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.