THE SUN

Last Friday a friend and I visited Coney Island, and we found ourselves to be the only people there who weren't on a high school field-trip. While stretched out on the beach we noticed a strange commotion nearby. At first I thought the unrest indicated a fight or an accident, but then someone began beating a drum, and right there at the shoreline a strange sort of party began to commence. Imagine our surprise when suddenly a human being rocketed straight up out of the crowd, reaching an almost impossible height before falling back to earth. It turns out the kids had a blanket that they were using to fling people into the air and then catch them. The throws got wilder and wilder, and each time the crowd screamed louder and louder in jubilation-- though we were convinced it was all an accident waiting to happen. It was sort of frightening at the moment, but seeing these pictures when I got home made it clear who had the most fun that day. (Hint: not us!)

The Sun can be a frustratingly simple card to turn over in a reading. It's so cheerful and bright and plain that it's hard to accept at face value. If you have any specific question in mind, Tarot-ista Mary K. Greer interprets it as a "Yes!" card; certainly it radiates assurance and joy, a surge of energy that makes it dramatically easier to sense the love, strength, and hope that we'd like to think are always all around us. Consider these peaks to be these vacations from the trials and disappointments in life, a sort of cosmic tax-return that rewards you for the endurance and patience you've mustered in tougher times. This sudden enlightenment can be infectious, and can inspire changes that affect entire communities-- but to humorless outsiders you all might just appear to be reckless and naïve. Well, maybe you are! But while others frown from the sidelines and calculate risks, you're living life to the fullest and (temporarily) shedding your earthbound concerns.