Weekly Forecast: January 8-14
As a general practice, I like to cut right to the chase when more apocalyptic-looking tarot cards make an appearance in a reading. For this week we have the stabby Three of Swords and the cataclysmic Tower. Not doing a whole lot to lighten things up, the Ten of Wands concludes our array for the week.
It's rough stuff at first glance, but you'd be surprised that I breathed a sigh of relief when I turned over these cards.. There's a deep layer of meaning here that I'm glad to see, and an overarching theme of movement in an area of our lives that has long been characterized by stagnation.
We've been holding something close to our hearts that's no longer doing us any good. The Three of Swords speaks to the immediacy of our pain. Umistakably, this card shows us that when we're wounded we suffer. This experience serves to protect us (in feeling pain we can learn to avoid it in the future) as well as to summon our energy so we can begin to heal. Our body and mind are drawn to the source and, with our attention focused, we can see what's causing the wound, remove the source, and allow our bodies to do their work.
Without this experience we wouldn't have as rich an understanding of the world and of ourselves; pain and suffering help direct us towards our own path. There's a great deal of wisdom there when we peel back the layers. (And, yes, it's still painful - there's no denying that).
Interestingly, we also can remove some power from the hurt through experiencing and exploring it. Think of a toddler falling and scraping their knee. The shock of the fall and the pain makes them wail in the way only toddlers can: with wild abandon and piercing volume. Once calmed down, they find it's just a small scrape and, after a bandaid is slapped on, they scamper off on another adventure.
But what happens when we don't allow ourselves to process our pain in real time? Detatching from ourselves and holding onto the initial shock of an experience can cause it to become overpowering. What started as a scrape if we had only looked down and treated it becomes seen as a lethal wound. We may hide our pain, try to ignore it, or become afraid. All this effort is exhausting.
There's a tender side to the Three of Swords. In its simplicity, it can represent the vulnerability of our childhood selves and our original wounds from this formative stage. There's something bubbling up from our past experiences - a Three of Swords moment - that needs to be evaluated. This can be a tired, limiting family role or a feeling of powerlessness. Examining the deeper root of our unpleasant feelings this week will be illuminating.
And here's the good news: As adults, we can now reach down and comfort our distressed selves, put a bandage on our knee. Now is a time to direct healing energy and understanding towards our inner child, soothing some of the pain around an early hurt that's showing through in our daily lives and providing room to move forward.
When there's a big buildup of repressed emotion around an experience it often leads to an erruption. And that's what brings us to The Tower. In this situation, The Tower reprsents an inevitable and ultimately healing moment of catharsis. An experience this week will send us tumbling back to our younger selves and the suffering we experienced at that time. Rather than avoid this moment, we can lean into it, knowing that some old feelings need to be discharged and that kindness towards ourselves is key for both comfort and growth.
This is not easy stuff, yet there's a sense that this is it's time and we're ready to rise to the challenge. The Ten of Wands shows us reaching the end of a journey of self-care. Reconciling our current selves with past suffering - learning how to love, soothe, and ten to our inner child - is the final piece of the puzzle. While we may feel exhausted at times, we can trust that this is part of our journey. What's more, we're now armed with a wealth of knowledge about how we need to care for ourselves.
It's a winding road of practice and patience; knowing ourselves the way we do, however, gives us the strength to see and experience the Three of Swords and The Tower not as threats, but as essential parts of life that allow us to grow our roots even deeper and emerge as our own best advocate, friend, and healer.
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!
Weekly Forecast: December 18-24
There's something wild in all of us that can be easy to forget at times. Daily life requires that we step away from our snarling wolf sides. After all, it's not practical if we're rampaging through our homes, tearing at our sofas with our sharp fangs. (Though sometimes it's tempting).
Usually these uncharted and untamed parts of our personalities pop up in destructive ways. Like an animal cornered we lash out or crouch defensively with our ears back and teeth bared.
There's another way, however, that involves quite a bit of bravery and willingness to look past our sense of familiarity and safety. It's deep inner-work that can only be approached in the long-term. Impatience doesn't work when the path is windy and overgrown. Yet if we choose to walk through it we're rewarded with a kind of deep, irreplaceable self-knowledge, because in our personal woods we get to meet our untamed selves and, most powerfully, we get to know them.
That's how we arrive on the scene this week. Our rough and winding journey has reconnected us with our animal strength. The risk of moving forward when what we have on the surface is "enough" was high. It's easy to label someone as foolhardy or overly-ambitious when they strike out in this way, heeding a call only they can hear. We can see the Eight of Cups as a brave decision to move away from the expected, domestic, and safe "enough" of our lives and to seek something deeper, following a deep-seated instinct within us.
I love Ricardo Cavolo's illustration of this card. Instead of the solitary figure journeying into moonlit mountains with his row of eight upturned cups behind him we have a lush explosion of green. The upturned cups have sprouted strong vines that are bursting forth to tear down a pillar and expose a bright and burning flame.
I see this as the result of the journey we've undertaken in the Eight of Cups. We've heeded the call to follow our wild natures and doing so has unleashed a great and sustaining creative energy. And a big change - we've had to tear down a pillar supporting our lives, trusting our wild selves when they tell us that doing so will free us.
All the wonderful things that have sustained us in our life - our eight upturned cups - have become the home from which we can cultivate our true nature. The result? Given time, they bud and grow, reaching out to tear down what no longer works in our lives, exposing a powerful source of energy and inspiration.
With all this deep working going on (and exposed flames!) now is an excellent time to acknowledge and appreciate all the stages of our journeys so far. What has sustained us and supported us, allowing for our complicated, wild selves to flourish? These are the relationships and connections that don't hold us back or box us in, and as such they are immensely valuable and precious.
Now we're being propelled into the joyful clarity of The Sun and it's glorious to behold. All the doubut and risk-taking of the Eight of Cups has revealed something precious and fiery within us. Now that single flame has transformed into The Sun and it's shining down to illuminate our next phase. We're bravely creating a world that can hold our entires selves, wildness and all, and it's warm, energetic, and full of possibility.
Enjoy this period of emerging and basking in your personal glow. It hasn't been easy getting to this place and it may have felt too risky or too challenging at times, so take some time to look around and enjoy the clarity. Our creative channels are clear and open now; cavort, jump, experiment, and celebrate your newfound personal freedom.
This freedom has us ready to jump into creating something tangible for ourselves. Most importantly, we'll be asking our wild selves to come along for the ride as our trusted advisors. All that strength and complexity is too precious to send back to the woods, and as we work at manifesting our visions we'll be calling on its wisdom to help guide us. The Six of Pentacles points us to the future, reminding us to follow the weird, deep, and unmistakable call of our untamed selves. As we decide what to sustain and focus on, this sense of intuition and self-knowledge will help guide us. If it doesn't ignite a mysterious sense of interst and instinct, it's not our path to take.
Weekly Forecast: December 11-17
Perfectionism has its perks, but it can also be the enemy of action, especially when we're starting out on something new. Sure, our visions are grand, but they're just visions until we put in the actual work and get our hands dirty. This week sees us grappling with our idea of how we want something to be and the reality of making it happen.
I'm not the first to admit that I love planning and lists. Thinking through and writing out my vision (preferably in an aesthetically pleasing, organized way) gives me a sense of preparedness and satisfaction. It's wonderful to have a roadmap when starting out on a journey. Our roadmaps, however, can quickly turn into stifling instructions.
If I'm not careful, my to-do list or plan, once to pretty and helpful in my notebook, can turn into a source of stress and furstration. As the list of things to do grows longer I become more tempted to tweak and adjust, falling deeper into my thought process and lost in the details. I haven't done anything concrete just yet, but I'm already feeling pressured. How can I live up to my plans? Instead of guidance I've created a situation where anything less than what I've envisioned is "wrong."
The Page of Swords reflects this mental enthusiasm gone awry. We're jumping into our endeavor with the passion and fixation of a page, but it's one-sided. We need other energies to propel us forward. The Two of Pentacles shows up next, guiding us towards balance.
And what does this card tell us? It's time to balance our thoughts with action. When we're in a swordsy mindset this can be challenging. Everything is nice, neat, and controllable in our minds or on paper. Enacting our plans in real time invites in the change and complications that make our controlling sides squirm. But they're just what we need.
The Two of Pentacles illustrates the joy of motion. We have to be on our toes when we make things happen. It may be awkward at first, but once we find our rhythm we can take pleasure in the feeling of moving through the world and enacting our plans. It's the energy of experimentation, flexibility, and interaction.
It's also far from any idea of perfect, so it's a good time to make room for any resistance from our Page of Swords sides. A little kickback is natural, and that voice telling us to play it safe (or not play at all), that we need to do more brainstorming and planning, is trying to help. Now is just not the time to get lost in thought, however, and breaking through towards action will be more than worth it.
Is there anything else behind our squrimy desire to stay in the very beginning stages, far away from action? Perhaps the thing we're approaching is a little frightening, maybe even something we see as risky?
We have Justice as our final card and its message can indeed be powerful and intimidating. We're being asked to engage with our sense of right and wrong in the world, particularly through our boundaries. This kind of work can be intense.
In advocating for ourselves - deciding what we will and will not tolerate and where the lines are drawn - we must step out fully. That means we see ourselves as people worthy of respect and willing to advocate for our needs clearly. We can't hide behind excuses or self-deprecation. This is a time to practice taking up space and embodying the true extent of our power.
So the Page of Swords makes sense here. We want to plan, plan, plan. Perhaps we're nervous about asking for something or about voicing a complaint. Maybe it's time to speak out against a behavior that's no longer (or never was) beneficial to us. However each of us are grappling with Justice this week, small actions will be much more helpful than big plans. Like the Two of Pentacles, we're not looking for perfection, just practice. In doing small things to value ourselves we can cultivate a sense of comfort in being seen and in taking ourselves seriously. And we get to decide; our imperfect actions and admirable and more than enough. They're also bringing us towards a deeper sense of alignment and power - a journey that's well worth the effort.
Weekly Forecast: December 4-10
How do we look at the world and our part in it?
This week gives us a fascinating opportunity to reassesss our outlook. We're entering into things feeling a bit prickly and restless. The landscape stretching out before us seems rough around the edges and we're approaching it with trepidation and distrust. Perhaps something in the past is making us feel wary today; a memory of a hurtful situation that's reminiscent of our current surroundings.
But things aren't what they seem. It's quite the opposite, in fact. Armed with our discerning minds we're attempting to stave off vulerability because, in our heart of hearts, we know something new and exciting is happening. Rather than lean into it, our first instinct is to protect and withdraw. Look at the windswept wariness of the Five of Swords. Surveying a cloudy beach, the central figure holds three swords, having just vanquished two figures turning away mournfully to the ocean.
We're starting off with the distrustful energy of the Five of Swords and yet the other two cards in our reading, The Seven of Pentacles and The Sun, paint an entirely differnt pictue. Instead of desolate, grey beaches we have light and bright skies. Instead of smirking at a temporary victory, we have calm satisfaction and effervescent joy.
In a sense, we're seeing the world through some very dark sunglasses, an idea or worldview that we've inherited instead of earned or created for ourselves. We might think they make us look cool and mysterious, but they actually darken our view of things, limiting our ability to see situations as the are.
Our first instinct is to see our situation as dire - we need to use our minds, thoughts, and actions to defend our turf from others. In reality, however, we're more like the content farmer in the Seven of Pentacles. There's no one circling us, hoping to make off with our bounty. Instead, we're given the opportunity to relax and take in the fruits of our labors. Why would we choose anything else?
The Five of Swords and the Seven of Pentacles ask us to engage with our tendencies to see the world as an inherently competitive place. What do we gain from this? Is it a sense of urgency and importance? The ability to hide our pride in our hard work behind struggle and drama?
This cards for this week ask us to be brave and let our skills and accomplishments just be: just be worthy of our pride, worthy of acknowledgment from others, and worthy of celebration. Doing so allows us to blossom into clearer and more joyful people, ready to enter into all aspects of life as full expressions of ourselves, uninhibited by self-doubt and negative thinking.
Yes, this can be scary. We don't have the excuse of busying ourselves in protective battles agaisnt nefarious assailants. Instead, we're just in a blossoming garden of our own making. And we can see ourselves as The Sun whose light allows all our ideas, plans, and visions to grow and flourish.
Weekly Forecast: November 27-December 3
This week's cards are practically singing from the rooftops with clarity, energy, and affection. We have a clear conduit for our deeper, feeling selves that is allowing us to channel our emotions into practical action and important mental breakthroughs.
Just look at the elemental gorgeousness in these lush cards from the Fountain Tarot. They paint a lovely and straightforward illustration that I see as the deep and nourishing waters of our feelings (The Queen of Cups) emerging into the ground and growing (The Knight of Pentacles), then finally blooming into light and clarity with the Ace of Swords.
This is an excellent time to examine what it means for us to know things, both within our minds and our bodies. Where does our inspiration spring from? What path does it take before it emerges into the world? I like to think about this process as a beautiful secret we can't even put into words. We know it when we feel giddy and bright and can't help but smile slyly knowing that a special change is just around the corner.
Caring for our sense of wonder and the unique mystery of our creative process will bring us a sense of peace and excitement. There's no need to rush things. The only suite missing here is the Wands, showing us that this week is made for a slower, less frenetic way of being. Easing into our selves and feeling ourselves is what will feed our minds. We'll likely be aware of something brewing under the surface, detectable in more subtle ways, before it bursts forth into the sun into the clear cut and unmistakable.
The Knight of Coins (aka Pentacles) urges us to stay in the moment and diligently care for our swirling potential. Think of tending a garden - using the rhythms of nature to direct your work and showing up every day to snip here, pull up a weed there, or plant a seedling here. Sustained, mindful, and healing practice will grant us a sense of satisfaction as well as the room to grow without pressure.
By gifting ourselves this space to let our feeling selves bubble up we can care for ourselves and enjoy our lives at the same time. Revolutionary, I know! And springing from this flowing and earthy energy is the ray of sunshine that is the Ace of Wands. We can look forward to a mental breakthrought at the end of the week, one that will light up our lives and clear a path to our next, exciting step.
Underneath it all is the beautiful wholeness of the Queen of Cups. Now is a time to show our love both to ourselves and the world around us, knowing that its expression is deep and sustaining, meant to multiply joy and offer healing and regeneration.
Weekly Forecast: November 20-26
Out of the wonder and into the frying pan.
Sometimes the transition from ease and freedom to struggle is overwhelming. Despite our lifetime of experience with ups and downs, we're surprised when, at the end of a big accomplishment, we have to enter into the fray once more. The contrast - like walking into a dark room after being outside - blinds us temporarily, making the dark seem darker and more frightening.
This week's reading shows us the challenge of such transitions. The World is our equivalent of a bright sunny day and - good news here - it's in large part due to our hard work, bravery, and ability to run with what life has handed us. Because of this we can rest assured that our skills are not illusions and our achievement is not a stroke of luck. Rather, it was hard earned and is now a part of ourselves, something we can draw on in the future. Or, perhaps, in this time of difficulty.
The World is also the final card of the Major Arcana and is therefore rich and resplendent with meaning. Feeling fulfilled on a personal level and seeing that reflected in our lives and environments? It's an addictive feeling, one that opens our eyes to wider vistas of possibility. We'd all like to float above it all, dancing with the joy of our wholeness like the figure in The World , but like any stage it can't last forever.
Instead we have the Five of Pentacles. What a contrast! We actually have replaced the bright blue sky seen in The World with a confusing flurry of snow against darkness. Instead of dancing we're trudging through banks of snow, bedraggled and beat up. Coming down is a hard thing to do, even when it's necessary, and this week we'll be feeling the struggle as we reengage with our everyday.
Yet when we move from brightness to dark our eyes need time to adjust. After a while, the dark doesn't look so ominous or pervasive. We feel less lost as we gain the ability to pick out shadows and flickers of light. There's two things we'll see as we make this somewhat awkward and unwanted adjustment. First, that we are not alone. There's someone else slogging along with us. We can find companionship, support, and comfort in community right now, whether it's in an individual relationships or with a group. Regardless, our shared struggle holds a beautiful potential for connection and coming together. We're all in it together.
And there's something else hiding in the swirling snow. Above the two figures we can see five pentacles framed in what looks like a window. In fact, they seem to be made of stained glass and illuminated from within. Perhaps they're from a building that can offer us shelter. Symbolically, these pentacles and their glowing light represent the comfort and guidance we can find in our belief in a higher power, whatever the shape it may take for each of us. It can give us meaning and direction, reintroducing a ray of the clarity we felt earlier when relishing in embodying The World. Now we're being asked to trudge towards a new light, deepening our beliefs and strength and proving our dedication. The path isn't always easy, but there's always a something guiding us. It just might not be as bright as we wish.
So yes, this snowy realm of the Five of Pentacles is confusing and off-putting. Not exactly where we'd like to land after feeling so fulfilled and on top of things. Yet it's a brief interlude, dare I say a necessary lesson, as we move towards our final card, the mysterious and mystical Hanged Man. This card suggests that a large part of our discomfort is stemming from our desire to control things. Perhaps we got addicted to the ease and triumph of The World and when things got sticky - when real life barged in all messy and demanding - it felt like we got demoted from rulers to beggars. Struggling against the situation felt like the natural thing to do; however, The Hanged Man asks us to embrace the messiness. It's simply what we are being asked to integrate next. Most intriguingly, it's also a place where we can find peace and relase. Once our eyes adust to the darkness and we reorient to the light we can ease back into ourselves, secure in our sense of self and trusting we'll know which way to go.
Weekly Forecast: November 13-19
It's tempting to get suspicious when things are going smoothly. After all, we're conditioned to equate struggle with hard work. If we're not toiling intensively (something that usually entails exhaustedly telling everyone how busy we are) we're not doing enough.
There's also an animal side to us that's always alert for any dangerous rustling in the bushes. Something bad could happen any moment! And what if we're relaxing? Why, we'd be caught off guard and then...?
But what about when things just feel right? You know, when something's both comforting and exhilarating, like being in love. It can appear in the joy that comes from trying something new, the peace of laying back and relaxing into our cozy lives, or the heady thrill of a new relationship that captivates us.
The feeling draws us into our bodies so we can experience the world through our senses. We instinctively draw a deep breath and catch the crisp scents of fall, or we curl our toes in acknowledgment of the butterflies in our stomach. We're at one with the world and at one with ourselves.
The Page of Cups shows us the beauty of this kind of receptivity. We're poised to be chanelling our experiences and feelings with grace and care. It feels good when our emotions flow through us without any obstacles in the way.
Relaxing into and trusting the world around us is giving us a gift of pleasureable centeredness, not to mention a rare sense of focus. Now is the time to follow our passions wherever they may lead us. What are you finding irresistibly captivating right now? What makes your eyes close and cheeks blush when you think about it? It can be a new dream, a romance, a budding friendship. No matter what form it takes, you'll know by how comfortable and joyful you feel when engaging with it.
This is a wonderful opportunity to refocus around what feels good and what is naturally exciting. Doing so is the practice we need to override our instinct to look at the world with fear and trepidation. And what, might you ask, can come from wide-eyed enthusiasm and semi-hedonistic relaxation?
Like it or not, we don't have as much control over our world as we'd like to think. Fortunately, this means we don't have to actively pursue everything. We don't need to be pushing boulders around to effect change. The world actually spins on its own, and it's about to change quite soon. The Wheel of Fortune indicates an upcoming shift from the dreamy, pleasurable Page of Cups to the grounded possibility of the Ace of Pentacles. Yes, that means without "doing" anything your budding ideas and connections are becoming more solid.
When I say "doing" I mean trying to overtly control and manipulate a situation. Letting go of direct control and action and focusing on passion and enjoyment is actually quite the feat. Being receptive doesn't mean being passive.
This week asks us to remember that experiencing is just as fruitful and important as acting. Remain present and really let yourself feel the excitement of your new relationship, dream, practice, or hobby. Enjoy! What you're doing is actually essential - establishing a background of experience - and will naturally evolve into something tangible, stable, and trustworthy.
Weekly Forecast: November 6-12
Shortcuts can be oh so tempting. Why not do things the easy way? Phone it in just this one time? Take a little extra here and there - after all who will notice?
The issue with this approach is twofold. Firstly, being tricky is only satisfying in the moment. After an initial burst of pride at having gotten away with something a nagging doubt pops up - it's our good old friend, our conscience. And secondly, sometimes we're not the only ones who notice. A sustained campaign of trickiness is difficult to overlook. After a while, people start seeing it, whether it's our shady attitude or the deeds themselves.
Now before we get away with ourselves, let's remember that taking the easy way out is a very human instinct. Add in our obsession with efficiency and speed and we can easily seduce ourselves into thinking we're doing the right thing .Though not always pretty, this instinct is a part of the process. This week we get a chance to engage with our squirrely side and observe where we feel called to be tricky and why.
The Seven of Swords is an interesting card because it shows us a moment where we've achieved so much by taking the long and challenging route. Why are we tempted to sneak off at this moment? The Seven can represent self-sabotage and times when we use false logic to trick ourselves into something that's ultimately against our interests. What are the actual thoughts behind this impulse? Are we afraid of our own success? Feeling unworthy? Scared of responsibility?
Now is a good time to examine our motivations because our tricky behavior will quickly come to light. Justice is quite the card to follow the Seven of Swords! Nothing escapes the gaze of Justice, and before you run off an cower in a corner, this is a good thing. A natural check for the Seven, if you will. When brought to Justice's scales any self-sabotaging (or purely sabotaging) actions don't pass the test. And what is the test? Fairness, equality, kindness, and balance. We can always do better and Justice points us in the right direction.
Whether Justice manifests as our guilty consciences or an outside force, we'll be feeling called out this week and exposed.It's a vulnerable and scary feeling, one that will have us crumpling like the figure in the Ten of Swords. While this reaction feels dramatic - and in the moment we may feel overwhelmed by guilt or regret - it's temporary. Justice's presence tells us that facing our faults - in this case the desire to take the easy way out - is an important part of our self-growth. And strangely enough, the sun is rising in the background of the Ten of Swords. Soon we'll be able to get up and move forward, all the wiser and ready for our own tricks.