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THREE OF PENTACLES
The 3 of Pentacles is about putting effort towards building something tangible and long-lasting – something bigger than the sum of its parts, whether it’s a project or a space. It speaks to collaboration, asking us to understand our unique skills and abilities. Beyond a capitalist understanding of productivity, this card draws our attention to what we can contribute and put into the world, brick by brick.
STRENGTH
Strength is card 8 of the Major Arcana, often depicted by a figure with a lion, and is astrologically connected to Leo. When we let ourselves fully embody Strength, we integrate both fire and water, courage and vulnerability. Embodying Strength means working towards the courageous act of pure self-acceptance—giving ourselves permission to express conflict, sulk in our feelings, shout love, be brave. All without shame or guilt.
PAGE OF CUPS
The Page of Cups combines Earth and Water to form a reliable, imaginative, intuitive, and tender energy. I see this Page being very open to receiving messages and following inspiration. In the RWS depiction, they hold a cup with a fish, representing creativity. How fitting is fisherman Kim Seokjin as our Page of Cups?! Jin’s childlike playfulness and love for fishing led to the banger SUPER TUNA, which has resonated with children and adults alike. I love him as a reminder to let ourselves dream freely and share joy!
FOUR OF WANDS
Like all the Fours, the Four of Wands represents a natural pause. It’s a moment to breathe, to reflect, and appreciate your efforts thus far. Let’s face it - starting a new project or journey takes a lot of work and energy. It’s relatively easy to come up with new ideas and passing inspiration, but actually finding the motivation to put them into action is a feat in and of itself.
DEATH
It may surprise people, but Death is one of my absolute favorite cards in the tarot deck. There’s been a great deal of fear and superstition created around this card by pop culture and media - how many times have we seen an occult-inclined show where someone pulls the Death card and has their doom foretold?
EIGHT OF SWORDS
The 8 of Swords, like its siblings in the other suits, is about choice and having faith in the process of change. Often, it depicts situations where we’re kept stuck by our own thoughts, fears and lack of perspective. Our brains are wired to feel that what’s familiar, even if harmful, is safer than the alternative of the unknown, and this card asks us to work on rewiring those patterns so we can grow.
Two Years with Map of the Soul: 7
It’s hard to believe it’s been two whole years since Map of the Soul: 7 was released. With the exception of The Remix That Shall Not Be Named (which I have hidden on all my streaming services so the album can end with Outro: Ego as nature intended), I truly believe MOS7 is a perfectly constructed album from start to finish, both musically and emotionally. The journey that it takes you on through different genres and different aspects of the self is devastating and uplifting all at once. Therapeutic, I would call it - which makes sense, given that the album’s entire concept was modeled off of Jungian psychology.
PISCES SEASON
Happy Pisces season! This is the first one in a few years where Jupiter is guiding the Sun from its home sign. It might feel more possible or necessary to dream, grow, create, learn, explore, collaborate, and fantasise as the Sun shines a spotlight on the Pisces part of your life.
Happy Birthday j-hope!
Happy Birthday to our dearest Jung Hoseok aka j-hope aka uarmyhope aka Hobi! There’s so much to gush about over this Aquarian and Piscean king. Hobi is the dictionary definition of our hope, a human battery, our source of the best candid photos/videos (Hobi gallery!), and owner of the most infectious laugh.
THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Whenever I draw The Wheel of Fortune for myself or others, I find that it’s usually this invitation to check where we’ve tightened our grip to avoid the negative. Where we’re clenched, where we’re hoping to stay in control of flawless outcomes. We want to seize the wheel and control its direction, rhythm, and velocity so that we don’t get hurt.
THE EMPRESS
Whenever The Empress appears in a reading, I take it as a sign that it’s time to get a little bit wild, to get my hands into the metaphorical dirt and see what grows. The Empress doesn’t search for beauty with the hopes of capitalizing on it, they indulge in beauty and pleasure for the pure joy of the experience. When they work on an artistic endeavor, it’s because they simply have the urge to create, not because they are working toward a larger goal. This card is a reminder to be in the moment, to see what gems you can unearth without even trying.
THREE OF SWORDS
The image of the 3 of Swords is perhaps one of the most striking in traditional decks. We see a heart pierced through by three swords against a rainy background – not the most comforting imagery. And it is a challenging card, but it’s no omen of doom.
Artist Feature — Anaïs C.
What led you to BTS?
I first heard about BTS when they released Boy With Luv. I was listening to Halsey a lot back then, but I didn’t really pay attention to Bangtan. To be honest, I remember telling a friend while watching an old YouTube rewind "I don't get why kpop is such a big thing. No one's talking about it around me, I don't recognise myself in their music. This is loud," or something like that. I was listening to a lot of rap back then and I think it just didn't suit my taste.
ACE OF CUPS
Aces in the tarot represent an invitation to receive, to open ourselves up, to start a new beginning. For the Ace of Cup, our cup is overflowing, bursting forward with feelings of abundance, love, joy, and euphoria. I personally see it as the feeling you get when you don't know the destination, but you don't care because you trust yourself. You know you are inherently worthy to love and receive love. The Ace of Cups marks the journey to indulge in creative time, nurturing our bodies, and seeking comforts and joy of any scale.
Tarot Reader Feature — Kirstin Wu
I was casually aware of BTS from around 2019 – I’d watched a couple of videos, but never fallen down that rabbit hole we know so well. I think part of me held off, knowing it wasn’t something I’d be able to just put down once I took the leap. For a while I just absorbed snippets of information from ARMY friends, including fellow astrologers like @charmastrology and @alicesparklykat. I still remember Charm’s use of Jungkook’s chart as an example in an Astrocartography lecture!
FIVE OF WANDS
No journey is ever completely smooth sailing, and Fives represent one of the most difficult points in any of the suits’ cycles, a moment of conflict, frustration, and tension. In the case of the Five of Wands, it’s a conflict of vision that can manifest in a number of ways - your goals not aligning with the goals or opinions of those around you. Your vision for what you want to create being out of sync with the reality of what you can currently achieve. Your own mind being pulled in multiple directions or being undermined by self-doubt, lack of focus, or any other internal demons that rise up to tangle the metaphorical bicycle spokes of your motivation.
Artist Feature — Ba
What led you to BTS?
Prepare for vulnerability...
On New Year's Eve 2017, I headed out to the bar after eating dinner and spending an evening with a family I tend to share a holiday with. They turned up the TV as they settled in for the night and BTS were performing "DNA" and "Mic Drop". Catching my eyes immediately, I didn't need to know who they were yet to be amazed that a Korean group was performing from LA – for Times Square!
THE LOVERS – you got me // i got you
VMin as the Lovers?? During a collective 💘lovers💘 year?* Stunning! Actually groundbreaking! We absolutely love to see it.
Number six in the major arcana – and, in many figurative decks, the first card in the deck to feature two figures – the lovers is often aligned with the mercurial duality & (self)-twinship of Gemini. Big Mikrokosmos – “you got me // I got you” – vibes.
ACE OF PENTACLES
As Anaïs said, a seed is the perfect symbol of the Ace of Pentacles to me. In truth, I often say that of all the Aces, but when it comes to this suit, I mean it very literally. As the first cards of the four suits, they are often described as the pure energy and potential of a suit. A divine spark; a drop of springwater spilling from underground rock; the first gust of wind clearing the sky. They carry the information, memory, blueprint and fuel needed to sustain their growth. We have the choice to do with that what we desire.
AQUARIUS SEASON
Welcome to Aquarius season, ARMY! Broadly speaking, this is the season of originality, idealism, deep thinking, and visualizing for the future. Much to the annoyance of the Aquarians I know, most stereotypes of the sign portray them as alien oddballs who dance to the beat of their own drum and make little sense to other members of the zodiac. But in truth, Aquarius is a sign of revolution, of rejecting the conventions that exist only for the sake of the status quo, and of visualizing a more just collective future.