ARIES: Nine of Cups
Take some time this month to look around you, and see how many of your dreams and wishes have come true.
The Nine of Cups is a called ‘Happiness” in this deck (the beautiful Röhrig Tarot). It’s a card of contentment and fulfillment. It speaks of being more than just satisfied with your lot in life, but also feeling truly blessed and grateful for where you are.
The Nine of Cups is known as the Wish card; in this sense it’s about manifesting your heart’s desires. Nothing is taken for granted and nothing is left to chance. It’s about aligning yourself with the universal laws of attraction and getting what you deserve.
Along with being the “Wish” card, it’s also a card of Miracles. As there’s so much more focus on what one has than what one lacks, it’s easier to notice small miracles and in even the smallest things.
Be careful though that you don’t become too complacent: one of the potential pitfalls with this card is getting exactly what you wished for, only to discover later on that it wasn’t what you wanted in the first place. Because of this, you want to be very mindful of what you ask for — and what you “put out there” — this month.
Think about what makes you happy and chances are good it’s the simple things in life. Home, family, friends, health, material comforts and peace of mind. This is what the Nine of Cups is all about and if you’re not where you want to be just yet, think of ways to change that.
Take some time to think about what you really want — and don’t forget to be grateful for what you already have. There’s an intricate balance between gratitude and personal fulfillment, so make sure you’re putting enough energy and effort into both.
TAURUS: Six of Coins
This month you may be called upon to open your heart and loosen your purse strings, as a measure of generosity and goodwill.
The Six of Pentacles is a card of giving and receiving, sharing the wealth, being willing (and able) to lend a hand to others while being open to receiving the same for yourself.
You may run into unexpected good fortune or find yourself the recipient of someone else’s generosity. Or if you’re in a position to help someone else then by all means do so.
This version — from the gorgeous Druidcraft Tarot — depicts this energy beautifully, with a wise old sage doling out coins to those reaching out for help.
The Six of Pentacles is about giving and receiving. It’s about sharing. It’s about random acts of kindness. And it’s about the exchange of energy — which often takes the form of money or financial assistance.
These are things to think about this month. Kindness and consideration, compassion, generosity, altruism. Andmost of all gratitude. These are all Six of Pentacles attributes.
This isn’t about giving what you can’t afford to give. That can create hardship and ultimately resentment. And it’s not necessarily about giving money anyway.
Whether you’re the benefactor this month or the recipient, know that this is a never ending cycle and you’ll find yourself in both roles. Be prepared to jump in and participate fully — either through offering help to another or expressing gratitude for all that you receive.
GEMINI: The Chariot
This month you may have more energy than you know what to do with, and less self-discipline with which to rein it in.
You may be bursting at the seams and raring to go — to DO something or make something happen — even if you haven’t really thought it completely through. This is a very high-energy period and you can accomplish a lot, but it can also be reckless, so make sure you stop and think before you act.
The Chariot card — this version from the beautiful Jolanda Tarot — depicts a warrior goddess harnessing two vastly opposing energies. The white and black stallions are rearing up against a day and night backdrop — each pulling away from the other rather than working together as a team.
If you look closely, you can see that the stallions aren’t really going anywhere anyway; their front hooves aren’t touching the ground and their hind-quarters are nowhere to be seen.
You’ll have to work hard if you want to rein in all of that energy — otherwise you can wind up like the Charioteer in this card: spinning your wheels and getting nowhere.
You may be met with obstacles, but with all that drive and energy you should be up for the challenge. You can take a page for the Charioteer’s book: there’s confidence and determination in the way she takes charge of the two rearing beasts.
You will need to have the discipline to not only maintain control but to harness the opposing forces in your own life. Whether this is related to relationship, career, or even the dual desires within your own psyche, the challenge will be to pull your energy inward and funnel it back outward into one solid direction.
You can accomplish a lot through motivation and determination — as long as you’re aware of the need to focus your energy in one primary direction. You’ll have find a way to balance the diverging energies in your life. But if you can “pull it together” you’ll make great strides toward accomplishing your goals.
CANCER: Five of Wands
This month, you want to guard against letting petty arguments and squabbles erupt into a flurry of negativity. The Five of Wands — seen here in the Dalí Tarot Universal version of the card — is combative and antagonistic, often without any rhyme or reason. It’s sometimes referred to as the “bully” card.
It’s tied to a battle of wills (or words) in which winning is the ultimate goal. It doesn’t matter whether you’re on the giving or receiving end when it comes to this card. The “winner” doesn’t really win anything other than the satisfaction of being right or of taking home some meaningless prize.
There’s a noisy, restless blur of activity seen in this version of the card. Even though there are five beautiful butterflies here, it’s hard in some cases to tell where one ends and another begins.
Each butterfly is distinctive — just as each point of view is unique to the person expressing it. But it’s precisely that uniqueness that can erupt into conflict, as differences of opinion can fuel animosity.
The Five Wands in this card are green and fertile. They do all exhibit symbols of growth. But they’re stacked haphazardly and are all crossing one another — and most importantly they act as barriers between the butterflies and the castle on the other side.
Ask yourself whether expressing certain attitudes or opinions are creating friction between you and important people in your life. And then ask yourself whether being right — or winning — is worth jeopardizing your relationships with others.
If you’re engaged in a power struggle, you can bet there will be no winners or loser,s only the tattered remains of what once was a unified front. This card encourages you to move past the chaos and calamity, and work on restoring the peace.
LEO: The Tower
This month you may feel like you’re standing back and watching helplessly as everything falls apart around you.
The Tower card — this version from artist Kim Waters — refers to sudden changes and upheavals, as life as you know it starts changing more rapidly than you’re capable of preparing for.
It may seem like your carefully constructed world is falling apart all around you, or that all you’ve held near and dear (and previously thought indestructible) is no longer capable of sustaining you.
In most renditions of the card — including this one — the “tower” is a literal fortress that’s been struck by lightning and is crashing to the cliffs below. People are falling out of the structure while flames and smoke shoot from the shattered windows.
Yet if you consider the source of destruction — that one earth shattering lightning bolt — you can see how it lights the whole sky, making everything momentarily clear.
It is this flash of insight that all of us need to be paying attention to, especially as this card can manifest literally as catastrophe and upheaval. It conjures up images of natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions, etc.) But it can also manifest figuratively and psychologically, as in purging and healing from deep psychic wounds.
Notice the angels at the top and bottom of the card, essentially surrounding the tower and its inhabitants. You may feel like you have no control over the events in your life right now, but rest assured that that there are blessings in the midst of so much chaos and uncertainty.
The challenge with the Tower card is to prepare yourself to both embrace change and to surrender to a higher power. While neither of these are easy, they do propel you toward your destiny, and that can never be a bad thing.
VIRGO: Green Dragon Seven
You may find yourself at a professional crossroads this month, feeling torn between following your dreams and doing what’s already proven itself to be safe and secure.
This is the Green Dragon Seven, the Feng Shui Tarot’s version of the Seven of Pentacles. It represents difficult choices and dilemmas. It can translate to feeling like you’re missing out on something by doing what you do really well but that your heart just isn’t into.
It indicates a need for patience and discipline to see something through. But it can also trigger feelings of disappointment or frustration over that something taking too long to produce results.
The Seven of Pentacles can manifest as a gap in your plans, during which time you pause to reassess your goals. You might be rethinking some of your earlier decisions, or considering a different course of action entirely.
Like the dragon in this card looking back over his shoulder, you may want to take a step back and review the steps you’ve already ta
Sometimes we have to make sacrifices (also a hallmark of the tarot’s Seven cards). We can give up our job security in order to pursue our dreams; or we can give up our dreams in order to maintain our job security. It’s a catch-22.
The Seven of Pentacles represents finding yourself a pivotal juncture that there’s no easy answer for. Take a breather if you think that might help. Step back, assess your progress and figure out where you want to go from here.
You’ll have to think about what is most important to you, as this is a card of priorities as well as choices. Ideally you’ll find a way to turn what you dream of doing and what you are doing into one and the same. This is all we can hope for in the end.
Libra: Ace of Cups
This month, with your ruling planet (Venus) back in your sign — and with its higher-octave counterpart (Neptune) also in its own sign, you should find yourself getting more in touch with your feelings. You may be feeling perhaps feeling a little more compassionate, receptive and intuitive — all Venus and Neptune keywords.
The Ace of Cups — from the Shadowscapes Tarot — depicts this energy beautifully. You can see ripples emanating from the base of the chalice that rests at the bottom of the card.
Waves of movement and energy flow from the mouth of the chalice as well, as small schools of fish and fairies swim along in the currents.
The Ace of Cups is a card of emotional abundance and fulfillment. It’s “love” in its purest form: the compassionate, unconditional, all-encompassing form of love that is the essence of this archetype.
These transits speak of immersing yourself into deeper emotional realms. There’s a pull toward increased creativity, inspiration and intuition as well. If there’s a downside to this energy, it’s the tendency to lack motivation and purpose. Too much “going with the flow” can see you being carried aimlessly along with life’s currents.
You want to keep this is mind when it comes to making decisions and asserting your needs to others. This is a time of giving and receiving: you can derive as much pleasure through giving as you can through expressing gratitude for all you receive.
The Ace of Cups represents a bottomless and reflective pool of love, compassion and emotional expression. You’ll want to open your heart and let that love flow both from you and to you this month, while at the same time keeping your boundaries clearly defined.
Scorpio: Judgment
This month you’ll be taking stock of your life; of the actions and decisions that have led you who you are today. This card calls for self-evaluation and awareness, a need to develop enough spiritual altitude to look objectively at your mistakes and short-comings as well as your triumphs and victories.
The Judgement card — this version from the Archeon Tarot — is a powerful reminder that in order to put the past behind us we must not only let go of prior judgments but heal the wounds that have been holding us back.
It’s a card of both atonement and forgiveness. Of unconditional love, understanding and acceptance — for both ourselves and for those who’ve hurt us or let us down.
Here we see a vulnerable, child-like angel standing before three trumpets, grasping a sword in her hands. She appears to be cutting through the ties that bind her to worldly concerns, as she prepares to receive her penance.
The image is shown in negative form — a symbolic reference to the concept of gaining an inverted perspective and seeing things from another’s point of view.
You may have been beating yourself up over your own transgressions or making too many excuses for those who have done you wrong. This card encourages you to see things as they truly are, and to adopt a more impartial understanding so that you can not only move on, but can also put the guilt and regret to rest.
Take this time to tie up loose ends. This can be a literal letting go of the past, but it will more likely relate to putting yourself in other people’s shoes and seeing how the mistakes they’ve made or the grief they’ve caused have been just as much a part of being human and flawed as any direct attempt to cause you pain.
Sagittarius: King of Cups
Your card this month — the King of Cups — is all about getting in touch with your emotions and learning to express them in a healthy mature manner.
As with all of the court cards, the King of Cups may describe an individual entering your life as a facilitator for an important lessons. He could also represent an attitude of mindset that you need to adopt.
Although this King is kind and compassionate, he’s nobody’s fool. He’s not easily persuaded or manipulated and he doesn’t get caught up in maudlin sentimentality. The seas around him may be turbulent, but he maintains his calm as he keeps a watchful eye on the horizon.
The King of Cups in this card — from the Mary-el Tarot — is a Poseidon-like figure, naked (open, receptive, exposed) and submerged in a pond filled with lotus blossoms (purity and enlightenment). You can see how he’s become almost one with the murky waters that surround him, in some places you can’t tell where the water ends and he begins. Notice that his trident is also partially submerged and its tines have been distorted by the play of light on the surface of the water.
The King of Cups is about more than just getting in touch with your feelings. It’s about learning contain and control and master them. While it’s clear there is some turbulence in the water that surrounds him, you can see how this King is able to maintain his composure.
This card encourage you to be compassionate while still maintaining an air of authority. It speaks of developing a clear emotional radar without becoming wishy washy. And it speaks of getting a better understanding of your emotions without becoming overpowered by them.
This is the vibe you want to hold onto today. You may not be able to avoid certain emotional upheavals (nor should you) but you do want to work on going with the flow and letting yourself become one with your feelings and emotions rather than projecting them onto others.
CAPRICORN: Two of Coins
This month you may be focusing on bringing your external goals and responsibilities into alignment with your personal relationships.
The Two of Coins sees this as a precarious balancing act, where you have to be careful not to let one set of priorities outweigh the other, even if you find yourself pulled in several different directions.
This card is often seen as juggling interests or responsibilities, and there’s some of that here. But in this version of the card — from the beautiful Chinese Tarot — the emphasis is more on bringing the disparate parts of your life into harmony, by maintaining your spiritual center.
The figures in this card are demonstrating their willingness to meet in the middle by bringing their coins together, doubling their value. The Full Moon illuminates this scene from behind.
The Two of Coins reminds us of the need to remain centered, despite all the changes that are taking place all around us. It encourages us to attend to one set of responsibilities or interests without neglecting another. And it reminds us to balance out our priorities by devoting as much time and attention to the important areas in our lives (friends, family, health, spiritual fulfilment, etc.) as we do to those that require our attention.
This card is also about finding a comfortable compromise between opposing forces. That could mean between work and play, head and heart, fantasy and reality or material vs. spiritual values. It’s all about balance, which brings to mind the hermetic principles of “as above so below” that reflect the essence of this card(or any of the “two” cards for that matter).
You may find yourself needing to weigh your options this month, and finding ways to bring all the disparate areas of your life into harmony. Whether that means responsibilities vs. pleasure and play, or relationships vs. autonomy or up time (productivity) vs. down time (rest), it will be up to you to find ways to answer the call of each. Giving into one desire without neglecting another should be foremost on your list.
AQUARIUS: Four of Swords
It’s into the dreamtime for you this month as your ruling planet (Uranus) goes retrograde and all your worries and thoughts come back to haunt you. You may feel the need to take yourself out of your daily grind in order to think things through.
A word to the wise though… don’t be too hard on yourself: The four swords here show you turning your thoughts against your own best interests and possibly undermining yourself before you have a chance to fix something or make changes in your life.
This is the Star Tarot’s version of the card. The bed you lay on (your environment) looks quite comfortable, if not a little out of the way as if you have cut off communication with those around you whilst you fathom out what your next move should be.
Even though you are not acting or taking any actions for the time being you are nonetheless ready for anything that may come your way and although you may not be feeling that happy (as shown by the fish’s demeanour) you are not too hemmed in by your troubles to actually be frozen to the point of not being able to do something should the need arise.
Take heart that at present what you are doing is, perhaps, all that you need to do and though what you may perceive as inactivity or non action then this may also be the path to the greatest inroad to your problems.
You might also be thinking of getting away from it all. You could be feeling the strains of mundane responsibilities; or maybe you just long to escape from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life.
Take some time this month for yourself and listen to the needs of your body (and your soul). If you can’t get away there are other ways to regain your sanity. Meditation, breath-work, self-imposed silence, etc. — any of these can help you to de-stress and restore your equilibrium.
Pisces: Eight of Wands
If you’ve been waiting to hear from someone — or expecting to receive news from afar, changes are good you’ll get your answer this month.
The Eight of Wands — this version from Anna Klaffinger’s gorgeous Anna K. Tarot — represents a message that is coming your way. And while the woman in this card is clearly happy to receive her message, it’s not necessarily good news.
With Mercury (and six other planets) retrograde this month, you may be surprised, confused or even disappointed by what you learn. You could receive news that is unsettling or hear something you don’t want to hear. But the gloved figure delivering the message — and the red ribboned presentation — says that no matter what it is, it is going to be important.
Alternately, you may be the one bearing news. You might be feeling more decisive about putting your plans into action and striking while the iron is hot. If this is the case, remember it’s best to wait until Mercury goes direct, after the 19th.
In this respect it’s going to be all about declaring your intentions and being purposeful in pursuing your objectives. It motivates you to consolidate your efforts, in order to move ahead.
The Eight of Wands can also be a high energy card that indicates movement and travel. In that respect it relates to being literally and physically on the go. Are you planning a road trip or a weekend getaway? Use this extra energy to make preparations for your trip.
Your goal this month should be to be prepared for any messages that come your way — whether these are delivered in a literal or figurative form. How you respond to them and the steps you take upon receiving them will go a long ways toward determining your next steps.
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This month’s tarotscopes feature some of Ask the Astrologers all time favorite cards. We hope you like them too!
Don’t forget to check out this month’s Horoscopes too!
August 2018 Tarot Scopes
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