🪷 Connecting and Acting from the Heart

What a draw! This week’s reading features a straight run of cups cards. All in the minor arcana - not a court card in sight - they show a very clear sequence: A tender and authentic connection catalyzing (or creating) something new that requires us to step towards a meaningful change despite the absence of a clear path forward.

Since this array is so thematically narrow, this seems like a week where we’re invited to focus on one thing; wherever this cups story is unfolding in your life, return to it and nurture it as the rest of the world continues moving. Of course we’ll be having to tend to the demands of our daily life, but the sweetness of this cups story can be a source of meaning, comfort, and even identity.

The identity this spread is evoking is not static, though. Our final card and the ultimate destination of this tarot story is the profound, slightly elegiac Eight of Cups. Yes, we’re stating at the end this week because this card exerts a mysterious force. When it appears we can be sure that we’re approaching a meaningful turning point, one that calls on our faith, bravery, and belief in things being more than they seem and more that we think is possible.

It’s also the end of something, a representation of how change requires risk and sacrifice. This week, we’re doing it with powerful awareness, and it will be important to honor this shift in a way that feels right to each of us individually. Mark the moment with pride and keep moving forward.

This is all to say that this week is all about change. Subtle, growing change that has deposited us at this moment of choice and trust. Interestingly, we had the Major Arcana representation of choice appear in the center of last week’s reading, The Lovers. You know I love to see moments of integration like this and it’s highly possible that the big realization(s) and theme of last week are shifting into a subtly growing awareness of what we need to do next. This week, it’s all about our hearts: What do we feel our inner self, our heart of hearts, is asking us to do? What changes do we need to make, especially if they feel tender, emotionally powerful, and exposing?

The Lovers lends some power to the moment so it’s worthwhile to take a moment now to revisit how that card appeared for you last week. Call on these observations to help you commit to taking the next step as the weekend approaches.

It all begins for us in a delightful and gentle place, however. The Two of Cups can be seen as another version of The Lovers, a facet of that major arcana archetype brought into everyday life. While last week may have touched on big-picture, conceptual ideas of love, desire, and direction, this week we find similar energy being translated directly through our relationships. Who is emerging in your life as someone with whom you can grow, nurture, express, and celebrate what matters? This may be a preexisting relationship, a new connection, or a mixture of the two, perhaps even a community blossoming around you.

What’s clear is that there is a lot of sweetness on offer this week. It’s a time to lower the stakes for a moment, enjoy people’s company, speak from the heart, and dream big. If there’s something you’ve been carrying that’s felt burdensome, reach out and see what happens. It’s highly likely that people you trust and who make you feel at ease will help ease the weight and even invite some spontaneous moments of healing and connection.

In the middle of the week, we’re graced with the beauty of the Ace of Cups. It’s clear that whatever we tend to in the realm of the cups - love, connection, spirituality, intuition, beauty - has the potential to blossom. And in addition to this we have the delightful promise of the aces, cards that remind us that not everything happens in our life due to our direct effort. Be on the lookout for (and receptive to!) surprising or spontaneous moments of beauty, good fortune, and breakthrough. There’s a lot to enjoy this week so put yourself in the way of good things, tend to who and what you love, and watch what happens.

This reading crescendos in the Ace of Cups and then reaches its climax in the Eight of Cups. This card of journeying is one of the most mysterious in the deck. Much like the Six of Swords, it shows moments when we must take a step towards the unknown, trusting our inner compass while pushing away the doubts that come without a guaranteed path or blueprint. Given our previous cards and the last few weekly forecasts, I’m feeling that this experience won’t be too difficult. We likely know what needs to happen and may have, on some level, committed to the journey last week. What’s clear, however, is that now is the time to keep going and to integrate this journey with our story of everyday life from here on out.

While the Six of Swords illustrates a journey taken without the full mental picture, one that’s lacking in intellectual clarity, the Eight of Cups focuses more on the emotional sphere of our lives. Where is our heart asking us to go, what risks do we need to take? What is love demanding of us? The Two of Cups shows us that we have powerful relationships supporting us along the path even though, ultimately, we must make the journey alone. The Ace of Cups shows us that the world is full of encouragement if we know where to look for it and, most importantly, that this is a time to stretch our belief in what is possible. We might not be able to see the way ahead, but we can feel that it is a path absolutely worth taking, one step at a time.