What to do when a Tarot reading doesn’t work for you
Q: Your advice didn’t work. I tried the finger lacing and imagining, but I still feel weird and anxious and I don’t know why. Why didn’t the reading work?
Back in the days of twenty ought and seventeen, in the days of the second civil war on a bird-logo social media site (I was on the side armed with BBQ spatulas and a sense of humor) my handle was “ffs NOW what”
I’m sorry the “Vibe Check” post didn’t help in the way that you hoped it would. Tarot is an art form. I have no answer for why it didn’t “work” any more than I can say why some people don’t like cookie dough ice cream. It’s all about individual preferences. There is nothing good or bad about any of it either way.
Buuuut….I would like to circle back to the part of the post that talks about how if the visualizations didn’t quiet the noise, then it is something individual to you.
If the anxious feeling doesn’t have a clear trigger, and it isn’t a matter of vibing off of *gestures wildly* everything that is going on in the world right now, then you are up against something much harder to deal with – yourself. Honestly facing your own emotions is one of the hardest things any human can do.
As a first step, not as a whole solution, it can help to shift from “why not?” to “NOW what?” Action Eases Anxiety layouts are my favorite for this.
Grab a deck of cards, think about the vague anxiety that is bothering you, do your thing with the shuffle, and draw two cards. The first symbolizes the situation now. You can revisit the why of everything later, in a different kind of layout if needed.
The second card gives you an idea of what to DO next. Most of the time, just having an idea about what you want to do helps, even if you never actually do it.
I only do private readings for Ko-Fi supporters. If you want a second opinion on a reading you do or have other questions please feel free to use the Ask the expert form like you did this time. I’m happy to help!
But again, I’m sorry that these uncomfortable emotions are hanging around for you. I’d like to help, but Tarot isn’t the answer for everything. Some people find more inspiration and guidance in astrology, runes, meditation, Tai Chi, book clubs, listening to music, going to museums, going for a run, going to therapy, playing dungeons and dragons, taking a nap, or sitting and staring into the psychological abyss while having a hot cup of coffee or tea – the possibilities are endless. It’s just a matter of finding the right thing for you.
Keep trying, keep looking, and you will find the perfect match for you.
Q: You talk about doing one card “daily meditation” readings as a good way to learn to read tarot, but then you also say it’s bad to get a reading too often. Which is it?
A: I know that seems like an out and out contradiction, but underneath it is more of an apples to oranges comparison.
The bottom line, I suppose, is that working with intuition, spirituality, and creativity doesn’t make logical sense all of the time. Explaining this stuff with full logical consistency is like explaining the Mona Lisa using algebra. Both are right. Both are good. They are just different and don’t overlap a lot.
Same thing with open “daily” meditation one card readings and using a larger, more complex layout to explore a particular question. Both are good. Both are right. But there are some key differences between the two.
As I see it, the thing that answers your question is to feed the happy.
First, lets look at the meditation readings. I talk about this in PeaceTarot, my ebook that teaches you how to do these handy little DIY Tarot readings. The daily in this context focuses more on the time-frame of the reading. It isn’t trying to make some grand prediction about the future, it’s just a helpful, guiding idea to contemplate over the scope of a day.
If you want to do that every day – cool. If you don’t feel it and only want to pull a card when the mood hits – equally cool.
My recommendation is to feed the happy. If the structure and regularity of an every day practice is comforting to you, then by all means read every day.
If reading every day feels like a chore or burden, then by all means follow your feelings and read only when you feel you want or need it.
Tarot readings should feed the happy – if regularity and routine is the food that feeds your happiness squirrel, do that. If following your instincts feeds you happiness through the squirrelly chaos of life, do that.
Feed the Happy applies to other readings too. It’s not the act of Tarot reading too much that is the problem. It’s reading the same question over and over and over that becomes a problem. When you do that, you aren’t feeding the happy, you are feeding the fear.
The “When will I meet my soulmate” type of question s a very common example. Some people HATE getting the real answer: find a way to be happy without a romantic relationship. That kind of happiness is exactly what attracts the right person to you. Contentment, inner peace and self confidence are wildly attractive if not downright sexy. I’ve seen it dozens of times over the years of reading for the public. After they reject their answer several times, and multiple reading have re-phrased their answer a half-dozen different ways, it just stops and reflects that fearful spiral. To break out of the fear-feeding, they either have to focus on a different question or stop Tarot altogether for a long while. The repetition feeds into fearfulness and stops the reading from feeding into happiness.
I think Ted Andrews’ guidance is best. He only read for people once or twice a year. I’ll read more often, but not always the same narrow question.
So which is it? Both! Routine or instinct: Use whichever makes you feel happy and un-pressured about it. If a reading feels unsatisfactory – step away from the cards and come back later.
But generally speaking,read Tarot cards as often or as little as you want. Open one card guidance is especially suited to an every -day habit. It is easy to make it into a comforting little ritual if you like. Or not. Just following your instincts is good practice too. But at the same time, don’t long-read the same focused question more than once or twice a year. Especially if it is a very emotionally charged topic.
Thanks for a great question!
Happy to answer questions like this here in the blog. Ask me anything for a blog answer using the form on the Ask the Expert page.
See you at the next sip!
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Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmun, used with permissions Publishing Goblin LLC
I’m looking at the world through yin/yang colored glasses this morning. How are things going for you?
Drew a card for today’s post. It didn’t seem right. Drew again. Ditto.
When that happens, sometimes I’ll just start browsing cards to see if anything sparks an idea.
The first thing I realized is how very over the 1909 RWS deck I am. The pale colors and religiousness of it just don’t get it. Thankfully many more RWS inspired, off-RWS, and Lenormand decks exist, although I have that same pale colored, last-century looking beef with a lot of Lenormand decks too. My first and only Lenormand is Christoper Butler’s Healing Light Lenorman where the art and colors are bullseye right in my intuitive and aesthetic wheelhouse – 10 out of 10, no notes, no interest in any other Lenormand Decks.
But back to feeling uninspired which is really the whole point of this.
The only thing that caught my psychic-eye while browsing cards was the center of the Wheel in the Witches Tarot deck, which is a silver pentacle. I don’t have a graphic at hand to show you, but you can Google it easily enough.
The Wheel card did step forward for attention recently and I think it has more to tell us, but not in its typical Tarot meanings like twist of fate, or constant change, or a reversal of fortunes or what have you. My hunch was to slap on the taijitu glasses and remember the spin on this from Taoist philosophy:
Anything in its extreme holds the seed of its opposite.
When we are feeling uninspired or unmotivated, it’s natural to disengage. I’m not saying let ennui run rampant forever. But it just might be the early signal nature gives us to unplug a little.
In the matrix of nature where humans evolved, late August is a good time for that.
BUT not in a pressured way. HURRY UP and relax is one of the dumbest things humans do. During the first weeks of August I witnessed multiple people in multiple situations being absolutely vile to retail workers because they had to go on vacation the next couple of days. They were so profoundly out of step with the time, the season and what was needed it broke the space for everyone there.
And that is the message here. We need a little back to nature moment today. Nature in the energy sense. Nature in the esoteric sense.
In that naturally, evolutionary matrix – this time of year is the most intense part of the heat here, so we need intense yin to go with it. This is sip tea in the shade for a minute before the whole harvest / preserve for winter intensity kicks in. It’s eye of the hurricane time.
In Taoist influenced martial arts, like Tai Chi, calm is seen as strength, just like the low pressure eye of the storm is the powerhouse engine of a hurricane.
Combine that notion with the Tarot hint from the center of the wheel card. It’s a day to go to center. Go to the hub of the wheel where the motion and change is less than at the rim.
It’s the eye of August. Find your quiet center. That is where you will find the energy for the soon to come time when we will need to power up for fall.
Yeah, I know. Southern hemisphere. Same thing. Sip a hot drink in the doldrums of winter and gear up for spring and frenetic planting instead of frenetic harvesting.
No matter where you are in the world, go to the center. Go to the quiet. Unplug where you are. Start where you stand. Don’t break yourself and everyone around you to go relax.
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!
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Usually I agonize over every deck I’ve bought. I have to really really REALLY feel it before I’ll shell out the cash for one. I’m frugal, and I don’t spend on hobbies and entertainment unless it strongly moves me on some level. Or if it is yarn to make a holiday gift.
Maybe that comes from being born and raised in Appalachia – real, south of here, ruby red, mountain Appalachia – BUT I’ve lived in the Pittsburgh area long enough that I consider this is my hometown whether yinz like it or not. When I accidentally stumbled across the Pittsburgh deck on social media it was an immediate ‘shut UP. Take my money’ impulse. Luckily for me, it turned out to be a very affordable deck.
The guide book is being shipped separately, so I’m winging it with this reading.
Career questions have crossed my path lately. I pulled these cards with the generic question in mind of “am I on the right path with my career”
Any “right path” question lends itself to a classic “pathway” card spread, which in turn is a more modern, nuanced version of the old-school past/present/future spread. I don’t have to tell you for the millionth time that exact predictions are not only impossible but unhelpful. As always, I read a three card pathway as:
Influences of the past – how old experiences are either influencing your perceptions of the current situation or, often, this is a reminder of old skills or lessons that you can bring forward to help you now
Current energies: things about the current situation that are asking for your attention, or pointing out any blind spots.
Moving Forward: This is a possible strategy, a good next step or a suggestion about how to best adapt to this situation.
In a “TaoCraft Path” layout, I emphasize your choices, which is what builds the future rather than predict it. For those, I add a fourth card that suggests an idea to help support the direction you are headed if you choose to keep it, and a fifth card that suggests how to change directions if you want. Today, let’s keep it simple.
In a typical RWS deck, I often read wands as your relationship with yourself – the inner world . I don’t know, yet, if that is what the deck creators intended with the suit of “nature” but that’s how I’m reading it today. I look at it through a very Taoist lens of working with your own true nature, THAT kind of nature just as much as the rocks and trees kind of nature. No question the World and the Moon cards are vibing just like every other deck, at least in relation to this particular question and layout.
Of course, being a collective energy reading, it is by the nature of collective energy readings, vague and dilute. This things are always much more impactful when it is private, customized and focused just on one person.
Two out of the three cards being major arcana confirms big career energy right now. There might be a time of stress at hand, to go with these big energies, but it doesn’t feel like anything you can’t handle. It feels like growth, in a big but good way.
Knights are associated with action. Play to your strengths. Do you. Do what you know well and above all what you enjoy. This is a comfort zone move, yes, but one that has serious wattage behind it. Showcase every skill you have, both from formal trained and from raw life experience.
The World hints that you have lots of options right now, the world is your oyster. Now is a good time to decide which direction you want to go, because many paths are open. In the predictive use, the World card has always been considered a good omen. You are in a good spot to build something good if you have the courage to start and a clear vision of what you want (out of all those many possibilities)
The Moon reminds us of natural cycles. To know if your current career or career plans are right for you, look at the context of your life…where in your life cycle or the life cycle of this job are you? Are you starting? Is there room to grow? Do you need more? Do you need less? Is this a good fit for where you are in life right now? How does your career fit into the rest of your life and it’s cycles?
I’m curious what the deck authors intended. Look for more with this deck in the days ahead.
It’s a fun deck. Just having it means something. We’ll see what unfolds.
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.
Q: What do we most need to know right now in the United States following Lindsey Graham’s death and conjecture about Mitch McConnell’s.
I drew this card with this question in mind, right after seeing a social media post from someone who I typically has good points and real food for thought. This may well be the first time I’ve disagreed with him.
But no, this isn’t a time for tut-tutting about “speaking ill of the dead” from either side of the political divide. Graham was not a good person who, because of his political power, inflicted real harm on real people and contributed much to the rise of fascism and white christian nationalism in America today.
I’m sorry for the loss of any kind person who feels his – or their – passing. But at the same time it is fair to think they are lying in the bed they made during their lifetime.
The social media person clucked something on the order “saying these things says more about you as a person than it does about them.
Not this time.
If making fun of a powerful bad man says something about the person saying it….what does a powerful man’s silence about the death of school girls at the hands of unnecessary war, the death of women at the hands of politically and religiously motivated abortion bans, the death of schoolchildren at the hands of our lack of gun control….and on and on and on. What does silence about these dead say about THEM? I’d rather people make merciless fun of the politicians who caused harm than remain silent in the face of the harm they caused.
It’s more important to be kind to everyone living than to worry about what is said about the dead.
Laughter is good medicine. Public figures who caused real harm aren’t going to be any less dead if we only say nice things about them after they’ve been rendered harmless by the inevitable. Momento Mori.
In the noise of current events, the Ace of swords reminds us to cut to the chase, get to the point, simplify. Tune out the static and get right down to what really matters. In the end, kindness is the only measure of what that is.
In honor of pride month I made a VERY small donation to the ACLU because of the work they do in court to advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights.
I’m inspired by Molly Lee of Optimistic Soap to use my Tarot skills to contribute to causes I care about. She donates $1 from every bar of soap purchased to Democracy Forward and to other organizations.
I stand with that.
I’ve brought back the Sage Sips Ko-fi membership and renamed it ‘Brew it Forward” Proceeds from the memberships plus $1 from each virtual coffee donated from the readings menu will go to a designated organization at the end of the month (a few of my favorites are listed below)
In honor of Optimistic Soap’s inspiration, July 2026’s “Brew It Forward” will go to Democracy Forward, too.
Please consider joining – there are five spots left. For $5 / month, each member gets access to private one card Tarot readings by email on request. Just ask. Send a DM or email with your name, question and email (it’s never shared, I just need to know where to send your reading) and your meditation style reading will arrive in your inbox.
I’m not in the Tarot business anymore, so please allow a few days for the readings to get to you. Because we live in a nation with increasingly bold white Christian nationalists, I feel compelled to say that we are doing here is creating customized Tarot themed ephemeral folk art that does not tell fortunes or predict the future. But that impulse is another big reason why I chose the ACLU and Demoracy Forward for my first two donations.
Anything is better than nothing – so DO something, any little thing you can to protect democracy and our civil liberty to create art, to follow the spiritual path that is right for us and to not follow a religion that is wrong.
Thank you for allowing me to read Tarot for you, and thank you for helping me make some tiny contribution to other important things, too.
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Q: You drew a card for me on Halloween which was (and still is!) really meaningful, so lovely to connect with you again. I saw your Instagram post and would love to have you pull a few cards for me if the places haven’t been filled, but no worries if not! Happy to have a reading via the blog 🙂
For ******
First of all, thank you so much for your kind words!
I’m always so happy to hear when a reading is helpful….after all, that’s why we do these things! But the same is true as the last reading: If you have any questions, complaints or need any clarification with the reading please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Since you didn’t specify a topic, I’ll just move ahead with an open-to-anything point of view.
Your Cards Today Are:
Influence from the Past: King of Coins (Pentacles)
Current Situation: Three of Swords
Moving Forward: King of Swords
General Pattern
All cards are minor arcana, which in a layout this small is no real statistical surprise. Intuitively it feels like a bit of reassurance, that nothing really major is stirring the energies for you right now. It is all pretty business as usual more than it’s not. It has a feeling that business as usual for you entails being really good at what you do. Business as usual is kicking butt and taking names from the feel of it. In that vein, it feels like a very plain-talking, no nonsense kind of reading. It also feels like most of the reading energy is pointing toward work and career thoughts, which would go right along with having a coins card right off the bat like that. The repetitions are asking for attention. You have two swords, which connote action, the element of air, intellect and logic, authority, or your connection with society and culture at large. Knit all of that together and my attention is pulled to using cold, calculating intellect when it comes to work, especially when dealing with the authority structure, or any vying for promotions or power within the structure of the workplace. “Power Play” comes to mind along with an old episode of M*A*S*H where the Colonel accuses someone (Frank? Hotlips? Klinger?) of “going over my head so many times I’m getting athletes scalp” I guess the shorthand for that would be watch out for power playing brown nosers at work. The other repetition is the two kings. Kings connote leadership. It feels like the situation may be asking you for leadership, confidence, self-starting, standing up for yourself….even if you are already good at that, it feels like the skills you have will be put through their paces, and you may even be pushed a tiny bit outside your comfort zone in that respect. I ‘hear’ (meaning the intuition comes as words instead of feelings or images) to “Hang on and be brave” There was a great meme about spirit guides (the lady) you (the boy) and a life lesson. Here is the photo part if you want to take a peek: https://goo.gl/images/gdXriU Your guides feel like they are reminding you they won’t lead you anywhere you are not ready to go, but since you are ready…buckle up baby!
Background & Context: King of Coins
This part is the reminder of competence you have, and that you are more than ready to meet leadership challenges at work, or any other part of life, really. The King of Coins as a card connotes wealth and success, so a note of reassurance there again. I hear “build on past skills and successes” I’m not clear whether that means use your skills and knowledge that you have in hand to fullest advantage, to build new skill and expand your knowledge and experience…or both. It doesn’t feel like a job change as much as an expansion of the current situation.
Current Situation: Three of Swords
Classically, this tends to be a bit darker, more dire card across all of the decks and references that I have. Often it will set me off on maternal lecture mode about be safe, keys out, park under lights, and all that usual lecture….but not so much for you today. This feels more petty than malicious. It isn’t the devil or dark side card for good reason. This feels petty, and small, and contained to one aspect of life, like office politics. “Watch out for petty backstabbers” comes to mind. Very office politics, but also heavy on the petty….like an annoying mosquito that can drive you mad if you let it, or just brush it away. The more calm, detached, intellectual and swords / mental-focus the better.
Moving Forward: King of Swords
You know how I read cards…the cards have suit, element, layout position, and general card meaning. But each card, based on all that other stuff, can have a different spin or ‘flavor’ of message; advice (something to consider doing) caution (something to consider avoiding) or validation (acknowledgement, encouragement, cosmic thank you) There has been a lot of validation energy so far. This has a little more of an advice spin. The card feels less like it pertains to you and more like it represents an ally…someone in the hierarchy at work who you can cultivate an working relationship with, who can be a mentor of sorts. “Have your back” comes to mind. Like someone who knows your skills, sees your potential. It feels like it might be literally a male figure of some sort. Does any of this ring a bell for you? I’m not sure how else to understand the card, because it has a not-you but someone who can help you sort of symbolism around it. Beyond that it is dark – meaning no signal, not evil or bad kind of dark. It feels like that is the card or energy telling me that is a singular message from this card….seek out a mentor or ally at work.
Summary
This part is like a psychic “cold reading” where I free form give you any impressions that come to mind. In readings that have a topic or question, this part might connect to that or the cards….or it might not. In an open reading like this one, it just stays in the open frame of mind.
Often it starts with colors, or crystals or both. In this case I see citrine. It associates with the solar plexus chakra, and therefor confidence. Wear or carry it for confidence at work. It also resonates with the King cards, and the coins suit because the golden color has to do with wealth, career, luck and to some extent leadership.
I taste butterscotch, with lemon scent in the background. That might be a continuation of the golden color associations. Butterscotch may symbolize comfort, while lemon in aromatherapy is very cleansing and energizing. Lemon may be important relevant to work, as diffusing some lemon fragrance, lighting a lemon scented candle, or using anything lemon after work might do two things…first it would be a clear transition signal. It could remind you work is done, clear any annoyances or negativity from your day, and let you know to shift into family/home/private life mode. It will also lift your energy…stress or pettiness at work can put an extra drain on your energies. Lemon could help neutralize that and lift your energy after a long day. Don’t use citrus oils on your skin if you will be in sunlight within the next 12 hours…it can cause sun sensitivity. Also don’t put it on your skin if you have autoimmune diseases as it enhances immunity (a good thing in cold/flu season for most people)
And there the energies step back. I hope this helps!
Best Wishes,
Photo: Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans, used with permissions published on LlewellynPublishing.com
Funny thing about intuition – it’s kind of misty and ethereal and mercurial.
Some images land in long term memory. I can still conjure up the mental image from a couple of weeks ago of the cliff top with the narrow mountain ridge and multiple paths from the summit and crossroads post.
Somewhere since then, Richard Bach’s book Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah came through in such a way that it seemed like a BIG hint to re-read it. I can’t even remember if the Bach related thought made it into the final edit of whatever post.
So I whip out my ebook copy of Illusions. Sat down for a re-read and found exactly the idea that was trying to get my attention about two minutes into it:
“And what would you do,” the Master said unto the multitude, “if God spoke directly to your face and said, ‘I COMMAND THAT YOU BE HAPPY IN THE WORLD, AS LONG AS YOU LIVE.’ What would you do then?”
Richard Bach
Just to be clear – I am an atheist. The word ‘god’ is entirely irrelevant here.
But think about it…what would you DO? Imagine if whatever deity, entity or person whose opinion you respect straight up demanded that you be happy. Right now. No prerequisite beliefs, actions or conditions – just you, just happy.
The tricky part here is the DO. It implies that something needs to be DONE. It implies that happiness has some prerequisite action or condition in order for your happiness to exist.
This is where the happiness meaning of the Sun card comes into play.
The card doesn’t imply the DO. It is just plainly, unapologetically happy. Right here, right now, not because of circumstances but, perhaps, in spite of circumstances.
What if…
What do you think would happen if you just took a minute and allowed yourself to be happy? What if your God got in your face and commanded you to be happy for five minutes, could you? Would you?
What if this post, these words on this screen in this moment are your permission to simply be happy for the next five minutes? What if this is your permission to be happy from now on? Could you? Would you?
DO that. Be happy.
Thanks for reading! If you like these posts, please buy me a (virtual) coffee on ko-fi and I’ll send you a sip of tarot by email.
See you at the next sip!
Deck: Allyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permission
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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