September Tarot Forecast

2nd - New Moon in Virgo

16th - Mexican Independence Day

17th - Super Harvest Moon in Pisces/Partial lunar eclipse

22nd- Fall Equinox 

September begins with a New Moon in Virgo, denoting a new structured learning cycle in which we adapt our daily routines and habits to optimize personal growth. We are reminded that spiritual expansion requires us to first tend to our physical needs. The leaves turn red, orange, and yellow, further emphasizing that we must first build a strong foundation of the corresponding chakras–security, creativity, and confidence. The energy on the 16th encourages revolutionary independence achieved through sustained and multiple efforts, in which we wait for and recognize an advantageous moment to overthrow imperial forces. The Super Harvest Full Moon in Pisces with a partial lunar eclipse denotes the spiritual harvest we can collect as a result of structuring our everyday life to support the expression of our spiritual needs, lacks and wants. On the 22nd we experience Fall Equinox, a time when day and night reach the same length. In contrast to August, which focused on integrating our external and internal growth, in September we strike an equal balance between both to affect personal transformation. 

This month, we’ll be looking into the tarot forecast through the lens of The Star Road Map, a Mesoamerican inspired deck. The deck makes use of the major arcana, and replaces the minor arcana with Aztec concepts (of which we have the most record) based within a Mayan calendrical system. The Mayans keenly observed the Star Road (Milky Way) because they believed that a planetary shift corresponded with a shift in individual and collective consciousness. Instead of suites we have Days, Four Directions, Overworld cards (representing “the cyclical cosmic or spiritual influences” on physical reality), Underworld cards (representing the course of human evolution since amoebic conception, in relation to co-creation with Hunab K’u ie, the great Creator), and Intercession cards (representing Divine intervention). The six card spread below represents a single idea that examines a primary issue we will face in September. 

The Mesoamericans believed in an afterlife composed of 13 layers of heaven and 9 of the Underworld. In this deck, the heavenly layers are represented as Overworld cards. To determine the heart of the issue we will face in September, we will first examine the reverse Overworld card in the spread. The creators of this deck write that an Overworld card can be considered as the issue that lives in the day. The issue contains energy that impacts our consciousness, and works in tandem with our resulting Underworld response i.e., the soul’s evolution. Each Overworld card represents a level of understanding, and all 13 levels must be realized to progress through one of the 9 underworlds (a new age of soul consciousness).

[Im]balance - Reverse 8 Overworld 

Where the obsidian knives are creaking

The 8th layer of heaven is rife with storms. It is home to the god and goddess of death, rulers of the Underworld. From here, darkness comes. Here dwells the god of darkness, storms, disaster, and frost, as well as two gods of sacrifice. The last occupant is Tlaloc, god of rain, war, thunder and the earth. The creators of the deck have chosen to associate this card with Tlaloc specifically, perhaps because rain serves as a double-edged sword–it could come as a much needed blessing, a thunderous storm, or an overwhelming flood. When we view the Balance card in reverse, we see a horizontal line with three close circles hanging under it. This imagery could be likened to an uneven division, a hanging ellipses at risk of falling off, or upside down scales dropping their contents and failing to preserve the balance of fairness and justice. There are a few things we can consider in deducing this imagery: are we taking on too much or too little? Is too much being given or taken away? Has an expressed need been left unaddressed, and now we are left questioning if it will ever be fulfilled? Do we have an inherent bias, or are we being overly critical? Are we getting lured in by a deceitful illusion? Do we have honest motivations? These questions may cut like knives, but they call in the necessary awareness to instill personal balance, within and without.

In the Star Road Map, the underworld cards correspond to the 9 levels of the afterlife which most souls must undergo, before they can be freed from bodily suffering. The creators of the deck liken this to 9 levels of consciousness that humanity undergoes in advancing from amoebic form to a co-creative force with the great creator. When we shift from survival mode, we can recognize that our thoughts and perception of reality can affect the material. These cards are meant to reflect where our consciousness lies. Are we struggling to survive, learning how to manifest, or have we accepted that we are creative energy that is one with Source? 

Regional - 5 Underworld

The Regional card represents the point of human consciousness in which we develop complex language, culture, art, religion, and local identity. This version of consciousness can be channeled via regional organization, craftsmanship, abstract thought, and complex expression. Regional corresponds with the fifth level of the underworld, which translates as “the place where people fly and whirl like flags,” in which the dead were whipped around by the winds until they were released to the 6th level. There is potential here to get carried away by identity politics. An upright position signifies that we transcend beyond the limits of culture or religion and connect to a greater humanity. This card encourages that we instead get carried away into a creative flow state, through mediums such as art and writing, to access a greater reality that will serve our evolution. We are encouraged to step into our authenticity and work on our self expression. This will prime us to co-create with Source and work through the imbalance we experience above. 

The Star Road Map defines the Major Arcana as mental attitudes and fixed ideas that prevent us from evolving and influence our daily lives, which we will now apply to the month of September. Each is represented by an Aztec deity, which represent Mesoamerican beliefs around the concept.

Reverse Death

In this deck, reverse Death is depicted as Tzitzimitl, a set of four Aztec deities associated with the stars, fertility and birth. During solar eclipses, they were thought to attack the sun and devour humans. They were included in the New Fire Ceremony, which began a new calendar round. The proper offerings had to be made in this time, otherwise the sun would no longer rise, prompting eternal darkness. In Mesoamerican culture death can be imagined as birth in another form. We see this in the way that a snake emerges from the skirt of the Tzitzimitl, though in reverse position this may result in complicated labor. The snake represents the regenerative properties we may experience if we allow ourselves to cyclically shed old skins and become new. This process is enabled when we challenge old behaviors, habits, internal dialogue, thoughts, and what we consume. Our unhealthy ego, attached to its comfort zone, will work to prevent the necessary awareness to do so, to threaten or cajole us until we relent. This may manifest in our stubbornly convincing ourselves to keep doing things the same way while demanding the results we have yet to see. It will exhaust all our energy to remain in the old snake skin, depriving us of finding the motivation necessary to transform ourselves and our lives. We must overthrow this imperial force if we are to achieve true independence. 

Reverse Magus

The reverse Magus is depicted as Quetzalpapalotl, the butterfly god of transformation. He represents the deepest physical and spiritual metamorphosis–within, and without. Like so, in September we are encouraged to learn how to play freely between Underworld and Overworld energies, to affect our experience in the Middle World (Earth). A reverse position suggests we must reassess our daily routine and commitments to enhance the optimal awareness needed to maintain the balance between them. When both energies are used equally and we find ourselves aligned in body, mind, heart and spirit, true magic can take place. As the Magus, we can recognize that in any moment, we are an expression of the Creator. Our will is the only thing that could keep us in a caterpillar state, uncertain whether to unfold our wings or take flight. We may have a lot of resistance, thinking we need to acquire more knowledge, compile other opinions, better prepare and wait for a better moment or more resources. These fears come from the same egoic force we see in the reverse Death card, made to keep us locked into our comfort zone. We need to recognize our skills as valuable, whether or not they are recognized by society. It is important not to mute ourselves, lest we give greater credence to deceptively confident figures that may convince us out of our own will, out of recognizing our own magic potency. Yes, we need to take a realistic inventory of our flaws so we can better work with them, but we mustn't downplay our assets in the process. In truth, we already have the innate ability to sprout wings and take flight. Everything we need is within us–we are enough. 

Reverse Fortune

In the reverse Fortune card, we see the Earth portrayed as a tortoise shell, from which the Corn god emerges, with a son on each side of him–the Hero Twins. In the Popol Vuh, a sacred Mayan narrative text, the story begins with twins playing a loud ball game, which annoys Underworld gods. The Underworld gods invite the twins to play with them and rig the game so they can defeat the twins and collect their heads as prizes. One of the heads impregnates a daughter of the Underworld, who gives birth to the Hero Twins. These boys play a loud game, annoy the same Underworld gods, and get invited to a ball game as well. These boys learn all the deceptive tricks or the Underworld gods, and win the game. This story reminds us that we can fail, come back in a new form, and succeed. Failure is not a permanent state, nor is it a part of our character. If we feel powerless after defeat, we can pick a practical thing to work on for the month so that we can better reposition ourselves for a good outcome. After this, the Hero Twins are able to revive their father, who emerges from the Earth as a Corn god. The sons are elevated and turned into the Sun and Moon, signifying that we can generate abundance when we balance external and internal growth for personal transformation. The Corn God advises the other gods to make humans from white corn, corn being one of the most important forms of wealth and abundance in the Mayan economy. It sustained everything, and therefore human life could be considered the same. The reverse Fortune card challenges us to recognize that wealth extends far beyond capital–good health is the greatest form of abundance. September encourages us to adopt a revolutionary spirit, to cast off Imperialist notions that would have us feel impoverished and engage with the world with a scarcity mindset. This cycle can be broken by practicing gratitude and celebrating what we have. This mentality will help us nurture the abundance we seek. 

The day cards invoke the Tzolkin 260-day sacred calendar of the Maya. There are 13 cycles comprised of 20 days. Each of the 20 days works in tandem with the Overworld and Underworld cards, giving us an intersection point to help us understand the energies in action that impact our earthly experience. Maya time keeping differs from the Gregorian calendar in that it has a fixed but repetitive cycling of energies denoting birth, death and rebirth. 

Persistence - Day 9

East energy: associated with initiation with the power of creativity. 

This card corresponds to today’s challenge of balancing Virgo New Moon energies that help us to navigate the minutiae of every day living and Pisces Full Moon energies that motivate us to tend to emotional and spiritual needs. In September, particularly from the 9th, we will feel emotional, imaginative, and capricious. This capriciousness lends itself to struggles with impulse control, which we must learn to moderate. Negative perceptions such as those embodied in reverse Death, Magus, and Fortune will convince us to passively hold onto old way of being in which we give away our agency and devalue our personal will, so we must combat this by learning to watch for triggers for regretful behavior. As an agent of will we must take responsibility for our actions and behavior. We can cast off our Imperialist ego by developing persistence and consistency, through multiple effort is necessary, to be responsible for our part in everything. Persistence is the vehicle through which our soul will achieve true liberation. 

September 2023 forecast

Welcome to the September forecast! Happy news–I got published in the Huffington Post about my experience reading tarot at a bar. It has been a lifelong dream as a writer, and I was able to reflect on my growth as a tarot practitioner. 

As an ever evolving tarot reader, I am now learning to read the cards in an Espiritista framework. Interpretations combine intuitive Playlisting and imagery from the Marseilles deck. 

Though we understand September to be the ninth month of the year, it is named after Septem, meaning seven. This is because September was the seventh month of the ancient Roman calendar. Numerologically speaking, this suggests we will be reaping the rewards of hard work of something we have been working on continually. This also falls in line with reaping the harvest, and the Harvest full moon we are expecting on September 29th. At the same time, we continue to put in the work and direct our will towards a bigger picture goal that has been brewing for even longer. Astrologically speaking, we will be experiencing Mercury Retrograde until September 14th, when there will be a New Moon. Perhaps we will be shedding old patterns of thinking, expression, and boundaries, which will prepare us to better hold space for the incoming harvest at the end of the month.

Energy of the Month: Knight of Pentacles ~Gypsy, cover by Gardens and Villa~

This month, the Knight of Pentacles signifies a return to the true self. We live by the divine spark that guides us, thus externalizing it as the sun. We find ourselves pursuing that which is most natural to us and our true earthly selves. This lifestyle we've chosen fits us like a glove. At this stage in our journey, how we live and what we do is between us and the earth. As though no one is watching, we feel true to live to our authenticity, no longer beholden to external pressures. We know who we are, what we and our inner child are - - and we are willing to protect it as the precious apple of our eye. This enlivens our day to day labors and gives them a purpose. It motivates us and gives us something to go home to. We are willing to do heroic deeds for it. 

We are intuitively guided down the yellow brick road to our dreams, which, as we physically manifest to, further informs the direction of our path. In doing so, we are building a path that is made to last. We are willing to protect this dream, this self, and that which gives us pleasure through real tangible actions. Perhaps once there was fear and trepidation in regards to pursuing this path, but this is no longer the case. Love is guiding the way, the kind that makes your inner child, your inner free spirit happy to see. This energy is not coming from a naive space–rather, it is life that arises from decay. We have suffered difficult battles and losses, but became all the wiser and more experienced for it, and found this energy all the more worth fighting for. 

Love: The Emperor ~Water your Garden by Magic City Hippies feat maye~

This month, the Emperor guides our values in love–whether we are seeking a relationship or in a long-term partnership. Experience has wizened us and now what we value in a partnership is attentiveness in sunshine or storms. We want a relationship that feels consistent, fertilizing, and that can be relied on through all seasons. We know how to make time go slow around this person. We are confident that you can boost one another to help when there is a sense of stagnation or unsureness of how to grow. We attract goodness and security in relationships, because we are embodying these traits of the Emperor in ourselves. We’ve got this–the ability to find love, embody it, and continue in it. The relationship feels like a comforting place to go to. In the partnership, there is a sense of each person inspiring the qualities of having it together, being organized, standing strong and defined. There is a looking out for one another, endowed with and speaking with a caring intent. This partnership is very grounding and forward looking.

Money: Strength ~Lion by Saint Mesa~

This month in the money sector, Strength us to bring the inner lion out–representative of the innate, wild drive within us. This is the call received by the untamed aspect of our psyche and persona unaffected by societal values. What is that deeper drive lurking within? The idea which excites us most and gets the blood flowing? We have reached a stage where we can work with this aspect of our inner selves without having to overpower or suppress it. From the outside, it may be fearsome to heed this side of the self–the self we are taught to tame, kill, or avoid. But from the lion’s mouth appears the source of our abundance, from which carbon pours forth. And like Midas, our hands, our labor in working with this carbon, are the gold that transforms and transmutes. Our desires have become hardened and refined like diamonds, and made all the more precious from the external pressure put forth on them. 

Work: Reverse King of Pentacles ~The Melody of a Fallen Tree by Windsor for the Derby~

This month in the work sector, we are confronted with old traditional work values that are no longer serving us. We are primarily driven by this focus of not losing coin or not having the future taken away from us. But this is more of a feeling than a perception. In looking only to the past however, we are not focusing on our present and we are placing ourselves in a precarious situation. The past way of operating is too heavy to bear and handle. In embodying the reverse King of Pentacles, we take on more than we should. This is unbalancing and not adding security the way that we think it is. 

We may be tempted to leap back into an old career or an old job that no longer holds space for our growth and wisdom. The past was a transient dynamic, a fallen tree in a frozen field. What we need to do is place our ear to the ground and listen to the voice within, rooted to nature, ancestral healing, our bodies, and our wisdom. Right now we are operating under a sense of urgency. In pursuing a calling, our hopes and dreams appear to rise and fall. If we don’t understand the cyclical nature of life, this could seem wildly unsettling. Instead of demanding results or a timeline from the thawing soil, we should ask what we can do in order to tend to it. We need patience to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, allowing space for a new chapter, a new tree to arise.

Health: Ace of Pentacles ~First Light by Hozier~

September brings with it a fresh new perspective in respect to health. Each morning is made to feel like a bright new opportunity with which to tackle routine, habits, and goals. We see the untapped potential of what we envision and we are ready now to make it material. In the Virgo season it is also helpful to make detailed plans and routines, and tend to the little details especially at the outset, when we want this new seed of an idea to grow. We are whole and integral, and encouraged to seek what is good for our personal growth, in order to flourish and thrive. We envision ourselves radiating health and a state of wellbeing. Our body becomes the personal sun around which we orbit the rest of our choices and activities. We see a glinting opportunity for ourselves and are encouraged to pursue it. We only have one body, one life, on this one beautiful earth, which makes it all the more precious. We must hold onto it for what it is, and carry it with us always. We are the coin and the piece of gold transmuted by the sun’s warmth. Our body is the most precious thing that allows us to tune into nature, to create, and to experience. While we are in the process of gestation, we can also look to past lives and work with our dreams to inform our path to growth.

Spirit: The World ~Dancing Barefoot by Patti Smith~

In Spirit, we have reached the far end of a long journey to birth ourselves as we truly are, and survived all the tests to make it there in one piece. This is the version of ourselves that is free to dance barefoot–secure in ourselves, connected with the earth, grounded, and thriving. We have worked hard to create beautiful work–ourselves. We deserve to celebrate it and ourselves. The wreath represents victory, and perhaps also serves as a kind of frame we can display that victory in. We are encouraged to celebrate this period, to hang it up, admire it, and share this victory proudly with others. Our spirits that surround and support us celebrate this victory as well. This version of ourselves is the root connection–recognizing the harmony of all suits, and engendering the virtues of the major arcana that precede it. This is our recreated self–the hero or the heroine. This is the version of ourselves that we can say we are proud to have lived by, at the end of it all. We have practiced courage, reason, wisdom and strength. And when we go through another cycle of growth, around the wheel again, we can take all of our capabilities and all we have learned into the next situation.

September 2022 - Tarot Forecast

Welcome to September. School is in session--we are the students and life is the beneficent teacher. This month will come with all of the resulting benefits and challenges that Virgo energies can bring. One of our biggest challenges will be our inner perfectionism and a fighting of our natural flow to get ourselves to fit an external standard. If we can embrace imperfection, we can reach our ideals in a loving, sustainable, and ultimately more successful manner.

Included in the general reading is a suggested "back to school" playlist. If you resonate with the readings, I'd recommend looking up the lyrics to these songs as a supplementary tool.

Energy of the month: 8 of Cups ~All is full of Love: Bjork~

The overall energy for the month of September is that of mastery of love. How can love require mastery? Ordinarily, love is experienced as a state of natural flow. When we lose touch with that flow, we find that love and intuition are inherent skills that must be relearned. The lessons learned and integrated over our lifetimes join forces this month so that we can find our way back to this inherent skill with ease. Where there is water energy, flow, intuition, and receptivity; we find love. To tune into this energy, we can drink water that we infuse with feelings of love and/or appreciation, or bring our bodies into a large natural body of water. This can help remind us we are enveloped in love and fill ourselves with it (including that which we consider "imperfect.") We can tune into a supportive network, and find groups that help us reach a state of flow (in regards to a passion or reaching a "flow state.") 

Love: Reverse Knight of Pentacles ~Feels Like We Only Go Backwards: Tame Impala~

On the reverse side of the hourglass, we find the challenge we must learn to navigate in order to reach this mastery of love. If we remove external standards, values, and external metrics which determine how much we are "allowed" to love ourselves; we can feel at a loss and ungrounded. Many of us find we have been following a false sun, and acting upon it. This false sun can be a value such as money, how much of it we have...and we may have followed it until we have forgotten why we followed it in the first place. Our ego's will believes it knows best and it can forcefully steer us in a practical or worthy direction...but perhaps it is our intuition that really knows how to lead it in the way. What direction would it take us if we stopped forcing it to go the other way? Where can you be more receptive to love? Where can you let it flow more naturally, instead of fighting your way upstream? There may be a more authentic guiding principle at hand here. Now is the time to be a receptive "knight," guided by receptive inspirations rather than tugging at the reins.

Money: Page of Wands ~Ready to Start: Arcade Fire~

Ironically, we may find ourselves better financially endowed when we are willing to step down from our Ego's "knight" status, allow ourselves to become a page (or apprentice) once more, and begin to walk the other way. We find steadier footing stepping in the bed of our intuition and allowing our passion (life purpose) guide us, as a walking stick would guide the blind. We can then alchemize and materialize our dream into reality, one that could sustain us. There is power in drawing from the ground (that which is natural)--it is like a lightning rod in reverse that powers us up from the deep bowels of the earth. There is wealth, in more ways than one, in pursuing this route.

Work: 5 of Swords ~Perfectly Out of Place: Dreams We've Had~

At work, you hesitate to voice any authentic opinions of yours that may go against the grain of the environment that you're in. You may be feeling like the unstable factor in an otherwise uniform and seemingly stable environment. This external reality is a reflection of some of the growing pains to be learned in the mastery of love. What parts of yourself feel unacceptable or irreconcilable? What are those parts trying to do or say for you? What can you do to come to an understanding of and appreciation of those parts? These parts may have been waiting for you to approach them for a very long time. Practice compassion towards these parts; rather than a thorn in your side, there is something worthy here of being integrated in harmony with the rest of your being. 

Health: Chariot ~Love My Way: Psychedelic Furs~

You are in an empowered position where you are in control of your health decisions and the direction you want to take in favor of your health. All of you is working in harmony and working as a team to prioritize your health. It is the common goal that all parts of you can agree on. Use this as a focus point whenever you need to tune back into the energy of the month. This includes polarities such as eastern and western practices, receptive and active approaches towards heath, spirit and will etc. You are able to take a holistic approach and take all of yourself into consideration: past, present, and future. 

Spirit: 9 of Wands ~Harvest Moon:  Lord Huron (cover of Neil Young)~

In this ninth month of the year, in the transition from summer to autumn, we have at last reached the harvest month. It's a good time to assess what the harvest has brought in. You've built a steady web of support around your passions and purpose. You may also find that some harvest is wanting--in which case, where within you lies resistance to the self operating in harmony with the infinite? Renewing efforts in your passion and purpose is one way that you can express the flow of love within. September is a good month to commit to a class, routine, project, or group that helps keep you committed and focused on the external expression of love. If you get stuck, turn back to receptivity of imperfection, a commitment to the process rather than the end goal itself. Ironically, you can achieve more when you let go of the outcome and instead keep moving forward in the ways that call.