Ask Me Anything Q&A: Sing

M**** asks:

Should I become a singer? Would people listen to my music?

Hi M___

Thank you so much for your question.

Before we start, I want to let you know that I personally know nothing about music. Everything in this reading is 100% pure intuition. So if I say anything that feels prickly, or makes you feel defensive, or feels just wrong from a musician’s point of view, please pay attention to that. Those feelings are telling and can guide you as much as what the cards say.

I do have several semi-pro musicians & amateur singers in my family. Knowing how important music and performing can be to a person, I could never tell you NOT to sing. But that is the real crux of all of this. Do you want to sing, or do you want to be a singer?

But that being said, let’s look at the second part of your question first, then we can draw cards and get to the real root of this message for you.

Would people listen to my music? – I don’t know. No one knows. Tarot and psychics do not predict the future, or read people’s minds. If I knew what people were going to like and do, I wouldn’t be on social media trying to showcase my readings and entice people to buy them.

It’s like the “choose your card” post that included the “Lightning in a Bottle” card from the Alleyman’s Tarot deck: “If you want to catch lightning in a bottle you have to stand out in a lot of rainstorms.”

The only way to know if people will listen to you is to sing. Even if you find out the hard thing the hard way, you’ll know. If people listen, you’ll know it was the right choice. If they don’t, you’ll know if being a singer is worth trying and trying and trying again until they do – or not. Is singing worth it if nobody listens but you? Is the music and singing your passion? Is singing its own reward? Or is the people listening to you the real reward and it doesn’t matter if you get their attention through singing, or dancing, or acting, or writing, or some other form of artistic expression?

The first part of your question, “should I become a singer” is perfect for for a “zombie cat yes/no” layout. I explain how those are done in the post from back in February “The Way of Zombie Cat

Your three cards were: Ace of Wands, 8 of Swords, and The Lovers

One ace among three cards is a NO.

If that answer disappoints you, then that is your real answer.

If you were hoping for a ‘yes’ then let’s keep reading with the other cards and see how to change the ‘no’ into a ‘yes.’

Are you willing to be a singer even if no one listens?

Let’s look at this card by card.

Ace cards are the essence of the suit. Wands have to do with your relationship with yourself, your inner world of philosophy and spirit. Wands are associated with the element fire symbolizing passions. This is the ‘yes’ energy of the reading, even if it is outnumbered by the other card energies.

My hunch this means that the ‘no’ is more of ‘not right now’ than a flat ‘never.’

Something inside needs to change before being a singer is the right thing to do. You need to know how important it is to you. You need to understand the reasons why you want to be a singer and decide if it is worth it, even if it is hard, even if it doesn’t work out the way you want it to work out. Does your fire burn bright enough to endure if endurance is needed?

Eight of Swords: something is holding you back. It’s like that old saying “if you have to ask you can’t afford it.” If you have to ask if you should become a singer, then something is holding you back. What is causing your uncertainty?

By the same token, never wait for perfection. If you wait for the perfect time, the right time will never come. Waiting for the right time can be smart, but it can also be a prison. If you want to be a singer, why not? If no one listens, so what? The experience will always be a part of your story. In the long run what will you regret more – trying and failing or never trying and never knowing if you could do it?

Whatever the mental trap is, this card also means it is escapable. Whatever problems can be solved, but you have to think outside the box. Creative problem solving is key.

The Lovers is a major arcana card, and as such can carry two messages sometimes. That is the case here.

The Lover’s isn’t about romantic relationships as much as people like to think. It is about deep desire for anything, regardless of what that may be. When it comes to being a singer, think about what it is you really want. Is your heart’s desire to be involved with music? Or is performance? Or is it communication? Or self-expression? What is it you really want from being a singer. Focus on that – and the path to and through singer-hood will be easier to find.

The second message this card carries is a nod to the popular reputation that the Lovers card has. It is just a reminder to think about how being a singer will fit into the big picture of your life. What effect will being a singer have on your family relationships, your work relationships, friendships, and yes, any romance that may be in your life.

So, will anyone listen to your music. There is no way to know except to perform or have your music performed and see.

Should you be a singer? If you are asking the question, the answer is probably no. BUT after you look inside, after you become clear about your motivations and desires and true goals, then you’ll know the answer for yourself, no tarot cards required.

That’s when the answer could easily turn into a YES. One you know in your heart if you should be a singer, then nothing can stop you from finding your path.

Good Luck!


Would you like a question answered for free in the blog, possibly with a full free Tarot reading like this one? Click the “ask me anything” tab in the menu at the top of the page. Take a chance. All “Ask Me Anything” questions are answered for free with a blog post.

If you would like a private yes/no reading like this, you can order it HERE. Zombie Cat will be on the order page until the autumn equinox for $15 ($10 for members) After that, they return to ‘special request only’ status.

drawing of a white zombie cat holding a tarot card.

Learn With Me: Lenormand, Say It Loud – part 2

Let your love language do the talking.

Sage Sips Blog is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

Sorry for being late getting this posted. I was a victim of my own turkey tryptophan and once I woke up from a nap, figured out what year it was and cleaned the kitchen it was getting late in the day. Instead of writing, I settled in and watched “Why Is This Happening Live” with Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow. They are hands down one of my favorite TV duos, you can almost see the IQ points dripping off of the screen. I feel smarter just by watching those two. But you HAVE to see this special. Especially if you live in America. I don’t know if the link will work for you, I THINK you can see it on the free version of Peacock, but however you need to do it, I URGE every American of voting age to PLEASE watch this. 2024 is going to be globally, historically important – no joke, no exaggeration, no intuition, just the facts on the ground in saying that. PLEASE make time for this. Please ACT. This is for real.

Ok

Enough of the scary stuff for a Friday.

Let’s look at the Lenormand cards we drew Wednesday in part one and see for ourselves if they read any differently in concert than they do individually.

I want to say yes, but not quite in the way the guide book presents.

They do connect very strongly. My colleagues are right about the intensity and in-your-face quality Lenormand seems to be lending to the reading. The cards connect to each other very strongly, but not in a way that changes the individual card’s meaning, but in a way that strengthens the connection between the cards at a layout level. Instead of connected dots, it is a fluid, unified stream of energy and consciousness. This pathway layout flows together like a heartfelt sentence.

The fading energy card is the heart (meaning union/connection akin to the two of cups) with the jack of hearts inset (akin to a knight of cups energy). The word ESTABLISHED comes to mind. I don’t think that this card in this position means that love is leaving or diminishing. It may be solid enough that you can open your focus to other things. Your attention can embrace other things. The love doesn’t leave so much as single specific relationships take up a little less space in your total attention bandwidth. This broadening and softening of focus allows you to bring your love, compassion, and sense of connection to more people and things. EXPANSIVE also comes to mind with this card.

Hmmm…go Marie. If Marie Lenormand is regarded as one of the best “fortune tellers” it is because of the intuition she tapped into, not the cards that were named for her. Trust your own heart and noggin. I suspect that, and some cultural saavy got her to where she went.

Current energy is the Stars cards. I have no idea why this is stars, plural and the other decks have Star, singular, in the major arcana. It probably has no significance at all. In any case, the Stars is associated with divine guidance, just like the Star in RWS cards. There is also an element of wish fulfillment (cue Jiminy Cricket and “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Disney’s Pinocchio)

There is some connected-card meaning modification here. The guidebook says that when the Stars and The Heart appear together, it means that a “relationship is blessed.” In the energy I see here, however, YOU are the one doing the blessing, not some divine providence.

Finally the growing energy is the Garden card. This is associated with a place of meeting or community. The inset is stepping forward a bit. The 8 of spades is akin to the 8 of swords. If I think about the 8 of swords, its connotations of empowerment vs powerlessness and victim mindset steps forward.

In understanding the Garden card, lets look at it through the lens of its inset companion, the 8 of spades/swords.

The Pamela Smith art is my favorite representation for the eight of swords because it clearly shows some key ideas. The woman’s feet are unbound. She can’t see, hear or use her arms, but she can walk. It would require that she use care, touch and other senses to move safely, BUT she could walk forward, follow the water (intuition, emotions) at her feet through the circle of swords to safety. Often this comes gives the message of unconventional action or creative problem solving. She can use whatever is at her disposal in order to act and to escape OR she can choose to stand still and remain imprisoned. Each would require its own kind of courage and endurance.

Now, about that sentence.

Expansive love, flowing into guidance and action.

Bless your relationships (of all types)

Speak your love-language, whatever it is, and speak it loudly.

If your love language is cooking special favorite foods for loved ones, you’ve had a good couple of days. However you show affection, let it flow. In loving others we can liberate ourselves.

Thank you so much for reading!


Holiday Hours = All of them!

Live readings are by appointment only and book at least a week in advance but you can order private Tarot readings by email 24/7, no appointment needed. I have WAY more time available for email readings and can get one of those to you usually within 24 hours.

What are you waiting for?

Energy path Tarot reading for the week of 15 May 2023

Hello and welcome to Sage Sips. I’m glad you are here and right off thank you for hanging in with this through all the changes in 2023. With the demise of WordPress to Spotify integration and PodCastle not being as free as they made themselves out to be, the podcast is once again on hiatus, possibly permanently.

As we go along, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Blog comments are open, or you can use the “ask me anything” page on sage words tarot dot com. Substack chats and ko-fi DMs are open to subscribers.

This week we are working entirely from the minor arcana. Sometimes all minor arcana can hint at a low key or low energy week but it doesn’t mean it is an inactive or stagnant week. There is a sense of rootedness in the physical realm thanks to the king of pentacles card. When pentacles are around, there is always a sense of practicality. This is the suit of the physical realm and the classic element of earth and all of the no-nonsense no-drama style that you would expect. The other two cards are both from the suit of swords. Swords is connected to the element of air, but there is nothing airy-fairy about them. Swords also symbolize mind and intellect and action. Put all of that together and this week definitely calls for a head over heart approach. Cool incisive logic is your friend. Compared to the high flying ideals of recent weeks this might seem low energy by comparison, but careful precise action is action just the same. This isn’t the withdrawn or introverted energy we’ve seen recently either. This is deliberate, inexorable forward movement.

The mental image is a glacier flattening the landscape or the slow crumbling ah-ah lava that is just as powerful as the fast flowing type. The energy for this week may be slow, but it is oh so focused on being efficient, effective and enduring. The energy this week seems to be putting the level in level-headed.

Kings are leaders, so if the pentacle card represents concrete wealth, money or career, then the two together hints at a wise use of resources. Don’t let things waste either by sitting and mouldering or by being used frivolously or unwisely. Don’t allow things to sit and spoil, but don’t be a spendthrift either. This is in the fading energy position. Going back to the glacier mental image, I see small rivulets of melted ice, small streams of water flowing quickly down the front of the glacier. That feels like a quicker movement, an influx of resources may come, but not quite yet. It’s not a forever thing, but right now is a time to play the cards you are dealt and work with what you have on hand.

I get the sense of a short time or a not-serious wait. Here I get the mental image of that TV show where chefs compete to make the best dish from the ingredients given to them in a basket.

The current energy card is the knight of swords in reverse. I’ll spare you yet another explanation about how I handle reversed cards. If you have questions about reversals, what that means or how to handle them in a reading – please, ask away in the comments, ask me anything page, or other contacts as listed.

The knight of swords is usually a card of daring, or action and supreme self-confidence. Today the reversal feels significant, it feels like all of those things are blocked or hampered. It feels less like the afraid side of timid and more like a lack of confidence, or negative self-talk. This card isn’t talking to the part of you that is afraid…fear is there for a good reason sometimes. This is talking to the part of you that says “I can’t.” You can. You can do something. Who says you have to do what is expected? Who says you have to do what other people do? Instead of saying “I can’t” figure out what IS within your reach and your resources and do that. Every little bit helps and something is better than nothing in this case.

The growing energy is the eight of swords. Sometimes in a reading a card can serve as a highlight, an underline or an exclamation point to another card’s message. I think that is the case here. The energy of practicality, and level-headed, mind over emotion, deliberate, considered action may with us for a while. The eight of swords is working with the reversed knight to remind us that working within our means and doing what we can do is better than stopping dead in your tracks and giving up, doing nothing.

Take inventory. Make a no-nonsense plan. Act within your means and resources but act. Don’t let “I can’t” take you prisoner. Just because you can’t do one thing doesn’t mean the other things you CAN do aren’t needed or valuable. When it comes to doing the things within your means, what are you waiting for?

Thank you so much for reading and listening.

This free Tarot content is fueled by real coffee, the virtual coffees on ko-fi, paid subscriptions and your private Tarot reading purchases. That allows me to put your message first, not an advertiser’s. Please buy me a coffee or become a “Sage Sips” member with a Ko-fi or Substack subscription today.

Thanks again. See you at the next sip!

Free Yourself

Healing requires a change of heart and mind

They don’t call it a hook for nothing.

Hello and welcome to Sage’s Short Sips: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m Sage and I’m glad that you are here.

Sometimes, when things go a little wonky, you just pick up the pieces and go on without a second thought. It’s like the upside down or reversed cards we’ve talked about before. Sometimes it feels like nothing so I flip the card and keep going. Sometime the reversal feels significant so I read it as a caution that some aspect of the energy is blocked or turbulent.

The same process applies to making the youtube videos of the real world card draw that inspires all of the short sip posts and pods. Sometimes things get clumsy or stuck filming the card draw for the day. Most of the time I just scoop up the cards and re-do it so it fits into a 15 second tiktok or youtube short. Today I was the stuck one instead of the two cards that stuck together for this video. I thought about scooping up the cards and re-shooting, but I felt stuck on this and got a niggly little feeling that the other card…both cards together really… might be important.

Today we get the eight of swords PLUS the eight of cups.

The second card surprised me by being an eight card too. Getting two eight cards back to back feels significant. It might just be validation that the two cards are indeed connected and working in together for today’s message, but it feels bigger than that. Eight isn’t ringing any bells for me personally. What about you? Anybody with an August birthday? Anyone connecting to any August event: a birth, death, or any anything from any August in the past? Any connection with the eighth of any month? Any eight connection at all with the number 8 that lights up for you?

Is that vague and stage cold reading enough for you? Anybody and everybody can probably drum up some connection with either the number 8 or the month of August. All of these suggestions are the standard, banal, boilerplate interpretations of repeating numbers in a Tarot reading. I only mention it because it feels important to the collective energy part of this reading. Like everyone on the planet, I can think of a connection for me with August…so trust me. Your gut will undoubtedly know if your 8 or August connection is energetically significant or not. You’ll know if this is something meaningful that you should pay attention to, or if it is just coincidental B.S. that you can brush right off.

That, I suspect, is where all the scammy hype rip-off Tarot readers and psychics go off the rails by making some big, ego-inflating deal out of common coincidence rather than supporting your individual intuition.

Don’t listen to me, don’t listen to the cards. Listen to your own instincts. The cards, and my role as a reader is just to support your understanding with a few little nudges, creative prompts and lots of food for thought. In the end, your thinking matters more than any coincidences that might come along to fuel it.

Which brings us circling right back around to the the two-card message for today.

Swords have to do with mind, intellect and action. I’m reminded of a line from some 90s song “free your mind, and the rest will follow.” It was some pop song girl group, and I don’t remember a single thing else about it other than that one lyric, but that one line has always stuck. They don’t call it a hook for nothing. This is the message from the 8 of swords today. The card is talking about freeing your mind.

The figure on the card is surrounded by swords and blindfolded. One of the key ideas of this card is that freedom is still possible even when the odds seem stacked against you. The key is to use creative problem solving. In this Pamela Smith card image, the figure’s feet are bare but unbound, and there is a gap in the swords encircling the person. They’d have to be really, really REALLY careful but they could feel their way to freedom given enough time. There would be a price to pay in shallow cuts, but the freedom is possible with the right action.

The eight of cups is connected to emotions more than the cutting intellect and precise careful action suggested by the eight of swords. The eight of cups is about the bittersweet moving on from heartbreak into the future, from emotional devastation into emotional healing. Sure – there were good times. Sure – there were painful times. But sometimes the only way forward is through, and the only way through is to let the past go.

Now put both cards together – free your mind AND free your heart. For true freedom, both mind (attitude, understanding) and heart (feelings, intentions) have to change AND move on from the old ways. Both cards imply movement from a bad situation toward a better future.

Thank you all so much for reading and listening today. I hope everyone, including podcast listeners will follow the free blog, as I always have some blog only content in the works. You can opt in by putting your email in the box in the right hand column of the blog website (link is in the episode description for podcast folks). You can unsubscribe at any time, although obviously I hope you won’t. Instead of unsubscribing, send a blog comment. I use the feedback to improve things or get content ideas. So thanks in advance for any comments, questions, likes, subs, follows or shares that you can spare.

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Thanks again! See you at the next sip!

Never No Means Always

when there is never no hope, that means there always is.

There is never no hope means that there always is.

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

To my way of thinking, the eight of swords is one of those cards with dire looking art, but a bright kernel of courage and perseverance held within it. Just like the yin yang, deep inside anything is the seed of its opposite.

The 8 of swords could be seen as hopeless. The figure is bound, surrounded by swords. As long as time still flows, there is hope. Ropes may loosen, swords fall. Gaps can be found with slow, deliberate, careful, small movements.

This eight of swords card is from the alleyman’s tarot deck by seven dane asmund, used with the author and Publishing Goblin permission. Card art by Liz Mamot.

Swords denote both intellect and action. They also connect with the element of air which can find the smallest spaces and flow between obstacles. When the eight of swords shows up it is your cue to act but thoughtfully. Use out of the box thinking and creative problem solving. Flow and adapt like an autumn breeze. Move, but gently. As long as time still flows there is something to do, even if it is to wait for your opportunity.

Thank you so much for listening. The podcast music is “Daylight is not for Owls” by Owltree, used under a attribution noncommercial nonderivative creative commons license.

The blog and podcast are not monetized. That means that your Tarot message comes first, but it relies on audience support. Please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi where your purchases, memberships and virtual coffees all support this unique and free to access Tarot Content.

Links are in the episode description for podcast listeners.

Thank you again. See you at the next sip!

Stop

If you don’t stop, life will stop you.

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

This is one of those days when Tarot proves it is just a tool, an amplifier, a sort of google translate for our natural inner intuition.

Swords are the element of air, intellect, mind and our relationship with authority and our relationship with culture and society at large.

When I turned the card this morning, the clairvoyant mental images were much stronger than the usual keywords for the card.

I giant red stop sign sprang to mind, along with those running obstacle course video games, like Mario Brothers, Temple Run or Fall Guys. Believe it or not, there is strategy and timing to the games. If you just run flat out fast as you can go start to finish you often don’t finish at all. Especially with swinging obstacles back in the day. You’d have to pause between the swinging things and get the timing so you are not knocked over the edge.

Taking a pause to get your timing right is a real world life hack too.

Many long years in the before time, before stress management and the mind-body connection were as normalized as they are now, it was still recognized that pushing too far was a thing. Students were learning their limits and it was easy in our ambition to leave those limits in the dust.

If you don’t stop, life will stop you.

Luckily, for the majority of us that stopping consisted of a walloping flu or bronchitis or something, but more serious consequences happened too. Books and entire tv dramas could be written, and have, but that is beside the point here. The Eight of Swords is here today to let us know that the stopping happens in whatever form it may take for you as an individual.

Most often when the eight of swords comes around, it reminds us of creative problem solving. Usually it draws my attention to the figure’s unbound feet, and that other senses can lead to freedom despite the obstacles ropes and blindfold and swords.

Today the energy moves one step earlier. Instead of encouraging persistence and creative problem solving, today’s eight of swords begs the question of why was this person tossed in sword jail in the first place?

Ambition and action and effort are all necessary to success, but you can’t make any forward progress when your battery is drained.

Psychoneuroimmunology is a thing. Stress, be it physical, psychological or both, can ding your immune system and open you to a common cold or flu that will slow you down when you don’t have the good sense to do it yourself before you get sick.

Before someone goes all Karen Q. Ivermectin on me, I’m talking about run of the mill take a nap level stuff, not the cure for covid. The suit of swords asks you to use your head, and so do I. They symbolize air and intellect, remember?

But again, the eight of swords is here today to tell us to stop a minute. Listen to your stress levels. Listen to what you mind, body and spirit need. Listen, and for goodness’ sake don’t ignore what you hear. Give your life what it needs. Give yourself what you are asking for. Stop if you needed so life doesn’t have to do the stopping for you.

Thank you all for reading and listening. I appreciate you! I also appreciate any likes, subs, shares, questions or comments.

I’ve opened the comments on the blog, and invited ko-fi members to pick the cut for the short sip readings in the month of September. When I draw each short sip card (you can see the video of the real world short sip card draw on the TaoCraft Tarot youtube channel or here on the blog. The blog link is in the show description for podcast listeners. If I don’t get a majority from the ko-fi members, you all get the chance to chime in. Choose between left, right or center and leave your choice in the blog comments and that is the cut of the deck I’ll use for short sip readings in September. To become a Patron of the Tarot arts, and get access to exclusive Tarot content, shop discounts, private readings and more please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi or click the link in the episode description. Private readings are available to order in the commissions menu if you aren’t interested in the monthly membership part of it. Proceeds from the ko-fi page contribute toward the creation of this blog, podcast and the free-for-everyone Tarot content.

Thanks again. I’ll see you at the next sip!

The how of choosing

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: creative problem solving and the 8 of swords

Thank you for watching, reading, and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Eight of Swords.

When you are between a rock and a hard place, the choice may not be between options as much as the method of choosing. Choose whether to let your heart or your head lead the way. With that clear in your mind, there is a better chance that the rest will fall into place. Or at least give you a little extra confidence in the the decision that you made.

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Today’s card hints at that a little bit. There is a feeling of changing things up. If you tend to be logical, try following your emotions. If you feel overwhelmed by emotions, then use cold logic. You might have to get creative with your decision making process as much as the solution to the dilemma itself.

One of the consistent messages I get with the Eight of Swords is creative problem solving, which connects with Pamela Smith’s 1909 artwork that we see here.

For those of you listening on the podcast, there is a video showing the real world card draw for the day at the top of each short sip blog post and on youtube shorts.

The Eight of Swords in this decks and the many decks based on it all show a figure surrounded swords, bound and blindfolded, often with a shore line or some transition behind them. There is often a feeling of being trapped, of being between a rock and a hard place with no good options.

That’s where the creative part of creative problem solving comes in. It may come down to using your unbound bare feet to take the risk of injury sense your way forward, but that is a way forward nevertheless.

If you are caught between terrible options, it may help to have a reason ready in your pocket to justify why you chose what you chose, even if that rationale is for yourself and no one else. Knowing that you mindfully and deliberatly followed your heart or followed your logic isn’t going to magically make the decision for your, but it can help set you up to learn from the experience if it was a mistake or set you up to repeat the process if it is successful.

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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.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: In, Out & All Around

Personalize your Tarot reading:

  1. Take a deep breath, clear your mind and relax as best as you can in this one moment.
  2. Watch the first part of the video and pick a card from the three taken face down from the deck
  3. Choose left, center or right purely on impulse, or if you want more time pause the video then restart to see the reveal.
  4. Read below for your card’s energy

Taken together, the three cards talk about perspective and problem solving. This week is about finding the answer that is already inside, finding an answer outside of the box, and being on the lookout all around for a problem that sneaks up behind and needs solving.

The overall energy is sluggish and slow. It isn’t brick-wall kind of blocked, but feels thick, and just this side of stagnant. Be patient. It might be an annoying slog, but we’ll get through it.



Left: Three of Swords. This card is part of the reason the Swords cards have a little bit of a foreboding reputation. You can’t solve a problem or avoid a trap unless you know it exists. The danger isn’t dire, but warrants your attention. This card always seems to carry an energy of manipulation and petty power plays. Watch your back. If something gives you the creeps, or someone makes you feel uncomfortable, pay attention to that. Follow your gut in that respect.

Center: Eight of Swords. Also dire-looking, this card is already trapped, bound, feeling overwhelmed and helpless. It is less so in this deck, but in the Pamela Smith artwork for the card, the swords are less evenly spaced, leaving an out that must be gingerly sensed, so the woman does not cut her feet if she is to find and use the gap, the way forward to escape. “Careful, shrewd VERY out of the box thinking” comes to mind and may be what is asked of you in the near future.

Right: The Hermit. Just because it isn’t fun doesn’t mean you don’t have things well in hand. If you picked this card, you already have an answer that you need. You may well have what you need already. The trick is to drag it out into the open. Find a way to shut out the distraction and the noise. Not to go all Dune on you, but look within. You already have what you need, it is just a matter of sorting through the noise and clutter to find it. Set boundaries, say no, find some me time to do just that.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot 8-15 August 2020

Take a deep breath. Drink in some soft, intuitive energy from the full moon picture below. Pick a card on impulse, or think about it for a minute. Pause the video if you need more time, then restart to see the reveal. Scroll down for the full one-card meditation style reading.


Left: Six of Cups. Let yourself get lost in the moment. There is an ocean of internal quiet whenever you need it. All it takes is a shift in attention. Gaze. Allow yourself to appreciate some small detail in the middle of chaos. Notice the color of a dandelion growing in the crack of a sidewalk beside a noisy, busy street. Watch a candle burn. Draw a picture. Or color one. Being in the moment and absorbed by any task can offer a moment of silent respite. Happy National Book Lovers Day! Suggested reading for this card: Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

Center: Four of Wands. Find your tribe. What is your self image? What is your self identity? How do you classify or imagine yourself? What is your spiritual foundation and DNA? Finding that, celebrating that can make anywhere a comfort and a home. When you know your own heart, your tribe and home travels with you anywhere. Happy National Book Lovers Day! Suggested reading for this card: The Hero Within by Carol Pearson

Right: Eight of Swords. Fear of the unknown is deep, primal, ubiquitous, often paralyzing. It takes a deep courage to face the unknown and to think outside the box, to problem solve in motion. Go to the go-to and more. Use every sense. Look at a problem…but also listen, touch and smell it too. Bring everything you can online to make the unknown as knowable as you can. Thinking outside the box can help you feel less trapped inside of one. Happy National Book Lovers Day! Suggested reading for this card: Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar by James Marcus Bach