated potential for self-discovery and exploration. The cards look somewhat familiar, kind of like a deck of playing cards. But wait - there's twenty two more cards, plus extra court cards? "How on earth will I memorize all this?" you might ask. 

Sitting down before a full deck of tarot cards can be daunting when you're first learning. I've been there - you want to jump right in and do lots of readings! Without having to consult the book (or books and websites) you've been reading. Add to that the many different interpretations for each card and we have a recipe for overwhelm.

But before you get frustrated I want to let you in on a little secret. I've been reading tarot for over half my life now and I still don't know all the meaning to the cards. Of course I'm proficient in each and can string them together in a plethora of ways, but I will never know everything about tarot. And want to know something else? That's what I love most about it.

Tarot is both a system of divination with a rich history and a constantly growing field. Meanings are created, shed, and reformed constantly. The topography is always changing and each reader discovers new meanings and connections throughout their practice.

You might be thinking, "well, thanks, that's not reassuring at all," and I get that. Tarot's fluid nature can be frustrating, especially since we're used to certainty and mastery. We're accustomed to having someone plop a few books down in front of us, give us a clearly outlined course of study, and, once we've grasped all of that, provide us with a diploma or certification at the end. 

I'd like to invite you to step away from this framework when it comes to your tarot studies. There's something comforting in the endless potential in the cards. It's not our goal to be come the absolute expert of tarot (besides, that's impossible), but to become fluent in its language. Embracing tarot as a journey can be immensely freeing. It's not our goal to memorize ourselves into expertise, but rather to be open to all forms of meanings - traditional, esoteric, intuitive, and personal - and engage with tarot in the moment, as an art form and not rote memorization. 

In other words, we can free ourselves from the expectation that we'll "know it all," especially when we start learning. Without this baggage of expectation, it's a lot easier to explore and have fun when we approach the cards. 

I also think this opens us up to experimentation. Sure, book leaning is richly rewarding, but it doesn't touch the true depth of tarot readings. That only comes through practice. Supplement your studies with real life readings, whether they're for yourself, others, or both. You'll be surprised to find that your familiarity with the cards grows quickly this way, even without you realizing it. Think of it as the experience of reading "six of cups: nostalgia, warm feelings, tender relationships," in a book versus having the card come up for a friend reconnecting with their childhood confidant. I bet the second will stay with you much longer, giving you an experience to tie the meaning of the card to as you read in other situations.

So relax and open yourself up to the ever-expanding world of opportunity within tarot. You'll become comfortable with each and every card in the deck over time. Until then, engage with them creatively, using both books and your own experiences. If I can say one thing about tarot it's that it's never boring. You have a lifetime worth of discovery ahead of you so throw the pressure and desire to rush forward out the window and relax into the exciting world of the cards.

Welcoming April with a Monthly Tarot Spread

April surprised me this year. Maybe it was the double holiday of Easter and April Fool's that has me feeling thrown into things without even a chance to complete that sacred ritual: list making. But what's better than a list? A tarot reading, of course!

I created this little spread as a way to do a quick inventory and planning session for the month ahead. Use it for any month, of course, not just springy April.

I approached this spread with the intent of creating focus and clarity. I do love a diffuse, winding tarot reading, but one of my favorite facets of this practice is its ability to cut to the chase when needed.

Here you'll find a position for a simple theme of the month (think of this as the month's mission statement) as well as a card to represent ourselves as we're entering into this next cycle. From there the spread fans out into the key happenings we can expect and how best to approach them.

I hope this spread illuminates your path through the next few weeks more brightly. And please report back and share how it worked out for you and what you discovered!

Happy April and Happy Tarot Reading!

Weekly Forecast: April 2-8

 When I turned over the three cards for this week I immediately thought of a word for each: direction, expansion, and decision.

This week has an abundance of clear and decisive energy. Whenever The Chariot appears we can be sure that we're ready for a challenge.  It's an easy card to place yourself in. The wind is at our backs and the reins are in our hands. As the heroes of our own stories, we've reached a place where we've become comfortable and confident in our skills and we're eager to go forth and test them in new situations.

I like the restless energy to this card. Imagine the anticipation at the start line before a race begins. We're flexing our muscles this week, figuring out the extent of our strength, and filled with ambition to use all the tools we've got. 

The Chariot also appears to give us a brief moment of contemplation before the race begins. What is it that's driving us? What hard-won skills and abilities are we excited to use and develop even further? Starting with this awareness gives us a better sense of why we're itching to get started. When we know what we're working with we have a better chance of directing our actions effectively and consistently. 

The Chariot, and this reading in general, deals with the mastery and integration of opposites, making it all the more wise to identify and cultivate awareness of the two ends of spectrum we're working with. In The Chariot we see how much power can be generated when we mindfully and willingly harness opposites, balancing, for example, traits like rest and action, acceptance and ambition, or complexity and certainty. Think of the reins of the charioteer. What opposites have you harnessed to drive yourself forward?

If this card seems a little intense and controlling, The World appears to show us that our very human effort to guide our opposing ideas, desires, and habits towards victory (driving a chariot with a tiger and a fox isn't easy, after all) has been worthwhile and immensely illuminating. The World is telling us that our struggles are sacred. Without them we wouldn't be able to break through to this new place of open possibility. In The World, opposites come together, melding and blending into a rich and dynamic tapestry. We can relax our grip and take in new vistas.

We can think of this card as a breakthrough where new, unforeseen, and even visionary possibilities present themselves. The World is a very complex, joyful, and nuanced card. Leaning into complexity and directing our gaze into the future will give us much more information and clarity than we had previously. 

Our goal this week is to simply take this all in. We end our reading with The Queen of Swords, a card that tells us we have a lot of sift through. Our minds are more than up to the task and these three cards paint a harmonious picture. Approaching this new information with clear eyes and a sense of flexible curiosity is giving us an opportunity to make healthy and invigorating changes. What's more, this card shows us that we're more than able to make choices that align with our desires and values. The Queen of Swords asks us to cut away all our needless doubt and confusion and let ourselves be led by our accomplishments, desires, and larger vision. 
 

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Exploring the Minor Arcana: The Nines

In this series we'll be diving into the world of the Minor Arcana. Each segment will group the cards by number where we can engage in their themes and differences. For all the posts in the installment, click here.

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We've almost reached the finish line with the pip cards and, similarly, the nines represent the penultimate step of a journey. For some suits like the cups and pentacles, it's smooth sailing to the end. Others, like the swords and the wands, are more of a challenge. A trial of sorts is necessary to make it to a conclusion.

Nines require deeper thinking and wider vistas. It's a stage where we're synthesizing information, contemplating how far we've come, and realizing the extent to which we've changed. As a number, nine is visionary, conscientious, and universal. It's a point where we look beyond ourselves to the larger meaning and reverberations of our actions.

Let's dive into the details for each suit. Click on each for the full card meaning page.

Explore In-Depth Minor Arcana Meanings

The  Nine of Wands shows us how the path of action can leave us bruised and wary. The going has been rough, but not without wisdom and accomplishment. It just doesn't look so rosy quite yet, and this card denotes a resigned restlessness. We know tha we've committed to a journey and we'll see it out, but there's tiredness in our bones and a desire to let go and move on once we've succeeded.

For the Nine of Swords depicts a moment of intense anxiety, sadness, and doubt. We've been overwhelmed by our mind's tendency to think, plan, and fret. We'd like to retreat, but instead of using this space to heal and recover, we dissolve in despair. 

The Nine of Cups is a beautiful illustration of the wealth that comes with emotional fulfillment. The figure in this card sits confidently in front of nine cups fanned out behind him. Contentment, generosity, and warmth spring forth naturally when we're able to take care of our emotional needs, feel our feelings, and maintain supportive and loving connections

Finally, the Nine of Pentacles is a very alluring card. Ensconced in a beautiful garden and lounding next to a grapevine with pentacles at its base, the figure in this card is majestic, content, and secure. This card denotes a period of financial and material stability, one that allows us to invite others into our space and share our wealth. 

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