Tag: 4 of pentacles

Hauling the edges back in

Sometimes a line from a movie lodges in my brain and sort of lives there for a while until it proves to be real-life useful idea. I use them here in the blog all of the time: “Work the problem” from Apollo 13, Curly’s “one thing” from City Slickers, and now one from The Right Stuff.

I don’t even remember this one exactly. Writing a blog and professional Tarot was over a decade away and not at all on my radar when I first watched the movie and heard the line. I think it was Pancho, in the bar scene where Chuck Yeager had his cameo, but she said something about test pilots “pushing the edges of the envelope and hauling them back in again.”

Everybody seems to love the first part. We’ve all heard about “pushing the edge of the envelope” since the movie was released way back in 1983. Nobody seems to remember the “haul it back in” part. It’s just as important. If you have all intense bright light you can’t see any more than you can in pitch dark. Or as somebody said, “any landing you walk away from is a good one.” You can’t walk away from a landing if you don’t have one. As laudable as “pushing the envelope” may be, the things you learn at the edge serves no purpose if you don’t bring them home to use.

The 4 of pentacles has a reputation for meaning miserliness or greed. Or it can be a reminder to be careful with the budget. I’ve seen it interpreted as a protected, hoarded or very secret treasure that isn’t shared. Today is one of those days where the card is hinting at a bigger message, a half-bubble off of the strings of keywords attached to the card. This is one of those days where a purely intuitive connotation steps to the front. Pay attention to those whenever you do a reading. Energy and spirit really have something to say when that happens.

Be yin. Today is a day for hauling the edge of the envelope back in. It isn’t a day for pushing or striving or extravagance either literally with money or spiritually or emotionally.

It is a good day to rest and abide, and integrate, and learn how to live and use the things you’ve learned. It’s a little like the spiritual equivalent of putting away the groceries you’ve brought home. It’s time to put your spiritual learning into it’s real world place and start using them. There is a careful deliberate feel about it. Protect your spiritual treasures by solidifying them, living them. It’s a good day to turn off the afterburners and bring this Monday in for a landing.

“If you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it’s an outstanding landing.” – Chuck Yeager

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.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot Reading for August 17 – 22

Pick a card. Pause the video if you would like a minute to decide, the restart the video to see the reveal. Full card descriptions follow below.

Left: Three of Pentacles (Coins). Hard work pays off. It’s just that simple. Not a lot to say here except persist. Sometimes there isn’t a big life lesson, or any large meaning to things. Sometimes you just have to grind out the practical down-to-earth things that need to be done. Stay diligent, and it will pay off later. The pay off here feels less like income or money, but more like hang tight, stay the course, stick to the schedule, “work the problem” as the Apollo 13 movie said. The payoff will be in better timing later, more opportunities later. “Make hay while the sun shines” comes to mind along with “leave the fancy stuff for later”

Center: Four of Coins. This card seems tied to the time of year. It feels like late August doldrums. Like the three of Coins, this isn’t a time for risk, or drama or change. The Four of coins has been read at times as a “secret treasure,” like a small money surprise like finding a forgotten dollar bill in your Autumn jacket. This week’s energy isn’t that. Sometimes it is read as miserly, stingy energy. Today isn’t quite that either. This isn’t motivated by greed, like the miser, Scrooge-y card meanings are. This is smart conservation. This is a week to mind the budget. No impulse buys or extravagant impulses. Austerity is a better word. A little austerity now will make things more comfortable later on.

Right: Justice. This card has to do with reason, wisdom, and using good judgement. It also taps into a conservative, austere energy. This is a time to look before you leap, and wight both sides of a decision, even when you already have a clear opposition to one side. It is a time to let your head rule your heart. Follow the science. Dare I say wear a mask.

Heat of summer lingers. There is a plodding to the finish line feeling to the summer, which feels like it will trudge to the end. This summer doesn’t feel like it will go out with any sort of bang or flourish. It’s hard to see any celebration energy for a while. The transition to fall feels gradual, sliding, fading, barely noticed, but headed toward more comfort, not less.

But get your flu shot. Everyone.

Peridot, the August birthstone comes to mind, as if this August is extra-August-y, as if this August is very VERY peridot.

By virtue of its green color, peridot is associated with the heart chakra. It is associated with physical healing energies and helping the mind-body connection to understand when physical ailments have a strong spiritual emotional component. It has been called the ‘wounded healer’ stone, battlefield medicine and the word “triage’ come to mind here.

Peridots that are more yellowish can also be associated with the solar plexus chakra, confidence and growing wealth.

If you feel drawn to Peridot, research it more on your own. Of the many meanings and correlations for the stone, the one that captures your imagination is the right one for you. This needs to be a personal discovery, not one I can tell you in a blog.

Today’s Tarot: A Coin Out of Your Ear

Today’s card reading is less about the card and more about the reading process itself. Today’s message shows how there is more to reading Tarot than just memorizing rote card “meanings.” It’s a skill anyone can learn, but it takes some actual time and effort to get the hang of it. It isn’t a personal shortfall if you leave it to professionals. You can learn, grow, and benefit from getting a reading just as much as doing one for yourself and vice versa. Just because I’m able to learn to change the oil in my car doesn’t mean that I want to learn it or in a million years ever would do it. So the professionals get that job. That is what they are there for, right? Same with Tarot. If you don’t want to be bothered learning how or if you need a hand with a reading you’ve done on your own, get a pro opinion. No big deal. That is exactly why I’m here; to help.

Intuition takes everything to the next level. 

Like it says in the video, the Four of Pentacles is one of those cards that seem to have two threads of meaning. Sometimes it is a bit menacing, and can indicate greed, stinginess, a need to protect your finances. Other times it has a lighter feel. That lighter side can be an indication that the need to be on guard is only temporary, or can hint a very minor money surprise, like finding forgotten a dollar bill from last winter when you put on your coat the first time next fall.

Every deck varies a little bit in how they represent the energy of the card. The artist might show more of the greedy, miserly, on-guard energy or more of the kindly, it’s temporary, little surprise, a sort of “be careful with your money now, and life will pull a coin out of your ear later” kind of vibe.

So how do know which thread applies to the reading at hand? If you have a choice, how do you know which deck to use in order to best capture the energy of the day?

You don’t know.

That’s where intuition comes in. Follow your hunch about which deck to use. Use the deck that feels right or ‘speaks’ to you that day. The message will find its way through.

Listen to you feelings, and the quiet whispers. If something on a card grabs your attention, follow it. If something feels wrong, trust that too.

For example, let’s say the energy for your day is the ‘mind the budget now, things will be better later on’ kind of message. Intuition may take you to a deck with a lighter-looking card, like the Heart of Stars Tarot on the right (featuring the resourceful but kind Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.) What if your only deck was the gruffer looking Four of Pentacles from the Witches Tarot on the left? Would that necessarily lead you to the harsher, not-quite-right interpretation? Not necessarily. You may get a feeling of something being wrong. That something-is-wrong-here feeling might nudge you to another or lesser known interpretation of the card. Or intuition may nudge your perception of the card image away from gruff Scrooge toward a protective Grandfather feeling. Either way, giving credence to your imagination, accepting the subtle as valid and honoring your feelings helps the better message to find you.

In the beginning it may feel like you are just pulling made-up crap out of your a…..back pocket. After a time, as your skill and comfort with intuition grows, you find that you are really pulling gold coins out of thin air.