Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee
The two of pentacles is the classic card of “balance.” Of course this echoes the classic Taoist idea of “balance” of opposites, or the harmony of opposites. It takes two to tango as the saying goes, so in a broad, general way, it takes at least two things to strike a balance.
Often that balance is between static and dynamic, stillness and motion.
Balance is an important concept. It has both a major and a minor arcana card to carry its message. Temperance talks about balance from a grand, life-lesson point of view.
The two of pentacles talks about balance from a practical, down-to-earth, an action-to-take-now point of view.
“Life is like riding a bicycle.To keep your balance, you must keep moving.“
Albert Einstein
The two of pentacles is particularly about balance in motion. Life is movement. Life is change. To stay in relative balance – to stay functional, really – we are in a state of constant adaptation.
My favorite example is a unicycle rider who is always making constant small adjustments to stay in balance. If they aren’t moving full-on forward, they move little bits forward and backward in one small spot to stay upright.
Or think of a wrestler or a judo match. Planting your feet and staying still might seem strong and immovable, but staying rigid and not moving makes you susceptible to being tipped over if you are pushed. But if you take a step with the push – roll with the punches if you will – then you are less likely to fall flat on the mat.
One foot up, one foot down. Movement, or at least the ability to adapt and move, gives you greater balance overall and can protect you from a fall – literally and figuratively.
Tune in tomorrow for “Weekend Oracle” with the Alleyway Oracle of Secrets deck. Proceeds from your private readings, memberships and virtual coffees all support this free, no-paywall blog and the free newsletter on Substack.
May is both National Meditation Month and National Mental Health Awareness Month.
Tarot has a part to play in both, especially in the form of one card daily meditation style Tarot readings.
I explain how to start your own daily meditation Tarot practice, which is kind of a misnomer since you don’t have to do it every single day. As I see it, the “daily” part comes from the way the Tarot reading takes a “just for Today” approach, much the same as the Reiki precepts.
By not focusing on personal development, past events, predicting the future or any other thing, drawing a card just for today is very akin to mindfulness meditation.
Tarot in general can be very stress reducing, and have helpful mental and emotional benefits in that way. I’ve seen it dozens upon dozens of times when I was doing in-person readings. The body language was clear as a bell; people’s shoulders would drop, their face would relax, they’d sit back in their chair a little more. Tarot readings offer a degree of healthy mental and emotional relief.
Life is less stressful when we understand the situation a little better or can formulate a plan for moving forward, hopefully both.
Tarot can help with that understanding. Like a meditation practice, when you add up those small, incremental bits of relief it can amount to something larger.
Meditation and mental health advocates have been saying these things for years. Reiki’s “Just for today” precepts is an example. Taoism and Buddhism give us the idea of change and impermanence. Everything is always in motion and change is a part of life. Death, Temperance, The Moon, The Wheel, the Two of Pentacles and other cards carry many of the same ideas.
PeaceTarot can teach you to find this Tarot comfort for yourself, even if you don’t own a Tarot deck. This simple method teaches you how to draw and read a daily Tarot card, gives a peace-themed meaning for every card in a RWS style Tarot deck PLUS three different techniques for choosing a Tarot card meaning if you don’t have a Tarot deck at hand.
Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee
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Current energy: Two of Coins/Pentacles. Balance is needed, along with a blend of logic and intuition. Feels connected to real-world money, budget and career.
What to do next: Four of Coins/Pentacles. Balance caution and fear. Avoid impulse or reckless buying, but don’t let fear stop you from making a good investment or needed purchase IF it checks out logically and realistically.
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Think of a question or concentrate on guidance for the next few days. Choose the right or left card. Pause the video if you need more time to think, then restart to see the card reveal.
THREE OF PENTACLES: No man is an island – you don’t have to do this alone, literally or figuratively. It’s OK to ask for a helping had or to give one where it is needed. It feels like this will make something that seems big actually easy. Many hands make light work as the saying goes. Do what needs done then everyone can go out for a beer after.
TWO OF PENTACLES: Keeping in balance often means constant small adjustments. Don’t let the constant part overwhelm you. It’s just how life goes. Only dead things don’t change at least a little bit. The body has to create new cells in order to grow or heal. The key here is the SMALL part. Small, easy simple adjustments now can save a lot of trouble later. There is an old adage for this card, too. As Benjamin Franklin told us, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee.
Watch the video & choose your card. Pause the video if you need more time to think, but go with your first quick hunch if you can – that’s usually the best choice. Restart to see the reveal and get your contemplation for today Tarot reading below
Two of pentacles: Keep your eyes on the prize and strive 100% of the time and there is a good chance that you will burn out before you get there. There has to be some mix of things. Find your right mix, your balance.
Five of pentacles: Be kind, you never know the full experience of others. Treat your own sorrows with the kindness you would give a stranger in a snowstorm.
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Sage Sips is Tarot for your day (or the week ahead) in the time it takes to sip your coffee (or whatever you like to sip this time of day)
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This reading symbolizes our energy patterns through the week ahead. This particular layout is read right to left, opposite of how I turned the cards in the video. The first card shows energy that is drifting away, the middle card is the closest, largest energy around right now, while the left card shows the energy that is growing in influence. This kind of reading is closer to a weather report about the general energies right now. No predictions here. This gives you an idea of the energies ahead. It’s up to us to make the most of it, for better or worse.
The energies this week are pretty simple. Down to earth, grounded and balanced are always key words around pentacles. That is the suit in the majority today. It’s not so much a matter of head over heart. Practicality takes the lead over either one of those.
June is vacation season for families, with the kids fresh out of school. We are just past the July 4th holiday. Summer always seems to start off with frenetic hurry up and have vacation energy followed by hot doldrums. It feels a little like the doldrums are definitely setting in. It feels a little early compared to other years, but fitting for this year somehow. Sit in the shade, drink lemonade, and don’t push or pressure anything at the moment.
“Take comfort” steps forward as a the carry away message, at least for the first part of the week. After the vacations and picnics and typical flurry of activity, things are settling into a summertime routine. Take comfort in routine, in work, in something ANYTHING familiar that doesn’t ask much of you mentally or emotionally. The Zen spirituality of just peeling the potatoes comes to mind here in the spirit of my favorite Alan Watts quote. The eight of pentacles reflects this get down to business and do the thing energy.
Energies have been a little woo woo and ethereal with last week’s high priestess and memento mori vibes. The current energy brings that back into balance with two of pentacles. Just like the ace of swords yesterday…the current energy today also points to mind-body-spirit balance being a source of strength, and contentment.
The pendulum swings back later in the week from grounded and external to a little more esoteric and emotional. The page of cups reflects a return to fousing on feelings and emotions. The Page, gazing at a cup and the little fish that is said to be secrets or truths from the deep water, from the human psyche, reminds us to look for the hidden spirit behind the physical, the magic within the mundane.
Here’s the routine I’m aiming to take refuge in this week:
Tuesday: day job day – no blog or socials. Email readings are always OPEN no appointment needed.
Wednesday: Learn with Me – oracle dice and “lord cards” continues
Thursday – wild card (will post something if I have time)
Friday – weekend update. We’ll revisit these cards and see if and how they are unfolding and progressing.
Thanks again for reading. See you at the next sip.
“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one peels the potatoes. Zen spirituality is to just peel the potatoes
If Einstein said it…then it must be true, right? I don’t know if the attribution is correct, but if it is a feel validated. We’ve been getting this exact kind of message from the Two of Pentacles for ages.
That sort of dynamic equilibrium – be it molecules across a permeable membrane, a clown on a unicycle, or an Austrian physicist on a bicycle, movement is a part of balance just like change is part of life.
The two of pentacles is back to sandwich productivity between calls to seek balance.
Some times you have ebb and flow. Sometimes you have grab and sandwich and go.
Hello and welcome to Sage Words Tarot blogs and Sage’s Short Sip Tarot podcast. I’m glad you are here. As always, these short sip readings are Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. On Mondays we get close to the whole cup by taking a three card look at the week ahead.
Also as always, none of this is a prediction. That whole fix your love life, meet your soulmate, win the lottery nonsense stems from horror movies, fiction and fantasy. Genuine Tarot has more in common with weather reports, folk art and psychology than predicting the future. If someone approaches you individually and offers you a reading that is on a par with those Nigerian prince spam emails and should be treated as such.
Finding a psychic you can trust is one of the things I talk about in Tao Craft Portfolio, but I’ll shamelessly self promote that later. Back to this week. The three cards reflect the general, collective energy environment and give general collective energy food for thought. These readings are made of ideas to inspire you or strategies to help you navigate the energy environment.
Or, like I’ve said for years under the Modern Oracle and TaoCraft Tarot blog names….the future is yours to create, not mine to predict. Tarot doesn’t predict what will happen in life. Tarot helps you to figure out what to do when life happens.
Balance is what is happening – or what we need to create this week.
The fading energy is Temperance, the current energy is the eight of pentacles and the growing energy is the two of pentacles. Long story short, it is a productivity sandwiched between advice to stay balanced.
The Two of Pentacles was fading previously. Now it’s making a comeback on the other side of the layout compared to last week. That hints at ebb and flow, or dynamic equilibrium.
The idea of dynamic balance, of balance in motion like a gyroscope, has been attached to the two of pentales a lot lately. Lately meaning the past couple of years, really.
Both the Temperance card and the two of pentacles card are associated with balance. Temperance is the gentler side of balancing, and today has the feeling of little nudges on both sides of the balancing equation. It reminds us of moderation, and not letting things get too out of control in the first place, but it also gives little nudges when we need to up the volume or intensity of something to achieve balance, like pouring into an empty cup. Temperance reminds of gentle mixing back and forth in order to gently moderate opposites before either gets extreme. There are other keywords like combining, creating, experimenting, but the moderation kind of balance energies are prominent today.
The two of pentacles is more active, and feels like the bigger adjustments that are needed when things have already gotten out of balance. The two of pentacles is more about hauling in the edge of the envelope after pushing it to the limit or pulling back when you are too far out over your skis.
You’ll notice both of these are active, moving concepts. Unless you are stacking Zen rocks or something, when it comes to human life, balance is tied to change. Inanimate, motionless object don’t maintain balance. They just fall.
My favorite example of dynamic balance is a unicycle rider. Watch someone on a unicycle. Staying balanced upright on a single wheel is a pretty good trick. It is difficult enough when you are constantly moving forward, but the really impressive thing is the way they can stay upright without travelling forward. But even then, they are not completely still. If you watch, the unicycle rider is making constant tiny back and forth movements in order to stay upright even when they aren’t moving over a distance.
Movement lends itself well to progress and productivity too.
This week we have movement sandwiched between two other kinds of movement.
“In the zone” comes to mind. There is a lot of science and physics images coming through with this reading.
First we had angular momentum and gyroscopes. Now I see a wave graph. The balance we need this week isn’t about a single point, like a ballerina holding a perfect arabesque, its about wave amplitude and staying in a range. It’s about dialing in the ups and downs to stay within a managable range, not about stopping the changes.
If there is one piece of advice in all three cards put together for this week it would be to keep moving, but adjust your tolerances. Things may be active and changing and productive and busy, but the trick to get through it all is to adjust the amplitude of the ups and downs so that they are managable.
You might not be able to turn of the noise, but you can adjust the volume.
You might not be able to hold the unicycle of life perfectly still, but you can adjust the movements so that it seems like you are staying upright in one place.
Be productive – go for it. Just don’t forget to put the busy in a sandwich of balance.
Contented? More please! Sage’s Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it take to sip from your coffee
In Tarot, we talk a lot about what to do when things get bad. What do you do when things get good?
Hello and welcome to the Sage Words Tarot blog and Short Sip podcast where it is all Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
This week’s energy has a lot of the Zen and Taoist philosophy influence that I wanted to honor in my previous blog name, TaoCraft Tarot. To be clear, I don’t mean any of this as any sort of cultural appropriation. When I was in my twenties, at a time when I was running for my life from a toxic subculture, I finally found a safe space and indulged in all of the Tarot, Taoism, Zen and magick reading I could get my hands on. Those ideas and philosophies helped me to grow into a much better person and made my life magnitudes better. Taoist principles like simplicity, honesty and authenticity are the foundation of my Tarot work to this day. The foundation of everything, really.
This week’s cards weave together around that core. The three cards together bring to mind the idea of suffering and satisfaction.
When you say it that way, it reminds me of the scene from Harry Potter where they are learning to read tea leaves and Ron reads Harry’s as something along the lines of “you are going to suffer, but you’ll be happy about it.”
The energy today brings to mind the opposite and begs the question:
Are you happy but suffering about it?
I follow a lot of artists on social media. Bruce Brackett is as fierce and fearless in his self-expression as you would expect a professional artist to be. The fan snaps, cups of love, and “negativity be gone” catchphrase is brilliant. I forget the main point of what he was saying the other day on TikTok. A side comment captured my attention so much I don’t remember the rest of it or even exactly when it posted.
It was about how he was able to take an accomplishment in stride, and wasn’t feeling overjoyed about it, “just” content. I’m paraphrasing heavily, but he said something along the lines of “I suppose I’m not supposed to be overjoyed at everything.”
No, no you’re not. None of us are as far as I can tell.
Where there is yin, there must be yang. Where there is light there must also be dark. Where there is overjoyed, there is also sorrow. Where there is lasting, there is also fleeting. Given the big picture and broad spectrum of all that life can be, content is a pretty darn good thing.
Buddhism talks about suffering. Set illness, aging, injury and physical suffering aside for a moment and let’s think about the mental and emotional side of things. No, not really set it aside – just make it the second domino in our cascading line of thought. Mind affects body and vice versa, so all of this can get around to the physical benefits of stress reduction and so on…but I’ll leave that to the holistic health folks to think about.
Suffering in the philosophical Buddhist sense can be thought of as dissatisfaction, or in other words a lack of that precious content feeling Mr. Beckett described. Suffering can be, and often is totally subjective and completely within our frame of mind.
It’s like that pastina recipe that has been popular lately. Being hungry is a physical suffering . Among those who are well fed, however, a bowl of humble pasta might leave one person comforted and content while a meal at the best restaurant in town might leave another person dissatisfied and secretly filling up later at the fast food joint down the street.
Things are good.
There is a pretty, floaty, quiet little snow happening outside my window right now. I have a private Tarot client this afternoon as tasty leftovers in the ‘fridge for lunch between now and then.
Right here, right now, in this precious moment life is good and I am content. I want to take this opportunity to tell the universe how deeply grateful I am. More of the same please. I wish contentment for us all.
For this week, the two of pentacles is the fading energy card. I don’t think that means things are becoming unbalanced. The two of pentacles hints at a dynamic kind of equilibrium. I think this means the need to pay active attention to our life balance may be fading a bit. It feels like things may be settling into a new normal.
Three years ago this week the world was tossed into the global pandemic. I’m not saying that’s over. That is outside of anything Tarot and way outside of my expertise. But wearing a mask on occasion and keeping up with new vaccine boosters is a new normal that is easy enough to live with. Things are striking a new balance that is solid enough to let us turn our emotions to other places.
Current energy is the nine of cups. The suit of cups symbolizes our emotions, which is why they are so closely tied to romance and relationship issues. This reflects the subjective nature of contentment. Nine symbolizes fulfillment, or a good outcome to something. When is enough ever enough? This hints at that feeling of contentment were just talking about.
Growing energy is back to the practical pentacles. The seven reminds us that you reap what you sow, so might as well sow good things.
That there will be a harvest at all is a magical, comforting thing.
All in all, these cards are reminding us of all the changes we’ve been through. It may have been a struggle to find balance, but we are at a place where we can find new balance points and find a new normal. This new balance (the energy, not the shoes) has brought new good things with it, but it is up to us to realize the good things about here and now. Dwelling on the changes robs us of a new sense of contentment. We may not be overjoyed at life, but neither do we have to despair. Like that old adage says, people are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
What are the good parts of our new normal that we can seed for the future and hopefully hang on to for a while?
Sage’s Short Sip blog posts and podcast episode are a Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Thank you so much for reading and listening. I appreciate each of you.
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Churning the corner: a Tarot look at the week ahead
It’s Monday. Let’s talk motivation. Mostly because I don’t have any at the moment.
Hello and welcome to Sage Words Tarot blog and Sage’s Short Sip Tarot podcast. I’m glad you are here.
It’s week two of the new schedule where a three card pathway reading for the week ahead posts for everyone on Monday. I appreciate any day that you read or listen. Thank you.
The cards are chatty this week. The intuitive impressions are words as much as mental images. Typically I get more images than words. I don’t thing that shift is particularly significant, I’m fairly clairaudient anyway so let’s just roll with it.
The first card is the knight of cups with the words “emotional churning.” come through here. Knights are generally very active, confident, forward moving cards. In this case, it is in the “diminishing energies” position within the layout. Put those together, and it hints at a time of high emotions, but when that time happens for you as an individual is impossible to say. It may be happening, or it may be close at hand. Either way, I’d guess this time of emotional upheaval and wonkiness shouldn’t last long.
I’ll grant you I’ve had a morning of app and website technical gremlins, so I feel fairly annoyed with that, but those are resolved now and I still feel a sense of malcontent. I get a sense of short tempers, irritability, or of the world getting on every last nerve. Again I get that idea of emotional churning. It might be a residual feeling from the earlier inconveniences, but it it crossing that boundary line we’ve talked about before. If I focus on that boundary between my own mood and the general zeitgeist energy, this feels like more than a stupic app crashing would warrant. Yeah, I was annoyed, but now it feels like so are a lot of other people and over bigger things than that.
Mind that your mood is your own. This card reminds us of two things. First mind your emotional boundaries. What is the objective reality around you right now? Is the stress or emotion you might be feeling objectively warranted, or is it a by-product of worry about the future or dwelling on the past? If that is the case deliberately focusing on right here, right now can help. That’s the mindfulness that people are always talking about.
Let’s try it. Just for a quick moment. Then you can get right back to your regularly scheduled agitation.
First take a deep breath and think about what you feel and how you feel. Good, bad or indifferent, don’t judge it, just name it. How the heck do you feel right now? Is a just a little or is the volume turned up to 11?
Take another deep breath. Now pay attention to right here. Where are you? What is your environment? Pull your attention back from the words on the screen and notice other things like the device itself, the sounds around you, the temperature, how comfortably you are seated or standing.
All of those details.
Pay attention to right now. Forget the past, forget the future, just for a minute. Put all of your thoughts on
This.
One.
Moment.
Is this moment quiet? Does it suddenly feel like “HEY! It’s kinda happy in here!” If that’s the case, you might be resonating with outside energies. If you still feel gnarly and churning, then it’s time to face those emotions. Own them. Even if they are uncomfortable, it’s ok. They are legit. As best as you can, give them…and you…whatever T.L.C is needed. It’s not a personal failure to experience uncomfortable emotions. At worst it’s a signal there is something up that needs some attention, comprehension and problem-solving. At best it’s just you being human.
The good news is that as a diminishing energy, the emotional churn that is our Monday Motivation toward mindfulness (ooooh I do love me some alliteration) probably won’t last long. The high emotional state will churn the corner soon.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
The second thing is mind your own emotions. More than just being aware of the boundary, shore it up and don’t leak out. Feel what you feel. Embrace it, accept it, abide with it. Just please don’t spew it on other people. You never know what is brewing inside their emotional boundary bubble so be nice. We are are annoyed in this together – or so it seems.
The surrounding energy for this week is the Ace of Wands.
I hear “carry a torch for yourself.” which is a phrase that I’ve heard before with this card. Wands are associated with fire, our inner world, and our inner passions. Once we get on the other side of annoyance day, then carrying a torch for ourselves…self love, self improvement, self care….whatever name you want to use for it…give yourself a little of that.
If the emotional churn initially motivates, this self care is one thing that the emotions are pushing us toward.
“Spark an idea” comes through too. I also hear “lightbulb” and see that cartoon trope of a light bulb over someone’s head to show they have had a sudden good idea.
When you get the right idea, your instinct and emotion will light up too. When you know, you know, and when you know where you want to go it lights up the path to get there lights up too.
Churning emotions are a hint that something needs to change, that you need to turn a corner. A spark of an idea will let you know when the change is at hand and just what corner to turn.,
The growing energy is the two of pentacles. That’s where we are headed, and that’s a releaf. I ‘hear’ it will all wash out in the end.
I see pancakes.
Here is why.
Have you ever made pancakes from scratch? Most recipes tell you not to mix too much at the end, and that lumps are OK because they will cook out in the end, and mixing them out now will make the pancake chewy and tough.
That’s sort of the flow of energy here. It’s lumpy and weird at the start, but if we hang in and roll with it, it will all cook out in the end. We’ll churn the corner to a more balanced energy fairly soon.
Hang in there my friends.
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Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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