🔨 Meaningful Work & Emotional Integration

Keep doing the work, wait for inspiration, and lean into the cleansing flow of grief.

This reading is steady and gentle, dear readers, though not without a strong current of difficult emotion. Looking at these cards, I’m heartened to see that the entire array is in the minor arcana; we don’t have to seek higher calling or deeper meaning this week. We’re already there and this is a time to continue shaping our lives in service of those insights and values.

We’re winding down a month ruled by the King of Pentacles. For those of you into astrology, this is a wonderful fit with our current sign, Taurus. Earthy, steady, and powerfully connected to the physical world… all these traits fall under the pentacles suit in tarot. It’s no surprise, then, that a pentacles card starts off our reading this week.

The Eight of Pentacles is a card of deep focus and trust. Trust in our abilities to show up, dial in, and do the work. When it shows up in readings I’m sometimes annoyed - you mean I have to buckle up and perform some labor?! - but in this case I find this card deeply soothing. It tells us that what we’re working on is worthwhile. We’re getting somewhere even if we don’t feel like it, and now is a time to continue with our practice and let it guide us forward.

If this card has any advice to give it’s this: don’t worry about the details or even the big picture (see how this person is solely focused on the pentacle they’re sculpting, unaware and undistracted by their considerable accomplishments and the work that’s still to come) and enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that comes when you allow yourself to focus and exercise your skill and willpower to build something.

As an eight, a card close to the end of its sequence, this expression of the pentacles suit is particularly motivating. Use this energy to keep going. It’s likely that you’re aware of what’s been calling on your strength and effort lately, and this could be appearing in any area of your life. Continue to pour your energy into this work, it’s nearing completion and deeply important.

More broadly, the beginning of the week is an excellent time to “take care of business,” as your productivity and focus comes with more ease than usual. Just be sure to stay dedicated to your larger work-in-progress; sometimes getting lost in minutiae, tasks, and details is a form of distraction and avoidance.

This may be especially pertinent because our remaining two cards are deeply emotional and poignant, exerting a tidal pull that could tempt us to stray from our pentacles-focused work. The Four of Cups shows us feeling into and deliberating our current emotional situation. We’re rooted in the world of the fours, cards that deal with themes of stability and structure, which can be tricky when it comes to the fluid, water-themed suit of cups.

Notice where your emotional energy is being held, either supportively or restrictively. Is there something you’re seeking? Yearning for? A sense that another structure could work better? Or, perhaps, a need for something more: liberation, connection, inspiration, or flow?

Speaking of flow, we have a tender sequence happening in this reading. The contemplative Four of Cups gives way to the mournful Five, a linear progression that suggests a natural unfurling. In the middle of the week, as we join the Four of Cups and consider what we want in our emotional lives, we’re gifted a breakthrough. The hand in this card - one of my favorite tarot moments! - is like a miniature ace; in going inwards, we’re inviting in something powerful from an outside source. Look for synchronicities, signs, and surprising offers from the world around you. It’s our job to be aware and receptive so that we can say yes when the hand emerges.

While we’re saying yes to something beautiful and generative - something we want in a deep way - we’re also saying yes to grief. It could be that our emotional growth is triggering some old wounds, requiring us to mourn what we’re leaving behind or witness what has happened to us. Because we’re proceeding sequentially from four to five, this is a healthy and necessary step. Approaching our sadness, loss, upset, and all other more difficult feelings encompassed in the cups suit with warmth and acceptance will not only smooth the process but give us energy and insight for what’s next. This is a true moment of seeing where you’ve come from so that you can better see where you’re going.

I’m also sensing that this week is bringing a gentle awareness to some issues that have been unmanageably difficult in the past. Our challenge card for April is the Five of Swords and it’s possible, too, that events this month have given us a chance to practice our resilience, compassion, and ability to move on from difficult situations. As we interweave our meaningful work with our process of healing we sculpt a life that’s grounded, meaningful, and full of magic.