Weekly Forecast: January 9-15

It’s time to give ourselves the structure, security, and protection we need in order to finish a long process of grieving.

Light stuff, right?

Our first weekly reading for 2023 is presenting us with a call to arms, and in some ways I’m happy to see this assertive energy in a time that can sometimes feel diffuse or dreamy. If your’e not a fan of New Year’s resolutions or drawing gentle conclusions out of complicated circumstances, The Emperor is a card for you. How can you step into your role as the authority in your life? This image is confrontational and imposing for a reason; it’s likely that this will be a time for us to take public stands, assert boundaries, and take action to shape our lives in ways that can protect our energy, integrity, and accomplishments.

This isn’t, in other words, a time to be overly polite, compromise on issues that really matter, or equivocate. For some of us this can be a challenge, and it’s actually quite likely that a challenge is what’s bringing us to this place. Notice where you’ve been backed into a corner, confronted, or forced to take a stand. How might this experience be teaching you something valuable about yourself?

The Emperor is a card that asks us to take up space and acknowledge that, in doing so, we may have to protect ourselves in the process. You’'ll notice that this figure has a suit of armored boots poking out from under their robes; taking the time to make sure your (healthy) defenses are up will be immensely helpful in the days to come. Dress to negotiate, but make sure your suit of armor is polished and ready for battle, too.

So, have you noticed the card in the center yet? Yes, The Ten of Swords is making an appearance this week, but it’s not telling us that our strides under the influence of The Emperor are destructive or foolhardy. Instead, this card is alerting us to a painful but necessary ending, one that has to do with our perceptions and ideas of reality and ourselves. Is adopting a more proactive, authoritative role in your life ruffling feathers or pinpointing relationships that aren’t supportive? Does taking action to make changes in your life illuminate failures (real or perceived) in your past?

While it’s not a pleasant card to experience, The Ten of Swords is the important conclusion to a long story. When our load of swords - ideas, values, memories, communications - becomes too much to bear we collapse. What limit have you reached this week? It’s important to grant yourself all the grace and patience you require during this time. Feel it all and try not to analyze your experience too much - the last thing you need is more swords in your life. Instead, notice what hurts and gently start to remove it from your life by either walking away, saying goodbye, or making this important transition to a new phase.

And what would this new phase be? We have the jarringly celebratory Six of Wands on the other side of this scenario. This is a situation in tarot where it seems like things are happening on two levels: personally, we’re experiencing a necessary but painful contraction - looking inwards to release our “old swords” causing us injury - and publicly, we’re embracing our leadership and taking a stand to shape our lives (and likely, careers) in ways that are leading to immediate success.

It’ll be important this week to make room for our very tender internal journey through the Ten of Swords so that we can be present for the big strides happening via The Emperor and the Six of Wands. Can you feel like a puddle and be celebrated? This reading certainly thinks so, and it’ll be our challenge to let in support, celebration, and success while dealing with a painful and ultimately healing transition.

Potential surprise/reframe:

When I went to photograph this reading I was struck by the pair of The Ten of Swords and Six of Wands and thought of this question: How might falling on your face actually be a huge victory? The swords are a poised group of cards and they always want to find a neat and tidy narrative. Messiness, in other words, is what they try to avoid at all costs… until things become too much, hence this hot mess situation with ten swords in your back. In our reading, however, this is followed by the victory parade of the Six of Wands. Pay special attention this week to what is actually happening over what you’re thinking. It’s likely that people around you are lifting you up, maybe even impressed by your resilience, seeing achievements in your struggles where you may not have the perspective to recognize them as such.

THis week, embrace:

• Taking a stand

• Advocating for yourself & your best interests

• Noticing what’s injuring you

• Self-compassion and rest

• Praise, opportunity, and support

This week. avoid:

• Backing down or ceding progress

• Overanalyzing suffering or discomfort instead of simply feeling through it

• Over-scheduling (this is definitely a time to clear as much space as possible)

• False modesty

Weekly Forecast: July 11-17

Would you believe I’m excited about a reading that starts out like this? And yet… things are coming together despite being difficult. This week we can lay down our swords, rest, and start to see the fruits of our labor and the wisdom of our grief.

Starting off with the Ten of Swords may not look easy, yet I’m heartened to see this card here. Tens are endings - what difficulties, heartaches, or challenging stories are reaching their conclusion for you right now? Your ending may not feel like an ending at first. In fact, it might feel overwhelming, a deluge of feelings. The Ten of Swords can represent moments when our emotions catch up with us. No matter how much spin we put on things (we’re fine! Life is fine!) eventually our evasions can’t hold up to our fears, tenderness, and exhaustion. Falling face-first onto a beach may not seem like the ideal outcome, but take some time to hear the waves and feel the wet sand on your cheek. Is it really so bad to just be with yourself?

If you find yourself laid low or simply overwhelmed at the beginning of the week allow plenty of space just to experience things - your life, yourself - simply as they are. The beautiful story in our reading is that the faceplant of the Ten of Swords leads us to the peaceful safety of The Four of Swords. Can you lead yourself to a calmer space of rest? Or, better yet, let those around you guide the way?

This week carries a massive opportunity for healing and relief. Allow simplicity to guide you. An overload of swords weighs us down in spectacular fashion (I’d argue that the Ten of Swords is the most brutal-looking card in the deck) - where can you let go of memories, ideas, convictions, plans, and all other denizens of your mind that hamper your growth? While we’re in a process of shedding this week, something new is emerging, but it won’t be found in forceful thinking, arguing, or aggressive searching. Instead, the Four of Swords asks us to consider the slippery, poetic impressions that intrigue us. Make time for rest so that you can dream, listen to your body, and be open to ideas or observations that feel elusive and mysterious.

While we’ll be in our heads for some of the week, it’s time well spent. Have you been running fast, staving off feelings through action and productivity? Perhaps feeling like rest and consideration is indulgent or cowardly? Maybe these thoughts are some of the pesky, cutting swords sticking in your back. The Four of Swords is a gloriously healthy manifestation of the mental energy of its group; allow yourself to treat rest and discernment (particularly the kind that involves waiting) as essential parts of your process rather than distractions.

We leave the land of mental processing and emotional healing towards the end of the week and visit the final card in our monthly forecast. This is a tarot emphasis on the power of these swords cards. Resting and taking time to tend to our hurt while jettisoning any toxic beliefs is in the service of the larger story at work.

Remember that our card for the month is The Chariot - if you’ve been feeling sluggish, unmotivated, and disconnected from your mission and willpower, pay special attention to the messages coming through in your experience of these hurtful swords. You may have some unfinished business to deal with that, once tended to, will allow you to move forward with newfound purpose.

On the other side is the Seven of Pentacles a card of both fulfillment and dissatisfaction. Make room for this uncomfortable combination! Dare I say embrace it? Because if we accept that we are happy with what we have and we want, celebrating our success and growing to new places will feel a lot easier.

I’d also like to point out that the Seven of Pentacles is a hearty reminder to check-in on our everyday and material life after doing so much soul-searching. See how your life is still chugging along? See all the things you’ve built, the projects and routines you’ve cultivated? Spending time here is a wonderful antidote to the heady world of swords. Tend to your garden and see what futures you can imagine now that you’ve put down some swords and have your feet on the ground.

This week, embrace:

• Feeling those feelings! Especially the difficult ones

• Accepting vulernability

• Re-centering around intuition

• Examining your routines

• Small actions with tangible results

This week, avoid:

• Rushing through big feelings

• Ignoring wounds

• Catastrophizing

• Reinventing the wheel

• Self-criticism

Get creative:

• Ten of Swords: Part of this card can touch on self-inflicted wounds, and I think it’d be helpful to direct some compassion here this week. The Ten of Swords doesn’t have to be ten huge swords pushed into our backs - it can be more of a death by 1,000 cuts, tiny sniping comments we level at ourselves constantly. Think of one or two cutting remarks you direct at yourself frequently and come up with a replacement statement - something loving, supportive, and constructive. Practice substituting this kind remark for the cruel one when you notice yourself becoming judgmental.

• Four of Swords: Because swords can be so harsh, I think this week is a good time to really soften the edges in our lives. So, a very simple suggestion: buy yourself some flowers. Put them in your bedroom and enjoy the soothing cheer they bring. (Who knows, maybe they’ll help usher in some of the elusive insights shown in this card?)

• Seven of Pentacles: Before we can refine, change, and finesse we have to know what we’re working with. Spend some time this week appreciating the cycles, routines, and rituals you have in your daily life or a specific project (Pentacles, after all, often refer to our professional/work lives). After some observation and reflection, take some time at the end of the week to write down the seven things that make you feel satisfied and grounded in this area. This is the foundation that you’re building on.

Weekly Forecast: February 28 - March 6

The Magician / Page of Cups / Ten of Swords

This forecast was written before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; for an interpretation of these cards through that lens, visit the Incandescent Tarot Substack.

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A new start, inspiration, and fiery ambition. All of these traits are coming to the forefront this week as we engage with a powerful card, number 1 in the Major Arcana sequence, The Magician. This is a card that sees us aware of our own power and enlivened by the act of creating: What can we make with the gifts given to us as well as the skills we’ve honed along life’s journey so far?

Take some time to really explore this card personally. I have a feeling that The Magician has quite a lot to teach us this week, and my hunch is bolstered by the Page of Cups, an irresistibly curious character. See how they peer at the fish popping out of their cup - even though they’re different species, there’s a dialogue happening. In this case, it’s between the conscious, human self and the spiritual or unconscious self. What insights about our creative power can we uncover when engaging with intuitive, spiritual, and ineffable sources of wisdom?

This is a week to step outside of any previously held ideas of identity, skill, or aptitude. While the Page of Cups tells us that we’re trying out something new, The Magician suggests that we’ve been demonstrating skills we've never felt comfortable identifying with for quite some time. The Magician is framed by a profusion of blooms - red roses and white lilies - symbolizing passion and purity. These are also the colors of magic itself. What spells have we been working? What is coming into bloom?

Major Arcana cards point to deep and long-lasting themes. Last week we were visited by The Hierophant, a card about finding a place in traditional structures, lineage, and tradition. The Magician, in contrast, makes magic for themselves, by themselves. Ask yourself where you could use some innovation in your life. This week is a time to chart your own path, let your skills shine, and follow the exhilarating path of creativity. Where is your energy flowing naturally? That’s where you should go.

The Magician and The Page of Cups are forming a helpful alliance in a challenging time. While it may look like you’re engaging with some satisfying external growth (I’m feeling a lot of career-related energy here), the work you’re doing with these two cards is also inching you towards the final page of a separate, very challenging chapter. Yes, this is where the Ten of Swords comes into play - the card with a person stabbed with ten whole swords, looking like an upsetting approximation of a hedgehog.

I’m particularly interested in this card not only because it’s a ten and quite outside the themes of creativity and intuition seen in the rest of our reading, but because it also features the gesture of benediction found in The Hierophant. Look to last week to see what events or realizations may be bringing you to a natural conclusion. I say natural, but I don’t mean that to discount the severity of the Ten of Swords: this is a challenging, emotionally fraught moment; however, it’s worth noting that we’ve being guided towards it by the trustworthy forces of energetic and personally resonant growth (The Magician) and exciting spiritual discovery (The Page of Cups). This is a week to make time for your healing - how can you plan to care for yourself when you’re overwhelmed by emotion or laid low by grief? Any time spent giving yourself a soft place to land will be well spent.

Creativity is also a huge balm for any challenges that arise. Notice how the bright yellow background of The Magician reappears in The Ten of Swords. A new dawn is rising over the sad scene; growth is on the horizon, warmth is returning after a dark night. See where the glow of your creative pursuits are warming you and invest attention, time, and resources there. Swords are all about the mind, and this card shows a painful overabundance of mental activity while The Magician and The Page of Cups offer an alternative: rest, respite, and future growth in spirituality and creation.

This week, embrace:

• Self-directed action

• Transforming ideas, inspiration, and the intangible into action and reality

• Participation in life around you

• Cultivating curiosity in the face of suffering

This week, avoid:

• Being paralyzed with fear, perfectionism, self-doubt

• Neglecting or disavowing your sensitivity

• Connecting suffering with personal shortcomings

Get creative:

• The Magician & The Page of Cups: I’m combining these two cards this week to touch on a theme I only mention briefly in the reading. While we talked a lot about using The Magician to inspire real-world actions, this card works in tandem with the Page of Cups to highlight more playful creativity. So, with this in mind, spend some time channeling your experience of these cards into art of some form. The length, complexity, and form doesn’t matter here - just do something, preferably as playfully as you can. The key is to make “something” out of “nothing” - notice how it feels to look at whatever you’ve created, whether it’s a poem, photograph, painting, or doodle.

• The Ten of Swords: I feel like this card is requesting some planning and preparation. How can we make ourselves as comfortable and supported when the mental and emotional overwhelm of The Ten of Swords strikes? Personally, I’m taking some time today to write out things I can do to calm myself when I get overtaken by worries. This is all about comfort and being with yourself, not solving problems. For me it’s a cup of tea, deep breathing, and a quick browse through a flower catalog to reset. What’s your Ten of Swords plan? Bring it out when you find yourself feeling like someone face-down on the ground, pincushioned with swords. Like the symbol of benediction, it’s a potent gesture of care and blessing that we can give ourselves in dark times.

Weekly Forecast: October 14-20

Resist the urge to self-isolate.

Sometimes when I sit down to write a forecast I type out the first phrase that comes to mind, just like the one above.

Usually these are a nice jumping-off point, but this week it's right on the money - a tarot reading thesis statement, if you will.

As we begin this week we're worn-down and wounded in some way, yet the solid gentleness of the Queen of Pentacles is urging us to reach out and find soothing care in our relationships via the Six of Cups.

Let's look deeper.

As you may have noticed, I'm a huge fan of artist Mary Evans' Apparition Tarot, featured here. Could I pass up a deck with pastel cherubs dancing on the backs? No! But I also love her interpretations of the cards - they often bring a piercing freshness to their symbolism, taking us on a more modern path to their meanings.

Here, instead of the usual face-down figure stabbed ten times in the back, we have an outstretched hand pierced with swords. It's a painful image to behold. The arm reaching forward makes me think of the pain in vulnerability; what happens when we seek connection and aren't seen, heard, or, worse, treated with respect.

Clearly, these feelings and experiences are at work this week, operating in our lives either consciously or subconsciously. Where have we felt rejected, hurt, or misrepresented? What bids for affection have been ignored or turned down by others, willfully or not?

I whispered a quiet "ooh, boy!" when I turned over this card. It's been a while since we've seen it here, and it's always an intense energy to work with; yet, the fact that it's the ten - the last in its sequence - suggests some finality. Our swords have built up and reached their maximum capacity. In seeing them for what they are we begin a new process of healing.

Which, as you may have guessed, is where the Queen of Pentacles comes in. I really think of this card here as powerful self-parenting energy. We're at a point where we can take the reins and choose to give ourselves all the support and soothing and kindness that may not have been gifted to us in the past. This Queen shows the empowering act of choosing to be our own ally. How can we care for ourselves and put our needs at the center as an act of deep love?

The Queen of Pentacles is also a solitary card; sometimes it can be lonely coming to terms with the responsibility of loving ourselves wholly. Moving with these two facets - the weight of assuming power and the joy and tenderness it cultivates - is absolutely an option. In fact, it's the bittersweet hallmark of the Kings and Queens of tarot. They've traveled far to reach this level of mastery. They know that power begins with oneself, the same as satisfaction, clarity, and so much more.

But what happens when the court cards of tarot band together? Does suffering rejection in the past doom us to the pressure of isolated self-care? Prioritizing our needs until we're alone in a corner? Not at all. This reading shows such a lovely path from the pain of hurt - that inhospitable land of swords - to the warmth of acceptance.

Take time this week to find your people, those trusted travelers who have wisdom, support, and insight to offer you. Look for those who deal with their struggles as a way to better know themselves - other kings and queens of the tarot journey.

The imagery here is stunning: The wounds of the Ten of Swords have disappeared in the Six of Cups where a rainbow of hands join together in supportive grace.

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Weekly Forecast: July 29 - August 4

Ah, dear friends, this week's forecast is very specific and clear: It's an important time to think about how we try to mask our feelings through decadence. Whether it's spending, sex, affection, food, or any other sensual activity, we're running the risk of overindulging in these areas to cover up some bittersweet endings active in our life.

If you could've seen my face as I turned over each card, you would've gotten quite a hearty laugh. First, the King of Pentacles, made me give a hearty chuckle. "So we're going to be having quite a good time this week!" I thought. Then, the Queen of Pentacles, which seemed to speak to a unique power-couple of enjoyment, as if we're working towards owning our lives in a bright and bold way. Then, the tune changed drastically with the Ten of Swords. There's a lot more under the surface here that deserves our attention instead of pleasure-seeking and fun.

Power couple aside, the two pentacles cards here are giving us options. Are we using our personality and time to mask our suffering, focusing on how others perceive us? Or are we being more focused and mindful, striking a balance between our comfort, strength, and emotional tenderness?

While the King of Pentacles focuses on his role socially - how he's seen by others and his skills for making them feel good, happy, and taken care of - the Queen directs some of these traits inwards. It's an important time to ask ourselves how we're taking care of ourselves. Are we making room for some struggle along with all the joy? Do we see these things as compatible or in conflict?

I see a level of distraction here. Not only is the Ten of Swords a card of discomfort and sadness, it's one of endings. We may be in the last stages of letting something go that's been on its way out for a long time. The King of Pentacles suggests that we've been hiding some of the stickier aspects of this change for others, perhaps because we're afraid it makes us look foolish or vulnerable.

Thankfully, the Queen of Pentacles is holding down the middle of the reading and offering us a middle path. Now is a time for gentleness, understanding, and for using our comforting practices healthily and for our own long-term benefit. That means no overspending, eating, or socializing to mask uncomfortable truths or feelings, and being aware of this pull is the first step. The second? Using it as a sign to turn inwards and ask ourselves what's really going on with all the tenderness of a dear friend.

Even better? Reaching out to one to commiserate and share. We don't always have to be the hosts or givers, and sometimes leaving space to receive is even more powerful in our relationships, allowing them to move to the next level.

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Weekly Forecast: July 1-7

The energy for this weeks starts off ponderous and heavy. We're clearly taking our lives very seriously, considering the traditional viewpoints of The Hierophant that initiate our reading. Yet, as we can see from the undignified face-plant of the Ten of Swords, these ideas and strategies have reached far beyond any semblance of helpfulness. In fact, they've overtaken our sense of self, and now we must contend with a back full of swords.

The spikier cards (usually the swords, no surprise there) can sometimes dominate a reading, making their themes seem overarching when they're just one voice in the chorus. Such is the case here, since the Seven of Wands concludes the week. It seems that we're jumping up from the injuries and pressures of the Ten and back into action quite quickly.

In other words, we're more than ready to change our orientation and get back in the fray.

A rewind is in order: What big societal, familial, and/or traditional pressures are causing us to collapse? This will hold the key to our rebound and rejuvenation.

The Ten of Swords suggests that we're at the point in a long process of healing when we've reached critical mass. We have no choice but to confront and let go. Beautifully, it looks like we're more than ready to do so. Our healing has progressed far beyond our past struggles; now is the time to tap into our budding wands energy and counter our internal pressures with external, creative action.

Over thinking and intense self-awareness will only hold us back. We might want to explore how we use these strategies to keep ourselves stuck in a familiar place of under-performance. The Hierophant here seems to be running that show (we can see his red robes sliding from the prone figure's shoulder in the Ten of Swords.) What old and external pressures are beginning to leave our lives? Or, at least, feel inauthentic? Now is the time to examine how they've wounded and shaped us and, most importantly, to say our goodbyes.

In case this ponderous energy seems too much, the Seven of Wands is here to remind us of how much energy and excitement there is in our daily lives. This card asks us to channel the angst and pain from The Hierophant and the Ten of Swords into our pursuits, whether they're creative, professional, or physical. What are we doing for ourselves that makes us feel light and alive?

This card tells us that our lives are our masterpieces: In creating and caring for them we show ourselves how powerful we can be, and how we can free ourselves from the limitations of beliefs that have never been ours to begin with.

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Weekly Forecast: September 10-16

What does it look like when we take care of ourselves? Lately, it seems like elaborate baths filled with fancy oils and crystals are all the rage. Or maybe a profound meditation practice? A walk outside? Yet sometimes caring for ourselves diverges from the popular and palatable (and photographable) practices du jour. The Star shows us mulling all this over at the beginning of the week, seeking ways to connect to our source that are deeply personal and, relievingly, private. 

An introspective and rejuvenating card, The Star is inviting us to fall gently into the core of ourselves. Only when we're there can we ask, "What do I truly need right now?" If that's mindfully bathing with your quartz crystals, go for it! If it's more like reading Science-Fiction novels and eating beef jerky or listening to music while staring at the ceiling or drawing autobiographical comics, that's exactly what you should do.The Star invites us to lean into our unique desires and celebrate them, to follow our feelings with the goal of offering ourselves the care and kindness we often reserve for others. 

So what happens when we dive into our inner sanctum and give ourselves space to nurture ourselves? We just feel amazing, right?? The remaining cards for this week tune us into a different, more complex reality. 

Sometimes when we give ourselves space to relax it also makes room for more difficult emotions to emerge. Caring for ourselves means honoring the entirety of our emotional experiences, even those that are difficult and distressing. In our case, this week is all about the Ten of Swords, a spiky, bittersweet, and challenging card, to say the least. It looks like we're settling into an important truth about ourselves that, although beautiful and necessary for our growth, also requires us to shut a door on something in our lives.

The Ten of Swords represents the end of a cycle, the final chapter of the "story of Swords." With this suit we're dealing with the many ins-and-outs of our thoughts: their power to shape the world around us and their ability to reverberate outwards through the ways we communicate them. In the ten, we've reached the end of a difficult journey. It's time to shed some old ideas about ourselves, particularly the one's that have held us back or wounded us. If there's anything helpful about the the Ten of Swords, it's that these issues are obvious and unavoidable. In other words, we know exactly what is causing us pain and exhaustion. 

Why might this be bittersweet? Whether we've inherited these ideas, picked them up from relationships, or absorbed them from the culture around us, we're familiar and attached to them. Maybe we feel like we're abandoning part of our upbringing by saying no to these patterns, betraying an idea that's been so important to us, or walking away from a relationship that has seen us through so much. The Star reminds us to tend to ourselves - to feel our feelings and let them flow through us - while prioritizing what rejuvenates us over what weighs us down. 

Our final card, the Four of Cups, offers an important clue. In addition to feeling attached to these cutting sword thoughts and experiences, we may also be using them as a distraction from our calling. A classic card of ennui and dissatisfaction, the Four of Cups appears in an almost comic position after the Ten of Swords. After all the processing and suffering and over thinking there's... boredom? We may be making things too complicated for ourselves in an effort to avoid getting down to the exciting and vulnerable business of being ourselves.

This is an affirming card because it shows us that we've already grown beyond the Ten of Swords. Once we say our final goodbye we might be surprised to vault into a different state of being. It may be so uncharacteristically pleasant and calm that we feel wary. Hence the Four of Cups. Where we're expecting drama and deep, slogging emotional work we're instead finding peace. And for a second, it feels empty and strange.

The Four of Cups is an important reminder that embodying The Star - filling our cups with what regenerates and sustains us - feels good. And when we're used to feeling "bad," struggling through choices and decisions, we get suspicious when things are easy. This week is a time to replace that thinking, equating deep satisfaction and the magic of natural focus with progress, instead of immense effort and tough going. 

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Weekly Forecast: July 9-15

We walk into this week on the tail of a big conclusion whose consequences haven't left us quite yet. Endings are big and take up a lot of space, both mentally and emotionally. The Ten of Swords is a powerful card that shows both the pain and relief that comes when something has run its. It may not have become what we originally dreamed it would, but leaving it behind is still bittersweet. When things end we say goodbye both to the reality that came to be and the dream we held for the future that was never realized.

And, as we've all experienced, this process is never linear. We rarely are able to waltz away from big endings and changes refreshed and rejuvenated, never to suffer their pains and doubts again. Instead, these feelings cycle through us. Like ripples through water, we experience reverberations long after the original disturbance.

Life, however, likes to pile things on top of each other. This week the pain of leaving something behind (rightly, I might add) is being replaced pretty quickly by the intoxication of a new connection. The Two of Cups shows us delighting in a new companion. This connection can be either romantic or platonic; however, whichever we experience will share the same tingling sensations of joy and anticipation. We've met someone wonderful! And this experience is infusing our world with a great deal of happiness and excitement.

Going from the dark, tidal experience of the Ten of Swords to this effervescent delight is a big transition, to say the least. And so it's no surprise that The Devil is showing up as our final card. The beautiful newness of our relationships this week are providing a tempting an irresistible distraction.

Here, we can take The Devil two ways. Firstly, as we can see from this illustration of the archetype, The Devil is fun. It's hard to resist a figure leaning forward seductively holding jewels and flowers! In small doses, a little decadence and distraction are helpful in moving past the initial shock of the Ten of Swords. But The Devil is also terrible at moderation and this week we're walking a fine line between healthy recreation and harmful, mind-erasing overindulgence.

In this second scenario, The Devil's energy is tempting us to use our new joyful connection to soothe and stifle the pain still reverberating from the Ten of Swords. Since the Two of Cups is such a fresh, young energy this can be quite detrimental to the health of the relationships we're forming right now. In other words, we're smothering an alluring glimmer with the pressure to relieve ourselves of a nagging pain.

The Devil would rather we bypass the sticky and uncomfortable parts and have fun now, at any cost. This is an important time to carefully examine our usual coping mechanisms. Where are we rushing things and how are we covering up the difficult emotions we need to process?

This brings us back to the Ten of Swords. It will benefit us greatly to look at the source of our suffering. Sure, it might not be all flowers and jewels, but it has a lot to teach us right now. Doing so will help take some of the pressure off of the delightful connections we're forming at the moment and allow us to heal and better understand what's come before. 

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Exploring the Minor Arcana: The Tens

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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I can hardly believe we've made it to the end of the numbered cards in the Minor Arcana! It's been an illuminating journey, and what better place to conclude this portion than with the bustling, detailed tens? 

These cards signify the conclusion of a cycle, event, or undertaking. Because of this they represent both an end as well as the early stages of a new beginning. (I love the image of this in the number ten itself, with one being the singular accomplishment and zero being the seed that's yet to sprout.) It's already a lot to pack into one card, but as we can see from the images above, the tens are full of happenings and meanings.

I like to think of the tens using "the 3 C's" (and, yes, I do realize that's imminentely cheesy!): culmination, completion, and complexity. Tens represent the maximum expression of the suit - all the events, experiences, and lessons in one card. This can be heavy and overwhelming, like in the wands and swords, or joyous and full like the cups and pentacles. 

Let's dive into the details for each suit. Click on each for the full card meaning page.

Explore In-Depth Minor Arcana Meanings

The  Ten of Wands illustrates the overwhelm that comes with a pile-up of work, obligations, and tasks. Struggling forward with ten sticks obscuring your view is both difficult and disorienting. This card can either be a breaking point - where one or more tasks must be put down in order to continue - or a final push to the finish line.

For the Ten of Swords shows us how it's impossible to avoid our feelings. Hurt, fear, overwhelm, and doubt will catch up with us, not matter how hard we try to run. This goes for personal issues and external events. In occupying this dire-looking space we also acknowledge an end and with that comes the rising sun - a new day - to begin anew.

The Ten of Cups shows us how family, commnity, and romance can bring incredible amounts of joy into our lives. This card, a picture of domestic bliss, shows good energy radiating outwards. Caring for and celebrating connection bring even more good fortune our way. This card also illustrates the happiness that comes from domestic stability rooted in emotional connectedness.

Finally, the Ten of Pentacles gives us a beautiful depiction of the richness that comes from creating and caring for our physical world. This card speaks to the work and understanding that goes into creating a space meant to foster our growth and the growth of those close to us. Life explodes in a riot of color, connectedness, and complexity. It's rich and wild, deep and meaningful, and uniquely our own.

How do the tens speak to you in your tarot practice? Which ten do you relate to most? I'd love to hear your takes, so share away in the comment section below! And stay tuned for our next section of card meanings - the court cards! I'm excited to dive into these sometimes tricky, always illuminating cards with you. 

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