Tarot Taps for Friday the 12th of September 2025

🔮 Tarot Tap for Friday, September 12th, 2025

Present Five of Cups

A figure stands cloaked in sorrow, eyes fixed on what’s been spilled. This card doesn’t hide its grief it’s the embodiment of regret, disappointment, and focusing on loss. Psychologists call this negativity bias: humans remember losses about twice as strongly as equivalent gains (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). It’s why rejection stings more than praise heals.

But the card whispers: not everything is lost. Two cups still stand upright. That’s the lesson of cognitive reframing choosing to shift attention to what remains rather than what’s gone.

“Grief is the price we pay for love.” – Queen Elizabeth II

“You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.” – Jan Glidewell

“Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.” – Bernard Williams

Loss is at the center. This card often pulls focus to what’s gone wrong rather than what’s still standing. It’s grief, regret, or even the feeling of being let down. 😔

But notice two cups remain upright. The present energy is about learning to pivot your gaze from the spilled wine to the vessels still full.

Helps/Hinders King of Cups

This is the reminder emotions do not have to drown us. Get a strong hold on your emotional compass. The King of Cups reminds us it will help to stay calm in chaos, embodying what psychologists call emotional intelligence. Daniel Goleman defines it as “self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.”

When upright and strong, this King teaches that emotions are not to be denied but governed with wisdom. But his shadow can manipulate, suppress, or drown feelings instead of channeling them. The help is clear: use emotion as a guide, not a weapon especially to enslave our own self.

“He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.” – Confucius

“Feelings are much like waves: we can’t stop them from coming, but we can choose which ones to surf.” – Jonatan Mårtensson

“The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost

Emotional maturity is both your ally and your test. The King of Cups suggests while keeping compassion, patience, and measured reactions to not just others but yourself as well and your allies. If you embody his steadiness, you’ll ride the storm. If you slip into his shadow, emotions may be manipulated by another or suppressed instead of healed. You will likely lash out at the wrong people. Remember you have a choice to be the anchor or the storm...depends how you play it‼️

Past Nine of Cups Reversed

Stop believing the hollow victories or false temporary satisfactions that have left you wanting but never deliver and never will....past behavior will most likely always show you what the future holds.

This wish card, everything you have been wanting, waiting for... you are now noticing everything seems to be turned upside down. Something you thought would fulfill you didn’t.

Psychologists call the hedonic treadmill: humans adapt quickly to good things, and satisfaction fades. It might have been indulgence that soured, or a dream that didn’t hold up under real weight.

“Beware of what you set your heart upon for it shall surely be yours.” – James Baldwin

“There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it.” – George Bernard Shaw

“The chief cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.” – Eckhart Tolle

The “wish card” turned upside down shows past disappointments. What you thought would fulfill you didn’t, or what seemed like a dream soured. Reversed, it’s indulgence that left you empty, or a promise of happiness that didn’t quite deliver. What once felt like “enough” begins to feel ordinary, or worse, disappointing.

Root Four of Swords

This card is a call to retreat the psyche demands the much needed rest. It’s burnout, rest, or enforced stillness. Neuroscience tells us that during sleep and deep rest, the brain processes trauma and regulates stress hormones. Without pause, cortisol floods the system, impairing decision-making. This card at the root says your foundation right now is recovery mode.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” – Anne Lamott

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day… is by no means a waste of time.” – John Lubbock

“Silence is a source of great strength.” – Lao Tzu

At the base is exhaustion and a strong need for retreat/break. This foundation says you’ve been called to pause, rest, and regain clarity. Step away from the chaos, sometimes when we are too close we can't see the truth. Think about the BIG ELEPHANT in the room. The spread is built on a soul that has been forced into stillness to heal.

Crown The Moon Reversed

When the Moon reverses, illusions unravel there is a light being shined on what has been hidden.

Denial crumbles. In psychology, this is the dismantling of confirmation bias the tendency to only see what supports your preferred story. We choose to see only those things that keeps our safe story going sometimes even if it isn't the truth.

Now, fog clears. It’s uncomfortable, but clarity begins here.

“Truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” – Gloria Steinem

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” – Philip K. Dick

“Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.” – Sigmund Freud

At the top, illusions unravel. Someone is NOT being truthful full of lies and excuses.

The reversed Moon signals deception being revealed, or fog lifting. It may sting, but clarity is creeping in. Denial is harder to hold onto, and illusions are losing their grip.

Near Future Ten of Swords Reversed

So upcoming here in our near future spot is a sort of recovery from devastation.

Betrayal, endings, collapse has already occurred... this is the point of resilience!

Resilience is not the absence of hardship, but the art of rising again. Psychologists define it as the ability to adapt and recover after adversity, trauma, or prolonged stress. The American Psychological Association notes that while pain and disruption are inevitable, most people return to stable levels of functioning within months to a few years proof that survival is written into us. Resilience isn’t a rigid shield; it’s flexible, like bamboo bending in the storm. It draws from within optimism, problem-solving, emotional regulation and from without relationships, faith, and community. Viktor Frankl, who survived the Holocaust, wrote:

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

That is the heartbeat of resilience: not pretending the wound never happened, but learning to live with the scar as part of your strength.

Upright this is ruin, but reversed it signals survival, even renewal. Research by George Bonanno shows most people demonstrate resilience after trauma faster than expected. You may carry scars, but scars also mark survival.

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” – Rumi

“Fall seven times and stand up eight.” – Japanese proverb

Not the end of the world, but an ending nonetheless. Upright, this is ruin; reversed, it softens into recovery, survival, or the slow release of betrayal. The worst may have already hit, and now the healing is beginning, even if scars remain. Letting go slowly by seeing glimpses of the truth from the cracks of what broke.

You & Me Five of Wands Reversed

This is the end of the conflict! Either something is being resolved OR something is being avoided! But this card shows open conflict cools down. Psychologists warn avoidance can lead to unspoken resentment and hidden tension. Still, it marks a break in the chaos a truce, even if temporary... and that is why we choose to avoid.

“Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives.” – Dorothy Thompson

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” – Gandhi

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

Conflict subsides here. It’s less about brawling in the open and more about internal tension or competition. There could be avoidance of confrontation, or simply the weariness of constant struggle leading to temporary peace. Ignoring the truth for temporary peace.

Outside Eight of Wands Reversed

Everything is in slow motion around us, the outside influences...someone is not really communicating the truth, making no progress at all. Almost like skating by doing things to temporary get by. Stalling and going nowhere but wherever they land. Look at all the delays and blocks around. The environment is slowing you down as well. In behavioral science, this resembles decision paralysis. Too many options, too much uncertainty, and the result is stalled progress.

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” – Aristotle

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday.” – A.A. Milne

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” – Leo Tolstoy

Delays, blocks, and frustrating stalls surround you. External energies slow everything down communication misfires, plans stuck in the mud. The world outside isn’t rushing forward; it’s jammed.

Hopes & Fears Knight of Swords

This Knight is sitting here right now in hopes and fears... Craving to act, wants and needs to charge a head long bold, unfiltered, with a sense of urgency to get out of this uncertainty. The hope is for clarity, truth, and swift action.

The fear is too rash, living in a moment of recklessness, words flying too sharp saying things they shouldn't say or too soon not thinking them through out of fear. Someone is burning bridges that matter; burned in haste.

In psychology, this is cognitive urgency: when uncertainty feels unbearable, we rush decisions to escape the tension. Leave and give up.

“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.” – Seneca

“Speak only if it improves upon the silence.” – Gandhi

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

You want action and clarity, but you fear recklessness.

This Knight charges hard, and there’s anxiety about being swept away too fast. Someone may fear of losing who they think they should be and wants to control and if they can't leaves.

There is still a strong hope for decisive movements and words spoken to be deliveredin truth. But, we need to be honest with the person who matters the most, yourself ‼️

Outcome Ten of Wands

The final card: a heavy burden carried forward. Psychologists call this role strain: when responsibilities pile up across the roles we inhabit parent, partner, provider, caretaker, friend. The APA reports that 80% of adults feel overwhelmed by daily responsibilities, and chronic overload is one of the biggest predictors of burnout.

This card does not say collapse is inevitable it says the load is real, and it must be managed. Some weight is yours to bear. Some must be set down. Someone is carrying all of it while others run away, hide or escape.

“You don’t have to carry it all.” – Brene Brown

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James

“Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.” – Barbara Kingsolver

The load is heavy. This ending shows responsibility, pressure, and the weight of carrying too much alone. The lesson is clear: you can carry it, but you’ll need to decide what’s worth bearing and what must be set down. The journey continues, but the pack is full. Get rid of some of that load don’t carry extra baggage especially someone else's.

Patterns & Takeaway

Two Fives → change and conflict. Transition.

Two Tens → endings, release, and the burdens that remain.

Moon reversed + Ten of Swords reversed → illusions breaking, healing beginning.

Heavy Cups + Swords energy → the battle of heart and mind.

The psychological story is clear: you’re moving through grief, illusions breaking, burdens being revealed. Recovery is coming, but not without weight. What you choose to carry and what you finally lay down will shape the next chapter.