Weekly Forecast: September 5-11
When I started turning over our cards for the week I felt the excitement rising: the gloriously fulfilling Ten of Cups followed by the free and celebratory Four of Wands? And then… womp, the grief of the Five of Cups. Certainly not the rising crescendo of joy I’m sure we’d all appreciate. Yet there’s a constructive tug hidden in the melancholy end of our reading, so bear with me. Let’s dive into why the mournful figure of the Five of Cups is actually quite encouraging, more of a section healthy path than an injurious detour.
This reading is about how good things - growth, expansion, and particularly meaningful connection - can uncover deep hurts that need to be felt. It’s not the usual narrative where our joy simply multiplies. The Ten of Cups looks like a card of happy endings, but it’s not the happy endings we’re familiar with in film, novels, or television. The ones where, having achieved a romantic partnership or crowning accomplishment, the story ends. The main character is fulfilled and content at long last.
While I’ve seen this card appear in situations where people are idealizing the happy ending, chasing these simplified narratives, this week is about the true expression of the cups suit at its best - open, loving, generous, visionary - and what happens after the happy ending. Where the real, complicated, and meaningful magic happens.
With the Ten of Cups starting the week it’s likely that there’s an abundance of joy and connection available in our lives. Things are coming together, we’re being seen by those around us who really matter, and all sorts of gifts are becoming visible under the resplendent rainbow of cups. Take a moment to be proud of the work you’ve put into your relationships, including the one with yourself. How have you been growing your connections with others, taking risks to both reach out and receive? Love is in the air in all its shapes and forms. Appreciating the love here right now and the beauty it gives to your everyday life is absolutely called for, and it’s likely you can do some celebrating with the ones closet to you.
Speaking of celebrating, The Four of Wands springs from the magic of the Ten of Cups with an exciting invitation to collaborate, create, and innovate. It’s likely there are new partnerships forming, so pay attention to who sees your unique spirit and can work with you to enact your plans, whether they’re romantic, creative, or practical. This card is all about open structures creating just enough scaffolding and freedom for truly great achievements. I always think of a bonfire when I see this card (wands are associated with the element of fire, after all) and how you need to be sure there’s enough room between the branches for oxygen to flow, otherwise the fire gets stifled and snuffed out before it can blossom into something spectacular.
Be aware of the power you hold to shake things up, to make space in your life for that creative oxygen to flow, and the people who are excited to build with you. Don’t be afraid to do things differently or step outside of old patterns and approaches. What’s most important is that you keep things light, flexible, and enjoyable. Work, travel, and activities out and about in the world can all be fun instead of laborious this week. This is also an auspicious card for launching new endeavors, bringing likeminded people together, and partnerships of all shapes and sizes. Follow where your energy is flowing naturally, join hands with people who share your passion, and start creating.
It may be that all this action and abundance grows overwhelming towards the end of the week. Just look at all the happenings in our first two cards - both are full of people and movement. Taking time away will be crucial if we want to recharge our batteries, and most importantly, we’ll likely need the solitude to tend to some complicated feelings triggered by flourishing and being seen.
I’m struck by how the two cups cards show grief hidden within fulfillment. Five is half of ten, and it’s as if the bounty of the Ten of Cups includes within it some of the pain of past losses. Having felt the joys of the early days of the week, we may find ourselves brought back to memories of times when things were not so joyful: when loss swept through our lives; when what we had got swept away and we had to pick up the pieces and move on; when we had to make a difficult choice to choose more for ourselves at the expense of a fading dream or path.
It will be helpful to view these emotions with kindness and see their appearance as a reminder to tend to ourselves, integrate our past with our present, and gain perspective on how far we’ve come. Make time for yourself to feel freely, commemorate any losses or milestones that rise into your awareness, and to thank your grief for being just one of the cups nested in your current experience of abundance. Because the Ten of Cups is about feeling it all and loving life for it, even when it’s hard, and especially since you’ve grown to a point where you can hold it all and love yourself for it.
This week, embrace:
Appreciating and enjoying your close relationships
Relaxing into what’s working out in your life
Abundance! Celebration!
Invigorating creative and romantic partnerships
Thinking outside of the box
Launching new projects
Honoring the grief you carry and the form(s) it’s taking right now
This week, avoid:
Overthinking things (notice we have no swords here??)
Treating grief as a sign of failure
Pushing through burnout… and into more burnout
Get creative:
Ten of Cups: Like all cards in all readings, this will appear on a spectrum for each of us. For some, it’ll be abundantly obvious while for others it may take some sleuthing to uncover. In either case, take a day in the beginning of the week for a little experiment: approach everything as if you already have everything you want. Notice the beauty around you as if it’s just for you. Let yourself really take it in. That’s it. There’s gifts all around you. Now, imagine and act from the idea that even more is coming your way. What does it feel like?
The Four of Wands: I can’t believe I’m about to do this, but behold this entirely cringey scene from the classic cinematic masterpiece that is… Garden State:
I have to admit: this totally captures the energy of the Four of Wands. So, I’m giving you free rein, whether you’d like to channel Natalie Portman’s manic-pixie- dream girl freestyling or not, do something utterly weird and outside the box at least one time this week. (And then tell us about it in the comments below.)
Five of Cups: This week is really asking us to lean into and respect the memories, themes, and feelings brought up by the Five of Cups. Looking at it now, I’m noticing that I’m drawn to the bridge to the left that symbolizes new paths forward after loss. So, I think it would be a beautiful gesture to take a walk by yourself (or imagine being accompanied by your pain, grief, or melancholy) - perhaps even one that has a bridge where you can look down and envision the emotions and memories flowing through you - “water under the bridge” - as you move forward.