ARIES
WAITING FOR THE CHURCH SERVICE TO START
My family was not consistent church goers, but we must have gone often enough because I can still remember, quite vividly, the feel of the church pew beneath my fingers. It was a heavy dark wood made smooth by all the times the minister had asked the congregation to rise or be seated. It was in those few minutes, feeling the weight of the wood under my hand and waiting for the service to start, that I had to decide if I was going to go with the rest of the kids to Sunday school or stay with the adults and listen to the sermon. The adults would encourage me to go with my peers, “Its boring to sit here with the grown ups” they’d say, or “You are going to have to sit here for a whole hour. Wouldn’t you rather go to Sunday school?” Most of the time the answer was no. I preferred to listen to the sermon.
Aries, this week, despite a stampede of people, perhaps of your peers, moving in one direction, you will likely feel compelled to go your own way. This decision is significant. Uranus, the innovator, inventor, eccentric, has been hovering within a few degrees of an exact square with Pluto, encouraging and supporting you going against the grain. For this reason and many more, whatever you find going your own way will likely be important to more than just yourself.
(V Hierophant Rev/ I Shall Not Be Moved- Mississippi John Hurt )
TAURUS
THE RIDE TO SCHOOL
From second grade through sixth grade I lived in the same house and went to the same school. Whether it was my mom or my dad driving me I remember one part of the drive distinctly. It was the part that skirted a field. Most of the route snaked through residential areas so this field was the only visual vacancy. It became a metaphor for my day ahead. It was the same field where the university’s marching band practiced in the afternoon and early evening in the warmer months. Their rehearsal was the soundtrack to my golden hour after school and before dinner when I would cocoon myself in a hammock on our back porch. But on the way to school the field was a ghost town, haunted by the activity that I knew would later take place there. “So did you have a good day?” My mom would ask me on the ride home as we passed the marching band. Would it be a good day? It hadn’t happened yet, but the question still hung in the air over the field every morning.
Taurus, what is ahead hasn’t happened yet, but your senses may still be tuned to the future this week. It may not be the same time, place or even routine, but what does your golden hour feel like? The warmth of this feeling may be your best navigational tool.
(Daughter of Discs/ Give Us Our Land- Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba)
GEMINI
THE MINUTES BEFORE SOLVING A MATH PROBLEM
In high school I was the worst student in an advanced math class. My teacher urged me to switch to the regular class, but I refused because more important to me than comprehending the material at the same pace as everyone else was the class itself, the people which populated it. This is a feeling you may relate to, Gemini. It is likely the people you populate your life with that matter most. In high school algebra most of the work was done alone. You might later compare results with a “neighbor,” but the work itself was a quiet meditative process. The teacher would usually ask whoever finished first to put their work and answer on the chalkboard. Which meant if I waited long enough the problem would be solved and I wouldn’t have to humiliate myself by defending a wrong answer to the class. Instead of rushing to finish first, I would eat time by reading and re-reading the question, focusing mostly on the words and the way they sounded: parabola, polynomial, quadratic equation, integer. Even math class was ultimately a study of my favorite things, people and words.
Gemini, this week you may come to some deeper understanding of the things you love and want to understand in greater depth. Your passion may actually become more glaringly apparent when you are doing something which seems to be the opposite of those things.
(IX Crone/ Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around- Jurnee Smollett )
CANCER
THE MOMENTS BEFORE A HOT BATH FEELS GOOD
It is difficult to isolate the few seconds after you put yourself in hot water and before the bath begins to work its magic. Even as you are experiencing the discomfort in that moment, your mind is typically preoccupied with either side of the experience. Either the moments prior, when your body was naked and cold, anxiously anticipating warmth or the moments after, when all your muscles finally relax. If your only memory of a bath consisted of those isolated few seconds of discomfort, you would probably never take one.
Cancer this week you may be caught in the passage way between anticipation and relaxation. You may feel that you are past the naked discomfort, but that you have not yet reached the point where your muscles melt. It may be helpful to remember that this short passage way is a very important piece of the whole bath experience and is actually almost impossible to isolate from the joy and anticipation on either side of it.
(10 of Wands R/ We Shall Over Come- Mahalia Jackson )
LEO
WHEN YOU CAN SEE YOUR LIFE GOING SOMEWHERE
I’ve refrained from quoting “My So Called Life” in Tarotscopes for a while now, but this week, for you Leo, I make an exception. I won’t preface this with an explanation because the quote stands alone, “What’s amazing is when you can feel your life going somewhere, like your life just figured out how to get good.” Seeing your life going somewhere good, it would seem, is different than actually having arrived there, but, in fact, the two are not as far apart in either time or space as words would suggest. Which brings more joy a wrapped present waiting to be opened or what is inside?
Leo, Jupiter, “the Cosmic Santa Claus,” giver of gifts and luck, continues to travel through your sign for the next six months. However the planet is retrograde until April and while it is retrograde it may be that much of the joy you experience is due to the window it provides, you can see your life getting good, which, as I said, is not all that different from actually having arrived.
(X Wheel of Fortune R/ People Get Ready- Al Green)
VIRGO
WAITING FOR A PARTY TO START
No one who knows me would describe me as a party animal. I’m not asocial, quite the contrary. I like a good conversation which is why my favorite part of a party is usually the hour before it starts. You can still hear the music and the person talking in front of you, but there is also the excitement of what is to come, which in my opinion is usually better than what actually comes. I like watching a party build. By the time it has reached its peak I’m usually ready to hit the taco truck. This might make me sound like a Scrooge, but I know what I like. In the movie version of “Harriet the Spy” Harriet’s mother asks her if she doesn’t want to take something else in her lunch besides tomato sandwiches. Harriet replies, “I can’t help it if I know what I like and I know that I like tomato.”
Virgo, this week you may feel pressured to modify your tastes to suit someone else’s vision. Ultimately, you know what you like, whether your opinion is validated or not. Be true to yourself.
(3 of Cups Rev/ Oh Freedom- Shirley Verrett)
LIBRA
WAITING FOR AN EMAIL TO SEND
When I send an email on my computer a blue dot appears next to my outbox and then there is a whooshing noise, which, I assume, is supposed to be the sound a paper airplane makes since the icon next to my sent box is an image of one. Whenever I send an email I sit there staring at the screen until I hear the whooshing sound. I actually didn’t realize I did this until I started writing this Tarotscope. Of course normally this takes less than half a second, but if I’m sending a mass email it may take several more. When this happens the blue dot next to the outbox turns into a little swirling pinwheel (this is different then the spinning beach ball you know and love) to let you know that something is happening, that your message is being delivered.
Libra this week expect to hear the satisfying whoosh or perhaps a symphony of satisfying whooshes, signaling that your message or messages have been delivered.
(8 of Wands/ Lift Every Voice and Sing- Ray Charles)
SCORPIO
THE LANGUAGE OF LEAVING FROM A DOGS PERSPECTIVE
Sometimes I watch my dog watching me and realize I have created a certain set of patterned movements, a language of actions for her to follow. Not all of these movements are obvious indications of where I’m headed or what I will do and yet she has me figured out. I can tell because I have also observed in her a certain set of actions that come in response to my movements.
Scorpio, you are frequently privy to conversations of this sort because yours is a highly intuitive sign. You understand unspoken languages better than most. So when you miss something it is likely not because you didn’t notice the action, but because you brushed it off or set it aside. This week you may be tempted to ignore certain key pieces of nonverbal information. This could be because what it reveals is a truth to which there may be no easy or verbal answer.
(II High Priestess Rev/ Alabama- John Coltrane)
SAGITTARIUS
WAITING FOR THE WALK LIGHT
There is a busy street corner in Los Angeles (actually I’m sure there is more than one) where waiting for the walk light feels like an eternity, mostly because it is so exposed. I won’t tell you which one so as to protect those people who may be vulnerably standing on that corner the next time you pass by after having read this. When I was younger I had a sort of super power, I could liberate myself with a thought. All I had to do was think the right thought and I was no longer prisoner to the concept or idea I had previously been entrapped by. I can’t remember who, but someone once told me, in a sort of offhanded but reassuring way, following some sort of embarrassing incident, that most people don’t notice other people because they are too preoccupied with themselves. This was the thought that liberated me, the idea that no one was paying attention. Standing on that street corner however it is difficult to feel quite so free. Picking your nose or a wedgie, for example, doesn’t often happen on this corner.
Sagittarius, I don’t mean to make you feel vulnerable or exposed, but people do notice you and they probably always will. You are a fire sign and it is human nature to be hypnotized by a flame. Instead of assuming nothing you do matters consider the following: Knowing that people are watching, what do you want to do? Knowing that people are listening, what do you want to say?
(8 of Discs Rev/ I’ll Take You There- The Staple Singers)
CAPRICORN
WAITING FOR LIFE TO START
Thankfully a person can’t actually be “waiting for their life to start.” You are alive and your life has already begun if you are reading this. (If you are reading this and you are not alive, then please send me an email, I’d love to hear from you.) While you may not technically be waiting for life to start, the feeling that you are waiting for something to change or happen, or move is real. For a Capricorn, seeing evidence of life progressing towards your goals can be extremely important. But part of the difficulty in having a goal is that it can distract you from seeing the small and subtle changes right in front of you. On a bad day you may only see how the things in front of you fall short of your goal. This is where Capricorns get a reputation for being hard on themselves.
Capricorn, you are worthy of your goal, whatever it is, but now may be the time to listen to what you really feel called to do. Perhaps the goal you’ve been aiming for isn’t really worthy of you or doesn’t support all you are truly capable of.
(XX Judgement Rev/ A Change Is Gonna Come- Otis Redding)
AQUARIUS
WAITING FOR AN IDEA
There are all sorts of tips creative people give about how to find “the flow” or get in “the zone.” In my experience the route to this magical, sometimes seemingly mythical place is never the same. It might be more about catching the right weather conditions, or creating the right weather conditions if they don’t present themselves in the time a lotted.
Aquarius, this week you seem to have found “the zone” or “the flow.” You have cosmic support with Venus as well as Mercury still moving (slowly) forward through your sign. Next week on the 21st Mercury goes retrograde and though your ideas may not be thwarted but your actions might. Take advantage of the flow you feel this week.
(Son of Discs/ Freedom Highway- The Staple Singers)
PISCES
WAITING FOR THE SHIP TO COME IN
A long time ago at a family reunion, my grandfather’s cousin’s wife or some other distant senior relation asked if I had boyfriend. “Here we go,” I thought, already exhausted by the idea of having to come out to everyone at the reunion. Instead I just said, “No I don’t have a BOYfriend.” She winked at me, “Don’t worry, some day your ship will come in!” I had never heard this expression before and I remember being sent into a spiral thinking about the ship. What would my ship even look like? What would I want a ship to bring me? Later I heard the proverb, “Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.” Of course the thing about swimming out to your ship is that it still has to come close enough to shore for you to reach it without drowning.
Pisces, this week your ship is close to shore, but you may have to do some swimming. It may look slightly farther away than you can swim, but you are a Pisces. You are the sign which represents the ocean and so in some ways you are the ocean itself.
(I Magician L/ Eye On The Prize- Sweet Honey In The Rock)