Life
Your August Tarot Reading
Yes, life is hard, but you have free will to make changes.
August is in with a roar. Each month, I ask my tarot deck, “What do we need to know?” During this stretch of summer, the message is to tend to your garden with care and clarity.
How I Read Tarot
The five-card tarot spread I created represents...
- Energy: Your vibe right now.
- Situation: What’s happening around you.
- Obstacle: A struggle you’re facing.
- Action: What to do about it.
- Lesson: What you’ll learn from this.
Your August 2024 Tarot Reading
Your Energy: Seven of Pentacles
Your energy this month reflects the time and effort you’ve poured into yourself, your responsibilities, and your goals. Now, you’re ready to reap the rewards. Depending on what your choices have been, this may be a wonderful experience or a challenging one.
The Seven of Pentacles card depicts a gardener tending to their crops, and it’s a reminder that if you water seeds, they will grow. Make careful decisions about what to cultivate, whether that’s in your mind, heart, body, or circumstances.
Your Situation: Three of Wands
The Three of Wands shows you that collaboration is key. It’s a good idea to share your feelings, problems, and dreams with the people who matter most in your life. Who loves to see you thrive? Connect with those who share your fire.
Lean on your connections. It’s easier to take a daily swim if you have dedicated plans with a friend at the YMCA. Your side hustle might look more professional if you finally hire a graphic designer to create a logo. Reflect on who you know and who you’d like to meet.
Your Obstacle: The Fool
When positioned as an obstacle, The Fool emphasizes how scary it is to dive into the unknown. While that fear is rational, it has the power to make you feel small and stuck if you let it run your life. However, on the flip side, impulsive choices can get you in trouble, too.
Study your relationship with fear. Are there any areas in your life where you’re leaping with looking? Or refusing to take a step? Aim to find balance somewhere in the middle.
Your Action: Judgment
This month, you must strive to accept that nothing is static. Even if you’re afraid to leap, your desire to evolve has already changed you. If you’ve impulsively gone too far, remember that the impact of your “mistakes” won’t linger forever. Embracing consequences can be liberating.
In the story of the tarot, judgment comes for everyone. Its cleansing energy forces you to face the fear of being truly seen — by yourself and perhaps by others — and tells you to avoid comparing yourself to others. Be authentic, make peace with exactly who you are, and appreciate how much you’ve changed to get here.
Your Lesson: The Devil
When viewed as a lesson, The Devil asks you to take a good, long look at how you get in your own way. Yes, life can be hard, and many circumstances are outside your control, but you have choices. Remember your free will.
How To Use August’s Tarot Lessons
Write a list of all the ways you self-sabotage. Do you have any unhealthy or unhelpful habits, or any toxic relationships you don’t want to let go of? Are you too critical of yourself? Do you cling to false beliefs about your yourself, others, or the world?
Next, do some compassionate detective work. Where did each habit, behavior, or belief come from? It’s OK if you’re not sure — just take your best guess. For each item on the list, take a moment to empathize with that piece of yourself.
Then, for each struggle, find the silver lining. How does each item give you strength? Or, if it’s more appropriate, what do you gain by managing that problem?
Awareness leads to change, and you can free yourself of these burdens.
For example, I’m working to keep my fear from hindering my ambition. I am genuinely afraid to be visible in the world, but now that I’ve written a book (Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling, co-written with Paulina Stevens, out in October), I need to market myself and be very visible. In my writing exercise, I would acknowledge that even though I’m afraid, I put myself out there anyway. Still, sometimes my fear protects my privacy.
The point of this activity is not to beat yourself up but to see yourself with more clarity and compassion so that these struggles don’t continue to trip you up. Awareness leads to change, and you can free yourself of these burdens.
Think about the seeds you want to water. What do you want growing in your metaphorical garden this time next month?
Jezmina Von Thiele’s tarot readings celebrate their Romani heritage. For more on tarot, click here.
