Tarotscope

In western Astrology, Cancer is ruled by the Moon, corresponding to The High Priestess, the Tarot’s 2nd macrocosmic (Major Arcana) card.

The High Priestess Tarot card represents intuition, the kind of knowing that is clear but nonverbal. In the Smith-Rider-Waite deck, our High Priestess holds a scroll close, but does not look at it. The scroll is tucked partly under a blue robe, resting near the High Priestess’s lower abdomen. The High Priestess asks us to take very seriously our emotional experiences and reactions as information, as communication, as divine guidance.

This card is about what we know in our gut, and all the ways subconscious information and experiences flow through us. As a macrocosmic card, it reminds us that our intuition is not merely an individual thing, but a collective well from which we receive wisdom and guidance. The well is a collective subconscious, the same well the salmon draw from to know which way to swim, even if there are no other salmon around to follow.

Personally, I like to think of the 2nd macrocosmic card as The Ocean, or as Water itself. It is a reminder that we didn’t always move on land, that we have non-human ancestors and relatives who were and are living in the waters, and they are talking to us. And we have the Ocean, and Water in all its forms (rain, rivers, lakes, puddles, tap water, ground water, springs, geysers, clouds, etc.) itself as an ancestor, relative, and guide. When we get that deep-down gut feeling and we pull the High Priestess when we ask about it, we can trust that what we are feeling is communication from the divine, from a collective subconscious.

If we find ourselves unable to “hear” our intuition, the High Priestess reminds us that that is normal and ok, and it doesn’t mean that our intuition is broken or that our guides have abandoned us. This very notion, that our spiritual guides and ancestors even could abandon us if they wanted to (which they don’t, generally speaking) is evidence of our internalized oppression. We are one with Spirit, and it is not possible to be separated from our ancestors or for them to not be in communication with us. When the High Priestess card shows up randomly in a Tarot reading, it suggests that our way back to “hearing” and trusting intuitive wisdom is simply to turn toward it, to allow it to flow like water through us. And often literally going to the water – a beach or a river or sitting in the rain or under a shower or in a bath or in a pool – can help us remember how to listen, how to connect, how to allow our feelings to flow.

Both the Ace and Page of Wands cover the quadrant of the sky centered on fixed Fire, or the sign of Leo. The cards’ reach extends one sign in each direction, spanning Cancer – Leo – Virgo (T. S. Chang).

Aces are the phase of a change process when we open ourselves to the very idea that change is even possible. If the Tarot “pips” (the Ace – 10 cards of each Minor Arcana, or microcosmic suit) signify transformative processes, then the Ace is the moment at which we first open ourselves to whatever change we are hoping to make. If we are trying to go from caterpillar to butterfly, the Ace is the point at which we, without any wings at all, start to wonder if it’s possible to fly. For the summer (in the northern hemisphere), we are guided by the Ace of Wands, or the Ace of Fire. The Ace – 10 of the fire (spiritual) suit represents a change of fire, which I think of as a change of spirit, or a change in what motivates me to act.

By the time I moved to New York City for grad school, I had already undergone a major air (intellectual) change – I had learned through academics and through my friendships and community as an undergrad that my fear of Black masculinity was manufactured, a tool of oppression lodged in my thinking like a sword in a stone. I had already unlearned the lie that this fear was somehow “natural” and appropriate, but I had not yet moved away from my very white, suburban environment. And so, when I first moved to Brooklyn and found myself living among more Black people than ever before, I had to reckon with the dissonance between the fear I felt, which was real and big in my body, and the truth I had learned about that fear. I decided I no longer wanted to be motivated to act by that false fear. I wanted to open myself to a change of fire.

The moment I began to believe this kind of change was possible was the very same moment that it became possible. That is the power of the Ace of Wands. 

The Ace of Wands as a guide for these summer months asks us to open ourselves to the fact that it is possible to experience a change in what motivates us to act. The Ace of Wands also promises that whatever has motivated us before is not likely to work now, here, in this specific context. We would be wise to notice what new fires are lit within us, and to remember that we can decide to feed or starve any of those inner fires at any time.

Both the Ace and Page of Wands cover the quadrant of the sky centered on fixed Fire, or the sign of Leo. The cards’ reach extends one sign in each direction, spanning Cancer – Leo – Virgo (T. S. Chang).

Pages represent a point at which we have come through a change and now, as a new and changed version of ourselves, we are ready to engage with our world in a new way, a new role, or with a new framework. By the time a Page shows up, we have already transformed from a caterpillar into a butterfly, and we are starting to see the same old world from a new perspective, with a new set of skills and a new set of questions.

As court cards, Pages also represent an intersection between the microcosm (the Minor Arcana) and the macrocosm (the Major Arcana). I associate Pages with earth (material) energy, and so the Page of Wands represents a spiritual-material exchange or alchemical process. We are now able to leverage our fire to make something real out of our spiritual/sexual/creative desires and urges. We are able to contain a fire that is threatening to grow too big or too hot by creating a material structure around it to protect both the fire and the surrounding ecosystems, or we can cover it with dirt and snuff it out entirely.

The Page of Wands as a guide for this Cancer season invites us to get curious about what motivates us to act and the connection between those fires and the material world around and within us. The energy of fire within us can feel really good or really bad, but it is not neutral. Fire energy can sometimes be sexy, exciting, or thrilling, but it can also come through like rage, frustration, or even fear, if it is big and hot enough to move us.