Weekly Forecast: August 29 - September 4

It can be easy to assume that big questions require big answers, and, more importantly, that they require one big answer. How often do we hear stories of potent epiphanies? The entrepreneur coming up with their million dollar idea in the shower, the detective finding one pivotal clue that breaks the case open, a chance encounter with some powerful person who gives us the opportunity of a lifetime. This week we’ll be tempted to look for singular answers, but fortunately our cards have a much more interesting (and joyful) vision for us.

The Hierophant shows us in an inquisitive and philosophical mindset, both seeking out deeper meaning or a crucial next step and looking for it in the usual places: from traditional paths and teachers, established power structures, or well-worn stories we’ve inherited from our family or culture. Honor whatever questions are driving you forward at this moment. This is a Major Arcana card and tells us that we’re engaging with big themes; it’s likely that whatever we’re turning over and over in our minds is both important and impactful. We’ll need all the information and guidance we can get, but it’s equally important how we get it and where it comes from.

I’m struck by the contrast between the interior space shown in The Hierophant and the lush landscape of The Nine of Pentacles. We may be feeling stifled by the confines of tradition - “the way things should be” - while also assuming that it’s the only route to the wisdom we’re seeking. So, take a moment right now to see where you may be preemptively hemming yourself in. What is feeling itchy, uncomfortable, or limiting? What assumptions are you carrying with you about how you gain knowledge and what you “need” to move forward?

The Hierophant often refers to power structures around knowledge, and this week you may be coming up against them. Be particularly aware for where you cede your power and agency to experts, leaders, or teachers. While this sounds intense, the lesson this week is more gentle, as we’re being asked to both take in established wisdom while filtering it through our experience of everyday life. We can learn from both simultaneously, and what is more mature and freeing than that?

The Nine of Pentacles shows open expanses instead of enclosed, stony halls. Yet it’s not a scene of wilderness. We can see a house in the background and the main figure stands in front of a vineyard, grapes ripe and ready for harvest. They rest their hand gently on the top of a wall of pentacles, inviting us to consider what earthly accomplishments are supporting us at this moment. Where have you built something lush and lovely for yourself? How is the abundance around you supporting your plans for the future? What’s more, this card gifts us an image of both structure and wild abundance. The two can co-exist delightfully, and may already be doing so in our own lives.

The Hierophant has some acetic, strict overtones to it, and we may be tempted to assume that responsibility requires suffering or denial. Sometimes in searching for the key to unlock a door in our life we neglect to enjoy the beauty unfolding around us - slow, consistent, and still miraculous. The Nine of Pentacles is a strong and emphatic rebuttal. This is a week to challenge ideas around what it means or looks like to be an expert or accomplished: success does not have to mean suffering, wisdom does not have to come from hierarchy. Gift yourself time this week to take in and enjoy the bounty around you. Let yourself relish the act of caring for yourself, your community, and your home. Don’t rush - why have you worked hard to build all this if you can’t let yourself enjoy it?

What’s crucial here is that enjoyment brings about wisdom and growth the same as formal learning, striving, and hard work. If we allow ourselves to synthesize The Hierophant and The Nine of Pentacles, in other words, we’ll be in an excellent position to get to where we want to go.

Grappling with these themes is hard work no matter how you cut it, and fortunately we’ll be granted (or gifted) a reprieve at the end of the week as The Three of Cups saunters onto the scene bringing with it a punchy joie de vivre and desire for celebration. Let yourself raise a toast with trusted friends, treat yourself to a night out, or celebrate in whatever way feels the most delightful. Ask yourself, “Where is joy, celebration, and abundance happening in my life right now?” and move towards it. There’s an interesting pull here, an invitation to step out of the serious halls of The Hierophant and into the wide open spaces of the Nine of Pentacles and Three of Cups, as if living our lives fully could be bringing about the answers we’re seeking more than any established knowledge could.

This week, embrace:

• Balancing formal knowledge with lived experience

• Appreciating and embracing your own expertise

• Savoring every day life

• Sensual pleasures

• Celebration, gatherings, and socializing

• Expressing joy, love, and appreciation

This week, Avoid:

• Overplanning

• Looking for explicit guidance, instructions for what to do from outside sources

• Rushing big questions or decisions

• Seeking/prioritizing epiphanies

• Making things overly complicated

Get creative:

• The Hierophant: I think this card needs some softening this week. Consider how you can swap yourself in and out of both roles illustrated in this card: the giver and receiver of knowledge and wisdom. What knowledge and wisdom do you have to give or have been giving others? Where are you an expert? Look both at obvious accomplishments and more subtle ones. You may want to explore what people come to you for guidance for. Switching roles, think about what you want to learn: what are the next pieces of wisdom you’re seeking and who/what can you identify as a potential teacher?

• The Nine of Pentacles: I could just live in this card which makes it hard to think of just one facet to focus on. It’s the grapes, however, that really grab my attention this week. We have an old arbor in our backyard that’s close to falling over. The paint’s peeling and someone accidentally cut down half of the grape vine that grows there. Usually, I forget about the grapes, only noticing them when they’ve been picked over by birds and possums. This year, however, I caught them just in time and we were able to eat whole bunches of bracingly tart grapes. It was delightful. So, this week, think about what gifts you need to enjoy right now, before they fade. It could be something you love to do during this particular time of the year or a gift for yourself you finally have the ability to purchase. Whatever it is, make an effort to be intentional in giving it, remembering that enjoyment begets enjoyment, and that you are worthy of receiving support and love from yourself, too.

• Three of Cups: This card always makes me think of cocktail recipes, so we’re going there! I’ve been enjoying “Bee’s Knees”: 2 oz. gin, 3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice, 1/2 oz. honey syrup (1 part honey dissolved in 1 part water), shaken in ice and strained into the prettiest glass at your disposal. Any fancy libation will do, just make sure you enjoy with two or more people, and raise your glasses to good company, love, and the joy of being alive.