Today’s Overview:
Ah – a coffin, solemn and closed, casts a shadow – as coffins do. It rests beneath the 8 of diamonds as though waiting for someone to come for it.
It is hard to see this image without thinking it foretells loss and sorrow – and it may. Traditionally, the Coffin foretells a possible illness or loss, for you or someone you love. It does not generally represent your death. But it can represent the sorrow we feel over loss – not just loss from death, but loss of a relationship or another source.
It indicates, too, a loss of connection with life force, and the numbness and lack of vibrancy that loss brings – much as someone feels when someone close to them has died. If you’ve been at the bedside of someone who passes, particularly someone you care about, some of your life force goes with them, and it may be a while before you fully come back to life. Even without death, the Coffin can indicate a loss of connection to nature, the seasons, rebirth, hope, vibrancy.
It can indicate something you’ve buried – something that may be rising up to claim your attention again, like those gruesome movie scenes where a hand reaches up out of a grave, and grasps the ankle of someone living.
OK, enough of the negative aspects of the Coffin. It truly represents a change for the better, though not always an easy one. It indicates the end of a cycle, and always, an end that needs to come. In time, you’ll look back at the loss, see that you’ve healed from it, and that in some ways, it fertilized the ground for something new. It will help you mitigate the sternness of this card by looking at your Lucky Number, to see what area of your life may benefit from the change – the loss – that’s coming.
What in your life needs to go – something that is no longer positive, or was never positive? What relationship, job or situation is leaving you more and more demoralized – robbing you of your life force? Perhaps something that you once valued, and that you hope will return to the way it once was – your excitement over a new job that is now boring and unfulfilling. A relationship that looked so positive, initially, that has somehow changed. If you’ve been hanging on to something, hoping to breathe life back into it, the Coffin indicates you should face the inevitable. It’s done, it’s dead, it’s over. Bury it. Let it go.
Some cards appear on a day and they have a very noticeable but small and short-lived impact. Like – receiving an unexpected gift from someone, for no reason other than that they love you. Or losing a bet you were sure you were going to win – a few dollars that you just laugh ruefully about.
When the Coffin appears, the issue is never small. It appears when something has had major impact on your life, is draining you and needs to end.
Additional insight into the Coffin can be gained through its meaning in Numerology, where it is represented by the yin/yang flow of the number 8. Opposites – darkness and light, death and life, fire and water. The 8 of this card asks you to balance – to recognize the “otherness” of something that should not be in your life, bury it, grieve it, and then let it go.
If you have pushed against letting go of what needs to be released, the 8 supports you in being decisive and taking hard action. It’s time to advocate for yourself – the 8 energy is tough, and supports you in that. It supports you in making a decision your head and your instinct tell you is absolutely necessary, though you heart may not agree with it. In this situation, it may be necessary for your head to make the decision and take action, and then give your heart space to mourn.
In career and romance, the Coffin urges you to look unflinchingly at what you thought was possible, and recognize it is not possible. In health, look to your own health and the health of those you love. Follow up on those disturbing symptoms. Get caught up on your checkups.
Today’s Action Steps:
Ask yourself now, and quickly latch on to the first answer that comes to you: is there a problem you’ve buried, something you’re hiding from, rather than facing it full on? It’s time to face it. Hard as it is, it will be harder still if you don’t. For comfort, check your Lucky Number – it will tell you what positive force in your life can help balance today’s challenges.
Today may take an unexpected turn and an issue rise up unexpectedly that brings something to a head that needs to be addressed. Right now, tell yourself you’ll breathe – center – and remember it will all be OK. It’s just the cycle of life, of birth and growth and endings. Today, be prepared for small plans you’ve made – lunch with a friend, time in your pajamas with your favorite TV show tonight – to have to move out of the way for something bigger.
Do something today to get in touch with the life force. A walk in the park during lunch, time with a pet or a child, or indulge and buy yourself a bunch of fragrant flowers. Go outside, barefoot. Connect with the season, even if the season is cold and wintry. Life sleeps under the soil. Life is sleeping in you too. Wake it up.
Summary For Today:
Not every day is an easy one, but sometimes the hard ones bring the greatest gifts, in time. The Coffin asks you to bring balance to your life by letting go. So let go, and balance will be restored.
Affirmation: I align myself with the cycles of nature: birth, growth, ending, and birth again.
