In the cards this week: light and power

Not the municipal utilities kind, but the personal kind

We’ve got a couple of Big Players this week: the High Priest and the Sun. It’s been about a month since the weekly cards turned up two Majors, but before that, I had to look all the way back through my Tarot post archive to the month of May to find another pair of Major Arcana cards.

Maybe something’s up. We did just have a New Moon yesterday, and the month-ago double-Major draw also fell right after the last New Moon. I find this timing interesting.

The lunar calendar is one of the oldest human timekeeping methods, dating back to the Stone Age. We’ve been watching the sky for at least as long as we’ve been human, and the lunar cycle is one of the easiest celestial cycles to observe.

There are several different ways of reckoning the beginning of a lunation, but one of them happens to be the first sighting of the lunar crescent at sunset after the moon has been “dark” (the New Moon) for three days.

I tend to think this is one of the oldest methods of marking the beginning of a lunar cycle. It doesn’t require any astronomical calculations or any kind of formal calendar. It simply requires that you stand outside at sunset every evening until you see the moon again after it has been absent.

In Ariadne’s Tribe, we call this day the First Crescent Moon. For us, it marks not only the beginning of the lunar cycle, but also a time to do divination for the upcoming month. So I find it interesting that two months in a row, I’ve drawn Major Arcana cards right around the time of the First Crescent Moon.

Is someone trying to tell me (or us) something?

I want to clarify one issue before moving on, since I occasionally get this question: Yes, I do actually shuffle my deck and draw the weekly cards randomly. I don’t pick and choose. I have a little shuffling routine that I do, and then I pull one card off the top of the deck and one off the bottom. That way, we get a good look at both the more obvious and the less obvious aspects of the upcoming week.

In my photos, the card on the left is always the card from the top of the deck. The card on the right is always the one from the bottom of the deck.

This week, the High Priest is the top-of-the-deck card. This one was actually my starting point and inspiration for creating this whole deck, a story that I previously shared here:

In the cards this week: Direction and Balance

In this deck, the High Priest is all about having the tools you need and using them to direct your life the way you want and need it to go. You can see it right there on the card. He has all four suit symbols in his possession: the dagger in one hand and the rhyton in the other, with the labrys and horns waiting by his side. He’s well-furnished with all the tools he needs, so he can do whatever he wants.

But let’s be honest: Many of us don’t usually feel like we have the skills and resources we need to get where we want to go. And many of us aren’t even sure where it is we prefer to be headed in the first place.

Sometimes, just getting through the day feels like a major accomplishment.

Today’s second card, the one from the bottom of the deck, offers a possibility for solving this conundrum. The Sun speaks of a moment of enlightenment, the proverbial light bulb over the head that tells us where to go from here.

What if we really have what we need, really know where we want to go, and are just having a hard time identifying those pieces of information? Many of us are worn out from fighting our way through the chaos of these interesting times. It can be hard to hear that inner voice when the outer ones are shouting so loudly all the time.

The Sun is telling us that we have actually heard the little voice, though we might have dismissed it as unreliable or as offering unrealistic ideas.

What bright ideas have you had recently that you dismissed because you thought you couldn’t succeed? Because they were too outside-the-box? The Sun offers the possibility of basking in the light of those bright ideas and allowing yourself to be confident that you can actually do it, whatever it is.

Even in interesting times like these, the world is still full of possibility. Stand in that ray of sunshine for a bit and let it power your way forward.

This week's Minoan Tarot cards:

The High Priest: Who are you and what do you want to do with your life? You have many abilities; how do you want to use them to shape your life path? You're capable of more than you think.

The Sun: Let your light shine. If it feels like you've had an epiphany, you probably have. Believe in yourself; let your confidence direct you to the good things that are waiting for you.

---

My Substack is free, but if you’d like to support my work, you can find the Minoan Tarot here, my books here and my art here and here. I’m always creating more, so keep in touch!

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 Minoan entry in the Moon Books Pantheons series is now available for pre-order and will be released on 26 August 2025. While that process percolates along, I’m working on an illustrated book of modern Minoan myths. I’m also an avid herb and vegetable gardener and living history demonstrator.