Weekly Forecast: February 20-26

After weeks of big, existential readings we come down to earth and into a somewhat chaotic situation. I’m hoping, however, that this contrast will be refreshing, as we take what we’ve learned from our experience of Major Arcana cards like Strength, and apply them to the minutiae of our daily lives.

And, to be honest, it sometimes feels good to get back into the rhythm of taking care of business, and no card expresses this mixture of strenuous action and deep satisfaction better than the Seven of Wands. Tasks, projects, bids for attention - all manners of requests on our time are surfacing in the beginning of the week. See where you can find pleasure in checking things off your to-do list. Have you been stuck in your head, deep in analysis, planning, and hypothetical scenarios? The demands of life might feel like a welcome change of pace. Let your focus land on the task that’s immediately at hand; it’s likely that another one is right behind it, and you may enjoy this game of whack-a-mole once you get warmed up to the intensity.

There’s also something mysterious underneath the motion and occasional stress of the Seven of Wands. Sometimes this card can reflect an internal angst that’s surfacing through hyper-productivity or lots of motion. Are we trying to outrun something? Propel ourselves into a future we can’t quite pinpoint? What’s clear, however, is that we have something important to work out, and the only way to do that is through action, experimentation, and actual lived experiences. In this moment, mild discomfort, irritation, and friction are an important part of the process and not a sign to abandon our course of action.

I’ve written a lot about how the sevens in tarot have this strange, fairytale logic, and in the case of the Seven of Wands, it’s a moment of trust: that our instincts will lead us to the right path; that our mistakes will train us for what we’re truly after; and that our intuition and subconscious will be working their magic under the surface as we strive to live a life that’s meaningful to us. Am I asking us to view feeling harried and overbooked as a sign of spiritual growth? Maybe I am! What’s clear, though, is that we have to move our way through this; stopping is not an option.

The wands suit can usher in a great deal of change. After this initial phase of action, see what new information has revealed itself. What are you working towards and what path did you just clear (even if unintentionally)? The Eight of Pentacles holds down the center of our reading, representing a place of concentration and productivity. Scattered energy becomes focused, deliberate, even meditative. Trust that your big goals will be realized so long as you do the work, then try to enjoy doing that work, uninterrupted.

Looking at these two cards, I get a sense of a busy life, well-lived. This is not a time for reinventing the wheel; we’re busy refining and settling into the routines we’ve worked so hard to establish. Yet if there’s a sense of boredom or stagnation in these places (which, let’s be real, can happen) the Ace of Swords arrives at the end of the week as a beacon of inspiration. A new idea, arrangement, conversation, book, or other conduit of information is jolting us out of our usual assumptions and pushing us towards a new horizon.

All of these cards, however, appear quite harmonious, and this is a tarot reading that seems to be describing multiple levels of a busy and whole life. With that in mind, it’ll be important to respect and embrace the many layers to our existence. This is not a time to be threatened by the facets of your humanity, in other words! There may be no problem to be solved at this moment, even if the demands on your time occasionally feel challenging, imperfect, or conflicting.

Potential surprise/reframe:

The Ace of Swords is doing something interesting here. It’s unclear whether its energy represents a new chapter just starting to emerge or a welcome contrast to the busy, solid rest of our reading/lives. And in any case, the whole point and challenge of Aces is that we don’t know and we shouldn’t try to figure it out! Resisting the urge to make a new idea or experience “into something” can be quite a challenge, yet it seems as if we need some lighthearted wonder in our lives right now - we’re doing so much with these complicated, adult other cards as it is. See where you can feed your natural curiosity, think outside the box, and, most importantly, let surprising and new forms of information into your life. Aces are gifts from an outside source; whether it’s a person, resource, experience, or any other conduit, be sure to cultivate openness so that you can recognize and receive it when it comes.

This week, embrace:

• Determination

• Focus

• Multitasking

• Monitoring your energy levels

• Intellectually stimulating activities

This week, Avoid:

• Distraction

• Taking on tasks that don’t benefit you

• Procrastination/Avoidance/Daydreaming

Weekly Forecast: November 14-20

We have an interesting confluence of cards this week, all of them dealing with one theme: focus. What are we bringing our full attention to? And have we felt at odds, pulled in different directions, or frustrated by the many demands on our time and energy?

This week, surprisingly, may bring a resolution, but it’s one that’s about healing and acceptance, not change and breakthrough. I want to be straightforward here, since this reading is uniquely pointed: this week we’re being directed to look at how our Eight of Pentacles experience of work and livelihood is interacting with our Hermit nature, that part of ourselves that wants to find a meaningful path through life.

A popular cultural script at the moment is that these two things are hopelessly in conflict. There’s the assumption that work is either utterly meaningful or a total slog, and, I think, a romanticized idea of careers as “true calling.” They’re out there, and if we’re not feeling completely fulfilled by our work, it’s just because we haven’t found the right one yet.

This reading is asking us to shove that stale idea to the side and look at our situation with new eyes. Specifically, the soft and inquisitive gaze of the Page of Cups.

We talk a lot about how the pages are associated with youth in the tarot, and today I’m thinking about how children have the amazing ability to see things as they are, as they’re happening. They may not have the background of history, social cues, tradition, or practice to flesh out the bigger context, but this is sometimes a huge gift. Similarly, this week we’re being asked to look at what we do to support ourselves with fewer preconceived notions of how things “should be.” What, in other words, is actually happening right now?

Let’s return to the Eight of Pentacles to explore that question further. A hugely adult card, this is the most focused depiction of work in the deck. What I love about this image is its twin stories - the figure hard at work, immersed in their labor, and the tree of pentacles growing to the right. Being focused in what we do can accumulate success we’re not even aware of. Until we look up from our work, that is.

This week is a time to assess how much progress you’ve made in an area of your life that has required attention, follow-through, and strenuous labor. It may be directly tied to the pentacles theme of work, career, and the physical body. Just look to the figure in this card and think, “Where have I felt this focus and determination lately?”

This week, however, is time to stop our efforts; the Eight of Pentacles also indicated a period of natural flow in work and practical matters, so this would be a good time to harness your energy, press on in any projects that need your attention, and, when possible, enjoy the satisfaction that comes from exercising your skill and power. The overarching energy of this reading is “whatever you focus on can flourish.”

As things let up mid-week, we’ll have the chance to see our efforts and their results more clearly. I see The Page of Cups as a helpful opportunity to reframe our path and progress. What if our trying, striving, and working is enough just as it is. What if it’s even quite magical? There’s something to be rediscovered in the longer journey we’ve been on to take care of ourselves. Have you learned something important about what really matters to you? Something that could take you someplace interesting?

The Hermit suggests that we’re edging closer to a meeting of our larger life purpose and our daily work. It may be that our true calling is something we enact everyday, in every aspect of our lives rather than a career path. However, if you’ve been searching for some clarity, this is a very supportive time to bring your work closer towards the values and questions you’ve discovered.

This week, embrace:

• Focus!

• Follow-through

• Grounding in physical tasks

• Positive, even magical, thinking

• Taking your work, both the mundane and “great work of your life,” seriously

• Solitude to consider you recent accomplishments

This week, avoid:

• Adopting, assuming, and acting from others’ ideas of success

• Quitting something that matters to you

• Paralysis from goals that are too lofty

Get creative:

• Eight of Pentacles: I’m mad at myself for going here immediately, but I can’t help but see this card tied to helpful productivity techniques. Yes, I’m thinking of things like the pomodoro method. It works for me! But do take a moment to think of a small ritual, framework, or gesture that helps you transition into a state of focus and concentration. Is it a special beverage you sip at your desk? A brief meditation before you launch into your workday? I don’t, however, suggest reinventing the wheel; the Eight of Pentacles is an established card. Go with what’s worked for you, whether it’s reintroducing this ritual or bringing more mindfulness to a practice you’ve been committed to.

• Page of Cups: Because this reading is so… focused (I wonder how many times this word shows up in this reading!) I think it’s important to do something completely unrelated to the work-focused Eight of Pentacles and visionary Hermit. Cue the Page of Cups. Their invitation? Do something new, creative, romantic, goofy, or intensely earnest this week. Some ideas: send someone a love note, take a walk and see how many blue things you can see, serenade your pet or the pigeons on the street, play dress up by yourself at night.

• The Hermit: I don’t want to get too specific with this card since our reading is more about a generalized sense of curiosity and wonder; more the glow of the star in The Hermit’s lantern than the star itself. So, simply gift yourself a Hermit-style retreat. This can be five minutes, a whole evening. Just be sure to go someplace you can be alone and take in the beauty of the world and your place in it.

Weekly Forecast: August 18-25

Well, my friends, it looks like the Five of Swords isn't done with us yet! This card also began the forecast for last week, warning us of conflict luring us away from our very important personal paths.

In that reading there was a more cosmic theme: How have interpersonal struggles held us back overall? In those cards there was a need to identify the larger forces at play and to look at our lives now as a new beginning, highlighted by the The Fool.

Well, now things are coming waaay back down to earth. We're being asked to really practice these concepts in real life, showing the Five of Swords that we're committed to growing our own ambitions instead of mediating others' conflicts.

When we have a continuing theme like this it's actually quite powerful. The Five of Swords isn't showing up twice to say that we haven't succeeded in dealing with its thorny energy. Rather, it's saying that we need to deepen our skill and make circumventing or, blissfully, ignoring drama a normal behavior.

I love the visual of the Eight of Pentacles here, busy on their phone and totally unperturbed by the angry figure in the Five of Swords, yelling on top of a pile of heads. What an inspiring image to use when focusing on your work. That mess in the Five of Swords? It's not ours to clean up. Plus, we have important work to do.

The Eight of Pentacles is an invigoratingly practical card. It reminds us to value the work we find absorbing and to let our focus bring us clarity. Taking each task as it comes, especially on work that's meant to sustain our own lives, can bring us forward in an immensely satisfying way. It also tells us that we have something important going on here. We've been doing good work and it's accumulating. Now its not the time to get distracted or abandon it.

And what's this figure riding in from the right? The Page of Swords is a welcome addition to our cards, telling us that a mental break from whatever form the Five of Swords is taking in our lives will bring us renewed clarity and energy. Sometimes not knowing what to do about a certain situation simply means that the right answer (or time) hasn't arrived yet. With the Page of Swords we can be sure that it's on the horizon and that space, deliberation, and focus on our work is what will usher it in.

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Weekly Forecast: January 7-13

I love the combination of flexibility and diligence animating this week's forecast. We're going to be thrown back into the fray of life, that's for sure. Yet where the wands can sometimes be led to quick burnout, the pentacles featured here serve to ground and stabilize us. Looking at our work and daily lives with creativity and determination can be invigorating, no matter how much we find on our to-do lists.

We can see these cards as a nice set of instructions. Embracing the levity and innovation of the Two of Pentacles - working with what we've got in new and unexpected ways - will better acquaint us with what we're really working with. And, most satisfyingly, what really requires our attention.

In the Eight of Pentacles we roll up our sleeves and get lost in the task of doing. It's satisfying work and if we allow this focus to be a place of rejuvenation, we can hop out of it and into the forward-looking confidence of the Queen of Wands.

Thinking about this week in elemental terms can help shake up the drudgery so often associated with work and obligation. If we've been feeling burnt out (thrown from the wildness of holiday season back into the other wildness of everyday life, perhaps?) these cards, especially the Two of Pentacles, tell us that there's a reason why we're doing what we're doing. In other words, finding the fire (wands) that set us off on this journey (earth/pentacles) in the first place can help bring focus back into our life. 

Reacquainting ourselves with that initial spark and shaking things up in small doses can help lighten the mood, too. How can we put a little skip in our step, enlivening the routines and projects that have to get done? It doesn't have to be so heavy when we're calling the shots and doing the work.

The Two of Pentacles is such a jaunty card. Just look at this zesty red outfit! (And that hat!) Bringing joy into our tasks is an easy choice we can make. Not only does it make us feel far better, but it also radiates an irresistible energy outwards. Who says that seriousness equals good work? And what small choices can we make to reignite the personal meaning and fun in what we do?

Having the Eight of Pentacles directly after wards tells us that adopting a playful attitude is actually helping us to focus and hone in on what's most important. And once we do it's time to get lost in the art of doing. This is shaping up to be a massively productive week, particularly if we accept and make room for the need to play, joke, and take ourselves a little less seriously. 

If this all seems a little too prosaic, don't worry. Towards the end of the week we're feeling enlivened and empowered - ready for new adventures. With the Queen of Wands we can welcome a sense of earning our power and standing. The work we do is likely to be well-received and personally satisfying. Once it's complete, we'll want to get out and be seen: bright and shiny and unencumbered by the pressing deadlines we've met so swimmingly.

This Week Encourages

Focus, levity in work, creative problem solving, thinking outside of the box, work, self-confidence, socialization

This Week Isn't a Time for...

Dilly-dallying, resisting change, inflexibility, starting new projects, self-seriousness, distraction

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Weekly Forecast: July 16-22

This week is giving us an opportunity to feel refreshed, motivated, and driven. Once we've had our first cup(s) of coffee we're ready to charge ahead and get a lot done. We have focus, we have a strong sense of self, and we have an exciting vision to back all of our actions.

But that's not all.

It seems like we have some tricky energy at play within us this week. It's that voice that whispers to us, just as we're getting into our first task of the day, " why don't you pick up your phone and see how many people have liked your Instagram post!" or "I wonder what your ex-boyfriend from six years ago is up to? Let's find out NOW!"

Though we have The Devil on the right, this isn't the intense, derail-your-life iteration of the card. Rather, it's the lazy self-sabotaging side. Think "little devil perched on your shoulder," not "looming force of evil." In excess, these traits might lead to disaster, but for this week the challenge is to make sure we don't fall into our usual small patterns of sloth and distraction. 

The cards are presenting us with a clear-cut choice. Do we harness the diligent energy of the Eight of Pentacles to further our ambitions and goals a la The Chariot, or do we backslide into the slacker comforts of The Devil?

The Eight of Pentacles is a fascinating card because it shows us how bringing mindfulness to our work gives us clarity and satisfaction. When we're engaged in the practice of doing - not thinking to the future, past, or imagined "something better" - we unlock huge stores of potential. We're in a state of flow, checking things off our to-do lists with ease, galvanized by the delightful feeling of making progress.

So how do we tap into this energy when we have a pesky Devil at play? Oddly enough, the answer is to make room for him. The Chariot, though at first glance it might seem like a card that's all about victory, is also a master of reigning in opposites. How on earth could you get a tiger and a fox to pull you towards your goals? This week it's our task to reign in our Devils and use them to work for us, not against us.

Again, The Chariot has some helpful tips. If we're going to move forward we have to have vision, confidence, and a solid knowledge of who we are. That includes our decadent, distracted Devil-self, too. Getting to know the ways we avoid success and are drawn to mind-numbing pleasures is the first step towards working with them. 

Let's put ourselves in the charioteer's shoes. Say the tiger on the right has a huge fondness for facebook. Every time the charioteer signals it's time to get going, the tiger is busy getting outraged by his distant relative's toxic political views. Being a savvy leader, the charioteer pulls the reigns in, getting an app to block facebook for the duration of the workday. Now the tiger is free to walk forward with purpose (and lower blood pressure). After work, they can all go out and spend some face-to-face time with real friends.

Though this example may seem silly, it's important to realize that we can treat unruly parts of ourselves with compassion and understanding. There's a lot more to our actions then meets the eyes. Disavowing them and trying to cut out behaviors only makes our Devil-sides stronger. Because let's be honest, what feels better than doing something you really shouldn't be doing?

Working directly with our bad habits and channeling them towards healthy expression (i.e. interacting in real life vs. facebook in the example above) satisfies our true desires while taking the naughty allure out of the distracting behavior. 

So in a way, these cards still show us moving forward this week, regardless of how much we struggle with The Devil card. If we keep coming back to the work of the Eight of Pentacles we'll find ourselves again and again. And The Chariot is showing us that we're more than up to the task of achievement. All we need to do is get the rest of us on the same page. 

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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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Exploring the Minor Arcana: The Eights

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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If the eights could be described in one word it would be "action." These cards illustrate moments of dedication, movement, and commitment. Often growth-oriented, the eights show us how deciding to put our noses down and do the work can be in turns satisfying, galvanizing, and intimidating. 

Eights also have an entrepreneurial bent - they relish using their surroundings to their advantage and have a savvy way of negotiating with the world. In readings, eights are an indication of a path nearing conclusion that could benefit from work and focus. Below we'll look at each suit in depth.

Explore In-Depth Minor Arcana Meanings

The  Eight of Wands gives us one of the most visually straightforward illustrations in the deck. Eight budding wands descending through a vivid blue sky. There's not a cloud in sight, indicating smooth sailing, quick-moving action, and plenty of creative inspiration and motivation. This is a card that sees energy unleashed constructively and with no obstacles.

For the Eight of Swords is quite different. This card shows us the paralysis that comes with overthinking. The figure in the card is fenced in by a line of swords, bound and blindfolded despite the many sharp edges available to sever the ties. When we worry too much or fall into the overwhelming possibilities of our choices we lose sight of the end goal and even ourselves.

The Eight of Cups shows a profound emotional journey. The main figure in this card is leaving behind a row of upturned cups, heading up a jagged mountain pass under the light of the moon. The action in this card is personal, pioneering, and brave. It shows us an inward search for new sources of fulfillment. 

Finally, the Eight of Pentacles gets practical, as pentacles are known to do. Here we see a literal representation of work. The main character here is busy hammering away at a pentacle, the tree besides him decorated with those they've completed. This card shows us the pleasure that comes with being in the flow when we work, as well as the big strides we're capable of when we remain focused. 

All in all, we can see that the eights show us pivotal moments where we're being asked to commit to a task and be present with ourselves, whether it's through our love of work or our nervousness when faced with decisions. 

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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. 
 

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Weekly Forecast: January 29 - February 4

Ruling over and drawing strength from the skeletons in our closet.

Death is a transition into the unknown and the unknowable. As a tarot card, it taps into our fear of what we can't envision - a future that requires us to change and, like a snake, shed our skin to reveal a glistening, new layer of ourselves. 

Death is natural and necessary; the moments when we must work with the changing currents in life. We must change, evolve, and allow ourselves to move into new phases and forms.

Of course it's frightening at first. Leaving a well-worn, comfortable situation for something we can't see yet? The tenderness of shedding our skin? It's a powerful experience, both profound and vulnerable. 

And sometimes it's just what we need to emerge into a fuller embodiment of our potential.

In this week's reading, Death is flanked by the Eight of Pentacles to the left and the King of Pentacles to the right. This transformation is occurring in our daily lives, either in the structures we've been working on to give ourselves security or the work we pursue to feed ourselves and put a roof over our heads. 

We've had quite a bit of success, as we can see in the Eight of Pentacles. Success is challenging, however. Sometimes we look up after working hard to discover that we've accomplished a goal we once thought was outlandish and completely out of reach. We've eclipsed our expectations. Hooray!

...Hooray?

This is where we begin to struggle with the necessity of Death. We've worked so hard that we've moved into new territory. Our success is demanding change, it's shaking things up. We're tempted to put our heads back down and keep on working like it's all the same. But we're growing fast,  and delightfully so. The world is taking notice and it's time for us to emerge into a fuller version of ourselves: wiser, wilder, and more accomplished.

This is where the devilish, gleeful King of Pentacles comes in. They're a character that embraces the warm rays of success and feels energized by them. Accolades are welcome and abundance even more so. This is a being who doesn't shy away from the bounty that comes from hard work. Enjoyment of one's riches is the best way to amplify and honor them.

We're developing from the humble diligence of the Eight of Pentacles into the confident joy of the King of Pentacles. Leaning into this transition or "Death" is a profound experience, a leveling up that encompasses more than just the fruits of our labors bringing us to new places.

 In the Eight of Pentacles we can see the line of skulls buried in a mountain alongside the cascading pentacles. Our work, while undeniably concrete on the surface, has also been emotional. Our efforts have allowed us to exorcise parts of our past, another clue why Death is showing up here - this is a profound emotional transformation.

On the other side, in the King of Pentacles, the same skulls are happily crowned beneath the King. No longer, buried underground, they're free to soak up the rays of the sun, transformed from buried secrets or unprocessed emotions into celebrated parts of the King's journey. Perhaps even assets that aid him in his reign.

This week is a time to ease into the depth of this transition, to be gentle with ourselves, and honor what we're experiencing. We'll be dealing with issues of having more than we asked for and the challenge of embracing this well-earned wealth instead of hiding from it. All the pieces are there and the transition is ours to take. It's time to be King. 

 

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