🪶 Knowing the Difference between Falling and Flying

Intuition, imagination, and upset: Trust your navigation system even if you can’t see clearly.

This week’s reading features one of the most notorious cards in the deck, The Tower. Whenever this card or any similarly dark image shows up in a reading, I like to begin with it in a gesture of kindness and overall good tarot etiquette. Oftentimes, we’re helpless, unable to tear our way away from the ominous picture; after all, who can take in the nuances of the gentle Two of Cups, for example, with The Devil looming in the background?

Speaking of The Devil (ha, couldn’t resist), it showed up in the same position as The Tower in last week’s reading. What does this suggest? That our experience of The Devil is reaching an apex - some moment of upset, either from The Devil as it’s appearing in our lives or some event that channels or evokes similar feelings and themes - that could have the potential for catharsis and breakthrough.

That’s a bold statement, I’m realizing, but it feels quite aligned with this reading, both from the repeating configuration (major-minor-major) and the furthering of the themes of darkness, limitation, and evolution held in both The Devil and The Tower.

What’s more, our first and second card set us up for the fiery culmination of The Tower beautifully. So, if you’re heading into this week feeling fatigued, know that a breakthrough is on the way. It might not feel good in the moment, per se, but any grand transformation dealing with challenging themes is bound to shake the foundations of our world. In this way, the intensity is directly proportional with the power of the breakthrough.

The High Priestess is the reason why I’m being so optimistic in the face of such an intense card like The Tower. We haven’t been visited by this archetype in quite a long time, and although I’m not charting each and every reading, I would guess that this card is one of the more infrequent draws across my practice as a whole. A representation of intuitive mastery, self-possession, and faith anchored by knowledge both intellectual and spiritual, The High Priestess appears when we’re firmly rooted in our self with a capital S. What better mindset with which to navigate the destruction, smoke, and the dust of The Tower?

When I zoom out and sense into the larger moment we’re in, I detect an opening towards relief. Lancing the boil. It’s visceral and unpleasant, yes, but also essential to our health. Last week, our tour of The Devil acquainted us with sides of our personality, life story, and current situation that were hard to look at. What did you learn about your shadow, the way you try to avoid difficulty, and the ache of seeing how that, instead of holding you safely, this has kept you from connection and the embrace of a full life?

As always, these major arcana cards occur on a spectrum. It’s unlikely that all of us will experience pivotal personal changes this week, yet some of us very well might. As a sanguine, wise, and grounded observer of the world, The High Priestess’ presence at the beginning of the week suggests that we know at what level this will be unfolding. Where have you been working to grow larger than your limitations? This is where The Tower’s confrontation and release will be occurring.

Our reading encourages us to trust in our instincts and intuition, to see ourselves as a powerful seer looking into the waters of our lives. What patterns and shapes can you sense forming? This won’t be a time of explicit knowing, rather one of powerful sensing that calls on our capacity for faith, bravery, and commitment. Rooting yourself in spiritual practices and any methods that have us feeling connected to something “greater than” will be crucial.

And what, exactly, will be seeing at the beginning of the week? Glimpses of the new chapter that’s about to begin. This moment has involved some sense of going back to the basics; if you’re returning to the source of who you are, how might that knowledge call you to change your life?

As a pragmatic tarot reader, I like to see each card as an invitation. And The Tower, as disturbing as it might look, shows an opening coming from destruction. Usually, like the bolt of lightening, this destruction isn’t of our own doing. An outside force is in play. So position yourself to roll with whatever comes your way and use the momentum of the upheaval to propel you in the direction you’d like to go.

I also love The High Priestess’ perspective during Tower times: How can you move through the fog? By feeling, trusting, and using your instincts.

At the center of our reading, we have a far more lighthearted and even enjoyable card, the Seven of Cups. The fantastical imagery feels like a fountain of inspiration erupting between The High Priestess and The Tower. Is the interaction between these two cards pushing up something beautiful, plentiful, and creative much like two tectonic plates creating an eruption?

It’s also possible that our increased confidence in emulating The High Priestess is calling forth a burst of inspiration, emotion, and creativity that parts of us may misinterpret as the calamity of The Tower. Be aware of ways in which you’ve hidden from your talents and gifts in the past; perhaps the intense experience of The Tower is simply a final goodbye to a pattern of seeing these traits as destructive or wrong. The bounty and change of deep feeling and creativity of the Seven of Cups can be your new path forward. For now, recognize these feelings, habits, and sensations and trust that you’ll see which to follow once the dust has settled.