Weekly Forecast: June 25 - July 1

This week's reading greets us with a powerful array of cards: The Queen of Cups, The Chariot, and The Magician. In the next few days we have all the tools in front of us to make big and bold strides towards what we really want. All signs point to go and, most importantly, our motivations are coming from a good and grounded place.

The Queen of Cups sets the tone for the action to come. This card is an elegant embodiment of true emotional awareness brought to life by carefully cultivated boundaries. The Queen of Cups is generous, supportive, and emotionally wise. She gives, but is not depleted because she knows the importance of tending to herself, her experiences, and her needs. Only then can her powers regenerate themselves. Her giving, therefore, is sustainable and rooted in self-love and self-respect.

This card's presence in the beginning of our reading tells us that we've been doing a wonderful job of being receptive to our desires - tending to our personal gardens - and letting our generosity and relationship to others spring from this joyful and fulfilled place. Looking deeper into this image we can see that the Queen's throne is built on a sandy shore. She's seated firmly on the ground, in touch with the material world and very stable. Part of her robes, however, flow gently into the sea and their pattern even mimics the gentle ripples on the water.

Similarly, we've been tending to our physical selves while practicing gentle awareness of the emotional currents swirling around us. It's only through the stability in our daily lives that we can maintain this balance. We aren't getting swept away into deeper waters - into other people's drama, perhaps, or into speculation, worry, and projection. This has allowed us to peer intently into a great gift that's coming into focus. There's something big and tender that we want to pursue. Like the cup in the Queen's hands, it's right in front of us, and we've been getting to know its contours and details. This cup will appear differently for all of us, yet its common thread is a deep emotional connection. This is something we feel strongly about, something important, visionary, and maybe a little tender. 

Regardless, this big dream is coming closer and closer to reality. 

And what better card to usher our dreams into something real than The Chariot? Oftentimes this card brings with it a great deal of ego and bluster. In this case, however, we can look at The Chariot as an offshoot of The Queen of Cups. Our dreaming, feeling selves are ready to manifest. The Chariot, then, is just the person (or persona) to get the job done. 

These two cards show us shifting from an internally focused, planning mindset into the exciting realm of action. This week is an excellent time to begin the first steps of this new journey. Enough plans have been laid and, in fact, the missing pieces need action in order to be uncovered. We can trust that our motivations are pure and move forward confidently. 

It may be worth mentioning that this shift is also indicative of a healthy self-centeredness. By that I mean that worrying too much about what others think will only hold us back, particularly if we're imagining all sorts of scenarios where we're stepping on other people's toes simply by taking up space with our dreams and goals. The Chariot tells us to move confidently, knowing that The Queen of Cups is truly the one guiding the reins and that our confidence and focus is rooted in wisdom.

The Chariot's adventures in our lives this week are building a wonderful energy. If you look at these three cards we see a move from one court card to two Major Arcana cards. This shows us that an important growth and amplification of our powers is taking place. With The Magician we can see a magnificent growth in confidence. Towards the end of the week we'll have so many more details about our plans and new ideas about what to do next. With focus, dedication, and joy we can easily carry this energy forward and bring important ideas and goals into reality. 

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Weekly Forecast: June 18-24

Well, well. This week holds quite the welcome energy shift. Things have been wandsy for a while now as we've been grappling with the myriad items on our "to do" lists. We've been deep in a period of work that requires us to simply keep at it. You know the phase when the initial inspiration seems far in the past, replaced by many tasks that seem to pull us every which way. Except towards rejuvenating creativity.

We can see this overwhelm in the Nine of Wands. Here, the vitality of the wands has built up into a formidable wall. We can see the trepidation and exhaustion in the main figure's eyes. More work? Really? When did this stop feeling fun?

This is a question worth asking, and one that has a surprising answer. Despite the discomfort that comes from running into obstacles, the setbacks and frustration we've been experiencing is actually a welcome symptom. We're already where we need to be. We're done! It's just time to let our awareness catch up.

We've been struggling to break past this wall of wands because we think the answer is on the other side. We're operating under the assumption that we need to overcome this itchiness. That the answer involves more of the same - more action, more problem-solving, and more control. Look at the other two cards for this week and we can see that, in fact, we're heading in a much different direction.

The angstiness of fire (wands) is being extinguished by some much-needed, soothing water energy, represented here by the Page and Ten of Cups. All our hard work has brought us to new territory. It's understandable that it's going to take some time for all that momentum to die down. Think of the Nine of Wands as the extra distance you run past the finish line because you can't come to an immediate stop. This week our challenge is to see this phase for what it is and not keep running as if our lives depended on it.

To put it another way, we've already finished the work we needed to do. Now we're shifting away from action and into a period of processing and intuition. This week's reading is really honing in on the role of the Nines as the culmination of their group of cards. The Tens, in fact, are overkill. We're feeling exhausted at the Nine of Wands because we've done enough. It's time to put down our active, controlling minds and make room for something new.

The Page of Cups is asking us to treat this new perspective with curiosity. Now is a time for integration and uncovering. What has all our growth and action brought up for us? We can look at it with calm openness like the Page does with the delightful fish peeking out of their cup. Similarly, we're being given an opportunity to find a new and exciting facet of ourselves in the days to come. It's proving to be the missing piece we were trying to make happen in the Nine of Wands.

This is a time to replace our sky-high expectations with a sense of satisfaction. What if we've done enough? What if we are enough? Embracing this mindset and inviting in a sense of possibility to our lives is opening the future up to the splendid panorama of the Ten of Cups. So much is possible if we relax our grip on the future. Like creates like, and now is the time to let enjoyment, self-expression, and love into the picture. When we plan with these values in mind, so much is possible, including a version of life that's much more expansive and wonderful than the claustrophobia shown in the Nine of Wands.

Use this time to tend to the idealistic, caring, and insightful part of yourself. The Page of Cups shows us asking important new questions and deepening our connection with our intuition. This is an excellent moment to plan big - allowing the most utopian, magical visions for the future to emerge. They might not, in fact, be so far out of reach.

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Can I Be Rational and Get a Tarot Reading?

You may be surprised with how many clients I get who feel nervous around tarot because they consider themselves skeptic, highly rational, and intellectual. It's a common fear that as soon as we dip our toes into the woo-sphere we're somehow going to have our "rational human being" card revoked. Believe it or not, I can personally relate to this feeling.

I began reading tarot as a young and tender teenager. I had always been drawn to the spiritual, but after that experience began clashing with the very secular and intellectual world around me, I found myself reflexively scoffing at any and all things woo and mystical. In my mind, the two simply couldn't co-exist. Luckily, I've not only found that they can live together harmoniously, but that they're highly compatible as well.

One of the most healing, beautiful, and fascinating aspects of reading for others professionally is seeing people who have some of the same blocks around intellectualism and spirituality engage with the cards. Despite its occult background and evocative symbolism, tarot is, at its root, a remarkably effective tool for discovering and identifying patterns active in our lives. AKA tasks that are highly suited for rational problem solvers. 

I'm always so energized by clients who come in looking wary and anxiously at the cards. Once they realize that I don't require all new clients to sign a form declaring their undying belief in astral projection, fairies, and past lives, they start to relax. Many of them want to know the ins-and-outs of the system. How does it all work? Once they have a general feel for it, they often dive into the cards with zeal and uniquely piercing insight.

So often we place rigid boundaries around facets of ourselves that dont' do anyone or anything justice. Who says you can't be intellectual and spiritual at the same time? Who says we can't bring our seeking, discerning, and questioning selves to the table when we get a reading?

In fact, as I've discovered, tarot is a system where the spiritual and intellectual combine to an amazing effect. Of course, we don't even have to adhere to or resonate with any concept of "spirituality," but simply by engaging with the subjective world of the cards we open up our rigid definitions of thinking and problem-solving to richer input and fruitful exploration. 

So, to answer the question I posed in the title, yes, you can absolutely be rational and get a tarot reading or read tarot for yourself. Explore the cards and see how they open up new thoughts, insights, and realizations. Call on that pattern-seeking skill you're so adept at to look at your life from a wider vantage point. You'll be surprised at how much you can discover. 

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Weekly Forecast: June 11-17

This week is brimming with hearty, enthusiastic energy, my peaches. We have the direct spelndor of The Sun, followed by the rich satisfaction and tenderness of the Queen of Wands. Things are unfolding beautifully and, in addition to being able to run forward with mindful enthusiasm, we're also being wise enough to take quieter moments to tend to ourselves and the ones we love. Take a moment right now to congratulate yourself. It's easy to overlook this step when things are going well; let's not miss this opportunity today.

I'm going to skip over these cards for a minute and focus on our final card, the Ten of Wands. It appears there's a fox in the henhouse. Indeed, Ricardo Cavolo's depiction of this card - a fox replacing the traditional image of an exhausted person pushing a bundle of wands - is very apt this week. We seem to be unwilling to slow down and appreciate the results of a final push to the end of a cycle.

Just look at the mischievous fox perched on its stack of wands. If we gaze closer we can see that the wands form a barrier between the water - the element of the Queen of Cups - and the warm rays of the sun. This temptation is arriving towards the end of the week, when we may feel pulled to gleefully bypass the success, sweetness, and happiness we've earned this week.

 In this case, we're replacing celebration with more work and responsibility. The pile of wands represents a burden of duties, the kind that can seem extra important from the outside. We're running around frenetically, looking important and getting things done! 

Sounds like fun, right? The Tens in tarot have a trickiness to them. While we often talk about them as the end of a cycle, they in fact represent an overload or excess of energy. (Just look at the epic, death metal album cover of a card, the Ten of Swords!) In other words, they're overkill, and we can look at them as the extra steps we run past the finish line, carried by our immense momentum. 

This week we're given an opprtunity to pump the brakes on the process. What if we stop and realize we've already accomplished what we needed to accomplish? And that, instead of rushing to fill the void with more busy work and stress, we can open up to joys of accomplishment?

 In this reading, that facet of our experience is clear, bright, and powerful. The Sun tells us that we've been working towards a goal that is truly aligned with our highest self. The Queen of Cups tells us that we're embodying the complex and loving responsibility that allows us to prioritize pleasure, enjoyment, and loving relationships. These are no small potatoes! It's time to relax into these wonderful realities. Reach out, share, celebrate, and push those wands to the side.

Sometimes the conclusion of a journey is realizing you've already reached its end.

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Try This: Thrift Store Tarot

Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash

I've been reading a wonderful book by Robert Moss called Sidewalk Oracles: Playing with Signs, Symbols, and Synchronicities in Everyday Life. In it, Moss explores the ways in which we can engage with the world to find meaning, spiritual guidance, and richness. It's a theme that obviously resonates with me, both as a tarot reader and a seeker. Indeed, there are many similarities between Moss' approach and tarot. We use the cards to identify patterns and symbols in our lives. Why not extend this gaze outwards?

I was delighted to find out that Moss is also a fan of the tarot. Early in the book he introduces the idea of "Sidewalk Tarot," the practice of posing a question or theme to the world and seeing what signs come your way. I've been practicing this frequently and have been enjoying the expansive curiosity it brings to my awareness. Now I'm seeing things I'd never notice before, paying attention to the sights, sounds, and snippets of conversation that flow around me.

It's also inspired me to adapt Moss' idea to one of my favorite pass-times: thrifting. Since my college days I've spent days perusing the racks and shelves of all sorts of thrifty places: swap shops, antique stores, and the bevy of secondhand shops in Durham (including the incredibly named "Everything But Grannie's Panties.") 

I find browsing for treasures uniquely calming. I can relax into myself and satisfy that primordial hunter-gatherer instinct. Instead of mammoths, I'm looking for bakelite jewelry, vintage dresses, and all manners of delightful doo-dads. Or scary/delightful doo-dads: I have a huge soft spot for demonic-looking ceramic animals like this bluebird sugar dish. What can I say, I'm a woman of many interests.

And now I can add "mystical insights" to my wishlist. I decided to try out Moss' technique in a thrift shop because, if you think about it, what place is more chock-full of symbols? You have the meanings of all manner of figurines, the associations that come from different eras, memories awakened by poufy-sleeved dresses from the 80s, and words upon words in stacks of books. 

The rules are simple. Post a question or set an intention like "what do I need to know about ____" or "show me insight into _____" before you enter the store. Let yourself get swept into the meditative task of browsing. Don't try to force associations or observations. Think of this as shuffling the tarot deck. Wander around a while, touch some blouses, and flip through some books. 

Once in this relaxed state, notice what you're drawn to and don't overthink it. Whatever item or memory or insight sticks out the most is the most important. Jot these down in a notebook, snap a photo, or commit them to memory. 

After you've left the store, take a moment to journal about your experience. What messages might these observations or items be telling you? Let them percolate and see what you discover!

Weekly Forecast: June 4-10

I won't lie, I may have been hoping for a less-intense reading this week after having my favorite card, Death, make an appearance two weeks in a row. Yes, that energy is transformative and powerful, but it's also pretty heady!

This week reminds me of a nonsensical t-shirt I once bought in Thailand that said "Same, Same, But Different" across the front. This week we have a similar energy - the desire and need for change - but it's manifesting in a different way. Or, should I say, through a different path.

Luckily for us, this path is much more grounded and practical. Our reading is centered around the Three of Pentacles, a card with no shortage of vision, support, and action. In many ways, I see this reading as a continuation of those before. This week, however, we're emerging from the experience of Death and into the action of living. In other words, we got taken along on a turbulent, profound ride and now we're stepping off, ready to explore and commit ourselves to this new landscape.

The Three of Pentacles is all about creativity and building. This is a time to plan and collaborate with like-minded others. Who are our allies? Who shares our vision and drive? Who do we trust to create something meaningful with? These are not small questions, but luckily we have the almost brutal perceptiveness of the Page of Swords on our side.

Sure, this Page is showing us that we don't quite have our sea legs when it comes to this new venture, but we have plenty of chutzpah, verve, and curiosity to start us on our journey. Most importantly, this page illustrates the unvarnished perceptiveness of youth. I'm picturing the someimes-terrifying honesty of children. You know the moments when a young child makes a harsh but true observation with no shame whatsoever? (I'm reminded of a time when I allegedly looked up at my mother, gazed deeply into her nostrils, and shouted, "It looks like you have spiders in your nose!") 

I'm not advising that we run around shouting harsh truths at people with wild abandon. What I am saying is that we have the ability to make clear observations of others right now, and from these we can easily discern people's motives and the role we'd like to give them in our life. So trust your perceptions as they come to you and chose your team accordingly. 

What I love most about the Three of Pentacles is that is shows us how important collaboration is to the creative process. This is not a time to go it alone, but rather one to find your dream team and dive into the infectious energy of planning together. And Death, our central card from the last two weeks, gives us a helpful hint: Who do we see heeding the meaningful and challenging transition of Death? Whose growth inspires us? Our people are the ones who have shared some aspect of our struggles and have used those experinces to grow.

And what's this in the distance? Another mild and mellow tarot card? Well, not exactly. Judgment concludes our reading with a nice burst of trumpeting fanfare. We can expect an important revelation later in the week, one that will tell us about the path we're on. Is it working towards our highest good or backsliding into old patterns? Either way, the message won't be subtle, and it'll be just what we need to hear.

In a way, Judgment is a welcome sign that the experimental building we're beginning right now will garner quick feedback and input. Our burgeoning Page of Swords energy is also attuned to this frequency and we can look at this connection as a healthy dialog between our questioning selves and our higher calling. We have plenty of light-footed, perceptive energy available to us right now to adjust our path and tweak our direction. Now is our time to plan and plot, thinking big with our supporters and co-conspirators, while remaining open to feedback from larger sources. 

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Weekly Forecast: May 28-June 3

We have the charismatic ease of the Wands at our backs as we enter into this week. The Six is a particularly encouraging card, one that points to the happy rush of an achievement. Hard work is paying off, bringing us to a moment where we're being seen for all that we do.

Whenever the Six of Wands shows up it directs us towards joining in on the celebration of our own achievements. All the cheering in the world means nothing if we can't join in ourselves. It takes courage to see ourselves riding confidently on a horse, laurel wreaths held high like the main figure in this card. But here we are. Moving forward and being seen as go-getters, visionaries, and creators. 

And where are we headed? The Hierophant is an arresting card to have facing out at us from the center of this reading. The energy and enthusiasm of the Six of Wands isn't as superficial as we might think. Something about our recent ventures is tapping into a deeper side of ourselves. The Hierophant is a teacher and keeper of secrets. Though they are sometimes buried under all the overt religious symbolism in the card, The Hierophant can be further distilled into a representation of inner truths being respected, amplified, and directed outwards.

This card is asking us to consider what we're taking more seriously in our lives. How has all the action and movement of the Six of Wands been changing our beliefs? Or, from another angle, how have our actions lately been reflecting a cherished value or cause? In this reading, the impulsive nature of the wands is acting as a helpful catalyst. We're finding ourselves already embodying something important that may even be making us feel a little frightened and exposed.

I say this because our final card, the Four of Pentacles, takes the forward moving expansion of the Six of Wands and the solemn sacredness of The Hierophant and tries to reign it in through practicality. Just look at the change in body language. Proud movement and celebration arriving at regal presence and presentation and then... clinging?

Why interrupt our parade towards deeper understanding with restrictive behavior? The suit of pentacles deals with everyday life, stability, and practicality. On one hand, a great deal of magic and meaning can be found here, but in this reading we have the Four, a card that illustrates the act of hiding behind duty, conservatism, and common sense. We're experiencing expansion and somehow seeing danger. So we're being tempted to shut down, to bury our burgeoning ideas and changing selves under the guise of being extra-responsible, together adults.

This energy is classic self-limitation. Rather than own the power of The Hierophant - choosing to enshrine what's really important to us (and to broadcast the magic and satisfaction we find in life) - we're pretending to choose another path out of practicality. It's like saying you'd love to go on an adventurous vacation, but just can't find someone to watch your dog. Or hiding behind work responsibilities when you get invited to try something new. Of course we can pull strings and make things happen. It's just easier to look responsible and hard-working instead of admitting we're afraid to try something new. 

This week we have the opportunity to see this pattern with fresh eyes. The Six of Wands comes with its own clearing energy, after all. The parade towards a richer life can continue ahead with some quick detours - we don't have to stay in the Four of Pentacles indeterminately. And with the powerful Hierophant in the center we can't avoid what really matters for long. 

The news here is good. Our ideas and beliefs matter and we're already  putting them into action. Now is our time to practice standing strong in who we are and letting ourselves commit and invest in what gives our life meaning. We don't need to use our responsibilities as a smokescreen. We can just look to the starts and trust that our feet will stay firmly planted on the ground. 

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When Daily Draws Just Don't Feel Right

Look around any corner of that tarot-blogosphere and you'll immediately find information about daily draws. Select a card a day, let it reveal its wisdom, guide your actions, or simply inspire you. Sounds delightful, right?

Daily draws can be a lovely component to your tarot practice. I've found that some people, however, just don't resonate with this practice. And I'm one of them.

For me, reading tarot is an immersive experience. When I read for myself, I like to let the cards sit with me for longer periods of time. I might have a card sitting on my altar for months, or a reading resting on my windowsill for a week or too. I guess you could say that my tarot metabolism is slow!

Any tarot practice or exercise should affirm and nurture your relationship to the cards. That's to say, don't worry if something doesn't resonate with you. You're by no means behind the curve or neglecting your practice if you're not doing daily draws. In this culture of constant comparison, it's easy to feel less than. Don't let your tarot experiences be one of them!

Plus, there are a myriad of ways to interact with the cards regularly, regardless of whether you're physically drawing one each day or not. Simply holding past readings in your mind, looking for parallels as you go about your daily life, or seeing the cards in other people are equally enriching practices you can do whenever and wherever you'd like.

As I explored in this post, even taking a break from reading tarot can add to your skills as a reader. Tarot is a big, beautiful system for understanding the world and the ways of working with it are similarly expansive and diverse. Follow your instincts as you develop your practice. Allow for changes, experiments, and rituals. Who knows, one day daily draws might emerge as a lovely part of your pursuits.

How about you? What are your thoughts on daily draws? What are ways that you like to work with tarot? 

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Tarot Reflections: Diving Deep into Shadow Work with Death and The Moon

Who here loves to read articles online? I'm the first to admit that I spend a great deal of time trolling the internet for information and entertainment (ideally, mostly for *serious, productive* goals, but we all know how things go...)

One of my favorite corners is Longform, an amazingly curated collection of longform journalism. Diving into another perspective makes me feel even more connected to the stunning variety of life. And it gets me out of my usual thought patterns and into the grander, more magical side of life in all its weirdness and diversity. Plus, even when I'm procrastinating I'm learning something new.

Often times, I find myself connecting what I read to tarot because, let's face it, tarot is a huge lens through which I see the world. (Side note: I highly recommend doing this as a fun tarot exercise.)

The other day I stumbled on an article about saturation divers, people who do demolition work thousands of feet under the ocean, spending weeks at a time in intensely managed and frighteningly claustrophobic living quarters designed to spare them from the crushing pressure of all that water. 

They have to move slowly, exercise caution, and trust in the systems put in place to protect them. Once they've completed their time underwater, they must slowly ascend, spending days in specially pressurized capsules aboard ships to equalize.

This deliberate, risky, and ultimately rewarding process reminded me so much of a tarot reading I had this past week. In it two of my favorite cards showed up together: Death and The Moon. Both of these cards speak to the power, mystery, and risk of transitions.

When we choose to move into our personal depths in our pursuit of growth we can uncover so much. Yet at the same time we're traveling into new and occasionally heavy territory. The Moon represents the wildness of this new place. It can be both wondrous and frightening, in turns alluring and repulsive.

Some people call this process shadow work and with good reason. Looking deeper involves bringing what was in the shadows into light. Sometimes we don't like what we see, but it's part of us nonetheless. And ultimately, we're able to find positivity and transformation for these relinquished sides of ourselves. That's one of the profound transitions represented by the Death card.

Like the saturation divers working far beneath the surface of the sea, we're under a lot of pressure when we work with our shadow. That's not to say that the pressure is crippling and fearsome, but that we should acknowledge that we're working in a different realm. The same rules don't apply, as we can see in the topsy-turvy illustration of The Moon. We can't rush around recklessly. We have to exercise caution. Move slowly. Be aware that we're doing something important.

We also can't rush to the surface quickly. Doing shadow work involves taking time apart, moving slowly with awareness of the importance of our undertaking, and giving ourselves plenty of space to ease into the bustle of life. We need TLC, in other words, when we're going to these big places. It's easy to forget this and bop right back into our routines. Doing extra self-care in these situations is always a wise investment. 

What's more, we can also rely on the support network in place. While we're at the bottom of our personal sea exploring, mending, and shining a light on neglected places, we also have a connection to the people who have our back on the surface. Communicating with them about our needs, feelings, and experiences, can be a beautiful lifeline during big moments of personal growth.

So if you're in the midst of a big internal change a la Death, remember that this is a delicate, important, and beautiful process. Think like a diver at the bottom of the sea - how can you bring your awareness to these new surroundings. What different ways must you move? How can you give yourself time and space to process, recalibrate, and equalize? 

Diving deep can be hard work. But when we're mindful of its importance and our new needs as we embark on these journeys, the path is much more smooth and inviting.