TaoCraft Tarot / Sage Sips blog

Everybody loves a free sample

I like samples, especially when they are free.

Those big box warehouse clubs are famous for their free food samples. I’ve found some of my favorite foods that way (looking at you chicken veggie dumplings and big chunk of aged cheddar cheese) Free appetizers are fun, but you don’t see them giving away the toaster oven.

Ever since the big pandemic lockdown back in 20 aught 20 when we were shopping a lot online anyway, I’ve been trying to transition to less plastic and more environmentally friendly versions of, well, everything.

Which is trickier than you might think when you have to factor in family allergies and skin sensitivities along with things like affordability and efficacy. Small and sample sizes, even when they aren’t free, are helpful in figuring out if a product is trustworthy or green washed. Small sizes helped me find good products and switch to the full size without wondering if they would give half of us a rash.

But that is all another story.

Free sample Tarot readings have a similar kind of utility. Free Tarot content is about helping you decide what works for you and what doesn’t. It is about a little sip or a tasty morsel. It’s not about taking home the whole toaster oven.

Over the years, I’ve had people call and ask for a “free sample” Tarot reading.

For private, individual readings? Nope. No free samples. This ain’t cheese and crackers. You gotta pay for toaster ovens and full size Tarot readings.

But I do offer other kinds of free samples. You are looking at it (or listening to it) right now. This blog is free. The podcast is free. The YouTube shorts and Sips of Tarot on social media are all free. Those collective energy readings may not be tailored to you individually the way a private reading would be but it gives a tantalizing little taste of what a one to one private email reading might be like.

I think this kind of openness and transparency is important to building trust like we talk about on the “How to Find a Psychic You Can Trust” page on the website.

Free Tarot readings are all over the place. Free Tarot content is lying around out in the open all over cyberspace but those free samples come at a subtle cost. You have to put in the work of discerning what applies to you and what doesn’t. Spirit speaks in whispers. With free online content you have to do the hard work of interpreting the message for yourself.

In my experience, spirit’s message will find you one way or another with all the energy and intensity of that old Blondie song. All you need is the chutzpah to listen or look for it. Spirit’s message always comes directly to you free of charge.

Spirit message hearing aids and translators are another story.

Even if you paid top dollar for the most famous celebrity psychic in the world, the nitty gritty work of applying that reading to your personal life and personal growth is still 100% up to you.

Paying for a professional reading is not paying for the message itself, it’s paying for a savings in your time and effort. Paying a professional to help you find spirit’s message spares you from a metric ton of trial and error, even though the final step of applying the message to your life will always be up to you. I got really good at intuition and Tarot readings the hard way through study and practice and time. You can get good at this too – through study and practice and time.

But that amount of time and effort is not something everyone wants to spend. The trade-off for borrowing my experience and expertise is paying the consultation fee.

Life and death emergencies aside, let me borrow an example from my friends in the medical profession.

All healing comes from within, from the living organism itself. Even the most advanced scientific medicine can’t create life where there is none. But they can help support the living being’s innate healing process. You could get over your sprained ankle on your own, but consulting a doctor might help you heal better or faster.

Intuition is a natural ability that we all have. Developing it to the level where it can be trusted to help other people is a professional skill. Consulting with a professional intuitive can help you find the message or inspiration that you need more quickly or more accurately than prolonged trial and error on your own.

Last week I combined the “Seat at the Tarot Table” and the “Patron of the Tarot Arts” memberships so that the lower tier price gives you the upper tier benefit of on demand email Tarot readings.You can get all of the details and disclaimers about that at the link below or in the podcast description.

Today I’m introducing a new membership tier. This is not an upper tier with all the benefits of the Tarot Table plus extras. it is an entirely separate and different thing. Right now it is an either / or choice. I don’t think you can do both memberships, but I can’t imagine that anyone would want or need both anyway.

Starting Monday February 20th, the new membership tier will be the only place to get Tarot every weekday. There will be some crossover, but the free content will be more random, less frequent and definitely not daily.

Today, however, I want to give you a sneak peek at what the weekday readings in the new membership level will be like.

The format on the daily post will vary to keep it visually interesting. Some days will have vintage public domain images from the Rider Waite Smith 1909 Tarot deck like the one below. Some will have my photos of a different public domain RWS deck that I have. Some will use my current favorite deck, the Alleyman’s Tarot used with the kind permission of the deck’s creator Seven Dane Asmund of Publishing Goblin LLC

Long story short, the free stuff isn’t really changing, it just won’t be as as frequent as before. The only way to get Tarot content every weekday is through the ko-fi members blog. I’m not sure yet how weekends will work, but watch this space and I’ll let you know what to expect.

What I’m trying to say, and not doing a very good job of it is that the only way to get absolutely everything, is to follow the free blog AND subscribe to the Daily Sip. Long read posts will be here, Daily sips will be there and social media will be whatever whenever.

It’s Saturday evening as I write this. Let’s pull a card for the collective energy for the rest of the weekend … or for whenever you happen to read this. If you are stumbling across this at another time, feel free to apply it personally. It’s a free Tarot reading and you can take it or leave it as you see fit. It’s up to you.

But in the spirit of those delicious free candy samples at the warehouse store, here is a free taste of what the Daily Sip posts will look like.

The King of Wands

A very broad brush rule of thumb for reading face or court cards is that the Queen carries the nurturing, maternal qualities of the suit, while the King carries the protective, paternal energies. Wands cards are associated with the classical element of fire, and can symbolize inner passions or our relationship with our inner selves.

I hear…and by the way, when I say hear that means that the mental intuition is in the form of words or sounds or music instead of images. In this case I hear “The king protects through teaching.” This brings to mind the value of education. Real education about objective facts and useful things. Neil DeGrasse Tyson famously said “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” That is the kind of education the card is referencing. This kind of education is the exact, polar and distant opposite from dogma and indoctrination.

An educated populace is a strong and safe populace. Good teaching does right by people. For the mental image piece of it, I am reminded of some of my favorite Instagram and TicTok creators: Dylan Hollis, GothDad, DadAdviceFromBo, bwb.positivity, MercuryStardust and PoppopBruce Johnson who all teach and inspire with great fun and equal kindness.

Today is a nurturing energy. It is a fostering and supportive energy. Do you have something to teach? Something to learn? Something to do together in mutual support? It feels like a good day for reading, studying, or practicing something you love. Read a book, go for a run, take a deep breath, soak up some sun…no matter whether whether it involves the mind or the body, do something today that nourishes your soul in the process.

Thank you so much for reading and listening. Please follow, subscribe, like, share or just generally stay tuned to the main (free) blog, the free podcast, the memberships and all the socials for the week-ahead reading coming up on Monday.

See you at the next sip!

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Learn more about the Tarot Table and Daily Sip memberships HERE

Page Update: Memberships

Still improving for you! Introducing Sage’s Daily Sip membership plus the Tarot Table membership that includes private email one card Tarot readings with your membership.

So far, 2023 has been an exercise in active adaptation. Last year was one of private changes. Looks like this is the year of professional ones. I’m optimistic that it is all good stuff and will let me focus on what matters and do the very best readings for you that I can.

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Tarot Every Weekday

$8 per month gives you Tarot content every weekday on the ko-fi blog, DM access, exclusive content, and a reduced price full size private Tarot reading by email inthe shop for Daily Sip subscribers only.

Free Private Readings With Membership

$5 per month includes TWO private email one card Tarot readings upon request per calendar month, DM access, exclusive content and a 5% ko-fi shop discount.

Please click the Join button for full details on the ko-fi page.

Sage’s Short Sip Tarot: Wait

Sage’s Short Sip Tarot and the new “daily sip” membership tier is a Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee

Swords are often a card of action. Swords can also represent your relationship with authority, culture and society at large.

This is not the day to impulsively “fight the man.” This isn’t the day to die on any hill. It feels like large forces are afoot. It is a time for we smaller creatures to wait, think, watch from the shadows.

Watch and learn. Your time will come

“For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love” – Carl Sagan

Alleyman’s Tarot Deck used with permission

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Private readings by email are available 24/7, no appointment needed

Weird But Manageable

Now there is something you don’t see everyday, which is probably a good thing.

Hello and welcome to Sage’s Short Sip Tarot. Today we are doing a full on pathway reading to do a squinty eyed Tarot look at the week ahead. This layout is roughly based on the old school past, present, future layout but I modify it to make it more dynamic. I want to focus on our ability to choose and the cause and effect power our choices have over our path forward in time.

Like I’ve been saying for years now: Tarot doesn’t predict what will happen to you in life. Tarot helps you figure out what to do when life happens.

That’s what these weekly look-ahead readings are all about. It’s not about a prediction, it’s about navigation. The reading is about ideas to help you navigate the energies swirling around right now. If you follow the blog or podcast and get the cards in the week that they were drawn, it can give you a sense of the current zeitgeist collective energies. If you stumble across this post or episode at some other point in time then the message is still valid, it just becomes more personal to you and less connected to the general energies.

For these weekly posts and in private three card readings, I change the meaning for each card position from past, present and future to make it all more dynamic. These cards are tied to the flow of energy instead of time. The timing is unique to you. The energy flow may not connect to you at all. That is up to you to decide if and how any of this resonates for you at all..

The first card points to an energy that is present, but fading in influence. The second card is the surrounding energy that is strongest at the present moment and the final card is an energy that is growing in influence.

I read the card order from right to left for a few reasons.

First, that’s how it’s done in the first layout that I learned way way back in the day. The nine card layout in the Medicine Cards guidebook by David Carson and Jamie Sams was one inspiration for the five card and seven card layouts that I wrote ten years later when I first began professional Tarot work.

Second, it’s how I learned to read auras. When you read a person’s aura, you look at them face on, and their past is on your right, which is their left. It might sound confusing, but it is surprisingly easy and natural if you have ever looked at medical x-rays.

Third, this is the opposite of how we read English, my native language. Reading words is a logical process. By flipping the direction of card interpretation, it disconnects the Tarot reading process from the logical language reading process and opens the way for a more purely intuitive understanding.

That all being said, let’s look at this week’s cards.

Logic is not a factor in the card of diminishing energies, the Devil. Today I’m using the Alleyman Tarot with permission from deck creator Seven Dane Asmund and Publishing Gobline LLC . There isn’t information about this individual card save that the copyright for the image is held by the British museum. I couldn’t find anything on an internet search so why this Devil in what looks for all the world like a very vintage card is drawn with ophiological genitalia is beyond me. Snake-boy is not something you see every day. Snakes or no, it takes some outright chutzpah to run around naked with all the confidence and power this image portrays.

Other people may have been trying to take a mile from the inch you gave. People may have been trying to take a mile from an inch that you never gave in the first place. The energy around this card is weird and intrusive and hints at a time where everything has been out of kilter and working on every last nerve. Luckily it is starting to move away, so hang in there.

Next is the Strength card. That is the closest, biggest energy right now and the message is just as simple and clear as it can get.

You got this.

In my readings, “hear” means that the intuition comes as words or music instead of mental images. “See” means the intuition comes as mental images. Sometimes there are feelings, tastes and smell, but that is uncommon. At this point, I hear the phrase “strength comes from perseverance.” Being patient and persistent is your superpower right now. Be the mountain in the presence of chattering monkeys.

The final card is the energy that is growing, moving toward us in the near future if you will. The knight of wands has all sorts of passionate, active connotations and my instinct it to toss them all right out the window.

In the BBC seven episode adaptation of Suzanna Clarke’s novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel the knight of wands is connected with a the coming of a second magician that would allow magic to return to England.

That is the meaning that is front and center and loud for this card this week.

Find your magic. Be that second magician that re-ignites your connection with the magic that is inside. Be your own Jonathan Strange.

In short, this week may be weird but hang in there ’cause you got this.

Thank you for reading and listening! Please follow the blog and podcast for more of these three card readings for the week ahead (whatever week this may be for you.) I do mean both. There will be posts on the blog that don’t go out to the podcast. The free blog is the only place to get all of my free-to-access Tarot content and it has links to the podcast if you prefer audio.

Private readings are open. Ko-fi memberships have been upgraded. I’d appreciate any likes, subs, shares or virtual coffees you can spare. Links are in the right hand column on the blog and in the episode description for this podcast.

See you at the next sip!

Tarot Twofer

Join today

Hi everyone! Happy Superb Owl Sunday! (shout out to the Audubon Society and owls everywhere)

I’ve already emailed existing members about this, but I wanted to let the world know about a change in the members-only blog. I think it is something that will be a win-win for all of us.

As of today, I’m mashing the two membership tiers together to give you the higher tier benefit at the lower tier price.

For $5 monthly membership, you get your own private Tarot reader!

Each member can access TWO private, customized, one-card Tarot readings by email on demand per calendar month. That’s two email readings per month for the price of one, no appointment needed. Members can DM me on Ko‑fi with their question and get a one card reading with photo of the real-world card sent to their email, usually within 12 – 24 hours.

All the disclaimers & occasional delivery delays apply, of course. I’m just one person, after all. You can read the details HERE.

You also get randomly posted member-exclusive content and a 5% shop discount.

Tarot Turnovers will still happen, but they have been shifted to the “random exclusive content” category. Members are the only ones to get those intuition development posts, but they won’t be on a regular schedule.

The once monthly Pathway reading is dropping from the membership, but will be replaced by FOUR non-exclusive week-ahead readings.

The monthly newsletter is going to be replaced by occasional announcement posts, like this one, which is less hassle for all of us.

Everything has pretty much changed over to the Sage Words Tarot name. The Podcast has a slightly different name “Sage’s Short Sip Tarot” because honestly, I just love the read Tarot and sip coffee metaphor because that is my favorite way to start a weekday. Most podcasts will post on Monday mornings and the socials will be as random as ever.

I hope you will follow along with everything. The only way to get 100% of my content is to follow the main blog (free), be a member ($5 per month), plus follow me on Instagram (also free). I’m on a bunch of socials, but I pretty much only interact with Instagram. You can leave comments on the blog, Instagram or TikTok and I’ll see them daily.

That’s pretty much it. I hope you’ll check out SageWordsTarot.com. Feel free to use the search box in the right hand column to search Tarot cards and topics. All of the old TaoCraft Tarot posts are still there for your browsing pleasure.

See you at the next Sip!

Home Page update, February 2023

My Tarot Valentine Tarot Reading plus free Ebook -order HERE

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MEET YOUR READER

Page update – memberships

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GET YOUR OWN PRIVATE TAROT READER

$5 per month gives you TWO “Short Sip Contemplation” Tarot card readings by email on demand per calendar month plus random member exclusive content on the ko-fi blog and a 5% ko-fi shop discount.

Members can claim their readings by sending a DM via ko-fi with your name, questions (or request an open reading) and your email.

The private reading arrives in your email inbox within 48 hours (US holidays and announced closures may experience some delays – I’m only one human)

Join me at the Tarot Table on Ko-fi and see what the cards have to say for you!

Page update – email readings

Check out the newly updated email Tarot readings page

email tarot readings $5 – $45

Pro Tip: Scroll the whole list! I have layouts to fit any question…and any budget!

I’m not a bot! All email readings are done with real world cards by a human Tarot Reader with 30 years of experience. Distance Tarot is my specialty! Meet your reader HERE

All readings include:

a photo of your real-world card layout
card-by-card interpretation
psychic summary with crystal energies and intuitive aromatherapy.
See an example email reading HERE.

Choose from:

Power of 3 (9 cards) Set of three yes/no questions for complex “this or that” questions but with the clarity of a simple yes/no answer. Question or topic required. If you describe what you need, I can adapt it to this unique yes/no format for you – $45 only available to ko-fi supporters
Extended TaoCraft (7 cards) The same layout used in live readings in-person and online. Shows the 3 card path you are on, advice, alternatives, helping energies and potential challenges – $40
TaoCraft Tarot (5 cards) Written by me and in use since 2003, this layout empowers you and your choices with the original five cards in the extended layout above – $30
Year Ahead (5 cards) Gives a theme for the four seasons coming up and a card to symbolize the entire year ahead. Great for New Year, birthdays and more – $25
TimeFlow (4 cards) the get-organized reading with “Let it rest, let go, que it up, and let it flow” cards – $20
Pathway (3 cards) A modernized version of the classic past-present-future layout with a focus on navigating your path, not predicting the future – $15
Zombie Cat’s Yes/No (3 cards) reads ANY questions with 100% guarantee to contain words, and at least a 50% chance of being dead wrong – $15
Short Sip Contemplation (1 card) – Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. General advice or a focused follow-up to a longer readings we’ve done together – $5

Contacting me indicates that you agree with the policies listed HERE.

It’s Time

Private readings

It’s time.

Things are circling back.

What you’ve given is about to return.

Efforts are about to pay off if they aren’t already.

It’s a time of power. Accept the boons the universe is offering gratefully, and place intentions for the future.

It’s a good time to both reap what you’ve sown and sow again well.

Like what you read? Buy me a coffee! Please click the white coffee mug to support the free Tarot content in the blog, podcast and socials.

Reflections on reflection

I wonder what Yoda would say if you put him in a hall of mirrors.

Hello and welcome to Sage’s Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

Today’s card is from the Alleyman’s Tarot which, as you know, is hands down my favorite deck. The deck is a masterpiece of art and Tarot and experience. It is to a Tarot reader like a Stradivarius that pulls the best from a master violinist. It teaches you and I, both at once, which in itself is part of today’s message.

Let me ask you this: how comfortable are you looking in the mirror?

The narcissistic part of us stops at the surface. We look in the mirror to style our hair, shave, apply makeup, floss our teeth or what have you. But what would happen if you stopped for a minute and looked into your eyes.

Not AT your eyes. INTO them. Look at your own eyes like you would look at the eyes of a lover. Look into your eyes as if you were trying to read the soul of a stranger.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul, despite our public facing face. A mirror is the window to your own eyes, your own soul.

What do you see there?

And why do you care.

Tarot is a lot of things. It’s a guide through confusion and uncertainty. It is a comfort during emotionally difficult times. But Tarot and all the woo woo is also all about self-knowledge, personal growth, just generally making a half decent effort to be a better person.

Try the mirror thing once. It can be a little intense depending on what kind of emotional or mental space you are in at the time.

Or not (for precisely the same reason.)

Any mirror can be a little like the Mirror of Erised from Harry Potter. The mirror reflects the person with their most sincere desire, and that the “happiest man on earth could use it like a normal mirror.”

I wonder if that is why the lockdown times of the early covid pandemic were so difficult for some people. I wonder if it was less of a natural introvert vs extrovert thing as much as it was a time where we were forced to spend some quality time with ourselves and maybe not liking it so much.

Or discovering that we liked it quite a lot.

When you try to sense the soul behind the eyes you see in the mirror, I suspec the comfort level varies with the happiness and contentment of the person using the mirror, just as with the fictional Mirror of Erised.

For the person most comfortable in their own skin, the person most accepting of themselves, the eye gazing exercise is just like using a mirror normally.

In a hall of mirrors, you can’t escape yourself. I can imagine it forcing self reflection, both literally and figuratively. Bruce Lee is known for both his self-confidence and his wise life philosophies. In the hall of mirrors scene from the 1970s movie Enter the Dragon, Lee creates a character that is calm, poised, undisturbed by being confronted with himself. What would today’s self-help people on social media feel in that situation? What would they do? Think of anyone you consider wise or any sort of spiritual teacher. What would you guess they would do?

If you suddenly, unexpectedly found yourself in a hall of mirrors, how would you feel? What would you do?

What would Yoda do in a hall of mirrors?

Thank you so much for reading the blog and listening to the podcast. I appreciate you.

I also appreciate any likes, subs, shares or follows you can spare. Please click the white coffee mug on the blog or the link in the podcast episode description to support this free to access, non-monetized Tarot content.

Private readings by email are OPEN with with prices and layouts for any budget or question.

Thanks again! See you at the next sip!