Today's Tarot Cards

28 Jul, 2026

A

I didn't have a specific question when I started shuffling, another rule that I break quite often. You'll find reams of blog posts all over the internet and whole chapters in books devoted to teaching people how to ask the "right" question of the cards. The right question is the one you're asking, by the way. But getting back on track, I just shuffled and thought about the whole situation I'm feeling right now regarding what I do online: I want to shut down Patreon, get off the content-generating mouse wheel, and do readings and teach workshops in the community and online.

The spread I'm using is From Power Tarot by Phyllis Vega, and it's called "The Harvest Spread". I'm using The Urban Tarot, a modern Crowley clone, painted by NYC artist Robin Scott. The positions are:

1. What you want: 9 of Disks
2. What seeds you need to sow: The Mage
3. What new belief you need to cultivate: The Hanged Man
4. Who or what helps you: Princess of Cups
5. What challenges you face: The Knight of Wands
6. What you harvest: The High Priestess
7. The key to the big picture: 2 of Disks
8. I always turn over the bottom of the deck to see what lurks here: Princess of Swords

1. What you want: 9 of Disks At the core of this card is the desire to achieve self-sufficiency. It is being able to enjoy the fruits of my labours without having to trade my peace for it. In Crowley's world, this card represents Venus in Virgo; pure individual mastery and personal sanctuary. I don't want to shut down my income, burn it all down, and walk away. I want to cultivate an environment where my work sustains me. Venus in Virgo can be a rather fickle Venus. This flavour of Venus does not want you stuck to her leg and isn't a fan of the parasocial relationship. Although I don't have a Virgo Venus in my natal chart, this does capture a lot of my frustrations. I don't want people stuck to me. I don't want to have to start showing up in lives to fake some sort of closeness with people that isn't real. If I'm going to get to know you, it's going to be in person. This Venus also wants control of her energy and time and does not really want to be trapped on a perpetual monthly production deadline. I would really love to be able to finish a course, watch it sell, and just relax and do something fun instead of wind up for the next month.
2. What seeds you need to sow: The Mage The main energies for this card are: active direction, mastery of one's tools, and conscious orchestration of events. One of my favourite Magician cards comes from The Mythic Tarot and shows Mercury standing at a crossroads. The crossroads were sacred to the fleet-footed god, and he often shows up in readings to let people know that they are now guiding themselves along a new path. He is there, as a crossroads guardian in the background, but when he shows up, just understand that you already have what you need to work with. This includes me, of course, because this is my reading. The seed that I need to sow involves directly taking charge and grabbing the bull by the horns. What does this look like in my situation? Well, I've already been doing this: setting myself up in a metaphysical store instead of waiting for the chance to open one myself. I also opened a store on a new platform called Witchsey, which was created to support those of us targeted by larger ecommerce platforms like Etsy. I've also been using Patreon to create articles that have become the teaching materials for what I want to teach; there are benefits to having a monthly deadline because it keeps you moving when you know people are paying for this stuff.
3. What new belief you need to cultivate: The Hanged Man This fellow knows that sometimes he has to voluntarily surrender control to gain a true perspective. The thing I haven't done yet is shut down Patreon because, as tiny as my income is, right now it's the only regular one I have. Stepping off the wheel and not giving it the ol' college try yet again is like taking sandpaper to my Capricorn placements. The Hanged Man asks for a total inversion of logic. The belief shift that has to occur when he shows up is realizing that pausing or quitting the machine isn't a moral or business failure. It doesn't make me a failure (although it certainly feels like it). If we look at the card order of the old Major Arcana, this card shows up after our second crossroads guardian, Strength or La Force, in position XI. So with one crossroads guardian here and two escorts (The Hanged Man and The High Priestess), I am most definitely starting a journey into the soul -- possibly "dark night of,". I need to believe that stepping down from the subscription grind will allow the world to turn upside down enough for me to see where the real flow actually is.
4. Who or what helps you: Princess of Cups So here we see fresh and emotional responsiveness, local artistic or spiritual enthusiasm, and genuine unforced connection. This card makes me think of an encounter I recently had at a BBQ. My wife and I weren't going to go and then I changed our minds for us and we did. It was hosted by the woman who runs the metaphysical shop I read out of on Saturdays. I met a woman who looked very familiar, and she reminded me that we met nearly two years ago when I taught a one-night numerology workshop at the old location in New Hartford. Her next statement floored me: "I started putting into practice what you taught us that night, and it was life-changing. I can never thank you enough." If I have ever changed anyone's life online, I will never know. No one has told me. They have told me, in snarky exit interviews when they unsubscribe, that my Patreon isn't busy enough for them. I give you a 40,000-word expanded numerology edition every month, plus weekly articles and quips, videos, etc, etc. -- but that isn't enough? The best of the mean snark came last year when I was hemorrhaging for two months during the PERIOD FROM HELL. I still showed up every day and posted; I still kept up the Court Card series that was started; I never faltered - but admitting vulnerability cost me a small truckload of paid subscribers. My wife said to me back then, "Why do you show up for people who won't show up for you?" and she was right, of course, but I just wasn't seeing it. The Princesses (or Pages in other decks) are receptive, enthusiastic students or clients who want what you have to offer. They're committed and earnest. There are a few court cards in this spread, and traditionally, that can indicate "the public" or dealing with many people face to face.
5. What challenges you face: The Knight of Wands The knights represent restless, scattered energy. They're like the teenagers of the Tarot -- they have just enough knowledge to be dangerous, and they've figured out some shortcuts. Unlike the pages that always try their hardest because they want you to see that they're doing a good job, the knights don't give two shits what you think. They're going to do it how they want to do it because they "know that already". When the Knight of Wands appears, the desire to explode and "just do it, already" can be overwhelming. The challenge in this card is twofold: either feeling the manic urge to launch everything all at once to replace Patreon immediately or burn everything down and do something completely different. Fire needs to be kept in the fireplace or it burns down the whole house. Part of not giving in to that burning urge to hit the delete button is what prompted me to spread my inner world on the kitchen table today.
6. What you harvest: The High Priestess Within the High Priestess is unshakeable internal authority, quiet wisdom, and direct access to knowledge. Traditionally, in medieval decks, she is pictured with the book of world memory open on her lap. She cuts a striking image sitting at the top of the spread, basking alone in the tub. If I step away from the content machine, I could reclaim my relationship to unadulterated wisdom, pursue the things that interest me (like the Vedic astrology course I purchased two months ago and have only scratched the surface of or the artwork that I love to do but never seem to find the time to enjoy). Stepping off the hamster wheel doesn't just get me my time back -- with Our Lady of the Moon here, it also means that I get my sight back; my cup fills up again.
7. The key to the big picture: 2 of Disks This can sometimes be a card that I have difficulty with. Oftentimes it feels inconsistent with what we know about it from contemporary sources. I actually said something to that effect in a Substack post made by Nancy Hendrickson in her Tarot Lab, and right on cue, the algorithm delivered me a really great post from another writer about this very card. Often when this card shows up, we are trying to do everything, to be all the things to all the people, all of the time. The core message about the 2 of Disks is about balance, adaptation, and managing different flows gracefully. I'm not graceful, damnit, but I try. This card is ruled by Jupiter in Capricorn, one of the placements in my natal chart that is positively itchy to keep on trying "one more thing" to keep the machine going. However, the message in this card, especially looking at the woman doing Pilates, is about shifting weight from one foot to the other, flowing into the next exercise, not freezing, not trying to stay, just letting movement happen as it needs to -- and yes, she might fall off that ball and do it very ungracefully, but she still did it.
8. I always turn over the bottom of the deck to see what lurks here: Princess of Swords Underneath it all, the Princess of Swords shows the energy running through everything. The core message of this card deals with clear-cut boundaries and absolute clarity in direction. She doesn't waste a lot of time overthinking it. She's a Sword; she knows it might get loud and messy when she says or does what needs to be said or done, but she does it anyway because it's for the best. She doesn't mess around, this one, she cuts through clutter and makes sharp decisions based on what is necessary and logical. Hers is the voice constantly echoing in the background, "Haaaaayyyy, this shit's not working anymore. Let's blow this popsicle stand."

The Round Up

This layout reads like a masterclass in boundaries. The 9 of Disks shows me what autonomy could look like, and The Mage tells me that I already have what I need to run a real-world operation. The 2 of Disks in the centre is an acknowledgement that navigating the pivot takes some deft maneuvering and the risk of slipping and falling will always be there -- but you just get right back up on that Pilates ball and keep going because in a minute everyone will forget that your arse bounced. The High Priestess sits there quietly as the ultimate harvest, stepping off the hamster wheel and restoring my depth, focus, and authority.

Damn, I have missed these sorts of readings!