Astrology of the Week
Mars direct in Cancer 17º (Monday)
Mercury conjunct Saturn in Pisces 20º (Tuesday)
New Moon in Pisces 9º (Friday)
Weekly Tarot Reading
Ace of Cups
King of Wands
Knight of Wands
Deck: Le Tarot de L’Illumination, by Matt Hughes
Hello, I hope you are doing well!
We are experiencing a highly phlegmatic (water) atmosphere this week: Mars is stationing direct in Cancer (a cardinal water sign), Mercury is conjunct Saturn in Pisces, and Friday we have a New Moon in Pisces (a mutable water sign). We are witnessing celestial movements between the beginning and end of the water signs, without a stop in the middle: Scorpio (a fixed water sign). This means it will be a very dynamic week in emotional terms.
The tarot reading seems to reflect each of these transits, precisely in their order. The Ace of Cups represents a new cycle of the water element: Mars (re)starting its journey in Cancer, the first water sign; the King of Wands, a figure of responsibility and power, Saturn, who must not neglect their relationship (Mercury) with what or who is impacted by their power; and finally, the Knight of Wands, the first step in a journey toward ambitions, desires, and dreams: the New Moon in Pisces.
It’s interesting that the water element opens this reading and is followed by two fire cards, representing the dynamism of Cancer and Pisces modalities: one that initiates (cardinal) and another that adapts, and moves toward new destinations (mutable).
This interplay of elements also reminds me of the astrology for March, which I am currently writing about (hoping to publish it on Sunday or Monday). As a small preview, I’ve titled it A Song of Ice and Fire. From that reference, you can probably guess that action will not be lacking next month, just as the last card of this reading, the Knight of Wands, suggests. If we interpret this card in a temporal sense, it corresponds precisely to the end of the week, the beginning of March. But March will also oscillate between phlegmatic (Water - Pisces) and choleric (Fire - Aries) temperaments. Perhaps we can read this final tarot spread of February as a ‘sneak peek’ of March, inviting us to reflect on the month ahead.
Ace of Cups
The Ace signifies potential, a primordial state that presents itself as material for development. It is the beginning of a process. Since it belongs to the suit of Cups, it relates to the water element. We are talking about emotional, creative, and intuitive processes. It is like a New Moon in water signs, like the one next Friday!
Perhaps we have been too focused on our receptive sensitivity, which is wonderful and necessary because receptivity is what makes us empathetic people. However, this could mean our “cup” is overflowing with emotions. When our inner world overflows and starts seeping into our external reality, we are compelled to deal with our emotions in a more objective and active way, and giving shape to our intuition through artistic, creative, and spiritual expressions; offering our empathy and compassion to people and causes in need of solidarity; taking risks in new relationships or new approaches to existing ones; or adopting a more pragmatic relationship with our emotions through therapy, for example.
This reading is an invitation to embrace and care for our emotions while considering a more extroverted relationship with our vulnerabilities. This requires courage and a certain level of protection, something that Mars in Cancer, in fall, embodies with its martial side: a hard shell and pincers protecting a soft interior. With Mars now direct, we can initiate the process of externalizing these emotions and vulnerabilities. The internal energy that was stagnant begins to move. This movement may lead toward the fire of the following cards and the upcoming retrogrades of Venus and Mercury between Pisces and Aries (a sign ruled by Mars).1
King of Wands
This manifestation and processing of emotions may lead us to someone who supports us on this journey (a therapist, a mentor in our creative or spiritual practices, for example), or we may be the ones assuming the courage to express our personal authority and power in realizing our ambitions. The King of Wands speaks to stability in achieving and managing our goals and desires. I often think of the relationship between Water and Fire as a movement of embodiment: internal sensations and emotions that become tangible and realized in the external world.
This is particularly interesting given that the middle of the week is marked by Mercury’s conjunction with Saturn, hosted by Jupiter (ruler of Pisces and king of the gods), which is currently exiled in Gemini. Here, Mercury is both in exile and in fall (also besieged!), while Saturn has dignity by term and face. We have a figure of authority, an enforcer of limits and discipline (Saturn) hosyed by an exiled king (Jupiter), who lacks the necessary resources to rule effectively, leading to a series of misunderstandings (Mercury in exile and fall).
The King of Wands in this deck always reminds me of the character George Costanza in a very specific episode of Seinfeld, "The Gum" (1995). Interestingly, this episode deals with issues of mental health, fantasy, and illusion. All themes closely related to the sign of Pisces.
Wikipedia provides a brief summary of the scenes I'm referring to, and you can watch the excerpt in this link:
an old friend suspects George is going through a mental breakdown himself when she witnesses his apparent obsession with Lloyd and a cashier he claims shortchanged him. (…) Deena tells George he is showing signs of mental illness, specifically his gloating over Lloyd's mental breakdown and his dogged insistence that Cohen shortchanged him. He tries to get Jerry to vouch for him, but Jerry fails to recognize George due to the glasses. George wears a Henry VIII costume borrowed from Haarwood for Kramer's premiere at the Alex, and discovers he still has the $20 bill. Deena sees George in the costume and runs in terror as he chases her, yelling that he "got it from the Institute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gum
To me, this scene perfectly illustrates the conjunction of Mars and Saturn in Pisces: a king (Jupiter) unable to express its qualities or offer its resources (exile), presenting only a substitute for its true royalty (a costume). This results in a series of comedic misunderstandings (Mercury in exile and fall), leading to confusion about institutions, structures of power, and confinement (Saturn) related to mental health (Pisces—not just mental health, but emotional well-being and, above all, the themes of confusion and illusion present in the scene).
Thus, the deeper connection with our "sacred chalice" from the previous card may have fostered an awareness of what truly fulfills us and rekindled our inner fire. In this way, inspiration and motivation arrive more securely, providing the stability needed to embrace confidence in our projects. The question remains: is the exuberance of our motivations grounded in a fair assessment of reality, or are we witnessing a king who is wearing "The Emperor's New Clothes"?
Knight of Wands
Those projects of ours are something we’ll want to pursue with assertiveness and passion. The Knight of Wands tells us that now is the time to act, and to let ourselves be guided by the heat of our passions and take risks without fear. The Knight is a figure of action, determination, and conquest. Someone who chases dreams, desires, and impulses. A person inspired by the possibilities of new worlds to discover, one who spreads their wings and flies toward unknown horizons. It is energy, movement, it is a fire starter: “the trouble starter / Punky instigator / (…) the fear addicted / A danger illustrated”
However, just as when we held our cup, wielding our wand also requires caution and some level of protection. This Knight tends to be impulsive, disregarding prudence and spreading fire too erratically. We want to fuel our fire, but we don’t want to cause wildfires, as we don’t want to burn ourselves or others, nor burn bridges that would prevent us from reaching our goals. This card urges us to take risks and materialize our ambitions but without losing sight of the stability and discernment that the King of Wands advised. Otherwise, we risk burning out too quickly, making it impossible to sustain the journeys we have embarked on.
The cards this week suggest that this may be a time to go out in the world and to express ourselves as we truly are, in an exuberant, authentic, and passionate way. To embark on a journey toward what brings us happiness, rooted in what emotionally fulfills us.
I leave you with a song I love, written by Jim Morrison, the Lizard King, no less. This version, by Shirley Bassey (who had Mars [Fire] in Scorpio [Water]), seems to be a beautiful expression of the union between the Fire and Water elements.
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Interestingly, in this deck, the Ace of Cups is accompanied by water lilies, aquatic flowers that, according to The Dictionary of Symbols by Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, are also associated with Aries:
"The mythical ram that fertilized the Sun descends to the Earth via the rainbow and plunges into a pond covered with water lilies, shouting: the Earth belongs to me. The name ‘water lily’ comes from the Egyptian ‘manoufar,’ which means ‘the beautiful ones’; in ancient Egypt, this was the name given to the nymphaeaceae, considered the most beautiful flowers. A great lotus emerging from the primordial waters is the cradle of the Sun at dawn. Opening its petals in the morning and closing them at dusk, the nymphaeaceae, for the Egyptians, symbolized the birth of the world from the humid abyss.” (my translation from the Portuguese).