Weekly Forecast: November 7-13
We have a fascinating synchronicity at work in this forecast with two cards from our November monthly forecast start off our reading: the Nine of Swords and Judgment.
Okay, tarot, I’m listening…
We have a fascinating synchronicity at work in this forecast with two cards from our November monthly forecast start off our reading: the Nine of Swords and Judgment.
Okay, tarot, I’m listening…
This week we’re touching the source of our discomfort directly. What change are you recognizing in your life that’s activating sadness, angst, resistance, and old wounds? I’d like, however, to use this reading as a helpful guide. Because we can also work backwards, instead asking ourselves: What is my current discomfort teaching me about how much I’ve grown?
The Nine of Swords is an upsetting card to behold, but as we discussed in the monthly forecast, it’s also a nine, the group in the Minor Arcana that deals with the full expression of its type. Swords deal with our minds, information, and communication. This week we’re in a position where we know as much as we need to know. And that can come with a lot of grief, especially when a decision or big change is at hand. Rather than see our struggles as a source of despair, this reading is encouraging us to welcome them with open arms as harbingers of important information. We may be saying a final farewell to some harsh truths, old hurts, or ideas and values that have run their course in our lives.
Holding space for this transition will be crucial when it comes to a) making things as soft and gentle as possible and b) paving the way for a much grander transition on the horizon. Gather your people around you, sharing in the poignancy of life together. We’re all “in it” to some degree, and there’s so much healing that happens when we share both the burden and the beauty.
Now, let’s talk about this big transition. I’m laughing to myself at the imagery here: the Nine of Swords is sitting up in bed, head in their hands as if trying to completely avoid the card looming next to it, Judgment. And who among us hasn’t wished we didn’t have to do the hard and terrifying work of changing?
Again, this is a week to be extremely tender and gentle to yourself (and others). Pare down your commitments, slow your pace, and make room for reflection and processing - a healthy expression of that Nine of Swords card. Because, yes, big things are afoot, and while we do have both of these cards in our monthly forecast, suggesting that we’ll be working with their themes in the weeks to come, I do think that Judgment also holds the potential for big breakthroughs, changes, and developments in our lives this week. If you’ve been waiting on some news, a green light to take a big chance, or a breakthrough you’ve been impatient about, it may happen.
Or, at least, a key piece of information or a crucial event will pave the way for the inner transformation represented by the Judgment card. The King of Swords appears as the final card of our reading, showing us stepping into a position of authority and leadership in our lives, as if we’ve fully integrated the Nine of Swords and know exactly what to do with what we’ve learned. And I don’t mean this in a black-and-white sense of utter, irreproachable certainty. The power of this king lies in their ability to make the best use of the information that have at the given moment. They forgive themselves mistakes and miscommunications because they know that the ground is constantly shifting. Not acting with the information at hand is out of the question, and they trust themselves to pivot, learn, and adapt as they grow, harnessing their fearsome intellect and powers of perception for the greater good.
It’s a week thick with emotion, action, and breakthrough, but we have this sharp card at our side to guide us. Don’t be afraid to assert yourself, communicate your needs and, most of all, use your mind to shape the world around you. This is a powerful time for integration, release, and forward motion. Take things one step at a time, breathe, and trust that you’re equipped to guide yourself through this tricky landscape.
This week, embrace:
Processing grief, disappointment, hurtful experiences, and limiting beliefs
Mourning what could have been
…while opening yourself to what is coming into focus
Your personal agency
Deciding what really matters
Honesty, directness, decisiveness
Community
This week, avoid:
Overbooking your schedule
Strenuous work and/or activity
Appeasing others to keep the peace
Being wishy-washy
Wishful thinking/not consulting the facts/indulging in fantasy
Get creative:
Nine of Swords: Look at all these neatly aligned swords on the wall - while they’re obviously causing the main character of this card some grief, they’re also impressively arrayed and, some might argue, presenting a path forward. Might our sources of discomfort and grief also be building a ladder of sorts, one that can lead us out of isolation and into something new? Take a moment of swords-y reflection this week to identify nine things that are worrying you. Write them out in a nice list so that they’re organized like this ladder of swords. Then, write a simple way that each could help you. This could be something you’ve learned, something you’ll avoid in the future, or some way that the theme or experience has taught you something. So that you can identify and the focus on the positive side of your double-edged swords moving forward.
Judgment: Oof. This card is so in your face! Rude? Maybe! A trumpet blast raising the dead isn’t my go-to mode of communication, but sometimes we need to be jolted out of our current position. It’s also important to clear space for this type of transformation, which makes me think of another use of noise: spiritual cleansing. So, to prepare both yourself for the incoming shifts of Judgment and maybe to get proactive and embody it yourself - make some noise in your home with the intention of clearing space, banishing confusion, and empowering yourself. Blast some music, walk from room to room clanging something, or just do some old fashioned yelling.
King of Swords: This card knows things, and I think this week is an important time to remind ouselves of the depth of our knowledge. Not certificates or degrees, though those do fall under this king, but areas of expertise we’ve accrued through simply living our lives. What are you an expert at? How can you remind yourself of this and let the awareness fuel your decision-making?
Weekly Forecast: November 12-18
This week we're skirting around an issue that means a lot to us and, while we have a larger intuitive understanding of what we're dealing with, our conscious minds need to do some catching up. It's tender territory, in other words, but one we're slowly approaching and very ready for.
This week we're skirting around an issue that means a lot to us and, while we have a larger intuitive understanding of what we're dealing with, our conscious minds need to do some catching up. It's tender territory, in other words, but one we're slowly approaching and very ready for.
How do we recognize this area of our lives? It's big, expansive and requires us to change our understanding of our capabilities. Look for a feeling of anticipation, the fizz of the alluring unknown, and a healthy bit of trepidation around a change, pursuit, or project.
What's quite beautiful about this group of cards is that we start with the Queen of Cups, one of the most intuitively robust in tarot. This queen knows that her power comes from her connection to herself and she respects her feelings as harbingers of wisdom instead of unwanted distractions or signs of weakness. Rather than "I think therefore I am," this card says, "I feel therefore I am." Her knowledge begins with her personal experience.
In this reading she tells us that deep down we're aware of what we need to be growing into; we've been taking the time to nurture it from a small seed into a sprout that's ready to be planted. The idea might not be in full focus, but the feelings surrounding it most certainly are.
What's interesting here is that we have a court card about intuition instead of a heavy-hitting Major Arcana card like the High Priestess or The Star. This means that we're easing into a new understanding of ourselves, experimenting with a persona like we might try on a new and daring outfit in the hopes that it suits us.
Judgment, with it's far-from-subtle blaring trumpet, gives us a refreshingly straightforward answer. We're onto something here! The Queen of Cups outfit we're trying on fits us so well that people are cheering when we step out of the dressing room.Tapping into our intuitive selves, whether it's through a new interest, career path, or form of expression, is bringing us a new sense of fulfillment that's radiating outwards and making some very positive splashes in the world around us.
Of course, this is also a lot to take in, especially if we're coming from the tender seed stage! The Two of Swords sees us retreating into familiar territory to regroup and reassess, almost as if we're trying to moderate the loudness of Judgment's trumpet blast.
This is all well and good - the Two of Swords features heavy water motifs showing that intuition can still be included with the intellect - but we may want to watch out for retreating too far and using our rationality to reason ourselves out of a necessary change.
Still, we can move forward at our own pace, giving ourselves plenty of time to acclimate to the large, resounding scope of Judgment's message. We can always consult ourselves as we chart this path, editing as we go. The Queen of Cups, however, tells us to follow our hearts above all and trust in the immense power of our instincts. We're on a very rewarding track and our deepest self knows it.
Weekly Forecast: June 4-10
I won't lie, I may have been hoping for a less-intense reading this week after having my favorite card, Death, make an appearance two weeks in a row. Yes, that energy is transformative and powerful, but it's also pretty heady!
I won't lie, I may have been hoping for a less-intense reading this week after having my favorite card, Death, make an appearance two weeks in a row. Yes, that energy is transformative and powerful, but it's also pretty heady!
This week reminds me of a nonsensical t-shirt I once bought in Thailand that said "Same, Same, But Different" across the front. This week we have a similar energy - the desire and need for change - but it's manifesting in a different way. Or, should I say, through a different path.
Luckily for us, this path is much more grounded and practical. Our reading is centered around the Three of Pentacles, a card with no shortage of vision, support, and action. In many ways, I see this reading as a continuation of those before. This week, however, we're emerging from the experience of Death and into the action of living. In other words, we got taken along on a turbulent, profound ride and now we're stepping off, ready to explore and commit ourselves to this new landscape.
The Three of Pentacles is all about creativity and building. This is a time to plan and collaborate with like-minded others. Who are our allies? Who shares our vision and drive? Who do we trust to create something meaningful with? These are not small questions, but luckily we have the almost brutal perceptiveness of the Page of Swords on our side.
Sure, this Page is showing us that we don't quite have our sea legs when it comes to this new venture, but we have plenty of chutzpah, verve, and curiosity to start us on our journey. Most importantly, this page illustrates the unvarnished perceptiveness of youth. I'm picturing the someimes-terrifying honesty of children. You know the moments when a young child makes a harsh but true observation with no shame whatsoever? (I'm reminded of a time when I allegedly looked up at my mother, gazed deeply into her nostrils, and shouted, "It looks like you have spiders in your nose!")
I'm not advising that we run around shouting harsh truths at people with wild abandon. What I am saying is that we have the ability to make clear observations of others right now, and from these we can easily discern people's motives and the role we'd like to give them in our life. So trust your perceptions as they come to you and chose your team accordingly.
What I love most about the Three of Pentacles is that is shows us how important collaboration is to the creative process. This is not a time to go it alone, but rather one to find your dream team and dive into the infectious energy of planning together. And Death, our central card from the last two weeks, gives us a helpful hint: Who do we see heeding the meaningful and challenging transition of Death? Whose growth inspires us? Our people are the ones who have shared some aspect of our struggles and have used those experinces to grow.
And what's this in the distance? Another mild and mellow tarot card? Well, not exactly. Judgment concludes our reading with a nice burst of trumpeting fanfare. We can expect an important revelation later in the week, one that will tell us about the path we're on. Is it working towards our highest good or backsliding into old patterns? Either way, the message won't be subtle, and it'll be just what we need to hear.
In a way, Judgment is a welcome sign that the experimental building we're beginning right now will garner quick feedback and input. Our burgeoning Page of Swords energy is also attuned to this frequency and we can look at this connection as a healthy dialog between our questioning selves and our higher calling. We have plenty of light-footed, perceptive energy available to us right now to adjust our path and tweak our direction. Now is our time to plan and plot, thinking big with our supporters and co-conspirators, while remaining open to feedback from larger sources.
Weekly Forecast: May 8-14
We’re caught in a transitional period this week, digesting deeper truths about ourselves while trying our best to make sense of our daily lives. On their own, one of these would be more than enough to keep us busy. Together they’re pushing us towards a seemingly inescapable sense of overwhelm.
It’s natural to throw up a flurry of activity to distract ourselves from personal concerns. Like the Seven of Wands, the underling turmoil gives us energy. Rather than looking inward to meet it where it lives, we prefer to fling it outwards instead.
It’s bustling, dramatic, and easy to hide behind. Who can get upset when you’re just working hard and getting things done?
As much as we’d like to insist that we’re being pragmatic and hard-working, the dust we’re kicking up serves a purpose.
Why is the strong character in the Seven leaping down the stairs to defend himself? Why not use his energy to leap upwards, towards something new?
Sometimes we’re more comfortable confronting old demons than blazing new and unknown paths. The man in the Seven of Wands didn’t grow strong completely on his own. Maybe he feels he needs to be fighting off enemies to stay that way. Maybe simply walking up those stairs makes him feel weak.
Well, that sounds exhausting. And it doesn’t leave much room for ease and exploration. What do we do then?
We have to create meaning that comes straight from ourselves and not struggle or distraction.
This might be scary, since it involves truly standing behind who we are and what we want. There’s nothing to hide behind, no excuses to offer. It’s just us and our own values and desires.
Judgement shows us that we’re reacting with understandable fear and insecurity to something that’s actually quite beautiful. We’ve been getting some clear messages about what’s important to us and who we really are.
Rather than leap towards the light we question it. Before we know it we’re tossing around sticks and feeling lost in the fray like the Seven of Wands. Our backs are turned away from the next steps forward.
Luckily things can’t stay this way for long. Judgement is a powerful card and as much as we try to ignore it, there’s no going back when we find something pivotal out about ourselves. Maybe it’s a dream that’s laid dormant for a while, something secret you wouldn’t even admit to wanting. Or maybe it’s a desire, something you want in your heart of hearts and don’t want to accept.
Well, here it is. You’ve gotten a glimpse at it and try as you might you can’t forget it. It’s natural to leap out of this awareness and into the confusion of the Seven of Wands. And this is not altogether negative. Sure, a dream or desire or truth about yourself is purely what it is. It’s an idea, after all. Making it come true, however, is not so simple.
The moment of Judgement – seeing something for what it is – is just a moment. When we try to make something out of it, well, it gets messy because we’re bringing an idea into the complexities of everyday life.
We end with The Star to remind us to be gentle with ourselves as we start grappling with making a dream into a reality. Yes, we’ll be tempted to run back down the stairs and grapple with old fears, but we can’t remain stuck down there and we won’t.
Why? Because when you see a dream for what it is for the first time you also see the power of your own guiding light that illuminates the way. And that’s utterly, and completely yours.
Weekly Forecast: March 20-26
This week we’re hearing a call to make a big decision. It’s time for a change, one that we may have been ignoring for a while. Naturally so, of course. Big shifts come with healthy uncertainty – why leave something that’s working perfectly fine? Where exactly are we going next?
There’s no way to confirm an outcome before we take the action. Planning, weighing options, and researching will help us, sure, but once the ball is set in motion… who really knows? Without risk we can become stagnant, and yet foolish risk can lead to unnecessary suffering.
The cards for this week give us as good of a go ahead as we could wish for. Two affirming Major Arcana cards leading towards a King tell us that assured motion towards a goal that’s close to our hearts will result in a feeling of clarity and mastery.
Being human, however, means that leaping from one powerful card to the next comes with some difficulty. Let’s dive into each a bit deeper and see where we can gain some guidance as we move towards something truly majestic.
We begin with Judgement, a card that represents a powerful call. It’s a moment where we must heed a summons, usually one that comes from our hearts. As I write this I can hear a flock of Canadian geese honking as they fly above my house. Every year they make a long migration, flying south for the winter and returning up north in the spring. They make this long journey instinctually; when they start flying it’s not because they logically know they need to get going, it’s because they feel it.
Judgement urges us to take a similar approach, looking to our bodies to tell us where we need to fly next. Now is a good time to check in with yourself. What feels right to you in this moment? What is pulling on your heart, telling you to try something different, to take a risk? Listen to your instinct rather than your brain.
It may be that our instincts have been trying to tell us something for some time now. We don’t have many opportunities to connect with this side of ourselves. Unfortunately, it has been systematically devalued as we favor logic, rationality, and control above all else. The hard-to-pin-down nature of instinct is too difficult to quantify and measure, so we cast it by the wayside with little thought.
Strangely enough, the cards are showing us that if we decide to embrace our instinct for change we’ll end up in a place of increased clarity and control. Tricky, tricky! Learning to magnify our inner voice and take it seriously will make us more powerful and decisive? We see this in the King of Swords, a card that represents power over one’s thoughts and mind. Perhaps the cards are trying to tell us that an integrated mind – one that values both instinct/intuition and logic/rationality – is the most powerful.
This brings us to The Chariot, another card that illustrates control over opposing factors. Or what appear to be in opposition. This card urges us to take the plunge and commit to what our inner voice is telling us. Once we let the call ring loud and clear we must do something about it – bring it into the light and make it visible. The Chariot is an extremely affirming card. It suggests that we can make this next move triumphantly. Our undertaking will be successful and well-received so long as we integrate ourselves fully and stay true to our original motivations.
The overarching message here is to be confident in our intuition and motivations. We can’t do this without knowing them deeply, so be sure to really understand what it is you’re after before you take the plunge. How does this decision reflect your higher values? How can you best use you strengths and truly be yourself? Once you’ve answered these questions, however, (or once you feel in your body that the time has come) make the move! You are primed for this next phase and ready to march out of the gates triumphantly. We could use every bit of heartfelt, authentic action right now. Heed the call and get going!
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Weekly Forecast: January 9-15
Ah, a visit from one of my favorite cards, the Three of Swords. Who could miss the intense image of a giant red heart pierced by three swords, plunked in front of raining clouds? We might as well start here. After all, a wound deserves our immediate attention, and this one looks like it might be serious.
If you haven’t noticed already, I have an enormous soft spot for the more dramatic-looking tarot cards. Does something appear scary and overtly negative? Chances are I love it. And it’s not because I’m an unbearable optimist, the sort of person who skips past the pain to point out the silver lining. I don’t work like that because I think it’s highly unadvisable.
I mean, look at the Three of Swords. It takes quite a mental leap to rush past the grave, almost comically overdone, injury the poor hear is being subjected to. And even if we were to do so, we’d still have to contend with the flat beige clouds and cascading rain. Hmm… it really seems like this card is focusing us to focus on pain. I wonder why?
The Three of Swords speaks to the toddler and teenager in us. A part of our personality that needs to howl after skinning a knee, acting as if we know for a fact we’ll have to amputate the leg instead of just put a band aid on a scrape. Often, we’re told this kind of reaction is overdone. Can’t we just skip to the part where we’re calmly applying Neosporin and informing everyone “don’t’ worry, I’m fine”? But think about why we cry out in the first place. Something hurts us and we instinctually express it. To both release some of the scary, shocking energy we get from a painful experience and to cry out for help.
The Three of Swords serves a very important purpose. How do we act in the face of pain? And can we recognize that these reactions actually serve to heal ourselves through self-expression and reach out to others? Perhaps this lies beneath a bunch of baggage: shame and embarrassment over our weakness, anger for what happened, even older emotions that need to get out. All of these can make us lash out in our pain, looking for someone to blame. We can also play up the drama, wallowing in it and exaggerating. Underneath it all, I believe, still lies a tender vulnerability and the inescapable delicacy of being alive.
It is this challenge – how to deal with our pain – that comes to the forefront of this week’s reading. Why do I love the Three of Swords so much? Because it shows us how the immediacy of our pain brings us a great opportunity to embrace our humanity, vulnerability, and tenderness. We need other people to hear our cries of help and simply acknowledge our situation. Expressing it constructively allows for a great deal of beautiful human tenderness. And, to be real, I’m also a big pragmatist when it comes to pain. If we face it head-on, we are able to deal with it in the moment, feel it, and move forward. Also known as getting it over with, constructively.
So much of our weasely behavior comes from avoiding pain which can lead to lots of needlessly built up meaning and drama. We must wail loud when we fall down both physically and emotionally, feel the pain, assess the situation, and accept the helping hand when it’s offered instead of brushing it away.
So what’s ailing us this week? This reading suggests that a lot of big things are coming home to roost. Judgement is another blunt card that tells us we’ve been receiving some big, unignorable truths as of late. A giant angel has descended from the heavens and is blowing a trumpet in our faces. Subtle. And yet so refreshing! How often do we get such clear messages? A pity these ones aren’t more positive. The trumpet is sounding screechy instead of melodious. Still, we must hear it and listen attentively.
It’s not ideal, but we’re actually in a position to move forward quite gracefully. And yes, I think we can incorporate some emotional messiness into our idea of a graceful transition. I’d rather deal with all the information as it comes and honor all the complicated feelings that come with a complicated time. If we choose to heed the call of our pain, to really listen to what our hearts and wounds are telling us, we’ll be poised to make something that actually reflects and serves the world as it is.
There’s a strong thread in this reading moving from left to right. The red of the angels wings and flag, the red of the pierced heart, and the red robes of the figures in the III of pentacles. Think of it as emotional alchemy. We hear some truth, it brings us pain, we feel the pain and build something from it.
The Three of Pentacles is a card that shows us the process of creation in its beginning stages. We’re building something, laying out the plans and hashing it all out. And we’re not alone. Three figures are joining together and they look quite different. We have what looks like a monk, a young lad with an apron, and a delightful character who looks like a Medieval version of Shania Twain in the “That Don’t Impress Me Much” video.
Pain and suffering has a great capacity for bringing together seemingly disparate groups of people. Of course, lash out with anger and blame and the opposite happens. This week we have a choice. What happens when we express our pain well? Others hear it and it brings us together. Once we get together, we get things done.
Now is a week to turn towards our pain, listen to it, express it well, and get ready for ways we can ge togther and create something we’d like to see in the world. The reading is quite clear on this: we're transforming the thoughts and feelings of the three of swords into the physical and tanglible three of pentacles. We can really make something we can feel and touch here. It’s difficult and it takes some bravery, but we’re in a much better position than we think to move forward wiser and more connected to the world.