You don’t have to know. All you need is to know how to know, you know?
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here. Short Sip Tarot episodes like these are Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee – or whatever you happen to be drinking at the time of day when you read or hear this.
I’m using the Alleyman’s Tarot today. This card is the nine of disks, used as the nine of pentacles, or coins. Pentacles, disks, coins: the name is up to the deck author, but they all symbolize the basic things. There may be other names for the suit, but these three are the ones that I’ve seen. The Nine of Disks in the Alleyman’s Deck is from the Sola Busca Tarot used via Wikimedia commons. This is a public domain deck from the 1400s.
When I first drew the card. I honest to goodness had no idea what it was or what it was about. The little dude getting squashed under a flaming barbeque grill filled with a bunch of pot lids in it could be anything. It is a world apart from that happy, truth-y, good conclusion, earned reward vibes we see from the 1909 Waite Smith Tarot and later decks based on the RWS structure.
Seven Dane Asmund’s interpretation in the Alleyman’s Guidebook is entirely on point for this striking, remarkable card. I can see why he chose to put it in the deck. In the guidebook he, in the guise of the Alleyman, he writes about the cost of success and the crushing emotional and mental burdons of striving for (and maintaining) success, particularly the material type of success and that defined by those outside oneself.
In other words, what price victory? What is true success and is it worth the toll it takes? In my experience, those questions and concepts attach to the five of swords in a typical deck. The Alleyman’s Deck, however, is different. The artwork here is perfectly aligned with the caution against pyrrhic victories. I’m glad he picked up on that. Totally blew by me.
So back to me staring at the card and thinking “heck if I know” I didn’t recognize the deck, I didn’t recognize it as a nine of disks or or nine of pentacles analog, and I sure as heck didn’t have any sense of a message from it.
I think that, in itself, is part of the day’s energy and message. Again it is something I typically get with or through another card, in this case The High Priestess. Mystery and the unknown is, to my way of thinking, under the priestess’ purview. The mysterious is the High Priestess’ expertise. Living with the abstract & unknown is very much a part of the lessons that this card teaches.
The message here is an important one. In my opinion,life’s mysterious, intangible, abstract, and perhaps unknowable aspects are more fitting to a major arcana card rather than the nine of disks. But that’s just me, and that is drawing from other decks, not the Sola Busca.
You know that adage where if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, then you feed him for a lifetime?
The same is true of knowing things.
You can’t know everything, but if you learn how to learn, if you learn how to go out and find what you don’t know now, it’s the next best thing to knowing in the first place. Only an empty cup can be filled. You can only learn something when you know that you don’t know something.
Knowing that the unknown can be learned, takes the fear out of the dark corners of life’s uncertainty. Both Tarot and science shine this light. Neither offers absolute knowledge, but both offer a method of learning about the inner and outer cosmos respectively.
It’s ok to not know what you are seeing or what to do when a flaming grill full of pot lids falls from the sky like some sort of medieval Sputnik. Life is like that sometimes. It’s ok to not know stuff. The trick is being willing to learn what the space grill means to you.
Thank you for reading and listening. Your likes, subs, shares, questions and comments are always welcome and appreciated. The blog and podcast are not monetized, so if you enjoy these readings please support them on the TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi page.
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Use it or lose it with the obscure three of books card
Atrophy is a thing.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.
The beautiful part of the Alleyman’s Tarot is the exposure it gives to unique or less well known Tarot cards. The downside to the Alleyman’s Tarot is the unique and lesser known cards. 99% of the time the cards read easily, no reference book required. Sometimes a card just doesn’t resonate on that intuitive level. That dissonance can happen even with the most well known and much used Tarot deck that you own. Maybe that is just a professional’s problem. You do a high enough volume of these things, fizzles and disconnects will happen.
Fortunately it is an easy fix. The Alleyman’s Tarot came with the Alleyman’s guidebook which was styled to look like a handwritten journal and is just as brilliant as the deck itself. So when I pull a card that I’m not familiar with and it doesn’t read intuitively, going to the guidebook usually shakes some message or another loose.
If the deck is standard Rider-Waite-Smith type then it gets even more fun. Then you have the option of turning to that deck’s guidebook, any guidebook from any deck that follows that format plus all the stand alone references that aren’t connected to any particular deck. With all of that material as inspiration, something somewhere is bound to ring a bell and resonate with the day’s energy.
Today neither of those things that generally apply helped much.
The Three of Books is from the Jost Amman deck, a 16th century game playing deck. While the artwork on the cards by German artist Jost Amman was originally presented in a booklet with inspirational sayings, the book is rare or lost from what I’ve seen in a brief internet search. So that leaves us with Dane Asmund’s excellent guide book.
Which, today, doesn’t quite capture the feel. He talks about teaching and taming baser instinct. I get mental images of honing a knife on an old fashioned whetstone. After seeing his read and going “nah” that and the mental image led me to the idea of use to avoid atrophy.
Here is another path to the same basic concept.
In Breaking Dawn, Stephanie Meyers writes of elder vampires from Hungary or somewhere in Middle Europe seeming to have physically deteriorated from lack of movement…or something like that. It’s been a while since I read the book, and I don’t think this detail was in the movie. Atrophy is a thing. Muscles that aren’t used, shrink. Couch potatoes and astronauts alike have proven that fact.
In other other words – use it or lose it.
That resonates with today’s energy a little better than taming instincts.
In the 1980s and ’90s there was an American study funded by the National Institute on ageing of over 900 nuns that looked at lifestyle, aging and the onset of dementia. The study showed that nuns who had higher education levels, higher verbal skills at a younger age, and who remained physically and mentally active had less and later onset of dementia.
The moral of the story and advice of today’s card is, essentially, read a book.
Meyer’s vampires became more decrepit the less they moved in spite of their immortality. The nuns aged well because they read more. The human animal is healthier when they are both physically and mentally active and agile.
So read a book. Or three. And I’ll see you at the next sip.
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Example of a private client email Short Sip Tarot readings. Private readings have a different focus from the broad topics we usually see on the blog
It’s called “inner” peace because that’s where it has to happen no matter what the outside is like.
Hello and welcome back to TaoCraft Tarot blog for what I’m calling season 4 of the audio blog a.k.a. the podcast. I’m glad you are here whatever you want to call it. The text to speech capability that wordpress, anchor fm and spotify offer is working out really well for me so I’m going to keep the blog and podcast as they are unless I hear differently from all of you. I’m a good writer, but not such a good media talent or voice actor. I’m happy to let technology compensate. In the end, you will get a better tasting sip of Tarot.
Happy belated equinox everyone! This is as good of a time as any to start a new season of the podcast. I’ve heard that it’s good practice to re-introduce yourself every now and then. October is the fourth anniversary of rebranding from Modern Oracle Tarot to TaoCraft Tarot. Halloween is often considered the witches’ new year so it all kind of fits. Look for some review and announcement content on the print blog over the next few weeks
Generally speaking, the blog and podcast will post late morning or early afternoon Monday through Friday, but it may skip some days unexpectedly. Social media is completely random. The members-only blog will still get a reliable “Pathway Through the Month” reading near the 1st of each month, a newsletter close to the 15th of each month and the “Tarot Turnover” intuition building exercise every weekend. Stay tuned to the free print blog to learn about other members-only benefits.
The most important message I want to get out to you today is that I am always, always grateful to you for reading, listening, liking, subscribing & sharing but most of all for your questions and comments. Thank you to each and every single one of you.
It happens sometimes.
Sometimes I will pull a card with every intention of doing a general audience blog reading but instead the Tarot message will land right in my own wheelhouse like the Hermit card did today.
The card resonated so well when I drew it that it gave me an idea. Instead of the usual “short sip” reading, I’m going to write this as if it was a one card reading for a client. That way all of you can see (or hear) how my email readings work. The information and detail you get in a private one card is different from the broad topics we usually talk about in a short sip post.
Because I’m a writer, email readings like this are my specialty. Think of an email reading as a written transcript of exactly what I would say to you if we were meeting face to face. Written intuition being exactly equal to spoken intuition is the introverted clairvoyant’s superpower. It’s a win-win for everyone. I get an enjoyable work flow while you get the convenience of 24/7 no-appointment ordering plus a photo of your cards plus a record of the session that you can read (and re-read) whenever you like, as many times as you like. Email readings are supremely private, utterly convenient, not to mention affordable. Here is a comparison for you. In my in-person one hour sessions I use a seven card Tarot layout. I give you that exact same reading by email for 65 cents a minute. Compare that 65 cents per minute to the current national average of 1 to 5 dollars per minute for a psychic reading. That’s already a heck of a bargain when you factor in my 30 years of Tarot reading experience. So no, I don’t do readings for free outside blog and podcast, and no, I’m not doing any more sales or giveaways other than those that are part of the ko-fi memberships. This isn’t a scam but I have legit expenses like web hosting, book keeping, food and so on.
But I digress. Back to the Hermit card.
Let’s roleplay this a little.
I’ll write today’s post as if it were a one card email reading for a private client, using the impressions that came through when I drew the Hermit card earlier. If you like, pretend this is a private reading, just for you. Kick the tires and take it out for a test-drive to see how you like the email format. Then if you ever order a private email reading with me, you can be confident it will meet or exceed your expectations because you’ll already know what to expect.
Question: Hi. My name is Tired Person who has had a super chaotic couple of weeks. I would like the left cut of the deck when you shuffle please. I don’t have a question or topic. I’m open to whatever message or guidance the card can give. Thank you.
A: Hello Sleepy. I hope the reading gives you a little boost. Tarot is all about that kind of encouragement and inspiration, not predictions, but you already know that. I know your circumstances from our conversation earlier, but I won’t publish any of those details. Protecting your privacy is a major priority. Thank you for giving permission to share your card reading. I never share a reading for a specific person without their permission, and even then I redact it more than the CIA to keep any identifying information out of it.
Had a hunch that the Alleyman’s Tarot was the right one to use today. Your card is the Hermit from the major arcana. This particular Hermit card was drawn by Aka Skyweb for the Ariadne’s Thread Tarot deck. (Side note to the blog and podcast: I use the Alleyman’s Tarot deck with permission from Publishing Goblin LLC. )
Major Arcana vs minor arcana isn’t quite as telling with one card as it is in a larger layout. Intuitively it doesn’t feel like the card is pointing to a major life lesson, big decision, or major turning point in life as major arcana cards sometimes can. Minor arcana cards outnumber the majors almost two to one. I don’t know the exact math, but chances are that any given single card draw will result in a minor arcana card. Given that, major arcana cards always earn a little extra consideration in any size of reading.
If the arcana reads into this at all, it is to say that this is a high energy time time for you, just as you described. For you it felt chaotic, but that level of energy can also be stressful or invigorating. Everyone feels it differently. Whatever this higher intensity energy makes you feel, usually you feel a lot of it. However you describe it, the card is acknowledging and validating the high wattage energy you’ve felt recently. In any reading, any card in any layout position can have different spin or different flavors of message. It can be an advice message giving you something to consider doing. It can be a caution message giving you something to consider avoiding. It can be recognition or validation, like a cosmic “I hear you.” Or, as in this case, it can be a reassurance message. The feeling around this card very much is letting you know that you are on the right path and doing the right thing for this moment in time.
The Hermit symbolizes seeking isolation and finding inner peace and wisdom. It is about insight that becomes a light in the dark. Outer quiet clearly isn’t an option for you right now, so let’s look at the inner part of it.
In your case, it is letting you know that the self care you have already been doing is the right thing. It is perfectly ok to dial back a little on things that you have been focused on to shift your attention elsewhere. It’s better to do one thing at a time as best as you can than to half-ass a bunch of different things. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that “The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.” Your time and attention is a worthy gift. If you wanted to share a bottle of expensive wine with friends, you wouldn’t break the bottle into pieces to share it all at once. You would pour a little into each glass in turn one at a time. I don’t know the full details of the situation, but it feels like you are being told one thing at a time, not everything all at once. “One thing at a time in the right order, first things first” is good advice for adults too, not just small children.
I ‘hear’ “Red thread of continuity.” Of course, when I say ‘hear’ it means that the intuition comes as mental words, sounds or music instead of as mental images (that’s the difference between clairaudient and clairvoyant) which refers to the read thread on this particular version of the Hermit. I think what that all means is that whatever that thing you set aside or de-prioritized for a time CAN and SHOULD be picked up again once the current chaos has passed. You did the right thing putting one thing on the backburner for a time in order to give the best of yourself to something more important.
This card strongly reminds me of a live feed I was watching of a fellow Tarot reader (MadamAdam) Some of what he said very much applies with the energy here.
You’ve talked and written about self care. It’s important that you have led by example during this time. It’s important that you stepped back from work to take care of yourself and your family. People need to know your advice is real, and that you follow it for yourself and that it WORKS. Like “Madam Adam” said that it is important to “keep up your end of the bargain” your family, yourself and your professional clients by keeping yourself healthy and well and learning and growing and doing all of those things we professionals, in all of our wisdom, tell other people to do. He really made the point when he said “Why would I take dance lessons from someone who can’t dance?” Indeed. Why would any of us take advice from someone who doesn’t take care of their own spiritual and emotional wellness?
Stepping back from work did something important for yourself. Stepping back from work also kept up your end of the bargain to provide good service to your clients. Don’t beat yourself up for not sticking to some arbitrary schedule that you make up for yourself in the first place.
By stepping back from work, you gave a fuller measure of yourself to loved ones which is infinitely more important than ANY mundane task.
Plus the red thread thing shows that nothing was lost, you can pick right up where you left off.
The red thread of continuity shows that everything was gained by being true to your own insight and your own priorities.
A lot of times the Hermit card gives us advice to find quiet and carve out the quiet time we need. All the quiet and isolation in the world won’t help when you are churning on the inside. By the same token, all the outer chaos in the world can’t touch calm that comes from the inside. That’s why they call it “inner peace” because that is where it has to happen no matter what is or isn’t going on around you.
Intuitively I see a shiny black crystal…I think it is black tourmaline more than hematite which will protect your energy. In my mind’s eye, I see meditation beads so whatever meditation, yoga, tai chi or chi gong practice you might have, please do indulge in that as best as you can. For aromatherapy, I get sandalwood, copal, amber. Lavender, chamomile, bergamot are your standard issue aromatherapy recommendations for stressful, chaotic times. I think they might actually get on your nerves more than support them. Go for warm smokey woody scents for those times when the world is getting on your last nerve.
And get some sleep. Take a nap as much as things will let you. Sleep is an incredibly healing thing.
There the energy steps back. I hope that helps. As always if you have any questions about the reading or anything else, leave it in the blog comments or send an email. The contact is on the website.
Hang in there!
I hope the mock up reading helps you, too. Thanks again for reading and listening. See you at the next sip!
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Deal with old demons when they come around. They might be more afraid of you than you are of them.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.
Today we are back to the Alleyman’s Tarot deck. This is what Friday vibes look like. Fridays aren’t about re-capping the week, as much as it is a shift in energy from outward to productivity to inward self care, from work to rest or play, from yang to yin.
Today is the Boogeyman card. Of course I’m geeking out over it. But that’s no surprise to any of you who have heard my incessant fangirling over the Alleyman’s Tarot the past few months since it arrived on my doorstep. This particular card was created by the Alleyman’s deck creator Seven Dane Asmund for his upcoming Blood and Rust: The Misery Tarot. I can’t wait to see the Magician for it. He describe the new deck as quote Inspired by survival horror genre titan, Silent Hill, the Misery Tarot focuses on the traversal through grief, trauma, and suffering as a kindness to ourselves using imagery of the horror genre. End quote.
As the week closes and energies shift a bit toward self-care, the boogeyman isn’t as much of a paradox as it might seem at first glance. Weekends are a happy thing, usually. So is surviving a challenge.
Here I intuitively get the Madonna song “Survival.” to go along with the the survival-horror movie reference in the deck description. The suffering itself isn’t the kindness to oneself…but the acknowledgement of suffering, the acknowledgement of all you’ve done to emotionally survive, the acknowledgement of the things you feel now and the acknowledgement of old issues that bubble up every now and then … all of these conscious acknowledgements are the kindnesses that the boogeyman brings today.
We’ve been talking about some tough stuff lately. Tarot, like life, doesn’t have any easy answers. It helps us ask the right questions. It helps us to acknowledge the right things we need to face to live vibrantly.
I think this same message would come through in the classic RWS deck in the form of our friend the Page of Cups, or maybe Page of Cups with a little Devil thrown in. Sometimes life is weird. Sometimes life is chaotic. Sometimes life is devilish. But you can stare a fish full on in the eyes and get through it.
It has been said that religion is for those who want to stay out of hell and spirituality is for people that have already been there. If that’s the case, then Tarot in general and today’s energy in particular is all about spirituality. It’s about admitting the suck, embracing the chaos, and feeling the feels with unabashed gusto.
It’s funny how some old demons and boogeymen just vanish when you give them a big old hug hello. That is where I think the boogeyman as described by the artist is going. Being real about how bad (or good) things might (or might not) be is a kindness to oneself.
Cue “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkle (although I’m not usually a metal fan, I definitely prefer the Disturbed cover. Wow.)
Hello Darkness, my old friend.
I hope you have a good weekend, evening, day or whenever you happen to see this. Thank you for reading and listening. I always appreciate any likes, subs, follows, shares, questions or comments that you can spare.
If you are enjoying the blog, podcast or the companion YouTube videos, please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi. The shop, memberships with their exclusive content and special offers, and the virtual coffees all support the creation of these Tarot readings.
Want more than a sip? Full size readings with the blog author are available on the blog website.
For podcast listeners, links to all of this is in the show description.
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day (or evening) in the time it takes to sip from your coffee (or tea). Today: The Alleyman’s Tarot Lightning in a bottle and the makings of magic
Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.
Today we are drawing from the Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund of Publishing Goblin LLC, used with permission. It’s a big deck, with one booster pack already in it and yes, you bet I’m planning on getting the other booster packs if possible.
I’m not a collector by nature, but I’ve been around collectors and I understand the passion. It’s not a greed thing or a materialistic thing. It’s a surround yourself with symbols of something you love thing. As a professional Tarot reader and Tarot writer slash blogger decks appeals to the maker part of me. It’s a “right tool for the right job” kind of vibe. On one hand they are a collection of specialized precision tools, yet on the other hand “every tool is a hammer” as the Adam Savage book puts it.
I know some Tarot readers who have dozens of decks. The Alleyman’s Tarot is my eleventh. I’m enjoying it even more than expected. It is a virtuoso deck, that pushes your comfort zone just by the vast array of tones, images and artwork. It’s also challenging by virtue of the cards like this one that are absolutely gorgeous, but not traditional RWS or lenormand symbolism. I can’t imagine anyone with the wherewithal to collect well over one hundred decks, but the vast array of different cards all beautifully curated by the creator gives you a taste of exactly that. Seven Dane Asmund has pushed all of our Tarot reading envelopes. Now it is up to us to haul it back in.
I’ve been watching the new season of the Witcher, so the Mages of Artuza came quickly to mind when I saw the lightning in a bottle card – specifically the scene where initiates were in a cave with a hole in the roof during a thunderstorm and were required to capture lightning in a bottle in order to become fully fledged Mages.
The phrase “lightning in a bottle” has been around much longer than TV shows. Generally, it means sudden, unexpected, unconventional but huge success at something rare, at something once thought nearly impossible. Lighting in a bottle is a get rich from YouTube, put a ding in the universe type of luck-meets-skill achievement.
Reliable origins of idioms like this one are just as hard to find. A quick search of the google machine gives you the idea that it refers to eighteenth century experiments with electricity like Benjamin Franklin’s kite and Leyden jars. Leyden jars are conductive material on either side of non-conductive glass in such a way that it will hold a small electrical charge. It used to be party entertainment to get a little spark from them, kind of like scuffing your sock feet across the carpet and touching a door knob on purpose. In the poetic language of the day, those little sparks were literally lightning in a bottle.
The Alleyman’s Notebook that accompanies the deck connects this card with a situation that can’t be forced. That interpretation fits in with the pop culture analogy. You can’t MAKE lightning strike. You can’t MAKE opportunities happen but you can position yourself in such a way as to be in the conditions that more favorable for the right opportunity to happen. You can put yourself in a mental and physical space to take full advantage of it if it does.
You can’t make lightning strike any given place at any given time. Putting real world electrocution aside for a moment, if you stand on an iron rich rock near salt water ocean with your arm up in the air during a thunderstorm, there is a better chance that you, the lightning and a bottle will all wind up in the same place at the same time.
There is a practical, mundane, banal side of catching lightning in a bottle. It may seem lucky or miraculous, but the most unlikely success still has elements of practical intellect and persistent effort. As Thomas Edison famously said “genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. Lightning in a bottle is random luck plus the courage and cleverness to take advantage of unexpected opportunity with a healthy dose of effort to follow it all through to fruition. These are the elements of mundane magic available to anyone.
There is one more element. A subtle one, the one that makes you into a lighting rod and gives you the power to contain it in the bottle. This is the part that makes the apprentice into the sorcerer. It’s the part that takes us back to the rainy rocks at the witch school of Artuza.
Harmonize with nature.
Lau Tzu gave us this advice in the Tao Te Ching a long, long, long time ago. If you are a grower by nature and you are in a sunny field, plant as you wish. If you are by the sea, step out onto the rainy rock and lift your bottle to the sky with confidence.
Thank you for reading and listening. The blog and podcast are not monetized and depend on audience support. Please visit the TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi page to become a Patron of the Tarot Arts which gives you access to exclusive content, private email readings and members-only special offers. Proceeds support the production of these free to access posts and episodes. Of course your likes, subs, shares, follows, reading orders, questions and comments are always, always appreciated.
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today, the infinite and the empty.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip, Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee, or evening tea, whatever happens to be the case. The blogcast is posting much later than usual today because of adulting and schedules and the like. Whatever day or time of day that you are reading or listening to this, I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card is The Empty, which as best as I can tell was created by Seven Dane Asmund specifically for the Alleyman’s Tarot Deck. In the guide book he makes it very clear it was not intended as an “anything is possible” sort of card.
Indeed.
For all of its zen simplicity and stark beauty, conceptually this card is Schrodinger’s cat meets the Bene Gesserit box test from Dune. For those of you listening on the podcast, there is a link to the blog in the episode description if you’d like to see the real world card draw for today. Seriously, I hope you’ll google the deck and the card. This thing is seriously gorgeous.
This card also reminds us that the observed and the observer leave their mark on each other.
As Seven writes, quote … it doesn’t mean that anything is possible, only that you will irrevocably stain and paint this thing as you begin to interact with it. Be mindful what imprint you leave on its surface. End quote
Be mindful, too, of what you are drawing out of the infinite void of possibility. Anything may be possible, but you leave your mark on that process. When you contemplate the infinite, it leaves its mark on you. You are an active participant in what is attracted and manifested from the infinite, even when that activity is on the subconscious level.
Or, in the words of Carl Jung, quote Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will all it fate. End quote.
Empty is powerful. But empty is not pristine. Empty observed is different from empty ignored. Empty is where all things can become potentially possible. Only the empty cup can be filled. There has to be a deficiency of electrons in one part of a circuit for electricity to flow. Thinking positive with outward flowing desires and expectations and efforts often doesn’t serve as well as being open and empty and in some sense surrendering to the larger and emptier universe. What will you draw from infinity into your empty.
Empty is where infinity hides.
Thank you for listening.
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The Battle Card from the Alleyman’s Tarot reminds us to have a plan when it comes to stress. TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.
Hi and welcome to Tao Craft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
I’m continuing to explore the Alleyman’s Tarot deck with thanks to its creator Seven Dane Asmund for giving permission to use the deck way back in the early days of the kickstarter. The Battle card is from the strange arcana and was originally created for the Strange and Eternal Tarot by Cosmic Butcher.
This deck is definitely resonating with the part of me that was an art minor in college lurking around the studio soaking up the artist vibes. These guys have it by the bucket.
This is also pushing my martial arts buttons, big time.
The distinction of warrior vs soldier comes to mind. With that comes the idea of not only discipline but preparation. It is said that you fight like you train. The implication is that you train 100% focus and effort, as if your life depends on it because someday it might.
I shouldn’t have to say this, but I am in no way talking about actual physical violence or conflict.
I’m talking about stress management.
Life gets contentious sometimes. Life gets stressful in both real and anticipated or imagined ways. What are you going to do when it does?
That’s why people talk about a daily meditation practice. If you practice staying chill on a regular basis, then when things heat up, the chill kicks in reflexively. You almost don’t have to give it a second thought, like muscle memory only for your emotions and for your brain.
Raw life experience gives you that practice the hard way. Daily practice -or at least some level of forethought and advance preparation – makes you more resilient and stronger when the stressful times come. And they always do.
Author Carlos Casteneda is credited with saying “We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
If this card resonates with you today, take a minute. Think about what calms you. What makes you emotionally and mentally strong and resilient. Then do it. Practice it. Train it. Have it at the ready in your pocket. Have a plan. Such is the way of the warrior, both literal and spiritual, who is ready when the battle comes.
Thank you so much for listening! Your likes, subs, shares, follows, reading purchases and support through ko-fi memberships are always appreciated. There are clickable links for more information in the blog and in the podcast episode description.
To learn how to do daily DIY Tarot one card meditation readings as a way to introduce some low stress peaceful moments into your day, my how-to ebook Peace Tarot is available as an instant pdf download. All proceeds from Peace Tarot sales in the ko-fi shop during 2022 will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.
To learn more about Reiki as a relaxation technique, Reiki and Relaxationis also a downloadable pdf ebook on that same page or visit the Reiki page on the website for more information.
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today is the 6 of cups and the monday gremlins
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
Todays card is the six of cups.
I’m still getting to know this new Tarot deck. The Alleyman’s Tarot is full of surprises. I wasn’t expecting a Japanese influenced card, but enjoy this one. I’ve always liked anime. I’ve been watching it since around 1970 when my kindergarten self was fangirling Kimba the White Lion. There is something vaguely Inuyasha about the energy today.
It’s a good one for a Monday too. As the workweek starts and the weekend ends, our thoughts sometimes turn to the serious and the ponderous. Mondays aren’t usually a play day.
This energy is asking us to lighten up a little bit. It ain’t all that. The advice is not to build things up to be bigger than they really are. The classic RWS deck shows children playing in a field of flowers.
Mondays often are not a field of flowers. Life can be full of annoyances any day of the week. Mondays are just another day. Nuisances are just another part of being alive on plane Earth. It is what it is but not more than it is.
By the same token, just because something is pleasant and easy doesn’t mean it is somehow lesser than if you struggled or it was unpleasant. It is what it is but not less than it is.
The Six of Cups reminds us to, even in the face of Mondays, and annoyances and inconveniences, and things that happen astonishingly easy, to stay chill and roll with it. It’s not all that one way or the other.
The card was originally made by Buboplague for the Yokai Yochi Tarot deck. A fast and superficial google shows that yokai are mischievous spirits from japanese folklore. As playful as the card looks, broken umbrellas with legs are vaguely disturbing too. It makes me think of how “gremlins” from the movie have come to mean any unexplained glitches like “computer gremlins.” The Alleyman’s Notebook describes the card as innocent joy, just like the RWS interpretation. It too reminds us to have a fun like a child despite all the adulting we have to do.
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Photo of my newest Tarot deck, and brief deck review. Rave review that is. It’s a modern day masterpiece for an ancient art.
If I were a violin player, this is like finding a discounted Stradivarius online and getting surprise bonus bows, rosin and music besides. This is a modern day masterpiece for an ancient art.
I felt a kinship on the first page. Years ago, I wrote on my decks as the alleyman claims to do with his in his notebook. Cards are just tools while the process and experience of getting and giving readings is almost a living, breathing, evolving thing.
Add favorite cards from my other decks – or take some out as the guide suggests? Change and collaborate both with an unknown to the creatore – “with the Alleyman’s blessing” – as part of the unspoken collective of Tarot readers and artists? Count me in. This is something special.
I don’t give cards away like the fictional Alleyman because I want – need – to protect and possess my tools, and build a relationship with them. This deck had my attention at first sight. The hood and fingerless gloves is a whole mood. The deck is easily coated with my energy. There is delicious mystique and aesthetic to be co-created here. This deck speaks succinct truths with many mouths. There is art and poetry afoot.
Rubber duckie Fool? There is joy in a good beginning.
There is probably more to say, but unboxing isn’t my jam. A thoughtful review is more up my alley. And this one requires some thinking.
Bravo, Seven Dane Asmund. Bravo.
Learn more about this artists’ work and the Alleyman’s Tarot at PublishingGoblin.com
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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