Choosing Work at the Crossroads

This is an unconventional time for me to be writing a forecast for you all. It’s dusk and the longer days have opened up this magical hour at my house, a time when the bats emerge to flit across the clear patch of sky over the pond, collecting mosquitos. The last glow of light is touching the trunks of the pine trees by the kitchen window. When I first moved here, this strange lavender light enchanted me. It only comes around during this time of the year and I’m glad to have it back.

It’s also Mother’s Day, a strange holiday if there ever was one, and I’ve been thinking about you all and wondering how this day found you. The churn of the world, not to mention the strangeness of this holiday to begin with, had me wrapped up in so many emotions. But tonight, with the day behind me, I’m feeling drawn to stop thinking and just pull some cards.

What do we have for the week ahead of us?

It turns out a similar energy is appearing in our reading: a turn away from the “good enough” and towards a reckoning. One the other side of our choice? We just do the work.

I’ve been getting our final card, the Eight of Pentacles, in readings for quite some time now. Oddly, its themes of diligence and focus have been comforting. For someone who tends to have their head in the clouds, a reminder to come back to earth is helpful. Grand plans, lofty virtues, complicated interpretations - all of these get turned under the field that the Eight of Pentacles is plowing. This card wants us to stop thinking and get lost in doing. Not glamorous, striving work - that’s more of a wands prerogative - but repetitive, humble, and enduring work. Do the thing. Put your head down. Let your hands and legs, your actions speak for you.

If you’ve been feeling a pull to walk away from something and to seek out deeper meaning, this week holds huge potential. All three of these cards, however, are about choice and agency. We have to go one way or another.

I love this and I hate it; as in, the idealized version of myself loves it - sounds good and virtuous to me! let’s go! - while the IRL, on the ground Gina is writhing in discomfort. These cards ask us to draw lines, make decisions, and move away from immediate comfort. All in the name of a greater good. It’s worth it, but it’s not easy, and things will never be the same.

Okay, so that last line is somewhat dramatic, but it’s true. And the deeper truth is that things are always never going to be the same. Right now, we’re awakening to a deeper realization of this and the thought that follows: If things are always changing and we’re constantly being pushed over lines, experiencing befores and afters, why not consciously choose to do so ourselves?

The Two of Swords sees us getting down to the wire. This is a time when things become distilled into their essence, when we arrive at a crossroads. This way or that? Yes or no? All or nothing? Congratulate yourself on the areas of your life that have this stark delineation, no matter how intimidating. Just being here, just asking the question, is a sign that you’ve travelled far.

The Eight of Cups brings balance to the scene. The mental deliberation (Two of Swords) that will ultimately bring us to a deeper, impactful work (Eight of Pentacles) is being driven by some real emotional wisdom. There’s a tidal pull to this card, that as much as we’d like to stay in the safety of the shore, we’re being called out to deeper waters. The eight cups in the foreground are upright; ostensibly, we could return to them one day, sooner or later. But there’s something in us that drives us away from the familiar and towards the unknown in pursuit on a ninth cup. What is that for you? What calls you out and away from what you know is possible? I get the feeling that this moment isn’t unexpected for us - the stark choice of the Two of Swords suggests otherwise - and this might be the week where we commit to asking the question, making the call, and choosing to strike out on our own.

Thanks to the Eight of Pentacles we have a charged word to contend with in our forecast: Work! The suits of the tarot - cups, swords, wands, and pentacles - cast a wide net in the themes they rule; consequently, we should look at the idea of work expansively this week. Think vocation, calling, labor, time. What do you spend your time and energy doing? It could be what supports your life, earning you a wage. Or it could simply be something you engage in because it means something to you.

I’m feeling that a good way to get at this is to think about how you spend your time. (That is, if you’re having a hard time identifying where this might show up in your life; some of you might know exactly what this spread refers to immediately.) Your Two of Swords choice might not have to do with this area of your life specifically, but it will distill your goals and energy, making space so that you can do the work - of laboring to support yourself or to fulfill a value, maintain and establish relationships, care for your world, etc.