In-person individual Tarot reading services are re-opening in April. Serving Pittsburgh’s South Hill neighborhoods of Carnegie, Scott, Collier, Bridgeville, Nevillewood, Mount Lebanon and Upper St. Clair
For the next week or so, social media will be more random than usual.
Email readings are open the same as always.
And (drumroll please) in-person readings will re-open in April. Appointments need to schedule at least 2 days in advance. No same-day appointments are available.
Just as a reminder, since it’s been a hot minute since in-person readings have been available:
In-person sessions are $40
Appointments are required. Contact me to schedule.
TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com is still the BEST contact. The phone number you see around the website is for text messages only.
Contactless pre-payment is available HERE on the website.
Cash in exact change is accepted at the time of our meeting. I don’t carry cash to make change. Payment is due at the time of the reading either way.
In-person readings last 40 minutes to 1 hour, give or take. I charge per card not per minute to allow the energy to move at its own pace. That gives you the highest quality of reading when we don’t have to focus on a fixed quantity of time.
I don’t keep a physical location and pass the savings along to you. We meet at a quiet public place within my service area. I suggest Panera bread at one of these convenient locations (with plenty of parking!): Great Southern Shopping Center in Bridgeville, 1900 GreenTree Road in Scott Township (in the plaza near Marshalls), Galleria Mall in Mount Lebanon, or Settlers Ridge in Robinson Township.
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot inspiration in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: The Ace of Wands and creative inspiration.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot inspiration in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card is the Ace of Wands.
Wands are associated with the element of fire, inner fire, inner passions and in the case of the ace, creativity, new projects and inspiration.
Young Einstein is one of my favorite movies. It’s a comedy. It’s fun. It’s timeless. It’s about the time space contiuum. The Ace of Wands tends to remind me of one scene where one character accidentally makes a bomb and Marie is telling Albert to do something. He calmly eats an apple and asks for a moment because he’s having an idea. If you watch this clip from YouTube, keep in mind the movie was made in the late 80s before the end of the cold war and before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The part about nuclear bombs is chilling, given current world events. It’s funny the things you can forget in thirty years.
But back to the Ace of Wands. Albert may seem to be just standing there eating an apple, but he’s thinking. He IS doing something.
The same thing applies to creativity and inspiration. Taking a break from one project to pursue something else for a little while is a perfectly legitimate part of the overall creative process. James Bach makes a similar point in his book Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar. I really enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it to anyone who is in or is thinking about a creative career.
I’ve heard that creativity isn’t really making anything new, but rather putting existing things together in a new way or finding deeper connections between things that on the surface seem unconnected. When you are creating a physical object, you just can’t magic it up out of nothing. You have to have the right supplies. Ideas and inspiration work the same way. Whether you making something or having an idea you have to have the raw materials to work with. To make connections, you have to have stuff to connect.
Live a little. Go experience or pay attention to something, anything. Make your magpie collection of life experiences that you can use for inspiration later on. It counts. Looking for inspiration IS doing something.
Thank you so much for watching, reading, and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot. Email Tarot Readings purchased through this website are secured by Papal and contribute to producing this unique, freely available and (almost) daily Tarot inspiration. Tarot Table memberships and “buy me a coffee” donation support this project as well. Of course, your likes, subs, shares and follows are always, always appreciated too.
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Today: 7 of pentacles. Feedback is a gift that is payed forward.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee
Today’s card is the seven of pentacles.
The energy environment has been trying to tell us something for the past few days. We are being asked to pay attention.
If this message came from the major arcana, it would come thundering in on the Chariot card. This is a very similar sort of message but with less hoopla. The Chariot is about being in the present moment and paying attention to your surroundings in the way a test pilot might. Keep your head where you are at or risk slamming into the side of a mountain at mach 1.
Today’s energy is more low key. It is more earthy, grounded, and less urgent, but still important to our well being. You can’t be on Chariot level high alert all of the time. It is important to be present and pay attention to pleasant things too.
I am reminded of that scene from the 1994 version of The Crow with Brandon Lee where Eric Draven said that “Little things used to mean so much to Shelly. I used to think they were kind of trivial. Believe me, nothing is trivial.” Today’s energy reminds us that little things mean a lot and are worthy of our attention.
Instead of a test pilot level “pay attention” message, this is more of a whistling teakettle level of “pay attention” For some reason the word “hygge” (forgive me, I’m not sure how to pronounce it) Comfort comes to mind. Like a cold morning in wooly socks and fixing a cup of your favorite tea kind of comfort. Or in my case this morning, cinnamon spiced coffee.
Yesterday, the king of cups asked us to listen to the subtle hints from intuition. Today the seven of pentacles is asking us to soak in the subtle hints on the physical level.
A few key words for this card include assessment, feedback and planning. That takes information first of all, and attention to things both big and small to do.
It may seem a little self-serving, but the feedback part especially caught my attention.
I had been reading product reviews for something I’d like to get, and it amazes me how tantrum-ish and emotive so many of them are. There wasn’t much substance to many of them. One, however, got my attention. It gave specific details, point by point, how the item differed from the description and made it lesser value for the money spent.
I appreciate what that person said, both as a consumer and as a service provider.
You know that meme that says kindness costs nothing so sprinkle that stuff everywhere? The same is true about feedback. I’ll admit, I delete the eternal spambot surveys from big box stores that are probably going to ignore it anyway, but I try to give feedback for small or local businesses whenever they ask. It costs just a few minutes of time and might be a legitimate help to someone. Thoughtful feedback, attention to little pleasures in life, giving a little time and attention to the mundane everyday things is a gift to the people that receive that information. Thoughtful, calm, kind feedback is a gift that is payed forward when that information is used to make things better for everyone.
Thank you for listening to the blogcast and taking a look at the blog. Comments are open on all platforms so your feedback and questions are welcome. But they are moderated so spam and anything I think is inappropriate will be obliterated. Ask me anything about Tarot, intuition, Reiki, natural health, spirituality, or whatever is on your mind. Even if you ask me a medical question, a pregnancy questions or ask about what is on your boyfriend’s mind, I’ll just tell you I don’t take those kinds of questions and why. If you are kind enough to give me the gift of thoughtful questions I’ll pay it forward by giving equally thoughtful and privacy protected answers in the blogcast. If you give me your thoughtful feedback, I’ll pay it forward by making this Tarot blogcast better for everyone.
And, as always, the blogcast and it’s companion YouTube channel is not monetized. It is all audience supported. Your Tarot reading purchases from this website and Tarot Table memberships on ko-fi all contribute toward this freely available, unique Tarot content. Please contribute as your are able. Your likes, subs, shares and follows are always, always appreciated too.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card is the King of Cups
The energy of the card today isn’t quite typical for a King card. It fits a minor arcana court card, just not the usual boilerplate interpretation of the Kings per se. Often court cards, or the face cards as they are called in the modern game playing deck, are an in-between energy. They have more zing than the number cards in the minor arcana, but not quite the wattage of the major arcana cards. Kings represent the yang side of leadership. They are outward facing energy, very proactive and protective. This card is still connected to leadership, but in a quieter, more castle and keep sort of way. Cups are tied to closeness and emotion. The King of Cups is but in an intimate one to one sort of way. The King of Cups is an leader within the emotional and intuitive realm. The King of Cups is a mentor.
Here I am reminded of that old TV show Kung Fu. My Grandfather loved it because it was essentially a western and anything with cowboys and horses was high on his list of things to watch. We used to watch it together all the time, but my favorite parts were the flashbacks to the Shaolin Temple with “grasshopper.” I guess my affinity for Taoism and Chan Buddhism started at a pretty young age, come to think of it. That is so not a typical thing for 1970s evangelical appalachia, believe me. I think that memory comes to mind just now because of the mentoring relationship between Master Po and Kwai Chang. Yoda, Luke and Obiwan also come to mind if you prefer the Star Wars mythology.
Mentoring is an interesting relationship somewhere in between friendship and detached mass education. It is far more than just a one to one tutor. It is a friendship with a little airspace, allowing for correction and redirection.
Chingliang Al Huang, who collaborated with Alan Watts on Watts’ masterwork The Watercourse Way, wrote an excellent book on the topic The Tao of Mentoring. I’m guessing none of you will be surprised to learn I read both of those ages ago. But I highly recommend the Tao of Mentoring for anyone who is considering a career that involves one to one guidance like, for example, holistic health consulting or Tarot readings.
There aren’t many Yodas or Master Pos around these days, but guidance and mentoring is available to anyone willing to listen.
I don’t remember it exactly, but I once read a quote about how it is ok, even good to spend time alone. Sometimes we have to be alone to realize just how deeply connected everything really is. It has also been said by Robin Williams, Maya Angelo and others that it is far worse to be in the middle of people and life and things….but still feel alone.
Whether we are literally alone or feeling alone in the middle of other people, the King of Cups reminds us that we are never cut off from guidance and mentoring. The volume gets very very low sometimes, but never quite goes away. I’ve said it many times. Spirit speaks in whispers. Intuition is our ability listen to those whispers.
You would think I’d like the ASMR thing on social media. But honestly, I hate it. I must be wired differently from most people. Those whispery, breathy vocals especially make me want to yeet something at the TV or chuck my headphones across the room. But it comes to mind as an example for that process of listening to the whispers of guidance that comes from the collective unconscious, spirit guides, angels or however you name such things.
The King of Cups is quieter today than a typical king card reading. That indirectly reminds us to listen to real world mentors. The King of Cups, being a leader, reminds us that the best mentors listen too.
And thank you for listening to this blogcast now. See you at the next sip!
The blogcast and the companion videos are not monetized so they depend on your support. Tarot readings purchased through this website, Tarot Table memberships & “buy me a coffee” donations on ko-fi all contribute toward creating this unique, freely available Tarot content . Please support this project as you are able. Your likes, subs, shares and follows are always appreciated too.
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplations in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: Strength from the major arcana
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.
Today’s card is Strength from the major arcana.
This card is easy to sum up with the adage “He who conquers others has force. He who conquers himself has strength.” There are dozens of different iterations for the quote just as there are I have no idea how many different translations of the Tao Te Ching. The same basic concept exists in Zen, Buddhism, the Bhagavad Gita and probably every school of thought or organization that espouses personal growth and self development. As we’ve seen with the recent war in Europe, personal strength is far more rare and far more valuable than raw political or military power.
That kind of personal growth, self-development, and strength of character is exactly what this card is always about.
While we all agree that this is a valued thing, it all falls apart when we start trying to figure out how to do it.
The title “Tao Te Ching” has been as been translated a variety of ways including the way of Virtue. Virtue means lot of different things to lots of different people. That is the point where interpreting the Strength card gets dicey. It’s not the what that’s the problem, it’s the how.
So how do we become better people? What IS a good person?
Books, religions, entire philosophies have been dedicated to just exactly that, and we sure as heck aren’t going to solve anything here.
When the Strength card comes along it might just be validating the strengths you have. It might be validating the strength choices you’ve made or the importance of a decision that you are pondering. Regardless of the context, the Strength card always reminds us to do the right thing, the difficult thing, the strong thing, not the easy or cowardly thing. It’s no accident that lions are iconic and used in many many Tarot decks for this card. To put it in Disney terms, this is a card that asks you to be Mufasa, not Scar.
But on second thought, maybe the how of inner strength isn’t so hard after all. Look at the woman figure on the card that seems to be tending to the lion.
Maybe a little Zen Taoist Hakuna Matata is the key. As always, it is the present moment to the rescue. Harmonize with your nature as it is to find your path to strength.
Nurture the strengths you already have. Restrain the flaws you already have. This strengthens (aka conquers) the inner self.
Thank you so much for listening! I’ll see you at the next sip.
The blogcast and its companion shorts and reels are audience supported and are not monetized in any way. This unique content depends on your help. Tarot readings purchased through this website and Tarot Table memberships on ko-fi all contribute toward bringing these free Tarot contemplations to you.
Any likes, subs, shares and follows you can spare are always appreciated too. Thank you.
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today, Soulmantes and the sum of the parts with the two of cups.
Hey there. Welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: a Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card it the Two of Cups.
Nevermind the Lovers from the major arcana, THIS is the card you want to see in a love, romance or relationship reading. This is a card that most often resonates with long term, committed, loving, satisfying relationship. It is associated with marriage, handfasting or any life long commitment between any two human beings.
But like anything this is a yin-yang, giving-getting two-sided coin.
Remember that old candy commercial about chocolate and peanut butter? Peanut butter is delicious on its own. It’s something to eat by the spoonful if you ask me. Chocolate is sublime, the more cacao the better in my book. Love the dark stuff. Together they are extra. Together they are more than either alone.
The best romances are like that.
The worst ones are too, except the “extra” is added to the not-good side of things. Kind of like those generic candies that use terrible quality ingredients and are tasteless, weird textured and generally unpleasant.
Personally, I don’t buy into the whole other half, twin flame idea. I mean, think about it for a minute. Who would you rather spend your life with? Would you rather be with someone who expects you to complete them or someone who is a true partner adding their battery to your mutual light? Would Ironman have flown away yelling “you complete me” if Pepper was anything less than a fully independent phenomenon in and of herself? If you need someone to complete you, isn’t that a way of controlling you too? If someone needs you to complete them isn’t that controlling you too?
Good romance isn’t built on need. In a good romance both parts give and get, get and give. It isn’t about two parts completing a circuit, it is about two fully charged batteries powering up the full circuit and shining a light brighter than either one battery could alone.
Romances are like those candies. The best result doesn’t come from peanut butter looking for more peanut butter in order to make them into better peanut butter. The best result doesn’t come from cocoa butter looking for a cacao beans to make it into better chocolate. The symbiotic extra can’t happen if you are looking for another half to make a whole. The extra only happens when two free standing and fully good things work together to make the magic happen.
Turn Tarot on its head while you practice your intuitive and card reading skills.I sip the coffee, you read the card. Today’s card is the Two of Wands
Hello and welcome to the Weekend Tarot Turnover. I’m glad you are here.
Let’s turn the Tarot reading process on its head. I’ll sip the coffee while you contemplate and interpret the card. For those of you reading the blog or getting here through the YouTube channel, you can see the real-world, authentic card draw on video. Those of you listening on the blogcast will just have to take my word for it or check it out later. A link to the blog is always in the episode description, at least on Spotify and Anchor FM it is.
Today’s card is the Two of Wands.
Read or listen to this list of possible card meanings, as use your intuition to see which one fits you or feels right to you. Or better still, use your own intuition to make your own meaning. Honing in on the right meaning provided in the references and resources direct inspirations you have on hand is integral to reading Tarot for yourself. I don’t certify or teach anyone to read for other people but I can teach you to read Tarot for yourself really, really well. Watch this space for more on that.
But back to the Two of Wands. Two cards in general deal with balances.
Balance your inner world with the outer world. Don’t get so caught up in the physical that you forget to care for your emotional and spiritual side. And vice versa – don’t live in your head so much that you neglect the practical side of life.
Balance your attention to time. If you allow your thoughts to dwell too much in the future, anxiety or unhappiness can come.
Look to the future sometimes. Hopes and plans are important too. Tomorrow has to start somewhere.
Reassurance or validation that you are on the path to success, watching the horizon for your ship to come in
So, what do you think? Feel free to drop your card interpretation or thoughts about the weeknd turnover exercise in the comments. Questions are welcome and answered in the blogcast. Will trade my opinion and expertise for some of that sweet, sweet content. Let’s talk!
Thanks for listening! I’ll see you at the next sip.
None of the authentic TaoCraft Tarot content is monetized. Any ads you see benefit the hosting platform, which means the Tarot part of the content is 100% listener supported. The blogcast and YouTube channel depends on email Tarot readings purchased through the blogcast website and Tarot Table memberships on ko-fi. I always appreciate your support as well as any likes, subs, shares and follows you can spare. Thank you.
Have some real-world meatspace things keeping me busy the next couple of days so no sipping today, and the weekend turnover will probably be Sunday this week.
Thank you for all of your support. I hope you all are enjoy the new multi-media format with the blog, youtube video card draws, Tarot Table memberships and podcast all uniform and interconnected. Please let me know what you think or what topics you’d like to see or ask any questions you have in the comments or the contact email. Contact info and the box to follow the blog instantly by email is always hanging out over there in the right hand column (or in the menu / scroll WAAYYYYY down on mobile) Comments are moderated to eliminate spam and keep this a safe space for everyone to talk.
Short Sip Tarot and YouChoose Tarot will be back next week
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: Four of Wands and a one step win.
Welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
Todays card is the Four of Wands.
It’s kind of weird being both a music fan and a little bit clairaudient.
Today is exactly why.
Clairaudience is like clairvoyance except it’s your intuition communicating to you through mental sounds or words instead of mental images. Most of the time it’s great, because like I said, I like a wide range of music. It’s not often that I’ll get an intuitive song reference that I don’t know well or don’t like.
Today, the split second the card turned over I immediately got a song, but had to google it in order to be able to talk about . All I heard was the line “na na na na na na life goes on” clear as a bell, music and all. It was vaguely familiar as the opening for some old TV show that was popular at the time, I guess, but not one I never watched for whatever reason.
Turns out it was Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da (Life Goes On) which was from an early 90s show called “Life Goes On” or so sayeth the Google. Not my favorite Beatles song. I know it may be heresy to some people, but I can take or leave a lot of their stuff and this is a leave one.
Which begs the question what does that have to do with the Four of Wands? Usually the card is associated with celebrations. These celebration are more community & society oriented, or celebrations that extend beyond the immediate family….like a large wedding or christening.
Now juxtapose that with the frightening news of war in Europe. How do you entertain the idea of community celebration when there is real chance of global implications for these events.
That leads to a pop culture reference that I enjoy more. Remember the wedding in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Ginny wonders if it isn’t a bit silly having a wedding “given everything that is going on.” Harry replies that maybe everything that is going on is really the best reason TO have it.
That’s the spirit of the Four of Wands today. Step by step, one foot in front of the other, life goes on. When you are feeling tired and discouraged or demoralized, taking that one more step is a win worth celebrating.
Thank you for reading, watching and listening to TaoCraft Tarot on the blog, in the podcast and on YouTube Shorts. None of it is monetized and it all depends on your support. No appointment needed email Tarot purchases on the blogcast website and Tarot Table memberships on ko-fi all contribute to creating this unique Tarot content.
Any likes, subs, shares and follows you can spare are always appreciated too!
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card is the Ten of Swords.
There’s no way around it. The Ten of Swords is kind of a dire looking card. In the classic Waite Smith deck, you have some dude face down on the ground with a whole collection of swords sticking out of his back. That can’t be good.
It’s not.
Nor is it intended to be.
Tarot wouldn’t be a useful life guide if it was all rainbow sprinkles and fairy dust because life itself isn’t a collection of vanilla scented unicorn farts. Stuff happens. Like the three deer that just walked through the yard and past my window. Hello ladies.
Life is random, just like that. And it doesn’t always bring a few sweet natured neighborhood deer.
Sometimes the Ten of Swords is about persistence. Sometimes it talks about energy akin to that proverb “fall down seven times get up eight.” Persistence is not quite the vibe today. Today is more about zombie emotions.
I forget exactly how it came up in the conversation, but a reading for a client recently reminded me of a quote attributed to Sigmund Freud. He said that “Unexpressed emotions never die. They are buried alive and come forth later in uglier ways.” You know. Zombie feelings.
It is also said that doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the essence of insanity not to mention a good way to create zombie feelings.
Choose your battles wisely. If we persist in just getting up time and time again it not only gets a little crazy from the repetition, it also buries the emotions about the situation in a heap of blind effort.
It sounds crazy, but sometimes you have to face the swords in your back. The first step in fixing something is admitting it is broken, not by burying the broken-ness under a veneer of repeated effort.
Yes, by all means persist, but not like that.
No one is going to thing less of you if you take a minute to get your bearings, asses the situation and figure out something different to try next time. If they do, that’s on them for being judge-y and awful, not on you for being honest with yourself about your situation and how you feel about it.
Take minute, reassess, identify the problems and feel the feels. If you ask me, using the swords in your back to slay zombie emotions sounds like a pretty persistent, get-up-eight kind of thing to do.
Thank you so much for listening! I appreciate you and any likes, subs, shares and follows that you can spare. The blogcast and youtube channel are not monetized, so they depend on your support through your no appointment needed Tarot readings purchases and Tarot Table memberships on ko-fi.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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