The short version
For anyone who wants the news before the tea is poured:
The Sun stands on the Seven of Cups from Thursday the 12th to Saturday the 21st. Seven cups in a cloud and a figure who hasn’t picked one: the daydream card, and the last of the three Scorpio cards.
Friday the 13th is the luckiest day of the month. Mercury, the Magician, turns direct in the morning on the Five of Cups, and Venus, the Empress, turns direct in the evening on the Four of Swords. Both cards turn upright on the board.
So look at all seven cups until Friday, and choose one from Saturday.
Mars, the Tower, catches up with Jupiter, the Wheel of Fortune, on the Seven of Wands late on Sunday the 15th. The cup you chose gets a hill to stand on.
The first quarter Moon falls on Tuesday the 17th on the Seven of Swords, and the Leonids peak that night. On Wednesday, the Moon reaches the Nine of Cups, the wish card. Her cards are in my Notes.
Mercury walks forward onto the Six of Cups on Saturday the 21st.
The slow ones hold their places: Saturn, the World, and Neptune, the Hanged Man, both reversed on the Two of Wands; Uranus, the Fool, reversed on the Eight of Swords; Pluto, Judgement, upright on the Five of Swords.
Your sign’s line comes next.
A line for your sign
The Sun is in Scorpio, so the Seven of Cups lands on a different part of life for each of you. Find your Sun sign. I’ve picked out the one cup of the seven I would look at twice.
Aries. For you, the seven cups float over shared money: the joint account and whatever is owed in either direction. Your cup is the one heaped with jewels, and half of that heap belongs to somebody else, which is the detail to settle. Mars, your planet, carries the Tower up the Seven of Wands and meets the Wheel of Fortune there on Sunday. Read the statements this week and keep the pen capped until Saturday. Be ready to defend your half, or at least the argument for your half.
Taurus. The cups hang over your partnerships, and the one to look at twice is the first, the cup with a face in it. You have spent a good part of this autumn talking to that face in your head. Venus, your planet and the Empress, turns direct on Friday evening on the Four of Swords, well rested, and from Saturday the real person is much easier to hear. Ask the question out loud.
Gemini. Yours float over the workday, the inbox, and the routines that keep you upright. Look twice at the laurel wreath, the cup of credit for work done, and at the small skull shadowed on its side, which is the price in hours. Mercury, your planet and the Magician, turns direct on Friday morning and reaches the Six of Cups on the 21st. Answer the email on Saturday. It says what it said the first time you read it.
Cancer. The cups land on pleasure for you: children, romance, hobbies, holidays. Your cup is the one with the face in it, and it may be a very small face that wants the same story read twice. The Moon, your planet, and the High Priestess turn first quarter on Tuesday on the Seven of Swords and reach the Nine of Cups, the wish card, on Wednesday. Make the wish, then book the thing.
Leo. Home and family sit under the cloud this time, and your cup is the castle on its rock. Mars and Jupiter meet in your own sign on Sunday, the Tower beside the Wheel of Fortune on the Seven of Wands with Strength presiding, so whatever you decide about the house gets real force behind it. The Sun squares the pair on the 18th and 19th, and someone will question the plan. Have the numbers ready.
Virgo. The cups hang over your words: messages, siblings, short journeys, the form that needs filling in. Look twice at the snake rising from its cup, which I read as knowing exactly what to say. Mercury, your planet and the Magician, turns direct on Friday morning on the Five of Cups, and the message you have been drafting since October settles on one version. Send it on Saturday, and keep it to three sentences.
Libra. Your own money sits under the cups, along with your sense of what you are worth. Your cup is the jewels, and this time the whole heap is yours to count. Venus, your planet and the Empress, wakes up in your sign on Friday evening on the Four of Swords. Open the accounts on Saturday with a pot of tea beside you. In my advising years, the accounts were nearly always kinder than the fear of them.
Scorpio. Happy birthday season. The Sun is on your card in your sign, and all seven cups are yours to look over. The one I would study is the middle cup, the veiled figure with the glow around it, which I read as the self you haven’t met yet. Mercury turns direct in your sign on Friday morning. On Saturday, choose one thing for the year ahead, and let it be the one that makes your heart beat a little faster.
Sagittarius. The cups float in the back room for you, the place of rest and of dreams at four in the morning. Your cup holds the dragon, and by the Sun’s light it is about the size of a house cat. Jupiter, your planet and the Wheel of Fortune, joins the Tower on Sunday, and the Sun reaches your sign on the 22nd. Rest while the door is still closed, and write the dreams down before breakfast.
Capricorn. Friends and committees sit under the cups, and the one to look at twice is the laurel wreath: the honor, the committee chair, the job they would love you to take on. Check its side for the skull, which is the cost in evenings. Saturn, your planet and the World, still lies reversed on the Two of Wands. The Moon crosses your sign from Thursday to Saturday on the Two, Three and Four of Pentacles. Say yes to two invitations and a kind no to the others.
Aquarius. The cups hang over career and public standing, and yours is the castle, the high seat on the rock. Pluto, who carries Judgement, stands upright in your sign on the Five of Swords, and the Moon meets him there on Sunday. On Tuesday, she turns first quarter in your sign on the Seven of Swords. Take the one offer you can carry properly and leave the others on the table.
Pisces. Faith, study, and far places are under the cups, so you have brochures. Your cup is the snake, the old sign of wisdom, and this decan means a teacher or a course worth the fee. The Moon walks through your sign from Tuesday to Thursday on the Eight, Nine and Ten of Cups: leaving, wishing, coming home. Follow her through all three. Neptune, your planet, and the Hanged Man still lie reversed, so keep the dream and leave the date open for now.
The Sun moved this morning, and tomorrow is Friday the 13th
Good morning. The Sun stepped onto the Seven of Cups before dawn, the third and last of the Scorpio cards.
You know the picture: seven golden cups floating on a cloud, each with something different rising out of it, and a figure in silhouette with one hand lifted toward the lot.
To me, that figure has always been somebody standing at a lit shop window after closing time. Everything is on show, and nothing can be bought until the door opens.
The door opens tomorrow, and I do love the date.
On my board, every planet has its own Major, and the Major holds the card of the days that planet is standing in. Mercury’s Major is the Magician, and Venus’s is the Empress, and both have been holding their cards upside down for weeks.
On Friday morning, the Magician turns the Five of Cups upright. On Friday evening, the Empress turns the Four of Swords upright.
Madame Fortuna counted Friday the 13th the luckiest date in the calendar, on the grounds that everybody else stays indoors and leaves the luck lying about.
So today is for looking. Press your nose to the glass and take in all seven. From Saturday you may go in and choose.
The ten days keep moving after that. On Sunday Mars reaches Jupiter on the Seven of Wands, which on the board is the Tower meeting the Wheel of Fortune on a hilltop.
On Tuesday the Moon turns first quarter, and that night the Leonids reach their peak: a modest shower, a dozen or so shooting stars an hour under a dark sky, and the Moon sets around midnight, leaving the small hours clear for them.
Mercury walks forward onto the Six of Cups on the 21st, and the Sun leaves Scorpio on the 22nd. This might be one of the more pleasant Thanksgiving timings, so if you are wavering about going, I’d say go. Just watch your alcohol intake.
Since the Six of Cups issue, Mars climbed onto the Seven of Wands on the 3rd, Mercury backed onto the Five of Cups on the 6th, and Monday’s New Moon landed on the Six of Cups with the Sun beside her.
If this is your first issue, welcome, and take the comfortable chair. Every numbered card in the minor arcana, Two through Ten, represents ten days of the year, and the Sun is on the Seven of Cups until the 21st of November.
Your sign’s line is up above, so nobody has to scroll past my lesson to find it. Below come the card and the lesson, then the board, where each planet’s own Major holds the card for the days it's in, upright when the planet moves forward and upside down when it's retrograde.
You need no astrology to follow along. I name every card as I lay it down, and the welcome post has the longer version. Click here to review.