ARIES
I’ve been watching TV shows set in high school again. This is something I catch myself doing periodically when I’m going through some sort of emotional transition. High school is like a vulnerability concentrate. Carrying your lunch tray through a crowded cafeteria, waiting for the bus, waiting for your parents to pick you up from school in a mini van, navigating the hallways while wearing a backpack. The awkwardness of occupying the overlap from kid to adult, being simultaneously dependent and independent. This feeling returns during periods of transition in adulthood when you are trying to make a change, trying to shift your dependency for one thing or job or project or person to something new or maybe just settling back into yourself.
Aries, this week you may find yourself feeling impatient about a transition. Perhaps you are still being made to adhere to someone else’s rules and that can kick up old frustrations you may have been more accustomed to in high school. Trust time to help provide momentum towards your desires. In the mean time I recommend watching some high school dramas, comedies or dramadies to take the sting out.
(Daughter of Swords Rev/
TAURUS
There is this part in the Kids in the Hall movie, “Brain Candy,” when the scientist who has just created a revolutionary antidepressant goes on a talk show and an audience member, an older man who looks to be in his seventies, asks how he can become a famous scientist like him. The scientist flounders for a minute and then replies, “Work hard and stay in school!” This moment is funny but also kind of heartbreaking. It is clear the man will likely never become a famous scientist in this life time unless he was a practicing scientist already. What he may want or desire, like recognition, respect, admiration, to help people, to make a valuable contribution, these things he can have.
Taurus, this week you may feel disappointed that something you’ve been working hard at isn’t yielding the desired outcome. Take a moment to think about what you REALLY want because that you can certainly still have (and maybe you have already) even if it doesn’t take the form you thought it would.
(2 of Cups Rev/
GEMINI
The other day I found myself scrolling through a rather morbid collection of thoughts. One thought drifted into another thought I’ve had before, one I’m sure many people have had before, which is that every minute that passes, every full rotation of the second hand on my watch, moves us all closer to death. Then I thought about those timelines they have at museums that depict the “evolution of man” or the development of certain technologies. I thought about how we are all walking timelines and that certain famous persons have or have had timelines plotted with points announcing their contributions to society. But not included may be the more personally significant psychological events that propelled them towards a particular dot on the timeline.
Gemini, this week you may be thinking about the next point or points you want to plot on your timeline. Somewhere between pressure and patience is contained the seed of your next direction and desire.
(7 of Cups L/
CANCER
“What color is the dirt where you come from?” my friend from South Africa was asking. I’d been remarking about how orange all of our once-white gym shoes were from the dirt. We were playing softball in gym class at my high school in Brazil. “Brown,” I replied as though it were question. I had thought dirt was brown everywhere. I spent a lot of time trying to wash the red out of my sneakers without much luck, but when I returned to the U.S. I clung to the dirt that stained my shoes. I need it to help tell the story of where I’d been.
Cancer, this week you may find yourself standing up for something you believe in or asserting your position on some issue. Know that your perspective is valuable, if only because you know different kinds of dirt and have stood on other soils before and so you may be seeing the situation from places others can’t.
(7 of Wands/
LEO
When my parents announced we were moving to Brazil lots of adults looked at me with Kewpie doll eyes of concern, “How do you feel about moving so far away?” Prior to their announcement I had asked my parents to send me away to boarding school in India. “Great,” I replied. Adults often say change is hard for kids, but the way I thought about it at the time was that my inner ear hadn’t yet solidified, I could still go on the tilt-o-whirl and I could still move to another country and adjust, maybe even easier than an adult. Moving set me free from a place where I’d come to feel stifled and alien.
Leo, this week you may enter a period of radical change. While change is frequently and unfairly described in negative terms, this change seems to be kind which ultimately sets you free.
(XVI Tower/
VIRGO
Recently I’ve been thinking about what makes one’s own body a difficult place to call home. Pain seems to be the biggest culprit. Physical and emotional pain can send your mind to the moon between blinks. I’d been feeling emotionally raw and noticed that I was escaping by contemplating other people and their problems, even fictional TV characters.
Virgo, this week it may be more of a challenge to inhabit your body than usual. Have you been experiencing physical or emotional pain? Consider how you might make your current bodily residence more comfortable.
(Ace of Cups L/
LIBRA
In the context of exercise (usually running or climbing stairs) various people have tried to impart to me their endurance tricks. “It helps to look ahead, focus on where you are headed,” my brother, a Capricorn, once told me when we had attempted to run together. For myself, I’ve found the opposite to be true. If I look too far ahead it only reminds me how far away my destination is. But if I look just a few feet in front of me anything is possible, my journey could end in a few yards or a few miles.
Libra this week you may feel, when you look ahead, that the future you desire is very far away. Try looking down at where your feet are right now, because at this point, anything is possible.
(9 of Cups Rev/
SCORPIO
I decided to first write Tarotscopes by hand this week and then type them. The added step seemed appropriate given the Retrograde and I found it easier to keep from getting distracted. However, when I went to write your tarotscope, Scorpio, I wrote “Scorpio,” at the top of the page and then took a fifteen minute nap which was actually twenty minutes because I snoozed for five after the alarm went off. When I woke up and returned to your tarotscope I couldn’t help laughing at the irony.
You aren’t likely to voluntarily take many naps this week, Scorpio, your focus is unwavering. You also aren’t likely to be writing by hand because your mind may be moving too fast for your hand. It may, however, be helpful to consciously slow yourself down to avoid or allow for any potential Mercury Retrograde snafus.
(Son of Discs R/
SAGITTARIUS
One thing I’ve observed during my stay here on planet earth is eventually you will be sitting in someone else’s seat. One moment I am consciously or unconsciously judging someone for something and the next moment I find myself in the exact same position. Of course there are exceptions, but I have encountered several almost comical turns of the table. Once I was literally sitting opposite my brother at the breakfast table and he started scooting my cereal bowl away from me by pulling on the table runner. He obviously hadn’t thought the prank through because he ended up pulling his cereal bowl into his lap. I went from victim to victorious.
Sagittarius, this week you could encounter some struggle or struggles which may cause you to consciously or unconsciously judge another person or people harshly. Venture to see the situation from all sides and if you can’t, be willing to ask questions to get a clearer picture of the conflicting view points. Try not to be too intent on getting another to see things from your perspective or to change the other people/ person’s perspective as this may inadvertently result in you pulling your own cereal bowl into your lap.
(3 of Swords/
CAPRICORN
There is a quote inscribed on a slab of stone I like to pay a visit to on occasion at my favorite old church in Los Angeles. The words have become so weathered and worn that it is nearly impossible to read. I usually have to get on my knees and run my fingers over the letters as if it were written in braille. The stone reads, “Not till the hours of light return/ All we have built do we discern.” The stone itself skirts a large sundial and the two are clearly in conversation.
Capricorn, prior to this week it may have been difficult to see the fruits of your dedication and hard work. This week however it may become more apparent. Perhaps “the hours of light” have returned.
(9 of Discs R/
AQUARIUS
At some point in season 4 of “30 Rock,” Tracy Jordan and Liz Lemon get in a fight because Tracy claims Liz’ book is ruining his marriage. Jack tries to mediate and announces he will “cut the baby in half” eluding to the biblical story of the Judgment of Solomon. Tracy interjects saying, “And I will take the top half, for that is the part with the face.” When I was a kid my mom told me the story of the Judgment of Solomon. Two women are both claiming to be the mother of a baby, King Solomon aims to resolve the dispute by suggesting they cut the baby in half. At this point in the story I had the same thought as Tracy, “Take the top half! It has the face!” My mom shocked me with the surprise ending- one of the mothers gives up her claim in order to spare the baby from being severed.
Aquarius, you may feel that there is no easy solution to a difficult decision currently occupying your thoughts. Perhaps the decision was presented in the form of a question that implies a difficult choice. Consider that the solution may not be directly implied by the question. In this particular situation is it most important to keep the baby alive or to keep the top half?
(2 of Swords Rev/
PISCES
A long time ago, I jokingly remarked that sleep deprivation was my “drug of choice.” At the time it made me feel loose and silly like a champagne buzz. I would like to retract that statement, or at least retract it for now. I am currently operating on very little sleep and feel more like a rubberband stretched to its outer limit. I don’t feel silly, I feel irritable and the dog keeps barking at a squirrel on a tree outside the window and I keep wishing I could bark like that too because it seems like the only sound I could make that might relieve the tension in my body.
Pisces, this week you may find, once again, that you have surrendered to a sea of sensation and emotion. There may be no fighting the feelings you are encountering, the same way it can be nearly impossible to fight sleep. While some may describe this state as foggy, it is also the most clear and honest because you may be incapable of denying the direction your feelings are sending you. In the case of sleep deprivation, to the mattress.
(IV Emperor Rev/