Oh, the aces of tarot! Who doesn’t love these gorgeous, inspiring cards?
Each is a riff on a single powerful design: A celestial hand emerging from a cloud grasping the symbol of its suit. They remind me of illuminated Medieval manuscripts or a bookplate in a mysterious dusty tome you’d find in an antique bookshop.
These cards represent beginnings, new energy, gifts, and the arrival of a change. If we feel stuck, aces instruct us to perk up our senses and prepare for a welcome shift in direction. They can be a new lover, a job opportunity, an enticing synchronicity, a burst of inspiration.
Its the open-ended nature of aces, their “you’ll know it when you see it” wink, that can sometimes make them frustrating to interpret. Like The Wheel of Fortune, they tell us things will change, but they don’t tell us how or in what shape they’ll appear.
Left to our own discretion, I’ve noticed that readers, myself included, tend to dampen the excitement of the aces, focusing on their more “practical” forms i.e. that career opportunity. But tarot is an esoteric tool and, no matter how pragmatic we may think ourselves, many of us are drawn to it for a reason: we’re looking for some magic.
And it’s in the aces where the magic truly comes through.
Which is why I’m inspired to share a wild story with you, one that, when it happened the other week, made me think of the aces and how a jolt of good fortune - of straight-up magic - can transform the way we look at the world.
A little backstory:
I am a total and complete bird nerd.
“Bird” may have very well been my first word (it’s tied with “juice” - what can I say, my interests were simple) and I’ve always felt an affinity with flying and feathered creatures. I once made my parents a three page brochure outlining the pros and cons of getting a flock of chickens in middle school. (It was very effective, leading to a boisterous flock of 25 chickens and a lot of eggs).
Now, a grown woman, I have just one pet bird - the world’s grumpiest pigeon, Pearl. With an already large menagerie of two dogs, a cat, and a fish, I’ve refrained from adding any new creatures to the chaos. The world, however, had other plans.
Three days ago, my husband shouted into the house, “get the dogs!” while cupping his hands in front of himself. Judging by his tone, I was prepared for some injured or dead creature, unfortunately not an uncommon situation since we live in the country. It sounded serious. I steeled myself and, after corralling the dogs in the back of the house, walked into the kitchen.
When he opened his hands I saw a beautiful, bedraggled, bright blue parakeet.
It was the Ace of Cups in real life and my swelling heart, unbridled delight, and total euphoria reflected the meaning of that card perfectly. With aces we get the ultimate manifestation of that particular group of cards, an unadulterated and exuberant jolt of their energy. My experience, then, was cups “to the max” - pure and mushy love at first sight.
As it turns out, my husband found this little creature on our actual doorstep. Just sitting there, tired and confused, somehow not mauled by our animals, and willing to get scooped up with no struggle. I sat on the counter and pressed some drops of water onto her beak which she drank and then nodded off, seemingly aware that she was now in a safe place.
My childhood self couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect moment.
I’m sharing this with you as a reminder that these wild moments do happen in our lives and that the aces can point us to them. And, like all things in tarot, its a matter of degrees: We can also feel this magic in smaller, more subtle doses - a fleeting feeling of contentedness, a profound reaction to a poem, a new idea flashing out of nowhere - and that these ace-like instances are no less powerful.
No matter what scale they appear in, the energy of the aces reminds us that life is, indeed, full of wonder. You never know what will show up on your doorstep.
I’m so looking forward to recording the tarot reading for next week for you all. So far they’ve been populating to iTunes in the blink of an eye, so no issues there. I’m also adding some time for reflection on how the past week unfolded that I hope to continue in the comments section of each post. Subscriptions are now live so you can click below to sign up at a special thank you discount of 20% for the year. I do hope you’ll join us.
And, as always, I’m also offering readings, intuitive support, and more via my website with options for sliding scale and free readings for organizers and caretakers.