Weekly Forecast: February 5-11
When a vibrant sense of fun leads to an important breakthrough.
We're often taught that working involves intense effort. It's the image of someone sweating heavily while toiling at a job site or the romanticized notion of pulling all-nighters in a frenzied push towards a goal. Grit and genius can only come from sweat and struggle.
Sometimes we lean so heavily on this idea that anything less feels like a shortcoming. If we're not suffering we're not working hard enough. Right?
The three cards for this week have a convincing counterargument.
We're ushered into the scene by the verdant excitement of the Page of Pentacles. When I turned this card over I immediately started singing "The Hills Are Alive" from The Sound of Music ( in my head, thankfully). And it's true - this card shares the same bright-eyed enthusiasm as Maria in the beginning of her journey.
Similarly, we're entering a new beginning regarding our work, one that is taking us away from the gritty "capitalist truck commercial" idea of effort and towards something brighter and more exploratory. Think of your early passions from childhood. For me it was dinosaurs and ancient Egypt. I didn't need to harness any motivation to learn about them. Instead I was hungrily grabbing at information, memorizing long dinosaur names, and happily sharing my new knowledge with anyone who would listen.
This week we're being presented with this gift of natural passion. We want to explore a new area wholeheartedly, or an area that now seems as shiny as the golden coin balanced in the Page's hand. This card shows us the unbridled joy that comes with learning when we allow ourselves to be led by our natural interests. Focus comes easily and our new pursuit illuminates our world with excitement and possibility.
The idea of knowledge as an illuminating force brings us to our next card, The Sun, taking our freedom, adventure, and self-expression to the next level. Something we're pursuing this week is tapping into a gorgeous facet of ourselves, one that's been longing for a little light.
This might be somewhat unnerving - are things feeling too fun? Too joyful? We might find ourselves framing this burst of energy as a distraction, something that's pulling us way from the responsibility and toil of our daily lives.
But sometimes we need this rush of energy - a reminder that work can be fulfilling, breezy, and fun - to bring us to the next level. Our final card, The Eight of Coins, shows us that this bright path has provided a missing piece to a more tangible, effort-based undertaking. Something we've been working on for a long time needed the rush of exploratory energy from the Page of Coins and The Sun. It's as if the next step needed time to coalesce, either in the form of a step back from the intensity of deliberate work or in a spontaneous innovation inspired through a more lighthearted approach.
This is where trust in our process, self-expression, and the joy of exploration inject a much needed sense of levity and ease into our process. Embrace the itch to learn something new, take off a bit of pressure and think differently, or even take a break before returning to a state of intense concentration.
Playfulness and freedom are giving us both pleasure and inspiration this week. Soon enough we'll be returning to the masterful and directed focus of The Eight of Coins. This time, however, we'll be invigorated and rested - ready for the next phase of our project.