these depths will not consume us ~ slow tarot 🌑 28º Sagittarius

This spread is carrying us through the turn of the year, a time of rest, reflection, and renewal. The Seven of Swords is crossed by the Moon, below is the 4 of Pentacles, to the left is the Six of Pentacles, to the right is the Queen of Cups, and above is Strength. Listen to the reading above to hear my perspective on these card positions.

What’s clear to so many of us, living through this time of crisis-collapse, is that the old modernist stories are myths.

The myth of endless growth, the myth of the human-nature divide, the myth of the prosperity doctrine, the myth of philanthropy. These myths have led us to a time of cascading crises and moral turpitude. People are afraid for their own safety, and in a culture of such weak community ties, we are willing to let our neighbors suffer in an effort to protect ourselves. Deep in our bones, we know that these strategies are futile in the face of the compounding collapse. No one is safe until we are all safe; no one is safe in a culture with such little belonging.

The Seven of Swords is a card of risk-taking.

A trickster-disrupter steals into an enemy camp and runs off with their weapons, dropping them along the way. The Moon crossing this card asks,

What are we willing to risk in a time of such confusion and uncertainty?

If we take risks based on the values and stories of the overculture, we are risking the safety of others for our own. We are okay with the vast disparities in wealth, resource distribution, status, and security – divides that appear to be widening daily. We are putting our heads down, holding our resources tightly, and hoping the crisis doesn’t come knocking, but it is already here.

In a culture like ours, we’ve grown accustomed to limiting our ability to truly feel the pain and suffering of our world. We harden, tighten, and grasp at what is ours (4 of discs), instead of opening to the horror and grief that results from our societal systems. So long as we continue to operate in this way, our current crises will continue to compound. The system ignores suffering and death, but we can no longer ignore it, we must engage in the work of grief so that we might open our hearts to this moment, in its entirety.

The Queen of Cups is a grief worker.

Her lidded vessel illustrates the treasures that arise from engagement with our deepest caverns of self. When we tend to our own pain with compassion and care, we are able to show up to the suffering of the world with that same tenderness. We know that these depths will not break or consume us, but instead serve a connective function; tributaries flowing through the darkness. In our shared pain, we find communion, and we find meaning. We find reason to take bold risks.

Strength is a card of nervous system regulation.

We do not tame a lion through brute force, but from the softness that can only come from a deep knowing of our own triggers and how to stay grounded in times of stress. If you have ever witnessed someone de-escalate a person in crisis, you know the feeling of this soft strength, and how skillful and embodied it is.

Disregulation is contagious. Social media companies have built entire algorithms to foment outrage because it creates engagement. After a decade of this, the current US government has adopted trolling as its official messaging style, delighting in the outrage generated by their abject cruelty, state violence, and white supremacist memes.

Polycrisis is overwhelming to the nervous system, resulting in hyperarousal, disassociation, and collapse (fight, flight, and freeze). In these states, we are confused and reactionary, unable to find the presence to make clear decisions. The astrological weather of 2026 indicates heightened and intense energies, a likely deepening of the polycrisis, and an organized response to broken systems.

In this moment, what is most needed, is for us to deepen our self-care practices, including grief work, and being with the raw pain of this moment in time.

When we no longer fear or avoid the wildness of our own emotions, we a better able to stay regulated and grounded through the wildness of any moment. Safety cannot come through external means alone. By all means, keep your go-bag packed, but don’t neglect nurturing the security that can only be found through greater embodiment and emotional presence.

The promise of this year is that a new way of engaging with our violent systems and toxic discourse will emerge, disrupting the tension of polarity. The Seven of Swords is this trickster genius principle at work, and the Moon reminds us that the duality at work in the world also exists within ourselves. For us to work with the trickster potential of the coming (Uranus in Gemini) cycle, we must be embodied and attuned to our self, and the coursing tides of our emotions.

Attuning to the needs of our own nervous system is a necessary and radical act in this moment.

Our ability to self-regulate is essential as we navigate the year ahead, in all its fiery potential and change-laden promise. Let the Queen of Cups connect you to your own emotional sovereignty by communing with your own pain, and with the grief of the world.

Bearing witness to all that has been lost can break open our hearts to fight for all that remains. Instead of letting our inner lions overrule us, may we stand side by side with them, emboldened and empowered to meet what lies ahead with clear heads and open, tender hearts.