YouChoose Interactive Tarot 9/6 – 9/12/20

Hi again! Hard to believe it is time for another weekly reading. Funny thing about this year. Small bits of time seems to fly, but looking back over the year it seems to be about a decade long. Time is as fluid in perception as it is relative to speed it seems. I hope you’ll take a peek at the special offers page and keep an eye out for the (rapidly becoming annual) hello posts. September 2018 was the beginning of Modern Oracle Tarot’s (and Tarotbytes blog’s, and Quirk & Flotsam etsy shop’s) rebranding process. October 31, 2018 was the grand unveiling of TaoCraft Tarot that brought everything under the same conceptual cyber roof. This year, I’m celebrating TaoCraft Tarot’s second anniversary all the way through re-branding season with a digital one card InkMagick reading giveaway through midnight on Halloween. Fall has a sense of newness: a new school, a new season, a new name. It is very much a vanity project, but over the next several weeks I’d like to reintroduce myself and the foundation ideas behind TaoCraft Tarot to all of you and to the newer subscribers on the YouTube channel. But now for THIS week:

Left: The Hermit. A major arcana card, if you chose left, you are being pulled toward a path of higher energy. This week is headed toward some spiritual OOMPF that may be more feeling than physical manifestation but just as important. There is a strong mental image of a compass here, which inspired the post title. There is a feeling of active navigation. This card doesn’t imply that you are lost or going in the wrong direction, but rather empowers you to SET your direction. Fall and Halloween season are, for some, the new year season as well. The feeling is less nostalgic than the January new year season tends to be. You can be retrospective then…the advice here is to “tee up” the end of 2020, set yourself up to end strong. You have everything you need to do that on the inside. Even if you are young, you have the experience you need (from spring of this year if nothing else) to set your direction for Fall. Your inner light is your best guide. Quiet time brings it to the surface: a long job, a cup of coffee with some music, a bubble bath, meditation – whatever works best for you.

Center: 7 of Cups. A minor arcana card, no red lights or sirens around this week. More minor nuisance kind of feeling here. It is a gift to have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to options. Don’t overthink, don’t let the decision paralysis get you. Here I get the mental image of Luke in the ice cave, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath and just reaching out to get his light saber. Similar feeling here. Listen to you inner vision, let your heart lead the way. Quiet is key for you, just like the Hermit card, but in a more internal than external way. Quiet the chattering monkey mind to let your heart (and gut instinct) speak.

Right: Ace of Swords. Remember that ice bucket challenge that was going around several years ago? That comes to mind as symbolic of this card’s advice. It is the exact flip-flop of what the seven of cups is saying. Follow your brain. Try to keep chattering monkey guts and emotions in check and let cool reason and intellect guide the way. It may feel unfeeling, cold and calculating – but cooler heads prevail and set things in a much better direction. Step away from the social media…this is NOT the week for hot takes on the first thing that fries your cakes. Stay frosty for a better outcome.

image via free Bitmoji app

Today’s Tarot: Slow & Steady

Time is a thing.

Time is woven into the fabric of the universe. How we measure it and talk about it, however, is made-up and arbitrary. A necessary arbitrary, to be sure. We need that common touchstone to communicate. It’s a whole wibbly-wobbly Doctor Who kind of thing. If you invented a time machine, it would have to be able to move, too, or else the Earth would rotate right out from under you while you were gone.

Time is a thing, and setting arbitrary measurements for it are a necessity, but it doesn’t have to be an stress or an enemy. There is a yin and yang too it, and ebb and flow to it. Yes, Eistein showed that time is relative to speed, literally, but there is also fluidity within our perception of it. Psychological stress can be described as feeling time-pressure equally across all tasks. Everything is a coming-in-hot emergency.

The Two of Wands reminds us that nah, it’s not.

Full speed ahead mach 2 overdrive 24/7 is a problem waiting to happen. When this card comes along, it’s time to cool your jets. Look, listen, wait, think. Those are things too. Those are things that need doing as much as anything else. A quality journey is a win as much as getting to your destination is a win.

Putting pressure on yourself is counterproductive in today’s energy. Allow yourself, your projects, your goals, your hopes have the time they need. A turtle doesn’t need to run to live well. Thoughtful persistence is as beneficial as outright speed.

Happy September!

Second Anniversary website-only free tarot reading offer ends October 31, 2020

It’s actually been two years.

In some ways it seems like two days, in others it seems like two decades, but a couple of years ago I began the process of re-branding Modern Oracle Tarot and the Quirk & Flotsam shop on Etsy under one new name. TaoCraft Tarot officially launched under the new identity on October 31, 2018.

If you have been with me since the before time, and made the trip over from Modern Oracle, thank you. I am well and truly grateful, old friends. I hope you’ll hang in there a little more over the next few posts without getting too awfully bored.

If you have arrived since the 2018 unveiling, welcome new friends. I am grateful for each of you too. There are enough of you that introductions are in order. Starting with “Which Layout Should I Get” some of the posts over the next couple of months will re-introduce the basics of what TaoCraft Tarot is all about. Of course, all of that stuff is always available under the “About” tab at top of the page or in the mobile drop-down menu. Even so, I like to dust it all off and post new, current versions as a pure vanity project. Happy Anniversary to me. I hope it makes you feel more comfortable in this cyberspace. As 2020 enters its final third and we all look forward to 2021 (may all your dumpster fires extinguish) there are two new features to the website compared to last Fall: Live phone readings are back and the website comments are open!

Open, but moderated. Please use the comments to ask anything you like. I’ll answer in the blog and/or social media. I’m still going to protect the energy of TaoCraft’s cyberspace. Any spam or inappropriate comments will be obliterated in a blinding flash of white hot hellfire…I mean….deleted before they appear.

Also, you might want to take a peek at the special offers page. I’d bake an anniversary cake for all of us, but maybe this will suffice instead. Because, you know, cyberspace.

Peace to all-R.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot Aug 30 -Sept 5

What do you think? How do you like this combination of watching the card draw on a video instead of a series of still to choose your card? I’m still more of a writer than a yootoober, but let me know which you like better, photos or video. Thank you to everyone for all of the likes, shares, subs, blog follows and everything. I really appreciate it. If you let me know what kind of Tarot content you want, then I can create it. YouTube is turning out to be a more interesting element in this than I expected. But please, let me know what interests you, what topics you want. Comments are open again! You ask, I read.

For today, pick a card. Watch the three cards being drawn, then choose the one that draws your eye or holds your gaze the most. If it all seems the same and you need a minute, feel free to pause the video then restart it to see the reveal.

Left: Seven of Cups. Cups are associated with the element of water and with intuition. The energy for this card for this week is more aligned with this older alchemical understanding than with the more contemporary notion of understanding the four suits as symbolizing your relationships in life, in the case of cup your most inner circle of human relationships (romance, marriage, family etc.) Looking through the lens of intuition, the seven of cups advises you to listen to your intuition and try not to over-think things. The energies might be a little prone to circular logic, or logic being overwhelmed by detail and possibilities. When faced with a complicated choice, give your heart and intuition a chance to help you navigate through all of the smoke and the noise

Center: The Emperor. The energy here is not about a power trip. The energy here is closer to “nobless oblige” or in the words of Stan Lee “With great power comes great responsibility.” Or in the words of one of the many Tao Te Ching translations “To master others is strength, to master oneself is true power.” The Emperor is, as you might expect, associated with power – in this case power associated with protection. Where do you need protected? Where can you help protect others? What are your strengths and weaknesses, and how can you productively use the strengths while shoring up the weaknesses? How can you make mutually beneficial alliances? Everyone wearing a mask to keep everyone safe springs to mind.

Right: Four of Cups. Emotional currents move in their own time. Don’t place expectations on your feelings…feel them. It isn’t a test. It isn’t a race. Your time to heal is uniquely your own. I’ve seen this card a lot lately, and I really think it has to do with persistence, not failure; continuation not an end result. The journey really is more important than the destination and how fast you get there this week. The time it takes to get your arms around emotion…especially feelings of loss or grief…goes according to nature, not our arbitrary clocks and calendars.

Today’s Tarot: Stick to your knitting (metaphorically speaking – or not)

The Eight of Pentacles is about due diligence, effort, work, study, etc. Todays energy is very aligned with that. Even though the eight is silent on outcome in contrast to the ‘reap what you sow’ vibe that we have seen recently in the Seven of Petacles. Today’s card is short term planning, not long term planting.

Today is a day to put your head down, and stick to your knitting. WHAT that knitting IS can vary a great deal from person to person. Maybe your “knitting” today is protest and vocal activism. Maybe your “knitting” is disaster recovery. Maybe your knitting is rocking a baby to sleep for a nap. Maybe your knitting is just getting through your workday. Maybe your knitting is actual knitting.

Whatever your task may be, today’s energy is a reminder to let our mind rest where our physicality lies. It is exhausting to emotional or enthusiastic or passionate all of the time, even when things are good. More so when they are not. There is a certain deep, spiritual rest in doing simple tasks that don’t need a lot of thought and ask nothing of our emotions. Actual knitting is very meditative in that way. It is very much in the Zen frame of mind. In the words of Alan Watts “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is to simply peel the potatoes.” Or, in the words of the proverb “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.”

In still other words: Today is a day for mindfulness and the simple comfort of simple routing tasks. Underneath the tedium and sometimes boredom is a resevoir of quiet mindfulness and comfort when you are of a mind to feel it that way.

Career Tarot Reading: Three Card Pathway Example

career Tarot reading example

You ask. I read. This is both a general example of how Tarot readings with me generally work, generally speaking. If this reading resonates with you, you are welcome to adopt it as your own. If not, it is after all, well, general.

I hope you’ll visit http://www.TaoCraftTarot.com and follow the blog to get all of the latest videos, special offers, and print-only content including Reiki, meditation, reading suggestions and the occasional off-topic post because it’s my blog and I can do that. Your questions and comments are welcome both here and there. Spam and inappropriate comments will be obliterated in a burst hellfire.

Thank you for watching. Thank you for your subs, shares, likes, blog follows and reading orders. Thank you for being your fabulous self and sharing this time and Tarot.

Q&A: Which layout should I get?

Find your goldilocks zone of price and detail in a Tarot reading.

Decision paralysis is a thing.

I get it all the time when faced with one of those large, delicious sounding Chinese restaurant menus. At the same time, the Zen simplicity of a hibachi restaurant is just as delicious. I like having some choices. I have to follow a special diet, and some super small limited menus present a whole different kind of problem.

Just like menus, there is a sweet spot in the number of cards in a layout, and the number of layout choices available to you.

There are roughly a hoozillion different Tarot card layouts. You can write one for yourself, right now. All you have to do is decide ahead of time what you want each card position to mean, keep that meaning clear in your mind as you lay out the cards, then have at it. While that works great when you are reading for yourself, it can get confusing and intimidating for a new client. Decision paralysis sets in when they are trying to decide on a new reader or which layout to get (especially if it is their very first reading or if they aren’t familiar with Tarot work.)

If you charge per minute, the layout you use doesn’t matter so much. But I feel more comfortable (and I hope my clients do too) with charging per layout. We all know the full cost up front and have a pretty good estimate about how long the session will last in advance. There is no clock watching, no extending minutes, no connection fees, no waiting times, no ambiguity about layout meanings, no pulling card after card to make things run long….or any of the other things that might give psychics and Tarot a shady reputation.

I offer a variety of layouts. It gives you choice without being too overwhelming. I’ve tried to find the just – right “Goldilocks Zone” between choice and decision paralysis.

The layouts are organized two ways, price and detail. The layouts are roughly priced at $5 per card. The larger layouts cost a little more than that because more cards means more complexity and more loose ends to weave together. Larger layouts take more skill and experience to do well.

Based on my skill and 27 years of experience, the largest layout I offer only has 7 cards in it because larger ones beyond that tend to get confusing and contradictory and can muddy the waters as often as they are clarifying. Larger readings tend to lose the forest in trees, and neither of us want a session like that. The $40 seven card layout is the one used in individual sessions and lasts about an hour. It is always available by phone and email too.

On the other extreme, I have a layout of two extremes in 1 card. The one card meditation is just what the name says. On one extreme is a very broad, general idea, a bit of whole-life guidance for you to ponder. On the other extreme, this same one card approach can be laser focused, and quick, pithy update on a question IF you have recently had a longer reading on that question. Whichever context you bring to the reading, the price is right. This $5 reading is the most affordable Tarot insight around as far as I know. Even when in-person services return, this one is only available by email.

In the middle, there are two types of 3 card reading.

The Pathway layout shows the path you are on, simple as that with cards symbolizing lessons from the past, current energies, and ideas to move forward in the most empowered and positive way possible. It is $15, around 20 minutes or so in length, and is perfect for experienced spiritual seekers who just want to check in to make sure they are ‘still on the right path’

Zombie Cat YES or NO is one of my favorites, and also does just exactly what the name implies: it answers any ONE yes-or-no question with a 3 card reading. I do the reading through the “Zombie Cat” persona which gives us a little room for a tiny bit of snark and a dollop of humor. Zombie cat will take any question, he’ll even make it sound like a prediction if you really want him too as long as you realize there is a 50% chance he’ll be DEAD WRONG. Same price as as the 3 card pathway, only available by email.

And two types of 5 card reading

The Seasons of the Year is only available, well, seasonally. Look for it on the special offers offers page and in social media announcements. It has one card as a guidance or theme or meditation for each season of the coming year, no matter what time of year you get the reading done. Then there is a card to symbolize the overarching theme or energy of the whole year. This layout is $30 and is usually available winter solstice through lunar new year.

The Modern Oracle layout is named for my old website. I wrote this layout a long time ago when I first started reading professionally. It is specifically designed to show the path you are on, but another path readily open to you based on your choices. This is the best all-purpose sweet-spot layout of them all and the one I recommend if it your very first reading or if you aren’t sure which one is best. It is the closest thing to a one size fits all layout that I’ve found so far. Also $30, this layout is available both by phone and email.

All email readings are also available in a video recorded form that you can download. I usually use dropbox or youtube private share to send your video file, since they are too large to send as an email attachment.

One card and seven card layouts are available in special keepsake pen and ink (on actual paper sent through the actual mail). These “InkMagick” readings include glyph-like intuitive illustrations that I call “sigil elements” since you are welcome to use them in your own sigil crafting if you choose. Prices as marked, available in the TaoCraftTarotShop on Etsy.

All policies and disclaimers apply to all layouts.

Check back this week for a behind the scenes peek at how any session works, phone, email, or in-person (if we get back to that.) If you would like to see a rough example of how things go, check out the new video about a “career reading” on the TaoCraftTarot YouTube channel.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot 23-29 August 2020

Interactive one card daily meditation Tarot reading for the week ahead

Pick a card, any card. It is always worth remembering that these cards are not predictions. They are a gauge of the energy flow just ahead. It lets you know the topics that need the most attention, and let’s you know the choices that have a more favorable environment right now. Just like water, energy flows are changeable and, for lack of a better term, fluid. This reading may change before a week is out. Whenever you watch this, I trust the process. Whenever you watch this, whichever card you choose, I trust that the message you most need will find you somehow.

For now, take a deep breath. Let go of whatever is on your mind. Choose whichever card feels right. Pick on impulse, or if you would like to give it a little thought, pause the video and then restart it to see the reveal.

Before we get to the written card interpretations, I’d like to remind everyone of a few things that are much more mundane. I have lots of phone appointments available. Phone readings are easy: schedule -> purchase -> enjoy. Just contact me to schedule a time, purchase your session using the secure paypal buttons HERE, then call at your appointment time and enjoy your live Tarot reading! I will ask for your email so I can send you a photo of your card layout. You are welcome to take notes and ask questions during the session.

You can schedule a session by calling 312-206-9171 or by email at taocrafttarot@gmail.com. Please be aware: the phone only answers for VOICEMAIL and previously scheduled calls. If you want to make an appointment, please leave a message with your name and number and I’ll call you back asap. No message, no appointment. If you don’t like leaving a message, or if this seems overly complicated, blame all the spam callers, the people who stiffed me for phone readings in the past and and the ones who try to get a free reading over the phone. They are why we can’t have nice things.

Left: Knight of Swords. This week is set up for action. This is a card that asks you to call on your daring side, and use all of the self-confidence you can muster this week. This is a good week to implement plans that have been in the works for a while – plans that are complete and ready to be released into the wild. That sneaker commercial comes to mind. This card is all “Just do it” and also “It’s go time.” For aromatherapy I get black pepper, rosemary, …or coffee…active mental “study blends” for mental sharpness and memory. Mind and intellect are also associated with the air element and the suit of swords.

Center: Knight of Wands. This card brings “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel” to mind. “Act on your magick” comes to mind. Knights are action cards. Wands are associated with fire, spirituality, philosophy, your inner passions. The notion of “spirituality in motion” or “act on your beliefs” whatever form that takes for you. For some, it might be volunteer time. For others it may take the form of outward religious practice or ritual. For me, there is a feel of ritual as move through a week of a waxing moon. I’m not knowledgeable about astrology, so please refer to your favorite resource for that particular detail. The best way I can think of to articulate the energy feeling is to say it is a good week for rituals of manifestation and prosperity given the waxing moon and coming full moon on…September 2 if memory serves. In my minds eye I see pentacles, candles, now the taijitu (yin yang symbol), sunlight and black candles…a balance and respect for both the light-side and dark-side, however you personally visualize such things. For aromatherapy I get sacred wood resins, like frankincense, myrrh, patchuli and copal or palo santo

Right: Page of Wands. If you selected this card, it is a call to hold your horses instead of charge ahead. Stop, look, and listen or you might have to stop, drop and roll instead. There is a sense of something unknown. An important piece of the puzzle is missing. Whatever you do, make sure you fully understand a situation and have all the facts before you go out on a limb with a comment or opinion, and certainly before your act. For aromatherapy I get lavendar. Stay chill with this classic relaxation scent.

Thank you for watching and reading! I appreciate all of you and hope that you’ll follow the blog to get new posts in your inbox. The opt – in is over there -> on laptop view. On mobile scroll WAAYYY down to enter your email. PRO TIP: I am going to be posting a giveaway this week that will only be available through the blog. Talk to you soon. – R.

Today’s Tarot: It’s all good, even the bad.

It’s OK to be OK. It’s OK to not be OK. It’s not OK to pretend.

“The only sin in any of that is in the pretending”

Tuesday afternoon, I watched the secular coalition panel discussion at the Democratic convention. I wish I’d written down the details of the story, who told told it, who it was about, but it didn’t occur to me. The anecdote struck a very personl chord with me. Other than the quote above, the details have escaped.

The speaker told of an atheist friend of his who told his devoutly religious father of his non-belief. He listed all the things so important to the friend’s family that the 20 year old friend could no longer honestly do because he thought it was all, well, BS. He expected anger, hurt or worse from his father, who simply stood, gave the man a hug and told him the only sin in any of his rejections is in the pretending. It would be a far worse offense to pretend to believe, to go through empty motions.

The same idea is true of emotions in general. Queen cards represent a caretaking and nurturing kind of leadership (contrasted with the protective leadership of a King) while Wands cards have to do with the inner world, and the element of fire…our inner passions, emotions, spirituality, beliefs.

The only sin is in the pretending.

This speaks to “toxic positivity” as some are calling it. You could also call it emotional dissonance, or even outright denial. Like most things, it is a two way street.

You can’t manage stress unless you admit it exixts in the first place. You can’t fix the problem until you honestly acknowledge that it is there and begin to understand the real nature of things. Pessimism isn’t always helpful. But neither is seeing the wold through rose colored glasses. Both add to problems. You have to stare reality in the face to deal with what actually is happening.

AND you have to stare your own heart and emotions in the face to accept and acknowledge what they are too. Emotions aren’t good, bad, positive, negative or indifferent, unless we assign that quality to them. It reminds me of that quote from the movie Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. “Fear is just a feeling. You feel hot. You feel hungry. You feel angry. You feel afraid. Fear can never kill you.”

Wise words, even if it comes from pulp fiction. It’s ok to feel what you feel. The feelings won’t hurt you. It’s the stupid shit we do in the name of those feelings that cause problems or make existing problems worse.

So yes, by all means, it’s ok to be ok.

It’s just as ok to not be ok.

But it’s not ok to pretend.

Today’s Tarot: Emphasis, Not Error

Earlier this week (in other words, yesterday) the four of pentacles was one of the cards in the YouChoose Interactive reading. The boilerplate interpretation of repeating cards is that we aren’t learning the lesson that the card is bringing. It’s too soon for that to make any sense, especially in a general audience reading like this. One to one, private, individual readings are very different. In an individual session, I dial in to your specific message within the energy at large and translate that into ideas directed toward you as an idividual. These blog readings are like looking at the energy of a flock of birds or a school of fish all moving roughly together but with scattered individual for whom none of this will make any sense at all.

In this situation, we can’t consider a repeating card, especially one that comes two days in a row, to be an unlearned lesson. Humans just don’t learn or integrate the kind of life-lessons associated with Tarot in that amount of time.

In my minds eye I see the red light emoji, and hear almost a video game sort of alert signal, a little like the ‘time is almost up’ sound they make on American Ninja Warrior. I can also mentally ‘see’ a yellow highlighter marker.

For those of you who chose the Four of Pentacles yesterday, this is a double dose. Having the card appear both yesterday and today makes the message all the more important for you. The way the card moved from an option to a full on general audience hints that the message is growing in importnance and urgency, not fading. The message is for everyone now, but with an extra dose for the folks who chose the card yesterday.

The Four of Pentacles can be associated with greed and stinginess. That isn’t the thread of meaning that is so urgent right now. It speaks more to care, carefulness with budget and money. This is not a good time for impulse buys and self indulgence. Practical, low key, stock the pantry kind of energy is around. Think squirrels gathering walnuts for the winter.

Winter, as they say, is coming.

Pragmatic planning is your friend today. Slow and steady very much wins the race. This isn’t a full energy all out emergency. It isn’t a time of euphoria or dysphoria either one. Plodding, methodical, planning, budgeting are all words that come to mind today.

It’s that time of year. Taking the Four of Coins/Pentacles advice, I’m trying to get organized for Fall. Forgive the repetition, but it helps me to triage and prepare if I organize a few basic announcements for you.

First, there won’t be a premium blog after all. All of the blog, all of the YouTube channel is free and open. I haven’t monetized either one. Both the blog and the channel take some time and effort to do, especially since I’m a great Tarot reader but not such a great video media personality. The steep learning curve continues. If you like what you read in the blog, and use it oftern, please consider getting a peronal reading. One card readings are the cost of a coffeehouse latte. Although I wouldn’t object to being paid in my favorite drink, you can’t send coconut vanilla flat whites  through email. If you are so inclined, distance readings are available for order 24/7 no appointment needed on the home page.

Second, I hope you’ll consider following the blog by email along with your favorite social media (say hi on Instagram and Twitter, I actually interact with those) If you follow the blog, you’ll get all of the content. There will be print only posts that do not appear on the YouTube channel.

Third, due to the ongoing pandemic and the oncoming flu season, in-person readings and party Tarot readings are still closed. If you want a live, real-time reading, phone readings are available by appointment with prepayment. Order a phone session just like you would order anything online using the secure paypal button HERE then contact me at TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com to schedule your session.

Fourth, ask me anything! The comments are back open and you are welcome to tell me the kind of content you want to see, or ask any questions you like. I won’t promise an individual reply, but I will answer everything that I can in the blog itself. Any spam or anything inappropriate will be thrown into an active volcano and never heard from again.

Thank you all. Best Wishes – R.