Weekly Forecast: April 1-7
Can doing less bring us more?
This week we're being asked to step back and evaluate the rituals, tasks, and obligations we're engaging with. Are they bringing us satisfaction? Are they moving us forward? And, most importantly, are they even ours to begin with?
Can doing less bring us more?
This week we're being asked to step back and evaluate the rituals, tasks, and obligations we're engaging with. Are they bringing us satisfaction? Are they moving us forward? And, most importantly, are they even ours to begin with?
The Hanged Man is a card whose enigmatic presence often foreshadows some frustration. After all, we're often told that doing more is the key to any breakthrough. How can we make headway if we don't have any momentum?
Yet this idea that we can somehow will perfection and progress into existence is dangerous. Often it's a trick to keep ourselves occupied and distracted so that we don't have to sit with out itchy and inconvenient feelings.
Our feelings, however, are often far more interesting than we give them credit. The Four of Cups shows us feeling a tinge of ennui as we begin to slow down. We think we know the lay of the land and it is, to be frank, boring.
But the more we sit with things as they are, the more they're able to reveal themselves fully. This week introspection and quiet are our friends, and while we can expect some resistance - pesky inner voices and doubt, for example - we're really collecting useful and surprising information.
The Four of Wands is our final card for the week and it shows us where we're going - the reason why we're feeling called to take a step back. This card is a beautiful illustration of the importance of freedom and space in our lives. What do we need to feel enlivened and creative? How much structure is just enough to keep us feeling safe and oriented? And how much openness and room for growth do we need to stay on our toes, inspired and ready?
This is a gentle group of cards in that it's not asking us to do anything radical or wild. It's just that sometimes, in our busy and intense culture, it sometimes feels radical to stop and take stock. Now is a wonderful time to ignore all that pressure-filled messaging. The Hanged Man and the Four of Cups show us operating under some intense and powerful intuitive guidance. Trusting our feelings and internal compass won't lead us astray.
And sometimes it's difficult to see what's no longer working and hard to recognize that what we're doing may not even be for our benefit. The Four of Cups asks us to peer inside our cups - our relationships, emotional expenditures, and energetic output - and see whether they're flowing both ways. Does giving outwards bring something back in? This can be through gratitude, personal satisfaction, inspiration, support, and more.
If, however, a cup turns out to be a secret sinkhole, sucking our energy and leaving us feeling depleted, now is a wonderful time to say goodbye and accept a new, fulfilling opportunity on the horizon.
In order to flourish we need freedom. The wands suit inspires us to see space, movement, and energy as our allies. Think about the element associated with these cards: fire. When building a bonfire you don't want to stack sticks together, one against the other. There's no space for oxygen to circulate and, thus, no fire.
We have to travel light and leave room for our flames to grow, and this week is all about being mindful of what we have in our lives. Anything extra, crowded, or uninspiring doesn't have to be there and letting go can usher in the energy we need to thrive.
Weekly Forecast: March 18-24
In order to receive, you must let go.
It feels nice to be safe and certain of our lives. Security is nothing to scoff at - we need to take care of our physical selves, provide for our basic needs, and doing so isn't always easy. Having enough is a huge privilege, but if we cling to it too long it can become stifling and limited.
In order to receive, you must let go.
It feels nice to be safe and certain of our lives. Security is nothing to scoff at - we need to take care of our physical selves, provide for our basic needs, and doing so isn't always easy. Having enough is a huge privilege, but if we cling to it too long it can become stifling and limited.
This week we're at a point that's difficult to reconcile. We may feel that asking for more after having worked so hard to get the basics seems greedy, as if we're tempting fate. Why go and invite in the unknown with any changes if we're fed, clothed, and safe?
We can see this position reflected in the Four of Pentacles, and I love how this card shows the sense of stability and pride that comes from providing for ourselves. Sometimes this card appears as a wonderful affirmation - we've made it and it's time to celebrate and get to know all the facets of what we've built for ourselves.
But, like any tarot card, it's meant to be a stepping stone on a larger journey. After all, our lives are animated by change, and clinging too hard to what we know can often leave us stuck and out of sync with the larger rhythm of our life.
This week we're presented with a choice and it may feel big and intimidating. The Ace of Pentacles is appearing center stage, tempting us with an alluring offer. It's asking us to accept a shiny new gift, but in order to do so we must put down one of our pentacles. Staying with what we know effectively blocks us from this new energy. Remaining in the four may seem safe, but it's no way to grow.
Luckily, the Ace of Pentacles is a gentle card. New things can often become the perfect receptacles for our anxiety. Because they're all potential and possibility we can offload all our general anxieties onto them, burying something shiny and new with frightening futures.
The Four of Pentacles, while a place to celebrate once you've reached it, can become mired with conservative thinking. Instead of seeing opportunity in newness it sees paths to loss. This is a wonderful time to dig deeper into our ideas of how much we can have and all the roadblocks that we put up in the face of emerging excitement. Where do these thoughts come from? And why might we look to them in the face of something truly exciting?
Oftentimes these protective mechanisms have a lot to do with our ideas of maturity and responsibility. The fourth card in the Major Arcana is The Emperor, an archetype that, to be frank, is amazingly adept at triggering old wounds around our experiences with our parents.
Is there something about this new pursuit that's bringing up our ideas of how we "should" behave? Are we silently following old ideas of what responsibility looks like, only to trap ourselves in inauthentic thought patterns?
The King of Cups emerges on the other side to show us that there's another path. Stability doesn't have to be rooted in utter certainty and known quantities. We can be much more fluid, creative, and flexible in our approach to life while maintaining our sense of responsibility.
If anything, this card shows us how we can gather power from embracing the unknown. This is a model of leadership that accepts and trusts in change. If it's inevitable (as we all know) then we can jump on in, a fish swimming in the waters, and navigate with confidence. Sometimes things will be challenging and sometimes they'll be calm. But we can always trust our experiences and the wisdom we've accumulated along the way to guide us.
In this mindset, the Ace of Pentacles is a small and beautiful invitation to move further along our path, not some scary entity here to disrupt and challenge everything we've worked so hard for. If there's something exciting on the horizon - an idea, hobby, opportunity, or practice - that you'd like to pursue - this card says go for for it.
Start simple and let it be what it is - something new and exciting that's still small. Exploring new things doesn't mean abandoning your security, it simply means building upon it. And that's what security is for, after all. Providing a foundation for our growth and expansion.
It can add to our sense of stability and bring in the energy of newness and opportunity. If it doesn't work out, we can always change course. But to turn it away for fear of losing what we already have would keep us feeling stuck.
Weekly Forecast: March 19-25
The Eight of Cups has been following me for the past few weeks. It's been coming up in readings, conversations, and my thoughts as well. Though I'm pretty sure I've called each of the 78 cards a favorite at this point, I've been especially drawn to this eight lately.
Why? It's a beautiful and brave card. Seeing the German artist Kitty Kahane's interpretation of it is especially moving. This card shows us important moments when we dare to ask for more. Not more in a greedy sense. Or more in a arrogant sense, either. The Eight of Cups shows us daring to expand our emotional worlds, opening up to the vulnerability of who we are, and seeking fulfillment despite "having enough."
It can be a lonely journey - we are following our own instincts, after all - but, as this card shows us so beautifully, we bring our connections, relationships, and joys with us. The "enough" that we may be tempted to stick with ends up being the supportive foundation that allows us to journey into the unknown. We can see this in the water flowing between the two cups - one in the hand of the journeyer, the other standing solidly on the ground.
Breaking from the status quo and choosing to look for more adventure, connection, or fulfillment can be nerve-wracking. Doing so involves exposure; we're taking a risk and stepping away from the pack. And indeed, this sentiment shows up in our next card, the Nine of Swords. Taking the first steps towards something new is bringing up a lot of anxiety this week. We'll be grappling with our monkey minds as we feel pulled to turn over every stone, analyze every move we've been making. Did we look weird when talking about this new passion project? Did we bumble through a presentation? Look foolish and unprepared?
Making new headway is never easy. Otherwise it wouldn't be new. There's a certain learning curve that, while being inherently stressful, is also very necessary. In fact, it's what drove us out of the comfort and stability of the Eight of Cups in the first place. That was too simple and familiar. Now we're grappling with the feeling of being a stranger in a new land. Remembering where we came from can be a helpful antidote to our Nine of Swords feelings, both in the sense that it can give us contrast - we needed something new for a reason - and support - we have a beautiful life and rich connections to draw from in this tender new phase.
The Nine of Swords does carry with it a deep sense of grief. It's personal. We're leaving behind an old idea of ourselves. Digging under the top layers of whirring thoughts and fears to uncover this will be helpful as we process our experiences this week. What part of ourself do we have to say goodbye to as we begin to learn new things and engage with the world more fully? Though it may seem odd, it's easy to get attached to the idea of a past self, especially when we're just emerging into something new. Think of it as a butterfly yearning for the safety of its cocoon. We can't return to being caterpillars, cozily ensconced in darkness. We've turned into something with wings and it's time to learn how to fly.
While the churning emotions of the Nine of Swords can fell all-encompassing, they're just another stage in the process. Soon, surprisingly, they'll fall away into an action-packed and comfortably (who saw that coming?) public phase. The Four of Wands is a lovely affirmation of the risks we've been taking. Yes, growth can be hard, but when we face it head on we emerge into the freedom and possibility we've been seeking.
The Four of Wands deals with the dynamism of structure. Our new situation is allowing us to be both free and focused. The emotions and thoughts of the cups and wands are invigorated with creativity and action. We're finding the environment we need to move full steam ahead with our passion projects. This is quite the roller coaster of cards, so it will be important to treat ourselves with care in the days to come, leaving lots of room for quiet processing in between all the happenings. And, most importantly, reaching out to our support network to gain perspective on our growth.
Weekly Forecast: September 25-October 1
We have a tender group of cards this week, the perfect way to ease ourselves into fall and into ourselves. In fact ease has been front and center for us. We can find it naturally in our innate talents and in moments that are purely enjoyable - holding hands with someone we love, gazing at the first crisp blue sky, taking a bite of a flaky, decadent pastry. But ease is also something we invite into our lives and something we achieve through deliberate effort and choices.
This is the type of ease we're dealing with this week. So, before we dive in, these early days of autumn are a wonderful time to pause and celebrate the bravery of our choices. We've showed up for ourselves, taken care of our needs, and remained open enough to the world around us to know when to let go and let things work their magic.
This, my friends, is all the energy of The Hanged Man. He leads us into this week with a reminder that inviting ease into our lives and then doing that at times terrifying trust fall into life is a brave thing indeed. Respecting and loving ourselves enough to want life to be smooth and gentle when it can be shows courage. It's the courage to fight against suffering for suffering's sake and to embrace the big lives we all have the capability of leading.
No small fry, indeed. It involves letting go of our egos and trusting that we've made the right decisions. And it also leaves us open and receptive to the magic all around us.
This week, as we're getting used to the new position of trusting relaxation, we're noticing a shift in our thinking. When we get tied up exclusively in the shoulds and to-do's of "busy", "normal" life we can steamroll over more timid desires and parts of our personality. Rest gives us a chance to see what's been hiding under the surface.
And who's that on the horizon? It's the dashing Knight of Cups that's who. Our romantic side is making a grand entrance, refreshed and inspired from our shift in pace and perspective. This is a grand time of inspiration, passion, and motion. Playing with this new energy will bring us lots of information. It may seem flowery and intense at first, maybe even embarassingly different from our usual way of being. If we try our best to run with it, however, we'll be surprised by the directions it leads us in.
Well, maybe not so surprised since the next card in our reading is The Lovers. Yes, this card is classic and exciting and there is a great deal of potential for connection with like-minded (and hopefully stunning) people. Yet the romance of The Lovers is also a larger kind. What parts of our lives have been illuminated by our Hangman-inspired change of perspective? What part of our lives and of the world are we falling in love with?
Now is a time to look at the world with the glow that comes with being in love. How does it change our ideas? Does it illuminate something we've once overlooked? Or does it simply fill us with warmth and appreciation for what we have, illuminating its true beauty and preciousness. Embrace all these feelings, share them, and invite them to expand.
Weekly Forecast: May 29-June 5
Sometimes it takes a little nudge to set us off in the right direction. Usually we envision ourselves doing the nudging – how can we better ourselves? How can we push ourselves to perform better, to seek more truths, and to get more done?
It feels nice to know things. To have a sense of stability and trust in your mind. “I can think through this problem,” we tell ourselves, and then launch into the comforting realm of lists and planning.
Many of us have, like the King of Swords, become masters of the world of logic. Unfortunately, we can’t be completely objective when it comes to ourselves. After all, we can’t step outside of our minds, try as we might.
That doesn’t stop us, however, for building up quite an illusion. We tell ourselves we are objective. We know what we’re doing and can see everything clearly.
As we do this, plunging ahead with those satisfying lists and plans, something else creeps in. The certainty we’re wielding like a sword to cut through any confusion of complexity starts to feel heavy.
We get tired of sitting on a throne like the King – certainty can remove us from life, making us feel lonely. And it’s not the most comfortable thing to sit on, all hard and inflexible.
Cue the Wheel of Fortune to challenge this worldview. Beyond challenging it, The Wheel actually turns it on its head. And this can be quite jarring.
We come into this week used to sitting on a solid throne – feeling in control of our lives and oh so comfortable making pragmatic decision despite the fact that we’re secretly starting to feel itchy and restless.
The Wheel of Fortune represents change, and change is what we’ll have. Something is coming our way that will have us reassessing our kingly stance. At first it won’t be so pretty. Who likes to tumble out of their throne? But this change will be necessary. It’s time to switch things up and move in a different direction.
We also must consider where on The Wheel we are. We might assume that since we’ve been embodying The King of Swords, in some ways the pinnacle of mastery in the Swords suite, that we’re on the top. If this is true, then as the wheel spins we plummet downwards, our fortune taking a turn for the worse.
In this case, we’d be experiencing a somewhat traumatic shakeup we’d then have to recover from.
But what if The King belongs on the bottom of The Wheel? He is the conclusion of the court cards, after all. Where can you go from being a king? What’s more, as individuals we are more than just the embodiment of one set of traits. Perhaps we can balance all four, a much more holistic way of being that makes us truly human and complex.
If this is true, then we’re actually ascending this week. Pushing through the end of one cycle and embarking on a new, more refreshing path.
The next card in the reading, the Six of Swords, points us in this direction. We leave the certainty of The King and set off across a mysterious body of water, heading towards a foreign shore. Our boat, however, is made of swords, showing us that we’re taking many lessons with us while abandoning the absolutism of The King.
So this week be aware of how a more balanced approach could serve you. Are you relying too heavily on the siren song of objective and analytical thinking? Perhaps you’re feeling burdened by a compulsion to plan, plan, and plan some more, reducing your decision making down to its logical components while ignoring your feelings?
The change that comes your way this week will be entirely out of your control, something that a King of Swords would find frightening. You, on the other hand, are a complex human being, and having mastered many swordly skills, are free to use this moment to take what you’ve learned in your toolbox and start learning new things.
Where are you headed this week and how can you embrace the change that’s always happening around you? How can you evolve and allow yourself to embrace your full complexity?
Weekly Forecast: May 15-21
Life can rush by us and sometimes we’re the ones rushing through life.
This can be negative – think “sad businessperson too focused on career to appreciate the little things” – but when applied with purpose and precision? It can help clear way for the very “little things” we cherish most.
With a little effort we can direct the forward-moving action of the Knight of Swords towards accomplishing our work goals, clearing the path for other areas of our life.
We start the week feeing speedy and determined. It’s a glorious way to get going. Our busy schedules are no match for precise thinking and confident decision making. I like to call this Knight of Swords approach “first coffee energy,” the blissful feeling of alertness you get after you drink your first cup in the morning. You’re bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to tackle things, and a long way off from being an over-caffeinated mess.
Of course it’s a smart idea to have a plan when rushing full speed ahead while swinging a giant sword over your head. Knights can have the tendency to ignore any subtlety when they set off on their grand adventures so while you’re valiantly checking off items on your to-do list, be mindful about how you’re treating others.
But just where is the Knight of Swords leading us? What is the motivation behind our satisfyingly effective productivity?
The Knight of Swords transitions into the sweet energy of the Six of Cups showing us that our pointed efficiency is giving us the beautiful opportunity to connect with both ourselves and others. In the middle of the week we find that our hard work has given us a lovely bit of respite to stop and smell the roses, check in with an old friend, or spend extra time with our family.
It’s important to connect with the ones we love this week, making time to cultivate relationships and celebrate the wonders they add to our lives. Just look at all the cups in this card: they're full of blooming flowers.
There’s another side to the Six of Cups that feels especially important this week. We can look at the two figures as symbols representing ourselves: our adult self and our inner child.
Take the time to do something for yourself this week that speaks to this part of you. Something simple that you like just beacause. Treat yourself to a book on a subject that fascinates you, eat something decadent you loved when you were young, go on an imaginative adventure.
Pay attention to how you feel when you let yourself do something for your inner child. How does it change the way you see the world? Do you feel guilty at first? Does it inspire you, make you feel more like yourself?
Instead of being frivolous, reconnecting like this can give us a wonderful sense of balance and energy.
We see this as the Six brings us into the grounded power of the Queen of Pentacles. Pleasure and a healthy relationship with our inner child fosters a truly holistic sense of stability. Like the Queen we can bask in the energy of the world, seeing ourselves as both ambitious and effective and tender and curious.
All while remaining open to what life has in store for us.
Weekly Forecast: March 20-26
This week we’re hearing a call to make a big decision. It’s time for a change, one that we may have been ignoring for a while. Naturally so, of course. Big shifts come with healthy uncertainty – why leave something that’s working perfectly fine? Where exactly are we going next?
There’s no way to confirm an outcome before we take the action. Planning, weighing options, and researching will help us, sure, but once the ball is set in motion… who really knows? Without risk we can become stagnant, and yet foolish risk can lead to unnecessary suffering.
The cards for this week give us as good of a go ahead as we could wish for. Two affirming Major Arcana cards leading towards a King tell us that assured motion towards a goal that’s close to our hearts will result in a feeling of clarity and mastery.
Being human, however, means that leaping from one powerful card to the next comes with some difficulty. Let’s dive into each a bit deeper and see where we can gain some guidance as we move towards something truly majestic.
We begin with Judgement, a card that represents a powerful call. It’s a moment where we must heed a summons, usually one that comes from our hearts. As I write this I can hear a flock of Canadian geese honking as they fly above my house. Every year they make a long migration, flying south for the winter and returning up north in the spring. They make this long journey instinctually; when they start flying it’s not because they logically know they need to get going, it’s because they feel it.
Judgement urges us to take a similar approach, looking to our bodies to tell us where we need to fly next. Now is a good time to check in with yourself. What feels right to you in this moment? What is pulling on your heart, telling you to try something different, to take a risk? Listen to your instinct rather than your brain.
It may be that our instincts have been trying to tell us something for some time now. We don’t have many opportunities to connect with this side of ourselves. Unfortunately, it has been systematically devalued as we favor logic, rationality, and control above all else. The hard-to-pin-down nature of instinct is too difficult to quantify and measure, so we cast it by the wayside with little thought.
Strangely enough, the cards are showing us that if we decide to embrace our instinct for change we’ll end up in a place of increased clarity and control. Tricky, tricky! Learning to magnify our inner voice and take it seriously will make us more powerful and decisive? We see this in the King of Swords, a card that represents power over one’s thoughts and mind. Perhaps the cards are trying to tell us that an integrated mind – one that values both instinct/intuition and logic/rationality – is the most powerful.
This brings us to The Chariot, another card that illustrates control over opposing factors. Or what appear to be in opposition. This card urges us to take the plunge and commit to what our inner voice is telling us. Once we let the call ring loud and clear we must do something about it – bring it into the light and make it visible. The Chariot is an extremely affirming card. It suggests that we can make this next move triumphantly. Our undertaking will be successful and well-received so long as we integrate ourselves fully and stay true to our original motivations.
The overarching message here is to be confident in our intuition and motivations. We can’t do this without knowing them deeply, so be sure to really understand what it is you’re after before you take the plunge. How does this decision reflect your higher values? How can you best use you strengths and truly be yourself? Once you’ve answered these questions, however, (or once you feel in your body that the time has come) make the move! You are primed for this next phase and ready to march out of the gates triumphantly. We could use every bit of heartfelt, authentic action right now. Heed the call and get going!