Tag: Ace of coins

Confession #3 : The floor is your friend

I’m a clairvoyant and I have a confession: The floor is my friend.

I write a lot of one card meditation readings for the TaoCraft Tarot blog. I pulled the Ace of Pentacles, which means that it’s a good day to make friends with your floor.

I’m not suggesting anything weird. Well, at least not THAT weird. You won’t even have to sweep up when you are done. All you need is your feet.

We hear about being “centered” or “grounded” but what does that really mean?

In physics, or at least in my puny understanding of it, electricity goes along the path of least resistance. That’s how lightning rods work. Metal wires provide a safe path for lightning to go into the ground instead of blasting its way through a building.

The emotional kind of grounding is similar. Instead of re-routing a lighting bolt, emotional grounding reshapes strong emotions.

So what does lightning and emotions have to do with the Ace of Pentacles? Emotional grounding is one of the classic meanings for the card. Pentacles as a group are associated with the alchemical element of earth. The literal earth is a safe place to send lightning but symbolically the earth is a safe place to send strong emotions like fear or anxiety.

Connection is key to both types of grounding. Wires connect electricity to the ground. When we feel connected to another person, to a group or to some identity outside of ourselves it helps with the emotional type of grounding.

The mind is a powerful thing. Imagination and visualization are like the wires in a lightning rod. You can use them to make friends with your floor and find a little emotional grounding.

The science kind of grounding was discovered through experiments. Let’s try a mental experiment to see if we can find some of that emotional grounding.

Put your feet flat on the floor.

That’s it.

It doesn’t matter if you are sitting or standing. Just pay attention to your feet touching the floor. Allow yourself to be aware of the actual physical sensation. Let your sense of touch remind you that you are connected to the floor

… and to everything else for that matter. You are part of this whole planet and a member of the entire human race whether you feel that connection right now or not.

It’s a big planet. Earth can handle your worry, your fear, or your anxiety. Imagine any stress that you have right now going through your feet, out into the floor then safely out into the ground – just like lightning goes through the wires of a lightning rod. Give it a try for a few seconds. Right here, right now as you listen to this, feel the floor through your feet and let the floor carry your stress safely away.

Now, how do you feel? How did that little experiment work for you? If you were feeling good when you started, has the quality of that feeling improved at all? Maybe it feels a little more solid or a little more durable than it did at the beginning.

If you were feeling stressed at the beginning of the experiment, did that feeling change at all? Does anything feel even a tiny bit calmer or a little bit more confident?

If not, that’s ok. Failure is always an option in these kinds of exercises, no harm done. You can learn by doing no matter what the results are. It is an easy thought experiment to do. Try this visualization a few different times and you’ll get a sense of whether it is right for you or not.

That’s it. That’s the confession. When emotions run high, the floor is our friend.

Do you have a question about clairvoyants or tarot readings that you’d like to have answered on the podcast? Please visit the clairvoyant confessional podcast page on taocrafttarot.com to submit a question. It doesn’t cost anything except a minute of your time. The link is in the episode description. While you are there, feel free to browse the website for the print only Tarot readings and other blog content.

As always, any podcast follows, blog follows, likes, or shares that you can spare are always greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for listening! I’ll see you on the print side and talk to you next time in the clairvoyant confessional.

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YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Stand or Roll

Trying a new thing: I am letting the YouChoose videos, unpolished as they may be, stand on their own for a while. That way there is no chance of spoilers in the text below.

I hope you’ll let me know what you think either in the comments or by email at taocrafttarot@gmail.com

If you have any questions about anything Tarot or have content requests, let me know that too! Comments are open and welcome as long as they aren’t spam.

PS…did you see the new logo? So excited about converting to it 🙂

Q&A: Change or Persist?

yes or no career tarot reading with behind the scenes explanation

Yes or no questions seem predictive: Will X happen, yes or no?

Yes/no readings are a fun to play with. I could sit here, play Zombie Cat* and make predictions all day just as long as everyone realizes that it is all really coin-toss random-ass probabilities and not really a serious “prediction.”

Yes/no Tarot readings can be much more than a magic black ball entertainment prediction. They can give legit, genuinely helpful, short term guidance. It is all a matter of focus and application.

Tarot’s greatest value is overarching, big-picture, life path guidance. It is all about spiritual enrichment, spiritual expression, personal cultivation….you know – generally trying to be a better person and live a good life. Tarot readings, especially the bigger 3, 5 and 7 card layouts, are all about understanding the current situation, making better choices and moving ahead in the best way possible. Big readings are like GPS directions to where you ultimately want to go.

Instead of long term GPS, a yes/no reading is like a single sonar ping of any given moment. It gives a very helpful, but short term, close range nudge in the right direction when you are choosing between two seemingly equal things or want a quick follow up to a previous big reading. Yes/no readings help you deal with right here and right now, but not much else.

Today’s question is a little bit of both. It is one of those all-else-equal things, and also follows up a longer reading from a few weeks ago. It is about a fine tuning a current solo project, nothing to do with long term plans or that would affect other people. Considering all of that, a yes/no reading is ideal for this question.

Q: Should I switch _____ back to _____ or should I continue as it is?

Ok, to start with, a yes-or-no layout can’t answer a this-or-that question. I don’t mean for that to sound harsh. I get it. It is hard to distill things down to a yes-or-no question when you have all sorts of options and resources and different possibilities all swirling around in your head. If you could focus things down to a clear yes or no question, chances are you wouldn’t need a Tarot reading to help make up your mind.

In the early days of my professional practice, I would ask the questioner/sitter to rephrase the question, thinking that it was important for them to put the question into yes/no format in order to properly connect to their spirit message. Learning from experience, I don’t do it that way anymore. They’ve got enough on their mind. That’s why they are here. I convert the question into yes/no format and then proceed with their consent.

Today’s question has two main components; changing and continuing, which begs the question of which part do you ask yes or no about?

After all these years of experience, I’m totally comfortable with just following intuition, and focusing on the component part that seems to carry the greatest energy signature….in other words, which part seems to step forward to carry the weight of the question. If you are reading for yourself I suggest doing the same. If you don’t feel comfortable with shoot from the hip pure intuition, there are lots of different randomizing strategies you could use to help you pick between “Should I change yes or no?” and “Should I persist, yes or no?”

In a two option question like this one, it really doesn’t matter which you choose. A no on one automatically gives you a yes on the other and vice versa. If it is a multiple componant question, things get a lot more complicated. You could do a series of yes/no readings on each of the components, but that gets muddy, convoluted, contradictory and very confusing super fast.

Don’t.

Trust me, just don’t. Write down the components and pick them out of a hat. Triage, and take the most time critical piece first. Do eenie meenie miny moe….anything. Just don’t do strings of of yes/no readings in a row. If the question is too complex, either use a larger, more nuanced layout OR simplify the question and focus on one key part.

The process of dealing into 3 stacks until you either get an to an ace or to 13 cards (whichever comes first) is an old, common knowledge, nobody knows where it came Tarot reading. I like to take it one step further and interpret the final three cards together as if they were a pathway reading in order to get more guidance from the whole process than just a yes or no answer alone.

If that seems like a big, complicated, pain in the ass process to get a good result from a simple yes-or-no question…it is. If you don’t want to yes/no read for yourself, please, order a yes/no reading from me. It’s affordable and I could sort the whole thing out in half the time it took me to explain it all just now.

New Q: Should I change?

A: Maybe but lean yes. Probably yes, actually.

The Fool card speaks to the fresh start and a new infusion of energy and enthusiasm that the new direction would bring to the project. Being a major arcana card, the Fool lends an extra push in the “yes” direction.

The Ace of Swords speaks to the creative and intellectual energy a change could bring. There is a very upward, uplifting quality to the energy.

Of course, seeing the Ace of Pentacles is always a good sigh in any kind of work or career related reading, even a quick yes/no like this one.

All things considered, this hints that making the change in the project is a good idea. Intuitively I feel very positive about it. My attention is drawn to the gold color on the Pentacles card. It isn’t so much about the precious metal as it is the color psychology and the resonance with the solar plexus chakra which in turn has to do with confidence and optimism and personal power. Wear gold or gold tone jewelry if you can. Pyrite or Tiger Eye are also good crystal energies here. It feels temporary…not a long term alliance between you and the tiger eye, however. Again the gold tone feels like a better fit. Grounding, centering woody scents seem important, like sandalwood in particular comes to mind. Pretty standard kinds of recommendations. After a time, I get the sense the tiger eye energy will drift back to the light blue and blue lace agate for communication that we talked about before, but for now the sun / yang energy and warmth of the brown and gold feels more forward.

Thanks again for your permission to do your reading as an example. I’m pulling for you and hope this works out really well, especially for a financial and name recognition boost.

Best Wishes – Ronda

*AZCA is still a thing . You can ask Zombie Cat Anything for free. Use the contact form HERE to ask anything, even for a prediction. Your answer will come in a redacted-for-privacy blog post (like this one, but without the video.) All Zombie Cat answers are for entertainment only, 100% guaranteed to contain words, and have a 50% chance of being dead wrong.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: The Moment (that got away)

Whelp, that was unexpected.

Sorry for the delay. We were out of some staple basics, and silly me thought I could mask up, go grab a few things from the grocery store, heave something in the oven for supper and type this baby right up.

I forgot: It’s a Saturday, right before Christmas. So here I go right into one of our worst traffic areas in the worst traffic time of the year. One thing led to another including putting some cucumbers into start a dill pickle ferment and feeding George the Second, my latest sourdough starter, and here we are. *sips hot cuppa and sits it down* Now, *rubs hands together* where were we?

Left: Four of Swords. I love the Witches Tarot. It’s probably my favorite deck. The Four of Swords is the one and only card where the artwork is dissonant with the message. Energetically, I get the typical rest, respite, repose message that is more evident in other decks if they are based on the RWS originals. Take this public domain image of Pamela Smith’s artwork on a a circa 1910 deck for example.

See the difference? Sometimes a feeling of readiness or fierceness akin to the Mark Evans artwork will come through. My feeling today is more with the Smith artwork and the respite interpretations.

If you selected this card, this is a week to be in the moment with your thoughts and plans. Don’t exhaust yourself with worry or regret. It is the intellectual, emotional, stress management equivalent of a quick catnap. Your not being asked to shirk responsibility, be in denial, or put off urgent action. The energy this week, or at least today is taking a breath compared to how it has been during 2020 to date. Allow your mind and emotions to rest in the present moment, and set aside worry and regret just for a little while. The present moment is very restful to the part of our mind that worries.

Center: Ace of Pentacles. This is a very sunny, upbeat positive feeling card. I associate it more with inspiration and solutions that physical benefit or money luck, although if your inspiration helps your work, then it could daisy chain or chain-of-events into money luck. The mental image that came with the card was a baseball catcher behind the plate with their glove up and ready. The word hurtling seemed important and strong, as in something good is hurtling toward you so be ready to catch it. Be in the moment, ready to embrace it when a good thing comes. It may be unexpected, but it feels more like it is coming in fast. As I typed “embrace” the mental image was of a baseball glove with a fast pitch hitting hard and the glove snapping shut around it.

If you selected this card, be in the moment but be alert so you can grab stuff when it comes your way on short notice. Be alert, be quick.

Right: Three of Coins. This is very physical realm, very work and task related. I get a little bit of “stick to your knitting” plus a little bit of Luke Skywalker and the Death Star “stay on target”. I am also reminded of a lyric from an old Kate Bush song “press execute” If memory serves, at the time (maybe it is still this way) British computer keyboards used “execute” instead of “enter” I could be wrong. But “execute” is the feeling here. Maybe the Nike slogan. But DO-ing is front and center. “Task at hand” comes through as well. Planning is great. Revisiting and revising are helpful. This week is all about productivity in this moment.

If you selected this card, energies are wind at your back. This week is all about getting stuff done. It is a good week to go beast mode on your to-do list.

Interact with Zombie Cat

ask a yes or no question, get a yes or no Tarot answer

Let’s do this a little differently. Instead of starting the video and choosing a card based guided by your intuition, think of a question BEFORE you start to watch. It has to be in a yes-or-no format (general topic or questions with “or” won’t work in this particular exercise) but it can be about any topic. Keep in mind this is like every Zombie Cat reading – it has 100% chance of containing words, but a solid 50% chance of being dead wrong. This is one of those once in a blue moon times where I can’t think of anything to add to the video card interpretations. So roll that beautiful card footage

My side of the Table? I’m not convinced this is anywhere close to working. The energy is just too dilute. This layout is brilliant and a load of fun when you add in the Zombie Cat persona AND when you have a specific question for specific person. YouTube is a weird energy environment on the intuitive level. That’s why I really, REALLY hope that you all will leave some feedback. I’m a good writer, a VERY good Tarot reader, but not exactly a video media maven. But if you are kind enough to tell me the topics and content that YOU want to see, I’ll learn how to create it. If worse comes to worst, I’ll write about it instead of film it, but I will get your requested content out there in one form or another.

Taking the Advice the Cards Keep Giving

Now is not the time to press, to strive, to make big decisions – or try to learn to make good youtube content. Now is the time to be mindful. Pay attention to the here and now, even if it is isolated or terrible. But that’s easy for me to say, because right now I’m ok. I forget who said it, but mental and emotional suffering lies between how things are and how we wish them to be.  Now is a time to gather in our energies and make friends with where we are and who we are, no judgements, no goals, no expectations.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Surprise and Balance

 

Pause the video to give yourself a chance to choose a card. You choose the pace. You can take a breath, relax and pick a card at your leasure, or just work from pure impulse and pick the first one that grabs your attention. The daily meditation style reading for each card is below.

 

Left: Four of Pentacles. Keep your eyes open for a pleasant surprise. Sometimes this card is associated with stinginess or is a reminder to mind your budget, but this has a much more playful energy today. Treat yourself a little. Today is a good day to enjoy any little sutprises that may cross your path. Keep an eye out for small treats on level of a favorite movie on tv, a song on the radio, finding a lost earring or something of that magnitude. You don’t have to win the lottery for something to brighten your day.

Center: Ace of Pentacles. The ace is the essence of the suit, in this case the physical realm and the element of earth. Today is about indulging the senses, like playing with putty, watching (or doing) acrylic pour art, light that scented candle. Today is a a good day to beautify your space and enjoy it.

Right: Two of Swords. This card is one of those that seems to have two tracks of meaning. One very classic interpretation has to do with a “this or that” or “of two minds” kind of decision. Of course, the boilerplate advice is to choose the path that offers the most balance over the long run. I tend to lean toward the other line of meaning, both for today and in general. Swords are associated with the element of air and the intellect. Two cards are in general concerned with balance, yes, but in this case it is the balance between thought and action, subtle and blunt, inner world and outer world, the spiritual and the physical. Today it feels strongly pointed toward the balance of our physical and spiritual being. Today is a good day to find the magic in the mundane.

 

YouChoose Interactive Tarot 20 March 20

 

I hope this slight change in format showcases what I’ve always known about my readings: Distance is my specialty. I’m really good with the written word. Typing a reading filters through my language centers differently. The information is the same, and it spits out the the same core message as in a live, in-person, on the spot reading, but I communicate that message just a tiny bit differently through email and the handwritten InkMagick readings. There is more emotional power. There is more style and panache. There is more poetry.  For example, imagine the message from spirit is “flowers.” In the real-time reading you will 100% for sure get “flowers”. In the written reading you will 100% for sure get “flowers. The core message is absolutely identical. With the written message, there is an chance the message might be a tad more polished, sophisticated or poetic…you might get “flowers like a yard full of spring violets” or “flowers, like a bouquet of pink roses”. I’m really good at doing in-person readings…you’ll always get your flowers, so to speak, but I’m super-extra-good at written readings. In all fairness, that might just be my perception because written readings are just so darn satisfying to do. Especially the pen and ink on paper one. I use a glass dip pen (I swear it reminds everyone of a magic wand) and specialty ink. Pen and ink holds a certain magick even beyond the power of the written word in a digital reading. It goes without saying all of the readings you get here are done by little old me and all the years I’ve been doing this, never a computer program, always unique, always for you, no matter which format you choose.

That being said – on to today’s cards.

Left: Four of Cups. Feel the feels. Emotions are running high. Emotions change often and things are understandably stressful. If you are one of the lucky ones who meet the times with calm or humor, keep it up…the world needs you. Look at the young man under the tree. He looks more introspective, not terribly happy. The Mermaid is silently, patiently present. Whatever your response to these times may be, sit with the present moment. Be present, not judging.  Times will flow like the stream, circumstance will change. This moment requires a patient, perhaps silent touch. Be. Be with the moment, be with each other in the feeling of the times, if not in physical presence.

Center: Ace of Pentacles (Ace of Coins) Coins have to do with the element of earth and the suit in general relates to the physical realm. This card picks up where the Queen of Wands left off. This is beyond leading by calm management and expample. It is time do do the practical things, do what you need to do to manage and preserve. Be smart and logical. Manage your resources and preserve them, never mind the notion of leadership. Ace cards are more primal and of the essence of the suit. Manage things well and keep it up.

Right: The Hanged Man. Boy does this capture the current energy, with everyone with a brain and a heart sheltering at home to protect everyone. We are in this together, we are isolated and at home for other people. In the past I’ve written that the Hanged Man teaches us that one person’s stuck in the mud is another person’s day at a spa. My mind is especially drawn to the bird with the bauble in its beak. This is a gift. It is a spa day. This enforced cut-back in outside activity and distraction is our chance to do something deeply wonderful. We are busy feeling stuck when we are also being handed a treasure. Now is the time for introspection. Set goals. What is it you want out of life? What can you do to move toward that when this is all over? People pay money for the chance to eat simply and meditate all day, take walks, do yoga  and go on a spiritual retreat. Don’t let this treasure fall past you. If you are reading this, you have internet access enough to find yoga instruction, new recipes to try, free ebooks galore. The “hang” won’t last forever. Take it in. The energy that is touching the human race right now is profound and powerful. It might frighten you. It might frustrate you. Or, if you take a hand in the process, it change you for the better.

Today’s Tarot

Today’s energy is rooted in the earth element and the physical realm. Don’t read too much into things. As Freud said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

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Zombie Cat Yes-or-No: Stay or Go

Congratulations to our FREE Zombie Cat Yes/No Reading winner

THANK YOU for participating and helping me celebrate TaoCraft Tarot’s first anniversary!

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Q: Should I leave my boyfriend and move back to my hometown?

A: Maybe, leaning YES

The up side is the whole time I’m pulling your cards I could hear the Clash song “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” The song is a little playful and fun, which makes me think this isn’t a big crises. He may surprise you and move too, or you could always move back to where you are now if you get home and change your mind, or if you stay, you could change your mind the other way and decide to go later….there are lots of ways to go about this, so I can see why it is a tough decision.

The Ace of Swords is a very uplifting sort of card. It has to do with mind, and intellect and the element of air. Try logic. If your heart is pulling you in both directions equally, is there some nuts and bolts logical reason that tips the scales one way or the other?

If that doesn’t decide it, try imagination. Take some quiet time and imagine how it would be to move back to your home town. Then think about how the things you just imagined make you FEEL. What is your intuition about how it might turn out? Do you feel 100% all in on going or is something holding you back? Is there anything you might regret about going? Trust those feelings.

Repeat the process and imagine staying where you are with your boyfriend. How does that feel? Happy, sad, regrets, excitement, hesitation?

All just food for thought

Ace of coins has to do with wealth and career. It is also a positive card. Long distance relationships are HARD. But put aside the relationship part of this for a moment. What option between staying or going is going to be better for your finances, work, and your ability to take care of yourself in the long run? Which option is better for you in the other parts of life outside of the relationship with your boyfriend?

The Three of Swords is the real attention-getter. It feels like it is trying to tell you there is an important piece of information that you are missing that would cinch the decision for you. What is it you’ve missed? It feels like there is some hidden bombshell that could make the decision REALLY easy. It might just be a matter of delaying the choice, delaying the move until all the cards are on the table so to speak. Be a high information decision maker for this one.

Is the relationship important enough to stay for? Would you regret the strain that could put on the relationship? Is there something about the relationship that puts it on shaky ground and makes moving home more appeaIing? Is there anything at home that has changed that would make it less appealing and staying the better option? Make sure you have all the facts and really understand both situations fully before you decide or take any action one way or the other.

In my full readings, I’ll give crystal suggestions, positive affirmations, things like that at this point, but I’m not really getting anything here. All the energy is pointing to the three of swords, know all of your facts idea. That is more helpful right now than those other frosting-on-the-cake details anyway.

Stay or go, I wish you all the best.

R.

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