Revisiting The World
Weekly Forecast for 8/28
Tarot friends! What an exciting reading we have in front of us. This last week we had a visit from a powerful Major Arcana card, The World. We hadn’t seen this one in a while. It signifies a profound ending, a point of transition, a new and expansive vista opening before us. Not long after posting the reading, I got several text messages from friends: “Whoa! This is so on point for you!!” they said, to which I responded, “Huh??”
Lest you think all tarot readers are immediately aware of the impact of their readings, I’m known to have this experience often. Collective readings cast a wide net and when I write them I rarely have my own experience in mind, at least not consciously. But last week did end up holding a massive transition - my only child started full-time daycare. Talk about a new vista opening up and the end of an era.
I’ve been holding the themes of The World close ever since my friends pointed out the obvious to me and whew, has it been a time! A good time, but one crowded with feelings: wistfulness, gratitude, relief, yearning, satisfaction, nervousness, and trepidation. Honestly, I could just attach a picture of an emotion wheel and circle 2/3 of it to illustrate my current experience.
So I’m deeply pleased to have The World return this week. This reading is supporting the idea that we need to spend more time honoring and understanding the new phase that’s unfolding. I could definitely use it. And, nerd alert, how cool is it that we have The World two weeks in a row??? I can never keep up with a tarot spreadsheet cataloguing all the readings and their card, but I don’t think we’ve seen this card in quite some time. It’s special because, as the final card in the Major Arcana sequence, it shows us in a moment of triumphant completion, and that, I think, deserves as much attention, celebration, and consideration as we can muster.
This week is inviting us to explore our experience of The World deeply. What did you learn from last week, what questions has this experience inspired in you? I’m laughing to myself because we begin things with a classic card of burnout and overextension - the Ten of Wands. It’s as if we saw the wide-open window of The World card and decided to shove a bunch of wands in front of it. Wide open spaces? No thank you! I’d rather have some more thankless tasks. For me, this dovetails almost perfectly with our monthly reading where we’re tempted to hide our grief and emotional suffering behind worries about material scarcity. Have you noticed yourself trying to cover the excitement, trepidation, nerves, and, yes, grief that comes with the emergence of something new and unknown with… anything? I sure have!
Coming into this week we may feel overburdened and like we’ve picked up too many tasks, projects, or obligations. The Ten of Wands is truly about overkill, but its ridiculousness is also helpful. We can… just put down some of these wands. And I think that our experience of this card has some very pointed and potentially transformative lessons. What, specifically, have you been thinking you need to do that’s actually an old habit of avoidance? I’ll volunteer mine as an example: I love (love!) to freak out about my career whenever something good happens or a space opens up in my life. It only took a few days after my "world moment” last week for my usual barrage of worries to appear. Thankfully, our reading for the month gave me a helpful framework - was I five of pentacles-ing over my five of cups, aka masking grief with “practical” worries? Be alert for some hidden grief this week as your world starts to open up. As we move forward we become more aware of what we’ve lost and what we’re leaving behind. There’s room for it all.
This is showing up via Strength, our central card of the week. I like this. As a Major Arcana card, it invites us to see and appreciate how much we’ve been growing. Sure, it can be hard at times - Strength never appears without effort or exertion - but it’s absolutely worth it. Contrast the feeling of facing your avoidance and fears head-on - wrestling with your actual demons - with the frantic distraction of the Ten of Wands. In that card, we’re taking on other people’s work, worries, and ambitions in order to avoid facing the responsibility and risk of living our own lives. In Strength, we face and accept ourselves, avoidance, imperfections, and all.
Potential surprise/reframe:
There’s some mystery in the pairing of Strength and The World at the end of our reading. It feels assertive and exciting, like we’re learning how to harness our skills and true nature and direct these towards our current moment. If your world is opening up, how are you showing up? Strength suggests that we’re doing so as ourselves: flawed, human, experienced, wise, and always in a process of becoming. See how you can identify these traits in yourself as you move towards whatever is emerging through the window of The World card.
Another, less intense observation from this reading comes from the Ten of Wands. I wanted to use a different deck this week and it’s fun to see Mary Elizabeth Evans’ interpretation of the Ten of Wands in the Apparition tarot. Practically speaking, this illustration is reminding me of how, when we vent or share with friends, we can often notice repetitive patterns. With this in mind, think about your usual complaints and worries. Are they feeling stale? Do they stick out in your communications, ringing false or, at the very least, sounding tiresome? These may represent some of the wands that you’re ready to put down and leave by the wayside. Notice them, say goodbye, and then move on feeling lighter.
This week, embrace:
Self-compassion
Savoring accomplishments, the current moment of transition, being in-between
The full range of your humanity
This week, avoid:
Hiding behind work, other people’s problems, busyness
Showing up for the present moment as anything other than your full self
Self-sabotage