Today's Tarot: Hierophant (learning, knowledge, information)

Learn and then do. Know and then act. Find out and then react. The Hierophant can be a tough taskmaster. He calls on us to know before we act. That can really cramp your style when all you want to do is jump in and get going. But, often when we do that, instead of coming up with the goose that laid the golden egg, we end up with egg on our faces.

Today isn’t the day to take a leap. Instead, today is the day to step back and observe. Note what is going on inside and out. If there is something you don’t know, look it up, wait for the information to become available. Ask questions. Study. Seek. Intuit. Know.

If you leap off the cliff before you know whether the water is welcoming or whether there are jagged rocks on which you’ll dash yourself, you are taking an unnecessary chance. Many days, I will say, it’s worth it. Go for it. Roll the dice. Play the game. Leap. Today, not so much.

At the very least, today I ask you to know your own motivations. Know yourself. Know what you want, need, and desire. If it’s a secret want, at least be honest with yourself about it. It does us no good whatsoever to lie to ourselves but oh we can be good at it. Our powers of rationalization kick our own butts all the time. If you see yourself rationalizing, stop. Step back and figure out why you are making excuses for yourself or for others around you. There is information for you even in that place of pulling the wool over your own eyes. Something is making you do it. Figure out what that something is and you will be most of the way to fixing it.

I tell my students to “know the rules before you break them.” Never has this been more true than it is today.