It’s not every week that we have a mysterious and punchy reading like this, dear readers. Flipping over these cards was a funny series of escalations: Oh hello there, King of Cups! Ah, how fun, our dear friend The Star! Wait, what? The Moon is joining the party, too?
If life has been feeling like a hodgepodge of growth and happenings, this is the week when it all comes together. Not in a clear and concise way, however. The energy here is more about opening to the splendid mystery of our lives than it is about achieving power and control through knowledge.
Let’s look at our first card and guiding archetype for the week, the King of Cups. I say guiding archetype because, even though we have two “archetype with a capital A” cards afterwards, it’s this king that points us how we can individually interface with the world. I look at court cards as personas and strategies we can try on in our pursuit of growth; this week, we’re invited to sit on the stable throne of the King of Cups and practice equanimity, curiosity, and compassion as our lives get wilder, weirder, and sweeter.
As I look at this card I think about how it marks a coronation of sorts. What have you been working to master in the cups-related areas in your life? Where have you been struggling? What I love most about this card is that it shows how the chaos of life - the good, bad, and everything in between - doesn’t stop. The waves lap around us regardless of what we do, sometimes charming and playful, other times fierce and formidable. We, however, can learn how to accept and even be invigorated by this movement. Once we’ve built a sturdy throne, we can watch the waves move and all the while stay solid in ourselves.
This is all to say that life won’t magically click into place this week, but we will likely recognize ways in which we ourselves have clicked into place. Or some restless part of our inner self - a critic, child, or seeker - has found peace. In true cups fashion, this won’t be an intellectual realization and so could be pretty subtle to begin with. Take a moment now to feel inwards: where do you notice a sense of satisfaction? What feels good to you, even (or especially) if you can’t articulate why?
I think a particularly important source of the King of Cups’ power lies in their ability to feel into the future, not interrogate themselves with questions and criticisms, and to trust in their experience. Embracing these traits this week will usher in new energy. I’m being vague here because that’s also part of the King of Cups’ charm and authority; they know something good when it comes along and trust in the agility of their intuition to identify what they need in real time. No top-down planning, concrete and detailed goals, or specific visions.
This is very important since our next two cards are extremely powerful and, to be blunt, disorienting. We start gently, with The Star. Touching base with the tender parts of ourself will help us steer through the week and this overall period of emergence. I’ve said it once (and by once, I mean hundreds of times) and I’ll say it again - multiple Major Arcana cards means a multiplicity of intense feelings. Even if the cards are “positive,” it’s still a lot to process! So the basic meaning of The Star, self-care and nurturance, will be extremely important to us this week. Be kind to yourself and replenish your wells spiritually, physically, emotionally, any way you can think. This is also a key time to monitor what you’re taking in: doom scrolling, draining relationships and interactions, upsetting media that dysregulates you, food that leaves you feeling sluggish, you get the picture.
Luckily, with the King of Cups guiding us, a lot of this will be intuitive. Looking at these cards again, I’m seeing this court card as a guardian of our inner process. The King of Cups is the master of boundaries. This will be a week to say no without shame and move towards what feels right, expansive, and new.
So back to these celestial cards. The Star and The Moon are next to each other in the sequence of the Major Arcana. A linear progression? A to B? In tarot?? We’re clearly onto something this week, which is why I’m encouraging us all to be steadfast and maybe a little blunt with our needs and abilities. We’ll be needing all our energy to splash around in the mystery of these two cards.
We’ve seen The Star in recent readings, but The Moon hasn’t appeared in quite some time. This is where our growth gets interesting - unruly and unpredictable. It’s the confusion of darkness, the illogic of dreams, and the liquefaction of the old before we reform into something new. Since this is the final card for our week, it’s likely that we will be swimming in the soup, so to speak. Don’t expect revelations, a thesis statement, or even a solid sense of self! Lean into the mystery and simply experience it. It’s likely to elicit a wide array of feelings - wonder, amazement, overwhelm, even fear.
Staying in the mystery, reveling in it, even jumping into the wild waters and taking a swim (have you noticed the aquatic theme in all three of our cards?) is all this week requires of us. The rest will come when it’s ready, so let’s see what it feels like and, like the King of Cups, feel our way forward.
Potential Surprise:
The Moon is a mystical card, as you can likely tell from the intense canine imagery and visit from one of the few invertebrates of the tarot, a jaunty little crayfish. It reflects the power of dreaming, magic, and the wordless experience of life. Which is why I’m drawn to share that this week might be a great time for a ritual gesture, trippy art, and general zaniness. Have fun with it! Meet the mystery of the moon with some zest and creativity. Try to out-weird the weirdness. Personally, I’m thinking of something water-related. A symbolic plunge, a ritual bath, something splashy to harness and respect the power of The Moon and mark your passage to something new.
This will be important because the sequence from The Star to The Moon can feel counterintuitive at times. Are we really growing or are we falling apart? Why does it get darker before the brightness of self-actualization on the other side? (You’ll note that the final celestial card after The Moon is the resplendent, integrated Sun.) Rather than question it, jump right in. This could be a nice break from our productivity-obsessed culture. Set aside the need for answers, “value,” and direction. Give yourself a vacation from meaning and let the beauty of the world wash over you.
This week, embrace:
Your recent wins in establishing boundaries, respecting your emotions, advocating for yourself, trusting your intuition, and living wholeheartedly
…and carrying these wins into your future
Mindfulness about what you let into your life, especially if it’s influencing your ability to tune into your intuition
Caring for yourself in all the ways
Leaning into the mysterious shifts you’re undergoing without asking for answers
Strangeness, creativity, ritual, messages
This week, avoid:
Pushing for answers, certainty, solid plans
Rushing past rest, integration, and stillness
Requests to spread yourself thin, act outside of your best/highest interests
False urgency - being in-between is exactly where this week is asking us to be!
Second-guessing your natural growth, the magic unfurling in your life
Seeing confusion, indecisiveness, spaciness, or lack of focus as negative
Wow, I agree with Peace, the "to avoid" list hits deep. I've been contemplating the idea of "seeing confusion, indecisiveness, spaciness, or lack of focus as negative" and feeling the need for that luscious expansive feeling of not knowing, feeling into my intuition and sense of just being. These cards are really resonating, I feel like I say that every time, ha. This is sacred medicine and I am grateful for the offerings. Many blessings to us all as we wonder along the weirding way.
the very last thing on the "to avoid" list hits very deep!!