Hello and happy Fall! While I’m lamenting the days getting shorter and colder, I am finding comfort in slowly shifting to different foods, beverages, and ways of warming the body. I hope you are too. I hope whatever has been coming up for y’all during this mercury retrograde period has been able to provide some clarity or new understanding. (There’s a cheeky cosmic joke about slowing down for fall and Mercury in its slowed orbit here.) This month, I asked my deck what we should be expecting. And honestly, it falls right in line with the themes of Mercury retrograde and the sun making its way into the sign of Scorpio.
The Deck
For these tarot messages, I used the Neo Tarot deck. Illustrated by Daiana Ruiz, its accompanying book was written by Jerico Mandybur. Daiana Ruiz is a visual artist and illustrator based out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Jerico Mandybur is a tarot reader, spiritual coach, and bestselling author. Neo Tarot fuzes illustrations of androgynous humans with card interpretations, affirmations, and self-care tips corresponding to their respective cards.
The Spread
For this month’s tarot forecast, I’m pulling one card for each element: Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. Read the element that corresponds to your sun sign and rising sign if you feel called to. To find out your natal chart information, CafeAstrology has a pretty comprehensive beginner’s chart interpretation, though I highly recommend consulting your local astrologer to get a natal chart reading done. Novaa Network has a great directory to search through!
Fire: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Air: Libra, Aquarius, Gemini
Earth: Capricorn, Virgo, Taurus
Water: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
The Elements
Water 🜄
4 of Pentacles & High Priestess
This month, the High Priestess wants to connect with you. However, with the 4 of Pentacles appearing, it nudges you not to try to control too much of how your practice takes shape. Perhaps you’re placing too much emphasis on material control, or even looking at magical objects and tools with too much rigidity. Remember that a spiritual practice can happen with the most mundane of objects or actions. It’s all about intention. Check in with your spiritual appetite. What is your spirit craving? What is it in need of? Are you hungry for more than you can handle? The High Priestess may bring revelations to these questions, so make sure to sit and listen. The 4 of Pentacles alludes to control over resources and the High Priestess has a long sheet of paper on her lap, potentially representing knowledge or a contract. It wouldn’t be Mercury retrograde if I didn’t plug a lil’ reminder to read over any contracts or fine print you come across this month!
Air 🜁
The Hierophant & Queen of Pentacles
Y’all are grounded in your power this month. It feels like some of you are changing the game in your approach to work, or reaching new levels of maturity. Perhaps you’re going into a position of teaching, training, or educating this month – whether it’s teaching at a school, giving a lecture, or a workshop. The Queen of Pentacles is resourceful and in tune with her garden. She nurtures her garden, her knowledge, and those on the receiving end of it. Like the Hierophant, she disseminates the fruits she’s worked hard to cultivate. These cards ask you to reflect on any knowledge or traditions you’ve been partaking and sharing in. Stepping into this stability asks you to rework your ideals, values, and ways of being. How do you communicate these ideals, or share insights from your experience in meaningful ways? Who’s listening? Who are you influencing? How can you use your power and positionality to challenge oppressive power systems in your work?
Fire 🜂
9 of Cups & 7 of Pentacles
October brings a lot of introspection and reflection on your growth and journey thus far, especially within the last 3-7 months. Give yourself the appreciation you deserve this month! The seeds you’ve planted are beginning to come to fruition. This is a time to acknowledge and celebrate how far you’ve come. The 9 of Cups symbolizes a state of happiness in regard to yourself. All that shadow work has not been in vain. Take a step back and look at all that you’re tending to. You’re almost at the end of a cycle. Appreciate and recognize how this experience has been, what it’s taught you, and where you hope to go with it. Rest is emphasized during all this. A pause is necessary so you can get back to it when it’s time. The 7 of Pentacles asks you to be patient. Slow progress is bringing in many rewards this month, especially as it relates to themes of wholeness and self-fulfillment.
Earth 🜃
Temperance & The Devil
Temperance appears again for y’all this month, followed by the Devil; balance is crucial. Temperance points to finding a balance or a golden mean. Whether this is between work and rest, work and play, or expansion and restraint. Be mindful of how much you’re indulging in controlling or destructive/unhealthy coping mechanisms. The appearance of Temperance signals this month may call for a return to some shadow work or old wounds you thought you’d moved through. These cards also point to a time of spiritual rejuvenation, so get your priorities right! Test the waters, but The Devil’s appearance warns to not go too deep – we don’t want you getting stuck. Speaking of water, there’s a lot to learn from it this month. Visit a body of water or work with water in whatever capacity feels most natural to you. Cleanse yourself of the ways in which you feel you’re trapping yourself into, whether that’s how you’re talking to yourself or behavioral patterns that need shifting. The presence of these two cards points to them being confronted or unearthed.
Leo Ariel is a nonbinary Caribbean Bruja whose interpretations come from a trauma-informed, queer, anticapitalist, non-Eurocentric perspective, weaving in astrology and numerology. Their work aims to heal the effects of oppressive, hegemonic systems and their energies, all while uplifting and empowering those who are most marginalized in our communities.