Daily meditation style one card tarot reading with the nine of wands.
“Wear your experience, you’ve earned your scars.” comes through here.
It isn’t to say wallow in past experiences or let past injuries dominate your mind now. There is a difference between release and denial. We can’t deny extant fact. Our experiences don’t disappear. They are part of the path that brought us to where we are now. They are in part of us. The difference lies in how those things are integrated. They are part of us, yes, but what part, how big of a part and what part that part plays in our current life are malleable.
I also relate this to a mental image that came through near to New Year’s Day. The swarm of small tornadoes across a USA map outline is still there, but not as strong, as if the lines are drawn in grey instead of black. The sense of taking stock, of crawling out of the wreckage to begin to survey the damage is starting to strengthen. Here I mentally/intuitively ‘hear’ the song “Beyond Thunderdome” by Tina Turner from the movie of the same name. In particular, the lyrics “Out of the ruins, out of the wreckage, can’t make the same mistake this time” come to mind. Granted, this is one of my favorite movies and songs from the mid 80s, but it fits this time, and this energy.
Whatever your Thunderdome has been, you don’t have to live in it. Walk out and walk free, move beyond it, but own the fact that you were there.
Today’s Tarot: The Empress. Get some fresh air, or at least refresh the feed on a webcam
The Empress is a major arcana card, and in many ways the feminine counterpart to the Emperor card as you might expect. Minor arcana king cards are protective, outward, proactive leadership and queens are nurturing, care taking leadership. The Emperor and Empress are the same, but with the energy turned up to 11. They are the power couple of the major arcana.
Like many, if not most cards, there are multiple threads of meaning and energy. In addition to nurturing leadership and a sometimes association with growth and fertility, the Empress broadly represents nature. Nature in this case also has multiple connotations. It can talk about the literal, physical natural environment; the plants and birds and rocks and things we can directly experience. Nature includes the inner world, as in nature vs. nurture or being true to your nature.
When a card has multiple threads of meaning, I stop, listen for a minute and see if one thread seems to draw attention more than the others. Today, the part that catches my attention is the simplest and most pleasant: nature-nature. The rocks and trees one.
I vaguely remember a study about natural images. I don’t remember the source or details enough to even try and search for it. I have the impression it was a small study at a college (Emory springs to mind, though I have no logical justification for why) In any case, I can speak to study size or methodology, but the result was the same as the Empress’ advice. Humans benefit by interacting with nature. Naturally (ha!) actually being outside is best. Even a walk down the street or a few minutes on the porch is something. If that isn’t available, the study, if memory serves, suggested that substitute interactions can have a stress reduction benefit, even something as simple as looking at pictures of nature on a computer.
The advice from today’s card is just exactly that. In a world of social distancing and self quarantines, enjoy nature (six feet away from any other humans) or at least find small natural indulgences. A brief touch is better than none: water a houseplant, step out on a porch or fire escape, go to a park, find a live webcam of a zoo or aquarium (or a live volcano – why not?)
Another way to understand reversed (upside down) cards in a Tarot reading.
I don’t know who enjoyed the cartoons more, my daughter or me.
Kids in the early 2000s had way better shows to watch than we did. But then, I’m old and decrepit and had to wait for Saturday to watch them. Still, Spongebob and Jimmy Neutron rocked.
One of the funnier bits in Jimmy Neutron was when Jimmy and Cindy used double negatives to get the teacher to give them permission to leave the classroom. When Carl tried to use some sort of complicated quadruple negative, all he got from Mrs. Fowl was a loud “Sit Down, Carl!”
Sometimes reversed Tarot cards are like Carl’s double negative attempt and they need to sit down.
Energy flows like a river. Tarot can point out where the current flows most freely…and where there are rocks in the way. Sometimes there are whirlpools and eddies and quiet pools. Reversed cards can make things go in circles if you get too tied up in them. There is a general notion that if a card turns over upside down (relative to the person doing the reading) its meaning is also reversed, presumably flipping the card from positive to negative connotations. Sometimes a reversed card is generally felt to be a negative omen, regardless of the specific card or meaning.
If the card points to the dark side of life in the first place?
If the reversed bad card is turned into a good card, why not just throw down a good card in the first place? Isn’t there more to it than that? Doesn’t that rob the reversal of any meaning? So what if it does?
Reversed cards can be difficult for beginner readers, exactly because of these swirls of energy (and questions) and the double negative style of communication. This is why I tend to tell reversed cards to sit down.
Double negative communication and any difficulty with reversed cards begins from a place of absolutes. The root mistake is to think a card has a fixed positive or negative connotation in the first place.
My method for dealing with reversed card is to view it as neutral regardless of orientation on the table. Take today’s card, the Hanged Man as an example. Let’s give it the ‘stagnation’ meaning today. For someone who has been harried and hurried and pushed, a time of being “stuck” might be a gift of enforced rest just when it is most needed. For someone who is rested and ready to move, “stuck” is a source of enormous frustration. To the first person, if the hanged man is read as meaning lots of new starts and forward momentum, which indeed could be negative and stressful for someone already too much on the move. For the second person, reversed hanged man and the connotation of forward movement is good news, not one bit negative in any way. The card and its message is neutral, not matter how it falls on the table or which side of its nature steps forward. The good or bad, positive or negative is assigned in context by the sitter (Sitter or seeker means the person getting the reading. When you read for yourself, reader and sitter are the same person.)
By beginning from a position of neutrality about the base card meaning, allowing the client to make any ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ judgement about how the card’s message applies to them. It makes it easier to read a reversal: take whatever meaning steps forward to you. If it is reversed, that simply means that the idea, life lesson or energy movement is blocked or challenged in some way, like a whirlpool outside of the river’s primary flow.
Or, it may mean nothing other than random chance in a deck that has been used and shuffled.
Let your intuition be your guide. If no intuition steps forward, then default to method. In this case, make the base card neutral in good vs bad, consider all the possible meanings for the card, and take the reversal to mean slowed or challenged energy surrounding whatever the card is addressing.
Class dismissed. You can stop sitting down now, Carl.
I’ve been thinking about it on my way down the hallway.
I really don’t have much else to say. Usually the post-companion videos don’t keep me talking this much. For once, I don’t have much to add. I’m sure I could have said much of this more artfully, but you already know I’m a better writer than a yootoober.
I’m a little stuck on that intuitive reference to that scene in the Indiana Jones Movie. Normally it is fun and cool when energy & intuition uses the common language of movies and music. Nerves are on edge, and the general energies locally (eastern United States) are still ringing in resonance with the insurgency at the Capital. That might just be me, not every sensitive or empath. I grew up near-ish to Washington D.C. The vast majority of our TV and radio was from there. We have good friends who live there. Thanks to AP civics in high school I’m the designated politics nerd at our house and still feel a little dialed into the place. The violent shoot-the-annoying-sword-guy scene is a giggle in context, and does demonstrate the calm of strength vs the vulnerability of showboating (come to think of it, maybe something Samurai would have been better, I dunno)…but with the funky mojo out there any hint of violence, even intuitive movie references, is setting of other red lights and sirens. This has roots in the day after the election somehow. Gaaackkkk…the energy that day was just so freaking toxic, and that’s when the maga(t)s thought they’s won. *shudder*
Stay strong. Stay safe. Protect your aura and energy.
And still wear your mask, keep your distance and wash your dang hands for like, the next year, even with the vaccine.
Q: “When will my son ever develop a love of reading?”
A: In the list of things Tarot sucks at, medical / pregnancy questions may be #1, but answering “when” questions is a solid #2 (the double entendre there is accidental, but not wrong ) Using Tarot to answer medical or “when” questions is like asking “What time is it?” and having someone answer with “Blue! Applesauce! Yahtzee!” There isn’t anything evil or wrong about it, it’s just not particularly helpful.
In this case, a tumble of logical questions are getting in the way of intuition, so let’s get them out of the way first. How old is you little one now? If he is young, and reading is still a very new skill, maybe he needs a little time to get good at the skill of reading before he can appreciate the fun of it. Wondering when he will love reading might be like asking when you will love a new skill that that you were forced into learning. For example, what if you were suddenly forced to learn integral calculus for your job? So when are you going to learn to love esoteric mathematics? It is easy to love the things that come easily to you, but things that are hard to do are harder to love. If you suspect reading is extra difficult for him or his learning isn’t on par with his age and development, then talking with his teacher might be the best place to start. It might be jumping the gun to worry about loving reading unless you already know there are no problems with learning reading, like dyslexia or what have you, getting in the way.
Let the record show this is NOT my area of expertise. We cats never read much until sitting on computers became a thing. Turning pages is a pain in the tail when you don’t have opposable thumbs. But if all is well on the learning front, it begs another question. Intuitively I hear “what has he seen?” I’m guessing your question means you are a book lover. Have you had a chance to read when he is around? Has he ever seen you read and love it? Have you read to him and enjoyed it? Leading by example, if you haven’t already, might help. I have to admit I’m a Kindle junkie, but a young one might equate reading on a device with other screen time rather than an actual book. Maybe indulge in some of your favorite old school books and magazines. It is a visual vocabulary to go with the idea. That would do two things. First it would be nonverbal connection with the concept of reading a BOOK, not just generic screen time. Second it would be an energy vibe. If you are reading something you yourself genuinely love, the love + book vibe will be there for him to sense, even on a subconscious level.
Speaking of the ‘loving it’ vibe, is there any topic he is already head over heels for? Dinosaurs, astronauts, cowboys, trains, cars, computers, needlepoint, advanced nuclear chemistry or anything at all? Whatever his interests already are outside of reading, put books in his hands about that thing, whatever it is. If he’s crazy for dinosaurs, give him dinosaur books, even if they are only picture books. If he wants to be a chef when he grows up, give him a kid’s cook written on his current reading level. If he likes wizards, prep him for Harry Potter days to come Then you are very literally connecting books and love. The hooman’s kitten comes to mind. She has always like music and songs. So they gave her loads of rhythmic, sing-songy books like Dr. Suess and Sandra Boyton. Now that she’s all grown up, she loves to read and she’s a music therapist. It is a two for one offer! I’m not sponsored or paid anything, but I’ve heard the hooman talk about scholastic.com as a good resource for kid’s books ideas.
When I drew a card, I got Strength, which might emphasize that idea of playing to his existing strengths (e.g. audio books if he has visual learning issues or loading him up with books about things he already loves.) It might also mean that not everyone loves reading but they still turn out to be strong, successful people.
Or it could mean YAHTZEE!
All best wishes to everyone, especially your little reader in potentia
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Whelp. I guess that tornadoes fading image hasn’t started to fade yet. So what say you my sensitives? What is your read on the funky mojo energy here in the U.S. after yesterday’s armed insurrection at the capital and continuing political frakus? Both logic and intuition say this is it – buckle up for the end game. THEN we can crawl out of the wreakage, survey the damage and begin the beginning of the very early phases of clean up.
I can’t think of a card that captures any meaning or guidance for anything like this, except maybe…
Top image via bitmoji free app, Devil card image from the public domain
Tarot isn’t about predicting the always changing future. Tarot is about navigating and adapting to the future. Tarot doesn’t tell you what is going to happen in life, it helps you figure out what to do when life happens.
2021 is HERE. Now what?
Everyone and a monkey’s uncle are all making resolutions, breaking resolutions, swearing off things, going on diets, declaring their word for the year. I have questions.
How does a resolution fit into the big picture, connected everything in life? Is it a temporary goal or a permanent lifestyle change? Why do something new for the new year at all? What if you aren’t organized enough to drum up even a poorly thought out hot take new year resolution? Do these start-of-year resolutions really fail, do we really give up on them, or is it really just a sign of adapting to evolving circumstances? What if….seriously….what if resolutions don’t last long because they weren’t the right resolution to make or just weren’t needed in the first place?
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems to me it is less about the details of the resolution itself, and more about the process that the new year milestone triggers: evaluate -> adapt -> execute. Resolutions might just be a little frivolous fun and a new year tradition of sorts. That’s cool. If that’s the case, then it is no big deal when they don’t work.
But if you make a serious resolution, it’s because you’ve identified something to change. It might be a problem to fix. It might be a goal to work toward. It might be a consequence to avoid. Whatever the specifics may be, the bottom line is you have evaluated the situation and found something you want to change.
A martial arts teacher once said that if you keep doing what you are doing you will keep getting what you are getting. If you evaluate things and like them and want to keep them…cool. Just keep up what you are doing. If you take that look, and find something to fix, change is necessary. You have to adapt what you are doing to go in a new direction.
Easy right? I don’t think so. I’ve never found it to be that easy. Humans are pretty complex creatures. No one change is all it takes. It is a process, and we usually are juggling several processes at once. It isn’t about just a one-off resolution one time in a year. Solving problems and improving life is a multi-step process. Along with evaluate, adjust and execute, sometimes you have to throw prioritize into the mix too. That’s where the “TimeFlow” reading can help.
In general, Tarot is broad and intuitive, which allows it to be holistic. It can help you see which area needs attention, and where to focus your energies. This layout helps put things into first things first order. Not to get all yin/yang and such again, but it is a balance. Tarot, like life, is big picture and holistic but this particular layout helps you see the smaller, more manageable steps within that whole. It helps you find both the one resolution and see the whole process, both. It is helpful any time of year, or multiple times per year. Or at least I’ve found the structure useful. I hope you will too.
The TimeFlow layout has 4 cards:
Let It Rest: A watched pot never boils as the old adage goes. Some of the best food has simmered in a slow cooker all day. Good things can take time. This card symbolizes an area of life that needs some time to simmer, time to develop, maybe a little time left to it’s own devices. This card let’s you know when something needs less time and attention from you, and is often a validation that it is OK to back-burner an area of life and come back to it later. It shows where you have put too much time and energy unnecessarily.
Let It Go: The key word here is GO. This is a spring house cleaning sort of card. This hints at something that can be taken to the curb next trash day. It might be something minor (throw out those dead batteries in that one drawer) or it might be major (no, your ex isn’t coming back, so move on) but either way it is a clue to disengage your attention and energy. It shows where you may have been wasting time, energy and emotion.
Que It Up: Timing, they say is everything. I have no idea where the adage came from or what it is originally about, but in this context it is about energy flow. Sometimes the wind is at your back and things flow easily. Other times you are fighting the currents, stuck, stagnant and going nowhere. This may be something that was rested in a previous reading. This may be something where, as another adage says, the tides are turning. This is an idea or action whose time has not yet come, but is worth investing some time and attention because soon the flow and tide will be right. Or if you are more baseball minded – this is the energy and idea that is in the on-deck circle. Don’t let it rest totally, but get ready, but this thing’s time is coming.
Let It Roll: This is a clue where the energies are flowing. This is the thing whose time has come. This card is a hint at the priority issue where your most focus attention and energy is most needed.
When I do these readings, it has the same general pattern opening and intuitive summary closing as all the other layouts, to general intuitive impressions, crystal energy and/or aromatherapy suggestions to come through.
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You have to HAVE a plan before life, circumstances and general random crap can blow it all to pieces. Life can get pretty Darwinian sometimes. Adapt or die. But you have to have something TO adapt. You have to be in the water before you can go with the flow. Plan/adapt, yang/yin: I doubt anyone is surprised to see me go kind of Taoist with all of this.
My original plan lasted all the way through 9 am yesterday. So step one is declare time and calendars to be merely arbitrary (they are) and just roll all of this out now instead of a nice, neat Monday morning. This is my general game plan for 2021, subject to change. Everything is, subject to change that is.
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That being said, let’s DO this thing.
The energy IS different than it was last year. I still get the mental image of the U.S. map with lot’s of little tornadoes all over it, but they are fading. I also get a dry, windy ‘aftermath’ feeling, like a scene from a disaster movie, with a feeling like coming out of the storm shelter with a rock in the pit of your stomach as you see the damage, and start to process what just happened and that it was just as bad as it seemed. Or maybe that is just my gut twisting when I hear how many people traveled over the holidays. We’ve turned a sort of corner, but now comes damage assessment, realizing the losses, and the first inklings of the beginnings of the beginning of recovery. Don’t put away your chaps just yet. There is still plenty of Mad Max style dystopian post apocalyptic energy out there. They aren’t kidding. It is probably going to be a dark-energy winter, at least locally (U.S. vs global) Spring and summer have that ‘aftermath’ feel. I feel pretty optimistic about Fall, although I usually do since it is far and away my favorite time of year.
Nature is adapting, but it is also cycles. No new forward looking new year planning is complete without a little retrospective. Thank you all for reading, following, commenting, liking and making this all worth doing. I’m grateful.
So thankful for everyone who ordered a distance Tarot reading over the holiday season. It was a pleasure to work with each and every one of you! Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous new year !
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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