Tag: energy

Q&A: Vibe Check

Q: I keep getting this feeling that something is wrong, but I can’t figure out what. It reminds me of how I felt right before the pandemic hit. Does this mean something terrible is going to happen again?

A: I dunno. Maybe

We’ve all heard/read my rant about how I can’t predict the future and neither can bits of cardboard with pictures on them a dozen different times….

At the same time, I hear you.

Depending on your political point of view, arguably something terrible IS happening. Multiple things. Really bad things.

That alone is enough to give anyone the creeps and make you feel like everything is just …. off.

The card is the Wheel. Some decks call it the Wheel of Fortune. If you look at it through an old school, predictive lens it gets very fatalistic, hopeless, victim of circumstance-y very quickly. I think the real message here is CHANGE.

Today’s card is drawing a little from the Moon card (natural cycles) and a little from the Death card (big permanent changes) but the emphasis is on change.

You are allowed to be in a bad mood. You are allowed to be tired, or worried or uncomfortable – regardless of whether you have a reason or a cause or not.

No, you shouldn’t write it off. Your instincts might be trying to tell you something. Inexplicable fears and worries might be our intuition giving us the heads up that we missed something. Use this as a cue to take another look, see if you can find a reason for this feeling that you missed before.

Writing off these feelings of unease or trying to get rid of it might not be the best idea, but neither do you have to live with it forever.

Some of my favorite second-look, figure out this weirdness strategies are very simple.

Probably the least fun one is to just let it happen. I forget who said it (Dan Harris quoting someone else maybe??) but as a general rule of thumb, emotions are very short-lived. Like 90 seconds short. That seems a bit rapid – fire to me. An emotional funk can haunt you for hours, or off and on for a day or two at the very longest. But normally, it is time limited thing. Let it come, let it go, learn from it, this too will pass. Remembering it is temporary is sometimes all it takes to turn down the intensity of worry.

One the most useful things is to make a plan for whatever is worrying you. We are living through the enshittification of life as we knew it, and it is impossible to plan in the middle of chaos, but any little bit helps. Decide what you want for lunch tomorrow. Check in with a friend, ask a family member how they are doing…anything. The Buddhists got that one right – action (and action plans) really do ease anxiety.

You mentioned COVID…

I think that’s your answer. NOT that another pandemic is coming, but remember when we talked about resonance? Remember how we said energy sensitive people can vibe so strongly with the energy environment that it feels like the fear and worry is their own and not a by-product of the energy soup we swim in every day? Just like pollen can get in your hair from just walking around outside, you can stuck energy muck too.

One of the things this feeling of unease is asking to figure out is whether the source is you, or your resonance.

Try this.

Sit cross -legged on the floor or if you are in a chair, cross your ankles. Then lace your fingers together. This seals and strengthens your individual energy on a grounded, physical level.

Now, lets bring imagination online to help your mental and emotional energies a little. Imagine you are sitting in the middle of a force field or a clear crystal ball. Get comfy in your mental hamster ball of invincibility. If it helps, decorate that mental space with things that usually make you feel happy and empowered – put symbols on the sphere, see a mug of coffee beside you, play heavy metal music – whatever you like.

Now, with that posture and those images mentally in place….what does that do to the feelings of dread and worry? Are they still there or are you pleasantly surprised to learn “HEY! IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPY IN HERE!!”

If this mental & emotional shielding exercise dials that worrisome feeling WAY down, chances are it is a function of resonance. Take a hot shower, or whatever other grounding, centering, clearing things that you like to do. My hunch is that a nice long shower with a clear-your-energy intention might just do the trick.

If the worry is coming from inside the force field, if it is inside the house so to speak…then it is back to understanding an action-planning. THAT is when an ‘action eases anxiety’ tarot layout might help.

Either way, no, this doesn’t mean something terrible is about to happen. Yes, it does mean your emotions are asking you for some attention. Either way, this vibe checks with the message I’ve heard from so many sources about the solar eclipse today, and this early August season in general: stop, watch, understand then act after the energy – um- changes on the other side of the eclipse. The mood will change, always, but you can shield and check the vibes any time you need to.

Take good care of yourself.

Thanks!

Like what you read on Sage Sips? The blog isn’t monetized. With your help, I can keep Sage Sips free and open to everyone without ads or paywalls. Buy me a virtual coffee on ko-fi and proceeds go toward just that, PLUS $1 of every ‘coffee’ goes to a food security, wellness or civil rights group. August 2026 supports World Central Kitchen, including their work with wildfire disaster relief in the western United States.

Modern Art!!

Energy path layout: Fading emerges, current energies, growing energies

Modern art!

Just for a fun comfort watch, we’ve be re-watching the Peter Capaldi seasons of Doctor Who. When Matt Smith left and Peter Capaldi came into the role, I wasn’t sure what to think as is the case for most Doctor Who fans when regeneration time comes around. Then they showed the old “Fires of Pompeii” episode where Capaldi had played the role of Caecilius the marble merchant. When toga-clad Capaldi raised his arms in a BEHOLD gesture and declared the Tardis to be “MODERN ART!” I’m like ok, ok…he can be the Doctor now.

If Tom Baker was the Doctor you wanted to be your dad, David Tennant was the Doctor you wanted to be your friend, and Matt Smith was the Doctors you wanted to be in your family, then Peter Capaldi was the Doctor I wanted to BE.

Why is my Whovian fan-girl side bringing up this obscure Doctor Who reference? Because Caecilius’ enthusiasm is exactly the vibe for this week’s reading.

When the world is on fire, sometimes you have to indulge in something you enjoy just to support your own sanity. Extra credit if it is something easy, simple and close at hand, like watching a favorite TV show or allowing yourself an extra scoop of ice cream. Or a beer. Or six. Or eating an entire cake with a spoon. Double extra bonus points if you have a sense of humor about it. Why not express yourself in the quirkiest, happiest most playful way that you can?

This is a week for passionate artists and creatives. It’s giving me itchy knitting fingers. Wait until you see this new hat pattern.

The fading energy card feels like early week energy. There is a ‘ get while the getting is good’ vibe about it. If you are feeling inspired, act sooner rather than later. This is the knight of cups after all. Knight cards are all about action. Cups are emotions. Grab the chance to express yourself and how you feel as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Don’t wait to appreciate your modern art!

The current energy card feels attached to the later part of the week. Sword cards are more precise and intellectual than cups, but they too can hint at action. Swords are connected to the classic element air, and the single upright sword on the ace card has a sweeping, lifting, rising energy. The word INSPIRATION comes strongly to mind here. If you have been in a creative slump, or feeling uninspired in any context, keep your eyes open and be ready, that may turn around soon. Inspiration is on the way, it seems.

For those of us who have had to focus on practical, mundane day-job energies, the ace feels more like getting a second wind. It is a hint of revitalizing an old project rather than beginning something new. Which energy carries the week for you depends on where you are starting out today (Merry Monday everyone!) If you are coming into the week fresh after the weekend, then fresh starts ahead. If, like me, you have a weekend work schedule hang in there. A fresh gust of wind beneath your wings is on the way.

The Chariot from the major arcana is the card representing growing energies. This also gives the impression of movement and flow through the week as a whole. The mental image here is of waves on a lake, as opposed to heavy surf on an ocean beach. This feels like movement and self expression, but gentle forward movement instead of a tidal wave.

There is absolutely no logical reason why, but clear quartz points and herkimer diamonds come to mind too. Lore around clear quartz is that it is an energy amplifier. Quartz points, especially tourmalated quartz (clear with small spiky inclusions of black tourmaline) are thought to support guidance (the spikes and points symbolize something ‘pointing the way’ for us.)

The keys for the week are self expression, creativity, art, increasing energy, and gentle forward progress.

So go, make life into your own work of modern art.

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Low Tech Ritual

Also on Sage’s Second Cup blog

Our hot water is out.

Sure, I’ve done my fair share of complaining about boiling water on the stove to keep us and the kitchen sanitary like I’m Ma Ingalls and this is 1826 or something. That’s in spite of the fact that I’m doing it in an air conditioned house with an electric stove and not over a wood fire in some hovel hole of a cabin in the wilderness. I LIKE it here in the future with electricity, indoor plumbing and whatnot.

But you know what they say about clouds and silver linings. Or as author Richard Bach put it “there is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands.”

Hmm. Maybe that plus the narrow mountain top ridge image from the “Summit and Crossroads” and “Move with Charisma” tarot readings is a solid hint to re-read Bach’s Illusions or finally get around to reading The Razor’s Edge. That’s idea, too. Book reviews over on Second Cup – but none of that is the point. Back to the hot water thing.

The problem with the stovetop hot water is that it is a sloooow way to do things.

The beautiful part of the stovetop hot water is that it is a slow way to do things.

I especially noticed it bathing. The slow acts of putting the water on to heat, cleaning the sink, moving the soap from its usual shower spot to a place on the countertop within reach; trivial things to be sure, but it takes on an almost ritual-like quality.

It was a mindfulness trap.

Without intending it, it dropped me into a meditative mindset. Instead of quick, thoughtless and profoundly mundane, I found myself engaging with the moment. It wasn’t the usual quick hop shower. This was a thing.

The same can, and does, apply to Tarot reading.

It doesn’t matter what you ritual IS – it matters what your ritual DOES.

Whatever your process or ritual, it shifts you from the everyday world into an engaged frame of mind. The ritual and process of a Tarot reading shifts us from mindless to mindful. Whatever your ritual, habit or process might be, it makes tarot reading into a thing.

Spirit speaks in whispers. Tarot and its attendant rituals, even the casual ones, helps us to hear those whispers.

Using a reading cloth, or a particular shuffle pattern, having a dedicated space, lighting candles or incense or whatever you do when you do a reading all has the effect of slowing down our normal pace. Those objects and activities aren’t sacred, but the mindset they create is.

Tarot reading rituals are a mindfulness trap.

The pattern quiets and comforts. It is like giving a toddler a new toy or handing a banana to a hungry monkey. Some routine or ritual that is a built in part of beginning a reading comforts and quiets our logical mind enough to help us hear our intuition and the quiet whispers of spirit and energy.

A wonderful as the modern age and its indoor plumbing may be, some things are ancient and still powerful. Often the most powerful things are the quietest, and the simplest, like a low tech ritual.

Raise a mug to civil rights

“Buy me a coffee” on Ko-fi during the month of June 2026 and get a daily meditation style Tarot reading by email as a thank you gift. All proceeds will be donated to the ACLU in support of their work to protect LGBTQIA+ equality and civil rights. Happy Pride Month!

How Distance Tarot works

Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Today please enjoy this behind the scenes look at how I believe long distance Tarot actually works.

Q: The email readings sound interesting, but how can you read me if we aren’t together?

A: The distance between us doesn’t matter because I’m not reading you directly, I’m reading universal energy or spirit for you, on your behalf. This is the same kind of universal life energy that they talk about in Reiki, Tai Chi, qi gong, acupuncture, yoga, etc. This energy is everywhere, and if you are still alive you are connected to it and a part of it. You and I are within that energy field during your reading, no matter how physically separated we might seem or how long our conversation takes.

Star Wars wasn’t far off with “The Force”

Time and space are a connected thing. Modern physics has called it the space-time continuum. Time is as whole and connected as space. It doesn’t matter if our reading together unfolds in real time across a table or in a phone call or if the conversation unfolds slowly though emails or snail mail, the core ideas are the same. Distance Tarot works with the biggest of big pictures. We might be on opposite sides of the Earth and still be in the same energy together. We might write paper letters back and forth like they did a hundred years ago but the reading is still helpful even if takes months to unfold. It is all interconnected and valid.

The words and ideas of any reading are exactly the same regardless of whether I say them out loud, type them into an email or write them on paper.

There are a few differences between distance and in-person readings. The first is the way that you enjoy receiving your message, not in the message itself. It might depend on your mood or personality style. Phone or in-person sessions tend to be light, chatty, and friendly. They are great for when you are feeling outgoing and craving some social conversation.  Written readings are private and intense. Written words amplify the emotion and magic of the moment. They are a good match for book lovers and busy, stressed people who need a moment to relax or anyone who just wants a little ‘me time.’

All of my distance Tarot readings include a follow-up email to answer any questions you might have.

The best suggestion I have is to give it a try. My five card readings would last close to an hour in person, but only cost what most psychics charge for 15 to 30 minutes.

Starting January 2025, the business portion of TaoCraft Tarot that offered in-person, party, phone and live online Tarot readings has closed.

Email readings are still available at very affordable prices and no appointment needed. Private readings, ko-fi memberships and ko-fi virtual coffee all support this blog, this website and the Substack newsletter to keep these Tarot readings free for you to read without paywalls.

Hello from the omnibus

Just checking in – how are you all doing?

I feel like there are a thousand other things I should be doing, but if you can’t follow your instincts in a Tarot blog, where can you? There is no reason for this post other than to say hello and hopefully reconnect with the whole blog and newsletter thing. It’s been a weird winter for me and this newsletter hasn’t gotten the energy and attention it deserves. That whole “Sage Words Tarot” thing was a huge detour. TaoCraft is home and I’m back. I hope to hear from you moving forward. 2025 is still young and my website has an easy to use contact form for any questions or comments that you might have. That includes questions for a free Tarot reading of some sort in the public blog. It’s a fair trade, I think. You get a free sample-size reading and I get writing inspiration. Deal?

In the meantime…

There has been a weird, strange, surreal energy during the holidays right through until now that reminded me of 2020. Don’t get me wrong – I’m NOT predicting a pandemic an you should listen to science about all of the bird flu, flu-A, RSV and measles worries out there. Not to mention the slow moving juggernaut of an utter political catastrophe unfolding in America right now. Compound that with some epic personal stress, and the time since Thanksgiving has been, well – unproductive. High levels of BLAH mixed with high anxieties is the best way I can describe the feel of it.

Stepping out from the psychological fog leftover from this winter, I wanted to say hello and tell you how thankful I am to have you all as readers and Tarot clients. It is so very appreciated!

On the outside chance there is anyone new here, I’ll add a little to the hello so you can know who is behind this whole Sage Sips Substack.

Hello! My name is Sage, I read Tarot, write things and knit stuff.

Sage is a pen name to try to provide privacy for both of us. It is inspired the double meaning the word sage has in English. It can be a plant with remarkable aromatherapy properties; comforting, negativity clearing, uplifting and empowering. It also means wise advice or a person who is wise. I believe Tarot is all about exactly those things. Tarot can lead us to wise advice at the same time as it calms anxieties, inspires us, and empowers us. It’s always an honor to be part of that process for someone. But like I always say…

“Tarot isn’t about predicting what will happen in life. Tarot helps you figure out what to do when life happens.“

What I do –

Tarot readings by email (and phone by special arrangement – contact me for details and scheduling)

What I don’t do –

Predict the future.

How I do it –

Transparently, conveniently and privately. All of my policies are TaoCraftTarot.com for the world to see.

All of my prices are for the total reading – not per minute. Your reading gets all of my attention, however long it -no clock watching – which is one of the many advantages of working by email. There are no time constraints or appointment needed for email. No hidden fees. No spam.

If you want a reading, you have to let me know. I don’t have the time or energy to contact anyone individually and offer readings. If you get that, it ain’t me. Did I mention, no spam is tolerated here or on the website, incoming OR outgoing?

Email readings are super convenient –

You can purchase an email reading from my ko-fi page, no appointment needed. There are several different layouts to choose from, which let’s YOU choose the layout (and price) that fits your question (and budget) the best. I use ko-fi because the check out is PayPal secured and lets you send me your topic or question for the reading all in one easy transaction…no more delays while I ask for your question / permission for an open reading.

Email readings are perfect for busy schedules –

You don’t have to set aside travel time – the reading comes to you. You don’t use one drop of expensive gasoline.

In addition to being super convenient, email readings are extra private. No one sees you going to a psychic. You open and read your email in a time and place that is right for you.

Phone readings work by contacting me. We will set up an appointment time. Then I’ll send you a secure PayPal invoice and you call the phone number provided at your appointment time. All the details about appointments are on the policy page.

What a reading looks like:

All of my readings follow the same basic format. It starts with a photo of your real world layout. Then there is a “general pattern” section where we talk about the layout as a whole. That’s followed by a card-by-card discussion. Then it all wraps up in a “psychic summary” that includes any other impressions. It might relate to the cards, or it might be pure intuition. This part often includes aromatherapy and crystal recommendations but this final summary is very attuned to your personal message and there is no guarantee what it will or won’t include.

Relationship readings:

I do lots of those, but mine are probably different from what you’ve had before.

My readings focus totally on you. I follow the same professional ethics as holistic health providers. I don’t read other people’s energies without their permission. That means relationship readings won’t predict who you will marry or if you’ll get back together with your ex or if your crush loves you back. Relationship readings are for any kind of relationship and simply give advice to help you give your best in your part in the relationship.

Wealth and money readings:

Wealth and money readings tend to focus on your career and what you can DO to find your best path forward in your career or in any part of the physical realm. I’m not a career counselor, or a financial advisor – and did I mention that Tarot can’t predict the future?

Medical, pregnancy and legal questions:

Nope.

I won’t answer those. Tarot is terrible with those kinds of questions. I’m not wasting my time or your money on a question that is best left to other professionals. We should spend our time on the things Tarot that does very well: Easing troubled emotions, finding inspiration, creative problem solving, stress reduction, diversion and entertainment.

Sage Sips is the name of my blog and Substack. I love coffee. I love pithy Tarot advice. Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

TaoCraft Tarot is the name of my website and the book I plan to write about how to read Tarot. It is a reflection of the philosophy behind my 30 years of Tarot and intuition development.

And that is pretty much it in one big omnibus nutshell.

Your turn!

Feel free to say hi in the comments or in the contact form.

I’m also on Bluesky if you want to say hi there. It’s the one social platform where I’ll actually talk to people instead of just like and repost.

Thank for reading! See you at the next sip!

Other Oracles

New exclusive content for members today: “Other Oracles”

Believe it or not, Tarot isn’t the only intuition amplifier in town.

No matter what kind of Oracle or divination technique you use, the real engine underneath it is your human connection to universal energies – your intuition.

We all have that natural intuitive connection, but sometimes spirit speaks in whispers. I’m here to help you turn up the volume and translate those whispers into actual English sentences that you can use.

Email Tarot is my specialty. As a writer by nature, I can give you a very convenient and enriched Tarot reading at a distance through email – the same or better than an in-person reading. We can talk about all of the advantages of that another time.

Today, on the members only blog we are starting a series about other oracles, other tools and techniques for accessing and amplifying intuition.

First up: I Ching. Join Sage Sips members on ko-fi to learn more about this ancient divination technique

Sage Sip Membership: $5 monthly

  • Free one card Tarot readings upon request up to 3/month
  • Automatic Discounts on larger reading layouts
  • exclusive content
  • special offers

Click HERE to join and read more about the I-Ching and other oracles over the coming months

Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Private Tarot readings are OPEN and support this free public blog and the Sage Sips YouTube channel.

The Theme Continues

Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

Private Readings, virtual coffees and memberships are OPEN and proceeds support this blog.

Think of a question, a topic, or just the next few days to get general guidance. Choose your card. Pause the video if you need time, then restart to see the reveal. Pick a card and get it’s message for you below.

The theme, the “meta-message” that came through repeating cards over the course of multiple readings during the holiday season seems to continue. The calendar may have turned to February, but the energy hasn’t turned in a new direction quite yet.

Dire things are still happening in the US. That is a dark, stressful energy that is like low lying dense dark smoke underneath all of the rest. There is still a sense of chaos continuing as the ‘new normal’ for a while, which explains why the Hanged Man major arcana card is still, ahem, hanging around. The Page, generally speaking, resonates with the bizzarre-feeling, surreal nature of it all.

But if you pull away, focus on a higher level above the blanketing clouds of fear, there are glimmers of a more hopeful individual message:

PAGE OF CUPS: There are deep lessons to be comprehended. From the weird to the sublime, life is trying to tell you something that is ordinarily hidden or very “out of the box” Be patient, be good to yourself. There is a hard lesson to learn here, but give yourself whatever measure of grace that you need to learn what life has to show you and to deal with the emotional fallout of whatever comes to light.

HANGED MAN: Buckle up and settle in. Things are going to hang this way for a while. Expectations and attachments can make things that are outside of your control feel worse.

In The Tao of Pooh Benjamin Hoff writes about busy-ness and constant striving. We are very conditioned to that in the modern world. Not everything has to be constant movement. It is important to be still and incorporate things we’ve already done, things we’ve already learned. It may seem like stagnation to the “Busy Backsons” as Hoffman call it, but life and the universe may still the journey until old lessons are fully set. You can’t walk on a new sidewalk until the cement is dry.

Choose Your Card: The Outer World and You

Sage Sips is Tarot for your day (or week) in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

Email private readings starting at $5

Choose your card, left or right

Pause the video if you need time to think. Restart to see the reveal

The Hierophant: The energy is a little toxic this week. Know when to lay low and when to fight the power. Camouflage is a legitimate tactic. Guard your boundaries regarding social norms and institutional authorities.

Three of Cups: You are dealing with the same energy zeitgeist but have more leeway to be direct and open, to take the bull by the horns, so to speak. You do you, but don’t forget to keep friends and support close at hand for validation if you need it.

I don’t know if this is true everywhere, it may be a fairly local read – local meaning the U.S. at the moment. There is an enormously important election soon, there have been natural disasters, the change of seasons (or for some the hot-as-heck summer that just won’t quit), a comet, freakishly southern northern lights: It’s all screaming climate change, both literally and metaphorically. The energy out there is, for lack of a better term, weird.

I think the foundation of both cards’messages is how to deal with that weird, general, Zeitgeist, collective energy. It reminds me a little bit of the run up to the pandemic – big looming energy on the horizon that isn’t a personal or individual crises but can feel that way. Sensitive intuitions may be resonating strongly right now. If you feel like something’s not quite right but can’t put your finger on what it is, or if you feel like you are reacting with more fear, anxiety, or emotion than usual that could be outside energy pushing on your psyche. It’s like when the sound of a tuning fork of one frequency can cause a bell or another tuning fork of the same to vibrate too.

I have logical reasons for this that may be intruding on this intuitive read, but the good news is this isn’t covid related. My guess is that this uncomfortable energy is being driven by the election. There is an old saying that when the US catches a cold the rest of the world sneezes. Lately it feels more like if the meth lab that is the US explodes, the rest of the world will get flaming debris landing on their roof.

If there is a single carry away message for this week – this coming month really – it is to pay attention to your personal energy and where it touches the outside world. Pay attention to how opaque vs transparent the boundary is. Over sharing feels dangerous. Choose your battles, but fight bravely when do engage. Guard your energy, and feed it when needed. Get support and validation when you need. Isolate if that is what you need to be healthy, protected and strong.

During re-entry from orbit, the Apollo astronauts experienced radio communications blackout for a few minutes. I feel like that is where we are in this election energy thing. It feels like we are locked in and whatever is going to happen is going to happen. The cake is backed, the spam is in the can, and we are surrounded by the ionizing atmosphere of re-entry headed toward splash down.

I just hope it is a good landing that we can all walk away from.

Take care of yourself, and each other.

Watch this space. I plan to be back Wednesday with something much happier and more fun for Spoopy Season.

See you at the next sip!

The Hidden Costs of Tarot Readings

Sage Sips blog is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

Use the contact form on the ASK ME ANYTHING page to get a free one card Tarot reading in the form of a blog post. No personally identifying information will be used to answer your question.

Tarot readings cost more than money, even when they are free.

Nothing gets people’s underwear in a bunch quite like money. When you mix that up with America’s tendency toward, let’s say, theocracy – then you can get a radioactive conversation that is probably best left for another day.

Let’s just say this –

Tarot is an art form worthy of compensation the same as any other art form that speaks to our heart or lifts our emotions. Purchasing a Tarot reading is the same as buying a book, a concert ticket, or museum admission.

Tarot readers deserve compensation for their time and skill the same as anyone else. It’s the same as donating to a church or minister for spiritual guidance. Tarot readings can ease stress. I’ve seen it happen time and time and time again. At the end of a reading, a client’s shoulders often lower, their brows become less furrowed, they lean back in their chair or take a deep breath. It is arguably inexpensive folk therapy, just like the fiction trope of buying a drink and talking through a problem with your local bartender.

That’s just the money side of it. There is always the chance of running into a scam with no intention of artistry, creativity or offering help. Sure, there have always been people in the business of Tarot readings who are in it solely for quick and easy big money, ego props and fame. But there are other costs. Other risks, really.

If you get a Tarot reading, you just might get honesty in return.

And that is a HUGE risk if you get a reading with me. I’m simply a translator, not some spiritual voice from on high. I’m not here to tell you what the future holds or what you should do. Oh no, it is something much, much worse.

I translate spirit and energy into words honestly – I give you the mental images, mental words, ideas, concepts, impressions and food for thought as I get them.

Period.

I’m not here to blow smoke at you or make you feel good. I’m here to translate your message. And that is IT.

If the message is one you like, great. If it is what you expect or what you hope for, even better.

If it upsets you or makes you angry – that’s good too. Listen to those emotions. They are telling you something important, too. GET pissed at the reading. That will tell you where the problem is. That will lead you to your answers. Tarot is a living, healing thing. Tarot is often a process and part of a healing journey – not a pretty answer tied in a bow and handed to you on a silver platter.

Tarot is a tool – a tool for healing, growing, learning, and deepening the quality of life. Tools involve work. So does personal growth and problem solving.

Tarot’s qualities are inherent to the practice itself. Tarot’s validity, artistry, insight, wisdom, inspiration, comfort and humanity are all present in a reading, regardless of whether you pay for it with money or not.

The highest price of admission to a Tarot reading is knowing it might be honest with you. The real cost of a reading is understanding that your future is up to you. The real cost of a reading is accepting the risk that the reading will impact your thinking and decision making. The greatest risk of getting a Tarot reading is being told hard truths that you may not want to face.

A Tarot reading gives you insights and ideas. Your reaction to it is your own. The choices you make and the actions you take are in your hands alone.

Tarot isn’t about telling you what will happen in life. Tarot helps you figure out what to do when life happens.

Thanks for reading!

Would you like a detailed PRIVATE Tarot reading by email? Order HERE any time 24/7 no appointment needed. Most readings arrive to your inbox within 24, with some delays if you order nights, weekends or holidays (USA Eastern Time, UTC -5)

Cheerleaders from the Great Beyond

Tarot behind the scenes

“Mood’s a thing for cattle and loveplay, not fighting!”

Dune by Frank Herbert, David Lynch screen adaptation

And not for Tarot readings when you are working for other people

Moods and Tarot make an interesting Venn diagram, and it all hinges on whether you are reading professionally or privately.

Should you read Tarot if you aren’t in the mood for it? If you are reading privately for yourself (or for someone you know and aren’t charging them) then no, if it just isn’t vibing for you, by all means wait until you are up for it. Or find someone who is in the mood. Or find a professional.

If you do put yourself in the public eye as a Tarot reader and ask for compensation for your time, skills and artistic service then something else has to happen. Either you have to put your own mood aside and listen to spirit / energy objectively on behalf of your client or you have to have the self-awareness to reschedule the client until such time as you are mentally, emotionally, and physically capable of doing a good reading for them.

There is no hard and fast rule for when to read or reschedule. You have to use your own good judgement about that, just like using good judgement about any adult thing. Don’t drink and drive, don’t stick a fork into a light socket, don’t read Tarot for money if your head isn’t in the right place.

But then, having good judgement and a little wisdom is why you are a Tarot reader in the first place, isn’t it?

There are a lot – a LOT – of things to consider before going professional with your Tarot readings, and we’ll get back to that at some point, but for now – what do you do with a mis-match between mood and message?

My core approach is to be an objective translator.

I’m not some word-from-on-high gifted expert. I just speak spirit pretty well and can translate for you. I don’t have to be in a particular emotional mood to do a reading any more than I need to be in a particular mood in order to speak Esperanto or read knitting patterns abbreviations.

Lately the mood of a couple of readings have not matched my personal mood at all. It’s hard to visualize, but imagine being in a Wednesday Addams mood and getting intuitive information that sounds like the blond haired girl scout.

Sometimes people need a little cheer leading, sometimes they just need someone to hear them out, and most of the time it isn’t for a Tarot reader to judge which time is which.

All I know to do is to give the intuitive message as honestly and true-to-tone as I can, regardless of my personal mood. That in turn relies on trusting the intuitive Tarot reading process.

But that’s also why the best Tarot readings are a conversation, regardless if that conversation happens by email or face to face. All of my distance readings include a follow up email. If something just doesn’t resonate with you or feel right to you or just doesn’t make sense, for goodness’ sake just say so! Spirit and I will try to find a better word, a better image, a better something to get a more helpful message to you.

So speak up! You won’t hurt my feelings and we’ll try to get the chirpy cheerleader from the great beyond to try again. When we reach out, the energies reach back however it takes. I really believe your true message will find you, one way or another, one translator or another, one means of communication or another.

My promise to you is to give the most accurate version of the energy message, no matter what our moods may be.

Thank you so much for reading. Private readings are open and available HERE

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