Who Am I Today?

A simple-yet-profound tarot exercise is to ask this question and pull one card.

Who am I right now?

As an example, here is the card I received in answer to that question today.

Today, I am the Eight of Cups reversed.

That isn't the most romantic or encouraging card. If you do this exercise every day, some days you'll be the Star, other days you'll be the Devil, and sometimes you get a mundane card such as I drew today.

The trick is, no matter what card you pull, to take the time to deeply interpret it. For me today, the Eight of Cups reversed shows my determination to do the work I need to do, personally, professionally, and creatively, even when I feel like walking away from my tasks. Today, this card tells me I am tenacious. I am dedicated. I will not be distracted by emotions or desires.

Truthfully, this card makes a lot of sense. What I want to do right now is take a nap. What I need to do is catch up on a lot of paperwork. Here we see just how valuable this exercise is, and how much the Universe conspires with tarot on our behalf. I asked simply who I am today, but the Universe's view of me reminds me to be my best self, my non-self-indulgent-self, my non-napping self.

The value of that is far-reaching. By encouraging me to see myself as tenacious, I am encouraged to accomplish my goals. That will give me a sense of accomplishment and personal pride and satisfaction. That's a heck of a reward to reap from a single tarot card, isn't it? Grab your cards and give this exercise a try. Who are you today?

Eight of Cups

My tarot friends are always surprised when I tell them that the Eight of Cups is one of my favorite cards. To many, it is a sad card of abandonment. It is about walking away, or having someone walking away from you.

I do see that sadness in this card, but I also see something more. In the Eight of Cups I see the process of healing.

When I look at this card, I see a story. I see a person who is sad, perhaps grieving. This person goes to the beach, which is a place of healing and cleansing. There, the person takes an inventory of the hurts that are causing such sorrow. One by one, the hurts are acknowledged, and carefully placed into cups.

Finally, this person finds the courage to leave all the pain on the beach in the stacked cups. As this person walks away, this person is now free to live without the pain of the past.

We all carry pain with us. Eventually, we realize that pain weighs us down, and keeps us from moving forward. The Eight of Cups describes the clear process of acknowledging the pain, and then choosing to leave it behind.

When the Eight of Cups shows up in a reading, often it is recommending this type of emotional cleansing.

Read my poem about the Eight of Cups here.