Your Tarot Reading for the Week of August 18

You don't need to know the difference between a three-card and a Celtic cross spread, to get the most out of a tarot card reading. All you need: your Sun sign! Here's what I do: Shuffle my tarot deck and pull out the cards in order from Aries to Pisces plus one general card for everyone so that you can get specific advice around your personality. Let’s go!

Leo leaves us this week and we embark upon Virgo season, with a Virgo New Moon to double down on the vibes. But before we embrace the practical, streamlined, decluttering, and refining energy of the zodiac’s virgin, let’s take a moment with another feminine icon: The High Priestess. Know yourself first. Look within. Draw on the personal wisdom and awareness that only you can access before starting any practical endeavors or efforts. Make sure you’re aiming in the right direction before you set off on a mission. Take this week to be still, quiet, reflective, calm, and meditate. What comes forth will set you up, will make your goals clear, and help you remain focused.

Assertiveness is a mature form of strength and power. Aggression comes all too easily, so does passivity, but assertiveness is a refined and advanced blend of getting what you need without creating problems for others or forcing something that cannot fit. Practice your powers of assertiveness this week, Aries, because the Knight of Swords shows you have something worth battling for, and the necessary skills now to do so gracefully, in fact you may even attract attention and applause for how you handle this. Show them how it’s done.

Self care matters. Taking good care of yourself not only protects and strengthens your own wellbeing and health, but teaches others how to treat you, and creates a vibration, an expectation, that will attract like-soul'ed, self care-focused folk your way. So, focus on self care this week. Challenging yourself out a comfort zone and then rewarding your courage. Extracting life lessons from the tender places in your personal history. Being grateful and sharing appreciation to your inner circle. Eating well, hydrating, getting quality sleep and rest, stretching, reflecting, laughing.

What happens when you step back and let things swing on their own momentum? Do they remain as is, speed up, or slow down, or even stop altogether? Have a little experiment this week, Gemini, and step back from something you suspect no longer really works or has its own power. You are the one forcing this, for whatever reason, and it’s just draining you to do so. Let it show its true colors and nature. And then you can assess whether this is something you wish to continue investing in, make a change on, or revamp from top to bottom. You have the power, so use it (versus being used).

New beginnings are always exciting and you’re a cardinal sign (born at the start of a season) so you are gifted in creating something out of nothing. Time to do that this week, Cancer, and invent something that tickles you and stirs you up. Maybe it’s a new pastime at home for the season incoming, maybe a last-minute Summer jaunt or trip, possibly a new friendship that you’re willing to open up more to, or even a class or exhibition that intrigues your intellectual senses. Follow your instincts, start something that feels inspiring, and love the life you’re living and creating.

Emotional intelligence is often hard won. Hardships, pain, and mistakes all have the greatest potential to shape us and make us wiser, more compassionate, forgiving, and able to see that truth is a sphere vs a straight divide. You are called upon to share and use your high emotional IQ this week, Leo, and it’s likely in a close relationship, maybe with a Water sign (Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio), a person you respect but who has gotten themselves in a rut or a bad position. Support them to see their best next step. They’ll never forget your help.

The Sun is the tarot’s no.1 positive card, its messenger of love, joy, success, prosperity, good times, and fun. So this is set to be a great week. All you need to do is have confidence in yourself, in your merit for joy and reward, in your ability to do the things you yearn to do, and to take bold first steps in their direction. Be bold this week, bolder than you think appropriate! It’s still Leo season (for now, only just) so act like a Leo, show off, step up, take what you want, and know that you very much deserve it. No apologies, no permissions. Just do it!

A strategy is required, probably a cunning one, certainly a robust one that helps you chart a path towards a future goal in bite-sized chunks and easy steps. Break it down, Libra. Breaking it all down into little pieces that are manageable is the key to any great task. Use your Air element intellect, your cardinal sign initiative, and your Venus-ruled persuasive power to craft a plan that takes you from A to B in minimum time, with minimum fuss, and maximum results. If any sign can weave the best strategy ever to be executed, it’s a computer-minded Libra.

Temperance means moderation, balance, harmony. Staying on the straight and narrow and avoiding outliers and extremes. That’s a tough call for you, Scorpio, because you love being in and around the extremes, but sometimes you need a break, a chill out phase, a decompression episode to just come back down to Earth, breathe easy, rest and restore your spirits. You can’t do all of that when you’re on the edge, being high octane or dangerous, or chasing something. Have the most boring week you can imagine, and you’ll be glad of it. You need a break.

Something new and exciting is coming this week, Sag, and it’s going to knock your socks off. Expect a radical plot twist that opens up a new avenue for you that, right now, you can’t possibly imagine. It may relate to travel, technology, progressive causes, or a home truth that resonates so deeply you have to act on it. Whatever it is, don’t overthink your steps. Just take the bold leap into the unknown and start this journey with a bang! Once you’re moving, everything will begin to fall into place, so don’t worry. You are going to have a blast, this is going to change everything. Be brave, be bold be lucky (oh, of course, you already are all of that!).

Justice resonates with you. All Caps have a strict moral compass, an innate sense of what is right, and like to see justice served- hot, cold, or spicy! This week will bring that energy home. Someone is going to get their comeuppance in your realm (it could even be you, and if it is then you know why…). Be graceful about the outcome. Don’t gloat. Don’t say ‘I told you so’ or whatever tempting comeback surges up. We all make mistakes, we all let ourselves down, we all fall short. Be glad that karma has restored the balance, extract a life lesson from this drama, and move along gracefully.

When in doubt, Aquarius, just keep going! The message of this card is to not give up, no matter how tempted you are, and to persist in your project, role, relationship or goal. I know it has been hard, if not nearly impossible. I know you’re fed up. I don’t blame you. But if you quit now then all of that effort will have been wasted. You are SO close to a massive breakthrough that will propel you right up to the Finish Line here. Just march on a bit longer because this will soon all get a LOT easier.

Make a wish, Pisces, and make it really count. The Star doesn’t come around that often in readings and, when it does, it means the Universe is going to make a dream of yours come true. Could be a big one, too. Could be something you thought out of reach. So, dig deep and find what makes your heart beat faster. The world is a big place, miracles happen all of the time, so why not to you? What you think of as fantastic might be someone else’s rejected life… so never assume what you want is impossible. Things can work out in mysterious ways, and this week might just prove that to you!