“It’s time to stop being polite and start getting real…. WITH OURSELVES.”
You may recognize this as one of the many key slogans of MTV’s “The Real World”. It’s a phrase that resonates for a reason: because it’s time.
Time to hear your own thoughts and connect with your whole, authentic self. Time to cut out external influences. Time to realize that we are all part of something larger than ourselves — and what is happening around each of us right now is bigger than any of us could have imagined.
That’s what this month’s “Tarotscope for the Collective” is telling me, with a clear, yet complex, story. Let’s get into it:
For starters, this reading featured an “elemental card” (one of the four elements of Air, Water, Earth and Fire) sandwiched between two Major Arcana cards. In the world of tarot, this tells us right away I’m reading some major energies for the month. The Major Arcana, after all, are “big picture” energies that affect us across time, space, and lives.
First, I drew The Hermit.
This card is about so much more than carving out “alone time” and resting and rejuvenating. The Hermit is about a demand, not an invitation, to go much, much deeper than simply taking some time for yourself away from the noise and demands of daily life.
The Hermit asks us, respectfully but firmly, to retreat. Not “retreat” in a way that would imply defeat or giving up. Quite the contrary: we must retreat into our own shadows and face what we find there in order to grow stronger.
For some of us, for those of us already acquainted with both our own darkness and the darkness around us, being alone with our own thoughts comes naturally.
But for many of us, our thoughts can sometimes (often) be our own worst enemies. Some people are actually afraid to be alone with their thoughts, afraid that they might find themselves on an unfamiliar path in an unknown wilderness, lost and afraid within their own mind.
Looking deep into yourself can be like approaching the mouth of a cave, with the knowledge that what lives inside is a mystery, and may very well be terrifying.
Next, I drew the elemental card of Air.
Air represents our thoughts, beliefs, and how we communicate with one another. It also points to the invisible energy that fills otherwise empty spaces, the ethereal expanse that connects us to divinity. Air is a call to clarify, to eliminate influences that are harmful, toxic, or prevent us from an authentic existence.
This noise can come in so many forms. It can be in the form of social media, the news, our jobs, people with which we interact, stories we tell ourselves, stories others tell about us, or things we attach ourselves to like celebrities, or sports teams.
It can even be the family identities that society assigns to us in relation to someone else (mother, father, daughter, wife, etc.).
It’s these toxic influences, many of which we only acknowledge in our shadows, that we’re called to release.
My third draw for this month was The Lovers card.
Contrary to its name, The Lovers card is not necessarily about finding romantic love. It can have a much bigger and more complex meaning, as a high-vibing Major Arcana card. At its essence is the concept of surrender.
In a way, The Lovers card is about admitting to yourself that you are not in control, and never were. If you cling to a belief that one day you MIGHT be in control, The Lovers card snickers, lets you go on thinking that, and then BAM! You’re hit with an arrow, metaphorical or literal.
What do these three cards say to us?
We are conditioned to fear the dark, or anything that we cannot see or understand. This includes our own shadows.
But just as our eyes adjust to a dark room so that we can see, we will discover our own altered vision if we peer into our own darkness. We’ll emerge with heightened senses, and the bravery that comes from living in the shadows and befriending what you find there.
This awareness can help us through the unknown wilderness of Air.
And on the other side of this journey await The Lovers, reminding us that occasionally, we encounter a force much bigger than we are, and we have no choice but to be swept away by it.
Love is the cosmic kinetic energy that sets events in motion. It’s the spiritual bullet train that derails best-laid plans. It’s a celestial body whose gravitational pull traps objects within its orbit.
That’s what is happening in the world right now. Powerful collective energies have been activated. They’re surging and swirling like a storm. They can’t be stopped; there’s no getting out of the way.
Taken altogether, this month’s tarotscope is a pull to both self-examine and be aware of forces beyond ourselves. The message is strong and urgent: our thoughts, beliefs, and stories leave an imprint on the world around us. They cause a ripple in spacetime that extends farther than we realize. They echo and reverberate across history, swirling and surging in ways beyond our own control.
So, focus this month on surrendering to this message. Focus on spiritual fortification and mental purification. Remember that if we want to change things on a large scale, as so many of us do, the change has to begin with ourselves, inside.
The adage “Be the change you want to see in the world” is more relevant now than ever.
