A cropped photo of the tarot card The Tower Credit: Emzzzz / Shutterstock

Dear Oracle,

I am on the precipice of a great change: I am about to become a mother in just a few short weeks. My pregnancy has been a wild journey, and I’ve found myself turning inward and reflecting. I know my life is changing completely. It’s been hard to do all the things I love (travel, events, making art) while growing this baby, but I’m excited to see how the future unfolds. While I know I’m in for a new “normal,” I wanted to know if the cards had any advice on what to embrace in my new life as a mother and what to let go of.—Moon

Cards of What to Know: The Tower (reversed), Two of Wands
Cards of What to Embrace: Four of Swords (reversed), Queen of Wands (reversed)
Cards of What to Let Go Of: Four of Pentacles (reversed), The Moon (reversed)

Dear Moon,

First off, congratulations! I realize this column might reach you after the birth, so if it does, I hope it was successful, and everyone is healthy and doing well. If you’re still waiting on the arrival of your child, I hope things are comfortable, and you feel as ready as you can be.

The first thing to know about welcoming your first child into your life is that everything will be completely different. The Tower has come up before in this column in terms of pregnancy, and it really is an accurate description. It is the Big Shake Up; your life changes completely at lightning speed, and you can get whiplash. A lot of people find the change destabilizing: the lack of sleep, the anxiety, the trying to figure out why the baby is crying. It’s hard! But coupled with that destabilization is also hope.

The Two of Wands is a card of hope and abundance. Your hard labor (literally!) is beginning to come to fruition. It’s watching the growth of something joyfully. There’s more work ahead, but it’s about enjoying the moment. So while you are dealing with the Herculean task of new motherhood, you’ll also get to see this wonderful new little person exist. Their personalities emerge fairly quickly, and you get to meet your kid. It’s incredibly exciting!

Are you a Tampa Bay area local who wants a free tarot reading as part of this column? Send your questions to oracle@cltampa.com or DM @theyboracle on Instagram. See more of Caroline and learn about her services at carolinedebruhl.com

As you enter this new phase of life, it is important to recognize that life won’t bounce back to what it was before you got pregnant. This doesn’t mean you’ll never enjoy those things you valued before, but it will look different. At this moment, it is time for a serious rest. The Four of Swords is a card of going to ground and letting your ego go. This season will be a quiet time for you—both literally because you’ll have a sleeping baby and metaphorically. You’ll be forced to slow way down, and as those long hours draw out, you’ll learn how to move into your new identity.

You mention creating art and traveling, so it doesn’t surprise me that you may be learning how to become the passionate mother, the Queen of Wands. This queen is a protective mother, a mama bear if there ever was, but also a warm mother, one who’s creative and nurturing. You mention making art, and I think the Queen of Wands is the perfect representation of the artist-mother.

Over the next few months, you’ll learn to weave your artistic self with your mother self and become this whole individual. Since you’ll have a lot of quiet time on your hands, I’d suggest the book The Baby on The Fire Escape by Julie Philips. It’s a nonfiction book that looks at the lives of many artist-mothers and how they did both. (Note: many people will tell you that you cannot be both a great artist and a great mother. That’s bullshit. It requires a lot of finagling, but it can be done!)

As you are becoming the mother you’re meant to be, it’s important to remember that rigid expectations are not beneficial. There is a perfectionist streak to the Four of Pentacles, one that’s rooted in fear. Paired with the subconscious of the Moon, I think that you might cause yourself lots of unnecessary stress if you tried to hold yourself to an impossible standard. If you’re on social media at all, your algorithm has certainly been poisoned with a skewed version of motherhood and a bunch of people telling you how you’re going to fuck up your kid.

Even if you’re not, I’m sure you have thought about how your parenting would go. But it’s important to tease out what you actually value and what you expect to happen. I remember so distinctly my husband holding our two-week-old daughter and saying, “I don’t want us to be a Ms. Rachel house. I want her to listen to 1920s jazz,” and me wholeheartedly agreeing. Eighteen months later, we all knew every single Ms. Rachel song. It was an expectation that we wouldn’t do any screen time because what I valued was that she only be exposed to things that would help her brain. And you know what? Watching Ms. Rachel helped with that.

You will have to pivot multiple times in your parenting journey. You’ll have to figure out what’s actually serving you and your family and do it, even if it looks different from what you expect, even if it looks different from other people. Your life and family system is unique. It’s about finding what works for you all.

I will also say that the Four of Pentacles is also a card for therapy, and The Moon can be a card for depression. One in seven women suffer from postpartum depression, so it’s important to check in with yourself and get support if/when you need it.

This is going to be a completely new world for you. It can be exciting and terrifying and joyful and exhausting and hilarious, all in equal measures. I hope this journey is enriching and as smooth as possible.

Congratulations again, my dear.

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This article appears in Oct. 08 – 14, 2026.