Here is a personal tarot sequence based on drawing one card a day that unfolded for me at the very start of the year.
- On Thursday, January 1st, I drew the Ten of Cups.
- On Friday, January 2nd, and again on Saturday, January 3rd, I drew the Ten of Rods.
Across all three days, the Sun was in sidereal Sagittarius. What changed was not the solar backdrop, but the way solar meaning was mediated—through sign, card, and planetary day.
In my tarot system, these cards are not generic emotional or workload indicators. They function as solar placements:
- Ten of Cups — Sun in Pisces
- Ten of Rods — Sun in Sagittarius
Overlaying this is the planetary rhythm of the days themselves:
Thursday (Jupiter), Friday (Venus), Saturday (Saturn).
This rhythm clarifies how the sequence unfolds.
Ten of Cups
The sequence begins on Thursday, the day of Jupiter, with the Ten of Cups.
The Ten of Cups is often treated as a “happy ending” card, but in my system it functions as an emotional telos — a picture of how life is meant to feel when it is whole and internally coherent.
As Sun in Pisces, it represents identity formed through belonging, emotional coherence rather than personal gratification, and harmony that arises through acceptance rather than effort.
Drawn on Jupiter’s day – the ruler of Sagittarius itself – the Ten of Cups establishes not comfort, but orientation: a widening of perspective that tells the Sun where its effort is meant to lead. Meaning here is not found by staying enclosed, but by orienting oneself within something larger.
Seen this way, the Ten of Cups quietly implies movement outward: leaving the confines of habit, stepping into a broader landscape, allowing vision to reset. Emotional coherence is restored not by analysis, but by expansion.
Ten of Rods
On Friday, the day of Venus, the Ten of Rods appears.
In my system, this card is Sun in Sagittarius, and here it resonates directly with the sky. The Ten of Rods is about bearing responsibility consciously — choosing what is worth carrying.
Venus reframes the burden in terms of value. What is carried must be something one loves, or at least something one recognizes as meaningful. Strain without affection curdles quickly into resentment.
This is where the earlier Jupiterian widening becomes practical. Having stepped back, having regained perspective, one can feel more clearly which obligations are aligned with care and which are merely inherited weight.
On Saturday, ruled by Saturn, the Ten of Rods appears again.
Here the card sheds all ornament. Saturn tests endurance. What remains is responsibility accepted over time, carried without fantasy or complaint.
But Saturn also demands economy. What cannot be sustained must be set down. The body knows this before the intellect does. Walking, movement, and physical orientation are not escapes from responsibility, but tools for calibrating it.
The repetition matters.
- Jupiter opens the view.
- Venus tests alignment.
- Saturn decides what can remain.
Both cards are Tens. Tens mark completion – but of different kinds.The Ten of Rods (Fire) completes effort through weight while the Ten of Cups (Water) completes experience through harmony.
Placed together under a Sagittarius Sun, and sequenced through Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn, they articulate a simple law:
What is carried in fire must eventually be laid down in water.
Or more plainly:
The burden is not the point; belonging is.
This is not a year that begins in ease. It begins in responsibility to oneself. But the responsibility is oriented, tested, and bounded by a requirement for emotional coherence.
There is also a quiet warning here.
Sun in Sagittarius can over-identify with the quest. The Ten of Rods can drift into martyrdom.
The Ten of Cups, appearing first on Jupiter’s day, sets the limit:
- Do not sacrifice harmony for ideology.
- Do not let expansion outrun belonging.
- Do not carry what leads away from peace.
How This Ties In With The Sidereal Planets On New Year’s Day
What made this sequence stand out even more was how closely it echoed the actual planetary field on January 1st.
The Sun was in sidereal Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter, and Jupiter itself was active not as raw expansion but as orientation — asking not how far, but toward what. Mercury was also in Sagittarius, emphasizing perspective, movement, and thinking that happens best when the mind is not enclosed. Meaning wanted space.
This casts the Ten of Cups drawn on Thursday (Jupiter’s day) in a very specific light. Its instruction was not comfort, retreat, or emotional inwardness, but widening the field. Emotional coherence here comes from stepping into a larger horizon — sometimes quite literally. Getting out of the house, walking, letting the landscape interrupt the inner monologue is not incidental advice; it is Jupiterian calibration. Perspective restores proportion.
The following appearance of the Ten of Rods on Friday (Venus) and Saturday (Saturn) then reads as a natural progression. Venus asks whether what is being carried is aligned with value and care. Saturn asks whether it can be borne over time. Together they refine the Sagittarian burden, stripping away what is merely habitual or performative and leaving only what truly matters.
Seen this way, the sequence moves cleanly from orientation, to valuation, to endurance — all under a Sagittarius Sun ruled by Jupiter. The work is real, but it is not blind. It is carried with awareness of where it is meant to end.
Which brings the reading back to its central instruction:
Carry the fuel that fires your inspiration, but only as far as your true habitation.
