Weekly Forecast: Oct 31 - Nov 6
We’re entering that lovely yet fraught time of the year: The Holidays. The days grow shorter, the clocks get set back, and we gear up for the impending festivities, visits with families, and gifting. It can be a whirlwind of activity, bringing up conflicts and losses as well as the warm and fuzzy associations we know so well.
The reading for this week highlights the underlying force of this time of the year. It’s the big one we’re all familiar with - love and the celebration of our connections.
We see this in the ace of cups, a single vessel held proudly aloft. It represents love in all its splendor. The star of the event. The water we drink. The element that ties us all together.
Love, in this case, is not specific. It is the unconditional, underlying affection that allows us to appreciate, say, our brash uncle who always manages to say something offensive at Thanksgiving dinner. The love that allows us to see beyond the qualities and beliefs we don’t align with and into their humanity and our shared bonds.
I see this ace as a reminder to foster connection despite our differences during these polarized times. Isolation and rejection of those who disagree with us tend to encourage the spread of fearful ideas that are, in fact, quite isolating. What do you know? That seems like a toxic cycle we should be doing our best to avoid.
That’s not to say that this unconditional loving comes easily. In the difficulty we must remember the divine nature of aces. As a reflection of the traits of the suites in the purest form, aces represent a beautiful gift from an unknown source. (After all, their symbols are popping out of clouds and held by mysterious, disembodied hands.)
We don’t know why we’re here or why loving can be so wonderful and so challenging. For some this may be comforting and for others frustrating. But we do know that it brings a stunning beauty and grace into our lives, sometimes in glorious bursts and sometimes in bits and pieces.
Fortunately, the ten of pentacles suggests a harmonious season, at least for the week ahead. We see a lovely depiction of a family. There’s a mother, father, child, and even two majestic hounds. It’s a card chock full of connections and relationships that seem to be flourishing together.
The ten on pentacles is one of my favorite cards. It depicts a cozy scene of the everyday that holds a beautiful secret. While pentacles refer to earth, practical matters, and the physical plane, they also signify the sacred in the everyday. The intersection of our lives as we live them and the spiritual plane.
As such it is also a card that connects us to forces beyond us, both personal and divine. It reminds us that this time of the year is one to commemorate our ancestors and traditions, reach out to them by coming together, and remain open to the support coming from the other side.
But what is life without a little tension? The two of wands reveals a little itch we might have. A restlessness around travel, plans, or ideas we’ve yet to hatch. The other two cards suggest a strong foundation in our relationships, perhaps one that is feeling just a bit stifling.
We hold the world in our hand and gaze into its possibilities. It is up to us whether doing so is invigorating and inspiring or distracting and dissatisfying. Know, however, that this little spark is very young and that there is plenty of good at work in your life at this very moment.