Today’s Tarot: Low Pressure System

I like anime.

I watched the one and only season of Cowboy Bebop for the first time surprisingly recently. Funny how all of that adulting can get in the way of your TV watching time. The whole thing was as awesome as I’d always heard.

Spike Spiegel came to mind with the Two of Pentacles this morning because of the episode on Venus where he was teaching the kid in the airport how to fight. I was all about being relaxed which gives you clarity, control and speed.

That’s a real thing, by the way. Staying relaxed and breathing was my biggest nemisis in my brief spin through martial arts sparring back in the day.

Spike pretty much summed up the classic Bruce Lee “be water my friend” interview:

If Taoist influenced Jeet Kun Do isn’t your cup of water, then a weather report captures the same idea.

Storms are driven by low pressure. The most destructive hurricanes have the lowest atmospheric pressure at the center.

Beware the quiet ones. Relaxed fighters are the ones in control. Like the figure on the Two of Pentacles, you might have to juggle your way through a life that is a circus on the outside. If you can find SOME way to find your calm, find your low pressure center, then you aren’t just another circus act. You are, as the popular internet meme says, the storm.

source unknown, presumed public domain

Because Your Choice Matters

If there is an overarching idea to all three cards together, it would be that your choice matters, which is the core essence of all of the YouChoose video posts. These readings are designed to cut through the noise of social media and let you personally touch your reading. As Mat Auryn said in Psychic Witch “What you touch, touches you” or something very akin to that.

If you like this personalized touch to the readings please let me know! If you tell me the kind of Tarot content you would like to see, I’ll do my best to create it. Talk to me! Ask me anything* and I’ll do a Tarot reading for it in the upcoming season of Clairvoyant Confessional podcast (new episode expected Sunday, September 26) Drop a comment below or email your questions to ClairvoyantConfessional@gmail.com.

Six of Swords: Go with the flow, but choose which current you float in. The dog you feed is the one that grows strong.

Page of Cups: find wisdom and inspiration in the absurd. Laugh your way into a better frame of mind.

King of Pentacles: Control what you can – but remember that control seldom occurs in the physical realm. Most of the time your only dominion is over yourself. How you react to things is where you greatest power and most impactful choice can be found.

*all the website disclaimers apply. you can read my policies and privacy statement HERE

Zombie Cat is back for Spooky Season. Get a yes/no Tarot reading by email for $5 off until 31 October 2021. Order HERE or HERE

Today’s Tarot: After the Fall

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Zombie Cat is back! He lives year round on the ‘no appointment needed’ Tarot page, but he’s front page news during Spooky Season with $5 of a yes/no reading by email. STILL no appointment needed – order anytime, 24/7

Ask Zombie Cat ANYTHING. He’ll make it yes/no and give you the straight answer, not matter what it is. Zombie Cat’s yes/no readings have a 100% gaurantee of containing some words and 50% chance of being dead wrong.

Welcome to the Equinox: Zombie Cat Shambles 2021!

READ THE POST THAT STARTED IT ALL: MEET ZOMBIE CAT

Intention is everything in subtle energy work. Anything that isn’t covered by intention is usually covered by symbolism.

The YouChoose post this morning talked a little bit about liminal energies and transitional spaces. Some transitions are sharp and out of the blue, like walking through a narrow doorway. Others are slow and build gradually, like walking down a long hallway. At first I’d thought about making this post as a ginormous list of everything I’ve been working on, posting them today to honor the equinox and the beginning of my favorite season and that would be that.

That’s not today’s energy

I feel nudged to go with a slow roll-out instead of a terse list. That will let me give full attention to the intention and symbolism behind these things such as they are. Today….

ZOMBIE CAT IS BACK!

Zombie Cat is an alter-ego sort of character that came from the old blog, when I working under the name Modern Oracle Tarot, inspired by the famous Schrodinger’s cat experiment and an episode of Menage A Tarot podcast. Zombie Cat lives all year in the special & lower cost readings section of the no appointment email readings page. During Halloween, ZC comes out to play on the home page.

I enjoy Zombie Cat. I enjoy doing short, fun, anything goes yes-or-no readings from that slightly snarky frame of mind. Frame of mind and fun both count in this kind of work. That is why when I do a cutesy pants promotional price reductions anymore unless it has some sort of symbolic meaning for me. In this case, I’m reducing the price of Zombie Cat readings to give energy to all the fun that Zombie Cat gives and all that Halloween and Autumn mean for me.

But I’m hoping it will entice a bunch of you to get these holiday readings, too.

Zombie Cat yes/no readings are $5 off until Halloween. Get yours HERE

Zombie Cat

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Window Into Fall

My Jedi Padawan has surpassed me.

They are an amazing artist and recently posted a Trevor Henderson inspired digital image where a sideways stoplight onto a local bridge had eyes. We talked about how the bridges are a liminal space. “Liminal” is an idea that has stepped forward in a big way lately. I’ve had Laura Zarkoff’s book Weaving the Liminal in my to-read que since it was released. I suspect the book’s time has come. I look forward to starting it this evening. Perfect for a cup of spice coffee and a fall equinox evening. I’m looking forward to it.

Today’s cards have a forward looking feel. It feels like the equinox energy this morning is gently holding a portal open for us, holding a space for the liminal, a timeless portal and a moment to stop and absorb the magick.

Whenever you see or read this, I hope the cyberspace preserves the feel of this space in time for you to reach out to the card that is most helpful to you right here, right now.

You all know I’m a writer at heart. At first it felt like it would be a stand alone video. That feeling seldom survives the posting process. Fingers touching a keyboard is a powerful, instant portal to energy and intuition.

Four of Cups: An idea is coming, but it needs you to create the space for it to arrive. Take a break, mental or physical. Quiet allows the sudden insight you want and need to materialize. It may be sudden, but it might be quiet, as spirit so often is. Noise, day to day activity and crowded thoughts drowns out the whispers of spirit, intuition and deep guidance.

The Wheel: A tumbling busy time is on the horizon. Where are you putting on the brakes, where are you stopping or sabotaging yourself? What change do want and need but at the same time resist? This card is reminding you that busy and change can be very good. Let the good times roll!

The Devil: Naivete can be dangerous. A little cynical can be a good thing. Wallowing in negativity is never healthy in the long run, but being rolled by life isn’t a good thing either. Heads up, eyes open. Take off those rosy sunnies you’ve been hiding behind and take life by the big hairy horns and it might not be so bad as all that after all. Make friends with your shadow side, so you are not a victim of shadow or light either one.

Today’s Tarot: Up in the Air

I think the bothersome thing about the 8 of wands is the way it reminds us of how little control we really have sometimes.

The card reminds us that something is up in the air. Something is pending that is beyond our reach.

A classic example is arrows in flight. You do what you can, you control what you are able to control – you aim, you choose how to pull the bow, when to let go – but once you shoot the arrow you can’t control it anymore. You can account for the wind when you aim, but if an unexpected gust comes, you can re-aim mid flight. All you can do is wait for the arrow to land and then react to that outcome, whatever it may be.

If you feel drawn to this card today, wait a little. Whatever is on your mind, cool your jets, let the process play itself out. Something is up in the air and out of your control (which is most things for most of us most days, I’ll grant you)

Sunday Short: Tarot Turnovers

Turn interactive Tarot upside down.

In “Tarot Turnovers” instead of you choosing a card and me interpreting it, I choose a card at random and YOU use YOUR intuiting to CHOOSE the interpretation that best suits your instincts for today.

FIVE OF CUPS

  • acknowledge, process and release the things that give you remorse
  • admit sadness and loss so it can, only when you are ready, begin to release and heal
  • Learn to deal with giving unfortunate news
  • It’s OK to indulge in a good mopey goth dark mood every now and then
  • Grief must be given its time
  • Revisit old issues that have had time to settle. With emotional distance and time-distance, they may be ready to be made into something new and useful, like loosening soil in the spring after a winter rest to plant new seeds.

Today’s Tarot: Make, do

Tarot turned on its head: I choose the card. You use your intuition to pick the meaning.

Let’s turn Tarot readings upside down for once. I choose the card, YOU use YOUR intuition to pick the meaning for today. Let me know in the comments how you like this format.

Today’s card brought an avalanche of quotes and pithy little sayings to mind. You Choose which one most speaks to you today:

“Just do it”

“Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE” – Josh Whedon

“Follow the process, not the plan” – Adam Savage

“The Universe doesn’t give you what you ask for with your thoughts – it gives you what you demand with your actions.” – Steve Maraboli

Walk your talk / actions speak louder than words.

Today’s Tarot: Getting away from groundhog day

The Pamela Smith artwork for the Eight of Swords speaks for itself.

The card is about feeling trapped, not knowing the cause, not seeing the way out.

The key piece is the gap in the swords in front of the figure. A way out exists. Their feet aren’t bound. Their feet are still free. A few steps forward, and they are outside of the circle of swords.

They say the height of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly expecting a different outcome. This card cautions against that. Not only is it unproductive, but it lays down paths, builds thought habits that blindfold you just when you need creative problem solving the most. Swords represent mind and intellect. It could be your trap is mental as much as physical. Your feet are still free.

Think outside the box. Shake it up. Do some small thing differently than your usual routine. Shaking things up some safe small ways might help you break out of a mental Groundhog Day movie. A few small steps forward might help to set your mind free.

Meet Your Reader page updated

If you follow the blog, browse the website or read the ebook “TaoCraft Portfolio”, a Tarot reading with me can only meet or exceed your expectations because you’ll know exactly what to expect in advance.“

With all of the scams and stereotypes out there, people on both sides of the Tarot table are understandably wary. Putting all of the policy and philosophy cards on the table before we pick up the Tarot deck builds trust. Then we can go into the reading itself knowing we are OK with each other and with the Tarot process.

I don’t want this page to sound like some sort of defacto resume. Tarot is much more human and one to one than that. I don’t want this page to be a bunch of jazzed up marketing sizzle. I want to earn your trust with this. If you really want to meet me before a reading, the ebook and the blog is the best place to do that.

When an artist interviews for a job, they bring examples of their work in a portfolio so the potential employer can see if they are a good match for the company or project.

I want to show you the art of Tarot and this website is my portfolio. – Ronda

Tarot

  • Tarot Reader since 1992
  • Worked online as “Baihu” on AllExperts, Advice Tradeer and Keen
  • Professional readings in the Pittsburgh, PA, USA area since 2003
  • Current: Owner/Artist TaoCraftTarot.com (was Modern Oracle Tarot 2003-18)
  • Current: Owner/artist TaoCraftTarotShop on Etsy (was Quirk & Flotsam)

Writing

  • Self – published PeaceTarot and Triquetra: The Dance of Worlds (poetry collection) on Kindle
  • Poetry in Kindred magazine, ICP anthologies Natures Echoes and Quicksilver Moon and Sparrowgrass Poetry Forum 1994
  • Non-fiction natural health article “Herb in Plain Sight” Point of Light magazine

Education and Certification

  • Bachelor of Science, Medical Science (physician assistant) (1987).
  • Clinical work as nationally certified physician assistant in psychiatry and interventional cardiology (1987-2000)
  • Ph.D Natural Health from Clayton College of Natural Health, unaccredited (2011)
  • Reiki Master-practitioner, traditional Usui style (2000)
  • Retired Tai Chi instructor
  • Esperanto beginner (komencanto)
  • U.L.C. ordained preceptor (spiritual teacher) 2005