Weekly Forecast: January 14-20
This week's reading asks us to hone in on how we're approaching our life. From the first glance, it's clear that we're driven by a great deal of energy and meaning. How else could we have two knights - the daring, dashing, and impulsive cards of the tarot - at either end of our cards?
Before we go into the details, these knights tell us that we have no shortage of enthusiasm. We're ready to get hands on, to dive into the adventure of it all. Without the knights we'd remain mired in old patterns, complacent, and afraid to test and expand our personal power. But all Knights have to step down from their horses at some point, or risk burnout and one-sided conviction.
In fact, we've been harnessing knightly energy for quite some time now, but specifically from the standpoint of the Knight of Swords.
What does this mean specifically? Well, for one, we're all fired up and wanting to act on our principles. The intellectual knight in the tarot, the Knight of Swords loves to analyze, identify values, and make them a driving force behind his endeavors. It's a wonderful impulse, but it's also one that's brought us to a place of burnout, as the Nine of Wands illustrates.
What happens when we become so principled that we lose sight of what's important? Too much intellectual analysis can lead to an impersonal view of life. And, as you might guess, makes any difficulty or failure personal.
We might be feeling a little harsh towards ourselves in the beginning of the week. Why haven't we done more? Why haven't we achieved all the lofty goals we set for ourselves?
There's a precious and endearing side to this knight that's important to recognize here. We want to do well and we have so much passion and ambition. Yet we're also human, with living, breathing bodies that need care and attention. We can't just keep on going on principles and convictions alone; we need food, sleep, and care.
The Nine of Wands illustrates the literal burnout from investing too heavily in the Knight of Swords' approach. In our enthusiasm we forgot our physical limits and the importance of being a part of our own lives. Being plain old tuckered out, however, is giving us a natural pause to reassess and adjust our approach.
Treating any tiredness or overwhelm with curiosity can help us see our current situation and make lasting choices towards our goals. Indeed, the Nine of Wands is telling us that we've gone as far as we can with the Knight of Swords' orientation. Any further and we'd be in the territory of ultimate exhaustion with the Ten of Wands. You may remember the illustration for this card: a figure pushing a fan of ten wands that obscure his view. Hardly something to work towards!
Fortunately, we're not there yet. We might be a little battered and tired, but we can still see the next steps available to us. And this next step? It's the diligent focus of the Knight of Coins.
This card is immensely encouraging. It's telling us that our general ideas - the information we've collected in our Knight of Swords phase - is helpful and valuable. We just need to bring it down to earth and integrate it into our actions. And that includes how we care for ourselves.
We can have a life animated by what's important, those big and lofty ideas that the Knight of Swords loves to much, but it has to be channeled through everyday action and done in the service of a healthy and fulfilled life.