It is starting to really warm up in the desert—this week we will have our first day of the year of temperatures of 100F. As part of my new work-at-home morning routine, I set up a reading space right outside my office/bedroom, and put my little cactus from the old office on a cute table next to a comfy chair. As I sipped on my coffee this morning, I faced directly East, greeting the Sun as it rose. Today, the strength of the sunrays was considerably more noticeable. The warm days are upon us!

From an oracle deck, I pulled a card titled East (Feminine/Spring/Child/Fire). It felt so right for the moment, as I felt the fiery heat of our local star envelop my body with newfound intensity. The world feels like it is thawing, too. Regardless of the actual realities of the pandemic; people are just over it, and are starting to move about. The street behind my backyard is no longer mostly quiet. An uneasy feeling washes over me, as I feel like I am not done with my Hermit phase, not through with the inner goals that I had set up for myself during the period of isolation.

But, so is the reality of this universe: things in the world will start moving whether we are ready or not. After pulling the East card, from the tarot I pulled the Ace of Wands. How remarkably similar are these two! They both speak of sunrise, of warmth, of thawing. They both beckon us to wake up! And the King of Wands, the next card of this reading, beckons us to take the spark of the sunrise and to express it fully and completely in our lives. Wake up, and stand up!, they say. The Kings all have an earthy aspect. So, the King of Wands, being of the fire element, is both the sunrise and the mountains that frame the morning spectacle.

The sun is rising in our hearts. The tall peaks and hills are our body, our actions, our existence upon the earth. Let us be both sunrise and mountain. Let us be our most radiant selves. That is what life needs us to be.