TAROT

Seven of Pentacles § Eight of Cups § The High Priestess

The Seven of Pentacles represents a pause in work or business as usual. This is the time to become clear on the conditions under which you best work with a feeling of satisfaction. Be clear with yourself about what you know has changed on the landscape around you. When anxiety and uncertainty are pressuring the nervous system to make safe choices quickly, it is natural to doggedly pursue what you know, likely exerting even greater effort than before only to confront failure or impasse. Your efforts will feel exhausting rather than thrilling because your payoff was denied. If we work against our internal needs, we work against our own contributions. We are strongly advised to reframe our perceptions around productivity and action. It is in these notions that we carry easily exploited values concerning the nature of fitness. In an economy that thrives on our illness, the refusal to celebrate the physical endurance required to survive capitalism is a revolutionary act, on its own.

The Eight of Cups tells us to keep our feelings moving. Emotions are not just thoughts nor are they simply debris of the mind to be overcome. Our feelings are systems of communication telling us what needs to be addressed in our minds, lives, and communities. Cups represent the element of water which carries creative action and emotional information simultaneously. Any tricks we have used to keep ourselves from knowing how we truly feel will become utterly useless from here on out. So, this is a tool for you: Fill time spent waiting in lines by silently listing all the feelings you can notice in that moment. Just a list, in your mind, of what feelings stand out to you—anger, guilt, fear, joy, confusion, anticipation, sorrow. Feeling all of these at once is common. What you list does not need to make sense, it just needs to be true that you feel it. Refrain from all justifications. You know you have felt joy on a rainy day, so don’t attribute a feeling of joy to the fact that the day is sunny, just take note of the feeling. This is how we develop our skill in the emotional realm, the water world, the oceans within. We communicate best when we have gained equilibrium emotionally and are prepared to proceed with good faith, tact, and candor.

The High Priestess offers herself as our witness through the struggles we face. She saw what happened to us in our most secret and shadowed memories. She sees us when we own up to our faults and do the best we can. The High Priestess keeps us company with the thoughts and feelings that we might not share with anyone. She knows the underworld completely and you won’t tell her a story she has not heard. The saddest among all the tales she hears are of those who endure eras when love is dangerous—though she admits that this is perhaps always the case with that particular emotion. She says: Don’t let loving come to feel like something you can not dare to do in measures larger than a coffee spoon. The High Priestess sees you, she knows you. May we too offer ourselves as witness.