A cropped illustration of the Knight of Wands tarot card from the classic Rider-Waite-Smith deck. The image shows a knight in full steel armor wearing a bright yellow tunic patterned with black salamanders and a helmet adorned with a large, flaming red plume. Riding an orange-brown horse with a fiery mane, the knight holds a wooden wand sprouting small green leaves upright in his right hand against a pale blue sky. — A crop from a Knight of Wands tarot card Credit: bigjom jom / shutterstock

Dear Oracle,

I’m a musician. I’ve been writing songs and recording on my own for years, and I definitely have a “sound.” But I’m thinking about branching out and experimenting. My problem is that I’m a perfectionist, so the idea of making something that’s bad and not knowing how to fix it seems daunting. Any advice?—Sound Advice

Cards: Knight of Wands (reversed), The Emperor, Full Moon, The Fool

Dear Sound,

Writer and Friend of the column, Harry Crews once remarked that he once threw away half a novel. Just made a wrong turn and tossed it. He said: “The armature, or the coward, will try to keep it and make it work because he doesn’t want to do it all again another way. The real artist—with no tear in his eye or sadness in his heart—puts the pages in the fire, and does it again.”

As the Knight of Wands, I think you are a real artist. I think you have the drive to create and the wisdom to know when something cannot be saved. But perfectionism makes one into a coward.

Every artist worth their salt has worked hard, made something awful, chucked it, and started again. I know it’s difficult to feel this way as a perfectionist, but the best way to learn how “to fix” something is just to be prolific at it. You just gotta make a lot of shitty new stuff to see what fails first before you learn how to make it better. You just have to start.

And the time to start is now. The Full Moon is a card of action, of putting plans into motion, so if there was ever a time to begin, it’s now.

The Fool and The Emperor are opposites in a way. The Emperor is in control; he has the experience to back up his authority and knows his own mind and what needs to be done. The Fool, on the other hand, is the happy naïf taking his first steps into the unknown. He has what Zen Buddhists call a “beginner’s mind.”

You became a musician with an established sound not only because you worked at it and had talent, but because you mastered certain skills. Those skills are probably transferable to your new sound. Maybe not completely, but surely it’s not entirely foreign. It might take a while, but you’ll pick it up quicker than you think.

Now, as The Fool, you get to start on a new path. The downsides are that it might cause some frustration, but the upside is that going into a new art blind is fun! It’s fun to fuck around with stuff, to see what you can do, what you can build, how things work together. You are too new to have any real expectations from yourself, so there are none. That’s freedom! It’s so rare to be surprised by something new in your art; I really hope you get to relish it.

So go out, make bad art, have fun with it, and do it now.

Best of luck, my dear.

Send your questions to oracle@cltampa.com or DM @theyboracle on Instagram

Dear Oracle,

I had a “Before Sunrise” moment a few weeks ago in Paris. I met this girl, and we spent the entire evening/night/morning walking around the city and just talking. We met up the following few days, too, and had these incredible conversations and connection. We both said we had never felt this way before about another person. If I’m completely honest with myself, I’m in love. We parted ways but kept talking every day. But two days ago she just said that she “might have fallen in love in Amsterdam?” (WHAT THE FUCK???) What am I supposed to do with that?!—Sunset on love?

Cards: The Hanged Man, Waxing Crescent, Nine of Swords reversed, King of Cups reversed

Dear Sunset,

You gotta fucking tell her how you feel, man.

Everything about this situation is over-the-top romantic; you just gotta fall onto the sword of Love and hope the Gods take mercy on you. This is big Hanged Man energy: he’s a martyr with a bursting heart who’d rather go out hangin’ than deny his truth.

But, you know, workshop your declaration of love first. The Waxing crescent is about gathering what we need to manifest our desires, so while you know your own heart, there might be better phrases to express those desires. Maybe show a draft to a trusted friend.

Of course, the Nine of Swords and King of Cups show how incredibly anxiety-inducing this is, how if you really felt that connect and that spark of love, you don’t want to let it go. There is a cruelty in the first stages of love; it’s what causes that distinct pain of a heart softening. It’s precarious and painful but might lead to something brilliant.

If you’ve been single for a while (especially if you’ve had your heart brutally broken before) and you truly feel like Fate delivered you this great love, put it just within your reach, but could yank it away if you make the wrong move, then that is a place of terror and hope. I do not underestimate that pain.

But here’s the thing: if you don’t tell her, you still might never see or hear from her again. Your conversations might just fizzle out and since you informed me privately that y’all don’t even live in the same time zone, there’s little chance you’ll bump into her—unless Fate crosses your paths twice.

This is not you trying to win back an ex or someone who clearly said they don’t want to be with you. She didn’t know you existed three weeks ago; she didn’t know this Amsterdammer existed last week. Nothing is an established relationship yet, dude.

So, be brave and tell her. Write (and re-write until you’re satisfied or it’s been a week) your confession and send it off to her. Let her have all the facts so that she may act with a clear mind and heart.

May the Fates be in your favor, my dear.

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This article appears in August 20 – 26, 2026.