Tag: card meaning

Daylight / Twilight

The Yin and Yang of Tarot just makes sense to me.

In a recent newsletter to her app membership, Geo of Fal and ThatGlasgowWitch.com speaks of the push and pull of changing seasons. It’s fall in one hemisphere, but spring in the other both within the whole of our planet.

Tarot is much the same. Within the whole of life and wisdom, we look both forward and back, all from the center of it all We call that center the present moment. This moment, right now as you read this, is the axle the wheel of the year spins around.

Tarot can be both expansive and forward looking at the same time it is introspective and reflecting backward. In the daylight we see the energies ahead and learn to navigate our way forward. In the twilight we contemplate the day that is done, process it, learn from it…put it to bed so to speak.

Today we see the seven of swords

The idea that comes through right now has little to do with the traditional meanings of the card. I ‘hear’ “superpowers” (meaning that the intuition comes as words instead of mental images)

I am reminded of fun heist movies like Oceans Eleven, Gone In 60 Seconds, or even Xmen. The feeling here reminds me of superheroes with superpowers, or a team where each person has some quirky, unique expertise.

This card today is asking you to think about your skills. What is it you do well – or just love to do so much that it doesn’t matter one bit if you are good at it or not. What is your role in the heist crew?

I forget which of his books it was, but author Richard Back talks about how sometimes fictional characters are more real than the real ones.

Forget about cosplay…build a whole new character. Use this universe, or your favorite fictional one. If you could be anyone, do anything in that fiction, as long as it is new and unique and not another created character, what would that person be like?

For example – don’t image you are Superman.. Imagine who you would be in that universe.

I forget if it was Mat Auryn or Christopher Penczak, but one of them had the idea of trying a new skill on for size, in a way. If you want to be a powerful psychic, imagine what your life would be like if you already were. Not at some point in the future, what if POOF! Right now you already were psychic. Now try it on for size and live a day as if it were already true.

Daylight Tarot (journal prompts): what trait do you want to have that you can live today as if you already have it?

Twilight Tarot (journal prompts) What did you do today so genuinely and authentically that it turned it into a superpower. Even if it was just waking up. Consciousness is a miracle. You did it! Find something to feel satisfied about, no matter how small.

Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!

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Twilight Tarot

No, I’m not talking about the sparkly vampire books and movies.

I mean the actual English word twilight, the time between sunset and full darkness. It is a liminal, transitional, magical time. Energies soften. The subtle and etheric is close at hand, easier to touch. Spirit’s whispers are easier to hear.

Much of Tarot is forward-looking: Tarot for the day, month, year ahead. Tarot can also look inward. It can be a prompt for introspection and calming and processing the day just finished just as much as it is a signpost and guideline for the day ahead.

Choose a card at sundown. How does the card make sense of the past day? How does the past day make sense of the card? How does the card connect to what you are feeling about the past day? What does the card have to say about how you are feeling, period?

Today’s Tarot ‘spark an idea’ one card readings and the a Action Eases Anxiety layout resonates speaks to what to do, how to move through the energy of the day.

Twilight Tarot is all about how you feel. It’s like the contrast between cups cards and sword cards, one feeling, one doing.

I ‘hear’ “tired from fear” Did you work so hard out of passion for what you do or for passion for protecting and providing for your home and family….or are you working so hard out of fear – the fear of not having what you want?

I am reminded of something actor Misha Collins’ daughter said. He told on social media about a time when he was teaching his daughter the child’s game of making a wish while blowing on dandelion seeds. When he asked what she was going to wish for, she looked at the dandelion and said “I wish for this”

I’m also reminded of the Saxon / Norse “Four Fs” wish for “Flag (like flagstones of a fireplace, in other words shelter, a hom) Flax (the source of linen, in other words clothing) Fodder (food) and Frig (the goddess Freya, symbolizing home, love)

It’s OK to feel tired. Worries these days are all too real.

Wish for this, and the fear may just blow away like dandelion seeds.

Look! Card for the Week

If someone yells “LOOK!” that one word tells you that something need your attention right now.

Day, week, month or year; regardless of the time frame you have in mind, a one card “meditation” reading functions like a loud “LOOK!” It doesn’t predict what will actually happen in that time, but it does tell you to look for something.

It tells you the current energy, let’s you look at the energy environment as it is at the moment.

Within that environment, it can steer you in the direction of something important. It might validate something you already know, or it can draw your attention to something you hadn’t noticed that needs your attention. Whatever the case may be it is usable information. It is a helpful idea.

Over time, I’m less happy with calling these “daily meditation tarot” like I did in PeaceTarot. Names can be powerful, magickal things. Renaming Modern Oracle and Tarotbytes to TaoCraft Tarot and Sage Sips was, as Storm Faerywolf describes in The Witch’s Name, both descriptive and aspirational. Naming things empowers who/what they are as well supporting all that is wished to be.

I forget where I read it, so I don’t know if it is accurate, but there are cultures and traditions where names change to reflect different accomplishments, or stages of life. Frank Herbert describes something akin to this in Dune when Paul chooses his public Fremen name but is given a private tribal-only name. Changing the website and blog name, I believe, elevated my Tarot readings. I feel it is time to re-name, revive, and re-empower these one card readings.

On one hand, it makes no real difference in the grand scheme of things what I name something on my website and ko-fi shop. On the other hand, we all know that energy and intention makes a difference or we wouldn’t be here.

“LOOK” is a pretty vision-centric word, but it can also be a conceptional, point of view thing, like outlook (the actual noun, not the computer program.)

Intuition isn’t only visual. It can spark any sense. Words, music, smells, tastes, physical sensations can intuitively come to mind just as much as visual mental images. For that reason I kind of like the word “spark” You can see them. Sometimes you can hear them (like a fireswork sparkler or firestarting flint being struck) Sparks can, in the right conditions, start something bigger. Sparks and kindling might be a better mental model for this: Action eases anxiety after all. One card readings can spark just such ideas and actions.

But while I mull over the new name, look at what the energies have for us today.

This is not an expansive, yang time. This is, true to the local season, a time of increasing yin. Autumn is a time of darkening days, cooling temperatures. a time of coming to center and appreciating the harvest. It is a time to nurture home and hearth, not to expand and adventure.

That is the part of life that is asking us to look at it, think about it, act on it. This is the spark for our thinking and doing this week. This is the spark in the dark to help us look and move in a good direction.

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See you at the next sip!

Sitting With Nothing

Often this card reminds me of the famous Japanese proverb “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.”

That is the short answer to the core message of the Ten of Swords: What do you do when things go wrong. What do you do when you are face down in defeat?

It said STAND. Not leap up. Not bounce back. Not return to the same battle. STAND includes dragging yourself up after taking time to figure out how to get back on your feet. STAND includes limping off in another direction to do something entirely different.

Today’s card also reminds me of something author Chuck Wendig said on social media during the era of his book You Can Do Anything Magic Skeleton. I remember it as having this Tarot image and the advice that when life has you face down on the floor, look under the sofa for those keys you lost last week – or something like that.

If there is a theme song for this card, it’s Chumbawamba’s Tubthumping “I get knocked down. But I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down.”

Getting up is the important part. This doesn’t say anything about when or how you stand up again.

It’s ok not to be ok. You don’t have to leap up and be happy about what just happened.

Here I am also reminded of a photo of Sidney Crosby just sitting on the ice, exhausted and dejected after a Stanley Cup loss. He was the picture of defeat kind of like our Ten of Swords dude. He wasn’t all spitfire and overjoyed after he stood up from the ice. But he did stand up, keep playing, won more Stanley Cups and is a record setting athlete. To put it mildly.

The important thing isn’t about when or how you stand up again. The important thing is that you do – eventually – stand up again. Sometimes when you have nothing left in the tank, you just sit with the nothing. Sometimes when you feel depressed, then you just by damn be depressed for a while. When you are laying face down on the floor with metaphoric knives in your back, the best thing to do is stay down there and look under the sofa for your car keys.

Feel the feels. Sit with the nothing. Do what you need to do to get ready to stand up again. You are allowed to move slow, hold on to something and make old man noises while you do.

Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!

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A portion of the proceeds are donated to a different wellness, food support or civil rights organization each month. September 2026 Brew It Forward is for the American Library Association for their promotion of freedom to read and this years upcoming Banned Book Week

Adventures in Meatspace.

I’m re-reading Neuromancer. It’s an all-time favorite and has had a big influence on my blogger-life. William Gibson is credited with coining the term cyberspace after all. That’s also where we get calling the physical body ‘meat’ and the term ‘meat puppets’ I don’t know who came up with ‘meatspace’ for the offline world (Adam Savage maybe?)

The pull to Meatspace has been strong lately. I think that it is a general, collective energy for us all. We are all way past touching grass. I saw a meme on social media yesterday that said something like “I don’t need to touch grass I need to melt into the forest floor”

Personally, I’m caught between wanting to ground and take a little bit of meatspace sabbatical as I call my offline vacations – and wanting to plug into cyberspace hard and minimize some big meatspace stress I have coming up over the next few days.

I get called out by Tarot cards too. It’s not just you.

Pulled a card to write about here and found my own stress staring me in the face.

Welp, that fits.

I often sense the seven of swords in terms of a fiction character trope; a lovable scamp, untrustworthy but helpful petty thief, a character in a heist movie like Ocean’s Eleven or one of the informers in an old episode of Miami Vice.

Today, though, I’m drawn toward Seven Dane Asmund’s interpretation of carrying the burdens of our decisions. Decision making speaks to the mental, intellectual, active, air-element nature of the suit.

In other words, consider the consequences of your decision. If you choose to carry a few swords of your decisions, don’t forget they are sharp and it’s gonna hurt. But see the swords sticking in the ground? Don’t forget you can drop those babies any time you want, stick them in the ground to discharge and detox and get you back on your merry way.

The idea here is very similar to the 10 of wands except pointier, sharper, heavier. This is black belt level burden dropping stress management, not just tossing sticks that we make heavier than they really are.

Doing it all with a sense of irony and humor helps too.

I chose to do the stressful thing this weekend because the consequences of doing it are shorter term and less consequential. If I don’t do the thing, there is 100% chance of blowback. And so here I go with my hands full of swords. When you hear that big crash of dropping metal you’ll know I’m home.

Meet you back here in cyberspace for the next sip.

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Action Eases Anxiety Tarot: The Plan

Last week, in the You Have to Make Before You Can Break It post we talked about card layouts, how making an action plan is in itself an action that can ease anxiety, and that a good plan also plans on the plan going completely sideways.

A two-card is great little reset when you are tackling the twists, turns and gone-sideways adjustments you have to make but, like we said last time, you have to make it before you break it. The Plan layout is about setting direction in the first place, making the plan that you plan on adjusting (or throwing away) later.

Reading left to right, the layout positions are:

  • Let it rest: You have been giving too much energy here. Dial it down, give it some space, let it simmer until the time is right again.
  • Let it go: This is getting unhealthy or is not serving you as well as it has in the past. This is something to consider releasing for good, or at least putting into cold storage for a good, long time.
  • Que it up: Pay attention here. Look for opportunities that aren’t quite here yet. This is something that isn’t quite ready but may be soon.
  • Let it roll: This needs your attention now. Full focus here. Roll with it.

Notice how the position names mostly start with “Let” that’s on purpose. This is about allowing the nature of energies as they are, not forcing things or fighting the flow. This is about navigation directions, not a list of do-or-die achievements.

Let it rest: Two of Wands

Well, isn’t this ironic in the middle of my little rant about planing. That is exactly what the two of wands is often about…strategic planning, preparation, watching for the right time.

The message here is clear. KNOCK IT OFF. The time will never be right. The only time is now. The only place to start is here. CHOOSE and START already.

Don’t let fear of making the wrong choice paralyse you. You can learn from your mistakes, change plans, adapt, re-adapt, re-plan and generally nope out of whatever direction you want to at any point you want to.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

Carl Jung

THIS is what Tarot is all about. It isn’t about predicting your future. It is about showing you your power, your choices, your part in creating your future. The two of wands in the let it rest position is nudging us to let the planning rest and do something. You can’t break it unless you make it. You can’t learn from mistakes until you make a few. You can’t change directions until you move in one.

Let it go: Seven of Wands

Pick your battles. Stop beating that metaphoric dead horse. Stop throwing good money after bad. Cut your losses. When you are in a hole, stop digging. Where are the costs too high?

Que it up: Nine of Swords

There is never a time for useless regrets or overwhelming anxiety. This isn’t talking about that. This is talking about stepping outside of your comfort zone. It isn’t time for emotional risk just yet, but what are you going to do when it comes? Even good things can put on pressure. Stress happens, even during good things. Something has to change for things to get better and emotions may bubble when they do. What are you going to do when that happens? Get ready.

Let it roll: Ten of Pentacles

What if….not saying it’s possible…but what if you could….

What would it be like to just be happy with things as they are now. Be happy that you’ve decided to do every single thing within your power to change every single thing you want to change – AND be happy with just having made that decision. What if, having made a choice to be happy with things as they are AT THE SAME TIME that they are changing and AT THE SAME TIME that things are in progress instead of waiting to be happen when things are done?

There is a parable about a student who asked a Zen master about how to be happy. “I want to be happy” they said. The master said to drop the “I” because that is ego and to drop the “want” because that is attachment. Then all that is left is “be happy.”

Happy? Let it roll.

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September 2026 Brew It Forward will go to the American Library Association in honor of their protection of our freedom to read and in honor of their upcoming banned books week.

What if…

Funny thing about intuition – it’s kind of misty and ethereal and mercurial.

Some images land in long term memory. I can still conjure up the mental image from a couple of weeks ago of the cliff top with the narrow mountain ridge and multiple paths from the summit and crossroads post.

Somewhere since then, Richard Bach’s book Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah came through in such a way that it seemed like a BIG hint to re-read it. I can’t even remember if the Bach related thought made it into the final edit of whatever post.

So I whip out my ebook copy of Illusions. Sat down for a re-read and found exactly the idea that was trying to get my attention about two minutes into it:

“And what would you do,” the Master said unto the multitude, “if God spoke directly to your face and said, ‘I COMMAND THAT YOU BE HAPPY IN THE WORLD, AS LONG AS YOU LIVE.’ What would you do then?”

Richard Bach

Just to be clear – I am an atheist. The word ‘god’ is entirely irrelevant here.

But think about it…what would you DO? Imagine if whatever deity, entity or person whose opinion you respect straight up demanded that you be happy. Right now. No prerequisite beliefs, actions or conditions – just you, just happy.

The tricky part here is the DO. It implies that something needs to be DONE. It implies that happiness has some prerequisite action or condition in order for your happiness to exist.

This is where the happiness meaning of the Sun card comes into play.

The card doesn’t imply the DO. It is just plainly, unapologetically happy. Right here, right now, not because of circumstances but, perhaps, in spite of circumstances.

What if…

What do you think would happen if you just took a minute and allowed yourself to be happy? What if your God got in your face and commanded you to be happy for five minutes, could you? Would you?

What if this post, these words on this screen in this moment are your permission to simply be happy for the next five minutes? What if this is your permission to be happy from now on? Could you? Would you?

DO that. Be happy.

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See you at the next sip!

Deck: Allyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permission

Soft Landing

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After the sun rises it sets. Days and weeks begin, and then they end. Tarot can help set the tone for your day or week. But it can do more.

Tarot gives you a 360 degree view. It can broaden your horizons, it can help you look ahead and plan, but it can also look back and understand.

Daily meditation tarot can help bring a day in for a soft landing just as well as it can get your day off to an inspired start.

The Star is about hope and aspiration and guidance.

In reverse it hears you when your compass is spinning and you don’t know which way to go.

Tonight, the Star suggests that when you don’t know which way to go that means you are already there. Be where you are.

When it is time to move, a new star will rise and you’ll know what to do. For now, bloom where you are planted. Find the contentment and happiness that is already there just waiting for you to feel it.

Reasonable Second Chance

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Today’s Tarot: Judgement

The past is the price we pay for the second chance each new moment gives.

And it’s a reasonable one. The past doesn’t disappear, but how emotionally attached you are to it is up to you. If it is a cherished memory – then by all means cherish it. If it is a painful, harmful one, you are perfectly free to let the attachment go.

I’ve always wrangled with the Judgement card in this form, with all the christian religious imagery here. If familiarity breeds contempt, my evangelical upbringing has bred a great deal of contempt for that ideology. The only good thing about the political climate in America since 2015 is now everyone can see what we-who-left have been talking about. Now everyone knows how toxic and insane evangelicals and Christian nationalists are. So dear everyone who said I was over-reacting when I said Republicans and Evangelicals were a bunch of fascists (middle finger) I TOLD you so.

BUT that is also an example in point for the energy of this card today. I can’t pretend that my parent’s and extended family’s religion isn’t a steaming pile of toxic, harmful bullshit. BUT I can choose to make my life a secular sanctuary, free from religion as much as a functioning adult living in America in 2026 can make it.

Alan Watts’ observation rings perennially true “You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.”

And THAT is the aspect of the Judgement card that steps forward today: Second Chances.

The judgement has been made (you have decided some aspect of past experience is unhealthy, or somehow unworthy of including in your current circumstances)

The dues have been paid (you lived it, learned from it and made the reasoned choice to shift your perspective)

Another chance is in hand (every moment is a fresh start and a chance be a different person than you were five minutes ago.)

Here is to reasonable second chances.

See you at the next sip