In the card this week: practicality and whimsy

A healthy balance

This week's Minoan Tarot cards:

Priest of Rhytons: Practicality, hard work, responsibility, courage, doing what needs to be done - these qualities have brought you far. Lean into them this week to continue steadily on your journey.

Lord of Rhytons: It's OK to lean into your fanciful side once you've gotten the practicalities out of the way. In fact, daydreaming, being romantic, and expressing your emotions adds a healthy balance to life.

This deck is my creation, my art. Details and lots more card pix here.

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A brief explanation for all the new folks and a reminder for everyone else: my weekly two-card draw takes a particular form. The first card (the one on the left in the photo) comes from the top of the deck. It’s a straightforward reading about the issues and circumstances we’ll encounter in our lives this week, and how best to deal with those.

But the second card is a little different. I draw it from the bottom of the deck. It’s the Secret Treasure: the hint from the universe (deity, Higher Self, however you view that sort of thing) about how to find joy in these Interesting Times we’re living in.

I think we could all use a little more joy these days, don’t you?

This week, our first card offers a git ‘er done attitude: The Priest of Horns acts out the qualities of Earth in a mature and nuanced way, being practical, reliable, and responsible. This card reminds us not to take shortcuts, but to do things the way we know will produce the best result. This requires patience both with ourselves and with the other people, materials, and situations involved.

It also takes a certain amount of courage to do what you know needs to be done, especially if you’re surrounded by people who have differing opinions or who aren’t as enthusiastic as you are. This card is a reminder that you do indeed have that courage and are capable of pressing forward, even if the negative chatter in your head says otherwise.

The advertisement that exhorts us to Just do it doesn’t take into account all these other forces working against us, from inside and outside. So have patience with yourself this week. Stay grounded and centered. Stay practical and pragmatic. And do what you know needs doing.

Our second card this week provides a helpful balance for the Earthy Priest of Horns. The Lord of Rhytons reminds us that the Water energy in our lives includes whimsy and romance.

These days, it can feel like it’s all we can do to just get through the practical aspects of the day.

The Lord of Rhytons encourages us to find some breathing room for the softer, more emotional parts of ourselves - the parts that don’t want to git ‘er done, but that would rather daydream and fantasize, be affectionate or romantic, or even lean into the happily melodramatic (chivalry, anyone?).

So once you’ve checked off some of the items on your to-do list, try taking some time out for whatever flutters the lace curtains of your soul, whether that’s expressing romantic inclinations toward someone else in your life or simply feeding your own need for some soft-edged time doing totally impractical things that please you.

Remember, joy is vital. It’s not an extra, but a real need in life. So even if, like me, you’re tired by the time you’ve made it through the to-do list items you just can’t put off, take a breath and give yourself some time to express the Water in your life. You may find that it feeds your soul in a way that renews and refreshes you.

Both of this week’s cards are face cards. To me, the face cards sit at an intermediate level between the numbered Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana. They point not just to stuff that’s going on in our lives, but to aspects of our inner selves and how we put those aspects out into the world.

So this week’s reading isn’t just about what we do; it’s about who we are. I find it interesting that the two figures on the cards are facing away from each other. These two aspects of ourselves - the practical and the whimsical - can be hard to reconcile in our modern lives, where being constantly busy even to the point of exhaustion is encouraged and even demanded.

I see this dichotomy, this “facing away from each other” as a symptom of what’s wrong in modern western culture. Getting the practical stuff done shouldn’t be the enemy of the soul-feeding emotion-based activities. The two should be in a friendly balance in our lives.

How can we arrange our lives so these two can find balance and learn, perhaps, to look toward each other instead of away?

I’d like to ask you all a question: All along, I’ve been posting these weekly Tarot draws on Mondays. But because I’m in the eastern US, that means my posts don’t show up for my European readers until late in the day, when your week is already well underway. Mondays also tend to be hectic for a lot of us. So my question is: Would these weekly readings be more helpful for you if I posted them on Sunday instead? Please let me know in the comments!

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You can find the Minoan Tarot here, my books here, and my art here and here. I do apologize, but due to unpleasant activity from trolls, I’ve had to limit comments to subscribers only. I hope you understand.

About Laura Perry

I'm the founder and Temple Mom of Ariadne's Tribe, a worldwide inclusive Minoan spiritual tradition. I'm also an author, artist, and creator who works magic with words, paint, ink, music, textiles, and herbs. My spiritual practice includes spirit work and herbalism through the lens of lifelong animism. I write pagan / polytheist / magical non-fiction and fiction across several different subjects and genres. My book of modern Minoan myths is coming later this month in paperback and hardcover, with the ebook to follow. My Minoan title in the Moon Books Pantheons series is now available for pre-order and will be released on 26 August 2025. I’m also an avid herb and vegetable gardener and living history demonstrator (just in case you thought all I ever did was write books and make art).