
Monday, April 28, 2025
Waxing Moon
No Retrogrades
Hello! We are about to finish one month and begin another. We are about to celebrate Beltane, on May 1. The new moon was yesterday, and we are in Taurus season, which is about stability, security, and tangibles – a very pentacle-centric time, in the suits.
At the end of the week, Pluto goes retrograde until October 13th. From May 4 until at least March 2026, at least one planet will be retrograde, often more. Pluto will be retrograde in Aquarius, so it’s a time to rethink how we show up as individuals while being part of a larger collective. What old associations need to be released? Where are you “going along to get along” instead of standing in your truth? This particular Pluto retrograde will challenge us to examine this, and make changes that benefit us while also benefiting the community. Too often, we are fed the lie that those are in conflict, when in reality, we need to be our best and more truthful selves in order to bring that best into the community, so the community can thrive as a whole, while still supporting individuals. They are not mutually exclusive. Those who feed that line are doing it for their own agendas.
This month’s deck is the wonderful Mystic Mondays deck by Grace Duong. It’s modern, bright, and colorful, a great way to jump into spring. A fellow writer recommended this deck to me, and I fell in love with it. It reads very well, and the artwork itself communicates with strength and clarity. If you want to read more about Grace’s work (she has several decks and gives workshops), and buy the deck, you can do so here.
If you’re new to the weekly readings, this is a spread of mine. It’s read from left to right, 5 cards. Any card that needs more interpretation can be built into further, above and below, with either more tarot cards, another tarot deck, or an oracle deck.
These interpretations are mine, based on my experience, intuition and responses to the artwork. You may have a different experience. This is an overview of the week as it stands now; every decision we make from the moment of the reading can change the outcome. If there’s something in the reading that worries you, you have the information ahead of time so that you can plan, make better choices, or handle it differently than predicted for a better outcome. Tarot sets out possibilities, which you change through your choices and actions.
Left to right, the positions are as follows:
1. The Collective Energy of the Week
2. The Week’s Challenge
3. The Week’s Opportunity
4. The Week’s Stretch
5. The Week’s Comfort
The Collective Energy of the Week – 2 of Wands
The 2 of Wands is about making a plan that you can step into tangibly in the world as your future. The card itself shows the entrance to a path. It’s not a straight or flat path. There are ups and downs, hills and valleys. And we can’t see where it ends. We have to have the courage to take those first steps. So this week, let’s check that we have tools to start the journey, and soon we will take those first, bold steps. Wands are tied to fire, identity, and passion, so this road leads us to being better selves.
The Week’s Challenge – Princess of Swords
The Princess of Swords is smart, creative, and excited. She encourages us to speak our new ideas into being. Remember when the Ace of Swords came up in the April 14th reading? This idea has been percolating since then, and, partnered with the 2 of Wands above, it’s okay to talk about it now! So why is it in the Challenge position? Part of talking is listening, and since this is a fairly new idea, know when to talk and know when to listen to the responses. Even if you choose not to take all the advice in the exact way it’s given, really listen to see if something useful that fits your vision – or suggests something even more creative – is offered.
The Week’s Stretch – 10 of Pentacles
The 10 of Pentacles is about security, stability, and tradition in very tangible ways. You’ve achieved something and can enjoy the fruits of the success and share it with your community. Because we are living under such daily stress right now, it’s hard to remember or allow ourselves celebration for achievements. This card in this position reminds us that it is important and healing to do so, and gives us energy to keep on.
The Week’s Opportunity – 9 of Cups
The 9 of Cups is often called “The Wish Card” meaning something you wished for comes true. You’ve completed something creative and fulfilling, and can take a minute to feel good about it. This ties in directly to the previous card, the 10 of Pentacles in the Stretch position. Let yourself enjoy a wish coming true, completion of a creative project, a sense of fulfillment. You are not letting anyone down by enjoying your own achievements.
The Week’s Comfort – The Devil
How can this card be a comfort, especially since it’s so often viewed negatively? Because the Devil reminds us that we live in a tangible world. Take a look at the art on this particular card. It’s not an outside devil figure threatening anyone. It’s steps to the individual’s own mind. How often do we trap ourselves by overthinking? But there are also doors leading out to infinity. The Devil card in this position of comfort this week is further encouragement to celebrate the Princess, the 10 Pentacles, and the 9 of Cups. We live in a physical world full of pleasures, if we take the time to enjoy them. And, in such chaotic and stressful times, we need those moments of pleasure to renew ourselves. Once we are restored, we have the courage to step out on this new path indicated by the 2 of Wands.
Did something in the reading particularly resonate with you? Or did you intuit a different interpretation? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Next week’s reading will be in May, post-Beltane, in the Pluto retrograde, and we start the new month with a different deck. I’ve loved deepening my relationship with this deck over the month, and hope you enjoyed it, too.

The Collective Energy of the Week – Knight of Swords
The Week’s Challenge – 10 of Cups
The Week’s Opportunity – Queen of Swords
The Week’s Stretch – 5 of Swords
The Week’s Comfort – Queen of Pentacles
The Collective Energy of the Week – 4 of Wands
The Week’s Challenge – Ace of Swords
The Week’s Opportunity – Princess of Wands
The Week’s Stretch – 7 of Wands
The Week’s Comfort – 9 of Wands
The Collective Energy of the Week – 2 of Cups
The Week’s Challenge – Strength
The Week’s Opportunity – 9 of Pentacles
The Week’s Stretch – Knight of Wands
The Week’s Comfort – Knight of Pentacles
The Collective Energy of the Week – The High Priestess
The Week’s Challenge – The Magician
The Week’s Opportunity – The Lovers
The Week’s Stretch – The Hierophant
The Week’s Comfort – The Wheel of Fortune
The Collective Energy of the Week – King of Swords
The Foundation of this energy, in addition to the shift from opportunity to driving energy of the week, is What You Seek is Seeking You. It’s about inspiration and alignment. Since it is the foundation of this week’s energy, analyze your inspirations and see where and how you can align with them.
The Week’s Challenge – Page of Wands
The Growth from this work is Crossroads. The art depicts the intersection at 34th St. and Broadway in NYC, showing the Empire State Building in the background. There’s a choice to be made. But the Page and the King in the previous positions are indicating it’s not yet time to move on that choice, just analyze it and decide where your instincts lead. The “What You Seek” card indicates that the choice you make, when you are ready, will be the right one for the moment, although you may have further choices to make down the road. This ties back into
The Week’s Opportunity – Page of Cups
The Foundation for this is the Salt Bath, healing body, mind, and spirit with a salt bath, and letting the stress drain away with the water. It indicates that self-healing is part of the week, even if you then reach out to help someone else heal.
The Week’s Stretch – Knight of Coins
The Week’s Comfort – 6 of Cups
The Collective Energy of the Week – The Emperor
The Week’s Challenge – Page of Wands
The Week’s Opportunity – King of Wands
The Week’s Stretch – 5 of Swords
Exploring this card further, the growth possible from this conflict is Sound, Frequency, Resonance. Arguments and conflict run on sound and frequency. They leave a resonance. If something has been necessary but uncomfortable, or maybe reactive rather than supportive, how can you change the sound, frequency, and resonance of it? What have you learned from the way you handled or mishandled this conflict, and how can you apply it moving forward? If you’re feeling angry and upset, play music to use sound to change your own frequency and resonance. If you work with tuning forks or sound bowls, this is a good opportunity to spend time using them to change how you feel and your energy field.
The Week’s Comfort – The Queen of Swords
The Collective Energy of the Week – 8 of Wands
The Week’s Challenge – 10 of Coins
The Week’s Stretch – Death
The Week’s Comfort – 7 of Cups
This is reinforced by the oracle card below it, in the Foundation slot, Protection. Remember to protect your energy from those who want to siphon it off for their own purposes. You can protect your energy while still embodying the 10 of Coins community sharing card, even though it’s sometimes difficult to balance protecting yourself while being generous.
The Collective Energy of the Week – Queen of Wands
The Week’s Challenge – 9 of Coins
The Week’s Opportunity – 1 of Coins
The Week’s Comfort – 5 of Wands
Exploring this card further, the Foundation of this conflict and discomfort is Letting Go. This ties into the stretch card for the week of Death. Let go, make room. The art on it is even a leaf which could have come off the tree in the Death card. Right now, in all the chaos, it’s very hard to trust anything, especially our own intuition. There’s a lot of toxic positivity going around, blaming us for feeling scared. Now is the time, more than ever, to dig into our personal Queen of Wands and be who we are. Trust our own intuition. Clear away what’s not working to make room for what is. With the Venus retrograde and an incoming Mercury retrograde in a couple of weeks, it may not show up quickly. And the gap between the clearing out and the new possibilities can be scary. But we’ll be ready when it does. The 1 of Coins in the opportunity position this week indicates that it is already a seed, but we must make room for it to grow.
The Collective Energy of the Week – 5 of Wands
Digging deeper into this energy with the oracle, the Foundation of this is Challenge: Opposition. Again, that makes sense to the tarot card above it. We are being challenged inwardly and outwardly. We know we need to work as a group to solve the issues, but we each have different approaches, and finding a way to integrate the best of these so we can move forward as a collective is difficult.
However, the Growth from here is Creativity: The Alchemist. If we put in the (often exhausting) work. Like the Magician card in tarot, this card is about taking action to turn creative potential into reality.
The Week’s Challenge – The Patient Witch
The Week’s Opportunity – 9 of Pentacles
The Week’s Stretch – The Broom
The Foundation for this card is Cycles: Ouroboros, which makes sense to set the foundation for the Broom/Death card. We all live in cycles, by the month, by the season, by the year, by the time in our lives. Do we simply repeat the same cycle over and over again, or do we use each cycle to build something better? It’s our choice. Those choices are, however, often influenced by systemic oppression, which makes it important to relate back to the 5 of Wands in the first position, listening to each other and working together so we CAN make the next cycle better.
The Week’s Comfort – Justice
The growth from doing so is Unity: The Sacred Paradox. If we are honest with ourselves and know our own truths, we can take it out into the world in a positive, compassionate way to work for collective justice through unity. Every choice we make has a ripple effect, because of the connection between us.