Weekly Forecast: August 8-14

Where do we hold our grief? At the surface, a tender heart beating in plain sight, or hidden away behind layers of our choosing: busyness, identity, stories we tell ourselves and others? This week represents a parting of the curtains, one that reveals a surprising path forwards, but also the heart of our suffering. Whether you’ve been grappling with a known grief or have one that’s bubbling up from your past, this is a time to gain new insight while allowing yourself to be transported to a new and refreshing vantage point.

What’s most interesting about this reading is that it features two of the most visually simple cards in the deck. Both the Eight of Wands and Three of Swords have no human figures in them. Instead, like the Marseilles tarot and playing cards, they feature the symbols of their suit. Eight wands fly in unison towards the ground. Three swords pierce a big red heart. As much as these images are clear (and, in the case of the Three of Swords, upsetting) they also embody a helpful simplicity. This is what we’re dealing with right now. How should we approach it?

I’ve been thinking a lot about healing lately and the assumption in our culture that it’s a linear process, a job of sorts that we have to complete before taking on anything else. Our cards for the week completely scramble this idea. Instead, we have action and growth leading us through healing. Action, in other words, is part of the process. This week, t’s not in our best interest to wait around, languishing, until we’re suddenly “better” or cured of difficult emotions. They may come up, but they may also be surprisingly de-fanged in a context where we welcome them with space and acceptance.

So while grief and pain do factor into this week, growth and motion are happening every way we look. Just look at The Eight of Wands! This card tells us we’re in a time of plans and work coming together with glorious effectiveness. Launch into action, release your arrows, and let the immediacy of getting things done carry you forward. Embrace clarity and decisiveness - this card will touch many areas of our lives and is one worth enjoying. We can trust that any ease, bravery, or conviction comes from lots of planning and practice, so don’t hold yourself back and follow through with both old plans and new. Pivoting, adjusting, and making intuitive decisions (often in the heat of the moment) are all supported by this card.

What if this season of change, coming-together, and refreshing action leads us smack into a puddle of grief? These cards invite us to welcome the experience not as a diversion or mistake, but as a sign that true healing is happening. Growth and healing are holding hands and running side by side, not standing in line next to each other and waiting. Are we pushing up against sharp edges from our past? Bumping into new hardship? This big, obvious heart tells us that we need to go through, not around, our hard feelings. Sure, the skies are blue in the eight of wands, and then grey in the three of swords, but they quickly turn blue again in our final card, the Page of Swords. This character gives us a way and an inspiration for better understanding the root of our suffering. Stepping into this page’s shoes of curiosity, analytic power, and open-mindedness will help part the storm clouds of emotion and give us a sharpened perspective.

Ways that The Eight of Wands could manifest this week:

• Things finally coming together leading to fear of success, overwhelm, feeling unprepared

• Seeing yourself moving on from old grief unexpectedly, wanting to remain tied to it out of a sense of loyalty

• Decisiveness and clarity you struggle to reconcile with your idea of yourself and what your life could be like

An important part of the Three of Swords is that it is the only illustration of rain in the tarot. We see lots of sprouting fields, resplendent gardens, and lush landscapes, but where is the rain to feed all of this growth? It’s here in the Three of Swords, perhaps one of the most unlikely cards to find sustenance and abundance hiding. How can you see your grief, suffering, and other challenging emotions as sources of growth? The water that feeds and fuels what’s growing in your life? The mental acuity of the Page of Swords suggests that we’re more than ready to see with clear eyes and not get swept away by our emotions. It’s possible, we’re ready, and we can walk through the Three of Swords, feeling our feelings, and letting them be transformed into nourishing rain.

this week, embrace:

• Motion & movement

• Following through on plans

• Productivity and checking off to-do list items

• Experiencing your feelings freely and without judgment

• Taking a new perspective when looking at old problems or struggles

This week, avoid:

• Running from difficult emotions

• Self-defeating stories when experiencing said emotions

• Turning back or giving up

• Having to be right/sticking to old stories just to avoid being “wrong”

Get creative:

• Eight of Wands: This is such a kinetic card that I want us to avoid overanalyzing it. So, either just keep it in mind as a token on inspiration that reminds you to trust your energy, stay in the moment, and learn by doing, or make some time to experiment with a practice that brings you to the state of flow embodied in this card. I’m thinking automatic writing, dancing, and improvisation of any kind.

• Three of Swords: I should have been more explicit up top: I love this card. Maybe it’s because one of my number one hobbies as a teen was listening to Elliott Smith and crying, but I think it’s also because there’s something beautiful about being in a place where you have to express your emotions and can truly experience both the bitter and the sweet simultaneously. So, for this week, I highly encourage you to dig up some old tried and true crying jams and let the tears flow. Or, if that’s too raw (which I completely understand), go back and remember what was happening when those songs cut right through to the center of you. There’s a facet of this card that deals with old/ancestral/primary wounds - do some exploring here and see what wisdom they might have to share with your present self.

• Page of Swords: Is this card the nerdiest in all of tarot? I think so… Gift yourself some time this week to get curious and research something interesting. It may be tied to the topics brought up in the Three of Swords and Eight of Wands, too. Is there some new source of information or knowledge that can help you cut through issues that once felt intractable? Remember, though, you’re the one wielding the sword and choosing which ones to pick up in the first place. If anything doesn’t feel right, leave it where it is and move on. Ideas that are meant to shape our story should give us new life and inspiring clarity.