Ace of Cups
Hello from freakin' Narnia, man. What world is this? I live near the coast in Texas and it's 17°, but feels like -2° with the wind. This is a "once-in-a-generation" system apparently, but I guess someone forgot that we had this same bullshit in February (2021) when everyone's power went out because #Texas. <sigh> But I digress, I mean, look at our card today!
The Ace of Cups is a follow-up from yesterday's Fool (and on top of the Winter Solstice!). Geez, who could ask for anything more? (Well, it's Christmas in two days, and I'm pretty sure my kid could and will always ask for more...) The Ace of Cups is a card of new opportunities, particularly in the realm of squishy things like deep emotion, love, relationships, and emotional connections. So keep your security cameras on tomorrow; it sounds like someone may be kissing Santa Claus!
Message of the Day: Getting old sucks in a lot of ways, amiright? Metabolism slows, hair falls out and reimplants itself in weird and unwanted places, shit hurts, things droop and sag (like we all need reminding of these things). But one of the great things about getting older is our change in perspective and refinement of our system of values. We hold on to the things we value and discard the things that no longer serve us – usually, anyways.
If you take a kid to a new playground teeming with kids (more like watching a petri dish than anything), it's like less than five minutes before that kid has made a "friend" and joined in their playtime. Now send a 30-year-old to a conference on Digital IT Solutions and see how quickly (if at all) they make a "friend."
I know puberty is a massive turning point for kids and their social choices, mostly because of awareness and fear of judgment and rejection. But for adults, I dunno. Maybe it's the effort. Maybe it's because adults are messy and weird with soooo many different personality paths people can go down. It's probably also still that fear of judgment and social rejection. We have words for ourselves like "introvert" and "extrovert." Does Becky (with the good hair) tell the mom next to her "oh, Judy is such an introvert." No, she doesn't. That's an adult thing and sounds more like an excuse than a diagnosis.
So yes, maybe today's card is about you knockin' it with Santa tomorrow night (or one of his elves! Naughty!) or about some friendship you're on the cusp of forging. But to me - especially coming off The Fool yesterday - this is about looking at ourselves and identifying what is keeping us from taking advantage of these new emotional opportunities to create friendships, connections, and relationships (platonic or otherwise?) Where is our fear of judgment and rejection coming from and why do we still carry that with us? How can you find the middle ground between being an introvert and an extrovert?
Your homework for today then: Go out of your way and be social today. Smile at someone at the grocery store. Compliment someone's ugly-ass sweater. Take that uncomfortable step of doing something social you wouldn't normally do.
Decks shown above: