book lovers – Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot

Readings for readers

Tarot readings for readers

I read AND write.

I’ve been told that my email readings but especially the handwritten, hand illustrated private Tarot readings appeal to book lovers.*

I’m a reader’s reader. My written content is my best work.

I know it. You know it.

Writing is my niche and my talent and my strength.

I’m not going to water that down just for the sake of having a podcast.

Some people learn better from listening. Some people just plain prefer audio.

I know it. You know it.

I just received word that Spotify for podcasters and WordPress are ending the text to speech integration.

Unless and until I find another text to speech option, it is with some regret that I am ending the Sage Sips podcast. I have too much respect for audio learners and audiophiles to give you a second rate Tarot product. I’m not going to half-ass a spoken word recording when I KNOW I can give you significantly better quality content with text-to-speech technology.

If I can find a workable text to speech option, I’ll resume the audio blog. Until then you can find my free week-ahead pathway readings on Mondays on the Sage Words Tarot dot com website, on the Sage Words Tarot blog on ko-fi dot com and on the Sage Sips newsletter on Substack.

All three of those platforms will continue to have a mix of free and premium subscriptioncontent, because none of this is advertising monetized. The blogs and Substack are all reader supported. With me, your Tarot message comes first, not an advertiser’s message. Premium content and private readings are what makes the free blog Tarot readings possible. Private readings are still always available in both email and live formats through the website. No appointments are needed for the email version, by the way.

I am always so grateful for your support. Your purchases help fund the practical part of creating all of this, but your time reading (or until now, listening) to the blog, your likes, your shares, your follows and free subscriptions are why ten or more years worth of Tarot inspiration exists in the world. All of you are why I do this in the first place. Together, we have created a giant pile of ideas, inspiration, art, entertainment and wisdom. Now let’s go create some more.

Podcast people, thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for listening in as the podcast changed from Clairvoyant Confessional to TaoCraft Tarot and most recently to Sage Sips. I hope audio will be back, but in the meantime please join us on the blogs for more Tarot readings, behind the scenes and ask me anything.

Blog people – I’ll see you at the next sip.

*I’ve read for other intuitives and professional Tarot readers before. It is always the biggest compliment to be trusted by a colleague like that. “Readings for readers” works for that kind of reader too.

Ask Zombie Cat: Book Smarts

Q: “When will my son ever develop a love of reading?”

A: In the list of things Tarot sucks at, medical / pregnancy questions may be #1, but answering “when” questions is a solid #2 (the double entendre there is accidental, but not wrong ) Using Tarot to answer medical or “when” questions is like asking “What time is it?” and having someone answer with “Blue! Applesauce! Yahtzee!” There isn’t anything evil or wrong about it, it’s just not particularly helpful.

In this case, a tumble of logical questions are getting in the way of intuition, so let’s get them out of the way first. How old is you little one now? If he is young, and reading is still a very new skill, maybe he needs a little time to get good at the skill of reading before he can appreciate the fun of it. Wondering when he will love reading might be like asking when you will love a new skill that that you were forced into learning. For example, what if you were suddenly forced to learn integral calculus for your job? So when are you going to learn to love esoteric mathematics? It is easy to love the things that come easily to you, but things that are hard to do are harder to love. If you suspect reading is extra difficult for him or his learning isn’t on par with his age and development, then talking with his teacher might be the best place to start. It might be jumping the gun to worry about loving reading unless you already know there are no problems with learning reading, like dyslexia or what have you, getting in the way.

Let the record show this is NOT my area of expertise. We cats never read much until sitting on computers became a thing. Turning pages is a pain in the tail when you don’t have opposable thumbs. But if all is well on the learning front, it begs another question. Intuitively I hear “what has he seen?” I’m guessing your question means you are a book lover. Have you had a chance to read when he is around? Has he ever seen you read and love it? Have you read to him and enjoyed it? Leading by example, if you haven’t already, might help. I have to admit I’m a Kindle junkie, but a young one might equate reading on a device with other screen time rather than an actual book. Maybe indulge in some of your favorite old school books and magazines. It is a visual vocabulary to go with the idea. That would do two things. First it would be nonverbal connection with the concept of reading a BOOK, not just generic screen time. Second it would be an energy vibe. If you are reading something you yourself genuinely love, the love + book vibe will be there for him to sense, even on a subconscious level.

Speaking of the ‘loving it’ vibe, is there any topic he is already head over heels for? Dinosaurs, astronauts, cowboys, trains, cars, computers, needlepoint, advanced nuclear chemistry or anything at all? Whatever his interests already are outside of reading, put books in his hands about that thing, whatever it is. If he’s crazy for dinosaurs, give him dinosaur books, even if they are only picture books. If he wants to be a chef when he grows up, give him a kid’s cook written on his current reading level. If he likes wizards, prep him for Harry Potter days to come Then you are very literally connecting books and love. The hooman’s kitten comes to mind. She has always like music and songs. So they gave her loads of rhythmic, sing-songy books like Dr. Suess and Sandra Boyton. Now that she’s all grown up, she loves to read and she’s a music therapist. It is a two for one offer! I’m not sponsored or paid anything, but I’ve heard the hooman talk about scholastic.com as a good resource for kid’s books ideas.

When I drew a card, I got Strength, which might emphasize that idea of playing to his existing strengths (e.g. audio books if he has visual learning issues or loading him up with books about things he already loves.) It might also mean that not everyone loves reading but they still turn out to be strong, successful people.

Or it could mean YAHTZEE!

All best wishes to everyone, especially your little reader in potentia

Z.C.

Gift of a Lifetime Wrapped in a Pen

Sallie Christensen, one of the most skilled and gifted psychics I’ve ever met, once told me that “A thought is powerful, the spoken word is more so, but the written word is the most powerful of all.” That one sentence was a gift of a lifetime wrapped in a pen. In essence, she had handed me a magic wand.

I had that reading with her in the early 1990s, roughly around the time I’d started exploring oracle cards with Tarot soon to follow. That adage has proven true time and again in the decades since.

Journal writing is a powerful thing. I suspect those years of journaling is the reason why I can communicate messages from spirit as easily through pen and keyboard as through speaking. Written Tarot is definitely more sophisticated, since live sessions don’t have edit buttons or grammar check. Speech may transmit ideas quickly, but writing is a superconductor. Hearing is here and now. Even recordings have a sense of immediacy. Writing transcends space and time. It’s the closest thing we have to telepathy. When I write something and you read it, the message from spirit is communicated heart to heart and mind to mind with none of the mechanics of speech or hearing in between. Hearing happens at Mach 1, the speed of sound. Reading happens at the speed of light.

As Carl Sagan wrote:

“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called “leaves”) imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.”

Written Tarot is potent to both give and receive. The experience of reading something that resonates with you spiritually is very similar to the experience getting an intuitive message directly from spirit. Reading anything that is spiritually resonant, be it books, letters, Tarot cards, blogs or emails, is a breathless melange of emotion, empowerment, and enlightenment. Many books have been like that for me, Ted Andrews’ and Christopher Penczak’s in particular. Perhaps written Tarot can capture some of that experience for you.

Intuition happens inside of your head and heart. It is an entirely subjective experience. For me, the internal process of writing is more closely aligned to the internal intuitive message itself. The flow from spirit to written language is immediate and effortless, while putting things into spoken words takes the tiniest bit more thought and effort. In wireless terms, spoken words work at 4G while my writing operates at 5G or above.

How you enjoy taking in the words and messages of a session is another story. If you like to read, written Tarot is as comfortable as breathing. It doesn’t matter if the actual thing you read is a computer screen or a piece of paper. The experience of reading your message is equally intense regardless of media.

In-person Tarot readings are wonderful, mind expanding, heart warming, and sometimes life changing things…just like the session I had with Sally when we talked about journal writing.

An email or handwritten paper Tarot session is its own kind of mind expanding, heart warming and life changing experience … just like reading the Andrews and Penczak books.

All of that being said, I’m hoping this will let you feel confident in ordering Distance Tarot. While this post is a glimpse to the writing process on my side of the table, the message is the same no matter how you prefer to receive it, written or spoken, email or live. It’s just a matter of deciding which experience resonates with you.

This one is for all of the book lovers. I’m working on a second edition of PeaceTarot. Both editions teach you how to do DIY daily Tarot meditations even if you don’t have a Tarot deck on hand. The second edition adds expanded, pandemic-era card meanings for all 78 RWS Tarot cards.. During the caronapocolypse, we have all been making do with stuff on hand. As life “re-opens” I hope we can carry a little bit of that ingenuity with us. In the spirit of that resourcefulness, I want to upcycle some second quality paper copies* of PeaceTarot and hand customize one just for you. I’ll write a one card reading just like the kind of readings the book can teach you to do PLUS include a sigil element (or sigil glyph or psych-a-doodle or whatever you want to call it) crystal energy and aromatherapy suggestions, an affirmation, add whatever else comes to mind AND use my favorite schmancy glass dip pen. There are a limited number available. All you really pay for is postage and handling. The “graffiti edition” PeaceTarot with custom handwritten one card Tarot readings are available in the shop HERE.

*First edition, single side print, side staple bound

Just a quick reminder: Distance Tarot is always OPEN, with phone readings by appointment. Even though our area is partially out of lockdown and starting to re-open for retail business, in-person individual and party readings will remain closed until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.