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: October 17-23

I was struggling to start this forecast for the strange reason that it was too simple, to the point where entering the space of the reading felt nearly impossible. If you can sum up something in one sentence, why go any further?

Well, this is tarot after all, and each reading is its own world. We can’t just stop there, at the door, without walking in and exploring the whole house.

And then I had a little chuckle; of course it was difficult starting a reading that begins with The Four of Pentacles. We can all feel this card’s association with reserve, self-protection, and restraint just by looking at it. This person doesn’t not seem relaxed! But take some time to observe, listen, and maybe gently pry one of the pentacles from their fingers? Well, then a whole other side of the coin emerges.

So, at the beginning of this week take a moment to see where you’ve been holding steady. What about your life is most precious to you? What do you refuse to compromise on? And how might this steadfastness be a reflection of your dedication to something greater, the promise of a better future?

We may be feeling unsure of this dedication, questioning our instinct to dig our heels in and not budge. Are we being stubborn? Irresponsible? Rigid? The Knight of Swords shows us facing a strong headwind. Self-criticism, impatience, and old loyalty to stale ideas hang heavy in the air. This is a time, however, to sit down, cradle your pentacles, and let these urges and ideas pass by. We have something much more interesting coming our way, and it’s showing up in our actual experiences, not our thoughts.

What does is mean to resist the urge to rush, pursue, and make meaning? This week we have a generative showdown between the slow-moving solidity of the pentacles and the lightening-fast, nimble and reactive Knight of Swords. I won’t mince words; it’s not a chill energy. It will feel sticky at times. But I think we’ve all been practicing inhabiting a healthy “Four of Pentacles mindset.” When needed, take refuge in past examples of how your determination to stay true to yourself - especially in relation to your time, material life, and work - has given you a sense of independence and stability.

Why am I so sure of this? Well, we have a beautiful card showing up at the end of the week that affirms our instinct to wait, ground ourselves, and hold out for something more: The Ace of Pentacles. Our period of waiting, it seems, isn’t going to last long, and a gift is arriving on the scene. It could take the form of a new opportunity, a stroke of good luck, or simply an experience that inspires and revivifies us.

The only catch? We must be ready to loosen our grip on the way our life is now to make room for the newness we’ve been yearning for.

This week, embrace:

• Staying your course

• Taking care of business

• Caring for your body, home, and posessions

• Revisiting your goals

• Prioritizing your wellbeing (in all senses of the word)

• Holding out for the right _______

This week, avoid:

• Being swayed by societal expectations, others’ opinions, the urge to compensate

• Rash action

• Speaking before you’re sure of what you really want to say

• Cutting down your visions for the future

• Saying no to something delightful

Get creative:

• The Four of Pentacles: Let’s tap into the practicality of this card. Fours in tarot are about foundations, stability, and the contours of our life. Pentacles are about our physical reality. So! Spend some time exploring what this means to you at this particular point in your life. What are the four cornerstones of your life’s foundation? Categories to consider: time, body, relationships, resources; places, people, activities, work; routine, rituals, nourishment, expression. Mix and match if you’d like, but be sure to pick four and expand on the things you do to uphold each.

• Knight of Swords: This card is occupying the “butthead role” for the week. In other words, it’s telling us what not to do. So, cultivate a lighthearted and clear-headed relationship with this card. Where do you see the Knight of Swords in your life? How do you inhabit its particular flavor of know-it-all-ness. Some things to consider: What stories get you fired up in the wrong direction? Where do you rush into black and white thinking in order to protect yourself? What do you sound like (and feel like) when you blurt out stupid things? Simple awareness is often all it takes to resist this card’s pull.

• Ace of Pentacles: Aces are somewhat intimidating. How do we know when they arrive? Can we trust them? I feel like this is an important week to open our arms to our aces preemptively, so that we don’t turn them away when they appear. How do we do this? Build a shrine to your Ace of Pentacles. I know you know what you’re really yearning for right now. Let yourself want it, no matter how embarrassing it feels (I see you, Knight of Swords!). Find a space in your home to set out objects that represent this wish, desire, outcome, or gift. Set our some flowers, light a candle, let things be lovely.

Weekly Forecast: March 18-24

In order to receive, you must let go.

It feels nice to be safe and certain of our lives. Security is nothing to scoff at - we need to take care of our physical selves, provide for our basic needs, and doing so isn't always easy. Having enough is a huge privilege, but if we cling to it too long it can become stifling and limited.

This week we're at a point that's difficult to reconcile. We may feel that asking for more after having worked so hard to get the basics seems greedy, as if we're tempting fate. Why go and invite in the unknown with any changes if we're fed, clothed, and safe? 

We can see this position reflected in the Four of Pentacles, and I love how this card shows the sense of stability and pride that comes from providing for ourselves. Sometimes this card appears as a wonderful affirmation - we've made it and it's time to celebrate and get to know all the facets of what we've built for ourselves. 

But, like any tarot card, it's meant to be a stepping stone on a larger journey. After all, our lives are animated by change, and clinging too hard to what we know can often leave us stuck and out of sync with the larger rhythm of our life.

This week we're presented with a choice and it may feel big and intimidating. The Ace of Pentacles is appearing center stage, tempting us with an alluring offer. It's asking us to accept a shiny new gift, but in order to do so we must put down one of our pentacles. Staying with what we know effectively blocks us from this new energy. Remaining in the four may seem safe, but it's no way to grow.

Luckily, the Ace of Pentacles is a gentle card. New things can often become the perfect receptacles for our anxiety. Because they're all potential and possibility we can offload all our general anxieties onto them, burying something shiny and new with frightening futures. 

The Four of Pentacles, while a place to celebrate once you've reached it, can become mired with conservative thinking. Instead of seeing opportunity in newness it sees paths to loss. This is a wonderful time to dig deeper into our ideas of how much we can have and all the roadblocks that we put up in the face of emerging excitement. Where do these thoughts come from? And why might we look to them in the face of something truly exciting?

Oftentimes these protective mechanisms have a lot to do with our ideas of maturity and responsibility. The fourth card in the Major Arcana is The Emperor, an archetype that, to be frank, is amazingly adept at triggering old wounds around our experiences with our parents.

Is there something about this new pursuit that's bringing up our ideas of how we "should" behave? Are we silently following old ideas of what responsibility looks like, only to trap ourselves in inauthentic thought patterns?

The King of Cups emerges on the other side to show us that there's another path. Stability doesn't have to be rooted in utter certainty and known quantities. We can be much more fluid, creative, and flexible in our approach to life while maintaining our sense of responsibility. 

If anything, this card shows us how we can gather power from embracing the unknown. This is a model of leadership that accepts and trusts in change. If it's inevitable (as we all know) then we can jump on in, a fish swimming in the waters, and navigate with confidence. Sometimes things will be challenging and sometimes they'll be calm. But we can always trust our experiences and the wisdom we've accumulated along the way to guide us.

In this mindset, the Ace of Pentacles is a small and beautiful invitation to move further along our path, not some scary entity here to disrupt and challenge everything we've worked so hard for. If there's something exciting on the horizon - an idea, hobby, opportunity, or practice - that you'd like to pursue - this card says go for for it.

Start simple and let it be what it is - something new and exciting that's still small. Exploring new things doesn't mean abandoning your security, it simply means building upon it. And that's what security is for, after all. Providing a foundation for our growth and expansion. 

 It can add to our sense of stability and bring in the energy of newness and opportunity. If it doesn't work out, we can always change course. But to turn it away for fear of losing what we already have would keep us feeling stuck. 

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Weekly Forecast: August 6-12

It's always exciting to see a reading featuring a single suit. Why? Because it shows the cards giving us an extremely targeted message, and in this case, it's an extremely practical one as well since we're looking at the earthy group of pentacles.

Not only that, but we're entering onto the scene with the King of Pentacles! Already, we can see that we're in a position to lead and delegate with ease. We're showing up fully with lots of well-earned confidence. This isn't a time to make ourselves small or run away from responsibility. And we won't want to because we have lots of exciting work to do.

This week we're being called on to muster our forces and reign in our spending (financial and energetic) in order to get ready for the launch of a new project. It may be an adjustment, especially since the King of Pentacles loves decadence and pleasures. Moving from this king to the Four of Pentacles is a shift from expansiveness to strategic restraint and consolidation. 

While this isn't a glamorous change at first glance, the King of Pentacles has more than enough chutzpah and persuasiveness to see things differently. We're being given a chance to see thrift and saving as a way to celebrate and cultivate our personal vision. The King of Pentacles may like to partake in the pleasures of their life, but they also know that doing so is only part of the cycle. The other half? The work itself. And it's just as affirming and joyful.

If we enter into the financially conservative position of the Four of Pentacles with the vision of the King we can view our resources as tools to build something new, vibrant, and exciting. In other words, reigning it in is a way of preparing for expanding into new territory. In this way, the Four of Pentacles doesn't have to be miserly, stingy, or dissatisfied.

 Instead of seeing the need to save money as shameful - I dont' have enough right now and I should! - or limiting - I want to buy new clothes and I can't! - we can re-frame it as an empowering, self-directed move. We are the masters of our finances, just like the King of Pentacles. 

Because the motivation behind these choices is a project that has a great deal of potential. The Three of Pentacles is always exciting to see because it shows the immersive, intoxicating, and motivating act of planning. We're ready to start building something new and we're going to need our material resources to make it a reality. The more we hammer out the details, the more we feel aligned and justified in our saving.

Staying connected with our goal will only build our energy and excitement. And in the long run, this expenditure will bring us back towards the celebratory success of the King. Finding satisfaction in work and security in saving will be bringing us a deep sense of meaning. 
 

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Weekly Forecast: May 28-June 3

We have the charismatic ease of the Wands at our backs as we enter into this week. The Six is a particularly encouraging card, one that points to the happy rush of an achievement. Hard work is paying off, bringing us to a moment where we're being seen for all that we do.

Whenever the Six of Wands shows up it directs us towards joining in on the celebration of our own achievements. All the cheering in the world means nothing if we can't join in ourselves. It takes courage to see ourselves riding confidently on a horse, laurel wreaths held high like the main figure in this card. But here we are. Moving forward and being seen as go-getters, visionaries, and creators. 

And where are we headed? The Hierophant is an arresting card to have facing out at us from the center of this reading. The energy and enthusiasm of the Six of Wands isn't as superficial as we might think. Something about our recent ventures is tapping into a deeper side of ourselves. The Hierophant is a teacher and keeper of secrets. Though they are sometimes buried under all the overt religious symbolism in the card, The Hierophant can be further distilled into a representation of inner truths being respected, amplified, and directed outwards.

This card is asking us to consider what we're taking more seriously in our lives. How has all the action and movement of the Six of Wands been changing our beliefs? Or, from another angle, how have our actions lately been reflecting a cherished value or cause? In this reading, the impulsive nature of the wands is acting as a helpful catalyst. We're finding ourselves already embodying something important that may even be making us feel a little frightened and exposed.

I say this because our final card, the Four of Pentacles, takes the forward moving expansion of the Six of Wands and the solemn sacredness of The Hierophant and tries to reign it in through practicality. Just look at the change in body language. Proud movement and celebration arriving at regal presence and presentation and then... clinging?

Why interrupt our parade towards deeper understanding with restrictive behavior? The suit of pentacles deals with everyday life, stability, and practicality. On one hand, a great deal of magic and meaning can be found here, but in this reading we have the Four, a card that illustrates the act of hiding behind duty, conservatism, and common sense. We're experiencing expansion and somehow seeing danger. So we're being tempted to shut down, to bury our burgeoning ideas and changing selves under the guise of being extra-responsible, together adults.

This energy is classic self-limitation. Rather than own the power of The Hierophant - choosing to enshrine what's really important to us (and to broadcast the magic and satisfaction we find in life) - we're pretending to choose another path out of practicality. It's like saying you'd love to go on an adventurous vacation, but just can't find someone to watch your dog. Or hiding behind work responsibilities when you get invited to try something new. Of course we can pull strings and make things happen. It's just easier to look responsible and hard-working instead of admitting we're afraid to try something new. 

This week we have the opportunity to see this pattern with fresh eyes. The Six of Wands comes with its own clearing energy, after all. The parade towards a richer life can continue ahead with some quick detours - we don't have to stay in the Four of Pentacles indeterminately. And with the powerful Hierophant in the center we can't avoid what really matters for long. 

The news here is good. Our ideas and beliefs matter and we're already  putting them into action. Now is our time to practice standing strong in who we are and letting ourselves commit and invest in what gives our life meaning. We don't need to use our responsibilities as a smokescreen. We can just look to the starts and trust that our feet will stay firmly planted on the ground. 

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Yearly Forecast: 2018!

The new year is a heady and exciting time. We don't have many opportunities for a clear "before and after" and this is the big moment where we can say "that's all said and done, now it's time for something new."

And lordy could we use something new right now. It's no surprise that two of our three cards are in the suit of pentacles, rules of all things earthy and solid and stabilizing. If there's been any theme to the past year it's been one of upheaval and... well, I don't want to sound dramatic and say calamity, but... you know what I'm talking about.

And at the same time the surprising and destabilizing events of 2017 have offered a helpful and deeply contrasted backdrop to all the sweetness and beauty showing up in our lives. There's a gift in being able to see all the goodness with such intense clarity; however, it's too dramatic to sustain in the long run. 

2018 is going to be a year when we work to recalibrate this imbalance, directing ourselves towards the concrete, nitty gritty aspects of life. Think our ability to truly cultivate, nurture, and change our surroundings. 

Beautifully, we have the Nine of Pentacles giving us a vision of peace and plenty. We have much more than we were able to see amid the wildness of the past year. Now our gifts are emerging and we can see and enjoy the places, people, and practices that enrich our lives.

What's more we've developed an extremely useful skill. Our passion and sense of justice is now reigned inso that it can channel its powerful ability to effect change. Consider the falcon held by the sumptuously dressed figure in the Nine of Pentacles. Once swirling through the clouds, hunting and screeching (I'm thinking about all the time I've spent bemoaning and complaining about political events), it's now been trained to harness its skills, guided by a higher power so that it can achieve important objectives with precision. 

What part of ourselves, now that it's had the time to vent its animal needs and frustrations, has returned to us and is ready to help us on our journey? 

The Nine of Pentacles directs us to appreciate and tend to our gardens. What do we need to do to make our lives blossom? Having a life that offers both protection and expansion is key. 2018 will be giving us plenty of opportunities to grow ourselves a lush life. Now is not a time to turn away from joy and satisfaction - it's deeper in meaning than we might initially think. This year is a time to plumb the depths of happiness and explore the bravery that comes from caring for oneself.

There's a public role in all this, too. The Four of Pentacles shows us feeling empowered and stable in our lives. While we might not know it, our actions are inspiring others and the way we choose to live our lives is providing new and exciting blueprints for others to follow. 

We have just enough to care for our basic needs and a sense of satisfaction for having earned it. At the same time, we may be using this accomplishment to limit ourselves out of fear. While we can all enjoy our state of being content, it's also important to think big. Staying safe limits our contact with the rest of the world and cuts us off from sustaining relationships and our own potential. 

We're emerging into a better awareness of our skills and resources. Interestingly, there's a part of us that hasn't come onto our radars, a hidden talent or gift, if you will. What's more, this part of ourselves is clearly visible to those around us. Maybe we just haven't found a name for it yet and maybe we're afraid fo express an integral part of ourselves. Is there something we haven't dared acknowledge yet, a dream, skill, or trait we're somehow convinced we can't embody? 

This exciting new aspect will shine through no matter what we do to hide it. Look to friends and family to illuminate this hidden talent. It will be key in our expansion this year and seriously change our self-perception and abilities for the better.

All these pentacles shows us how important feeling stable is right now. Yet this energy can be stodgy and limting on its own. Luckily we have the Seven of Swords to lighten the mood, directing us towards adopting a sense of play and trickery  to balance out our earthy selves in 2018. 

Pentacles are often motivated by the desire to be safe. Sometimes, however, in erecting boundaries and limits we block out things that can help us grow and that enlarge our worlds helpfully. The Seven of Swords reminds us not to take our desire for safety too seriously. We don't know everything and embracing an intellectual openmindedness along with a somewhat naughty sense of play will jazz up our lives and keep us from becoming too ponderous and conservative in our actions.

 This card also ushers in an exciting air of experimentation. Maybe some things can be simpler than they seem and maybe we don't need as many structures and trappings of power as we may think. Shaking up our own established routines and views will bring the verve and energy necessary to push boundaries and expand into places we can't even envision. 

So relax, spread out and enjoy your riches, let your light shine outwards so others can see you, and don't take it all too seriously. Expanding into this year will be joyous, profound, and revolutionary. We're replacing reaction with mindfully channeled power, want with fulfilled wishes, and old ideas with playful innovation. 

I can't wait to travel this path with all of you - Happy New Years!

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Exploring the Minor Arcana: The Fours

In this series we'll be diving into the world of the Minor Arcana. Each segment will group the cards by number where we can engage in their themes and differences. For all the posts in the installment, click here.

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The fours in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck are all about stability and structure. From the creative dynamism of the threes we now need context and constraints to orient ourselves. Think of the four cardinal directions or the four walls of a home. The fours represent the forces, places, and mindsets that make up our world, asking us how and where we contain different aspects of our lives.

So how do each of the suits reflect these themes? Some, like the wands, embrace them wholeheartedly and without conflict. The action of the wands, with its boundless optimism and confidence, responds well to an open and airy type of structure. Others, like the four of cups, grow listless and bored by the constraint. Being a suit ruled by water, cups require fluid and flowing boundaries. 

Let's look at each of the fours in more detail below:

Explore In-Depth Minor Arcana Meanings

The  Four of Wands shows how creativity flourishes when channeled into an open structure.  It can't reach its full potential when floating around in the air as plans and dreams. Instead, it needs to be enacted and put to work, and doing so brings great harmony and satisfaction, not to mention room for growth. We see a happy pair or people standing before a walled city, raising boquets before a beautiful arbor of four wands. Moving away from the predictability and structure of the city and towards a life based around their ideas and actions has brought them joy and freedom. Quite lovely stuff, indeed!

For the Four of Swords, structure is a welcome balm.  All the careening thoughts of the swords suite need to come to rest. Here we see a figure reclining within a peaceful stone structure. All their swords are hung in place around him, unable to cause any harm. This shows us how putting down our thoughts and allowing our minds to rest is healing and leaves room for growth. What's more, the glow from the stained glass window represents the unexpected messages that can come to us when our minds are clear and receptive. 

The Four of Cups is interestingly restless. Cups, in all their watery glory, need to flow and bend around obtacles. Being contained is against their nature and can result in stagnation. Here the figure in the card appears bored and listless, focused on his three cups and unable to see the fourth being offered to them. The fourth cup, however, shows how water always finds away around blockage. Emotion and connection are always around the corner (and boredom is impossible to keep for long).

Finally, the Four of Pentacles shows both the pleasant safety and ultimate limitation of material security and comforts. Hanging onto what we have is all well and good, but it prevents us from reaching out for more or receiving new gifts. The body language of the figure in this card is closed off and fearful. Ultimately, they must choose to relinquish the illusion of safety and control if they wish to go somewhere different in life. 

In the fours we see how structure and boundaries can be welcome respites, helpful homes, or stagnant stops along our journeys of life. How do you view the fours in your tarot readings? Share in the comments below and stay tuned for our next installation on the mischievous and pivotal fives!

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Weekly Forecast: October 2-8

What does it take to adjust an imbalance?

Is it serene wisdom? A drastic event that reminds us we need to move onto something different?

Now is a time where we'll be walking somewhere in the middle. It's tricky going - we're being asked to navigate forward without clear-cut certainty - yet at the same time we're being given a beautiful opportunity to step up and own our own adventure. 

In the first week of October we're being coaxed out of a false sense of security and into a journey towards something more meaningful. Sure, we don't have the elusive widsom that our decision is completely safe and completely right, but how often does that come along in life? And is that a feeling we should even be looking for?

The Four of Coins speaks to our talent for adaptation. We're resourceful creatures, able to make do in all manners of situations. We strive to create a safe corner of the world for ourselves with what we've been given and when we succeed it feels wonderful. We're safe and stable and, like the coins in this card, able to look out from our cozy tent at the beautiful yet inhospitable landscape around us.

This worldview, however, can be quite limiting. Looking at the world as a dangerous and limiting place and directing our energy towards protecting what we have focuses us on maintaining - a scarcity mentality tactic - instead of reaching out and allowing our life to unfurl in myriad, unpredictable directions.

Justice has shown up in our reading to tell us that we've been lingering in the safe tent of the Four of Coins for too long. There's an imbalance that we need to correct and we're being coaxed out slowly, asked to stretch our legs and prepare to strike out in a new direction.

Sometimes we might perversely long for the terrible certainty of The Tower. In that card we have no choice, our world has been turned upside down and the only thing we can do is rebuild. This is a much more beautiful and compelx situation and far less drastic. It's a time for thoughtfulness, mindful delibration, and, above all, replacing a cold view of the world and ourselves with one of warmth and tenderness. 

But let's return to the tent for a little while longer. It's a good opportunity to look around and see what it is we've been clinging to for safety and reassurance. Oftentimes this card refers to old ideas and habits we've inherited through our family, that first unit that shapes our worldview so profoundly. We didn't choose to pick up these building blocks, they were just there, either presented to us by our parents knowingly or absorbed as we grew up.

As I'm sure many of us can attest to, it can be a mixed bag. Something about our old assumptions has led us to huddle in a tent that's far too small for us. They may have worked for us in the past, helped us or hindered us. What's clear now, however, is that we've grown. Like a plant that's too big for its pot, we're chafing at the edges and ready to be transplanted into the ground. 

This is a beautiful moment and I'm tickled that it's showing up in our reading for the first week of October. Justice and the Eight of Cups encapsulate our brave expansion. We're striking out, looking to elarge our lives, daring to ask for more, and doing so with the bravery and self-respect that mark a moment when we're ready to discover more about the principles, ideas, and motivations we'd like to frame our lives with. 

And my favorite part? Though this all sounds like pretty heady stuff, it's simply another step along our life path, and extreme thinking is part of the Four of Coins' "crowded tent mentality." Instead, we're stepping out to grow more excited, open, and expansive with each step. What I'm saying is, we'll be welcomed with open arms as we dare to ask for more and seek more rewarding experiences and relationships. We're walking towards more ease, reciprocity, and lightness. It just might be a little scary and intimidating at first, all the more reason to embrace gentleness and creativity as we take those first steps.

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