Tag: card meaning

Busy isn’t bad

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Two of Pentacles.

When you look at a fine art sculpture the space it defines around it as sometimes as much a part of the composition as the space it occupies. Today’s card has a little of that energy. It’s not a caution energy, but it isn’t quite straightforward advice either. It feels a little like a power slide into a parallel parking space in a movie, or one of those internet memes where Wong portals in, gives some disturbing trivia and leaves out the same interdimensional portal.

Or maybe that’s just me because I’m a lazy, lazy girl.

If someone says “self care” to me, my first thought is coffee, readings a good book or taking a nap. The thing that the Two of Pents pointing toward is the fact that mental rest and re-balancing is not dependent on physical inactivity. Physical rest is easy. In modern America, we need a reminder to easy up on the mental stress.

You can do stuff without stressing over it. Arguable, you do more stuff and do it better when you are in a calm, relaxed state of mind.

This goes along with that Two of Coin’s quality of dynamic equilibrium. Maintaining balance often requires movement and adaptation. Spinning things are more stable, like a top or a bicycle or a gyroscope.

The sweet spot is a balance between activity and calm, being physically busy but not psychologically stressed about it.

Taoist philosophy describes it as wu wei. Chinese is notoriously difficult to translate. Sometimes wu wei is translated as inaction or not-doing. That isn’t to say that Taoists somehow think things will magically get done while we sit and to nothing. The translation “effortless action” seems more apt, especially in the context of this card. Both wu wei and the two of pentacles are pointing toward physical activity without mental stress.

A sense of accomplishment and productivity is a pretty nice feeling at the end of the day. Mental stress is not. A significant amount of stress is pressure we put on ourselves. It is almost as if we think easy things are somehow less valuable or less worthy of our precious little time. Again, the two card points us toward a sweet spot of balance. You don’t want to underestimate, neglect or minimize a situation, but you don’t want blow a molehill up to be Mount Everest either. That’s the balance the Two of Pentacles brings to us today.

Busy isn’t bad when it is balanced with inner calm. Mental rest and quiet is still self care, even when it happens in the center of a storm of external activity. Moving meditation is the perfect example, and a perfect way to practice mental calm in the middle of physical business. Walking meditation is very much a part of some Buddhist traditions. Of course, Tai Chi is the best known example of meditation in motion. Which circles back around to one of my very favorite Alan Watts quotes “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about god while one is peeling the potatoes. Zen spirituality is to just peel the potatoes.”

It’s ok for things to be busy. It’s just as ok for busy things to feel easy while you do them.

Thank you for reading and listening. The blogcast and YouTube channel are not monetized and depend on reader and listener support. Email Tarot readings purchases here on the blogcast site, Tarot Table memberships and buy me a coffee donations all contribute to the creation of this Tarot content. Your likes, subs, shares and follows are always appreciated!

See you at the next sip!

Birds of a Feather Inspire Together

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is The Star from the major arcana.

Birds of a feather flock together. Like attracts like. You are what you eat.

Adages and Proverbs become adages and proverbs because they have proven themselves true for a long, long time. And they tend to apply to a variety of situations.

That whole birds of a feather, like attracts like thing is huge advice for lonely hearts in search of a soulmate. In other words, be the soulmate you want to bring into your life. Do you want the romance of your life to be with a person who is all tied up knots and focused solely on their own feelings or would you rather be with someone who is happy and engaged with life? Be the bird you want to feather with.

It isn’t all soulmates. Like attracts like applies to many other things too. It begs the question of what, exactly, attracts you.

Human beings, it seems, are absolute geniuses for projection and confirmation bias. We see our own desires and our own opinions everywhere we turn. Who you follow, the things you support, the things that inspire you tells the outer world as much about you as much as those things tell you about the outer world.

Curate your inspirations. Actual conversations with actual people aside, would you want to have your social media “likes” as real world meat-space friends? Would you want to be part of their group?

Social media platforms are literally called a feed. We consume media. What would happen to your body if you constantly fed on toxic things? Why would you take any less care with the media you consume? Block and unfollow buttons are powerful protectors is you use them.

I love my social feeds. I’ve met beautiful, kind, wise people from opposite ends of the continent that I never could have met otherwise. Instagram is especially fun since I tend to be a bit visual. My feed is filled with artists, photographers, poets, Taoism, meditation, witches, civil rights groups, some of the best Tarot readers out there, recipes, coffee memes and a fair bit of yarn porn.

There are some pretty wonderful things out there in cyberspace, not just doom and gloom. Of everything out there, what things grab your attention? Who inspires you? The Star card reminds us to take care that those things and people are worthy of our attentions and our aspirations.

Thank you for reading, listening and watching. The blogcast and youtube channel are not monetized and depend on your support. Email Tarot purchases and Tarot Table memberships contribute toward creating TaoCraft Tarot online content. Your likes, subs, shares and follows are always appreciated too.

See you at the next sip!

The deck pictured is Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell used with permissions granted on llwellyn publidhing dot com.

It is what it is

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today it is what it is with the six of cups

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.

Today’s card is the six of cups.

This is one of those cards that landed like a dud grenade right in my wheelhouse. It speaks to exactly how I’m feeling. I hope it is little bit helpful to one of you too.

Emotional content is optional.

It is what it is. It is a peaceful, happy thing to be able to take things at face value. As long as what needs done gets done, you don’t have to be all bubbly and enthusiastic about it. It’s as exhausting to be all cutesy unicorns all the the time as it is to be down and worried all of the time.

Some days just are what they are.

It’s not even that “chop wood and carry water” zen proverb kind of energy. There is room in that proverb for joyful wood chopping and water carrying. There is room in the proverb for dreading your chores too. I’m talking about complete beige lukewarm shoulder shrug of a “MEH” kind of day. Not that it’s a bad thing. Raging neutrality is restful. It’s a kind of a relief really. That’s is the beauty of the six of cups card. It’s a take things at face value card. It is the 180 degree opposite of the the overthinking seven of cups card.

Cups, along with all of their water, intuition and relationship connotations, can also symbolize emotions. Pamela Smith depicts two children and flowers and seemingly peaceful play on a sunny afternoon. The card is often connected with innocence and beauty and that is very much present in the card. The key part today is the innocence. It is about an utter lack of artifice. These kids aren’t ginning up emotional content. Their afternoon is what it is. They are taking cups full of flowers as they are. There is actually a deep authenticity and honesty around this energy. That is so important for a day like this. While the day is what it is we are free to be who we are and feel what we feel. Even if what feel is a little “meh.”

I was watching the winter Olympics earlier today. I have a minority opinion: I don’t like women’s figure skating. Who gives a flying Hamil camel about emotional content, artistic content and how much they were smiling? It’s an athletic competition. Do they throw the technique or don’t they? Nobody says anything about the emotional quality of the people throwing themselves head first down the side of of an icy mountain on a cafeteria tray. Like skeleton, out here in the real world away from the performing arts and multi media, action speaks louder than the feels. It is perfectly OK to go through a day without the rollicking feels. Do the essentials and accept your emotions (or lack thereof) at face value. They are what they are.

Like I was talking about in the Valentine Q&A post a few days ago, in Tarot and romance readings, the clients emotions and everyone’s privacy are of prime importance. The six of cups reminds me of a few more things for the list of important Tarot things. Add authenticity and dealing with things as they are to the list too.

You all know that I’m a huge Adam Savage fan. I think it was a short Q&A video on Tested or maybe on Tested’s instagram feed, but one time he was talking about how he feels a little down or low energy after wrapping up a big project. At least I think that’s the words he used. I may be paraphrasing. I’ve found that to be true, on a much smaller scale of course. I’ve knitted blankets for family members as gifts. I don’t know if you’ve ever knitted a blanket but it is less of a work in progress and more of a lifestyle choice. It takes some serious time to make one of those babies. Weirdly, the next day after the blanket was finished I felt compelled to knit something else. Maybe it was simple inertia. Maybe it was to fill the void a big project leaves when it’s done. After putting so much time and attention and emotional investment into a project, it leaves a noticeable gap when its gone. The same it true of eBooks and essays, even the teeny tiny little ones that I write.

Yesterday I put My Tarot Valentine out in the world for purchase from the ko-fi shop. I’ve been writing early February My Tarot Valentine posts for the blog since 2015 and tinkering with the eBook collection of those posts off and on since last year. I’m beyond over it. Still, clicking that upload button always has a little bit of a ripping off the bandage feel. Wrapping up that project led to a minor case of the snarky BLAHS today. I almost didn’t do a short sip post because I just wasn’t feeling it. But did it anyway and here comes the six of cups to remind me that taking a day as it is and working with the BLAHS for what they are actually is today’s short sip Tarot.

Thank you all for listening. Your likes, subs, shares and follows are always appreciated. Neither the blogcast nor the YouTube channel are monetized so all of this Tarot content depends on your support through “buy me a coffee donations” and Tarot Table memberships.

Thanks again and see you at the next sip

Your purchase of private email Tarot readings also supports this blogcast and YouTube channel. No appointment needed for email. Working at distance is more than pandemic safe…You get my 30 years experience at one of the most affordable prices ($40 flat rate for a full reading)

It’s hard to win a battle with yourself.

TaoCraft Short Sip is a Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today is the five of swords.

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.

Today’s card is the Five of Swords. I think the energy today is perfectly summed up in the Pamela Smith artwork on this particular card. The main figure is in a wide stance, battle ready and surrounded by a stack of sword while the other figures face other directions and look for all the world like they are just taking a little stroll on the beach. The water imagery here is important. The chill people are all facing the water. Mr. Stabby Pants in the foreground isn’t connected with the water or the other people at all.

I don’t know who asked”What if they gave a war and nobody came?” but this card hints at the same thing. It’s hard to win a battle when you are the only one that shows up. It’s even harder to win a battle within yourself.

Everyone feels out of sorts sometimes. Everyone has a pair or two of very cranky pants that we wear on occasion. Everyone knows that it a bad idea to take that crankiness out on other people.

Taking it out on yourself isn’t any better.

When you are in a bad mood, feeling sorry for yourself or thinking of yourself as a victim just pushes the spiral downward. It takes a Herculean effort to turn things around and go in the other direction.

Of course, I’m not talking about depression or other mental health conditions. That is something for genuine care, not a Tarot blogcast. I’m talking about the few-days glitch. The card points toward those times when you feel punchy, out of sorts, cranky, gnarly and just not quite yourself. What do you do if you are feeling ready to pick a fight but you are the only one around?

Sometimes turning a bad mood around takes more than a Herculean effort. It’s way worse. Sometimes turning around a cranky pants day takes acceptance and time. The more you fight and struggle the more disrupted and tangled your feelings and energy can become. Sometimes feeling out of sorts is the flow you have to go with – but not act on. Just honestly acknowledging your own pain, frustration, anger, fear or sadness can take the edge off of it.

In her book Be Water, My Friend Shannon Lee describes a day when her father, Bruce Lee, was so angry that he punched the South China Sea. That afternoon in a boat began the journey that eventually gave us the “Be water, my friend” interview that has inspired so many.

Bruce Lee’s philosophy is rooted in Taoist philosophy and the Tao Te Ching famously teaches that “He who conquers others is strong. He who conquers himself is mighty.”

If the Five of Swords has crossed your path, be on the lookout for letting a bad mood get the better of you. Watch out for self-sabotage or thinking of yourself as a victim. Unleash your inner awesome onto acknowledging, flowing, and adapting.

Even on a cranky pants day, be mighty, my friend.

The TaoCraft Tarot blogcast is not monetized and is 100% audience supported. Tarot reading purchases and Tarot Table memberships contribute to the creation of these Tarot posts. Your likes, subs, shares and follows are always appreciated too!

Thank you so much for watching, reading, and listening to TaoCraft Tarot Blogcast. See you at the next sip!

You Can’t Make Them Drink

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Today: Four of Cups

Hello. Welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip – Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Four of Cups.

There is an old adage that says “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.”

Maybe it is because the hallmark holiday is in four days. Today’s vibe is a lot like that old My Tarot Valentine vibe I was telling you about the other day. Or was it yesterday? Anyway, cups are back into romance mode.

You can lead a relationship to water but you can’t make it drink. And I’m not talking about adult beverages.

The heart knows.

The heart knows when words are empty or actions are made of inertia and habit.

Not everyone is present and focused on the two of you every. Single. Moment. People get tired, stressed and distracted. It’s easy to understand that and it’s easy to give a little extra TLC to someone you care about who is having a bad day. Bad days happen for everyone, and they are just that – a day. You do what you can to help and life goes on. This is also a good time to remind ourselves to leave stress at the door and love your loved ones. They know when something is up.

They know when a bad day turns into a bad month, or a bad year.

The heart knows when words are empty and actions are built out of inertia and habit.

The message the card gives today is scary for both people involved and oh so hard to give. I’ve seen it in relationship readings lately. It brings to mind one particular reading I did for a client a few months ago. The energy here feels exactly like it did then. Specific past readings almost never come up in a general blog reading like this. Maybe someone somewhere out there is in a similar situation as that client was. All light and best wishes to you, listener and client, wherever you are. Or it could be that this is just a matter of the universal energy giving me a specific cue to a specific message. Here goes.

Sometimes you pour everything you have into a relationship and for whatever reason, the other person just can’t give anything back. At some point you have to stop the bleeding, turn off the faucet that is flooding the bathtub, stop digging the hole you are trapped in. Love is a precious thing to pour away into an abyss. If it can’t be given to another, perhaps it is time to give it to yourself.

Sometimes absence is better than empty presence.

None of this blog, podcast or YouTube Tarot content is monetized and it all relies on your support. The private email readings you purchase and Tarot Table memberships on Ko-fi all contribute toward producing this free Tarot content. Likes, subs, shares and follows all help too.

Thank you so much for watching, reading and listening. I’ll see you at the next sip!

Let Kindness Decide

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: seven of cups

Hello. Welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the seven of cups.

For the past several years, on the first fourteen days of February, I did a series of posts called “My Tarot Valentine” where the one card daily coffee fueled Tarot contemplation was focused on love, romance, and relationships. From one sentence affirmations to a few paragraphs of advice, whatever card that turned up was viewed through as much of a pink hued Valentines Day lens as I could muster.

There were fewer cups cards than you would expect over the years. Interestingly, here we are back in early February and we have a cup card with no romantic or relationship vibe around it whatsoever.

The essence of the message is vague and generally as it always is when you are reading for a wide audience online like this. It can apply to anything, really, including romance. The vibe is basically: don’t be arrogant in your decision making, let kindness lead the way.

Cups symbolize emotions, and the emotion often associated with the seven is feeling overwhelmed, or feeling a level of anxiety because of overthinking things. It can also be a sort of decision paralysis as it is called. That is the feeling you get when there are so many delicious sounding things on a menu that you can’t decide what to order. Instead of an embarrassment of riches, it is an embarrassment of choices.

Having too many good choices, like the delicious menu is a privilege. Feeling boxed in by nothing but equally bad options is a dilemma. Both are solved by letting logic rest and letting heart and kindness lead the way. Look, as many have said, for the highest good with harm to none, yourself included.

Thank you for watching, reading and listening. Neither this blog cast nor the YouTube channel are monetized, so these Tarot card readings depend on your support. Your likes, subs, shares, private reading orders, Tarot Table memberships and ‘buy me a coffee’ donations are always greatly appreciated.

Thanks again, and I’ll see you at the next sip!

You are alive, aren’t you?

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Today: You’re alive, aren’t you?

Hello Sippers! I’m so glad you are here.

Today’s card is the page of swords.

The card is full-on advice mode today, no sense of caution and as straightforward as it gets. Pages are learning, swords are mind and intellect. Learn something. It’s that simple.

From Arthur Waite’s authority, overseeing, and vigilance to Dugan’s intense young man to Andrew’s unexpected energy or magic, the Page of Swords can cover a lot of territory. Today I see it akin to the Thom Pham, artist and author of the Heart of Stars Tarot deck used with his permission in the blog video today. The page of swords is all about curiosity and learning today. Pages are knights in training, so page cards tend to carry elements of ambition, action and unrealized potential. Swords are associated with mind, intellect and the element of air. For all of its scope and nuance, today the page of swords is being – sorry about this – straight to the point.

When we hear about life long learning, it is easy to think of senior citizens getting long delayed college degrees, or some big project like learning a second language. It doesn’t have to be anything of that magnitude. Lifelong learning is learning as long as you have life. You are alive today aren’t you? Learn a little something. It doesn’t have to be rocket surgery. It might just be learning to put a little less mayonnaise in your egg salad tomorrow, or where the best parking is at that new store, or when the next season of your favorite TV show starts. It can be anything. Science it up. Not everything has to be super intellectual. There are reasons the human species has a reputation for poking things with a stick to see what happens. Give something a go. If things work out, great. If not, you’ll know not to do THAT next time. Wordle it up. Read the back of the cereal box or do a crossword puzzle. If you survive that stick poking episode, doing some little thing with words will help keep your brain awake too.

This reminds me of the Neil DeGrasse Tyson quote

“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.”

Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Let’s give it a try. Let’s learn just how far lifelong learning and a little kindness can get us all.

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Or tea. Or soda. Or adult beverage. It’s up to you.

None of the TaoCraft Tarot online content is monetized, which means that all of this is 100% supported by you, the readers and listeners, through your private reading purchases, Tarot Table memberships, and the buy me a coffee virtual tip mug. Any likes, subs, shares, follows, reading orders, memberships or virtual coffees you can spare are always greatly appreciated.

Thank you for watching, reading and listening. See you at the next sip!

The Cyber Crew Counts Too

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today is the three of cups – the cyber crew counts too.

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: a Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your favorite morning beverage. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the the three of cups.

Early February always seems to carry a big cups energy. Ooof…that sounds like a underwear joke for 10 year olds waiting to happen, doesn’t it? Cups in Tarot are associated with close relationships, the element of water, and emotions.

Emotions are high this time of year. For folks who like the outdoors and warm weather, the emotions are often frustration with winter, with a dollop of cabin fever on top. For those of us who like cooler weather, we are intent on soaking up the hot chocolate and yarn driven coziness as long as possible. Many people are enjoying the mid-month hallmark holiday. I’m here for it just to get the on sale chocolate.

Like Valentine’s Day, the suit of cups shines a light on relationships often with a focus on the romantic ones. But also like the modern holiday, the suit of cups reflect other relationships too.

Palintine’s day is a great idea. I’m inspired by the youngling and the roommates and their DIY charcuterie board and movie marathon party last year. This is exactly the kind of camaraderie that the three of cups is talking about. It is a celebration of like minded friends.

The celebration of like minded friends is no longer limited to physical spaces. The past couple of years have, by necessity, has de-emphasized face to face socialization, but has to replaced that with long distance communication emphasizing a meeting of hearts and minds. Friendships can, indeed, exist in cyberspace.

Many of us already knew that. I count the people I’ve met with and talked with and continued to communicate with in cyberspace as much among my friends as those who live nearby in meat-space.

The energy is around the card today is very lighthearted, laid back and friendly. No major message or ponderous spiritual guidance. The energy reminds me of a simple delight, kind of like those small paper valentines cards kids exchange (or used to exchange) in primary school. Have a little fun. Tell your friends that you appreciate them – in meat space and cyberspace too.

This is a non-monetized, listener supporter blogcast. Your support through likes, subs, shares, private Tarot reading orders here and Tarot Table memberships on Ko-fi are greatly appreciated! Thank you!

See you at the next sip!

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: The Face Value of Bull Horns

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: you choose the card and get a one card meditation style Tarot reading.

You know how this works:

Pick a card. Hit pause if you want some time to think about it before you see or hear the reveal.

The podcast audio is coming directly from the video, so the video speaks for itself today, without a transcript.

Thanks for watching, reading and listening! See you tomorrow for the usual weekday short sip: Tarot in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee.

It’s not all woo woo

TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your preferred morning beverage. Today: Page of Pentacles

Hello blog readers and podcast listeners!

Thank you for reading, listening and watching Short Sip Tarot: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your preferred morning beverage. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Page of Pentacles

When energy and intuition keep banging away at a certain idea for a sustained amount of time through a variety of cards I take it seriously, and a little personally.

During the height of the lock-down, before vaccines were available, there was a spate of pentacle cards with the message to focus on practical things. The notion was to not worry about high flying spirituality and focus on very real, very serious tasks at hand – even when that task was wearing a mask, washing your hands and staying the heck at home.

Lately we’ve had a similar message, but with a different focus and certainly a vastly different reason.

The phrases “gather yourself” and “recover your energy” come to mind. There has been a thread of “play your cards close to the vest” energy throughout January, and it seems to continue, although it feels closer to shifting and lifting.

The Hermit card, the eight of cups, the seven of pentacles, the two of wands: all have a sense of moderation and patience lately. It isn’t a depressed absence of energy, but rather advice about how we can best spend and curate whatever level of energy we feel. This kind of quiescence is more akin to a seed under the ground full of energy and potential just biding its time waiting for the right conditions to rev up and burst into growth.

Pages are about learning. Pentacles are associated with the classical element of earth. The advice is to learn how to ground, and center. Whatever emotion has been turned up to 11 lately – be it joy, grief, boredom, restlessness, focus – anything – now is a good time to turn the volume down a notch or two. It is a good time to settle in a get comfortable for the long haul.

It’s ok to be OK. Not everyday is a spiritual quest. Not every day is rainbow sprinkles and unicorn farts. Not every day is chaos and grief. Some days are meant to just be average. Some days it is ok to just….

…..be.

Thank you again for reading and listening. The private readings you purchase and your support through the tip mug, tarot table memberships, and the shop all go toward creating this free Tarot content. Any reading orders, memberships, likes, subs, or shares are always appreciated.

See you at the next sip.