Thank you for reading, watching and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Any likes, subs, shares, reading orders or blog follows that you can spare are always appreciated.
Today’s Card is the Hierophant.
The Marsielle deck calls it the Pope card. Personally, I prefer other decks that call this same card the High Priest and omit the specifically Catholic and Christian imagery that Pamela Smith uses.
I think both approaches to the card’s artwork is valid, because this major arcana card has two threads of meaning. Sometimes, as with the religion-neutral decks, the Hierophant is a grandfatherly figure, the keeper of stories and traditions. Other times the card has a more law-and-order vibe, that speaks more to social convention, rules, and cultural expectations.
Today it is the second of those two that steps forward. Over the years, whenever this side of the Pope card steps forward it is usually to ask us to think about our individual relationship with those rules, conventions and expectations. This may sound like an oversimplification, but simplification is often just what the situation needs. The question is essentially are you a rule-breaker or a people-pleaser? The advice is to understand your natural, innate style, to honor that, but also know when and how to play the other side of the game for a little bit.
If you are by nature a people-pleaser, the Hierophant might be suggesting that it is time to color outside of the lines a little bit. If you go your own way, then the card might be asking you look for ways you can play societies game a little bit in order to accomplish a particular goal. Wherever your mind is at the moment, look at the opposite and evaluate it as an option. If you tend to follow the rules, is it time to follow your heart? If you are a free spirit, is it time to cover the tattoos and put on a suit long enough to get through that job interview…that sort of thing.
Either way, the Hierophant reminds us that we have to know what the rules are. It’s like writing and grammar. We have to know what the rules actually are so we can decide when to judiciously break them.
In-person readings are on hold again. I take my guidance from CDC community transmission rates for Allegheny County PA USA.
E-mail (no appointment needed) and live online readings (by appointment) are OPEN. I’ll be keeping them open throughout the holidays, although delivery times might flex a little bit depending on how many cookies are in the oven
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Thank you for watching, reading and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot. Any likes, subs, shares, or reading orders that you can spare are always greatly appreciated!
Today’s card is the Wheel.
I also get a strong sense of it bringing the World card right along with it. The idea for today is very much a combination of the two.
The Wheel reminds me of how dynamic life is. It brings today’s energy into the realm of time. A season is part of a year, a day is part of a week, a moment is part of a lifetime. Like it or not, we are all part of something larger than ourselves just by virtue of our very existence.
The World reminds me of this interconnection of all things. Neil DeGrasse Tyson points it out on a physical level when he said “We are all connected; To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe atomically.”
The one spin of a wheel is part of the longer journey. Each moment of a lifetime is a shining gem of its own, worthy of our full attention. At the exact same moment, that time, is also an inseparable part of a greater whole.
Michael Talbot’s book “The Holographic Universe” comes to mind here. I wonder if time can also be imagined as a hologram, a totality where each part contains the essence of the whole (thus explaining the phenomenons of prescience, clairvoyance, clairsentience and so on) But that is a whole coffee pot worth of pondering, not just a sip.
Anyway, these cards represent the point of view that was on my mind when I created the woven bead bracelets in the shop. That’s why I created them, to honor that energy. That’s why I wear one, to remember that perspective as time spins on.
Thank you again for reading, watching and listening. See you at the next sip.
Welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip – Tarot guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.
Today’s card is the Hanged Man from the major arcana.
Usually this card is associated with stagnation or being stuck or “hung up” somehow. Today another meaning is stepping forward. It is all about perspective. It is all about point of view.
The things coming to mind today are the same ones I’ve talked about for years in the print blog. Like I’ve always said, one person’s stuck in the mud is another person’s spa treatment.
There is a lot of subjectivity in the passage of time. A few weeks might be a nice break when you’ve been busy or under stress. Mental respite is as important as physical get-aways. But what if waiting IS the stress? Then waiting a few weeks more might be intolerable. It’s unreasonable to expect to change your point of view all that quickly. Frustration doesn’t turn off and on like a faucet.
If you feel stuck, are you measuring progress by the right thing? If your love life is going nowhere, look to other parts of life to see if there is opportunity for movement, for happiness – and vice versa. If, for example, work has been moving too fast, look at other area of life for opportunities to slow down.
It seems simple and obvious, but sometimes when we are caught up in stress of one kind or another the simple and obvious gets out of focus. We lose the forest in the trees as the saying goes. Tarot not only teaches far flung grand ideals spooky spiritual stuff. It is just as likely to give calm, practical advice.
Sometimes even Tarot turns its point of view upside down.
Thank you for watching, reading and listening to today’s short sip Tarot. Follow the blog to get all of my Tarot content. Short sip daily meditation Tarot card readings are available on the blog, on the TaoCraftTarot YouTube Channel and on the Podcast by the same name. The podcast is available on Spotify, Anchor FM, Stitcher and more. Any likes, subs, shares, follows or reading orders you can spare are always, always appreciated.
Thank you for watching, reading, and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot.
Today’s card is the Ten of Swords. It is always one of the more dire looking cards in the Waite Smith or RWS derived decks. Being stabbed in the back with ten swords can’t be a good thing.
In fact, it would suck. Is there a problem here? Why yes, yes there is.
You can’t stop the sucking until you admit it exists. Panic doesn’t help. Denial doesn’t help. Seeing things as they are, even if they are a big problem, is the first step in solving the problem. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to be happy or chipper or brave about it. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there is a movie reference or some sort of pop culture trope here, kind of like the Witcher’s deadpan f-bombs, or Eddie Murphy’s character in Trading Places asking if there is a problem, or something very Tony Stark about the energy here. Or maybe that meme where somebody’s famous last words were probably going to be “well (expletive) THAT didn’t work!”
My hunch is that if you feel drawn to this card and this reading today, that there may be a problem that you are resisting or denying. It isn’t predicting that something dire will happen, it’s asking you to consider that a problem already has.
“Tarot doesn’t tell you what will happen in life, it helps you figure out what to do when life happens.”
“Four Steps for Handling a Problem —A Proposition for Resolving the Difficulties of Life
Face it : face the difficulty squarely Accept it : accept the reality of the difficulty Deal with it : deal with the difficulty with wisdom and compassion Let it go : afterwards, let go of it”
Is there a problem? When the answer is yes, it is ok to not be ok and it’s ok to be not ok for as long as you need to deal with the problem and heal.
Thank you for again for reading, watching and listening. I hope you’ll like, subscribe, follow and share. See you at our next sip of Tarot.
TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot is an idea to ponder and guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee
Thanks for watching, reading and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot where you get an idea to ponder and guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee. Or Tea. Or whatever beverage starts your day.
Today’s card is Strength from the major arcana portion of the deck.
This card is vulnerable to cheer leading. It is easy for it to slip in platitudes about be strong, hang in there, find ways to be strong for others, and so on. It also goes with connotations of honesty, integrity and strength of character.
Not today.
Today the Strength card is a reminder that you are already strong. You got this.
No one is perfect. No one is perfectly imperfect. We all have strengths and weaknesses. We are all heros and cowards in one way or another, to one extent or another.
The classic Tao Te Ching is often translated as Integrity and the Way. The integrity part points to the same strength of character as today’s card. Take as a whole, the Tao Te Ching talks about being the best person you can be and living in harmony with the nature of things while you do. One spin on all of that is self improvement through being your most genuine self. Whenit talks about living in harmony with nature, it doesn’t totally mean the rocks and trees and flowers and leaves kind of nature. The idea of it includes working with your nature too. Use your naturally good parts to adapt the less fantastic parts. Self-improvement doesn’t have to be a war with yourself. It is a celebration of the good parts so loud that it drowns out the bad.
Thank you again for listening. All the follows, subscribes, likes and shares that you can spare is always appreciated. Your support through the virtual coffee mug and Reading Room membership support the production of the blog, podcast and card draw videos.
I’m taking my own advice. If you are listening to this on the podcast, your are in the right place. Clarivoyant Confessional is now TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot. The Confessional Episodes are still available and more will come as the inspiration arises. The majority of the content is changing to Tarot readings because that is my strong suit. Your questions are still very welcomed. Blog comments are open, as is the voice messaging on the podcast’s anchor.fm page.
YOU choose how this video / reading is to be used. A look at the week ahead, guidance for your day, or guidance about a particular question or topic….you choose.
BUT it works best if you have your purpose clearly in mind when you choose your card.
Take a minute, or choose on impulse. If you want more time to think, pause the video and restart when you are ready to see your card revealed and hear the interpretation.
If you would like additional clarity, private readings are available by email HERE, no appointment needed – order anytime! I’m open for the holidays, but delivery may take longer than usual.
Thank you so much for reading and watching! I really appreciate your support.
your tips to the virtual coffee mug support this free blog and the podcast
Sunday Short Tarot Turnovers are a blog-only intuition exercise for you where we turn a Tarot Reading on its head. Instead of YouChoose – ing a card, I choose the card and you interpret it. There aren’t any trick, tips or how-to.
My martial arts teacher always says that the best way to train for a thing is to do a thing. That is exactly the kind of routine low-pressure practice that will help you be able to read well when the emotional heat is on.
This is easy. Just read through the list of meanings and see if and how any of them speak to you or guide you….or make up a meaning of your own just for you, just for today. This is an exercise in following your own intuition. If no meaning jumps out as the right one, just ponder the card every now and then and see if anything comes to you as the day goes on. That’s the kind of “daily meditation” Tarot that my ebook PeaceTarot teaches you to do. (It’s inexpensive and available right now as a pdf download in the ko-fi shop.)
Today’s card is the Five of Swords
Gain clarity. Make sure you are understanding clearly before you act
Self-defeat, self-sabotage
feeling defeated, feeling attacked
victory, but at great cost
stubbornness, it’s time to change or adapt
Even though the podcast is shifting to the short form daily meditation format, I’ll still do “confessional” or Q&A episode occasionally. YOUR QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME in the comments or by email.
Thanks for reading! I hope you will follow the blog, that way all of the free TaoCraft Tarot content will come to your inbox – short sip tarot, video demonstrations, YouChoose Interactive Tarot, announcements…all of it.
For an extra reading every month, the Reading Room membership is available through ko-fi. For $5 per month you get a three card members only three card pathway reading through the ko-fi blog, newsletter, random special offers and giveaways and a personal, just-for-you “Year Ahead” Tarot reading by email when you join.
Tips to the virtual coffee mug support this blog and the Short Sip podcast
Thank you for watching, reading and listening to Short Sip Tarot: a thought for your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee. Any likes, subs, shares, follows, referrals or reading orders you can spare are always, always greatly appreciated!
Today’s card is Judgement from the major arcana
I realize we just had the Judgement card recently. I’ll put a link to that post below and in the episode notes for the podcast.
The standard trope is to say that we are repeating a mistake or we haven’t learned an important lesson. This is more benign than that. This is a good example of one card having different threads of meaning that step forward for different readings at different times for different people. We talk about that in “TaoCraft Portfolio” ebook which should be ready for the shops fairly soon.
But again, this serves as a good example of how one card’s meaning isn’t static, or written in stone, and just because you get one meaning in a reading one time, but a different meaning in a different session possibly with a different card reader doesn’t mean that one reading was right and the other one was wrong. It just goes to show that Tarot is a wonderfully adaptable and infinitely useful tool for insight. It is a lens and a portal into the energy and message of the moment, not some irrelevant, ossified pronouncement from on high.
The other day, the energy of second chances and compassion stepped forward. Today it takes on the judge-y ness and judgementalism that makes this card such a nemesis for me. Judgement in other decks is not so much of a problem. Especially in the Witches Tarot and other decks that call it by another name – Karma or what have you. The religious ideas and imagery of Pamela Smith’s artwork pushes old-issue buttons for me that aren’t really related to Tarot at all. Which in itself touches on today’s particular iteration of the Judgement card.
Writing the post earlier this month I realized that when I’m feeling judgemental toward something (or more importantly, someone) it is because that thing is something that would be toxic or detrimental to me. Why should I assume that is true for the other person?
Sure there are some absolutes. You would’t stand silent and let someone drink arsnic just because that isn’t your judgement or your choice….some things are bad for everyone. The same is true of outright racism, bigotry, violent rhetoric or dangerous misinformation. Yes, you oppose it because you judge it to be wrong…but that is the sound reasoning kind of judgement. That kind of thing is about the public spaces where people can come to harm at the hands of others. That’s a whole different matter.
Today’s card is talking about judging the private spaces of others by the measure of how those choices would affect us if they were ours.
Just because something would make us lesser if we did it is not reason to judge others for doing it. A small step in personal growth that we left in the dust ages ago may be a giant leap forward for someone else. Something that may be toxic to us might be nourishment for another.
I realize that is probably obvious to most people, but I’ve witnessed it happening all too much lately. This feels like one of those pushes from spirit where somebody somewhere might need to hear this even though it is uncomfortable and awkward for me to say. I feel pushed to say this for someone, even if it isn’t for most people. If all of this this doesn’t apply to you, by all means reject the message. Let the message flow to the one for whom it is a helpful thing. Let the energy turn on the light where it is needed, even if it isn’t for you.
Let me put it this way – I’ve learned, more recently than I care to admit – that when I catch myself feeling judgemental toward someone else, it is usually because they may embrace something that is harmful or toxic to me personally. Not that it is actively harming me, but in the sense that I view their whatever-it-is as a bad thing. For me to engage with whatever they choose would make me a lesser person. It is all too easy to project my understanding onto the other person. If X makes me a lesser person, then they must be lesser for choosing and embracing it. Again this is talking about the realm of subjective philosophy, not actual harm. Think of it It is the conceptual equivalent of a food allergy in a way. If one person has a severe peanut allergy, they judge peanut butter as a bad thing, and may feel judgemental toward peanut butter, so much so that their primal reflex is to slap a peanut butter sandwich out of other people hands regardless of whether the other person is peanut allergic or not.
I haven’t read it yet, but I’d like to. Buddhist monk Ajahn Sumedho wrote book entitled “Don’t Take Your Life Personally” I think what the card is trying to say today is don’t take other people’s lives and choices personally either.
Your choice is in how you react to circumstances. Beyond that, you have no say in many things. Other people’s choices are not yours.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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