Weekend Tarot 1.17.25: The Frozen Stasis of Pluto
The inauguration of Donald Trump coincides with an ominous astrological moment, and it would seem no one knows what to do.
Many American citizens will endure a rare, foreboding event this weekend; Pluto, that frozen avatar for Hades, wealth, and The Underworld will form a conjunction with our sun in Aquarius, capping off this country’s fraught Pluto return. Additionally, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as President of The United States for a second time in an unseasonably arctic Washington D.C., surrounded by creepy billionaires who fancy autocracy and Christian theocrats who fancy a time when men were men and women churned butter in either tight tops or pilgrim cosplay. (There seems to be some disagreement among the right on this.) Sometimes the astrology is so literal that there is little need to dissect it - life in America, and probably for a good portion of the globe, is about to change drastically because a group of international plutocrats have been given carte blanche to use Earth and her citizens like disposable batteries.
Anytime the sun and Pluto deal with each other, they overshadow the smaller, faster aspects in the sky, beneficial or otherwise. Apollo’s star is the traditional symbol of fathers, authorities, and kings, and a conjunction with him typically illuminates the qualities of his planetary sparring partner, who, in this case, is a dark god prone to destruction, obsession, and the perversion of power. It may not be long before those words replace the boorish, “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency, and truly, I wouldn’t be mad. At the very least, printing our money with, “Destruction, Obsession, and Perversion of Power” would hew closer to the beating heart of both my country and my countrymen.
Getting right to it; we’re fucked. For a quick refresher on just how fucked we are, consider that Roman Emperor Nero, he of wife-killing, slave-raping, populist infamy, had Pluto conjunct the sun in his natal chart, and his reign served as one harbinger of Western Rome’s destruction. It is understandable, given the circumstances, that many people in my country have spent two months in a state of shell shock, bumping from home to work like a bunch of decommissioned trolleys. Whereas the astrology is clearly illustrating the direction our leaders intend to take, this weekend’s tarot pulls engage more directly with the awestruck inaction of our populace. Collective anxiety has rendered us impotent as we move closer to something nebulous and terrible, so we are stuck staring at tiny screens, wondering when someone is going to do something. These cards present no answer in that regard; no Star, no Priestess, nor a vigilantes in capes are swooping in to solve things. Each card simply examines the details and motives behind our inaction. My hope is that diving into these pictorial representations of our brain space will shake something, anything, loose in our guts and remind us that no one is coming to save us. We’ll have to wake up and save ourselves.
Friday, 1.17.25
The Two of Rods is a variation on the traditional wands suit, traces of which remain via the fiery tiger lilies and brutish curvature of vintage surgical rods. There is optimism and drive in this card when it is upright, qualities typical of the zodiac sign Aries, whose initiatory zest kicks off the entire astrological wheel. When reversed, the Two of Wands is warning us of Aries tendency toward inconsistency and laziness when they are not immediately rewarded for their efforts. Fire signs like to win and hate to lose, so they will often prematurely abandon their designs to avoid the sting of defeat, even when failure is far from certain.
Fire signs can also lean too far into their hotter, less productive emotions, which does nothing but rile them up and tempt them to rashness and combativeness. Sodalite is a crystal known for cooling communication and prioritizing logic, reason, and rationality, indicating a need for these counter elements throughout the weekend. Too many intense feelings can jam up our intellect and produce the same outcome as someone who feels nothing at all - complacent stagnation.
Saturday, 1.18.25
A corvid has become one with a sword, possibly by violence, and seems now to be plummeting to an unknown, upside down realm of air and wind. The Ace of Swords reflects on the perils of miscommunication when it is reversed; the ways in which lack of clarity, or one small, misspoken phrase can skewer and doom even the best of intentions. Often, reversed aces indicate a thwarting of some kind; something that cuts short new ideas or avenues of speech before they can get off the ground. In this crow’s case, he has been stabbed immediately after take-off, ensuring we will never be privy to the message he carried.
Amber has been in use for centuries as a healer and cleanser, specifically for physical ailments like blood poisoning and toothaches. This petrified pine resin is also aligned with the sacral chakra and can help us embrace sensuality over stoicism, intuition over logic, etc. It’s possible that we will be given information that seems logical and forthright on the surface, only to break jarringly against our internal hunches. Sometimes those funny feelings we get are disturbingly accurate at predicting tomfoolery.
Sunday, 1.19.25
The Four of Cups shows up when we have no idea what we want, though the fanged figure in this image is downright lascivious. She is clearly sated on blood as red as her hair, yet continues to half-heartedly strain for a fourth, dribbling goblet. She reclines comfortably on plush velvet and seems to want for nothing, her mouth agape and her muscles apathetic, as though she can’t decide between a long nap in her crypt or more prolonged feasting. The result of her indecision is a liminal state where she achieves neither thing and remains ineffective, naked, and prone to a swift staking.
Bloodstone has a long history of grounding, practicality, and physical healing; ancient practitioners believed pulverized bloodstone applied in a poultice would safeguard wounds against infection. As a companion pull to the Four of Cups, bloodstone underscores our need to remain practical, and to shake off our apathy if we wish to protect our physical bodies from serious harm. The spilled blood of our lazy vampire and the accompanying red-flecked bloodstone may also be hinting at what’s to come if we do not motivate ourselves. Only time will tell.
Thank you for giving such an awesome and in-depth reading! I really love that you paired the energies of the cards with appropriate stones to attempt to balance and harmonize these energies.