Action Eases Anxiety: Feel your way home

Proceeds from private readings, memberships and virtual coffee on Ko-fi all support the Sage Sips free Tarot blog where you get Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee

L- what it is (cross, reversed)
R – what to do (the Lady)

Energy is flowing at cross purposes to your higher intentions. Magick moves slower, this is not a time for impulsive actions.

Feeling is both noun and verb. Feeling IS doing something. Emotions, intuition, gut instinct may sway back and forth, but like a compass needle will help you feel your way forward, like gently finding your way across a pitch-black room.

The Lady card today resonates with the sacred feminine, with the mysterious, spiritual, inward, contemplative side of human psychology that is akin to the High Priestess in other Tarot decks. That is the thing to do. By the same token, being rigid, outward, legalistic, or dogmatic (as one might expect from the Pope card) is something to be avoided in this energy environment.

Lenormand tradition does not give much weight to reversals, but in this case it seems to emphasize the message that the energies are not openly hostile but definitely moving at cross purposes to your intentions. This is not a time for new projects. This is not a time for impulsive action or rash decisions.

Think about finding your highest and best, think of acting (albeit carefully) for the highest good. This is a good week to contemplate your true calling and highest path. Find direction now, take action later when the way is more clear and the resources you need are within view and closer reach. your true calling and highest path. Find direction now, take action later when the way is more clear and the resources you need are within view and closer reach.

To put it in short but controversial terms, be loving and spiritual this week, avoid religion. Feel, more than act this week. Contemplation and kindness lead the way through this time.

Thank you so much for reading. See you at the next sip!

Deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Christopher Butler, copyright 2021 all rights reserved, used with permissions Lo Scarebo publishing

Not So Lost After All

Thanks for watching! Sage Sips is #tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your #coffee. Always free to read, Sage Sips is supported through your private reading orders, memberships, and virtual coffee tip mug on Ko-Fi. Likes, subs and shares are always appreciated too!



THE LOST KING: This Normal Tarot card (deck by Seven Dane Asmund of  @publishinggoblin1072  used with permission) wraps together elements of the Hanged Man, Death (reversed) and 8 of cups tarot cards.

Not only do I love the gold foil on black with skeletons aesthetic of this deck, each card seems to masterfully weave together multiple Tarot ideas with a modern sensibility. It is like getting an entire “action eases anxiety” layout in a single card.

In this case, the King element reminds us we are in charge of our inner world. This reminds us we are our own leader, decision maker and high priest(ess) The upside down image, the Hanged Man element, hints at something blocked, turbulent of being resisted. The thing being resisted is change, which connects this card draw to the death-card-change energy that has been appearing in multiple readings lately. There is also an element of 8 of Cups energy that advises some sort of letting go or walking away, which also entails big, sometimes frightening, sometimes much resisted change.

If this reading resonates with you today, let’s put it into the “action eases anxiety” layout model. The energy here is one of taking charge of your own decisions and actions. Change is happening, soon to happen, or much needed but delayed. Any of those scenarios can cause fear or worry. The action that can help is to face the changes, make deliberate (albeit painful) choices. Make the changes you know are the right ones for you. Difficult emotions and consequences of your choices may come, but a better path may well come right along with it.

Thanks again for reading. The next couple of weeks are going to be more squirrel-rave-ish than usual, so I’m not sure when it will be, but I definitely will see you at the next sip!

Action Eases Anxiety: Nothing is something to do

Thanks for watching this collective-energy Tarot reading. Want a personalized reading that is unique and just for you? Private readings and memberships on ko-fi support this free Tarot blog.


Some say anxiety is from thinking too much about the future. We can’t predict the future but we can make plans and, more importantly, take action to help create the future we want. Psychic predictions aren’t much of a thing, but cause and effect is a proven, real and powerful thing. Tarot is very much that – it is a tool to help you understand what is going on here and now, and helps give you ideas about what to DO. Those ideas and those actions create the future, not predict it. Those ideas and actions help ease anxiety.

In this layout, the left card reflects the current situation, the current energy. It helps us understand what it is that prompted us to want a Tarot reading, or scroll a Tarot blog, or watch the social post that brought you here, or whatever the case may be.

The next card suggest a good next step. It is an idea what to do now about the energy that is happening now. That one idea, that one next step, is all it takes to interrupt that habit of letting your mind live in the future and stop the spiral into anxiety, even its just for a little while.


Coming in October: Sage Sips blog on TaoCraftTarot.com will be partnering with the “How To Holistic” blog to bring you more stress relief options. The Ebook “Reiki and Relaxation” and pay-what-you-want distance Reiki sessions to the Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot Ko-Fi shop.


KING OF CUPS: The king of cups is about both literal and spiritual guides and mentors. Cups cards are connected to the element of water. Because of that, they are also connected to intuition, emotions, and close relationships (including family, close friends, not just romance)

The message here is that you are not alone. You are connected to all that is. You are part of the Cosmos at the grandest scale. You spirit-world companionship is at your side at the very least. On a more practical scale, this isn’t a time to go it alone in the mental and emotional real world either. Read, listen, learn, ask for advice. That takes courage. That is why this kind of mentorship and learning is connected to the KING card. Be brave enough and wise enough to know that you don’t know everything and go get the knowledge that you need.

HANGED MAN: This card has two very different traditional meanings rolled into one card. On one hand it is about stagnation, or at the very least, feelings of frustration at the pace at which life is moving. Your mental/emotional/biological clock is ticking at a faster pace than things are naturally moving. The message here is basically cool your jets. Let things unfold. Time is key, and some things can only happen with time. You can’t ferment fine wine …or even a mason jar of pickles…in a day. Time is a crucial ingredient right now.

The other meaning for this card is ‘fearless sacrifice’ or ‘self sacrifice’ The sacrifice that must be made here is your expectations. Give up the when. Throw yourself on the alter of being patient.

Sacrifice your expectations and impatience to allow room for either real world or spiritual guidance (or both). Find your mentors. Spirit guides don’t work on a time clock. It takes time and quiet to hear spirit’s whispers. Moving at a fast pace makes it all hard to hear.


Thanks again for reading. Hoping to get a ‘weekend oracle’ ready for you Friday. See you at the next sip!

Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permission Publishing Goblin LLC. Check out Seven’s latest Tarot project HERE.

Action Eases Anxiety: Portal

Like the free tarot readings that you see on social media? Follow Sage Sips on ko-fi, Substack and TaoCraftTarot.com for longer, expanded readings and extra content not seen on the socials!



Current Energy: THE KEY. This is a time of transition, a liminal portal from one cycle to another – not quite finished, not quite begun. This energy is akin to a blend of the RWS eight of cups and the Magician energy than the pure beginning energy of the Fool card. This isn’t pure beginning. It is manifesting in the context of a new cycle. This resounding quiet is a potent time to plant the seeds of being and set intentions to manifest in the future.

Next Step: CLOUDS. Endings and beginnings both carry potent emotions. When endings and beginnings come close together, as in a closed circle, the emotions can be intensified. Be kind to yourself. Remember moods and emotions are transient as clouds. Let go. You can’t grasp the mist.

Action, doing something, can ease the anxiety and worries that can’t help but persist if we do nothing but wonder ‘what if…’ Action is necessary for there to be change, for anything to actually manifest. But the first step in any action begins in the invisible, begins with thought or decision. Making an action plan is as essential as the action itself, no matter how quickly that thought or decision or plan happens.

Making a decision – even the decision to do nothing – is in itself an action that eases anxiety.

Deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Christopher Butler copyright 2021 all rights reserved used with permission Lo Scarabo / Llwellyn publishing.

Action Eases Anxiety Tarot: Insider Changing

Sage Sips members on ko-fi get an email tarot reading at your request each calendar month, DM access, exclusive content and random special offers. $5/month.


STRENGTH: The energy environment supports you today, or at the very least, is getting out of your way a little bit for once. Outer steadiness supports inner change, which requires the greatest strength and courage to face.

KING OF WANDS: Real strength lies on the inside. Do what you know is right for you. Decide what kind of person you want to be and start right now. You don’t have to explain anything to anyone. Be who you want to be, fully, immediately. A shift in perspective can happen in a heartbeat. Nothing can keep you from you. There is no barrier to being. Be smart and stay safe around bad people, certainly. On the inside, however, you are in charge. Always.

“You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.” – Alan Watts

Thanks for reading! Private tarot readings, memberships, and virtual coffee gifts all support this no-paywall free tarot blog. Click the buttons above to order or join. All follows, likes and shares are appreciated!

Better Than You Might Think



Psychologists, holistic health professionals and Buddhists agree. Action Eases Anxiety – maybe better than you think. Simple mental and physical exercises can take the edge off of anxiety, which is more than typical day-to-day worry. Things like naming five things you see, taking a short walk, patterned breathing. I highly recommend @DanHarris and @jim_donovan_sound_health on instagam for more trustworthy real world anxiety advice.

This layout is inspired by Lenormand Tarot but works with any Tarot or Oracle Deck. The left card reads the current concern or the current energy environment. It may be a clue to what is the cause of your anxiety. The right card is a clue to the best thing to do next. It’s like a sentence; Subject and verb. It shows what the situation is and what to do about it.


WHAT’S GOING ON: Queen of Cups. This is deep emotion, perhaps something long suppressed bubbling to the surface. Emotion isn’t your enemy. Sit with it. Feel it fully, then move on knowing it doesn’t rule you or the reality around you.

BEST NEXT STEP: The Emperor. This signifies deep competence and real-world skill. Build your confidence. Head over heart. Let logic lead for a few steps to give emotions a chance to exist and heal and be understood without letting them rule you. You are in charge here and probably doing much better than you may think. Expanded post on https://TaoCraftTarot.com tomorrow

Sage Sips is a free-to-read tarot blog supported by tarot fans like you. Private readings, memberships and virtual coffee gifts all go toward the cost to produce and web-host this blog.

Thank you so much for reading! See you at the next sip!

Action Eases Anxiety: Smooth Sailing

Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee

Sage Sips on TaoCraftTarot.com and Substack is always free for you to read. Please visit the Ko-fi page where your private readings, memberships and virtual coffees all support the blog. Thank you!


In this simple layout is almost like a sentence: what it is and what it does – more accurately what you can DO with the collective energies around us all today. Actions eases worries, in this case worries about relationships or connections with people.

The ship hints at a time of prosperity & progress. The emphasis is on progress, on forward movement. The ship implies smooth sailing, much like with the smooth waters / go with the flow collective energy I’ve seen lately with the Six of Swords in collective and private readings alike.

The bouquet hints at affection and, more importantly, showing it. Not is not the time to bottle up feelings. If you feel kindness, compassion, love, amusement, or any good thing – now is the time to show it. Show it in no uncertain terms.

If you feel less pleasant things, show that too. Yes, by all means, communicate those feeling too, but the key here is to show it with emotional maturity and kindness. The Bouquet card with its pretty flowers reminds us of those wise old adages: “You catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar.” and “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”

Again the phrase “emotional maturity” comes to mind. Pitch kindness, not a fit. A little calmness and reason will go a long way for you in this energy environment.

The outer world may be chaos, but it is a good time to show love and kindness. If it is returned, soak it in. Even when it is unrequited, you can feel good about loving in the first place. That moment, that feeling existed and added to the good in the world and still does.

When you love, you win.


Deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Christopher Butler copyright 2021 all rights reserved used with permission llwellynpublishing.com

Action Eases Anxiety: Above

Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee (or whatever you are drinking this time of day)

Please support this free, no-paywall tarot blog through private readings and memberships on ko-fi.


What it is: Five of Swords.

The five of swords is about conflict, but not the big conflicts that is so in the news and so stressful to so many of us. This isn’t about a moral line in the sand. This is about selfishness, ego, squabbles with a big dose of pettiness. Be clear about what is important and what is petty noise.

What to do: Emperor

My first thought when I saw the Emperor was “look at the side eye on that guy.” The Emperor is associated with responsibility, reliability, confidence in your own power and competent leadership. Do you, engage with the important things, but remember you are not other people’s drama. Disengage from useless drama and nonsense. Rise above. Rule your own inner kingdom, protect your own inner peace, let the immature ones figure it out for themselves. Save your strength for when it really matters.


You can be yourself with me. Happy Pride!

Find Your Tribe

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


Sage Sips here and on Substack is always free to read with no paywalls. It’s a labor of love and always will be, but it relies on your private readings and memberships on ko-fi to help support the costs of creating & web hosting. Members on ko-fi get free private email readings, exclusive content on the ko-fi blog and rando special offers. Please click HERE to learn more or purchase your own private email reading (all virtual coffees are gratefully accepted, too)

Today’s energy: Ten of Swords

Failures, obstacles, and betrayals take time to heal even as life demands that healing. The more painful the experience, the stronger the message that this is not the path for you.

You are not your failures, unless you accept them as such. Take them as a message and an opportunity to learn or to change direction then suddenly painful setbacks are just signposts along your way.

Next Step: Nine of Cups

This is a card of community and celebration. Found family heals. Found community supports. Your true tribe is a place of love and acceptance wherever and whoever they may be.

Your true tribe is the people and places that energize you, uplift you, comfort you, and make you feel most deeply at home. Only you can who your tribe is. No one can tell you who your tribe should be.

No appointment is needed…order your private readings anytime, 24/7 on ko-fi. Most delivered within 24 hours.

Action Eases Anxiety: Trust Fall

Sage Sips is tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffeetarot

Private Tarot readings – no appointment needed HERE

Five card email reading gives you the same information as a 45-60 minute in-person session for much less – only $30. Three card readings are the same as a 30 minute live session, $15. Most orders are filled within 24 hours.


The “Action Eases Anxiety” layout is inspired by the sentence-like quality that Lenormand style tarot readings tend to have. We’ve talked about that before in he “learn with me” series about Lenormand

In this layout, the left card functions as the subject of the sentence. It is the thing that is, be it your current situation or our shared energy environment.

The right card is like the verb in a sentence, the action, the thing to do now that might help the situation – or at lease easy your worry a tiny bit.

Today, the mental image that came with both cards is an advertisement where a person goes “trust fall” and falls backward into a huge pile of dried plants to demonstrate the plant stems and leaves that they don’t use in their select flower-only suppliment.

As much as I like that product, I’m not here to endorse anything. The trust fall bit of it is the key to the intuitive image.

“When things seem terrible, it can feel impossible that they will get better. if the future is too big for a leap of faith, then all you can do is take a trust fall into the present moment.” comes through here.

The “what it is card” is the bouquet. If today isn’t stressed, enjoy the beauty of it. Enjoy the moment. If you are feeling stressed, try to sort out what of the stress is rooted in the past and future. Try to see the present moment for what it is. Look around you. Are you in life threatening danger? If you are – then you aren’t reading this. If that’s the case you have bigger things to do than read blogs and scroll social media. So if you are seeing this, stop: Take in this moment for what it is. Stop and smell the flowers the bouquet card is offering. It also reminds me of that quote attributed to Mark Twain “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, the most of which never happened.”

What it is is not so bad when you eliminate the parts that are actually worries about a future that may never happen.

What to do is the Clover card. It is a card of luck. The doing is simple in this case. Simple, but easier said than done when anxiety is raging. Acknowledging and accepting that things aren’t so bad and are getting better. When anxiety or sadness is raging in your brain, it’s hard to feel as lucky as you really are.

Acknowledging your luck attracts it to you.

Tell yourself that you are lucky.

Blind, rote, repeated affirmations even when you don’t feel them isn’t going to magically manifest the thing you want. They won’t do that even if you do feel it. But what that can do is bring your feelings and your energy into better alignment with the flow of things and help you find what you really need, even if it is different from your original desires and expectations.

You are lucky, it is just a matter of finding it. And it may look like something you never in a million years imagined.


Thanks for reading!

If you like what you read here, please support Sage Sips on ko-fi. Likes, follows, subscriptions, and shares are always welcome. See you at the next sip!

deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Christopher Butler c 2021 all rights reserved used with permissions on Llywellynpublishing.com