Weekly Forecast: February 13-19

The Knight of Pentacles is the only knight in the tarot deck whose horse has all their feet on the ground. Standing on a hillock overlooking a freshly-plowed field, the yellow pentacle in their hand matches the vibrant sky - the object of this knight’s attention matches its environment, all signs point to go, and the work is about to begin.

It’s not a flashy card. There’s no rushing, charging headfirst into battle as one might imagine a knight from a fairytale would. Bravery, according to the Knight of Pentacles, lies in diligence and perseverance. What goal have you set your sights on and how will you commit to actualizing it this week?

Frankly, I tend to find this type of energy irritating and unnatural - I’m much more of a wands-person, preferring to jump into things in a fit of passion. Knowing where you stand on the spectrum will be helpful in plotting your strategy in the days to come; for some, it will be easy to embrace the Knight of Pentacle’s slow and steady pace, while others will find this type of movement more awkward initially. But this week we’ll be particularly concerned, even fixated on, balance and longevity, making planning and deliberation especially important. What can we do to create things that last? How can we take baby steps forward when we have big, big dreams?

The Four of Swords sets the stage, telling us that time resting and reflecting at the beginning of the week will serve us well as we begin to make more tangible, concrete moves. This card also tells us that we have 3/4 of the pieces of information we need to choose a path (notice the three swords neatly hung on the wall above the reclining figure); the final one lies in our intuition, that weasel-y, trickster part of our mind that needs time and space to emerge. And when it does, it’s usually in the form of a riddle, confounding dream, or vague feeling.

This is all to say that, even if you don’t feel like you have the 110% clarity and conviction you’d like, that’s okay. It’s likely that you’ll be pushed over the edge and into action by a feeling, sensation, or intuition. Let that be enough and then get to work.

We have two fours in our reading, one on either side of the Knight of Pentacles. I find this intriguing since this number deals with the theme of structure. If we’re to follow the Knight’s path towards the right (the direction of “the future”), we move into the territory of the Four of Cups. So, a move from intellectual structure to emotional structure is taking us towards our goals. Scary! It can sometimes feel as if we’re abandoning logic and reason, the security of the easily-explainable, when we undergo this type of transition. Yet for anything to last, we need to have a deeper meaning animating it, and that’s what we’re striving for this week. Thankfully, we have the practical and methodical Knight of Pentacles undergirding this shift: What happens if you value the feelings brought up in your quest to build something as the important breadcrumbs leading you to the future, innovation, and fulfillment?

Potential surprise/reframe:

We haven’t talked all that much about the Four of Swords, but this card is holding a lot of weight in the reading, telling us the work we can do to set the stage for our big projects. As a swords card, it informs us that this work is mental: How can you make your mind a safe space as you start to build something new?

I’m sensing a connection to our card from last week (and the card of the month), Strength. We’ve been taking the time to really see ourselves, accepting our flaws and foibles and invite them into our identity with both acceptance and a firm hand. See where you’ve made your own mental space a more welcoming, hospitable, and gentle space for yourself. How can you look at your ambitions and plans through this gentle lens? It seems as if we’re poised to make some breakthroughs with regards to self-criticism, comparison, and perfectionism. Be proud of it.

This week, embrace:

• Introspection

• Staying in the moment - approaching each task as it comes

• Long-term plans for career, lifestyle, or investment

• Trusting your intuition for the next steps

This week, avoid:

• Lofty, unachievable plans

• Perfectionism

• Crowding your mental space with other people’s opinions

• Rushing

Weekly Forecast: January 30 - February 5

What do you do when you’re looking for a feeling? The Four of Cups sees us starting the week with a nagging sensation that something’s missing. We’re yearning for something in the realm of the cups suit - love, connection, spirituality, or intuition - but we're not sure how to articulate it just yet. In situations like these, challenging feelings can be important guides; pay attention to where you’re yearning, pining, lonesome, or bored. What happens when you just sit with these experiences, much like the figure in the Four of Cups?

Depending on your situation and personality, this can range from a tolerable experience to something torturous. But the Four of Cups gives us the opportunity to really feel through our present moment so that we can embrace the opportunity that’s just right for us when it arises. Rushing through, in contrast, can lead us to add more to our lives mindlessly, causing us to miss out on important realizations about who we really are.

So, as the week begins, make plenty of room for reflection, both as a mindfulness practice you engage with continually (inviting yourself, for example, to just observe your feelings and let them flow through you instead of rushing to judgment) and in the form of designated chunks of time: an evening meditation, a solitary walk, or time with your journal. It’ll also be important to ground yourself in what is working in your life so that you’re aware of how anything new will either add or detract from it. What is supporting you, giving your life meaning and a sense of emotional fulfillment? What might these things have to say about who you are and your ability to craft a life for yourself?

An intriguing part of this reading is that, buried in what seems like an emotional or relational problem, there is a crucial insight into our practical, everyday lives. The King of Pentacles comes into the reading midweek, suggesting that our emotional yearning may be masking some actionable changes we’ve been mulling over for quite some time. Is it more comfortable to feel emotionally dissatisfied than tapped into the power and responsibility of shaping your life?

I don’t say this to be judgmental; it seems as if there are important insights in both cards, and maybe the confusion is part of the process. Yet the power of the King of Pentacles emerging at the center of our reading points to some sort of blockage in our energy. Re-casting ourselves as the protagonist in our lives and then acting from this place of power will help move things forward in unexpected ways, both emotionally and practically.

Stepping into our personal authority and ability to make change will be both refreshing and a little overwhelming; on the other side of this card is the fast-moving Eight of Wands. So if we feel bored as the week starts, we may be looking back at that experience wistfully as things really get going around the weekend. Yet The King of Pentacles is holding down the fort for us throughout; we get to make our own choices, and what’s more grounding than that?

Potential surprise/reframe:

I’m really drawn to the King of Pentacles in this reading. The Four of Cups is all about waiting - feeling things out, digesting our emotions, and practicing receptivity in the hopes that we’ll be better able to accept an important gift when it arrives. In contrast, this week’s King is “the King of making a life for oneself.” How can making/shaping/adding to our lives in a prosaic, pentacles-y way remove some pressure from our experience of the Four of Cups?

If we’re feeling stuck in the world of emotion, it will be helpful to double-down on what we can do in the physical and everyday. Make changes, plan out your finances, see where you can streamline your routines and even enjoy your life a little more. Doing so may help clear any blocked channels that are keeping us small and dissatisfied in other areas.

This week, embrace:

• Sitting with your feelings

• Focusing on emotional balance

• Taking responsibility for your daily life, career, or physical health

• Acting when things feel aligned and are gaining momentum

This week, avoid:

• Seeking affirmation or attention to compensate or fill a void

• Hiding from your true feelings

• Downplaying your skills

• Stopping yourself from committing to action out of fear

Weekly Forecast: June 20-26

How do you react when a rainbow finally appears? Maybe you’ve been secretly praying for one, nervous and expectant. Or perhaps you’ve been hoarding rainwater, thinking you can collect enough to create your own downpour and invite one in. But we all know that’s not how rainbows work. They arrive on their own accord, a colorful expression of nature and change. The right conditions need to be present, and if we are too, we can rise up and take the sight in.

This week sees a big desire become real. The rainbow is happening. What will we do?

There’s a restrictive side to the Four of Cups that’s coming through in our reading. Where in life do your wishes come with a dose of fear? Sometimes we cling to our smallness, dreaming big and bold dreams, but secretly secure in not realizing them.

Yet this week a powerful wish-fulfilling card is taking center stage: the Ten of Cups is showing us that our dream is quite close. We could, in fact, get up and run to meet it. But is something holding us back?

We have the beginning of the week to really consider this. Our first impulse may be to think through the issue, but we’d be wise to follow the true nature of the cups and get in touch with our feelings. Looking at the Four of Cups I’m imagining a deep reservoir of water beneath the three cups on the ground. Are we in fact sitting on enduring wisdom while pretending we need to scrounge and scrape for inspiration? We can learn a lot about our desires this week along with any fears we have about our wishes coming true.

Take a look at the Ten of Cups. What do you see in this card? What does it make you feel? You’d be surprised at how upsetting this card can be to people. It can look flashy, garish - especially if you’re used to thinking that living your dream openly is dangerous, inviting trouble.

Fortunately, we have the Two of Swords on the other side, tempering our strong emotions. This wise card invites us to take baby steps. We don’t have to embrace an entirely new life wholesale, rush into good fortune, or change radically. There’s time to step into the rainbow-lit world of the Ten of Cups for a bit, then take a break and mull things over. Or, even better, just let yourself be so that its wonder can sink in.

Oftentimes we think that beauty, pleasure, and connection are fleeting, limited resources. The Ten of Cups, however, tells a different story. In its pure form, it depicts the eternal wellspring of connection. We can frolic together, yes, but we can also grieve together, struggle together, and yearn together. When done out of a place of authentic relationship, all of these endeavors become generative and, in their own way, gorgeous and transformative.

See where you can find yourself sharing in joy, connection, and bounty. Make room for whatever this brings up, and grand yourself the solitude or space to let the doses sink in. I have a feeling that this week holds an important revelation: an experience that points you towards the greater source of fulfillment that’s always there, no matter what happens.

This is a week of joy, surprised, and integration. Dream big, and don’t be afraid to embrace the rainbow when it appears.

This week, embrace:

• Taking it easy

• Being gentle with your fears

• Romance

• Connection

• Living your best life

• Respecting your dreams

This week, avoid:

• Overplanning

• Reclusiveness

• Shutting down emotionally

Get creative:

• Four of Cups: This card has been stalking us for most of 2022. This week, I’m feeling like its seriousness could use a shake-up. Try meditating on abundance, oversized dreams, outlandishly positive scenarios. Let yourself go wild, simply holding the images in your mind with gentleness.

• Ten of Cups: This card is begging us to get outside. Find a way to be in nature with people you love (or just like… for now).

• Two of Swords: I didn’t realize that there is a vast wellspring of water in this reading when I was riffing on the Four of Cups. It’s here in the Two of Swords! Which makes me think that we’re going to uncover a special source of enjoyment and acceptance this week. Preferably during the weekend, take some time to journal about where you noticed a sense of belonging, satisfaction, and peace. You now have a new source of insight and nourishment in your awareness. Congratulations!

Weekly Forecast: March 28 - April 3

King of Pentacles / Four of Cups / The World

My uncle once told me the best way to see rare birds. Go deep into the forest, find a big tree, lie down under it, and take a nap. When you wake up, stay completely still; the birds will have grown used to your presence and returned to play in the branches above you.

Our reading this week has a similar energy. And, again we’re visited by The King of Pentacles, a card so comfortable with themselves that they can express their power through their presence alone. How can we stay put in our own worlds, just being? What’s around us? The smells, textures, sights, and people blossoming under our observation, places becoming more magical as we sit back and let them proceed through time.

In the center of our reading we have the pensive Four of Cups. As you might guess, this card touches on themes of ennui and listlessness. This week, it seems, boredom is both a luxury and an important tool. This will be a time to embrace being in-between, not knowing what to do, and feeling vaguely dissatisfied. Can we just sit under our own trees, maybe even take a nap? If you’re itching to make moves, shake up your life, or demand answers, see if you can hold back the impulse and make space for something else. It may take time - this is not a reading of fast-moving revelations or breakthroughs - and you may do your fair share of wriggling with discomfort. But it’s not unbearable or epic, and this might be a time to bring some amused softness to your shortcomings. Like the grapes on the King of Pentacles’ robe, these make up the intricate and irreplaceable details of our lives and selves.

Doing nothing is a path worth considering this week, and the stasis of The King of Pentacles and Four of Cups suggests that the pieces we need are already in place. Some, however, might be buried underneath our awareness, as the Four of Cups shows the importance of silence and blank space in our creative and emotional processes. What can we do to invite what’s just beneath the surface into our consideration? Is there a feeling, insight, or wish we’ve been hiding from ourselves? Or has it simply not had the space to emerge, a shy bird in its own right.

Our final card, The World, is also the final card in the Major Arcana sequence. No matter how boring, blah, or inconsequential this week may feel, some big magic is afoot. In The World we see the clouds part and a joyous new horizon come into focus. Well, more than that - we ourselves float above that horizon, seeing far and wide. Sometimes this can manifest as an awakening of sorts, a time when we can finally see the big picture. It’s a liberating experience, one that gives us a deeper connection to ourselves and puts us in a state of flow, love, and acceptance.

The World also denotes the end of a chapter. After this card, the Major Arcana cycle begins anew, and it’s worth fully savoring and integrating this energy before venturing into a another go-around. Even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment, consider how you might see this week as the end of a major chapter in your life. Of course, the conclusion could be wildly obvious to you as well. Either way, see what celebrations, reflections, and cartwheels may be in order. The World asks us to put ourselves in the center and see what has truly brought our concept of ourself into focus. There’s usually some surprises in there - be joyful, bold, and proud of what you’ve accomplished.

This week, embrace:

• Giving your attention to the world around you

• Finding joy in your everyday relationships

• A healthy pinch of decadence

• Downtime, gazing off into space, utter silence - even if it feels foolish

• Commemorating a big chapter, end of an era, accomplishment

This week, avoid:

• Over-scheduling, hyperactivity

• Big expenditures or retail therapy

• Mindless media consumption

• Hiding your weird self

Get creative:

• The King of Pentacles: This king is all about a good time (why else would you have a grape-festooned robe?) and financial wisdom. Combined with the “let it be” aura of The Four of Cups, I’m feeling the need for a creatively frugal party. Whether it’s just for you or includes others, see what merry you can make from whatever’s in the pantry, whip up some diy decor, and wear your very best just because.

• The Four of Cups: Find your own birds in the jungle moment. Set aside time to just sit and ponder, ideally in nature. Zero expectations, no distractions, just be there. Something magical might happen. Something magical might not. The real magic, in fact, will be allowing some tinges of boredom to break through the oh so extra wildness that is life in 2022.

• The World: Ah, what a majestic card. The World is all about wholeness, the magic of our very being. It’s always with us, we just don’t give it much thought or acknowledment. And, of course, many of us struggle with seeing The World in ourselves for myriad reasons. This week, try to set that aside, and take yourself somewhere special with a view. Yes, we’re getting specific. Find somewhere with a vantage point and gaze outwards, imagining your life unfolding in front of you. What perspectives do you have now that weren’t there before? You may even want to ritualize your ascent to this place, imagining all the challenges and lessons you’ve been integrating recently with each step you take. At the top, take three deep breaths. You’ve arrived. Now go buy yourself a drink.

Weekly Forecast: October 28 - November 3

It's hard to feel satisfied this week. We have the antsy energy of the Seven of Pentacles starting us off: What is making us feel restless, as if we have unfinished business?

Looking for the bee in our bonnet is a worthy endeavor. The Seven of Pentacles shows a crucial point in our journey. Once we've created something noteworthy, it's important to sit with it and see what might need editing. The central point of reference here is our own experience. How do we really feel about what we've accomplished? Does it work for us or are we working for it?

The continuity in this reading is deeply encouraging. If we dive into our desire to perfect and shape our lives we can take the quick leap from good enough to wonderfully just right: the Ten of Pentacles.

We are, however, not quite used to feeling satisfied. The Four of Cups is one step away, continuing the overall picky vibes of the Seven of Pentacles. It's as if we can't stay in the diverse splendor of the Ten of Pentacles for too long. Is it too dangerous to enjoy our lives or be proud of our achievements? Are we poking holes in something beautiful, and why?

The Four of Cups is where our emotional experience comes in, and perhaps there's a shade of perfectionism here, like we can't allow ourselves to accept just how far we've come and how resplendent and delightful and messy our lives can look.

I see this card as an instinct to turn away from our lives, perhaps with a twinge of depression. Yet the bounty of the Ten of Pentacles isn't polished to the point of inauthenticity, and maybe it's that facet that makes it so threatening. You can look at this card as a rich and full life. And I mean all of life.

It's the dishes in the kitchen sink you can never get to because you're running around working, seeing friends, and tending to connections; the challenges of close friendships and tight-knit families; the chaos of life itself.

The tens are maximalist cards. Some of them, like the swords and wands, lead to overwhelm and heartache. Others, like the pentacles and cups, show how you can't have too much of a good thing. Love, connection, and a well-lived life flourish in abundance. Yet the intensity can be overwhelming at times, loud and bright and fast-moving. Remaining in the moment, being supported by all the work we're doing and all that we have to show it, is a magical thing to do. It opens doors to so much more.

This week we can resist the old pattern of retreating into critical thinking or narratives of failure and loneliness and stay in our majestic, messy, and fantastic now.

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Weekly Forecast: September 30 - October 6

I'm struggling with how to frame this reading, dear friends, since it has a unique energy. The virtuous Six of Pentacles is on one side, anchoring us in our desire to help and provide for others. On the other, however, we have the uneasy and dissatisfied Four of Cups. It's as if our outside life is masking our more turbulent feelings, and the decisive King of Swords is mediating between the two.

How to distill this into simpler terms? I think these cards are asking us to use our sense of discernment and judgment to dig deeper into our desire to please.

The Six of Pentacles is all about giving and receiving. Sometimes we give out of a true sense of altruism and generosity. And sometimes it's a way to mask our own inner turmoil.

This week we may find ourselves growing tired of the routines we use to avoid confronting our more difficult emotions. Are we directing our attention outwards, allowing our edgy energy to get channeled into pleasing, helping, or supporting others? It's important to be aware of how this may reflect a desire for control: If we can ease someone else's suffering (or think we have) then we can eliminate our own.

I'm drawn to the fact that this reading is using the Four of Cups to illustrate our true emotional state. This card is quite mysterious; there's a sense of stasis, pause, and the unknown.

When we feel unsettled and blah, it's tempting to fill that space with action and distraction. Yet we have the King of Swords bringing a powerful sense of discernment to our center, as if we're finally in a position to see our behavior clearly and adjust accordingly.

This week is a time to listen to our inner voice and to trust its messages and direction. If the giving stance of the Six of Pentacles seems hollow, off-putting, or uncomfortable, it's likely an invitation to step back, to move from the earthy realm of the pentacles and into our personal emotional experience.

The Four of Cups brings us into relation with ourselves as we are in the moment. What are we feeling? How can we sit with it? Time alone, practices of reflection, and plenty of rest can help coax out important epiphanies and breakthroughs. But we can't get there if we neglect our inner life.

I also think that the King of Swords represents a highly developed sense of self. We know, at a conscious level, that we need to turn inwards. And, perhaps, that our emotions have something deeply important to tell us.

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Weekly Forecast: April 1-7

Can doing less bring us more?

This week we're being asked to step back and evaluate the rituals, tasks, and obligations we're engaging with. Are they bringing us satisfaction? Are they moving us forward? And, most importantly, are they even ours to begin with?

The Hanged Man is a card whose enigmatic presence often foreshadows some frustration. After all, we're often told that doing more is the key to any breakthrough. How can we make headway if we don't have any momentum?

Yet this idea that we can somehow will perfection and progress into existence is dangerous. Often it's a trick to keep ourselves occupied and distracted so that we don't have to sit with out itchy and inconvenient feelings.

Our feelings, however, are often far more interesting than we give them credit. The Four of Cups shows us feeling a tinge of ennui as we begin to slow down. We think we know the lay of the land and it is, to be frank, boring.

But the more we sit with things as they are, the more they're able to reveal themselves fully. This week introspection and quiet are our friends, and while we can expect some resistance - pesky inner voices and doubt, for example - we're really collecting useful and surprising information.

The Four of Wands is our final card for the week and it shows us where we're going - the reason why we're feeling called to take a step back. This card is a beautiful illustration of the importance of freedom and space in our lives. What do we need to feel enlivened and creative? How much structure is just enough to keep us feeling safe and oriented? And how much openness and room for growth do we need to stay on our toes, inspired and ready?

This is a gentle group of cards in that it's not asking us to do anything radical or wild. It's just that sometimes, in our busy and intense culture, it sometimes feels radical to stop and take stock. Now is a wonderful time to ignore all that pressure-filled messaging. The Hanged Man and the Four of Cups show us operating under some intense and powerful intuitive guidance. Trusting our feelings and internal compass won't lead us astray.

And sometimes it's difficult to see what's no longer working and hard to recognize that what we're doing may not even be for our benefit. The Four of Cups asks us to peer inside our cups - our relationships, emotional expenditures, and energetic output - and see whether they're flowing both ways. Does giving outwards bring something back in? This can be through gratitude, personal satisfaction, inspiration, support, and more.

If, however, a cup turns out to be a secret sinkhole, sucking our energy and leaving us feeling depleted, now is a wonderful time to say goodbye and accept a new, fulfilling opportunity on the horizon.

In order to flourish we need freedom. The wands suit inspires us to see space, movement, and energy as our allies. Think about the element associated with these cards: fire. When building a bonfire you don't want to stack sticks together, one against the other. There's no space for oxygen to circulate and, thus, no fire.

We have to travel light and leave room for our flames to grow, and this week is all about being mindful of what we have in our lives. Anything extra, crowded, or uninspiring doesn't have to be there and letting go can usher in the energy we need to thrive.

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Weekend Send-Off: Getting Spooky

I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge Halloween fanatic. In recent years, however, I’ve fallen off the wagon of making epic costumes. Some highlights from my glory days: going as a shrimp tempura roll, a toaster (very impractical for dancing), and Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle.

But this year is a return to form! After months of ebay searching I finally found the perfect dress for my Beetlejuice-themed costume. I’m going as Lydia Deetz in the wedding scene, heinous 80s red dress and all. It feels wonderful playing with costumes again. There’s something so magical about the outer and inner transformations that happen when we change our appearance.

I hope you all are having a magical lead-up to Halloween (please share you costumes in the comments below!) and are enjoying the effects of the full moon a few days ago. And now, without further ado, some highlights from the week.

Tarot Discoveries - The Spolia Tarot

A dear friend of mine was generous enough to bring his epic tarot deck collection to this month’s Tarot Club meetup. I find that seeing the decks in person and handling them is the quickest way to see if they resonate with you. One of the standouts was the gorgeous Spolia Tarot, whose gilded edges and lush collage artwork is proving to be irresistible to me. I may have just ordered a copy...

Woo Humor - Mercury Retrograde

Got a good laugh out of this piece from The New Yorker - “This is Not a Drill: Mercury is in Retrograde.” Who can resist a little healthy joking around everyone’s favorite-to-bemoan astrological event?

Repeat Tarot Card - The Lovers

The Lovers has appeared in a few profound readings this week, pointing to a lot of challenging and rewarding choices along with some good old fashioned romance.

Listening, Reading, Watching

It’s that time of the year where I re-watch my favorite animated series, Over the Garden Wall. It’s a magical story of two brothers who get lost in the woods and references all sorts of famous illustrators. Plus, I have a feeling you could view it as a bit of a Fool’s journey…

I’ve been reading a fascinating book on hallucinations called…wait for it… Hallucinations by the wonderful and inimitable Oliver Sacks. It’s been fascinating getting a neurological perspective on a subject that’s so fraught and, interestingly, tied to the spiritual community whether it’s through ecstatic visions or the use of hallucinogens. I’m especially looking forward to the next chapter on “Phantoms, shadows, and sensory ghosts”!

And now, finally, our card for the weekend:

Four of Cups

Message: Take time to process an already full plate of emotions!

Embrace: Reflection, solitary practices, reminiscing about the past.

Let Go Of: Criticizing what you have, pressure to be more active.

Guidance: There’s a lot of experiences and feelings that have been accumulating. Now is the time to set aside time and space for things to settle. Treat yourself tenderly and see if you can see your past experiences from a new vantage point.

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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