Between The Emperor and a Hard Place

Weekly Forecast for 9/16

We have an edgy group of cards this week, dear readers. With arms raised like the Page of Swords, we’re looking to the past while trying to develop new ideas that will bring us to the future. This stance isn’t necessarily destructive, but it can be risky, and we’ll have to thread the needle of genuine insight over a push for hasty clarity.

Pages are the youths of tarot and as such can struggle with impatience and impulsiveness. Our other swords card, holding court in the center, is the still and patient Two of Swords. This reading is asking us to stop and see where we might be kicking up dust by questing, questioning, and overthinking; might this be an attempt to mask the complexity of the current situation? An attempt to feel like we’re doing something when what we really need to do is be still and sit in not knowing?

When I look at the Two of Swords I think of the phrase “two things can be true.” Our path forward this week is one through uncertainty, newness, and nuance. The Page of Swords, in contrast, wants one thing and one thing only: a right or wrong answer, a universal truth, certainty. Yet the Two of Swords knows they can sit in the mystery and that, in doing so, they’ll uncover a truth that brings them into a wider future. This card evokes the power and spirituality of The High Priestess which makes me think that we’ll be prioritizing intellectual knowledge through the Page when, in truth, we need a spiritual, intuitive, or sacred component active in our deliberations.

An expansive body of water laps at the shore behind the Two of Swords. Might we be yearning for, missing, and quite close to a deeper, intuitive message? Be alert, humble, and flexible this week for subtle messages and, most importantly, the wisdom of your feelings. It’s one thing to wave your sword around, making big declarations and asking questions, but it’s another to tune in, grow quiet, and listen to your heart.

Our final card, The Emperor, puts more pressure on the ambiguous and powerful potential of the Two of Swords. As the sole major arcana card in our reading, it’s exerting a gravitational pull, showing us concerned with questions of security, stability, power, and authority. The Emperor is not a flexible card and while the Page of Swords can be flighty, it does have a great deal of creative power. Our challenge this week will be to use the creativity of the Page of Swords to consider lightly the intense questions and pressures brought up by The Emperor - all so that we can be patient in our experience of the Two of Swords.

Where have you felt shaky, insecure, or in need of grounding? Is the situation represented by the Two of Swords making you anxious? How can you be light-footed like the Page at their best, traipsing through possibilities, while remaining open to the wisdom of the wide waters behind you?

Notice when you feel the heavy armor of The Emperor this week. Restriction, rigid thinking, and controlling behavior are signs that you’re getting disconnected from the potential of the moment and your intuition. It’s okay to notice your knuckles are turning white as you grasp for control, just take a moment to breathe, relax, and let go. Two things can be true, and this week those two things are forcing us to stay with ourselves, go deeper, and uncover a tender and new path forward.

This week embrace:

• Creative thinking

• Giving your restless mind engaging things to play with: good novels, films, tv shows, meaty philosophical questions (preferable ones that fall outside of your current decision or predicament)

• Staying in the mystery

• Moments of quiet to tune into yourself

• Emotions as messengers, dreamwork, spiritual practices

• Taking your need for security seriously while not acting on old impulses

This week avoid:

• Shutting down

• Reflexive self-protection

• Jumping to conclusions

• Making decisions to alleviate pressure

• Harshness and judgment towards yourself and others

• Rigidly adhering to rules